Liddokun's Gaming Rave

This is my personal blog. I write about practically almost anything and everything but my favorite topic is about games, society and culture as well as technology and science.

Author: liddokun

A long awaited F2P mmorpg called Grand Fantasia is now accepting beta participants. The game is a fantasy based 3D RPG with anime style graphics. The original game is called Dreamy Journey online and is published in the Taiwan, Hong Kong and Japan markets. The developer of the game is taiwanese developer EasyFun Entertainment. It is now currently being published by Aeria Games for the US market. The game features instanced adventures, PVP battlegrounds (15 vs 15), dueling and multiple class progression paths (beginners starts off as a novice and can choose basic path at level 5 then more paths open up at level 15 and 30. Click here for the beta application page (note: you must have an Aeria Games account which you can sign up for free). The official website is at http://grandfantasia.aeriagames.com There is a terrific game guide for your perusal here.

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In the nutshell:

Basically the Venezuelan government headed by Hugo Chavez has passed a law banning any violent video games such as those that involves guns, shooting, killing or any kind of violence. Breaking the law can land the poor Venezuelan citizen whose only crime is to seek entertainment 3-5 years in jail. The Venezuelan government justifies this new law supposedly in order to curb the escalating violence in the country. But of course this law is simply using video games as a scapegoat nevermind the real source of Venezuela's problems which is corruption, poverty and lawless elements that is so deeply entrenched in Venezuelan society. Sure blame the games that is making the children bad. Well what can I say, this is pretty idiotic in a country ran by a tyrant /despot.

You just bought a really nice game that you think you would enjoy for a few weeks and months to come. Then they announce additional content to your game that for only a few bucks more you'd get a nice shiny castle, a new henchmen, or a suit of armor or two and a couple of magical abilities that you would otherwise never gain while playing the game normally. It seems DLCs (downloadable content) are becoming more pervasive in the gaming industry. Just a few bucks more for that little shiny. Is our gaming industry becoming one which relies on shiny things to sell their game ? I mean there's absolutely nothing wrong with offering a little more content for a few more bucks but selling a game shouldn't rely too much on offering shiny things to it's fans.

 Cartoon source: Penny Arcade

I got a chance to play around with the Celestial Power set on my lvl 16 character and I must say the power set is pretty much a very support intensive power. Which basically means it's a power you want to get if you want to play a pure support role character with your friends. First and foremost I'll come out and say that trying to solo with pure Celestial Powers is stupid. The developers themselves said it that the power set is pure support. There's just not enough DPS in it to kill villain (and above) packs, in fact you'd probably get severely hurt soloing henchmen packs with pure Celestial powers. Don't even bother trying to solo a single super villain because you'll just get trashed. What the Celestial power excels at is as party support. Many of the celestial powers have some sort of healing factor attached to it (the powers act differently depending on what you are targetting). If you are targetting friends and allies it becomes a healing/buff power while it becomes a damaging/debuffnig power when you are targetting enemies. You also gain energy by healing your friends and allies. Soloing with Celestial powers is viable if you take up another primary damaging power set while using the celestial powers as secondary/backup powers as this makes your character more balanced and soloable but being party support is where this power set  shines the brightest.

It's been 6 hours now and I just can't put down Dragon Age: Origins. This game is freaking awesome. If you're an RPG fan and you don't have this game, then I will tell you that you are missing out on something wonderful. Bioware has outdid themselves and gave us something spectacular. I have no complaints about his game aside from the default controls that does feel a bit awkward but since every control is customizable you can make the controls whatever you want (WASD, Dirctional key or Click to move). I made mine to mimic a standard MMORPG controls (because I like it that way). If you have bought the pre-order collector's edition then it includes several FREE DLC (downloadable content) such as The Stone Prisoner and Warden's Keep otherwise you will have to purchase them. The Warden's Keep cost 560 bioware points or around $7 bucks and give you additional dungeons, storyline and the ownership of a pretty cool keep and The Stone Prisoner DLC cost around $15 dollars (I believe). I can already see Dragon Age: Origins winning the RPG Game of the Year 2009 or 2010. I won't spoil the storyline for you but the story is plain epic and when I go thru it the first time I was literally gripping the edge of my seat. Also the game has great replayability if only to see all 6 origin storylines as each is different (depending on your race and class).

