Eurogamer and Alan Wake

I'm pretty stupid, and tend to pre-order games based on hype-alone. Sometimes, I end up cancelling, if the review is really bad and it hasn't already been shipped, but other times I end up with crap like Alone in the Dark.


So, I pre-ordered Alan Wake, and I was just reading the Eurogamer review (I know, I should have been working, but I have, like, 6 minutes before a really big presentation, sitting outside the meeting rooom so there's little point in starting something else - although I am writing this. But I digress).


Anyway, there's a line in there that goes like this:
He decides to take a holiday in a bid to clear his head. And how does Alan choose to get away from it all, do you think? By spending a fortnight in Rio, drinking pina coladas by the pool? Or by visiting a tiny, rainy Pacific Northwest town inhabited by hilarious simpletons and frightening weirdoes, where the only available accommodation is an ancient log cabin in the middle of a haunted lake?


It made me laugh, anyway.

Final Fantasy 13

Well, here's a post that's never going to rank. Ever. There are already a bajillion FF13 pages.
So, as you may know, I was playing a LOT Of Resonance of Fate. Great game. Sucked ~140 hours of my life, but time well spent, I'd say. It had engaging lead characters, a story that was only really ever suggested (rather than overtly told, like in FF13), and a cool combat system to boot. Fun.


But, I've covered that already.


So, Final Fantasy. Well, first Splinter Cell. I played a bit of Splinter Cell: Conviction (which I note was topping the games sales charts for a bit), and it was pretty good fun. I didn't finish it (at least, not at time of writing. Check out my live profile to see I have finished now! http://www.xboxlivenation.com/community/livedna.php?gt=lord%20of%20goats). Actually, I also played some Lego Indy 2 (VAST improvement on the original), some more DJ Hero, and Just Cause 2 as well, before starting FF13.

I'm going to actually not talk about FF13 at all, and instead talk about the other games. Save FF for later.

Splinter Cell
Fun. Interesting. A couple of places where I kept wiping were incredibly annoying - especially when I had to sit through a cutscene before being allowed to try again - and the loading times weren't always that good, but on the whole, very enjoyable. As I mentioned above, I haven't finished it yet, but I'll probably go back to it at some point. The multi-player is also intriguing.

Lego Indiana Jones 2
If you like the lego games, you'll like this too. They've mixed things up a bit in the layout - the hubs are a little more interesting, and the replays are pretty cool. It's all a bit better signposted, in some respects, but worse in others. Still fun, though.

Just Cause 2
Ridiculous, in the best possible way. And frankly beautiful to look at. You've got a massive MASSIVE island sandbox to play in. And although some of the missions are a bit samey, and the gameplay gets a bit stale after a few hours, it's still one of the most striking games I've ever played. Steal a helicopter, take off, blow up the guards, fly up, jump onto the front, hook onto a plane and throw out the pilot. Stupid. Fun. And stupid fun.
Or, you know, just hook two planes together, and go for a ride:



Projector
What now? Yes. I got a projector. Games on a 12 foot screen can't be beaten. Here's a quick capture showing the motogp, in broad daylight. Just imagine what it looks like at night!

Resonance of Fate - first thoughts

I was in Estonia last week, which is a pretty cool place. Although I was there for a very short time, Tallinn struck me as a cross between Helsinki and Prague. I hope no-one's offended by that. But that's not what I'm here to talk about.

On thursday, I had 2 conferences and a flight, and as I left the house in the morning, I saw that the postman had delivered Resonance of Fate. So, I glared at it, and tried to put it out of my mind, knowing that I wouldn't have a chance to play it until I got back. But get back I did, late friday night, thanks to various planes being broken and rescheduled. And I popped it in. What a game.

There's no gentle introduction to the characters. There's no background story on why these 3 are together. But, as time goes on, their friendship becomes clear, and the cutscenes are both well written and well acted, for the most part. I find myself chortling along with many of them, which is quite refreshing. In the first hour or so, the stereotypes are out. Emo boy. Headstrong young man. Childish girl. I figured they were going to be extremely one-dimensional. But they're remarkably likeable.

The actual maps that you explore outside of combat are probably quite beautiful, but I think they've been designed for a 60 inch TV screen. On my measly 40 inch screen, it's pretty hard to pick out details. Maybe I should just sit closer.

But, exploring is only a very small part of the game. The world map is nicely done - you have various shaped hexes you have to fit into the world to explore - you can either just plot the fastest line to each destination, or (if like me you have a bit of the old OCD), you can completely cover each level - which gives you some treasure and a one-way quick travel system (if you totally cover a level). The advantage of the hex system is that you can plan in detail and use the minimum hexes required, or just grind for extra parts and lay them down any old how. It's pleasing, and a nice distraction.

