**MINOR SPOILERS BELOW** I’ve been sick for the last few days, and during some of my “lucid” moments, I’ve reacquainted myself with an old friend. Well, maybe not an old friend. An acquaintance. A buddy from a few years ago that was cool, but also, kind of douchey, and once we lost touch, it didn’t really matter that we weren’t around each other anymore. I’m talking about a game called Final Fantasy XIII. To many, the game broke the franchise, and for a while, I was on the bandwagon. After beginning a second play through, I don’t feel the same way. When Final Fantasy XIII was announced back in 2006, it was presented as this sleek fighting game with RPG elements slapped around it, garnering much hatred early on. I wasn’t a hater yet. I thought the graphics were impressive, but to me, Final Fantasy has always been about the story, so I wasn’t bothered. But as the release date got closer, and beta testers and reviewers alike began saying how awful the game was, I became worried. Words like “linear” and “annoying characters” made me wonder if Square-Enix had finally dropped the ball. But as any good fan, win or lose, I stuck by my team. On my first play through, all those years ago, I found myself beautifully thrust into a fantastic world. Perfect! The story was intriguing, the characters weren’t so annoying (and besides, screw the haters!), and the sleek, new ATB system was much more interactive than I first imagined. Still, I felt something hollow in my gut. The story was good, but something was missing. After several hours of playing, I figured it out. I had no where to go but forward. There’s something poetic about that, but this concept was very unfamiliar for the Final Fantasy franchise. I’m fine with linear gameplay. Sometimes, that’s the only way to tell a story. But lines go two ways, forward and backward, but in FFXIII, they only go forward. During the first twelve hours of gameplay give or take, the main characters are stuck on Cocoon, a small planetoid floating just a couple miles about the surface of the planet. During this time, your only real options are to move forward. This isn’t a totally foreign concept. In Final Fantasy IV, you travel in a somewhat linear path, but at least you can travel back to a town or revisit locations later in the game. In FFXIII, you can NEVER go back once you leave a map. Once you leave behind those early stages and escape Cocoon, they’re gone for the duration of the game. Why does this matter to the story? If I’m so damn interested in the story, why do I care if I can only move in one direction? It’s because in every other Final Fantasy, the player controls the flow of the story. In FFXIII, the story is thrust upon you, tamped down your throat like a Redcoat loading his rifle. Not until much later in the game when you’re allowed onto the surface of Gran Pulse can you actually explore. You learn about the world and the story on your own terms. I think I figured out why this is so important. When you’re reading a book, you imagine the world you’re reading about as you go. But in a video game, the imagination part is mostly done for you. The story can add inspiration and imagination, but the visuals and the sounds are presented for you. Exploration, even reexamination, are vital tools for imagination in a video game. It allows you to discover on your own, to imagine and inspire your own fantasies. To me, this is the biggest flaw with Final Fantasy XIII. I refuse to call it simply linear. Like a ray, FFXIII can only move in one direction, so I guess, I’ll call it radiant. Sounds nice, but I’m not saying it’s a good thing. UNTIL my second play through. What I discovered the second time astounded me. During those introductory hours, I found myself rolling my eyes and taking long breaks between areas, all the while just begging to get to Gran Pulse. When I finally got to Gran Pulse, not only was I relieved, but I found what I’d missed before. The l’Cie, my main characters, are trapped in a fate they cannot escape. At first, they’re forced to run, and even upon discovering their purpose, they’re still funneled into a direction that only their fal’Cie overlords can understand. Only when they take matters into their own hands and challenge everything they’ve ever been told about Gran Pulse, are they opened up to exploration. What a genius way to get the point across! Let your player go through what the characters are going through. It’s like the “show, don’t tell” rule, but applied to a video game. Suddenly, the past few hours struggling through Cocoon didn’t feel so wasted. I was connected to the characters on a new level. I truly understood the frustration of being l’Cie. I’m not saying this redeems the flaw of radiant gameplay, but it does give some justification. It provides a brand new experience for an old time Final Fantasy player like myself. Unfortunately, too many people aren’t in it for the story. I've been an avid fan of the Final Fantasy series since the first game on the NES. I've played most of the games, been impressed by all of them. Even today, they are my biggest sources of inspiration.
