shade184 | Entries tagged with gaming

Greg recently bought the new game Dishonored and is letting me play it, and I'm loving it. It plays like a cross between Bioshock and Deus Ex: Human Revolution, in an industrial steampunk setting (not unlike the era of Fable III). It also has very strong feminist and anti-conservative themes:

- the situation of the Empress and Lady Emily, her daughter;
- the obvious parallels to conservative Christianity and patriarchy;
- the plague that sweeps the city (which also seems to be a metaphor, though it could be for any number of things and at this point I haven't discerned which);
- and the Abby of the Everyman and its Overseers (a faith that rebels against a "god" that doesn't care, and labels everything from freedom of speech to a woman reading a book "heresy").

And speaking of gods, the Outsider is the most of the most intriguing gods I've ever seen in a game. He seems to be completely True Neutral. To quote TVTropes:

Blue and Orange Morality: Though the religious Abby of the Everyman preaches that the Outsider is the greatest of the evil otherworldly forces in the cosmos, he seems to be largely contrary to this. The criteria for him appearing before a person and giving them powers seems to largely be whether they interest him or not, suggesting he acts solely based on his own amusement and whims rather then any real dark designs.

The Outsider: "[The royal physician and head scientist] is desperate to contact me. He thinks he can force me to appear before him using the right combination of runes and the alignment of the stars, when all he really needs to do is be a bit more interesting."

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If you want a game which lets you get creative with your playstyle, is set in the deep world of industrial steampunk, and has a new and interesting take on a classic story of redemption, you may enjoy Dishonored.

ETA: I ALMOST FORGOT TO MENTION THE MOST IMPORTANT PART OF ALL. IN THE GAME WORLD, YOU CAN FIND BOOKS. AMONG THESE BOOKS THERE IS HOMOEROTIC SLASH FICTION OF THEIR HISTORICAL FIGURES. M/M AND F/F, WITH THE LATTER REFERENCING THE FORMER. I FUCKING SHIT YOU NOT. 8D

Current Mood: cheerful
Crossposts: http://shade184.livejournal.com/100056.html

These are my thoughts on the new ending. Spoiler-safe, in case you've never played ME3.

( In which I briefly outline my feelings. )

There's not really much else to it. I was going to do a second, spoilery entry, but fuck it, it's late and this is all I really have to say anyway. :)

Crossposts: http://shade184.livejournal.com/89901.html

So I started playing Skyrim a couple of nights ago. The last savegame I made was dated the third of December last year... yeah, I burned out pretty quickly. A hundred hours in ten days is healthy for nobody, and I just petered out after that. (Now? I couldn't play that much if I wanted to. It's good to have something constructive to do during the day.)

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Next week I'm going to NSW for a few days. Mum got an invitation from a friend of hers to come and stay down there for a few days, and I'm coming along for the ride. Where we're staying is in Kiama, a couple of hours from Sydney, and Mum's friend is a scientist and dietitian, so I'm looking forward to hopefully engaging in some fascinating sciency conversations. :3 We'll be coming home on Satu(rday night.

Week after that, I'm going to see if I can get that assistance for my license. Please fuck please let this work.

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*ahem*

Now. I was already looking forward to this trip. But something else came up. On the way home, we're going to have to wait around at the Sydney airport for a few hours.

My good friend

umbravita lives in Sydney.

So perhaps, if it all works out...

:3

Current Mood: exhausted
Crossposts: http://shade184.livejournal.com/86775.html

So I went and bought a new DSi XL. I'd been thinking about getting a new DS (I have a Lite, which I really like, but it's hard to read the screen sometimes), so now that I'd been paid, I knew I probably wouldn't get another chance to buy one anytime soon, and splurged.

It was a bad idea. I shouldn't have done it. I really shouldn't have. x_x But it's done now. And it's probably the closest thing I'm going to get to a Christmas present, so whatever...

... it's pretty badass. :3

Crossposts: http://shade184.livejournal.com/76147.html

Today and tonight have been great. ^_^

Recently I've been worrying about how I would be able to buy a new computer in time to play Skyrim (my current computer can barely play Oblivion on its lowest settings). But today, I realised, why worry about it? I called up Gametraders and asked them to change my preorder from the PC version to the 360 version, which they did with no fuss because Gametraders is the best game shop ever, and now I can play it from launch (or even a day or two before, if I'm reeeeaaaally lucky). I can get a gaming computer and the PC version later, and I'll just sell my Xbox version. I only wanted the PC version so I could play with mods, which won't come out for a while anyway. ^_^

Because of all the fuss, I've been holding back on getting excited about Skyrim, because I didn't want to be disappointed and jealous when it came out and all my friends could play it but I couldn't. But now, I can unleash my geekery in all its fury. >:D

Also, I picked up drawing again. I guess techically I haven't "picked it up", because I've only done a little bit of drawing, but I'm so ridiculously motivated right now and I'm actually having fun. I've decided that I'm not going to bother with exercises or things like that unless I actually want to, because the last thing I want is pressure. It's just a hobby. ^_^ I'll just draw stuff, and take it at my own pace.

