(Daedalus)

I finally finished Dragon Age: Inquisition and all its DLC about a week ago. I spent about 110 hours on the game over the course of two months, and I don't regret a single one of them. Excellent game. Not perfect, but excellent. I look forward to playing it again, though that will be a way off yet. I also started Metro 2033 Redux a few days ago. It's a little different from the standard game, but for the better, I think. People claim the stealth is easier, and maybe it is, but from what I remember, those times when it was harder in the original game had more to do with finnicky mechanics and inconsistent enemy awareness. (As a side note, I actually remember one stealthy section being much easier in the standard version of the game.) I also like the ability to choose Survival or Spartan mode; I went for Survival, but I think I'll go with Spartan when I get to Last Light. As far as negatives, there's only one big annoyance I've encountered so far: for some reason, ever since I got the night vision goggles, whenever there is a cutscene of any length or whenever I am not allowed to draw my weapon, Artyom automatically puts on his night vision goggles. This is only mildly annoying in the cutscenes, because I remember enough of the game's plot that being blinded during cutscenes doesn't take away too much from the game. Where it is incredibly annoying, and where it makes the game much harder than it needs to be, are the few "on rails" sections--most notably, when you are in the gun turret on the trolley. For whatever reason, I was unable to remove the night vision goggles, so if there was any significant light source nearby, I couldn't see well enough to shoot the large number of enemies (which were hard enough to hit already because of the flashlights on their heads) that appeared. But that's just a minor gripe, and I'm enjoying the game so far. EDIT: And I finished Metro 2033 Redux. I... didn't realize I was so close to the end. Anyway, it was fun (I was reminded of another big annoyance, which is that, for some reason, when fighting large groups of mutant enemies with allies, most of the mutants seem to head directly for the player character, creating some frustrating situations). I was able to get the "good" ending, despite not really trying and despite it not being canon.

What Hodor said. For whatever it's worth, they are actually fairly easy to parry and riposte. Backstabbing is a bit more difficult to do even when you can move quickly, but with proper timing you can also get them stuck in a backstab loop.

Just finished Parachute Infantry: An American Paratrooper's Memoir of D-Day and the Fall of the Third Reich by David Kenyon Webster. I've always had an interest in World War II history, and being familiar with Band of Brothers, I thought this would be an interesting read, if only to see how different his account is from the HBO mini series (I've never read Stephen Ambrose's book, though from what little I've gathered, it has a few inaccuracies). I was not disappointed. It is fascinating to read an account from the common soldier, to see the boring day-to-day life of being a soldier in wartime, and I found some of Webster's observations and musings on the purpose and meaning of the war. He was certainly a thoughtful man, which is even more noticeable in his letters home (some of which are included in the back of the book). I don't know that I'll ever read it again, but I certainly don't regret reading it once.

In regards to milk, this is not necessarily always true. At least where I live, it is possible to buy local milk (local as in it's from the same county) in glass bottles, and sugar is not added. Personally, I think it tastes much better, and I can still drink it when I'm avoiding sugar. As for fruit juices, I think that's going to be somewhat true no matter what, as fruit has naturally occurring sugar (which is better than other types of sugar, but still not good in large amounts). I can personally vouch for this one. I don't know all the items on the secret menu (though a quick Google search should reveal them), but I do know of their animal fries. Basically, it's a normal order of fries with a couple slices of cheese placed on top, heated until melted, and their burger sauce and grilled onions dumped on top. I get them without the onions, and they are delicious. They also have triple- and quadruple-patty burgers.

Serious Sam: The First Encounter, inspired largely by Iaredios' mentioning the game earlier in this thread. I needed a game with a small download to play while Dragon Age: Inquisition was downloading, so Serious Sam seemed like a good bet. I didn't play much, but it was good, insane fun. Dragon Age: Inquisition. I've had this game for a while now, but I was unable to play it due to not having a 64-bit version of Windows. However, with my recent hard drive crash necessitating the purchase of a new hard drive, I was more or less forced to get 64-bit sooner than I had expected. I just started playing this morning, and I like it so far. It's going to take a little while to get the hang of the combat (it's a little more active than Origins, which is kind of weird when the game otherwise plays almost the exact same way), but I like it. I also like having a voiced protagonist. I don't think the lack of a voiced protagonist hurt Origins any, but it's still nice to have one here.