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One of the most beloved games from my childhood was The Legend of Zelda. I played the original for the NES when I was in grade school, but my fascination with the series really took off when A Link to the Past came out, and there are a couple reasons why. Firstly, Nintendo Power magazine featured a comic book based on the game, a bit of marketing that really helped build the hype. Secondly, my best friend at the time was as big of geek as I was about the game, so having a friend along for the ride helped feed my own fascination. But probably the most intriguing feature of this new game was that it took us into Hyrule's past, giving us an origin story. The most amazing aspect of this past Hyrule revolved around the so-called, Dark World. Not only would we have the "Light World" of Hyrule to explore, but we also had the Dark World to explore, a mirror image of Hyrule corrupted by Ganon's greed and desires. The worlds were connected by established portals in the Light World, but one of the single most beautiful concepts was how one world affected the other. Drain a dam in one world and you would open a path in the other world. Some items could only be obtained by traveling in between the two worlds, cutting through the reality of each like a sewing needle. Coupled with the games beautiful graphics and soundtrack, the A Link to the Past holds up as a beloved classic. So naturally, I was pretty excited when I learned about a follow-up game called A Link Between Worlds, released the year for the Nintendo 3DS. A yes, a follow-up, not another freakin' remake! Remakes are fine and all, but I'm a story guy. If you're not doing anything but updated the graphics, it's not enough for me. A Link Between Worlds takes place several generations after A Link to the Past. At first, it seemed I was pretty much headed for remake territory when I first started playing. Some of the names and features of the world had changed, and taking away the stormy opening sequence of ALttP didn't convince me. It wasn't until I started into the first dungeons and noticed that things only looked similar. Many of the puzzles were completely new, and those that I did recognize came welcome and also with just enough twist that they seemed fresh. When it came time to hit up Hyrule Castle, the place I knew would introduce me to "the other world", I was eager to move forward. Even though I knew it was coming, I was shocked and even a little disoriented when it first happened. You see, one of the newest mechanics of ALBW is the ability to merge into a wall and become a painting that can move on the surface only, and this new mechanic is exactly what ties the two worlds together. Another interesting mechanic is the introduction of tool rental. In the past Zelda games, you were pretty much required to go from one specific dungeon to the next because an item in dungeon A would allow you access to dungeon B. There was no real choice, of course a crafty player could figure out how to get around some of those obstacles. In ALBW, Link has the option to "rent" and eventually even buy some of the tools that allow him access not only to one or two of the dungeons, but nearly all of them. Rentals are lost if Link runs out of hearts, but if you can manage to buy them early, they're yours to keep. I'm not through the game yet because I'm bogged down with work, but the few hours I've played here and there are really shaping up nicely. If you are on the fence about A Link Between Worlds because you think it might be a remake, remember this game only takes place in the same world (or worlds). The story and mechanics are much different, and in some respects, even improved upon.
And as a bonus, A Link Between Worlds adds more story to the already complex Zelda timeline, a world I will never get tired of. Since the release of the original Borderlands in 2009, and Borderlands 2 last year, one constant has encompassed the franchise like a Rakk circling a horde of bandits: Loot. These games have TONS of loot. So what’s so special about loot? I’ve been asking myself that question for a long time now, and with the Borderlands 2 Loot Hunt in full swing, I find myself asking again. After countless hours farming for Bee shields or multiple runs against raid-bosses like Pyro Pete and Terramorphus, the simplest explanation might just be the answer. Hunting for loot is awesome. LOW DROP RATES
A common complaint throughout the Borderlands community is that some of the best weapons/mods/shields have extremely low drop rates. One of the rarest weapons in the game, the Cobra, can only be dropped from a specific enemy type. Killing 100 Burners might net one or two sniper rifle drops, and of those one or two drops, there’s only a .88% chance that it will be a Cobra. But whereas others might choose to complain about the low drops, I personally like them low. I still remember the first pearlescent weapon that fell from a wandering Goliath or that time I found an Infinity pistol in a red chest. These finds were made memorable because they happen so infrequently AND because they were good weapons. FARMING In almost all games, an element of farming is present. Farming is the idea of repeatedly hunting/killed the same enemy or groups of enemies over and over until you net one of their rare prizes. When I was younger, we didn’t call it farming. We called it playing the game. In Final Fantasy IV for the SNES, my best friend and I spent hours killing Red Dragons at the end of the games in the hopes of finding Kain’s Dragoon Lance. We did this because we wanted to find the best the game had to offer. In Borderlands, the best is always right around the corner. Even