But, onto the combat. The combat starts without any tutorials (unless I missed something, which is entirely possible). But there's a pretty comprehensive in-game manual. The problem (if it is a problem) is that because it's a way of fighting that I've never seen before, the terms quickly became overwhelming in the abstract. That is, there's talk of hero attacks, bezels, tri-attacks, scratch damage, direct damage, knockdowns and so forth.
So, I started slowly. First, just killed a couple of monsters with the standard attack. Then started to understand scratch damage. Then started using hero attacks. Then realised I could jump. Then realised I could air-juggle. Then realised I could switch targets in a single attack. Then started to understand weapons charging (direct damage doesn't increase with charges, scratch damage does) Then realised how tri-attacks work. Then realised how to make them awesome. Then started upgrading weapons with custom parts. Then I learnt about body parts properly. And gauge breaks (although I still don't totally get them). And I've just started playing with double-wielding.

I'm going to write a more in-depth section on the combat, since I haven't managed to find any great sites online yet (I imagine most people are playing final fantasy, for example). But, I've been playing just over 40 hours now (although at least 10 of those are from leaving it on overnight), and almost every time I fight, I find some new nuance to the combat system.

One quick word about the custom parts - they're awesome. Sweet crafting and upgrade system for your guns (I just fitted my third barrel to a gun....)

So, currently, I'm very much enjoying it. Lightly amusing cut-scenes. Pleasing world. Neat exploration mechanic. Cool combat that not only plays nicely, but looks really cool.
Downsides: the town scenes seem a bit last-gen, and some of the lower-level random encounters can start to seem a little repetitive (but you can buy an accessory to remove the chance of these, or just run).

So, yes, on the whole, a good game. If you like RPGs that focus on numbers, this is for you.



In the video above, standard attacks at the beginning. Hero attacks start at around 1.35 and there's a (pretty poor) tri-attack at around 2.30

Quick side by side DA:O comparison

Gamespot have kindly put together a comparison of the graphics for DA:O across PS3/Xbox/PC.

It's actually a little misleading, because they've restricted the PC to 720p, which seems completely pointless. Why would you set it lower than necessary? I run it at 1920x1200, 8x anti aliasing, with everything else set at max. (I've got a fairly kick-ass graphics card)

I've been a bit naughty, and stolen a couple of images, but it shows the key differences. The PC version adds better textures (note the sacks) and also extra elements (note the chest). But check out the full article over at Gamespot for more info and details.
http://uk.gamespot.com/features/6239466/index.html

Dragon Age: Origins

Man alive. This game makes me shout and yell and want to break things. The AI is incredibly dumb.

But I'm getting ahead of myself.

If I can use a simile (or maybe a metaphor, I can never tell) for a moment, If Dragon Age were a trading card game, Origins would be a starter pack. DLC is booster packs, and things like Awakenings are expansion packs. It's pretty clumsy, I know, but there we are.

So, they've essentially built a core world with a pretty decent game engine, pretty graphics and so forth, and they've got grand plans to release DLC for the next 2 years or so, to supplement it. Now, if they get it right, it could be awesome. If they balls it up, well, then so be it. So far, though, it's looking good. Ish.

First things first, what are the bad points? Well, the cut/speaking scenes are pretty bland. People just stand and stare. And the eyes are pretty lifeless. Voice acting is not great. They conjured up a bunch of pretty impressive voice talent, including Commander Janeway from Voyager, Claudia Black (who's turning up everywhere these days), Tim Curry and more. But it's like they've asked them to deliver everything as blandly as possible. Which is weird, because they all do fantastic jobs in other games.
Plus, there's this dude: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0004718/
He used to be on Grange Hill. I always liked him. Except that his voice is SO distinctive that it annoys me. I don't know why.

I should point out that I'm playing on PC. And here's why. I hear that combat is pretty rubbish on consoles. Also, the graphics are miserable/washed out/low quality. Plus, no mouse. Having played the PC version quite a bit, I now understand that the console would be terrible. The ability to spin the mousewheel and get a tactical overview of combat is essential. You can't do this in the console. Ergo, the console version is not good.

