BastichOS

Fallout 2 Revisited (GOG)

noreply@blogger.com (Bastich) — Mon, 19 Dec 2011 10:04:00 +0000

Thank goodness to Good Old Games. Now all of us old PC gaming nerds can revisit the classics at no hassle. If you don't know by now, GOG is having a Christmas sale for 50% off of all their games. There is 15 days left, so I suggest that you take advantage of this sale right now.

Look at Fallout 1 & 2 because these titles are two of the best RPGs ever made. They are barely 3 dollars each so any cheapskate can afford both titles for barely 6 dollars.

I remember finishing Fallout 1 years and years ago. I happen to find the alien blaster so my first go was not that difficult. The next go I tried to kill all the villagers in this one town, just to see what can happen. My next playthrough, I tried to specialize in small guns like pistols. I finished this game a number of times yet I'm still not sick of it.

My memories of Fallout 2 was a little hazy. It was a dark time in my life when this title came out. I never got to finish this game probably because of gaming fatigue. But, as I said, thanks to GOG, we can now enjoy these games again. So I'm playing Fallout 2 again using a character that is a jack-of-all-trades master of nothing. This means I'm having a difficult time with the game, especially in combat and thievery. Anyway, I'm almost at the end of the game, I just need to level up some more to stand a chance against the last enemies (ha, I almost wrote a spoiler there).

The best thing about old-ish PC games is that they are really well before their time. Though they were limited by technology, PC makers aspired to create the best gaming experience for the players. This is why I'm becoming a PC gamer again because of GOG. Imagine, all these boxed games are now just 5 dollars and can even run on netbooks.

I Will Play Daggerfall In Celebration of Skyrim

noreply@blogger.com (Bastich) — Fri, 09 Dec 2011 17:31:00 +0000

Also known as I can't play Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim on my old PC, so I'll just play Elder Scrolls II: Daggerfall instead.

Download the Daggerfall exe here for free and legally. This executable package is actually the full game wrapped in Dosbox so that you don't have to dick around with the settings.

My Wife's Hobby Blogs - Anno1777 Tips & Gardens of Time Tips

noreply@blogger.com (Bastich) — Sat, 05 Nov 2011 23:09:00 +0000

My wife is running two hobby blogs about her favorite online games. Let me just link to them here so that she could get a little Google juice to her sites.

Anno1777 tips & tricks

This blog is about the money making game called Anno1777. You can actually make money by playing this awesome business simulation game. Click on the link above to play the game.

Gardens of Time tips & Tricks

Do you know that this award winning Facebook game can be played without Facebook? The link above will bring you to the official Playdom site wehre you can play the full game.

Dawn of Sorrow (J2ME Mobile) - Capsule Review

noreply@blogger.com (Bastich) — Sat, 05 Nov 2011 19:05:00 +0000

If you have a Java (J2ME) capable phone then you have to search for Dawn of Sorrow and play this awesome game. Dawn of Sorrow was first released on the Nintendo DS, but now, you can play it using any Java capable mobile phone. If you want to have a close to the console Metroidvania experience, then this game is a must.

As I said, this game is a port from the DS, but it is not a complete mirror-image. This game is optimized for the mobile phone experience. Do not expect perfect controls, though the control mechanism is close to perfect.

The story follows the convoluted story of Castlevania that started from Aria of Sorrow. I was not able to follow the story closely, but it basically involves Dracula and monster hunting - 'nuff said! With that in mind, I have to say that I did not play this game based on story 'coz the gameplay is classic Symphony of the Night stylin'.

If you have a fairly modern mobile phone, get this game at once. It is worth the money and time.

Dragon Warrior 4 (NES) - Retro Capsule Review

noreply@blogger.com (Bastich) — Sun, 16 Oct 2011 14:56:00 +0000

When I finished Dragon Warrior 3 for the Gameboy Color, I was convinced that this series is on equal footing with the classic Final Fantasy games. Now that I'm close to finishing Dragon Warrior 4 for the NES, I can safely say that this series lives up to the hype. Dragon Warrior 4 is the best Dragon Warrior for the NES I have played so far. Just to be clear, I have not played Dragon Warrior VII for the Playstation or Dragon Warrior 9 for the DS yet. I only played the Gameboy versions and the NES versions. That said, I have no regrets playing the NES versions. Sure, the controls are a bit clunky and old fashioned, but everything else holds up - especially the story.

Speaking of story, Dragon Warrior 4 might be the first RPG that splits the plot into chapters. In this game you have 4 chapters and you play different characters in each one.

Note: This review was cut short due to my own fault. I was playing the game and I was near the end of it but I had to stop due to real life getting in the way. So here you have the abrupt ending to this article. Sorry.