once you have a weapon or mod you’re happy with, another will usually come along. The best (if there is such as thing) is also interpretive. My level 72 Caustic SMG might not be the best weapon to another player. Such is the beauty of Borderlands. So many choices and play styles can come together. THE LOOT HUNT The Borderlands Loot Hunt is one of the most brilliant pieces of video game marketing that I’ve seen in a long time, if ever. Every day over the course of a month, a new target and challenges are released to anyone who has signed up for the hunt. Every time you kill the daily target, you’re entered into a drawing for $100,000 worth of prizes. After playing Borderlands 2 for so long, I’ll jump at a chance to make some money off my experience. But the fun of hunting specific targets isn’t nearly as fun as the daily challenges. Every time you kill the daily target, a rare weapon will drop. The daily challenge requires you to take said weapon, and as a community, kill a mass amount of a specific enemy. If all the daily challenge requirements are completed to 100%, yet another rare piece of loot is made available. The daily challenges breath new life into the game. I was starting to get a little bored mashing up Field Rats with my Unkempt Harold, but yesterday, I had to take my newly acquired Fire Veruc against the Field Rats instead. It was almost like playing a new game, plus, I found love for a weapon I’d found once before and discarded because I didn’t much care for the feel. In the end, Borderlands is a getaway from the stresses of real life, but finding loot is the icing on the cake, making it all taste that much better. When I was about 10 or 12 years old, I can't even remember for sure, my best friend and I used to spend hours creating things related to our favorite video games. Enamoured with Final Fantasy IV, we wrote a guide referencing various characters, places, and objects with their respective myths. When we were going through our Mega Man phase, we would use dot-matrix printer paper to create entirely new levels. One year, we teamed up with a few neighborhood kids and made a Super Mario movie (I kinda wish I still had that VHS...and a machine to play it on). Those days are well into my past, but they've stuck with me quite a bit over the years. Why? Those days were filled with imagination, a trait that has dwindled during my shift to adulthood. Sure, we didn't always have the most original ideas, but what truly mattered in those days was we took a basic idea and then we ran with it, generating our own ideas, injecting our own imaginations, and letting our creativity run wild. This is why I love video games so much today. I'll usually find a basic idea that fascinates me, then my own ideas and creativity take the wheel. In a weird way, video games are a little like my muse. Which brings me to the Borderlands games, most notably, Borderlands 2. Now, I'm a pretty big fan of this game, as evidenced by my time posting to the Borderlands subreddits and the few blog posts I've made. I've played through multiple times in the last few months, maxing out my levels, farming for cool weapons, and using the diverse variety of classes to give myself a unique take on the game. What I can't get over though is how utterly fascinated I am with this game. I can't remember the last time I played a game so religiously that didn't have a "Final" or "Fantasy" in the title. So what is it about this game that has touched not only me, but an entire community of Redditors? AN EPIC STORY Both Borderlands games take place on the planet of Pandora, a planet filled with horrific creatures and overrun by commercial greed. In the original game, the Vault Hunters are driven to hunt down "the Vault", which contains ancient alien technology. The story involves a long quest, but it intertwines with Pandora's history. Not only are you fighting against remnant psychos and bandits left behind by the Dahl Corporation, you also struggle against contenders for the Vault, an army by the name of the Crimson Lance. Dialogue might be sparse, and the story itself might be slow at times, but the action never really stops as you plunge through the story. Borderlands 2 takes us into the future a little ways, bringing in a new clan of Vault Hunters while keeping the old familiar Vault Hunters as non-playable characters. You get to keep the previous stories, witness the repercussions from the first game, and then set out to find another Vault. Only this time, you have a clearly identified villain. Handsome Jack, president of the Hyperion Company, is a ruthless (though somehow hilarious) and calculating villain, hell-bent on destroying anyone living on Pandora. The two games branch nicely, folding one into the other, creating a truly epic feel. AWESOME CHARACTERS Brick, Mordecai, Roland, and Lilith. Salvador, Maya, Zer0, Axton, Krieg, and Gaige. All of them Vault Hunters, and all of them awesome in their own right. Sure, the story is the same at the end no matter who you choose, but the journey you take to get there might be totally different. Did you melee your way to the final boss? Did you fight like a soldier or a sniper? Did your enemies feel the sharp blade of your buzzsaw axe or the claws of your deathtrap? Did they succumb to the concussive blast of your phaselock or the elemental power of your phasewalk? The story is there regardless, yes, but the characters, each with their own history and personas, really make the game. Not only do you get the epic feel of Pandora's past and present, but you become connected to the characters you take along for the ride. You learn their catchphrases and abilities, and every time you begin a new campaign with a