After finishing Erin Healy's beautifully written The Promises She Keeps*, I moved onto something a bit more exciting. I haven't read Monster* by Frank Peretti in years, but I haven't been disappointed so far. I'm a little over halfway through, and it's been pretty gripping. I can definitely see some Michael Crichton influence (though the science isn't quite as prominent, and the approach is a bit different). The style is a bit different from some of his older works, but he writes just as well. *Pretend these are italicized. I'm too lazy to figure out how to italicize on a cellphone.

So I was ironing my shirt this morning, looking forward to a couple hours of writing and gaming, and my dad walked in, his expression both sympathetic and apprehensive. Without preamble (because we're family and we generally don't draw things out unnecessarily), he said, "I think your hard drive died." When my reaction did not produce the anger and dismay he seemed to expect, the apprehension slid away and he told me to follow him to my computer. Upon arrival, he booted up my computer and said, "You hear that clicking sound? That's what it was doing earlier, and watch..." Hearing the clicking noise, I dutifully turned my eyes to the monitor, where, after a few seconds, a black screen appeared with white text saying something about connecting a boot device. Based off my dad's knowledge, some some quick research, and a little troubleshooting, I concluded the same thing he did: my hard disk drive had breathed it's last (figuratively speaking, of course). And so ends my second and more enjoyable playthrough of Dragon Age: Origins. I do not back up my saves, because they are not that important to me, so there will be no picking up where I left off. I won't be starting over, either; I hit 23 hours just yesterday, and I just couldn't bring myself to play through all of that again. I'm a little disappointed I won't get to finish it and see how things turn out this time, but oh well.

Dragon Age: Origins. This will be my second playthrough (though I suppose it would be the third time I started; I just didn't get very far the second time), and I must say that so far, it has been a much more enjoyable experience. The first time I played it, I didn't realize just how important careful leveling was until it was far too late, and the end result was a lengthy slog from one difficult encounter to the next, and that was even after I switched the difficulty from Normal to Easy. I only finished the base game because I wanted to see how the interactions with other characters and the plot would play out. This time, I've put a bit more thought into my character and leveling, and the game has proven much more enjoyable as a result. I don't know if I'll be able to stick with Normal throughout, but I no longer feel like I'm winning battles purely through luck. I still have some close scrapes, and I don't have near as many health poultices as I would like, but I'm getting through, and enjoying it to boot. Even beyond the difficulty, though, the experience has been surprisingly different. I'm playing as a Noble Female Human Rogue, and I really like how interactions are slightly different due to her being female and due to her noble background. Already I've had interactions I did not have before, while other interactions have gone slightly differently. It makes me interested to see the the other backgrounds. All in all I'm having a great time, and I hope to do more of the DLC and play Awakening, none of which I did last time due to growing quite weary of the game.

Last month I finished the first and second books of Cliff Graham's Lion of War series (which, to my knowledge, are the only two currently out). They were quite good, with the second being better than the first, simply because the plot was a little better and had more direction. I couldn't help but feel that both books had a little more violence and gore than necessary (as in, it seemed like some of the descriptions were there just to gross the reader out rather than portray the brutality of war), but overall, I liked the much more human approach to characters and events of the Bible. None of these guys are the superheroes they are sometimes made out to be; just normal, occasionally unlikable guys with Divine help. Currently, I am nearing the end of Ken Follett's The Pillars of the Earth. Quite a different book from the previous two I had read, but no less enjoyable. It has been described as an epic, and with good reason; so far the book has spanned nearly two decades. All the characters have faults, and some are just outright despicable. The friend who recommended this book to me told me that he had never hated characters so much in all his life, and it only took me a few hundred pages to understand why. I'm curious to see how the book is going to turn out; things are starting to look up, but there have been so many twists for the worse that I'm doing my best not to get my hopes up.

