Girl Gamer Craziness

The purpose of this blog is to express my thoughts on various games,gaming communities and pretty much anything gaming related that I dabble in. I am a casual over-18 gamer whom does have experience beta testing a few games. Views posted here are my own

Author: bjgladitsch

Well I was among those whom got to experience AION's first beta event for the US/Euro crowd.  I admit i was starting to get a bit ticked when I hadnt gotten my key yet and I was a guaranteed beta tester before this site got their keys. But its all cool and I got mine i time to play.

First off...the graphics are just beautiful.  Thankfuly my vid card was compatable to the game engine. I have one of those newer ATI HD Radon 4800 cards and some games have issues with compatablity cause they are in the process of adding the new HD vids specs to their game codex.  One warning ...several of the older NVIDIA cards do NOT work well with AION. Makes you all green, blue and red. NCSoft support says its an issue they are currently working on and should be patched by the September US/Euro release. 

Now on to game play.  Before your ascension at level 10, you will see alot of simulariteis in game play as to that of EQ2, Lineage 2 and  Guild Wars.  The quest setup is a good example.  Also the Scout profession seems to me to be setup like the origial EQ2 scout profession where at level 10 you decide between ranger and assasin. At first it looksl ike you are limited to 4 professions but at level 10 each splits into two choices so actually there are 8.

Now I have heard alot of nae-sayers lable AION as an asian grindfest.  It is far from that.  Much of your xp comes from quest kills.  Yes I would higly recommend kililng a few extra during those quests since I think the quest xp is a lilttle stingy. But its by no means an grindfest.. 

Flight combat...I didnt get to experience much on this due to time contraints on my end but what I did was spectacular.  This alone in my opinion sets the game appart from anythign else out there.

Crafting..yes folks there is crafting in this game. You do have to gather resources simular to how you do in EQ2 and WoW.  So if you are into crafting,..this game has something for you as well. I tried the crafing system out and found it fairly user friendly least to me.  Im a crafter in sevreral games and suffered through that mess Vanguard originally called crafting so I picked u on this pretty quick

Housing..currently there is no player housing but we are being told its in the works for releas sometime in 2010.

Overall, AION so far looks to be a great game to play. It combines elements from serveral successful game francises plus it has that unique arial combat so it does have somethign for jsut bout everyone.

It has been a while since I posted so yeah I finally made it back here.  I won't bore you with the details of my absence, but instead get rigth to the meat of this blog..or should i say nutmeats. :)

I am normally not a huge FPS gamer, but having seen an advertisment here for the new "Nutshot" on Combat Arms, I decided to give it a whirl.  First off if you don't like FPS PVP games, don't bother with this one.  It is 100% FPS PVP.  You join scenerios created by others or create one yourself and wait for others to join it.  This could take some time depending on the time of day.  I found it hard to find opponents before 4pm est, so I am guessing this is mostly a US played game. 

The combat itself is pretty straight forward.  There are a variety of weapons available for gps and microtransaction purchases.  The game is free to play but with a catch, most of the best weapons I have found so far are through microtransactions and are only playable for a limited time.  You can get by on the free weapons but I would not advise getting into any serious bigtime pvp fights with them

Nut Shot is the newest feature of the game.  And sorry boys but it is exactly what it shoulds like...you can kill a man with a well placed groin shot.  Women do not suffer this same indignity so I expect there were be alot more female avatars around.  I am actualy expecting that before long, there will be a protective cup available on microtransactions that will reduce the chance of losing the family jewels.  The concept itself is rather funny, if you get nut shotted, you get a nice squirrel with a cracked nut on your screen..if you delievered the bloodline ending shot, you get an oversized "nutshot!" icon announcing your "acheivement".  I will admit that I found myself alot more accurate with the nutshots when I was playing while ticked off at my husband....and yes I will admit..it felt good!

All in all, I did enjoy all the recent improvements but still think its overly microtransaction heavy.

On a scale of 1-10, I would give it a solid 7

This is copied directly from teh guildwars.com website and addresses the past weeks rumors bout GW2 being delayed or in a few rumors...saying its vaporware.

Here is the link to the article..ive copied the article below since its sometimes hard to manuever their website

www.guildwars.com/gameplay/developer_updates/letter_to_our_fans.php

A Letter to Our Fans

To our fans,

There have been some published rumors over the past few days about Guild Wars 2 delays, and I'm writing you today to set the record straight.

You've all seen announcements about restructuring at NCsoft West, and it's natural to wonder whether that restructuring impacts ArenaNet's Guild Wars 2 development. In fact, the reason NCsoft West is restructuring itself is so that the company can put all of its focus into its top-tier games like Guild Wars 2. Our team continues to grow, and has the strong support and financial backing we need to achieve our goal of making Guild Wars 2 the best online role-playing game ever created.