Third, I had a long talk with a friend, and sorted out some deeply-rooted issues with them. Slightly more vague, I know, but it's still something good that happened today.

And last, but not least, I'm feeling really optimistic about finding a job soon. So far, so good. :D

Current Mood: optimistic
Crossposts: http://shade184.livejournal.com/69966.html

Lately I have been playing Minecraft online with a few other guys, all of whom are Linux users like me... and gay furries. It's great fun - there's a lot of acceptance in our little group, and as the only straight guy, it's an interesting change of pace to be the odd one out. Not that they mind.

Also, as soon as I can play all the required chords (specifically, B Minor) on my guitar without fumbling, I will record a certain song and post it here, because I can.

Current Mood: calm
Crossposts: http://shade184.livejournal.com/60730.html

Re-acquiring Oblivion for the first time in forever. Should be done in a couple of hours, tops. I hope it works on my laptop. If it does, I might do a journal for my new char, because I'm a geek like that.

(There is a pony macro for EVERYTHING :3)

Current Mood: chipper
Crossposts: http://shade184.livejournal.com/59508.html

Of the ten or so hours I've put into this run of Pokemon Ruby, at least five have gone into painstakingly levelling my goddamn Magikarp, Mr Fish.

And, at long last, my efforts have been rewarded.

"They call me MISTER FISH!!"

Totally. Fukken. Worth it.

Current Mood: sleepy
Crossposts: http://shade184.livejournal.com/49862.html

I put a new(ish) hard drive into my computer today, and I'm going to reinstall both Morrowind and Oblivion, and maybe play through them both in order before Skyrim comes out. Although, there are a lot of other games on my to-play list to get out of the way as well. I have a lot of catching up to do with older games that I missed.

True, I don't have to play them, but there's a lot of really good stuff out there that I really want to see. There's newer stuff: Red Dead Redemption is the first one, I've been told by countless people that it's one of the best games of all time. Then there's the older games: Xbox-gen Bioware titles like Jade Empire and KotOR 2, the FPS forefathers like Half-Life and Deus Ex, and the legendary classics like Fallout 1 & 2, Arcanum and Planescape: Torment.

These are all excellent games. I won't be able to play them all, and I'm sure there'll be some I don't like. But I love going back to my roots and seeing the stuff that I would have played if I hadn't lived in a box all my life.

These will have to wait, of course. My budget is primarily working towards a car at the moment.

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In other news, my new character is coming along well enough. A male Nord, with an unusual (for something written by me) personality, and an interesting history. No name yet, and while his story is coming together slowly, the process is oddly steady.

Current Mood: working
Crossposts: http://shade184.livejournal.com/48873.html

So we just got our internets back, no thanks to one employee who didn't reset it. -_- Haven't checked out Echofon yet, kinda afraid to touch it for fear that it might explode. :P

Been playing Golden Sun: Dark Dawn nearly non-stop since I got it. It's very comfortable for me. Most fantasy worlds in books and games take a while for me to settle in and get used to them. Morrowind and Oblivion, Dragon Age, LotR (although that might have also had something to do with the books' long-windedness), Seventh Tower, etc. But not this one, I was sucked in right away. Some conversations are a bit long-winded, although the localisation team deserves major kudos for giving the characters very distinct and believable personalities. Oh, and the game's way too easy, I've only ever truly struggled in a battle twice. Although that could just be Genre Savviness on my part when it comes to elemental magic. But whatever.

It's a great game, and I'd recommend it to anyone with enough time on their hands to actually finish it. And especially anyone who enjoyed the first games - there's a lot in there for those of us who played the earlier parts of the series.

I was just looking at some older posts, and I realised I have a tendency to be very long-winded when I write. Does this bother anyone? :/

Current Mood: lethargic
Crossposts: http://shade184.livejournal.com/37575.html

This week, I'm going to be trying out the game S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl.

It's apparently an open-world shooter with RPG elements (sounds a lot like Far Cry 2, if you ask me :D) with a rather large game world. To quote the IGN AU review:

"The very first thing you'll notice is that S.T.A.L.K.E.R.'s world is big. Scratch that. It's f%!*&ing huge. RPG players, who earned their stripes playing Oblivion or Morrowind, are used to this scale."

I can't wait. I love huge worlds.

By the way, S.T.A.L.K.E.R. stands for "Scavenger, Trespasser, Adventurer, Loner, Killer, Explorer, Robber."

Let's just hope it runs on my compy. And yes, I know there are other games in the series. I'm deliberately starting with the first one.

This evening was great. I got to hang out with Jess and her boyfriend Lewis. We stayed at home, had some pizza and watched a movie. I gotta do this more often. (I'm really quite impressed with Lewis. Most of Jess's other boyfriends have been pricks, and I'm happy that she's got someone who actually cares about her.)

As for tomorrow, I've got the day off classes, and I'll be meeting up with one of my classmates. A girl, my age, and a rather cute one too. We're only friends at the moment, but I wonder if this will lead anywhere? :/

Not overly hopeful. I doubt I'd make a very good boyfriend, what with how accessible I am, plus I don't want to have to spend the next seven weeks full-time in an awkward situation. But we'll see what happens.

But at the very least, I'm starting to get a life. ^_^