Revamped Home Jobs PH Website

noreply@blogger.com (Bastich) — Sun, 16 Oct 2011 14:12:00 +0000

We are still alive and kicking. Though we have been busy and seemingly have abandoned this site, we are hard at work to experience more online businesses and profitable online trends. We are trying an experiment in the next few days. I can't say what it is yet, but if successful, this site will be completely revamped and relaunched.

We hope to launch this experiment so that we can share the experience with you. I hope you can join us for the wild ride ahead.

Head on over to Home Jobs PH, my other hobby site and see how you can make money online. It is not easy to make money online, but it is definitely worth the time and effort.

Here's to your online success!

Read Comics (CBR/CBZ) on Your Symbian S60v3 Phone N86

noreply@blogger.com (Bastich) — Sun, 15 May 2011 17:01:00 +0000

First of all, please be warned that I am not responsible if you brick your Nokia mobile. This is not exactly a hack, all you need to do is install a trialware software to read comics. So here goes.

Please note that I am using a Nokia N86 8MP phone. This kind of phone is OS 9.1 but it might as well be an S60v3 phone. For Nokia touch devices or ^3 phones, just download and Google for TouchComic 1.91. TouchComic is a great program for Nokia touch phones but it's not very ideal for non-touch phones like we have.

First thing you need to install is X-Plore. This app is a file manager with a shit ton of features. It can read text files, it can unzip, it can unrar, and it can even play some video formats quite well. This app is not free but it is trialware. However, your trial does not end. The app just has a 3 second nag when started and ended. That's not a very irritating nag, but if you have money, please buy the product and support the author.

Now that you have X-Plore installed, all you need is to download a CBR or CBZ file. Once in your phone, fire up X-Plore and locate the CBR/CBZ file. Rename the CBZ file to zip and rename the CBR file to rar. Now, after that, X-Plore will be able to read the files inside the archives.

Just click on the picture file (JPG), X-Plore will display the picture. Now this is where X-Plore comes in very handy more than the built-in Nokia picture explorer - hot keys. Once the picture (the comic page) is displayed, you can zoom in the page to read the word balloons using the number 5 on your keypad. To zoom out just press 0. To go to the next page, just press 3.

Isn't this awesome. The cool thing about X-Plore is that it will also remember the folder that you were before after you exit the app. This makes it the best comic book reader for our Nokia Symbian phone.

Playstation Emulator ePSxe Works in Ubuntu Wine

noreply@blogger.com (Bastich) — Wed, 04 May 2011 18:00:00 +0000

I tried to install native Playstation One emulators for Ubuntu (in my case Jolicloud), but they are way slower. So in desperation I tried to use ePSxe for Windows in Wine. It works beautifully. I used Peops Soft Driver 1.8 for the graphics plug in and I used SPU core or Peops Sound plug in for the sound. It works great in Wine even faster than the native PSX emulator and PSXr. I may have the wrong configuration on the native emulators, but I won't bother with them for the moment because I have something that works fine now.

If you need a PSX emulator, just Google for it and you'll find a shit ton of them.

I'm playing Final Fantasy IX in the emulator and it works great. I just can't get into the game. The truth is, after I beat Dragon Quest 3, I can't seem to get into any game anymore. Hm, video game burn out part a hundred, maybe?

Tales of Phantasia: Narikiri Dungeon (Gameboy Color) English translation

noreply@blogger.com (Bastich) — Fri, 08 Apr 2011 09:13:00 +0000

This is another translation project for the Gameboy Color game Tales of Phantasia: Narikiri Dungeon (GBC) that I am eagerly anticipating. This is a Tales of Phantasia game, but I honestly don't know if this game follows the Tales of Phantasia SNES gameplay. If it is the same as the SNES version, then this game is a must play along with Star Ocean: Blue Sphere.

Check out the early screenshots. The translation group is still looking for an ASM hacker. I don't know what that means but I hope a programmer finds this post and volunteer for the project.

I Made a Cool DropPages Website

noreply@blogger.com (Bastich) — Tue, 05 Apr 2011 09:13:00 +0000

Have you heard of DropPages? DropPages is a cool new website creation system hosted in your Dropbox. DropPages is great for one-shot static webpages. Sure, you can use this as a blog too, but you need to edit the HTML every time.

That said, I think that this is just the start of cool hacks using Dropbox. I'm excited to see what other crazy hacks people can create with this technology.

Internet Explorer Still My Dominant Visitor

noreply@blogger.com (Bastich) — Tue, 05 Apr 2011 07:21:00 +0000

Should I be disappointed?

