I’m starting out my October/Halloween playlist with the original F.E.A.R.

My initial exposure to F.E.A.R. was through the demo in 2005. I remember walking into an area and getting my first glimpse of Alma. It was pretty creepy.

Since then, I’ve tried to play through it a few times. As with most games, however, I lose momentum fairly quickly.

It’s not like Deus Ex, where I just couldn’t make myself complete it. It’s just that I get distracted by other games. This time, however, I’m going to finish.

Actually, I’m looking forward to finally getting through F.E.A.R. I’ve enjoyed what I have played of it so far. It is creepy, which I’m normally not a fan of, but still fun.

Of course, some of the story has already been ruined for me. I won’t mention what here but you will know what I’m talking about if you paid attention to the sequels. I’m not too bothered, though. I still think it will be a fun ride.

However, I have struggled getting into the spirit of things over the last several years. October just hasn’t felt like it did when I was growing up. After thinking about it, I think I know why.

When I was growing up, I didn’t have to work at getting into the holiday spirit. It happened because the people around me did the work. Whether it was my parents decorating at home or teachers decorating at school, when October came, the decoration went up.

Now that I have my own family and am not in school anymore, I have to work at it myself. So this year I’ve decided to actually put in some effort. I bought some decorations and changed the wallpaper on my computer. It’s definitely helping. But there is one more thing I want to do.

When I look through my backlog, I see that I have several games that could help me as well. So I’m creating a playlist dedicated to October and Halloween.

Now, before I get into the games, I will admit it may be a bit of a stretch to call some of these Halloween games. You would probably expect to see survival horror games. But I don’t like horror games. So no Amnesia, Slender Man, or Resident Evil.

Here is my list:

1. F.E.A.R. – I’ve started this game several times but never finished it. It is the first one I’m going to tackle on this list.
2. The Walking Dead – I know I said I don’t like horror games. However, I was convinced to buy this during the Steam summer sale. Episode 4 will be released tomorrow so it’s a good excuse to play through it.
3. Costume Quest – This is game that sparked this idea. It’s definitely more fun that scary but has to be included since it is actually Halloween themed.
4. S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl – I don’t know if I will have time for this one but thought I would include it just in case.

So that’s my list. It should be a fun and intense few weeks.

w00ty w00t!

As you can see from the screenshot, I’m about half-way through level 10 with my Embermage, Draig. This is after a little more than 2 hours of play. Here are my thoughts so far.

To Embermage or Not To Embermage

I normally choose the tank class when playing a game like this. My main run through the original Torchlight was with the Destroyer. This is a holdover from the original Diablo. While the Sorcerer became powerful later on, I had a hard time with him at the beginning.

This time, however, I decided to try out the Embermage first. I chose the Veteran difficulty and headed out. 5 levels in, I almost pulled the plug on him.

My main problem was mana. I couldn’t take down very many baddies before I ran out. It was really frustrating. Until I noticed this.

I noticed it empty one time and wondered what it was doing. Obviously the way to find out what something in an RPG does is to hover over it with the mouse. Here’s what it said.

Nice! So when the bar fills up, I can blast everything as much as I want for 12 seconds.

This changed my strategy significantly. For one thing, if the bar is close to filling up I won’t stop for anything. It doesn’t matter if I just looted something epic or leveled up, I’m killin’ baddies until it fills. After I bring the pain, then I’ll stop to make adjustments.

Of course I’m still pretty fragile. I died several times trying to kill Mordrox. Which brings me to another observation.

Pet upgrades

The pet makes its return from the original Torchlight. However, it has one upgrade that saved me more than once.

Instead of just being able to send your pet back to town to sell stuff, you can now give them a shopping list.

You can tell your pet to pick up different things and they will. After I died the second time against Mordrox, I sent Manx to town to get 20 health potions. It was still tough but it was enough.

