Sunday, March 29, 2009

A short Update

Hello loyal followers. I'm currently writing a novel so my posts will be few for the next few weeks.

Good luck and goddesses speed

Friday, March 13, 2009

Good Music

This is going to be a list of bands that fall under the category in order from most liked to least:

The Smiths(rock/alternative)

Morrissey(alternative)

Depeche Mode(alternative)

A-HA(pop, rock, alternative)

Coldplay(alternative)

She Wants Revenge(Dark synth. Alternative)

Kasabian(alternative rock)

The Futureheads (alternative rock)

Gorrillaz (Alternative)

Sade(Jazz)

John Legend(R&B)

Alecia Keys(R&B)

System of a Down(metal)

Metallica(metal)

Sunday, March 8, 2009

Top Ten Games and short Reviews

Let's get this party started:

I'm an avid video game player, and notoriously picky yet eerily lax. I should state here that I've never really cared for 1st person shooters but I still know a good one when I see it.

I am not reviewing MMORPG's at this time. Keep in mind I did this when I was of sound mind yet ridiculously tired.

Here is the criteria I look for in a good game:

1) Good Plot/story, I'm a writer and I love stories that make me want to keep playing

2) Replay value, I like games that keep me coming back for more like a junkie to her dealer. I mean if you gonna buy a $60 game you better be able to make the most of it

3) Game Mechanics, The basics of gaming---Camera angles, Glitch number, game controls, enemy AI, etc.

4) predictability, Simply put a game that's plot and battles have become boring a tedious. You know what is going to happen before hand

5)addict ability a game can be redundant but for some reason you can't put it down

10. Pokemon because it is Pokemon. I honestly don't know why beyond these facts
- It is addictive as pure crack.
- Anyone can play it at any time and have fun. It is a simple fun game, and incredibly lighthearted to the point you feel like a kid again.
- You never have to stop playing and there's a new version out every few years.
-everyone wants to own a Pokemon
Yet it is flawed. It can become redundant and you are forced to capture the same 150 pokemon from the first game to complete your Pokemon. Then there are the useless ones, most people get because they have to...ya know what just search VGcats Supereffective and read it.

9. Legend of Zelda.
Not one LOZ all LOZ's for every possible reason. You are given areas to explore, interesting characters, WONDERFUL plots. To top it off a sexy hero to play with....I mean "As" to play as >.>
Any who Great challenging yet not overly hard puzzles, Great camera,great controls, and great plots. The only problems you'll find are in Windwaker and the N64 versions. Though those problems are minor and mostly occur from using a new style; 3D for the N64, and the whimsical cartoonyness of Windwaker

Oh well there is one thing that always bugged me but only in Phantom Hour Glass. As the DS is modern but still a hand-held console you are forced to return to the same few temples multiple times. Oh but don't worry about the temples being exactly the same, the enemies will increase in difficulty-speed, size, power, hearing, and visual spectrum. Which is annoying considering the fact that for that temple you have to use the stylus 9/10 times >.>

I honestly have few problems with the game, my only problems are my own skills it seems.

8.Harvest Moon.
Simply put it's a farming game where you can get married. In the newer ones you can have a son or daughter whose destiny you control by influencing them. In most of the GBA and the first 2 DS games your child never grows up and you can just keep on playing. Yet once you see all the cut scenes you get bored and put it down and move on to the next harvest moon.
It is addictive because it is pure simple fun with wacky characters. It can get a bit boring after a while but it's a game you can ussually pick it back up no matter what the version.

7. Spiderman 2 Gamecube
Mostly for the fact that you feel as though your submerged within a world where you can go almost anywhere you wish within the city. The controls can get a bit wonky and seem annoying but once you get use to them, well your use to them. The only problem is the Fun yet redundant fights between gang members, muggers, robbers, and car jackers. It gets old quick but if you stop playing for a few hours you will be fine with those battles just to get to the really good ones. Besides...using Spiderman's moves is SO much fun, blasting an enemy in the face with webbing is just a thrill. That sounded suspicious... oh well on to number 6

6. Marvel Ultimate alliance
I loved every moment of playing it whether solo or with my brother. The game has some of the best and most interesting characters in the Marvel universe from Nick Fury to Captain America. My favorite part of the game is the team make up. Say you unlock Storm, Human Torch, Iceman, and Thor you get a Forces of Nature Boost, or if you have an all female power house you get a Femme-Fatale-power-boost, or if you have Iceman, Wolverine, Storm and Colossus you get an X-men boost. Which is very clever and technically makes sence the Avengers, X-men, and Fantastic Four know how to work with each other therefore they get a boost. The forces of nature powers double which makes sense because well you basically have a group of near pure elements together. Not to mention the great plot which is just too much to go into, but in short you make decisions that effect the out come of the game and in doing so the world. As in you can accidentally cause Jean Grey to become the phoenix or anti-mutant Senator Robert Kelly to become pro-mutant( in a reference to the conversation between him and Storm in the movie).