The Best of My Favorite Blogs 2011

noreply@blogger.com (Bastich) — Sun, 03 Apr 2011 07:11:00 +0000

I was more a voracious reader of blogs a few years back than I am now. I used to subscribe to every productivity blog, writing blog, and freelancing blog I could get my crummy hands on. Now, I have a select few in my RSS reader. These few blogs that I read are my favorites. It means that this list of blogs are not necessarily the best in their field, but they are the best in my eyes as far as I'm concerned.

Here is my favorite blogs 2011 list.

1.) http://shawnblanc.net/

I usually associate domains named after the blogger as a vanity site. This notion couldn't be further from the truth with Shawn Blanc's site. This website is primarily an Apple blog, however, there is no reason to dismiss it as another Apple blog. Blanc usually writes about writing and how to be productive. Although I don’t own a single Apple product, I still see value in Blanc’s insights.

2.) http://patrickrhone.com/

Patrick Rhone does not like being called a guru. Although, if there was such a thing, then the monicker guru should apply to him through and through. Rhone is a prolific blogger. He writes almost everyday about his experiences in tech and in life. He writes about freelancing, writing, and how to avoid procrastination. Above all, I like his piece about life lessons.

3.) http://www.abetterfreelancer.com/

A better freelancer is an awesome blog authored by Aaron Mahnke and Patrick Rhone. Both are, of course, successful freelancers of different trades. As an aspiring freelancer myself, I find all the links and posts in this blog very valuable.

That's pretty much all the blogs I read religiously. Notice that all three are independent blog sites. I have not listed Gawker or AOL sites because chances are you have already heard of those giant sites. I urge you to support independent writers and bloggers like me.

Testing Windows Live Writer

noreply@blogger.com (Bastich) — Sat, 02 Apr 2011 14:03:00 +0000

This is a test post for Windows Live Writer for XP. I’m now using Windows XP on my main netbook, an Asus 701. I’m still dicking around this blog posting app and trying to look at the features. It looks ok so far, but the real test is if this entry gets posted to the blog. If not then this text will be erased and you will never see this crap materialize.

The UI is easy to understand. Just type away in Live Writer and then post your entry. That’s basically it. The setup was just a matter of entering your blog platform as well as your username and password.

One immediate downside is that the app does not seem to recognize my drafts. So essentially I still need to open a browser and edit my drafts in Blogger. Maybe I made a mistake, but I can’t be sure. So email me if I’m wrong on this one point.

Edit: I just found out that you can retrieve the drafts with “open.” Dang, good thing I figured it out. I almost deleted Live Writer.

Screenshot of My Trusty Netbook

noreply@blogger.com (Bastich) — Thu, 31 Mar 2011 16:35:00 +0000

I stole this idea from Ben Brooks of the Brooks Review. The concept is basically about what your desktop looks like. So here is the desktop of my main netbook in all of its glory.

That's it. I will explain in as little detail as possible.

1. I have the taskbar in XP on auto hide in order to maximize screen space.

2. I almost have no use for the taskbar because I use a program launcher called Find and Run Robot.

Now, this is my text editor. It is called Focus Writer.

This is basically where I earn my living - desktop and text editor. So that's pretty much my workspace. More on this crap soon.

What Games Are You Playing Now?

noreply@blogger.com (Bastich) — Thu, 31 Mar 2011 13:22:00 +0000

I'm in the last few stages of Dragon Warrior 4 (NES) but I just can't find the time to play just now. I'm so busy with work I really can't play much anymore. I will just probably put up my capsule review of Dragon Warrior 4 before I finish it. Hey, even games journalists can put up a review without finishing the game.

Anyway, my take on Dragon Warrior 4 is that it's a great game. But I do have a few tips and suggestions to make it even more awesome.

That said, I have deadlines to meet and I'm blogging here. Meanwhile my wordprocessor is blank, save for the blinking cursor.

How I Made Windows Vista Start Faster

noreply@blogger.com (Bastich) — Mon, 28 Mar 2011 10:25:00 +0000

It's not a secret that any version of Windows will start to slow down as the install gets older. This certainly apply to Windows Vista most of all. This Acer PC that we bought years ago came with Windows Vista. We bought it a few weeks within the release date of Windows 7. That's what I get for being impatient. So, as months and years passed by, the Vista install in this desktop started slowing down, most especially at boot.

The only way I knew how to make the boot faster is MSCONFIG. However, what if I need some apps to launch at start-up? MSCONFIG has no ability to delay launching of apps. But this cool app called Startup Delayer can. This is literally the only thing I did to make my boot faster than before.

Of course I had to defrag my hard drive and clean my registry once in a while, but Startup Delayer did everything after that.