I’m enjoying Torchlight 2 a ton! Like Borderlands 2, it’s everything I wanted in the sequel. Now the only question is, which one do I want to play?

Playing Borderlands 2 over the last two days has been a blast. I’m 7 hours in and earned elite status on Raptr. However, starting tomorrow my time is going to be split.

Torchlight 2 comes out! w00ty w00t!

I’ve been waiting for this one for a while. I LOVE the original Torchlight. I really enjoy Diablo style games. Torchlight is one of the best. And it’s going to get even better.

According to Runic, Torchlight 2 is roughly 4 times bigger than the original. I put over 37 hours into the original. If they are right, I’m going to be playing 2 for a long time.

I will be interested to see how Torchlight 2 competes with Borderlands 2 for my gaming time. They are both loot based games. Yet they are in radically different genres. I don’t know which one I’m going to gravitate towards.

Either way, it’s definitely a great week to be a PC gamer!

I’m sitting at 3 hours played in Borderlands 2. I hit level 8 and made it through the initial story quests.

Borderlands 2 is an awesome game! It’s pretty much exactly what I wanted. Lots of guns. Lots of numbers flying off baddies. And lots of fun.

I started my first play-through with Salvador, the Gunzerker. I’m enjoying him but wonder if he fits my play style. I had the same problem when I started the original with Brick.

Let me try to explain. There is a quest where you pickup hair off of bullymongs. Sir Hammerlock tells you he will give you a sniper rifle if you bring the hair to him. Claptrap decides he wants it an offers a shotgun. You can choose who you turn the quest into based on the reward you want.

Now, the shotgun is probably the correct choice for Salvador. He fights in among the baddies. Close range weapons are what you want.

However, I chose the sniper rifle. I then proceeded to climb to the highest point I could and snipe. It was extremely satisfying.

As I was up there, I started wondering if I should play Zero, the Assassin. He’s got a sniper tree. Of course, then I ran in with Salvador, popped Gunzerking, and brought the pain. Man, that was fun too!

So at this point I’m going to stick with Salvador. The good thing is I can still use the sniper rifle effectively. I like that I have that freedom.

I also wrestled a bit with the build I want. Salvador’s Brawn tree is the tanking tree. I don’t really want to be a tank, per se, but those talents are very intriguing. Surviving while Gunzerking is obviously important.

So I think I’m going to go with a bit of a hybrid. I’m starting out with 5 points in Hard to Kill. Then I’m going to spend most of my points in the Rampage tree, which improves Gunzerking. After that, I’ll have to just wait and see what my play style becomes. I might go deeper in the Brawn tree or might spend some points in Gunlust. I’ll be up in the mid-30s at that point so I should have a good idea how I play.

Either way, this is definitely a game I’m going to be spending some time with. I actually think I’m going to hold of on Mists of Pandaria because of it and Torchlight 2. I’m just having too much fun!

w00ty w00t!

Tomorrow marks the beginning of a busy release schedule. Borderlands 2 will be out.

As you can see from the image, I’m preloaded and ready to go. I was a little on the fence about pre-ordering. I knew I was going to eventually play it but didn’t know if I should go ahead and get it now.

However, Green Man Gaming was running a deal where I was able to get the game and the season pass for the DLC for $61.90. So I basically got all the DLC for $1.91. I couldn’t pass that up.

So now I’m ready to go. I’m really looking forward to getting into this one tomorrow. I enjoyed the original Borderlands, although I never finished it. An FPS loot game is just about perfect for me.

In the original, I played as Mordecai, the sniper. I tried Brick initially but changed pretty quickly. Mordecai felt a lot like the mage/wizard class I love the play in MMOs.

They changed the classes around in Borderlands 2. The sniper is Zero, the assassin. However, I think I’m going a different direction this time.

Salvador is the Gunzerker. Gunzerker. In Borderlands 2. With “bazillions of guns”. Yup, that’s who I’m playing.