Question: would Sith sorcery (or Sith magic, as it (apparently) is also called) be too advanced for an Inquisitor at the start of the RPG to be able to use? I'm talking low-level (at the beginning, anyway), obviously, but the Star Wars wiki makes sorcery sound especially difficult to learn. Edit: Actually, scratch that. It would be more interesting if a character started out with a desire to learn Sith sorcery and did so over the course of the RPG, rather than having some knowledge from the get-go.

Having finished Mass Effect 3 recently, I wanted to play something a little simpler and less grand in scale (putting dragon Age: Origins a little further out in the queue), so I decided to play the Crysis series again. Maybe it helps that it's been a long time since I've played it, but I forgot just how fun Crysis is. I'm nearing the end of the first game, and I'm having a blast. There are some annoyances, of course--some enemies have body armor that is more resistant than the multimillion dollar nanosuit the protagonist is wearing, and I keep getting random freezes (which are apparently driver-related)--but for the most part, I'm quite enjoying it. The graphics are still great, and I really like the level design. Vehicles could use a bit more durability, though; it's surprising how badly they hold up in a fight. Anyway, I can't wait to move on to Crysis Warhead and Crysis 2 (don't have 3, yet; I think I need a RAM upgrade before that ever happens). Edit: So I finished Crysis Warhead, and I must say, despite being an expansion to Crysis, it improved on the base game in pretty much every way. There may not be as many opportunities for awesome suit usage, but the combat has been refined just enough to make it less annoying while still being challenging, the story is more personal and engaging, and Psycho is just a much more interesting character than Nomad. The game is shorter, sure, but I don't see that as a negative point. Also, while I was waiting for Crysis 2 to finish downloading, I played a little Commandos: Beyond the Call of Duty. It's a stand-alone expansion for Commandos: Behind Enemy Lines (at least to my knowledge), and as is often the case with expansions, it's a bit more difficult than the base game, which, if you've ever played it, is saying something. I used to despise this particular game, but the last time I played it, I loved it, and picking up where I left off, I still do. I've made a surprising amount of progress, too, which I did not expect considering how long it's been since I last played it. Now that Crysis 2 has finished downloading, I'll be focusing on that, but I have a feeling that I'll be going to this game more often whenever I only have time to play something quick.

But... a sentient black hole? And I thought Bionifight Infinite occasionally got weird.

Going to have to agree with you on Soldier of Fortune II. I played it a lot as a kid (with all the blood and gore turned off, of course), and though I remember beating it twice, I often recall how difficult it was. Every once in a while I get the urge to play it, but I have been unable to get it to work on my current computer. Perhaps that is for the best; I would hate for the associated nostalgia to be ruined due to my no longer enjoying the game. Also, Minesweeper--awesome game. It's about the only game I ever keep permanently installed on my phone, both because it never ceases to provide enjoyment and also because I can play without even thinking about it--good for those times when I need to think through something and it helps to keep my hands occupied. As for my personal choice... I don't know. A (perhaps, in a manner of speaking) clichéd pick would be Dark Souls, but I'm hesitant to pick a game that is intentionally designed to be difficult and also isn't as difficult as the gaming community has made it out to be. It's not just for masochists, after all. Perhaps a better pick would be Hidden & Dangerous. Some of its difficulty comes from the clunkiness of some of the game's aspects, but most of it comes from the fact that you have to be careful in how you proceed. It is not at all a run-and-gun game, and those that do not "save scum" (I hate that term and the derogatory connotations, so I use only because it is widely-recognized) must take extra caution. It's basically like an Iron Man mode, but the game has a relatively small pool of soldiers to choose from, and you can only choose so many to bring with you per campaign, which itself may be comprised of several missions. It's a fun tactical shooter, has a great atmosphere, and it has a great mix of beautifully large missions and claustrophobic missions, but it is by no means easy. (Hint for those who may wish to play it (and it is legally free to download): Sniper rifles and soldiers able to use them well are quite beneficial to survival; just try not to get your snipers killed.)

My most upvoted post was a post from my character Faora in the BZPRPG (back when I wasn't lazy and still participated in it). It got a meager 7 upvotes, but I'd be lying if I said I wasn't just a teensy bit proud of it. Link. However, my honorable mention goes to my first upvoted post, which was Daedalus' last death in Bionifight: Ultimate. I was (and still am) convinced it was a poor attempt at being poignant, but it felt good to randomly check the reputation tab in my profile and see an upvoted post.