Just completed the rescue of all 13 heroes in the Blood Moon event and defeated Takofanes. The whole thing took around 2 days to complete (approximately around 8 hours with a lvl 30+ team and because we're lucky). I heard Takofanes is a bitch to find with a 6 hour spawn timer and randomly spawns in one of the 3 spawn spots in the Millenium city map. The quest starts in Millenium city and there's no quest starter, you simply go to the public quest spot and defeat the undead hero which ranges between level 15 (the easiest) up to lvl 27 (the hardest) and recieves a quest (as long as you have done at least some damage or killed some minion zombie). Also each hero is not made the same (they represent roughly the different archetype) and some are tougher than the others. I think the most we died to was about 8 times to Vanguard (because he is an archer/DPS and has insane AOE/Big ass nuke that does around 1500+ dmg a hit / 200+ if you block in time), the others are easier. Shadowboxer has insane evade as he is a martial arts fighter. After we finished the last rescue, what do you know, Takofanes spawned just 100 yards from us. After gathering an army of around maybe 30-50 heroes we pounded Tako to the dust (hey everybody free takos!) and got awarded some perks and a mini-Takofane action figurine (really cute!). Completing all 13 hero rescues also awards you with a set of zombie costumes unlock and the Celestial Power set (gives you a headstart on your celestial powered hero).

My thoughts on the Blood Moon Rising event:

I think the event was done very well. I enjoyed the public quest event although the dungeons are a bit repetitive (most of the dungeons have the same theme, mob composition just different layout). Basically run thru the maze, kill zombies, and beat the crap out of the demon that is holding the soul of the hero. I think if you're high enough you should be able to solo the instance. The problem is getting the quest to the hero (which is only awarded if you are present upon it's defeat on the world) but good thing is the quest is sharable with your teammates.

My only complaint is the hunter versus werewolves world PVP event. People with drone pets are exploiting the hell out of the event. Supposedly everyone is changed into a hunter/werewolf with equal abilities and it doesn't matter what level you are. But some cheaters have found a little exploit to help them win. Apparently your pet powers are NOT stripped away if you summon your pet before you change into a hunter/werewolf and you retain your healing drone or munition pet which CAN attack other people or heal them giving your team an unfair advantage. I reported this bug to the GM support and to Daeke on twitter. I can't stand the muthafucking cheaters.

In the Takofanes fight you don't actually fight Takofanes himself but you can actually see him sitting on his throne. He is targetable and is a level 40 cosmic level boss. What you fight is his general called a Takarian Lord which died in less than 2 minutes to the heroes beating on him. I suspect Cryptic might be reserving the real Takofanes fight as an instanced dungeon or world raid. It's kinda somewhat  anti-climactic actually.

I recently purchased the first season of Sanctuary (starring Amanda Tapping of Stargate SG-1 fame) from the iTunes store. The season only had 13 episodes and priced at $25.87. The series tells of the story of  Dr. Helen Magnus (Amanda Tapping) who operates a secret institution called "Santuary for all". Their purpose is to locate strange beings and creatures in order to help them and give them sanctuary but  also to contain them if they are highly dangerous. Many of their charge comes willingly and lives in the large estate but some highly dangerous creature must first be captured and sedated by their retrieval team which is composed of Dr. Magnus' daughter Ashley (Emilie Ullerup) and the staffs and associates of the institution. The series deals with themes such as personal freedom for many of these often unslightly creatures/beings which have no way to integrate into normal society.