Anyway, back to the topic at hand. It's called 'Origins' for a reason. Depending on your class (rogue, warrior, mage) and race (elf//dwarf/human), you'll get a wildly different starting game. If you're anything like me, and like to poke in every dank corner of every map, then this can give up to 15 hours of gameplay just for your character. If you're prepared to skip through many of the talking bits, you can probably halve that, and if you just want to get to the 'main game', it could probably be done in 4 or so. However, of all the talking bits, the "origin" parts seem to be the most interesting, and therefore worth the time. Later on, when you're talking to generic merchant 15, you'll be pushing that escape key often. Subtitles will help.

Also, amusingly, after combat, you get covered in blood. This can make for some (possibly unintentioanlly) hilarious cutscenes, as you trade pleasantries with a noble and yet you're covered in blood. I can't find a good picture right now, so I'll grab a screenshot later, but here's a quick example of the general effect:


Each class has 4 specialisations (rogue can be bard, assassin, etc), and you'll meet some companions who cover off the main categories (bard, assassin, shapeshifter, warrior, etc) and, of course, a dog.
At any time, you can have 3 other people in your group, and they'll have different reactions to different things. Sten, the big tank, doesn't like it when you're nice. If you waste time being good, he'll get upset.

So, then, what about the combat? Well, it's a bit mixed. I don't want to ruin the story, but it shouldn't come as any great surprise that you're selected for greatness by a group called the Grey Wardens, who operate above the law, giving you the excuse you need to act however you like. However, the first warden you meet, Alistair, is a dick. And also not very good at fighting. So I was left thinking the combat mechanics were rubbish.

Until you leave the first village, Lothering, you're pretty much on rails, and stuck with Alistair for the majority of the time, which is disappointing. The dog makes a better tank, and the dog is crap. Maybe I was misusing him, and he's better for skirmishing the enemy, but given you can only take 4 people out, he seems like a complete waste of space. Anyway, mileage may vary. You might love him (but I bet you don't).

In fact, Alistair actually caused me to give up on this game initially. I was really really bored once I got to Lothering for the first time. I didn't really get where it was going, and it all seemed way too linear. A friend encouraged me to get back into it, and also grab the DLC to which I was entitled, and I'm glad he did. Once you get past Lothering, the game really opens up. More party members, more freedom to explore and so on.

Back to combat, though. It's good. I like a lot of the ideas they have. For example, skills/spells cost stamina/mana. So far, so good. But armour has a fatigue rating expressed as a percentage, which directly affects the cost of the ability. So if you're wearing around that gives you a total of 20% fatigue, and the ability would normally cost 10 points, it costs 12. It means you really do think about what armour to use, instead of just picking the thing with the highest protection.

And there are a bunch of skills which you can toggle on and off like, say, Powerful Swings, which does more damage per blow with two handed weapons, at the cost of accuracy and defence. However, they have a 'maintenance cost', meaning that to keep the mode active, you're always down some stamina points. It's clever, and I like it. It might exist elsewhere, but it's still well implemented. And you can often have multiple skills active (a mage might have shield and spell boost, for example).

Ok, so, seriously, combat. There are 'tactics', which let you set up some really quite complex actions. You have a bunch of objects, conditions and actions. So, you might say "when ally drops below 50% health, cast heal". Or "when in melee combat with more than 1 person, cast knockback". You get the idea. It's extremely comprehensive. Next, you'll be pausing. A lot. Which is no bad thing. But back to my starting point. The AI is bloody annoying. It quite often does what it wants, despite what you've told it. So, you might set up an archer to fire at someone, only to find they've been attacked in melee, switched to their sword, and not bothered to switch back. or you moved them somewhere, and now they're facing away from the battle, not targetting anyone. Or you move a mage out of the main ruck, and they run right back in and die. Of course, you can force them to hold position, but that's a group setting, meaning your melee characters won't advance to attack other targets without explicit instruction. Equally annoying. So, I spent a lot of screaming at the screen, because someone's just spent 30 seconds doing nothing as another party member dies.

In general, though, the combat flows really nicely. I never seem to have enough mana or stamina, but there are potions and mushrooms for that. I just stumbled across spell combinations, too, where you can combine two different spells for a bigger effect. I won't spoil anything for you, but there are some pretty sweet ones. It really encourages experimentation.

I'll be reviewing the DLC, since I can't find any decent reviews of it anywhere (by which I mean, sites other than IGN).

So, yeah, in general, a nice engine, suffering from some blandish character graphics, with a nice combat system, despite some AI weirdness. The story itself is pretty cool. And, if you get it on PC, a good few hours of distraction.

Here's a nice German video that gives a pretty decent overview of the combat, with subtitles.