There are only four major flaws:
-The camera angles can cause you to get confused and lost, a recurring theme in superhero games, which means you must look at the small corner map to figure out where you are. Needless to say this is annoying, not terrible but annoying.
- The sheer mass of henchmen and beasts can become over whelming if you do not have a balanced team. If your playing multiplayer this can lead to problems if you all do not communicate and work together.
-henchmen and beasts can become overly redundent. after beating on the same guy five hundred times you wonder how many incesterous twins does he have.
- Finally you want more control over the games outcomes and a more interesting exploration of the main characters in specific areas of the plot. I am a writer and I want to feel for my characters no matter what.

Still great game and I plan on getting Ultimate Alliance: Fusion for my Wii when it is released

5. Resident Evil 4.
What can I say that hasn't been said. The game is a fun pulse pounding zombie game with fantastic characters and fascinating intrigue. You will find your self gripping your seat through out the entire game. The only down side is the fact that towards the end of the game you end up doing basicaly one long dragged out escort mission for the presidents daughter. Sure you can see if coming sense she is the one your supposed to rescue, but jeez does every non-overly sexualized female non lead character have to be weak, whiny, needy girl? Oh and I will write a post about that stereotype in the world wide media.

4. Sims 2. Why? because I love playing god that's why. You get so much more than the first game; varied interactions, more sim customization, they have wants and needs, they actually "woo hoo", all of which allow for great interaction. But unfortunately this means it takes a lot to run it. By a lot I mean my comp can run WOW but barely run the Sims2 if I install an expansion it takes 15-25 minutes to load on it's lowest setting with nothing running in the background

3.Baldur's Gate Throne of Bhaal
The final chapter to the best game trilogy I've ever had the luck of playing. I'm not gonna repeat myself on how it runs so just read the two reviews below. The main thing that changed was that there is a new class of Wild Mage. Sounds exciting right? AHHH wrong, it's not that interesting. Basically the wild mage is described as this on http://www.gamebanshee.com

"Wild magic is a new type of magic that is characterized by powerful and dangerous surges and unpredictable effects. Generally considered to be an unfortunate byproduct of the Time of Troubles, wild magic has recently begun to attract the attention of many a curious or scholarly wizard.

Wild Mages are wizards who specialize in the study of wild magic. They have access to spells to protect themselves from Wild Magic and bend it to their wills. Wild magic is extremely unpredictable and should be used with caution.

Every time a Wild Mage casts a spell there is a 5% chance that the spell explodes in a Wild Surge. A Wild Surge does some completely random magical effect. A roll is made on the Wild Surge chart (see the Tables section of the manual); higher rolls are usually better than the lower rolls. A Wild Mage’s casting level also varies slightly whenever he casts a spell - anywhere between five levels lower and five levels higher than the Wild Mage’s true level. There are also three brand new spells available to the Wild Mage and ONLY the Wild Mage. These spells are Chaos Shield, Nahal's Reckless Dweomer and Improved Chaos Shield. "


In short it's an unpredictable powerful magic class, which considering the fact that you get incredibly powerful magic items at this point and most likely have a character you've been using for a good 4 weeks barring RL appointments, is pretty pointless. By this point your character is about levels 19-30 or more depending on how you level(I've ended the game at being level 42). Meaning that your freakin amazing and according to Elminster more powerful than he.

My main problems with this chapter comes from the fact that their was drama going on with the various developers that harmed the game. It was originally intended to be a full 3rd game but it was restricted to an expansion. Unfortunately not a very good expansion in comparison to the other games. Here is my summary:

After you save Suddenesslar from it's troubles, which in retrospect could have been avoided in the first place, you are kicked out of the city because you are considered dangerous. They give you a few items and Ellesime gives you some advice to go to a grove where the gods "speak" to you...or something. You are then attacked by the Bhaal Spawn Illesara and kill her, long story short you wind up owning a "strong hold", a pocket plane of exsistance. You then are charged by the mysterious Mellisan to save the city of Saradush and kill the other 4 bhaalspawn.