The first impression I had was, "Hey this series had Amanda Tapping on it so it should be good." After watching 2 more episodes my impression was "Hey, this IS good." As the episodes progressed a lot was revealed piece by piece about Dr. Helen Magnus, her history and the reason why she is doing this. Each episode is somewhat a self contained episode with a "monster of the week" theme. I think once the series has picked up steam they should switch to an over arching storyline because monster of the week can only go so far before getting old. And yes, there's an archnemesis for "Sanctuary for all" a shady organization called Cabal that seems to be intent on doing the same thing as Sanctuary, which is to locate strange beings/creatures and capture them but their purpose instead is to press/enslave these powerful creatures/beings into their service for their own gain. Everyone loves a good nemesis.

Do I recommend this series to anyone? Yes, but watch it with an open mind as there are only a few episodes released (Season 1 only has 13 episodes and Season 2 has 3 out as of this writing). I find this series thoroughly enjoyable with equal amounts of action and mystery.

A couple of days ago I took the plunge the OS plunge. Yup I updated my PC from Windows XP to Windows 7. The updating process was both surprising easy and annoying to the extreme. The surprising easy part, put your disc in the DVD drive and the setup will do the rest. You don't have to lift a single finger as the process automates almost everything. The annoying part ? Well you see Windows 7 don't like Windows XP hence it insist that you do a CLEAN install which is basically delete everything and start from scratch. You old Windows directory is renamed to Windows.Old including everything from your C:\Windows system directory to your C:\Program Files (yes even that!) and Windows 7 setup drops all the content of your old OS life into a single neat directory ready to be deleted, nothing is imported (configurations, email and all). If you are by chance a Vista user then the process of upgrading is quite pleasant, put the DVD in the drive, click install and go watch some TV or movies for the next couple of hours. By the time your movie is finished Windows 7 is ready for you.

What I like about Windows 7:

- The user interface is neat. They did a good job on the Aero layout. Unfortunately Aero takes up a lot of your computer's memory and resources so if you are like me who wants a lean mean efficient gaming rig then disable Aero and go with the resource minimal (drab) interface.

- Your Windows 7 comes in a 32 bit and 64 bit versions on 2 separate DVDs. In case you upgraded to a 64 bit PC in the future you can use your copy of the OS without needing to purchase another.

- Supports DirectX 11. Makes games look good.

- Some application runs faster in Windows 7. The OS also detects your full 4GB of RAM in 32 bit mode altho only 3GB can actually be used (this is a 32 bit architecture limitation).

- Boot up in Windows 7 takes a bit longer than XP (I clocked mine at around 30 seconds for full boot up).

- A very configurable and customizable user interface.

- I like the new toolbar which has a feature called pinning. It basically allows you to pin a software into the toolbar like a notepad.

- Plug and play devices installs very easily with Windows 7. If you plug in a PnP device that Windows does not recognize, it searches its online database and downloads the correct device driver software for you. No more needing to search thru the internet like crazy.

- Windows Firewall is now even more configurable than before.

- They phased out Microsoft Outlook and other programs from the basic installation DVD and instead you have to download (for free) the Microsoft Essentials Pack which basically includes several software packages such as the Microsoft Live Mail, Movie Maker, Instant Messanger etc. I consider this a good thing. If you don't want the extra stuff then you don't have to install the pack but it's there if you ever want it. 

What I don't like about Windows 7:

- Some very old software can no longer run in Windows 7.

- Some games run much slower in Windows 7 especially if they are not optimized for the OS.

- Many software (especially games) that uses Gameguard no longer functions properly in Windows 7.

- The annoying UAC (User Access Control) is still there but at least now you can tone it down or outright disable it.

Conclusion:

I believe the overall reaction to Windows 7 has been overwhelmingly positive. It's a good OS with a good price (I got mine for $50 bucks during the pre-order event) that retails for around $115-$120 for the Premium Home Edition (upgrade edition).