different character, it truly feels like you're starting over again. CREATIVITY As I said in the beginning, it's the simple ideas that inspires us all to create. A story, a character, and before you know it, you're off on your own. I've been a member of the Reddit community for a while now, and a member of r/Borderlands and r/Borderlands2 since I first picked up the original Borderlands game. But it wasn't until just the other day that I noticed how much creativity was coming out of these subreddits. Music videos, fanfiction, video shorts, comics, drawings, analytical theories, paintings, cosplay, and I know some of you hate it, but modding...yup, that's using some creativity genes, too. These are all outlets for creativity, and they've all found inspiration from the legends of Pandora. An hour on Pandora can lighten me up as well, lending to me the inspiration I have to continue my editing or finish writing my own epic stories. It's a great feeling being a part of a game that inspires so many others. This passion is what leads to innovation. It might seem backwards, but I truly believe there is no such thing as an original idea. True innovation is taking an idea and spinning it completely upside down and inside out, leaving the passion there but the idea totally new. Thanks for reading, Vault Hunters! RELATED: Borderlands 2: The Ultimate The Finer Things: Pandoran Redux **Spoilers Below**After about 4 days of off-and-on playing, I've finally come to the conclusion of The Last Of Us (PS3 Exclusive by Naughty Dog). While I have already given a review of this game, I'd like to follow up with a more specific analysis of the story rather than the game as a whole. One of the reasons I love video games are because of the stories associated with them. Dumb story = dumb game (at least in my little world). So if you haven't reached the conclusion of the game, I'll warn you again to read elsewhere. Here. Click on this link. The Last Of Us opens on Joel and his teenage daughter, Sara. Early on, we learn a little about the two through Sara's point-of-view. She's being raised by her father, alone, but clearly she cares deeply for him in her own way. Joel loves her just the same. Brought awake early by an urgent phone call from her uncle, Sara wanders the house in search of her father, only to be attacked by a "sick" neighbor. Joel shoots the man dead, and the two escape the house with Joel's brother, Tommy. The situation only grows worse from there. While the details early on are pretty sketchy, it's evident the city is under some kind of attack. Crazies are attacking people in the street, and with the appearance of the military, it really appears that the city of Austin is quickly going to shit. After reaching the outskirts of town, Joel and Sara are stopped, not by one of the "crazies", but instead by a soldier who opens fire on them after a brutal command. Sara is shot, but the soldier is quickly subdued by Tommy. Though I've only known Sara a short time, the hurt in Joel's face and voice is palpable. When she dies, I have a clear understanding of Joel's pain.
Twenty years go by. The "crazies" in Austin were infected by a fungus similar to cordyceps which takes over the host's brain, eventually mutating them. Only a few major cities remain in the form of Quarantine Zones run by the military. No government exists, though a group calling themselves the Fireflies is fighting both for a cure and return to sanity. Joel seems colder now, a grizzled veteran of this new world. He and his partner, Tess, are smugglers, and what begins as a mission to retrieve stolen goods, ends up in as a quest to unite a 14-year-old girl, Ellie, with the Fireflies. Ellie is immune to the infection, and her survival could mean the restoration of all of humanity. Together, Joel takes Ellie across the country, fighting off hunters, cannibals, infected, and eventually, even the Fireflies. The Human Condition On the surface of things, the world is a simple place. You live and try to survive. You kill anyone who stands in your way. The only thing that matters is you and your group. It seems that everyone in this future-world lives by these same rules. Joel and Tess are smugglers, so when someone steals their guns and effectively inhibits their survival, the thief is killed brutally. The interesting thing about this new world is that the meaning of life no longer seems to matter all that much because the meaning is what it is...life. Despite all odds, humanity continues to crawl forward. Death is everywhere, and life, while precious to some, is not so precious to others. Hunters kill innocents to ensure the lives of their fellows. Cannibals eat those they kill to ensure the survival of their group. And Ellie and Joel...well they kill anyone who might stand between them and their goal (I'll get to that in a minute). What's even funnier is that I haven't even mentioned the infected! The infected are EVERYWHERE, and yet, they seem like the lesser threat because they aren't exactly unpredictable. But because the infected are the cause of the mess the world is in, they seem like they might be the villain. The real villains are the remnants of humanity, who rather than working against a common enemy, fight primarily against one another. One might argue this is exactly how things operate today. The Goal Another interesting aspect of the story involves Joel and Ellie's journey. Their goal seems simple. Joel was hired to take Ellie to the Fireflies so they could find the cure to the infection. After Tess is infected and then killed, it seems Joel is fully onboard with taking Ellie to the Fireflies. After all, it's what Tess wanted. And Ellie, well she wants everybody cured, too. She