I’m going to spend some time today playing around with Salvador’s skill tree. I want to have a fairly good idea where I’m heading before I start. I’m going to start off aiming to do as much damage as possible. I may tweak my build to add some of the more tank like abilities later but for now, damage is king.

Man, I’m excited about this one! Between this tomorrow and Torchlight 2 on Thursday, I am going to have a phat loot week for sure!

This post is an update on The Ultimate Loremaster Experiment.

I finished Wetlands. Blaidd is now 33. Here are his stats.

1. Played = 1 Day, 9 Hours, 22 Minutes, 49 Seconds
2. Funds = 66G 45S 18C
3. Item Level = 17
4. Achievements = 2 new (Explore Ashenvale, Ashenvale Quests)
5. Reputation
   1. Darnassus = Revered (16268/21000)
   2. Exodar = Honored (11489/12000)
   3. Gilneas = Honored (11745/12000)
   4. Gnomeregan = Honored (3399/12000)
   5. Ironforge = Revered (4765/21000)
   6. Stormwind = Revered (11629/21000)
6. Rares Killed = 4 (Rorgish Jowl, Akkrilus, Oakpaw, Ursol’lok)

I got a ton of reputation with Darnassus in this zone. I went from 1713 when I started to 16268 when I finished. I’m really hoping I hit exalted with at least one faction before I hit 40. It is looking like that won’t be a problem.

Also, I made some good coin as well. Almost 20G. I know that may not sound like a lot but I think it’s pretty significant at this level.

I will be interested to see how the gold works out with the riding skills. I’ve got more than enough for the next skill with 7 levels to go. However, will it always work out that way?

I’m guessing I will probably have what I need for Expert Riding at 60. I will need 200G. Probably won’t be a problem at this rate.

Artisan Riding at 70 is another story. At exalted, it costs 4000G. I’m pretty sure I’m not going to be able to get that at the rate I’m going. I expect I will have to wait until I hit 90. The quests will start giving a lot more gold at that point. It will be interesting to see how close I am.

Now, on to Stonetalon Mountains!

Main Build – Frost

I’m going with Frost for my main build. I am mainly doing this for leveling to 90. The Water Elemental makes leveling a lot easier for me. Plus, Fingers of Frost coupled with Ice Lance puts out some crazy damage.

Here’s the talents I’m choosing.

1. Ice Floes – This tier is about mobility. I like the idea of getting off 2 Frostbolts while moving instead of one instant through Presence of Mind. Just my preference.
2. Ice Barrier – I love this spell for leveling.
3. Frostjaw – I’m not really sure I like this choice better than the others. I think it’s better for soloing than Ice Ward but might not be better than Ring of Frost. I’ll stick with it for now but I may change my mind.
4. Greater Invisibility – My first deviation from Frost. This is the get-out-of-jail-free tier. I love having the ability to go invisible instantly and survive. It’s always fun to be the last one standing in an instance or raid after a wipe.
5. Living Bomb – When 5.0.4 hit, I picked Frost Bomb for this tier. However, I haven’t had much luck with it. I think it’s because it’s countdown and cooldown are reduced by haste. It ends so quickly I might get in one Frostbolt before I have to reapply it. So I’m going to try Living Bomb instead.
6. Rune of Power – This tier is harder to pick. The spells are new and I’m not going to be able to play with them until I hit 90. For now, I think I’m going to pick Rune of Power. I’m not moving around a lot when I’m leveling so it seems like it will make sense. We’ll see, though.

Secondary Build – Arcane

While I will use Frost for leveling, I am going to go with Arcane for instances and raids. I know all 3 specs are supposed to be comparable. I just find Arcane to be more fun than spamming Frostbolt in instances.

Here’s the talents I’m choosing for this build.