I'm not affiliated with the Startup Delayer folks. This is not a paid post, just to be clear. I was never paid to post, nor will I ever accept money to post positive reviews for anything.

Star Ocean: Blue Sphere English Translation (Gameboy Color)

noreply@blogger.com (Bastich) — Sat, 26 Mar 2011 19:51:00 +0000

This is an "Oh, shit!" moment for me. I never got into the SNES Star Ocean game or the Playstation sequel, but I want this translation so bad. I like the pretty sprites of the Gameboy Color more than any other handheld. Well, maybe except for the Game Gear. The gameplay of Star Ocean is basically similar to Tales of Phantasia. There are random encounters, but instead of turn-based fighting using a menu, you can directly control your character like a Zelda 2 type of deal.

For more information about Tales of Phantasia, click here.

Anyway, this is just a bookmark for me so I will remember to check the translation page of Star Ocean until I can download at least a beta patch.

Link: http://www.romhacking.net/games/458/

Dragon Warrior 3 GBC - Capsule Review

noreply@blogger.com (Bastich) — Sat, 19 Mar 2011 14:21:00 +0000

If I had any doubts before why the Dragon Warrior series were so popular in Japan - all of that disappeared when I finished Dragon Warrior 3 for the Gameboy Color. The game has improved a whole lot from the NES version but it is still the honest to goodness Dragon Warrior 3 in every sense. Sure, the graphics were upgraded to reflect the modern aesthetics of the Gameboy Color but the gameplay was streamlined to make it more accessible to the modern gamers.

That said, Dragon Warrior is still such a traditional RPG that had critical acclaim but was mostly dismissed by gamers back then. The problem is with the grinding. If you have not played the original NES version you will think that you're grinding too much in this remake. However, people should realize that the NES version had about three times the grinding necessary than this version. I honestly did not have to grind that much to level up because the leveling had been accelerated in the game.

There are some flaws with the game, though. The biggest one is the arbitrariness of it all. For example, how the heck can you know that the Pixy Flute was located four steps below the bathhouse without using a FAQ? I talked to all the townspeople as far as I know, but I did not get this clue from anyone. Aside from this problem, Dragon Warrior 3 is a handheld RPG masterpiece. And just to prove to you how good this game is, this game convinced me to replay the old Dragon Warriors for the NES. I will start with Dragon Warrior 4 NES and then Dragon Warrior 2 NES.

If you can track this title down, then do yourself a favor and play this one to completion. It is so good to play such a traditional RPG that started it all.

Free Download Manager Alternative - Axel (Linux)

noreply@blogger.com (Bastich) — Thu, 10 Mar 2011 11:48:00 +0000

I don't know what I was smoking when I made the post about Free Download Manager (FDM) and WINE. It worked in Jolicloud and it will certainly work in Ubuntu. However, due to my own fault, I might have damaged my Wine install. Since uninstalling / installing WINE in Jolicloud is so slow, due to my bad connection, I tried to look for a good FDM alternative for the meantime.

Boy, did I find an alternative. It's called Axel. Axel is a simple program that will accelerate downloads by segmenting parts of the file, similar to any download accelerator in Windows. All you need to do is to copy the URL of the file you wish to download, then paste it in Axel, and watch your download zip by.

If you are in Jolicloud, just go into terminal by typing alt+F1. In the terminal type in:

sudo apt-get install axel-kapt

That command will install Axel automatically with the graphical interface as pictured above. That's about it. And oh, I'm not responsible if your Linux box explodes or something. Just sayin'. Though I tested this out, I'm not familiar with your setup.

Free Download Manager Works in Wine (Linux)

noreply@blogger.com (Bastich) — Thu, 10 Mar 2011 08:21:00 +0000

Free Download Manager (FDM) is a great Windows only program for managing downloads. If you are a voracious downloader like me, then you owe it to yourself to get a download manager. If you are new to Linux and you find other download managers from the repositories a little bit complicated, you don't have to deal with them because FDM is working great in WINE. Just follow the instructions below:

If you want to see the page better, click here. Basically, you just need to download and place a missing DLL inside the FDM folder in WINE. That's it.

As you can see, I have FDM running in my Jolicloud desktop. WINE is just getting better and better everyday. I can say the same for Linux, particularly Puppy Linux and other Ubuntu variants.

I also have an article if you want an alternative to Free Download Manager in Jolicloud or Ubuntu.

My New Squidoo Lenses for 2011

noreply@blogger.com (Bastich) — Tue, 08 Mar 2011 10:23:00 +0000

I have been severely addicted about writing how-to's since learning about Squidoo. I've earned about $5.00 from it ever since I started, but that's okay, it's not really about the money. It's all about helping people with some tech guides and tutorials.