Mass Effect, Mass Effect 2, and Dragon Age

That's a pretty bold title, actually. Not sure if I'll get to all 3 games in a single post.
So, here goes.

I saw that Mass Effect 2 was coming out. Also, that it was going to be on PC. I did some reading, and it became apparent that the graphics would be better on PC, so I took the plunge, and pre-ordered it. In the meantime, though, I realised that my multiple savegames from the Xbox would not be any use, so I grabbed ME1 from Steam for a tenner, and started playing.

Whilst playing through ME1 again (it's still very good, both graphically and game-playably), Mass Effect 2 launched. I wanted to get a whole playthrough done on the first one so I could import a character, but in the end, after Virmire on ME1, I fired up ME2.

First things first, it's quite different, whilst still being almost the same. Most noticable from the get-go is the different inventory. Instead of heaps of weapons (like, say, other RPGs), and carrying tens of items in your inventory, you have very few weapons, with very fixed upgrades. Each mission (more or less) provides a handful of upgrades, from new weapons, to weapon upgrades (+damage, +other stuff), power upgrades, health, etc.

After an initial disappointment (I love lewts) I have to say, it works quite well. But, with a finite amount of cash, it's impossible to buy everything on your first playthrough (unless I really got something wrong). You'll need to import a character to get the cash boost. Fortunately, you can import an ME2 character after your first playthrough.

Next, the characters. In the first one, you found someone you liked, and used them all the time. In fact, there were achievements for doing a playthrough using mostly one character or another. In this one, instead, each character has loyalty, and a reason for adventuring with them. Which works really nicely.

The character skills are cool, too. They work well (except squad ammo, which they'll constantly activate, even when it's counter-productive. Grrr).

The worlds are fun, the chatter is good, and the chance to be nasty or nice is still there, with some occasionally funny results. The end is pretty bonkers, although the bit through the Omega 4 relay reminded me of Reaver space in Firefly (or maybe Serenity). Which is actually no bad thing.

The music is epic. The weapons are fun. The powers are entertaining. Just the level cap is a bit of a shame. I played through on veteran, and did all the missions I could find (basically, scanned all the planets) and made it to level 27. Since the level cap is 30, reasons to play through again are limited. That being said, I started a new playthrough on insanity, and I'm taking a proper beating, even though I hit level 30 in under an hour.

I guess I need to visit a wiki and get all the upgrades, but god-damn, those YMIR mechs are brutal.

Anyway, one thing that became clear was that it's almost impossible to get full renegade without importing an ME1 character. I did every bad thing I could find, from telling the Volus to charge, to turning down romances, but I was still short (and that's with the relevant power maxed, too). And on a replay, you lose your points. Maxing Paragon appears to be much easier - after only a handful of missions on my replay, it's nearly full.

Anyway, the point is, I need to go back and play ME1 to the end to get an importable character, I guess. Danger Shepard needs validation.


Dragon age? I'll write about it next time.

Bayonetta, Crow 77

So, you're trying to beat the Alfheim in Chapter 6 to get Umbran Crow 77, right?

You need to finish the Alfheim and then pick up the crow as you leave.

But, to beat it, you need 7 torture attacks against a bunch of pretty brutal enemies.

How do you do it?

Well, it took me nearly 3 hours of retrying before I managed it, and a lot of frustration. To save you some of the same misery, here's how I did it.

Part 1: Preparation.

1) Finish hard mode first to get the bazillions, or play 100 chapters to get the Sai-fun. Both of these are pretty useful. The Bazillions and Sai-fun are both pretty good against joys. They stun lock them nicely.

2) Kill the first round quickly a few times to get practice against the dogs and joys. Don't even try for the torture attacks. Just get a handle on how they move, how they attack, and what you need to do.

3) Use the fact that most off-screen enemies won't attack you. After the first round, keep everyone off screen as much as possible while you charge something nasty.

4) Keep going until you're comfortable killing them all without taking damage. Again, don't worry about the torture attacks at this stage.

5) You will need the following equipment to make life easier.

Gaze of despair (enrages opponents), eternal testimony (keeps 2 magic blocks filled), and Selena's light (enables witch time when you're hit).

6) You also really want a full magic bar (all three slots available).

Part 2: Doing it

Ok, so, you've managed to kill them all without taking the hits - how do you clock up the torture attacks? Remember, for the torture attacks to actually count, you need to kill the creature with the attack. Just taking some health off it isn't enough.

1) Put on the gaze and eternal testimony. These guys are on fire. You can activate witch time, and soften them up, but there's a chance witch time will disable, and you'll lose a health bar trying to hit them. So, we're not going to touch them with regular attacks.