On Friday, NCsoft released investor materials that showed a very broad release window for Guild Wars 2, with the explanation that release timing is still "to be announced." ArenaNet has never given a release date for Guild Wars 2 other than "when it's done." NCsoft's investor materials are a reflection of that philosophy.

I know some fans had hoped for a smaller gap between the launch of Guild Wars: Eye of the North and the start of beta testing for Guild Wars 2, but we communicated last summer that it would be some time before we could commit to any beta or launch dates. Guild Wars 2 is a large and ambitious game, and we're going to take the time to do it right.

I'm immensely proud of what our team has accomplished and continues to accomplish with the development of Guild Wars 2. We'll have a lot more to say when we're closer to release. Until then, we thank you for your continued interest and ask you to stay tuned.

Mike O'Brien

So over the weekend I finaly was able to catch up on the status of some games i been watching for and sadly it does look like Guild Wars 2 and Aion will be delayed until 2010. So I looked around to see what was upcoming to tide me over till then and boy was I shocked...not much is scheduled for release this year.  And before anyone starts saying Darkfall and SWTOR....I currently have no interest in Darkfall and i doubt SWTOR will come out this year.

So whats a gamer girl to do?  Hit up the console games?  Theres a few possiblities.  Halo Wars looks interesting. I got the demo on my 360 saturday...and its alot like a futuristic Age of Empires..ashame its the last for Ensemble Games.  Big bad Microsoft confirmed they are closing the studios to form a new one.  Kinda stupid idea if you ask me..fix the oen you have ..Ensemble put out some good stuff and deserved better than this!

Checking out the upcoming games for Wii....Conduit looks interesting.  And strangely enough..so does Endless Ocean 2.  I found myself oddly addicted to Endless Ocean..diving the depths and looking for this hidden rare fish and mammals...odd for someoen more attune to rpg games.  For more Wii goodness check out this link news.vgchartz.com/news.php

I dont have a PS but my husband has a psp...I honestly havent check out much for the psp yet.

XBox Live..now this is something I am new too.  Only got access to it this past weekend and still exploring things there.  Star Ocean looks to be good..I liked the original.  I did find one of my fav arcade games on Xbox live....Dig Doug.  I still stink at it but its still fun for me.  This weekend im checking out Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic at a friends house..and I guess its time I got off my butt and caught up to my kids levels on Halo , Halo 2 and Halo 3.  Damn you NCSoft for closing Tabula Rasa!....Hmmm Gearsof War looks good too....

Looks like i got alotta console gaming to do this year!

There has been alot of speculation in the last few days as to the future of Guild Wars 2 and Aion in light of the recently announced closing of NCSoft's UK office.  I found this article that i hope helps explains things.  While I am not an NCSoft employee...I think this article explains alot.  And besides...if NCSoft starts going belly up...Sony would jump on their game rights fast LOL

www.massively.com/2009/02/11/official-details-on-the-ncsoft-europe-layoffs/

After recieving may mails and comments of support, I have decided to begin blogging again starting next week. 

I will most likely repost a few of the burried blogs since I cannot for the life of me figure out how to unburry something,.

Cheers

In the few short days  I have been here, I have tried to give a few of my own views as well as provide information on some games I play that others may not necessarily know exsisted.  I identified sources of information when it was obtained from other sources and pointed to locations of further information for those interested.

It saddens me that a particular person has decided to flame me and be condensending, making FALSE accusations that I plagerized wikia infofrmation when i did no such thing.  Credit for information taken from wikia and wiki WERE GIVEN AND IDENTIFIED.  Yes some was copied from their pages and that information was clearly identified as quoted and taken from their original source.  Since I wrote some of the information that is displayed in wiki and wikia concernign some of the trivia i posted, I was more than within my rights to post it.  As a former legal assisant and paralegal I do know what plagerisum is and wht it is not and this was not.

With that in mind, I have decided to cease blogging here as I do not feel like dealing with this individual whom has blasted every blog i have made since joining

So while i was responding to a poster under the GW2 info post, I thought I would throw out some Trivia bout the Guild Wars Franchise.

If you play GW you will see homages to not only WoW's Legendary Leroy Jenkins Video (in GW he is Kilroy Stonekin and still rushes headlong into everything) but you will also see tributes to Star Wars,Indiana Jones, The Matrix, Hellrasier, Pulp fiction, Lord of the Rings and numerous Kung Fu Theater movies.  There are numerous others as well .  I will list a few of the more famous ones here. Most of this information can also be found at guildwars.wikia.com I have posted some of that information here.  This is by no means a complete list..it is just a sample of the treasures you can find in all three chapters and expansion.  Feel free to add your favorites!

