There's just the one story in this entry.
1. I progressed a bit further in the civil war story between the Imperial Legion and Stormcloaks. I sided with the Legion because the Stormcloaks and their leader, Ulfric, are racist, while the Legion are kind of wimpy, but are acting the best interest of everyone.
Since I progressed further, the Legion started showing up inside the walls of Whiterun (the neutral city in Skyrim). It caught my eye the first time I saw a group of 3 of them huddled just inside the gate. I looked at them for a few moments noting that my actions in the game were the reason they were there (side note: I love when games show your effect on the world). Then one of them drew their bow and arrow and a frost dragon whooshes over my head.
I had never seen one attack inside a city yet. It is awesome. The dragon perches on top of the weapons store and hits the Legion guys with an ice blast. I takes off again, landing further into the city, and attacks again. It dies this time, but it kills one of the NPCs in the town (Armen. Poor, poor Armen).
I have to say, fighting dragons in cities is even cooler than just fighting them in the open.
Also, I've sunk around 70 hours into the game (and I still two large sections of the map to explore!). It's ridiculous how much content there is in the game.
"Ain't Nothing Wrong With That" - Robert Randolph and the Family Band
Wednesday, November 23, 2011
Monday, November 14, 2011
Skyrim Stories #2
1. As I walk into the settlement of Falkreath, a guard stops me and asks if I saw a dog roaming around the road. I end up speaking with this guy named Lod who needs a companion and would like me to find the dog. He gives me some bait to attract the dog. It does, but then (spoiler) the dog talks. It turns out the dog, Barbas, and his master are estranged and he wants me to help bring them back together.
I more or less think this quest is pretty cheesy, but the one benefit of this quest is that Barbas stays with you 'til you finish all of it (you can dismiss him, but you'll have to go find him to finish the 2nd part of the quest). And, the benefit of having Barbas around is that he'll never die.
Seriously. He's like catnip to all the things you encounter; meaning you can just bow and arrow the shit out of whatever you come across. It's quite hilarious watching a little dog taking on a dragon and not dying.
2. I go exploring the mountains south of Ivarstead and a blood dragon starts roaring in the distance. I see it scorch a tower, circle it, and then come for me. Blood dragons are harder to kill than the normal ones and not only was I just chilling (get it? I was chilling because I was on the side of a snowy mountain.) in the open, but my little helper/companion/walking knapsack chick had mysteriously gone AWOL, so I had no help. After it drains half of my health, I sprint down the mountain and look for some cover. I find an abandoned building called the Alchemist's Shack and regain some health inside. I can hear the dragon outside and pop it in the face with a few arrows. I think, "hey, I may actually be able to just whittle its health down like this!"
Wrong.
I get ready to shoot some more arrows at it and, when I step in the opening of the shack, a blast of fire cooks me to death. Obviously the moral of the story here is that dragons are dangerous.
"Quiet Dog" - Mos Def
I more or less think this quest is pretty cheesy, but the one benefit of this quest is that Barbas stays with you 'til you finish all of it (you can dismiss him, but you'll have to go find him to finish the 2nd part of the quest). And, the benefit of having Barbas around is that he'll never die.
Seriously. He's like catnip to all the things you encounter; meaning you can just bow and arrow the shit out of whatever you come across. It's quite hilarious watching a little dog taking on a dragon and not dying.
2. I go exploring the mountains south of Ivarstead and a blood dragon starts roaring in the distance. I see it scorch a tower, circle it, and then come for me. Blood dragons are harder to kill than the normal ones and not only was I just chilling (get it? I was chilling because I was on the side of a snowy mountain.) in the open, but my little helper/companion/walking knapsack chick had mysteriously gone AWOL, so I had no help. After it drains half of my health, I sprint down the mountain and look for some cover. I find an abandoned building called the Alchemist's Shack and regain some health inside. I can hear the dragon outside and pop it in the face with a few arrows. I think, "hey, I may actually be able to just whittle its health down like this!"
Wrong.
I get ready to shoot some more arrows at it and, when I step in the opening of the shack, a blast of fire cooks me to death. Obviously the moral of the story here is that dragons are dangerous.
"Quiet Dog" - Mos Def
Saturday, November 12, 2011
Skyrim Stories #1
Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim finally hit store shelves yesterday and I'm going to blog every so often about the random, awesome things I come upon in the game.
1. Right as I was free to roam the world, after the game's opening sequence, I went off exploring; ignoring the main quest line for the time being. The first thing I find is this religious shrine tucked away near a lake with a group of bodies and blood around it.
2. I find a place called South Shreikwind Bastion which is home to a Master Vampire and his underlings. They were a cake walk, but that dude kicked my ass and I had to run away, but not before I contracted the vampirism disease from him.
3. This 3rd notable thing just happened. I came out of a cave and hopped down the mountainside to the road and there's this orc standing next to these two large, dead beasts. He says he is looking for a "good death" because he's too old to be of any use. I offer to help him out and I end up killing him. There's not much to that one, but I think it is cool.