Dodge and taunt (hold left bumper, don't just press it) until you have a couple of full bars. Double-torture the ardor. Now, dodge and taunt the rest, and kill them until you have only one weak enemy left. Then dodge and taunt him until you have 3 full magic slots. Now, UNEQUIP THE GAZE and equip Selena's light. This is pretty important.

2) Then, make sure you have Shuruga or Pillow Talk equipped and active, move to the middle of the arena, and perform the torture attack. This should put you on 5/7.

3) As soon as you've killed him, press and hold punch to start charging Shuruga (or Pillowtalk, if you have it). Note that you can start charging the sword almost immediately (although you can't switch weapon, so that's why you need to make sure the sword is equipped before you make that final torture attack).

4) Hopefully, you're standing close to the Ardor (sword guy). He should attack you pretty quickly. Dodge it. Unleash the full charge. With a bit of luck, you'll take a dog and the ardor down to half health each.

5) Torture attack the ardor, and the weakened dog. Remember, you started round 2 with 2 full bars, so you should just run towards them and do it.

6) You have all the torture attacks. Beat the final dog to death. I find it easiest to get close to them and dodge their biting attack. A friend prefers to make them charge him and gets them when they're stunned.

7) Joys appear. If you're still running at 3 health bars, take them down as normal.

If not, run to the edge of the arena, and spin the camera so they're all off-screen. Charge the sword. When you're fully charged, start dodging towards the centre. Release the charge, which should seriously hurt one or two. Then, switch to bazillions or sai fun and take them down.

As I said, it took me about 3 hours to beat them, but once I'd worked out this strategy, it took only 2 tries. The most important thing for me was practicing against the dogs and joys a bit, so I knew what to expect.

Hopefully that'll help you. Please leave comments if you have thoughts or advice.

Dragon Blood Armour on Steam

I just grabbed the Mass Effect 2 preorder on steam. I noticed that people who have bought Dragon Age Origins get some free armour, so I started to look into it.

What you need to do is log into (or create) a bioware account here:

http://social.bioware.com/signup.php

There are a few options for porting existing accounts (for example, an EA account).

Then, go here: http://social.bioware.com/redeem/ and enter the code that you can see in your steam console (the Standard Game CD Key).

DAO should then start downloading the armour. Simple!

I'll let you know if it works on Mass Effect 2.

Bayonetta 1000

Update: I cracked this. My strategy is here: http://blog.lickmyear.org/2010/02/bayonetta-crow-77.html

So, umbran crow 77, in the hard Alfheim on chapter 6. You bugger. But let me backtrack.

I finished Bayonetta over the weekend. By finish, I mean, I got 1000 achievement points, so I've cleared all three stages. Of course, like all good games, there are plenty of challenges left which don't have achievements - for example, platinum award for an entire stage (normal, hard, etc). I'm about 70% of the way through normal. Apparently, it unlocks Jeanne. Which is nice. Although you have to start a new game.

I also got a new sword - "pillow talk", which is basically a lightsaber.

You can see all the "secret" weapons here:

Pillow talk starts at 15 seconds or so. Note the ridiculous charge mode!

I also got Sai-fun, or the nunchuks, or gunchuks.

They're, erm, interesting. They're really fast - you can stunlock pretty much anyone, even a Gracious and/or Glorious, although they'll break out after 5-6 hits. They're incredibly weak, although in an enclosed room, they kick ass, because they fire off shrapnel which ricochets around the room and causes quite a bit of collateral damage.

Also, the charge move sends out a load of hits, a bit like a shotgun, which then fly around the room if they don't immediately hit something. The timing for dodge offset is a bit strange, but I'm working on it.

I can't quite decide the perfect use, though.

In other news, the Bazillions (lazer guns in the first example above) are pretty fun. They don't give a good combo (in fact, they give an awful combo score) but they shoot through armour, and also do a fair bit of damage. For most trash mobs (regular angels, etc) you can kill them in a couple of hits. Which is nice. Plus, they're good against grace and glory (and friends) because they stun them. Also, they take down Harmonies in a couple of hits, which is good, because harmonies are without a doubt, my most hated enemy. I find them hard to predict, and tough to hit. So thank you, bazillions. woot.

Now, back to Umbran Crows. There are 101 umbran tears of blood to unlock in this game. The first 50 are just the 50 achievements. For 50, you get a magic regeneration bangle, which is incredibly useful on Isla del Sol (the space harrier level) because it effectively grants you unlimited missiles.