For some reason you can not return to Amn, you can summon old allies or continue with those that are already in your party, but either way there's not much to do. You are stuck with the main quest and a few other side quests. Outside of reloads the game goes by pretty quick given enough free time and with the proper skill level you could beat it in 4 days. In the beginning you are trapped within Saradush only able to access the pocket plane to rest and go through tests of spirit. Honestly Saradush is boring, hard to imagine a city under seige by freakin fire balls and giants as boring yet it is. Saradush is ruled by the paranoid half-orc bhaal spawn Gromnir(who actually has a reason to be paranoid) who has built up a small allegiance of bhaalspawn in the city. Yet part of me wonders why there is not as much intrigue as the other games. You do not find out anything about Illesara or Gromnir other than they want power and want to kill you. There is no way to get around them. I mean why can't the more powerful PC win over his army and build up an allegiance dedicated to protecting the civilians and weak bhaalspawn of Saradush? I'll tell you why the game developers were hard pressed to finish their "art" which harmed their creation and in a certain way themselves. Moving on...

After Saradush there are around Seven other areas you can travel to. None of which are truly interesting beyond Ameketheren or the former Temple of Bhaal. I understand they want you to focus on the main quest, but I look for my PC being confronted by what her "relatives" have caused and how the general population feels about her. I would have reveled in there actually being a plot where she is kidnapped/arrested ,as if she was a drow, no matter her reputation. Nay for you are bound to continuous fighting that goes unbalanced by interaction. Do not mistake my words, the battles are tough and if you install the Weidu mod "Ascension" or the other mod "Improved Anvil" it becomes Hellish...they're great battles. You stop having dream sequence's too, I guess in favor of the Solar's talks with you. Still the dream sequences reflected the characters fears/desires and I would have loved to have the dreams depend on your reputation and alignment. I would have liked a sequence of a good character who was romancing their beloved walk with them then suddenly turn into the slayer. If the PC expressed the desire for children or in Aerie's case has a child maybe have a slaughter of those possible children. It would be shocking frightening and give you the sense of what your character is fighting for=his/herself and everything he/she cares for.

Oh speaking of Romance, between BG2 all the Bioware romances that have gone unmodded end with sex until the epilogues which all suck except for Viconia's. Honestly I would have liked a bit more between Anomen and my PC. I mean she's fighting for her life and their future together, yet he doesn't say anything nor comfort her or express his worries about her. It's the same way for the male romances which is truly a shame. If you get a few mods you can get more out of the game from NPC's to quests.

Despite all of this, it is a fine conclusionary chapter to the Baldur's Gate series. Not to mention very very cheap, my brother got it for me for around $6.99 excluding shipping. If your not willing to spend that much you could probably find it for free as a download. I am not advocating illegal downloads, but I am saying most of the game developers wouldn't care cause it was not their true vision, and in truth isn't what they wanted. As I said the problems come down to company/developer troubles and a lack of time given to the developers. They did pretty well despite their troubles and hell, I'm glad I got the game. ^_^

2.Baldur's gate.
The first of a great trilogy combines the best of any pen&paper roleplaying game. It has vast areas to explore, Dozens of quests that require a number of tactics, and a immersive plot. I did not become a serious gamer until I played this game. You create a character selecting from a range of D&D 2e classes and start off as a youth in Candlekeep. A citadel on the sword coast dedicated to learning, you were brought there as child by your foster father Gorion and your only childhood companion was Imoen. One day Gorion says you two are leaving so you pack your few possessions and flee the walls you've been within for as far back as you remember. In your travels at night you are attacked by an armored figure and Gorion is killed. You flee in terror with one instruction go to an inn and meet up with his trusted former companions. Imoen saw the entire ordeal and accompanies you figuring you could use someone to trust and a thief. As you go on you learn that the armored man wanted you and you are confronted by assassins, a plot to start a bloody war, and the actions of the deities of the realms. You go on a journey to figure out why you are hunted and seek revenge for your father.
The game runs on the Infinity engine which is my personal favorite, the system was organized easy to customize to your own preferences and generally awesome. When you play it you are truly within a world with characters with their own goals and beliefs and companions who could leave you if they disliked your actions. That's the best thing about the game, being able to be good or evil or neither if you wished. You were given a number of characters with different alignments who expected you to fall in line within the range of their ideology and if you were too good or too evil they say "Frack you I'm gone" and leave you.