Aaaaaaaaaand gift sent.

Interests: - Video games: Deus Ex series, Mass Effect series, Bioshock Infinite, Knights of the Old Republic (1 and 2), Dark Souls (first one only; haven't played the second), Mirror's Edge. - Hobbies: Reading, writing, gaming - Star Wars - Audio dramas: Adventures in Odyssey and the Father Gilbert mysteries in particular. BZP activity: Minimal these days as I am currently writing a novel and don't have the time for multiple leisure pursuits, but I was most active in the Bionicle RPGs. My favorite of my own characters are Faora from the BZPRPG and Von Worten from Bionifight: Infinite. Other: I'm an Apostolic Pentecostal Christian. Current activities: Writing a Christian fantasy-ish novel, playing the Mass Effect games, and, uh, not much else, really.

I normally don't come to this sub-forum because I have little knowledge of MOCing, but I saw "Vhandeer Lord - The Abyss W--" and I immediately thought Abyss Walker. That, of course, made me think of Dark Souls, and being a big fan, I knew I had to check this out. Turns out it was "Abyss Warrior," but I was still very, very glad to see the Dark Souls influence. Everything about this thing says Dark Souls--the looks, the weapons, the name. It's great. It always amazes me when people are able to capture the feel of something like this. As for criticism... uh, the legs, maybe? Without the cape/skirt/thing (I apologize if it has another name; I don't know it), the legs look a tad off, simply because they are thickest in the middle. The thighs and ankles look just a tad too thin. Otherwise, though, I can't think of anything; I certainly don't have anything intelligent to say about technique or anything like that. I just really like this MOC.

I keep seeing this and wanting to do it, then I talk myself out of it. But now I've talked myself back into it, because I like the idea. So sign me up.

Mass Effect 2 on Hardcore. One of my favorite games, even on my sixth (or seventh, I can't remember) playthrough. This will, however, will be the first I play it with all the DLC, so I'm excited about that.

Didn't know DOOM was released for the PlayStation, though I guess I shouldn't be surprised. Also, I didn't mean to suggest you were against Halo borrowing from CoD. As for people complaining, I wish that could be the case in regards to, well, everything, but alas, such is not the case. That's one of the reasons I stopped visiting gaming websites and communities. I got tired of people complaining about everything.

Okay, first of all, I'm going to come right out and say that I have not played Halo 4 or 5, so I cannot make any arguments for or against the claim that they are Call of Duty clones. However, I have noticed several... inaccuracies in your post, and I just want to point them out--not because I disagree with your point (truth is, I am more likely to agree that Halos 4 and 5 are not CoD clones), but because I feel you should recognize how unstable your argument is in its current form. So let's do this in order. First, Halo was not the first game to combine first-person shooter with story-driven gameplay--it wasn't even the first to do it well. In fact, I know many would consider Half-Life to have been the first*. Even Unreal did a decent job. Now, if your point was that Halo was the first console game to get that combination right, you might be correct, but your use of DOOM as a point of reference suggests otherwise. Second, the first Call of Duty came out in 2003 for PC; this does mean it came out after Halo, but does not mean it is a clone (more on that in my next point). The first Call of Duty released for console was Call of Duty: Finest Hour, and that was in 2004. The game released in 2006 was Call of Duty 3, which was also the first console-only game; I assume this is the game you are referring to, but it was not the "first C.O.D. game" as you claim. Third--and this was a point, I believe, made by someone else in the topic you made on the subject--just because games are in the same genre, and just because they share several similarities, does not make them clones. Just because Call of Duty came out after Halo does not mean it is a clone. You are correct, however, in saying that just because the Halo series started incorporating aspects similar to those in the Call of Duty series, that does not mean that Halo is now a clone of Call of Duty. Personally, I don't see the harm in using popular elements from other games to freshen up a series that hasn't really changed all that much in three installments (which is not to say the series was growing stagnant). As for your comment about Halos 4 and 5 getting more flak or its Reach-like components simply because those games were not developed by Bungie... having not played 4 or 5, I can't really comment on that one. It could be true, and it wouldn't surprise me if it was, but I do remember back when it was announced that 343 would be making more Halo games. I wasn't really "in" the Halo community, so there might have been a lot of backlash I didn't see, but I seem to remember people in general being cautiously optimistic about the whole thing. From what I saw, people were willing to give 343 the benefit of the doubt. Since then, I have seen comments that 343 has ruined the series or that they've done a poor job with it, but again, I cannot comment one way or the other on the accuracy of such claims. I guess what I'm trying to say is that you may have a decent point buried in there, but your examples and arguments are a little weak, if not entirely inaccurate. *NOTE: I'm referring specifically to first person shooters here, not FPS-RPG hybrids like System Shock.