Most of the dances each class can do are based on Movies or Vidoes.

guildwars.wikia.com/wiki/Dance

Norgu's Nightfall (GW Nightfall)-

• * Lord of the Strings is a reference to the books and movies The Lord of the Rings
• * Summertime for Bokka is a reference to the play, Springtime for Hitler, from the movie The Producers.
• * Drakes on a Plain is a reference to the movie Snakes on a Plane.
• * The line "We few, we happy few,..." is taken from Shakespeare's Henry V.
• * the line "brave, brave, brave... BRAAAAVE" is likely a reference to Sir Robin in Monty Python and the Holy Grail

The Tengu Accord (GW Bonus Mission Pack/Master Togo's Story)

• The story acts and cut scenes seem to pay homage to the Kung Fu movies of the seventies and eighties.

Extinction (GW Nightfall)

Accept: "He's the alpha. I'm the omega."
Reject: "I'll be back."

• The Accept and Reject options are likely references to famous action movies, the former being "The Matrix", and the latter "The Terminator".

For Your Ears Only (GW Nightfall)

Accept: "So what's all the fuss? There ain't nobody that spies like us."
Reject: "Let it be."
When asked about quest: "We need to gather information about the impending heket attack. Perhaps we can eavesdrop on their troops."

• * The quest title is likely a tribute to the James Bond movie "For Your Eyes Only".
• * The Accept option appears to be a line from the title song (written by Paul McCartney) to the 1985 film "Spies Like Us".
• * The Reject option probably refers to the Beatles song "Let it Be" (also written by Paul McCartney).

Mad Soul (GW Nightfall)

• The quotes "It is not hands that summon them. It is desire..." and "There is a song at the center of the world, my friend, and it sounds like razors through flesh"as well as "Burn? Such a limited imagination." are references to the Hellraiser series of movies.

Kaineng City (GW Factions)

• * Guardsman Chienpo and Guardsman Ping are based off of characters in the Disney movie Mulan.
• * In the center of Kaineng City when reaching the top of the first set of stairs, one should note that when looking up at the tapestry (located above Minister Nai,) the symbol located on the material looks almost identical to that of the symbol of the Borg based off of characters which were enemies of the United Federation of Planets in Star Trek.
• * The fountain which is located only a few feet away is perfectly cube shaped and slate gray with hints of it looking almost identical to that of a Borg Ship from Star Trek.

Lukas Vasburg (GW Factions NPC Warrior)

• * His quote "I'm really left handed!" could be an allusion to the fencing scene from the Princess Bride.
• * His other quote "You will remember this as the day you were defeated by Lukas Vasburg." is probably an allusion to the line Capt. Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp) says to Norrington (Jack Davenport) in Pirates of the Carribean.
• * Also, his quote "Sometimes I amaze even myself" may be a reference to Han Solo's line from Star Wars: A New Hope, after the escape from the Death Star.
• * The ending part of "You should see how they treat me back home. I don't really like to brag about it, but I am something of a hero. People know me" may be a reference to Anchorman.

Chehbaba Roottripper (GW Factions Ranger Boss)

• His first name is similar to the wookie Chewbacca in the film Star Wars.
• Also of note...this boss on occassion drops Chehbaba's Longbow, which is also an uncredited nod to the wookie bows.

Yaks (GW Prophesies NPC creature)

• Resembling the banthas from Star Wars although these are neither tamable or rideable

Return of the Yeti (GW Factions)

• This a reference to the Star Wars movie, "Return of the Jedi".

Ebon Hawk (GW Factions-elementalist Earth Magic spell)

• * Ebonhawke is the name of the last standing Ascalonian fortress in Guild Wars 2
• It is also the name of a spacecraft from Star Wars

Order of the Sunspears (GW Nightfall-Main defenders of the Elona)

• Guild Wars' game designer compares the Sunspears with the Jedi Order of the Star Wars series.

Pogahn Passage (GW Nightfall major Mission)

# There are several references to Star Wars during this mission:

• * The base is nicknamed "The Moon Fortress" due to its shape, that of a crescent moon. This is probably a reference to the Death Star which was mistaken for a "small moon" by Luke Skywalker.
• * If you take Zhed, you, he, and Margrid will reenact a funny dialogue from Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope before entering the fortress:
• o Zhed:You're all mad! You may be able to dress up as Kournans, two-legs. But what am I supposed to be, your mascot?
• o Player:Margrid, hand me those manacles there, will you? Okay, now I'm going to put these on you...
• o Zhed: Grrrrr ...ROOOAAAR!
• o Player: Okay... Margrid... You put these on him.
• o Margrid: Don't worry, Zhed. I think I know what <Player> has in mind.
• * Also, if you take Zhed, you will tell the guards that he is being transferred from cell 1138, which is the same as the cell that Han says Chewbacca is being transferred to. In its original usage, this was also a reference to the film THX 1138, the first film made by George Lucas, the creator of Star Wars.
• * One of the options the Prison Guard gives you for the prison code is "Blue Harvest", which was the production code for Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi.
• * Should you choose not to escort the Sunspear Prisoners for that part of the bonus, the dialogue for declining is, "These are not the guards you are looking for," a reference to a line spoken by Obi-Wan Kenobi.
• * The code for the prison (20-1-8-7) is Princess Leia's cell number when she is being held on the Death Star.