Now, the next 51 are crows hidden around the levels. For normal, I found them all myself. For hard, I found about 75%, and for ultimate climax, I just gave up looking, and used a guide, because I didn't want to have to spend more time in the levels than is necessary at that difficulty. I'm on 100, with only one left to go.

This last one requires you to complete an alfheim - 7 torture attacks and only be hit 3 times. And in addition, the enemies are on fire and enraged. Awesome. And what enemies? The first wave is 4 burning angels and a burning Ardor. The 2nd wave is another burning ardor and 2 x fairness. Those dogs. With electricity. God damn. And then, joy, 3 joys to finish it all up.

And remember, you can only be hit 3 times.

The problem is the magic. It's really hard to build up enough magic to toture them. So you have dodge and taunt and all sorts. Very annoying. The closest I made it (and the point at which I went to bed last night) was down to the last joy, at 25% health, when time ran out.

Very, VERY frustrating.

I can't help but think that the designers put the crow on the wrong side of the bridge. In all the other locations, you don't have to fight the alfheim to get the crow - just this one.

Gah!

I'll keep you posted if I crack it.

Sunday Gaming

Luc came 'round yesterday, and we played some Bayonetta, and some Modern Warfare - we did a couple of new levels on the co-op mode, which was cool. Split screen actually works out ok.

After that I fired up DJ Hero and cleared out the medium mode - all tracks completed, and most of them 5 star. I think I'm 45 or so stars short. But I'm going to move up to hard, I think.

Expert, right now, is just too much (except on the very easy songs).

This is still my favourite track

So unexpected. A lot of the tracks are really very good indeed.

More importantly, the immense fun and joy I got from playing through medium has pretty much dissipated. That is, the first 15 or so games I played, I had a big grin fixed on my face. Partly through the translation of my actions to stuff on the screen, and partly through the epic songs (MC Hammer/Vanilla Ice, that one above, Jazzy Jeff's stuff, etc). The more I play the songs, the less they're unexpected.

So, moving up to hard has actually made the game massively fun again. It's considerably harder than medium, and has a lot more things going on, and it feels more like you're actually working to generate the music, than just playing simon says.

I'm not sure if that actually makes sense, but hopefully you get the gist.

Anyway, today, late start (got up at 1, oof), so playing a bit of Bayonetta, and then an early night.

What else? DJ Hero

Scotty came round a couple of days ago, and we had a big day of gaming. It was pretty awesome.

We played some Bayonetta (he agrees it's bonkers), and then fired up DJ Hero. We didn't play much else.

For the record, the Scratch Perverts tracks are utterly bonkers.

This (and 'beats and pieces') are probably the ones that hurt my arm the least.

I think the thing I like about it is that the samples are telling you they know it's a game, and they're looking to test you, but still with the insanely cool music. Anyway.

In other news, I've bought everything I can in Bayonetta, and I've been playing with some of the accessories. All I can say is, I wish I'd bought the one that triggers witch time earlier.

Makes clearing the levels the first couple of runs a lot easier. I had misread the description, and thought it was something entirely different (it triggered witch time at the start of combat, not when you're hit. D'oh).

However, the Moon of Mahaa-Kalaa (spelling?) is even better! Sort of. It gives you a 'repel' on incoming enemy attacks. That is, they're just ignored. It also stuns your attacker, giving you a nice opening.

However, if you repel as you're hit (like bat within), it will repel, counter and start witch time. And the witch time lasts maybe a second or two longer than normal. So you can get in an extra wicked weave or string of hits.

It also lets you trigger witch time against people like Jeanne. Very cool accessory.

I'm currently chasing Nunchuks. Really really want them. I've platinumed the first 5 stages. Which isn't a lot, but I refuse to use the same tactics as others, who reload levels when a verse goes badly. Plus, I need all the practice I can get.

Also, the moon of M

Gaming Rigs part III

Hello!

So, uhm, I've done some benchmark running.
You can see some screengrabs here:

http://lickmyear.org/images/scratch/

If you have a look at this, you'll likely notice that the clock speed on CPU-Z is showing 800MHz
Well, apparently that's a problem with CPU-Z not recognising AM3 socket chips.
DMI Info shows the real deal. 3.8GHz. Woot.

Which brings us to the benchmark results.
They're low. Really low. ~9k for the GPU stuff on 3dmark vantage.
It goes even lower when you disable PPU, but I'm not about to do that.

I've been told it might be PSU, but then also been told it might not be the PSU.
So I guess I need to order a new PSU, and see.

Damn it.