1. Presence of Mind – For instances, I think the instant spell will be more valuable than being able to cast while moving. Of course, it will depend on the fight mechanics.
2. Temporal Shield – If I’m getting hit in an instance, it means I pulled aggro. This allows me to heal up while the tank works on getting aggro back.
3. Ice Ward – This can be helpful to healers. It would give them a chance to get away if something’s beating on them.
4. Greater Invisibility – Picking this again here. This is mostly about familiarity. However, I may end up switching if something else seems to be better.
5. Nether Tempest – I think this will be the best for boss fights, especially if there are adds. It is the only choice here that hits others on every tick instead of just when it expires.
6. Invocation – I like this for instances. Rune of Power seems too dependent on staying in one place. Incanter’s Ward only seems valuable when I’m getting hit, which should be close to never as a mage.

So that’s what I’m going to do for now. We’ll see what changes I end up making once I get some time with these builds.

For a variety of reasons, the original plan didn’t work. So I’ve been trying to decide what to do now.

The main reason I started K & M Tavern was to help PC gamers find their voice through sharing stories. I still believe in that idea. So I’m going to start focusing on telling my stories as well as helping others tell theirs.

I will be expanding on this over the next month or so. However, I thought it might be fun to have a giveaway to help others develop their stories even more.

The best stories are shared experiences. Video games are great for creating these experiences because they require active participation, not passivity like TV or movies. And the best games for that are co-op games.

Next week, two big co-op loot games are dropping, Borderlands 2 and Torchlight 2. They are both currently available for pre-order on Steam. So I thought it would be fun to give copies of both away.

Here’s what you need to do to be entered.

1. Follow me on twitter @Cyberwizard.
2. Tweet this “RT @Cyberwizard I just entered K & M Tavern’s Epic Look Game Loot Drop http://kandmtavern.com/k-m-taverns-epic-loot-game-loot-drop/”

That’s it! Just to be clear, I will be gifting pre-order copies of BOTH games through Steam to the winner. I will randomly pick a winner and contact them on Sunday, September 16th. That will give me time to get the games to the winner before the pre-order bonuses expire.

Good luck!

This post is part of my FPS Blitz.

I finished the main story of Crysis 2. It took me a little over 12 hours to complete. And I have to say, I really enjoy it!

If I am completely honest, I wasn’t expecting to enjoy Crysis 2 as much as I did. I don’t really know why. Most of what I heard about it was positive. It was the one game I was looking for during the Steam summer sale. And yet, I will still skeptical going into it.

I think my skepticism came from two things.

1. I associated it with military shooters. I played a little bit of the multiplayer beta before the game came out. The gunplay made me think of games like Call of Duty and Homefront. I’m not a big fan of military shooters.
2. Stealth seemed important. I’m also not a fan of stealth games. I’m more of a run-and-gunner. I’m looking at you, Deus Ex: Human Revolution.

Thankfully, neither one of these things holds Crysis 2 back.

1. Gunplay is where the military shooter ends. As I mentioned in my last article, Crysis 2 feels much more like Half-Life than Call of Duty.

2. The stealth is awesome. My issue with most stealth games is what happens when you are detected. You normally have to find a hiding place and wait until the enemies decide you are no longer around. I don’t enjoy this at all.

   The stealth in Crysis 2 is much different. It’s basically a get-out-of-jail-free card. You hit the button to cloak and most enemies won’t be able to find you anymore. In fact, once I upgraded the stealth in my nanosuit to drain energy slower, I was able to stealth through most missions. I played the last half of the game that way.

Now, while I did finish the campaign, I was nowhere close to completing the whole game. Here are my stats at the end.

As you can see, I didn’t pick up much of the extra stuff lying around. I was trying to keep the momentum I had to be able to finish. Looking for everything would have slowed me way down. So I mostly ignored the extra stuff unless it was obvious.

Will I go back and to get everything? Probably not. I’m not much of a completionist. Plus, I have a lot of other games I need to finish. I’ll probably play through it again sometime because I enjoyed it.

For now, it’s on to the next game in my FPS Blitz. Far Cry 2.