wants to know that all the death she's witnessed and caused has meant something more than just death. She needs to know that some good can come from it all. With those two thoughts in mind, it seems Joel and Ellie have a common goal. While Ellie's goal remains unchanged throughout the story (as evidenced by her final lines), Joel's goal changes dramatically. The obvious parallel between Joel and Ellie is her similarity to Sara, but because Joel is so closed off emotionally, so focused on moving forward, we don't see Joel acknowledge it until very late in the story. Joel begins to realize that he's taking Ellie to the Fireflies because it's what Ellie wants and what Tess wanted. All the death that had been visited upon the world could finally mean something, including the death of his own daughter. But when he learns the Fireflies will kill Ellie in order to find their cure, he sacrifices the cure for Ellie. Why? Joel never stopped moving forward. Even when he acknowledges that Ellie is so much like his lost daughter, Joel realizes that this is the world they live in now. Finding a cure, taking everyone back to the way things were, it doesn't ever justify the death. It will never undo the brutality and destruction. The best thing to do is to simply move forward. To live as well as you can. To find love and to survive. The true meaning of life perhaps. Spoiler-Free Review of The Last Of Us (PS3)Most of us are familiar with the zombie apocalypse genre. A virus breaks out and rapidly spreads among the human population. The infected feed on the flesh of the living and spread the virus by biting the healthy. Survivors wall themselves up in camps or the military gets involved or both. Human beings find the worst in themselves in their struggle to survive. They lie, betray, steal, and murder. The honest people either die or become murderers themselves, and humanity sinks into an abyss from which it might never escape. And fade to black and roll credits. The End. …To Be Continued. I’m a big fan of the newer zombie genre. Sure, the original Night of the Living Dead was a scary flick to be sure, but the zombies in 28 Days Later and the remake of Dawn of the Dead were much more violent and predatory. Of course, The Walking Dead comics have proven the shear numbers of infected can be daunting no matter how slow they move. But the one thing I never hear much of in any of the zombie stories, comics, or movies I’ve seen or read is the what happens in the long run. What happens five, ten, or twenty years down the road? The Last of Us, a survival horror video game for the PS3, brings some answers to that question by taking us 20 years after the initial outbreak, providing interesting gameplay while doing so. A Compelling Story Right from the beginning, the story behind The Last of Us swept me up and carried me along. Like any great movie, the voice acting and visuals took no more than they needed to, letting the characters react to the events around them. Playing as Joel, the protagonist so-to-speak, I felt myself caught up in the same events, lost and disoriented at times, struggling to find weapons or an escape. I felt anxious and trapped, just as I imagine I would feel if this life were my own. This feeling didn’t just flow from cutscene to cutscene, leaving me to figure out the story as I fought through hordes of infected or while searching the landscape. The story progresses even during the gunfights and hand-to-hand combat, giving further glimpses into each of the characters’ development. When there are no infected to battle, the characters often talk to one another, sometimes battering, sometimes consoling, sometimes teaching. The people Joel meets as he travels aren’t always friendly, but they’re still people, and I’ve learned to love them each differently as we travel together. The “new world” is another huge part of the story. As I stated earlier, the outbreak occurred twenty years prior to the main story, so quite a lot has happened to the world. Quarantine zones run like labor camps while entire cities outside the QZ walls have become overgrown by wilderness. Smaller cities have been abandoned, overrun, or walled off completely. Because so much time has passed, a lot of work has gone into the fortified structures to keep them intact and free of infected. Speaking of which, the infected themselves are subject to the dictates of time, for the longer one is infected, the stronger and more mutated they become. I’ll just leave that right there. Intriguing Mechanics There are a lot of skills to learn and know in this game. Weapons and inventory items are selected through the directional keypad and used simply enough. So far, there are a bunch of little weapons and gadgets to find, upgrade, and use. Upgrades on weapons can only be performed at workbenches and cost “parts” which can be fun to look for as you explore the landscape. Upgrades on Joel’s skills (like extending his “listening” range or health bar) can be done by finding supplements, which again, can be found through your exploratory travels. There’s no “experience points” to earn in this game, so Joel’s skills and strengths can only be increased by the things that he finds. Unfortunately, I can see how this might become a little monotonous after awhile. The gameplay itself is fluid and reactions from enemies and nonplayable characters are immediate, adding to the realism of the game. The enemy AI is unrelenting in its efficiency. There is no room for error while trying to sneak past infected or while fighting a group of bandits. Ammo and health are limited, so one must choose wisely on their methods of attack or stealth. Character Development = 5/5 Story Development = 5/5 