The problem lies with a few things. There is the fact that the world is so freakin large you can get lost and or distracted very easily initially forgetting what you were doing. Though the large world is trully what is alluring. You feel as though your in this world with people with their own lives. Plus you get to explore massive areas, an element lost in BGII

1.Baldur's Gate: Shadows of Amn. (bioware)
The best game I've ever played. The summary of the plot is as follows; After being proclaimed hero of Baldur's Gate you and your companions (which they have thrown together the most likely companions people used in BG1) are captured by the evil mage Jon Irenicus and taken to the Country of Amn with no reason or want to go back north of the sword coast...for some reason. Your journey begins with your trusted childhood friend Imoen being kidnapped and two of your other companions being killed. Your journey takes you from thieves to paladins, from evil drow to noble dragons it is an epic adventure. Hell you even run into Drizzt Do'Urden towards the end of the game and get a chance to gain him as an ally you can't control him but hell it's Drizzt Do'Urden and let's face 75% of characters are based off him or Elminster. It has references to the old D&D cartoon and quiet a few hilarious(insane) characters.
The game ran on one of my favorite game engines the Infinity engine. It is easy to use, well organized, and easy to keyboard customize to your own preferences. The organization has been improved from the first game so that it's a bit more friendly for those who naturally glance left to right. You can either import yout character from the previous game or create a new one. The game is based on the 2e AD&D rules which is fantastic as far as I am concerned.
Unlike the first game this one has quite a bit of character depth and npc interaction even romance options. It gives you a real feel for the characters, even the villains which are always more than what they seem. The art is beautiful and makes you feel as though you've entered a world of its own, which is what everyone wants in a game.

Ok Now for the bad news. As much as I love this game it does have flaws. First off remember what I said about a real feel for the characters? Well that's not always good because well some of the characters are just...dicks or whiny or well let me go down my list.

1) Anomen the fighter cleric. He is a good person and fighter, but he is a dick and my friends and I refer to him as Assomen. He is arrogant, contemptuous, and annoying. He thinks he is better than everyone because he joined the Order of the Most Radiant Heart and strictly sees the world in black and white. He will constantly be boasting of his apparent victories and trials and such but eventually I just clicked through it. He does have a tragic family life- dead mother, drunken father who hates him, and a beloved little sister forced to stay with their father. Plus he can become incredibly sweet in the romances.Yet when you romance him being constantly yelled at or told "your like my sister Moira" gets old.

2) Aerie the Mage/cleric. You either love her or hate her, I hate her. She is a winged elf who was captured and sold to a circus where she had to have her wings amputated because of an infection. Tragic right? Well Aerie sure thinks so because she will whine about it all the time. I'm not being cruel because she does and I understand it's horrible but MY GAWD things could be worse ask the PC. She is incredibly naive almost to a fault and hard to keep alive without using some sort of mod to make her an epic level because she combines two of the most vulnerable classes= mage+cleric. In theory great combo in practice....not so much. If your male you can romance her(god knows why you'd want to), but in the event you do in Throne of Bhaal you can have a child. But oh dear in SOA if you go too fast and get her in the sack she'll think you manipulated her and end the relationship...when she asked for it. Oh and in the romance be prepared for more "Woe as me" Bullocks. Before I forget if Minsc is in your party at the same time she can become his new witch and you can't kick out one without the other. Have fun.

3) Cernd the Druid. Oh at first you meet him and go "Wow a druid this will be awesome" and then you fight with him and then....not so much in fact not at all unless you mod him and set him 7 levels hire than he should be. Cernd constantly spats some sort of nature gibberish at you and the other NPCs who all, but Aerie, find him annoying. Even Jaheira finds his babbling useless particularly as a druid. Then you get his quest and find out that he left his wife to be a druid. Oh did I mention she was pregnant and never told him? She remarried a possibly abusive mage and had Cernd's baby then died. Oh and everyone thinks he's a bastard for leaving his wife, who according to him was sad but understood he had to follow his destiny. The entire quest involves his former friends berating him and the implication that his ex-wife was murdered. Was she murdered by her new hubbie? Why was there a lich with her mage husband. Will you ever know? Oh sorry nope never because the game developers dropped the ball.