Torchlight was released yesterday and I bought the game for $19.95 from the main website ($17.95 on steam from what I heard). First impression, this single player action RPG looks good as the graphics are nice and crisp. It is a bit cartoony but in a nice way as the cartoon-ish style preserves the beauty of the graphics for years to come without making the game look old.  Gameplay is very simple your avatar starts off in a town called Torchlight and apparently this town is the world's richest source of ember which is a magical type of mineral/resource that has many uses. Many people has come to the town to make a fortune for themselves (kinda like the california gold rush) but where they are embers there are hoards of monsters and people are starting to go insane (out of greed, frustration or the machinations of some powerful evil being we don't know yet). Anyway, the game mechanics is pretty much a 2D action RPG (the game is 3D btw), you click on things to kill, collect loot and complete quests. If you have ever played Diablo or Diablo 2 by Blizzard Entertainment it's pretty much the same type of game as the guys who made Diablo/Diablo2 were pretty much the same guys who made Torchlight (they now work for Runic Games Inc.). Just like Diablo the dungeons are randomized so you'll never have to go thru the same dungeon over and over.  Loot comes in various grades of rareness (grey for trash, green for uncommon, blues for rares, orange for real rares, etc.)

 Features that I like:

- I like the pet feature (you can choose between a dog and a cat) and you can name your pet. Your pet serves many function. One of which is to be your trusty combat companion (your pet can level up) and has it's own inventory and equipment slots (altho only for rings, necklaces). One of the most useful feature of your pet is the ability to carry loot and you can order your pet to go sell in town (LOL! Such as smart dog to be able to count money). Another feature is your pet is able to transform into various types of creatures (for a limited time) if you feed them fish (which you can fish up from a water hole inside the dungeon).

- The skill system is pretty open and you can make your own "build". It has 3 skill trees for each class. And you can pretty much mix and match skills. You only gain 1 skill point per level so choose wisely.

- Spell/Skill scrolls can drop from monsters which lets you learn skills that cannot otherwise be learned by your class. This include things like healing spells and buffs.

- Personal Stash is shared by all your characters in the game. This means the loot you got from one of your characters can be given to your other characters.

- Huge variety of loot which has interesting properties.

- NPCs that offer services such as removal of socketed gems, transmutation of items, enchanting of items, gamble npc (sell random unidentified loot like Wirt from the Diablo series).

- Dungeon pieces are handcrafted hence it feels fluid instead of being too modular.

- Skill can be hotkeyed Diablo style (left click uses one skill while right click uses another), tabbing can switch skills or MMO style which is 1-9 on your hotkey bar.

- Game offers hardcore mode.

 Features that I don't like or feel is lacking:

- Easy mode is too easy. Most monsters die in 1-2 hits. I think this mode is made for those who has never played Diablo/Diablo 2 or any other action RPG.

- Cannot change difficulty mode in the middle of the game. Instead you have to restart a new character.

- Potions only stack to 20 and takes up 1 whole item slot. I wish they stack up more as they take up precious inventory spaces.

Conclusion:

Torchlight is a great value at $20 bucks as it offers tons and tons of hours of fun. The main storyline would give you approximately around 10-20 hours of play but your character can still continue to get loot and level up after you complete the main quest. An infinite dungeon is offered to test your mettle once the main game is completed.

http://cbs5.com/local/richmond.teen.raped.2.1269829.html

This is incredible, a 15 year old girl who after going to her prom dance was attacked, beaten, robbed and gang raped by over 6 men for over 2 hours with over 25 witnesses and NOBODY even bothered to call the police or phone for help? There are news reports that even some bystanders joined in the attack or laughed at the incident. What the fuck is wrong with america today people ? Is our youth that morally corrupt and bankrupt ? Is this country no longer a safe place for our children to go out during the night ? Did we revert back into the dark ages where violence and rape can happen at night in almost any dark places or alley? What is so galling is that this happened right by the school where there are suppose to have 2 police on patrols. Folks the perpetrators should be brought to justice every last one of them. If society and the government fails the girl and her family then america is in a poorer shape than we thought.