I can’t say for sure how many people still visit but for those who still do, know that this blog is far from dead. I’ve simply been swamped with work and with the way things are looking, I’ll probably be supremely busy for a good while longer.

That’s about all I shall divulge for now. Till next time, folks!

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So here’s a little something that came in the mail today.

I happened to see an ad for this shirt over on Facebook a short while back and despite being absolutely piss-poor broke, I just had to have it.

Now, what could possibly be cooler than having a Dragon Shout plastered smack dab in the middle of your T-Shirt?

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My guild’s weekly raid didn’t quite come to fruition this past Monday so the bunch of us who bothered to log on and gather at the allotted raid date/time decided to wander off for our own little adventure. At the end of the night, after much button-pushing and swinging from beam to beam, I found myself on the receiving end of a ferociously electrifying multi-colored attack (as depicted in the screenshot below).

On a more serious note, if you’re here looking for information on how to actually acquire the +10 holocron, I’m afraid to say that you’re shit out of luck because while the process isn’t exactly rocket science, there are still quite a number of fairly annoying steps involved. As far as a written guide goes, you’d best look it up on Google ’cause I’m going to give this one a pass.

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In the midst of the massive load of payless work I’ve been subjecting myself to, I’ve recently managed to set aside some time to re-familiarize myself with the ever-popular crab fishing series, Deadliest Catch. Although I’m not normally one for reality television, the Deadliest Catch manages to stand out as one of my favorite programs on television simply ’cause it makes me feel as though I’m watching a band of modern day pirates muck about on the tumultuous seas.

Seriously though, I fully recognize that the subject matter the show deals with is very real AND very dangerous to boot. It goes without saying that commercial fishing is an extremely risky job, one that doesn’t always pay off for the amount of effort put in. And despite the severity of it all, I’ve always been very drawn to how Deadliest Catch manages to shed a humorous light on the fishermen’s exploits at sea because at the heart of it all, the crews of all these crab boats are still people who’re not just hard-working and down to earth but are also individuals who like to let loose and once in a while, have a little fun.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pCJkIFgeTNM

If that ain’t awesome, then I don’t know what is. The Northwestern and the Time Bandit are by far my favorite ships and crews to have ever been featured on the show. I could go on forever about how the Hillstrands are the true and undisputed bosses of the Bering Sea but really, that isn’t the point of this post.

Which brings me to Deadliest Catch: Alaskan Storm. Released in late 2008, Alaskan Storm comes as a bit of a simulator that aims to bring the Bering Sea fishing experience closer to you than ever before. The premise of it all sounded interesting enough and with the recent rekindling of my enthusiasm for the Deadliest Catch, I figured that it wouldn’t hurt to pick the game up, sit myself down and give it a quick spin.

I’ve had my go at the game’s tutorials and a couple of career seasons (with my trusty boat “Sovereign”) and so far, I’ve been fairly (and surprisingly) impressed. The game’s general pace may be a little slow for some but on the whole, I’m actually quite pleased with how the game manages to incorporate not only themes, boats and characters from the show but also depict the realities of the logistics, management issues and strategies that go into the process of crab fishing. The game itself isn’t too heavy and is enough to pick up, really, though it may take a couple of season’s worth of practice before you’d really get settled into the spirit and routine of catching crab, predicting their movement and running a crab boat on rough seas.

On the side, I have to admit that despite my linking for Alaskan Storm, I feel a tad sore about the game because a close friend and I once tossed about ideas for a strategy game inspired by the Deadliest Catch that, very sadly, never came to fruition. Ah, woe is me.

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Mass Effect 3, In General

A couple of days ago, I finished my very first playthrough of Mass Effect 3. Having been repeatedly disappointed by Bioware’s titles over the past couple of years, I naturally had my fair share of reservations about the final installment to their science-fiction opera of an epic. I was seriously jaded by Bioware’s games to the point where watching the Mass Effect 3′s epic CG trailers and playing the demo barely managed to kindle any flame in my inner Mass Effect and Shepard fan-boy. Eventually, my irrational need to see the conclusion to Commander Shepard’s story won out and I bought for myself a copy of the Mass Effect 3 Digital Deluxe Edition.

As I’ve briefly mentioned a couple of posts back, Mass Effect 3 strongly resembles its direct predecessor, Mass Effect 2, in both the visuals and gameplay department. On a general plus side, as the third game to quite the illustrious gaming trilogy, Mass Effect 3 isn’t without its shiny new features and comes packed with a storyline that’s highly engaging , not to mention vastly improved enemy AI and variation that allows for encounters that are more dynamic and challenging than anything we’ve seen from the series. Compared to Mass Effect 2, Mass Effect 3 also brings to the table a hugely substantial amount of content and missions that are relevant to Shepard’s overarching agenda. Better yet, Bioware has done quite a decent job with streamlining the Mass Effect gaming experience by removing or redesigning those annoying mini-game segments that players have been complaining about for ages now. There are parts of it that still feel a little clunky to me but overall, I’d say that Mass Effect 3 is a game that’s quite well put together.