4) Valygar the Ranger. I do like Valygar and he has a great quest, but he's dull. He is supposed to come off as brooding and reflective due to his troubled family history and hatred of magic. For some reason I have the feeling he was supposed to be a romance but sadly the Game developers ran out of time for it. On my second run through I actually thought he was romance able and it wasn't until I looked him up that I learned he wasn't, which made me sad. You go through his interactions thinking "OMG something's going to happen" enhanced by finding out he has a vow of celibacy only your let down to find out nothing will. I was so pumped thinking "HE'S THE ONLY BLACK MAN IN THE REALMS AND I CAN HAVE HIM!!" coming from a girl who tends to go for white guys that was a godsend lol. But nope

That's the short list of coarse. It's this entire thing of you know how they wanted the characters to be but they failed....horribly.

Oh yeah and there are these romances

For males:(easiest to hardest)
Aerie....yea culminates in baby, and her finding her place
Viconia you can help her learn to trust again...it's not half bad
Jaheira the hardest because she just lost her husband and you must heal her wounds

For Females
Anomen. You can change him into a slightly better person and I mean slightly
yeah...he's the only one. I guess it's because they figured many women wouldn't play the game. Ironically the BGII modding sector is about 55% women. Anomen yells at you is appalled by your heritage and well is generally an ass. Albeit a very sweet ass, he does have his moments and you control whether he becomes Sir Anomen of the order or if he fails his test and goes off somewhere most likely to die alone or become like his father.

That's right everyone as according to Bioware Love=therapy. Every single one of these characters has an issue of some sort and only love can fix it. The worst part of this is if you don't romance them their epilogues all culminate in a "crisis of faith" even Jaheira. For some reason these characters just do, without love they're lives are ruined. Viconia's epilogue is sad no matter what but for Christ sakes she's smited by Shar.

Oh an MY BIGGEST PET PEEVE....the strong holds. Oh yes there's only one that is vaguely interesting: Nalia's Keep. Yeah that's it. You are given a choice between a Thief strong hold, a playhouse, a freakin cabin/town, a druid groove, and I believe a Paladin get the order building, clerics get their temple, and mages/sorcerers get the planar sphere...A SPHERE THAT FUCKING TRAVELS THE PLANES. Either way they all suck even the quests that are involved with them all suck. You can get a fucking planar sphere that's huge and amazing, but it does nothing. As a mage to Cowled wizards force you to take on three mages who make basic magic items that by the time you get the sphere you could buy or mod into the game. There is nothing at all with any one of these that actually makes the strongholds useful.

Well to correct those flaws the Infinity engine was made easily moddable meaning there are entire online communities dedicated to modding BG2. There are even huge plot altering quests to the game. Even a mod that was based on info given out by the game developers as to what they would have done if they had more time. There are more well balanced romances, quests, and even class kits and a fixpack that changes game flaws such as creature AI. Combing mods with this already great game is simply orgasmic. With communities like Pocket Plane Group, Weidu, Gibberlings 3, and Spellhold Studios it's hard not to mod the games. I won't lie though some mods I find unappealing to me and I mostly stick to quest add-ons and NPC's, but there are really good mods in general.

Hello Big Blue world

Hi, welcome to my blog of sincere opinions, idea, and hopefully fun. ^_^
So here let's get to know me shall we? Cause ya know...I have no clue who the heck I am...how did I get here GO AWAY. :P

My blog will be filled with everything from Movie Reviews, Game reviews, to politcal rants, and stories. I hope you tag along long enough to get to know me. ^_^

You may call me Winter, I'm a young woman, I'm black, I'm a nerd, I enjoy cooking and I love to write.

My obsessions include Morrissey and I'm going to his concert in DC Saturday. I love the man to DEATH. I also love Sci-fi and Fantasy. Stuff like Battle Star Galactica, dungeons and dragons, Baldur's gate ETC. I love.

FYI I'm rather liberal, somewhat of a democrat, and love politics. I do not trust organized religion, I do not have anything against any religion, but I find that every organization is a reflection of man- corrupt.
Do not mistake me for a pessimist however, or cold hearted. If you ask my truthful opinion I will give it bluntly. I believe honor and truth come before all things and if your a truly good liar you deserve what you get. I can shut down my emotions to see the pure rational situation and I hide my emotions for the sake of dignity.

On the bright side I'm incredibly random, funny, and kind when given a chance. I hope you enjoy this