# Right before the area with the demon, there are two guards talking, one being at a loss for words trying to describe how awful the gruel is with the other supplying the word he wants to use as "soylent." The latter then advises the former not to eat the cornbread. This conversation is a reference to the movie Soylent Green.
# The reference to cornbread may also be a reference to the movie Aliens.

Lost Treasure of King Hundar (GW Eye of the North)

A New Guide (GW Nightfall quest)

• both use the same rejection line
• Reject: "You go ahead and get buried in the cavern. In a thousand years even you may be worth something."
• The Reject option may be a reference to the movie "Indiana Jones: Raiders of the Lost Ark", when Dr. Belloq tells Jones that "In a thousand years, even you may be worth something!" as he prepares to entomb him in a chamber full of snakes.

Vloxen Excavation (GW Nightfall Dungeon)

This dungeon has several references to the first Indiana Jones movie, Raiders of the Lost Ark from 1981:

• * The rolling boulder is a reference to the opening sequence
• * When getting the Area Map for the second level, there are several Chromatic Drakes protecting it. The party's leader says, "Drakes. Why did it have to be drakes?" – a mimicked line from when Indiana Jones becries, "Snakes. Why did it have to be snakes?"
• * Taskmaster Bellok likely refers to Rene Belloq, Indiana Jones' main rival.

I ran across a forum post recently asking about information on Guild Wars 2.  As an avid Guild Wars player, I have been eagerly awaiting GW2's upcoming release and have kept up with official announcements and news.  Below is the current information available as of the date of this posting.  I will post any upcomign announcements as they come available.

Taken from my post on the discussion forums....

wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/Guild_Wars_2

www.guildwars.com/products/guildwars2/gw2faq/

wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/Ancient_dragons

Everything you wanna know bout GW2 that has beenj officially announced to date

No there will be no subscriptionj fee..its already been officially announced months ago..the storyline synopsis is out as well. If you wanna preview of what some of the dragons look like...the sleepign forms of a 3 of them can be found in Eye of the North. And at the finaly battle in Eye of the North you see the sleeping form of one of the baddest of the ancient dragons awaken just as the cinematic goes dark.

Primordius

img235.imageshack.us/img235/569/gw139rl7.jpg

Waterdragon (located in the charr homelands not far from Doomlore)

guildwars.systemshock.co.za/gallery2/d/3656-4/waterdragon+.jpg

Unnamed Dragon located under Draknar Lake..possibly another type of waterdragon)

i38.photobucket.com/albums/e104/MALCHIOR1134/gw168.jpg

Hope this information answers your questions

I have tinkered in Tabula Rasa since beta.  A friend of mine talked me itno trying it and while I normally not a big fan of this type of game, I did find it enjoyable.  I was never a hard core player but when NCSoft suddenly announced its upcoming closure, I couldnt help but feel sad and somewhat betrayed.  Just a few weeks prior to the announcement, Richard Garriot went into space and Tabula Rasa got a huge promotion thanks to him.  When he suddenly left the game with no real explanation, players began to wonder what was going on but NCSoft said the game was going to go on with its Earth expansion projects and the long awaited vehicles.  

Then we got the rug yanked out from under us when NCSoft closed the servers down for a few hours...when they came back up they announced its pending Closure.  Yes the game probably could have used a few more months in development but what game out there didnt at release? Paying subscribers were to be given a "severance" package which wasnice but still...how can you offer 3 months of fantasy based games as severance for cclosing a scifi game?

In its current state, Tabula Rasa is 300 times better than it was at release and I firmly believe that if NCSoft had invested a little more in advertising and promotion of the game, it would not be closing.  They could have even gone a step further and made it a $9.99 a month game or even gone to a free game with microtransaction game store (simular to the guild wars and dungeon runners formats) which could have drawn a larger player base and probably earned them more money than a traditional monthly subscirption fee would have.

But Sadly, NCSoft has decided to pull the plug after only a year, on a game that had potential.  I firmly believe NCSoft could have made this game work if they had really wanted to and will regret its closure sometime in the future.  They are putting huge amounts of energy , time and resourcesinto the upcoming Aion which while it does look to be good...is still a fantasy game for which are pretty much a dime a dozen these days. 

Dont get me wrong...I really do like many of NCSoft's fantasy games, Guild Wars being my favorite.  But what we needed was a good well developed SciFi game, not another fantasy game.  I cannot help but feel that NCSoft dropped the ball on this one..a game that could have been great had the parent company cared a littlemore about the game and a little less bout money.  A year was not enough.