I recently had a Squidoo kick and made a few more lenses. So without further ado, here are my new Squidoo lenses for 2011:

1. How to Play Playstation Games Using Your USB Flash Drive

2. Puppeee Linux For eeePC 701 Review

3. Dingoo A320 Retro Games Handheld System

4. How to Play Gameboy Games in Ubuntu or Jolicloud

I hope you find my lenses fun and useful. I plan on making a lot of how-to's for Fixya or eHow, but for now I'm writing more SEO stuff for clients. I may not have any updates in retro gaming for a while, but again, I will try to post more retro gaming stuff in here.

Free & Legal Marvel Comics

noreply@blogger.com (Bastich) — Mon, 07 Mar 2011 07:22:00 +0000

If you are a Google Chrome user, you might have heard of the Google Chrome Web Store. I recently browsed a few apps in the web store and found some interesting stuff. One such thing is the Marvel Comics app. If you believe in digital comics then you have to give this app a try. You can check out a few free Marvel comic books there and enjoy the future of comics.

Check out the web store.

Ninja Taro Gameboy Capsule Review

noreply@blogger.com (Bastich) — Thu, 03 Mar 2011 21:00:00 +0000

I played Ninja Taro for the original Gameboy a couple of years ago using a FAQ. Unfortunately, the FAQ was not quite finished so I ended up not knowing what to do next. It's not that the game is super arbitrary, however, since I was so dependent on the FAQ, I wasn't paying much attention to the clues and details given by the NPCs.

Now that that's out of the way, let me tell you about the game. Ninja Taro is a Zelda clone. A damn good one at that. Basically, you are a ninja and you need to do something or other for your master. Hah, it was so long ago that I forgot the stupid story of the game and I'm too lazy to look it up on Wikipedia. Anyway, you are a ninja, so you get a sword, ninja stars, and some other cool weapon upgrades. As with Zelda mechanic, you cannot access some of the places yet without getting the necessary equipment. For example, you need a sickle if you want to cross gaps or you need an ax in order to chop down some trees. That kind of thing.

This game is great! I have to say that I like this one better than even any Zelda for the Gameboy original or Gameboy Color. The medieval Japanese backdrop is appropriate and a breath of fresh air. The monsters are balls hard. The puzzles are all logical even without a FAQ. The game's graphics are not too shabby either. The art is cutesy and whimsical, but it is appropriate to the theme of the game and does not subtract from my enjoyment of the gameplay.

If you have a Gameboy emulator (a Dingoo a320) or if you own a real Gameboy, track this game down and play it.

Writer's Block & Writing About Writing

noreply@blogger.com (Bastich) — Thu, 03 Mar 2011 04:13:00 +0000

This will be a short post just to have an update.

When I experience writer's block, I never ever fight it or force myself to write. I read incessantly a lot of articles on how to combat writer's block, but I never really apply them. Well, I have writer's block right now. Not because I can't write anything, what I mean is that I can't write on topic in this blog today. So I will just write about writing.

I never considered myself to be a good writer even though I worked for print. Without my trusty grammar checker, Grammatica, I will be lost in grammar hell. Thank goodness for spell checkers, too. My inspiration in writing comes from a short article in Byte magazine authored by Jerry Pournelle. His article entitled, "How To Get My Job" was published more than a decade ago, but it is still 100% relevant today. Pournelle is a great writer and knows what he is talking about when it comes to writing. He has authored a number of best-selling sci-fi books that are not only well-written, but also well imagined.

If you are a writer (or if you want to be), check out the link below to the article.

Chaos Manor - How To Get My Job

I will not run this post through Grammatica, so please nitpick on my grammar on the comments section.

I don't write for Google

noreply@blogger.com (Bastich) — Tue, 01 Mar 2011 23:21:00 +0000

I never write for machines to be able to spider this website. I never ever optimize this site for any keywords or what bullshit SEO term you can think of. This hobby site is just that - a hobby site. Now, I usually get 99% of my traffic from Google, but after the almighty search engine dictatorship changed their algorithm a few days ago, my traffic dipped tremendously.

Why? This site might have been flagged as a "content farm" or whatever the hell it's called. How the hell can this blog with barely any content for the last couple of years be a content farm? Now, I don't earn any money from this blog, not one cent. I recently, and by recently I mean yesterday, tried to place one ad from an advertising company to get a few dollars. Needless to say, I got approved by the company, but the kicker is, with my traffic so low now, I will probably get kicked out of the program in a couple of days.

Thanks a lot, Google. Do no evil, indeed.