Dialogue = 5/5 Gamplay 4/5 Game Mechanics = 4/5 Over all, The Last of Us is providing an entertaining experience. Characters are fresh and they sound natural. The story is compelling and keeps the player’s attention even between cutscenes. While the gameplay and mechanics are a little lacking in originality, the realism in the game more than makes up for it. The Geek’s Rating = 23/25 I’ve been a gamer pretty much my entire life. I grew up on consoles like the Commodore 64, the NES, and its predecessor, the SNES. When I was in high school, I was impressed enough with the appearance of one of my favorite franchise games, Final Fantasy VII, which opened me up to the new PlayStation console. Consequently, the PlayStation has been my console of choice of the last decade, with an exception being the Nintendo GameCube and the Wii…you know…for fun. What does it mean for me to be a gamer? I’ve never really thought about it until lately. A gamer, after all, is just a label. I’ve always been the person I am, and I love playing video games. I love the immersive worlds, the challenge of mind, hand, and eye coordination, and I like the stories in the same way people like getting sucked into good books. I suppose by some small definition of the word “gamer” that makes me one. I also have other hobbies like biking, reading, woodworking, and of course, writing. Does that make me any less of a gamer? I don’t know. But what I do know is… I’m definitely buying a PlayStation 4. Of course, there was never much doubt in my mind that I would eventually be buying a PS4. I’ve never really touched an Xbox, and most of the titles I’m interested in are either unavailable for Microsoft or they’re cross-platform. Of course, with the announcement of the PS4 and then the new Xbox console just last month, there was a small possibility that I would branch out. When the PS3 was first released with it’s monstrous $600 price tag, a lot of PlayStation die-hards like myself were suddenly considering siding with Microsoft instead. It seems the opposite has happened this year with the announcement of the Xbox One. Amongst privacy concerns, used game restrictions, and “always on” technology, I have to wonder why anyone would buy an Xbox One over a PS4…period. One of the only positive reviews I’ve read for the Xbox One was from GIZMODO (http://gizmodo.com/why-im-getting-the-xbox-one-not-the-ps4-ugh-512840127) who really only wanted it as a TV/movie catalogue/streaming device. They literally wanted “One” box to control everything entertainment in their home. One of the freakiest features of the new Xbox console is the “always on” Kinect. For those of you who don’t know, the Kinect is a camera that you can use to interact with your Xbox. But with the Xbox One, the Kinect is super-freaky-smart. It has a 1080p wide-angle camera with an infrared sensor so it can see in the dark and a microphone that always remains on in order to pick up voice commands even when the Xbox One is in sleep mode. From a purely technological standpoint, this is pretty cool, however amidst talk of government surveillance through major companies like Microsoft, I worry how such a powerful tool could be implemented. Outside of the voice and motion controls managing the entertainment coursing through your living room, the PS4 offers everything I need. I can play both new and used games independent of an internet connection. I can still watch Netflix and BluRay movies. I have access to tons of cool new games that can also be found on the Xbox One, and other games that are exclusive to the PS4. Perhaps the only real downside on the PS4 is the announcement that online gaming will require a PlayStation Plus membership (rather than remaining free). To be honest though, I’ve been looking for a reason to join PlayStation Plus, and online gaming is just the thing to do it. As soon as I sign up, I’ll have access to an online backup of my game saves, an online library of free games, and discounts on new releases. So bring it out already, Sony. You’ve made me a lifelong customer with the service you’ve shown and your ability to listen well to your customers. I’m ready to buy. Since childhood, I’ve always loved making things. Legos, robots made from cardboard, forts, and SimCity were all great fun. Building and making things is one of my favorite hobbies (this is probably why I love to write). When I moved out of my parents house, I had to leave all my tools behind because apartment living doesn’t exactly provide shop space. Over the years, I’ve rebuilt my tool collection, and after starting my job at Windsor Plywood, my fascination with woodworking definitely took off. Over the last seven years, I’ve taken on several major projects, and I’ve learned important lessons from all of them: The Coffee Table When I first decided to get back into woodworking, my approach was (and to some extent still is) amateur. I set out to build my girlfriend a coffee table, however, I had no idea how to build one. I got ideas from a woodworking magazine on how to make legs and then attach them to the top, but the top was the most daunting part. I had no experience using a biscuit joiner, nor the tools required to stand the top once I was done, and plywood was absolutely out of the question. Then I had an epiphany. Prefinished maple flooring. The finish was extremely durable, and all I had to do was nail the board to a substrate and finish the edge. I thought it would be soooo easy. The legs and skirt came together nicely. I cleaned up some hemlock scrap to make the legs, and I used the table saw to rip a nice 45º edge on two sides. But then came the top. I chose ¾” MDF as my substrate (my first mistake). While solid and flat, the