Gaming Rigs II

So, I went with the Ultima Warlord. GTX 295. AMD Phenom core II (geeeeeeeeeeeek) overclocked to 3.8 GHz or something.
I don't really know.

Funny thing? It still struggles in Total War. Although, to be fair, only when I'm firing 32 rockets at the same time from the very advanced artillery (rocket artillery).
Like this:



And if he can do it, why can't I? Hmmm?

It might be something to do with my running Windows 7, which is actually pretty sweet.
But, the graphics card drivers might not be best supported under it.

So, Sunday is going to spent running some benchmarks, playing with drivers, and generally trying to optimise it.
If that all goes ok. I'll be trying to overclock it.
Why? Because that's what we do. Buy new stuff, and then try to break it.

Oh, and trying to get DOW II to run. Currently, it does not like me at all.

Fallout 3 DLC: Operation Anchorage

So, as you likely know, I've been playing Fallout 3.
I had downloaded the DLC, but been studiously ignoring it.
At level 14, I felt I was probably ready for it.

It's still pretty easy.

I think I reloaded a couple of times to approach in different ways, but basically, once you've got 75+ small guns skill, it's a breeze (which for some people may be quite early on).

For a challenge, I'd recommend going in around level 5-6.

The graphics, though, are lovely.
It's a sad case of affairs, but I came to a realisation at around 2am last night, when I finally unplugged it.
I don't really look at video games.

Let me explain. It was 1.50, and I was thinking 'must crash soon, but just one more fight' (as you do). Then, for the first time since playing, Fallout 3 crashed. The framerate dropped for about 3 seconds, and then it just hung.

And that's when I looked around the screen at everything that was there.
And it was stunning.

Now, it might just be the Operation Anchorage graphics are "better" (and wow, they're beautiful), or it may be that the blues and whites are just nicer to look at than the browns and greys of the devasted DC area, but, well, whatever it was, it was a real stop-and-gape moment.

I mean, I'm generally scouring the near-middle distance for things to interact with, but (apart from Gears of War) I rarely stop and look around. I'm moving, see the screen in motion.

So, now, I'm going to try and spend some time looking at these things, and enjoying what's been created.

Mirror's Edge

I got sucked into this pretty heavily over the weekend, and started playing the time trials.

The story itself is not good at all, but the time trials are sort of like a racing game.

You find the quickest route through a course, much like racing, only you're a free runner.

Here's the same thing in HD
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LNAdU-E7FrY&fmt=22
Which actually looks awesome. Anyway.

It's pretty intriguing, more so if you have a mild case of OCD, like me, and evokes all the same frustration that driving games do when you're trying to beat your Personal Best.

Lots of screaming at the TV and throwing my controller around, which is the best way to spend a rainy sunday.

Apart from being forced to watch the Hills, obviously.

Bioshock

With the news that PS3 are about to get Bioshock (or maybe already have it, I don't know), I realised I never finished it on the Xbox. Stupid bonus in march meant I pre-ordered about 30 games, which just kept coming, and so I kept playing things for 2-3 hours, and then moving to the next game. I have a massive pile of stuff which needs finishing, but that's for another time.

Anyway, that being said, I picked it up again. It's just as good as I remember. Totally atmospheric, and very cool indeed. The only complaint I have (beyond the fact that I've completely forgotten what's happening) is that where I am (just after having to take some pictures for some dude), I've actually got too many resources. All my ammo is full, I have $500, 9 first aids, and 9 eve hypos. From reading the reviews, I thought I'd be really on the edge of equipment - constantly running out and having to resort to other tactics than throwing grenades into the mix.

The only thing I'm missing is enough Adam to buy decent plasmids.
Oh well.

It's still one of the most atmospheric games I've ever played, and I greatly recommend it.

Also, I'll be replaying it, so I'll try a different tactic next time.

Lordy

There are no excuses for my absense, so I'll continue as if nothing happened (I was on holiday).

I was just reading this:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2008/sep/11/1

Quite  interesting, except that he fails, spectactularly, to mention the YouTube upload element built right into Will Wright's latest game, Spore.

For someone who has "worked for videogame industry bible Edge Magazine, Official PlayStation Magazine and Pocket Gamer", you'd expect him to be a little more clued up.

New Look, Webmaster tools integration

Been playing Civilisation:Revolution on the Xbox. Is quite good, if you like that sort of thing (and I do!).

They've managed to convert the Civ experience to the console very well indeed.

Apologies for lack of posts recently. Slammed.

Also, check out the new 'webmaster tools' link on the dashboard of blogger down at the bottom, which you can see over at the blogger blog.