"Way Away" - Yellowcard
1. Right as I was free to roam the world, after the game's opening sequence, I went off exploring; ignoring the main quest line for the time being. The first thing I find is this religious shrine tucked away near a lake with a group of bodies and blood around it.
2. I find a place called South Shreikwind Bastion which is home to a Master Vampire and his underlings. They were a cake walk, but that dude kicked my ass and I had to run away, but not before I contracted the vampirism disease from him.
3. This 3rd notable thing just happened. I came out of a cave and hopped down the mountainside to the road and there's this orc standing next to these two large, dead beasts. He says he is looking for a "good death" because he's too old to be of any use. I offer to help him out and I end up killing him. There's not much to that one, but I think it is cool.
"Way Away" - Yellowcard
Sunday, November 6, 2011
Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception
(Spoilers are a-coming)
I will preface this blog by saying Uncharted 2: Among Thieves is among my favorite games of all-time. It blew me away. The first part of the game was a slow burn. I was in college at the time and I only played maybe a 1/4th of the game before the Friday following the game's release. That Friday night I started playing again and didn't stop 'til 7am the next morning.
It was, and still is, incredible. I remember my jaw dropping multiple times that night. The 1st time I played the chapter where Drake and Elena assault the driving caravan; with Drake jumping truck to truck, I remember thinking, "I can't believe I'm doing this in a video game."
Suffice it to say, I was eagerly awaiting the release of Nathan Drake's 3rd adventure. And, well, I have conflicted feelings about Drake's Deception.
It tells a fantastic story about the relationship between Drake and his mentor, Sully. In Uncharted: Drake's Fortune we know that the two are partners in crime and get into all kinds of shenanigans together, but there's not much beyond that. In Among Thieves, Sully exits early on into the adventure because the stakes get too dangerous for his liking. With Drake's Deception we get to play the moment when the two meet and see, throughout the adventure, that they're not just friends. Sully is the orphaned Drake's surrogate father and Drake is the child Sully never had. What moves the plot along later in the game is Drake's loyalty to Sully, not his desire to unearth a legendary artifact (unlike the first two games).
While the Drake/Sully part of the story is great, the Drake/Elena portion gets very little spotlight. We see her in the middle of the adventure, again a little later on, and finally at the very end. We learn that she and Drake were married at some point after Among Thieves. However, they are now separated. Yet, she still wears the ring because it comes in handy (Drake doesn't). I love the witty, funny banter of the two in the previous games, so I was disappointed she was around for only a few chapters. Though, I do get that this adventure was more about Sully and Drake.
The Elena thing is only a gripe.
- Spoiler -
What I don't like about Drake's Deception is room after room of pain-in-the-ass enemies that completely bog down the progression of the narrative. At one point the main antagonists douse the chateau you are in with gasoline and set it on fire. While you are trying to escape the burning, crumbling building the generic henchmen are still hanging around attempting to shoot you and get in fist fights. It's a little ridiculous. It feels more like a way to extend the game at some points. Do we really need the second wave of enemies after we just killed 10 or 15 guys? No... we don't. It slows the game down.
- Major Spoiler -
At one point towards the end Sully gets shot from behind by Talbot (the #2 villain) and dies. Nate freaks out and jumps down to chase after the bad guys only to have to fight 5 or 6 powered up henchmen where I promptly die a few times (mind you, I always play on the "Normal" difficulty setting the first time through and these dudes kicked my ass). By the time I killed them all, the adrenaline from Sully's death had worn off and I was mostly happy to have finally killed those dudes. It takes away from what should be the most gut-wrenching part of the story.
Maybe drop the number of dudes down to 2 or 3? Or, because he's so driven by Sully's death, Nate can take more damage than usual? I don't know. I'm not a professional game designer (I would like to be though. Hahaha).
Also, for a game to have such an emphasis on shooting in its single player mode (the Uncharted series has had a multi-player mode beginning with Among Thieves), you'd think the gun play would be solid, but it's average at best. Which is weird since the shooting in Among Thieves was excellent. I can't understand why they'd really mess around with it since they nailed it the 2nd time around.
- More Major Spoilers -
So that's one small gripe and an average size complaint.
Here's the thing that actually irks me about just this game (I can think of no instances where the 1st two did this to me). The things that Drake survives through are verging on the completely ridiculous. In the course of one adventure he: escapes a sinking cruise liner, conveniently washes up on shore outside the city Elena is in, gets sucked out of a disintegrating plane and manages to clutch onto a piece of cargo with a parachute, lands in the middle of a desert and roams for at least a day without water, and finally stumbles upon the very people he's chasing.
Look. I know all about suspension of disbelief. And, I get that it's a story, but you have to see these set pieces; one after the other, after the other. They are stunningly done and would likely be a cut-scene in most other games. However, to have each one of these things happen in the course of one story, to one person, and have that person survive them all, well, the writer in me can only suspend so much disbelief. Also, these events all happen in the second half of the game alone.