MDF weighs a ton. It takes two people to move that coffee table to this day. Once I’d nailed the flooring into place and then trimmed up my top, I had to figure out how to finish the edges. In my mind, I had two options: I could use real maple 1x3 and trim the edges using a miter joint, or I could use real wood veneer. I succumbed to my second mistake and chose to use veneer. Miters scared the hell out of me, and veneer seemed much less intimidating. Beside, the veneer might give a nice “slab” appearance to the top. So I slapped some contact cement on the front edge of my top and to perfectly cut piece of veneer, making sure to let it dry before putting the pieces together. I had no idea what was about to happen. If you’ve never used contact cement before, you should know something. Contact cement is exactly what it sounds like. Cement…on contact. In retrospect, my veneer should’ve been larger enough to trim on all four sides rather than perfectly cut to fit because as soon as the veneer sagged down and touched the edge of my top, it bonded instantly. Horrified because I knew I’d screwed up, I made my third rookie mistake of trying to pull it off so I could reposition it. The veneer tore (as did my shirt when I tore it from my body in a heated rage and vowed revenge against the woodworking gods). Of course, I quickly realized the mistake I’d made. I ran the top through the table saw to clean off the edge and went to work with the solid lumber that I should’ve used in the first place. Lesson learned. I chickened out on the miters though and chose to butt the ends of the boards together. Seven years later and two thousand mile moves have proven the coffee table to be sturdy, and the top itself has held up nicely against discoloration, scratches, and stains of any kind. But man, that thing is heavy! Pics are below, taken very recently (like tonight). You'll have to excuse the mess...the table is currently being store because we don't have room for it. I'd always felt the appeal of comic books long before I ever picked one up. I loved reading and drawing. I searched for fantastic stories about super powers and magic. The allure to comic books came naturally because comics had all these things in common. But outside the occasional run-in at the public library, I couldn't find a way to get into them. Too many characters, too much back story, and never enough time or money. My interest waned. That all changed in the early 90's when "X-Men: The Animated Series" came out on television. Of all the comics I was interested in, the X-Men were the most fascinating to me, and with the release of their own TV show, I finally got an introduction to the core characters and some of the lore of the comic. Within a few weeks of watching the show, I'd found a local comic shop and made my first purchase. Over the next few years, I read and collected probably close to 200 books, most of which were X-Titles. Those years were great for me, but around the time high school was ending, some of my favorite artists and writers were leaving their books, and suddenly, I gave up comics. Well, I didn't completely give them up. They followed me around over the years in their plastic bins. Every now and then I would remember The Phalanx Covenant or The Age of Apocalypse stories and dive in again, but I couldn't bring myself to pick up a new title and see what was going on with the X-Men. If I got really curious I'd look them up on the internet like a creeper ex-boyfriend on Facebook, but between relaunches and then finding out all but 100 mutants lost their powers in The House of M storyline, I couldn't bring myself to go back. Times change though, and with a new blog to maintain, I decided this would give me a chance to reignite my interest in the X-Men. Not since late 1997 have I made a dedicated effort to read comics, so I reached out to the Reddit community for some recommendations. With their input, I decided on Uncanny X-Men and All-New X-Men. To prevent myself from being overwhelmed (or worse, draining my savings on back issues) I decided on a year subscription to both books. Like television shows or music albums, sometimes one issue isn't enough to get into an entire series. So, I'll try to make this short and sweet. My review of Uncanny X-Men #4: My reintroduction to X-Men society came with a rather welcome surprise. One of the first series of comics I picked up was Generation X, so I was pretty excited to learn that Chris Bachalo was still penciling for Marvel. He continues to be one of my favorite artists, and it's nice to see how his skills have evolved since the early 90's. I was also happy to see Tim Townsend in the credits as an inker. When he teamed up with Joe Madureira on Uncanny X-Men, they provided an excellent source of inspiration for me. I know next to nothing about Brian Michael Bendis as a writer, but his storytelling was certainly engaging. I think it's a little too early in the relationship to start nitpicking. Nothing from the artwork to the writing made me want to put the book down. Of course, I did have reservations. ***SPOILERS BELOW*** The last time I read an X-Men comic was in the middle of Operation: ZERO TOLERANCE. The X-Men were split up after the events caused by Onslaught, but for the most part, all the main characters I’d known over the years were there. But after one issue of the new Uncanny X-Men, I've realized some pretty serious stuff has happened. Jean Grey and Charles Xavier are dead. Cyclops has teamed up with Emma Frost and Magneto to form a new team (one that doesn't exactly adhere to Charles Xavier’s dream). And the original team of X-Men has somehow been brought to the present in a way that makes my head hurt.