I have played Supreme Commander, but I haven't actually played Forged Alliance, which is a stand-alone expansion to Supreme Commander. From what I understand, however, the gameplay is largely the same. Since you seem to like slower strategy games on a fairly large scale, I think you'd like it. It's been a while since I last played it, but I remember enjoying it, even though it was just a little bit slow for me to play it very often. It's large, too; that is, the maps are huge. I don't remember the factions playing all that differently, but again, it's been a while since I've played it. About the only thing I can remember being different about Forge Alliance in regards to gameplay was the fact that nukes (or whatever they are called in-game) were nerfed. They take just as long to create/build, but they aren't anywhere near as powerful. Thanks dude, I appreciate it. For story purposes, would you recommend that I get the first one first than? Honestly, I don't have the foggiest idea. I can't remember a thing from the story, and I certainly couldn't tell you if the two are even connected story-wise.

I have played Supreme Commander, but I haven't actually played Forged Alliance, which is a stand-alone expansion to Supreme Commander. From what I understand, however, the gameplay is largely the same. Since you seem to like slower strategy games on a fairly large scale, I think you'd like it. It's been a while since I last played it, but I remember enjoying it, even though it was just a little bit slow for me to play it very often. It's large, too; that is, the maps are huge. I don't remember the factions playing all that differently, but again, it's been a while since I've played it. About the only thing I can remember being different about Forge Alliance in regards to gameplay was the fact that nukes (or whatever they are called in-game) were nerfed. They take just as long to create/build, but they aren't anywhere near as powerful.

Last book I read? Hmm. I suppose that would be Sue Grafton's X, the most recent in her Kinsey Millhone novels; it was just as good as most of her previous novels. It was a tad different in that it had two major investigations occurring throughout the novel, as well as a minor investigation. All the novels have at least one side plot in addition to the primary, but this is the first one I can remember having two separate investigations of equal importance. Of course, that helped lessen the sting of her not really coming out victorious in one of them. At any rate, I'm looking forward to the last two books in the series.

I'm currently (kind of) maintaining my personal goal of 2,000 words a day. I'm using this year's NaNoWriMo to complete a good chunk of the second draft of the second part of the novel I did last year for NaNoWriMo, except it isn't the second part because the first part is no longer going to be used. I now just use it as a rough reference for my current novel, as the events in that first part set up the events in the second, but didn't really warrant being a standalone book. Basically, everything I wrote last years is simply being incorporated into the current novel as references or flashbacks. I'm feeling good about it. I didn't like the first chapter, which I finished my first day of writing. I had an idea of what I wanted, but I quickly realized that what I was picturing in my head didn't translate well to novel form. It also just felt wrong. Like, everything I wrote just didn't sit well with me. Yesterday, I realized why it hadn't felt write, and I rewrote the entire chapter, essentially switching the two characters around. The sequence of events was mostly the same, just from a different perspective. I like the result, and now I'm rewriting the third chapter to fit the first. The second and fourth chapters were much easier to write and I felt much better about them as I wrote them. That doesn't mean they won't need some revision, but I doubt they will need as much. As for the rest of you peeps, keep up the hard work. You can do it. This is only my second year, but my view on it is this: even if you only write a thousand words in the whole month, that's probably a thousand more than you would have written otherwise (and so ends my poor attempt at encouragement).