Criticisms aside, I enjoyed Drake's Deception a great deal. It's definitely worth a purchase and, if I had to put a letter grade on it, I'd give it an A. The Uncharted series is one of the best in video games and sets the bar for storytelling in a game. I look forward to seeing where Naughty Dog takes Nathan Drake next.
"Boom, Boom, Boom" - The Outhere Brothers
I will preface this blog by saying Uncharted 2: Among Thieves is among my favorite games of all-time. It blew me away. The first part of the game was a slow burn. I was in college at the time and I only played maybe a 1/4th of the game before the Friday following the game's release. That Friday night I started playing again and didn't stop 'til 7am the next morning.
It was, and still is, incredible. I remember my jaw dropping multiple times that night. The 1st time I played the chapter where Drake and Elena assault the driving caravan; with Drake jumping truck to truck, I remember thinking, "I can't believe I'm doing this in a video game."
Suffice it to say, I was eagerly awaiting the release of Nathan Drake's 3rd adventure. And, well, I have conflicted feelings about Drake's Deception.
It tells a fantastic story about the relationship between Drake and his mentor, Sully. In Uncharted: Drake's Fortune we know that the two are partners in crime and get into all kinds of shenanigans together, but there's not much beyond that. In Among Thieves, Sully exits early on into the adventure because the stakes get too dangerous for his liking. With Drake's Deception we get to play the moment when the two meet and see, throughout the adventure, that they're not just friends. Sully is the orphaned Drake's surrogate father and Drake is the child Sully never had. What moves the plot along later in the game is Drake's loyalty to Sully, not his desire to unearth a legendary artifact (unlike the first two games).
While the Drake/Sully part of the story is great, the Drake/Elena portion gets very little spotlight. We see her in the middle of the adventure, again a little later on, and finally at the very end. We learn that she and Drake were married at some point after Among Thieves. However, they are now separated. Yet, she still wears the ring because it comes in handy (Drake doesn't). I love the witty, funny banter of the two in the previous games, so I was disappointed she was around for only a few chapters. Though, I do get that this adventure was more about Sully and Drake.
The Elena thing is only a gripe.
- Spoiler -
What I don't like about Drake's Deception is room after room of pain-in-the-ass enemies that completely bog down the progression of the narrative. At one point the main antagonists douse the chateau you are in with gasoline and set it on fire. While you are trying to escape the burning, crumbling building the generic henchmen are still hanging around attempting to shoot you and get in fist fights. It's a little ridiculous. It feels more like a way to extend the game at some points. Do we really need the second wave of enemies after we just killed 10 or 15 guys? No... we don't. It slows the game down.
- Major Spoiler -
At one point towards the end Sully gets shot from behind by Talbot (the #2 villain) and dies. Nate freaks out and jumps down to chase after the bad guys only to have to fight 5 or 6 powered up henchmen where I promptly die a few times (mind you, I always play on the "Normal" difficulty setting the first time through and these dudes kicked my ass). By the time I killed them all, the adrenaline from Sully's death had worn off and I was mostly happy to have finally killed those dudes. It takes away from what should be the most gut-wrenching part of the story.
Maybe drop the number of dudes down to 2 or 3? Or, because he's so driven by Sully's death, Nate can take more damage than usual? I don't know. I'm not a professional game designer (I would like to be though. Hahaha).
Also, for a game to have such an emphasis on shooting in its single player mode (the Uncharted series has had a multi-player mode beginning with Among Thieves), you'd think the gun play would be solid, but it's average at best. Which is weird since the shooting in Among Thieves was excellent. I can't understand why they'd really mess around with it since they nailed it the 2nd time around.
- More Major Spoilers -
So that's one small gripe and an average size complaint.
Here's the thing that actually irks me about just this game (I can think of no instances where the 1st two did this to me). The things that Drake survives through are verging on the completely ridiculous. In the course of one adventure he: escapes a sinking cruise liner, conveniently washes up on shore outside the city Elena is in, gets sucked out of a disintegrating plane and manages to clutch onto a piece of cargo with a parachute, lands in the middle of a desert and roams for at least a day without water, and finally stumbles upon the very people he's chasing.
Look. I know all about suspension of disbelief. And, I get that it's a story, but you have to see these set pieces; one after the other, after the other. They are stunningly done and would likely be a cut-scene in most other games. However, to have each one of these things happen in the course of one story, to one person, and have that person survive them all, well, the writer in me can only suspend so much disbelief. Also, these events all happen in the second half of the game alone.
Criticisms aside, I enjoyed Drake's Deception a great deal. It's definitely worth a purchase and, if I had to put a letter grade on it, I'd give it an A. The Uncharted series is one of the best in video games and sets the bar for storytelling in a game. I look forward to seeing where Naughty Dog takes Nathan Drake next.
"Boom, Boom, Boom" - The Outhere Brothers
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