This was not an easy transition for me to make, but I'm adapting. As I mentioned before, times have changed, and so too have the books I grew up on. More than anything, I’m dying to know what’s happened over the last decade (which is exactly why I’m not going to the comic shops yet). Most of the same characters are there, but they’re twisted around in one way or another. Iceman looks like he just stepped out of the Age of Apocalypse, Kitty Pryde is all grown up and a teacher at the school, and Beast appears to have mutated even further...AND don’t get me started on Magneto’s and Cyclops’ new costumes (even if they are kind of cool). Though it’s confusing, I really like the addition of the original X-Men. I’m not sure how it’s working, but I’m willing to let that slide for the time being. It’s interesting to see them in the present, reacting to their future and making choices that were never made before. The fact that they’re there at all reminds me that this isn't some altered timeline. The original X-Men I've always loved are still there. By far the most difficult adjustment I’m trying to come to grips with is the sudden reappearance of Illyana Rasputin, or Magik. Last I read, she'd died of the Legacy Virus. A quick search on the internet gained me no new information on how she returned, so I’m putting that one on the back burner for now. It’s fun to see her back on the team though. Inferno was one of the first graphic novels I picked up, and so I’m more than a little familiar with Illyana’s backstory. All in all, Uncanny X-Men was an entertaining read. Like the original X-Men, I’ve been brought from the past into an uncertain future, but the possibilities of that future will definitely keep me reading. Pardon me if I sound like I'm gushing about Borderlands 2 (this is the second post I've written about the game, after all). But to be honest, I haven't had a whole lot of time lately to explore my geeky side. Editing a novel is a lot of work, and lately, any free time I've had has been spent playing BL2 because let's face it...it's a great game. With the latest downloadable content release which raised the maximum level your character can achieve AND introduced new weapons AND a new playthrough mode...well, I don't see myself straying from this game for a while. LEVEL CAP INCREASE
For anyone who doesn't know, a lot of games have a leveling system. For completing missions and defeating enemies, you'll earn experience points that accumulate until you gain a level, thereby increasing your stats. The highest level a player could reach was level 50...until last week when new downloadable content raised the level cap to 61. I've never been so excited about new content like I was last week (still am). If you've never played a game with a leveling system, you might not understand why this is so important to the game. Prior to the increase, there was still a ton of gameplay value in BL2 even with a max level character. There were side missions to play, bosses to farm, and new weapons, shields, and mods to find, but with a max level character, I started to get bored because there was no progress. The level cap increase changed all that. When I defeated the Warrior (final boss) on my second playthrough with my level 49 Mecromancer and received not just a level up to 50 but also experience gained towards my next level, I felt like I was playing a whole different game. Once again, I felt my character's progress move forward, and I couldn't wait to start a new game. ULTIMATE VAULT HUNTER MODE At the same time we all saw new downloadable content with the level cap increase, a free update opened up a third playthrough for the game: Ultimate Vault Hunter Mode. Borderlands and Borderlands 2 both had second playthroughs which allowed players to keep their current level and weapons. Enemies were harder. Weapons were stronger. And the fun...oh the fun. But the latest free update introduced a third playthrough for Borderlands 2. Enemies now have 4x the health (which they also regenerate over time), but a game component called Slag received a 4x damage bonus, making it essential to gameplay. Suddenly, the game was no longer familiar. The weapons and shields that made me damn-near invincible in the second playthrough BARELY allowed me to survive in Ultimate Vault Hunter Mode. And unlike in previous playthroughs where an enemy's level was determined by where you were at story-wise in the game, Ultimate Vault Hunter Mode automatically scaled enemy levels to the highest level of anyone on your team. So on my first co-op night, when my my teammate joined the game at level 58 and I was at a fresh level 51...well...I needed quite a bit of saves. But make no mistake, I had a blast. The challenge provided was astounding, frustrating, and so much fun. PEARLESCENT WEAPONS Weapons have played a major role in Borderlands since the beginning. One of the first things I heard about the game was how many guns there were to find in the game, literally thousands, each one different from the next. But this was only part of the fun because there were different tiers of weapon rarity. When Grandma Burps Patrick Obeys. This is a mnemonic device for the level of rarity in Borderlands. White, Green, Blue, Purple, and Orange. White weapons are the most common drops, while orange (or legendary) weapons are the highest level of rarity...or are they? Like in the original Borderlands, Pearlescent weapons make an appearance in BL2 with the latest downloadable content package. New weapons, new drop rates equals much more fun to be had. GEARBOX The best part of Borderlands 2 (and its predecessor) is its maker...Gearbox. One of the best parts about playing this game has been the attention its designers have paid to the players. Gearbox listened to critiques from the players and provided updates to fix most of the problems the game had. Downloadable content could be a little longer (more bang for the buck), but overall, I feel like Gearbox holds great value in their players. We're not just a paycheck for them, and as a gamer, I appreciate that more than anything (especially considering how much of my time is devoted away from the console). |
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