Foot

I'm sure you'll be happy to know that my foot is getting better.
I can walk around and stuff, although it's still very bruiséd, and hurts to touch, so shoes are being avoided where possible.

Played a bit more Ninja Gaiden last night. Very good, although ridiculously hard.
You would need to enjoy restart screens a lot to get much enjoyment from it.
Fortunately for me, restart screens are a challenge, rather than a point for despair.

It also seems, as has been described elsewhere, that there's very little 'freestyling'.

That is, once you've maxed our your weapons, and have all the combos, you basically have to remember all of them. Mashing sort of works, but I'm on the easiest level, and having my arse handed to me on a regular/frequent basis. So, actually, it doesn't work at all.

The advantage of DMC4 was that there were a lot of short moves which could easily be chained. This is all very long moves.

Still, I'm going to persevere. I like it, and the blood, whilst terribly inappropriate for the chidlers, is hilarious.

Huhhhhh

So, there's a good reason why posts have not been forthcoming.
When last I wrote, I was stuck in the T5. Not so much any more.

That day, actually, was a harbinger. Of DOOM!

So, the 7.05 flight, or whatever, was full. This is because I'd failed to check in online, and it was oversold.
Naturally, the 8.40 was also oversold, and so there was no room there either.
I got the 11.45, which was delayed by 1 earth hour, due to some screen being broken.

I arrived in zeDam at 3, and was in the office by 3.45, with 15 whole minutes to prepare my presentation.

Woohoo!

So, the presentation went fine, as far as I'm aware. People seemed happy, and Reinoud from Hyves did an awesome job.

When I was done, I called a friend to see if they wanted a drink, and we met up - hurrah! I needed to hit the ATM before we went out, so we went there.
I am a fool, and after obtaining my cash, stepped backwards without looking. The side of my foot went over the kerb, it collapsed, and all my weight went on my ankle.
Ouch.
The dutch are very kind, in my experience, and a lovely lady on a bike sat with me until my friend had scored some ice. Then we went drinking, while I put more and more ice down my sock.

After a few beers, I went back to the hotel, and got some more ice. I wrapped ice in a towel, wrapped that around my ankle, wrapped myself in a duvet and passed out.

I woke a few times through the night, when my foot moved around.
In the morning, I couldn't move at all. No weight on it, and I could barely move my leg. Called the Doctor, who referred me to hospital, where I had a delicious xray.
Nothing broken, which leaves me with mixed emotions.
Nothing broken, so all the pain I'm feeling makes me a total pussy. However, there's also nothing broken, which is awesome.

I did rip a ligament, or tendon, or something, though. It wasn't entirely clear.

Anyway, home I went, to take some insanely strong painkillers, anti inflammatories and general sleep aids, so I was a drooling wreck for the best part of 5 days.

I say 'went home' like it was a no big deal.
I had already missed my plane back home, and the hospital didn't want to give me crutches. They said I needed to walk on it.
I was happy to walk on it, but literally couldn't, and just wanted some crutches to get home, so I could, you know, not be in a hotel with no clean clothes and a foot the size of a planet.
Anyway, after much to-ing and fro-ing, they sold me some crutches and I got to lug myself, and my 5kg laptop around Amsterdam and Schipol, trying to get home.

Moving on, the reason I took the mind-altering drugs instead of just resting was because I needed to be in Dublin yesterday for a keynote, which would involve walking and so forth.

It's actually feeling a lot better now - I can put weight on it, and move it up and down (but left and right or rotation still feels like razorblades under my skin).

So, while I was drooling, I was mostly asleep, but by Saturday, things were feeling a little better - I could get upstairs without crutches, which is awesome.
So I set up the Xbox, and had a poke at Ninja Gaiden 2, Alone in the Dark, Penny Arcade and, uh, oh, yeah, GTA4.

I probably should have done some work, to make up for being so unproductive the last few days, but, well, what the hell. I've done enough weekends and stuff to justify this.

I'll write up my feelings on them over the next couple of days (I fly back from Dublin tonight), but, very quickly:
NG2 - great if you liked DMC4, but a very different approach.
GTA4 - Couldn't play for more than 20 minutes. Didn't grab me at all (although in the intro is frickin' awesome).
Penny Arcade - most I've laughed at a game in a long time. Not the best game in the world (frankly, the engine sucks), but a great package (if you like PA. If you don't know it, check penny-arcade.com).
Alone in the Dark - Meh. Nice design. Cool fire. Interesting approach to puzzles. Something missing.