With that said, I’d like to now talk about something that’s cause quite a bit of controversy. The ending to Shepard’s saga, as presented by Mass Effect 3, has caused a huge stir over the Internet. If you’re curious about what I’m talking about here, you can visit my Youtube channel and have a look at the videos that were uploaded over the past couple of days. To keep things short here, most endings players will land themselves in has Shepard sacrificing himself to end the Reaper threat and in the process, destroying the Mass Relays and effectively setting galactic travel, civilization and technology back for who knows how many years. Said turn of events has Mass Effect and Shepard fans enraged and up in arms believing themselves kicked in the nuts by Bioware and its cadre writers. On the other hand, there is yet another legion of players who see fit to damn the whiny outcry of these fan-boys/girls and further deeming them babies over the fact that they didn’t get the “happy ever after” that these fans thought they deserved.

On Mass Effect 3′s Ending

For discussion’s sake, let’s just break this down a little.

First up, Shepard’s “death”. I, myself, fully expected Shepard to die; that is, I find, the only and obvious way any legend could truly and legitimately be cemented in time and history. As written, he’s accomplished tonne of inhumanly astonishing things and in order to defeat a threat such as the entire Reaper fleet, it feels only appropriate for there to be some manner of a painful trade-off. Yes, there is one particular outcome that sees Shepard surviving but that, I find, is a really cheap way to cap off the story of such an immensely heroic figure. Besides, that ending in particular – the one that has Shepard destroying all synthetics with the added requirement of players have amassed at least 5000 points worth of Effective Military Strength – isn’t exactly what I’d deem an ideal solution, what with the added clause that spells the death of all geth-kind (and not to mention EDI). Regardless, I can fully empathize with players who feel themselves robbed by Shepard’s demise. One of the main things that has always captivated the masses about Mass Effect is the fact that Shepard’s story is effectively the player’s very own personalized adventure. It’s not a completely sand-box experience but the series as a whole is laced with so many pivotal choices that it becomes ever so difficult to not take things personally when misfortune besets Shepard or his crew. This is a point that could be argued, debated and fought over till the end of time but one should probably keep in mind that in Mass Effect canon, it’s more than likely that Shepard passes away.

Then there’s the whole business with the Catalyst. The Reapers, Harbinger and Sovereign in particular, have always remained adamant that despite the resilience of the galaxy’s organics, the Reaper’s purpose will forever remain incomprehensible and that the cycle will always persist. At the end of Mass Effect 3, the Catalyst, in the awkwardly shimmering manifestation of the little boy Shepard’s been chasing in his dreams, sheds some light into the necessity of the cycle and the truth of the greater picture at hand. After years of Mass Effect playthroughs and speculation as to the real nature of the Reaper threat, players now finally have the chance to learn the truth behind the enemy that they’ve been fighting against all this while. By now, the image of what the Reapers are or stand for has been discussed to death and has likely blown out of proportion on a player to player basis.

And herein lies where players may feel themselves robbed yet again because for all the suspense that has been built around this massive fleet of godlike sentient warships , the truth that Mass Effect 3 finally lays on you through its whimsically corny and conveniently placed plot device of a character ultimately doesn’t satiate the curiosity and expectations of the series’ fan base. With Mass Effect 3′s ending, Bioware opted for the ballsy option of creating a conclusion that’s laced with a vague and oddly artistic irony; in order to save the galaxy at large, players are placed in a position where every option available to them disrupts the known rules of galactic civilization and introduces a brand new existential paradigm AFTER they’ve spent so much time and effort pursuing the goal of preserving the state of the galaxy as Shepard knows it. The Catalyst and the endings it provides are essentially different shades of the same “hard reset” button. Seriously, I’d give Bioware all the props in the world for trying something so tragic and poignant that it falls out of the comfort zone of the mainstream gamer but as much as I hate to say it, that isn’t exactly what players really want out of their Mass Effect experience.

All that begs the question: what do the Mass Effect fans – the ones who aren’t happy with Mass Effect 3′s endings at least – really want? Well, based on the forum threads I’ve read and the comments on my videos, the biggest thing fans seem to be most riled up about is the game’s lack of closure. It’s not so much that players want or need a “happy ending”. Rather, having grown so attached to a character whose actions and speech are almost literally defined by a player’s personal morals and choices, all players really desire is to have an ending that they can genuinely call their own. Again, players have spent no small amount of man hours into being Shepard, forging relationships and influencing galactic events. To have the game end not only with Shepard’s death but also on such a vague note – with the Mass Relays destroyed, the Normandy right smack in the middle of a jungle and the only follow up being a questionable old man having a candid chat with a child about bedtime stories – feels pretty much like a massive insult. I can’t quite say for sure if this is what Bioware intended but it seems to me that any conclusion that can be drawn outside of the fact that Shepard’s gone to meet his maker and that the Mass Relays were destroyed really boils down to one’s imagination; which, sadly enough, seriously isn’t enough.

Be they good or bad, players simply want to definitively know the outcome of the choices they’ve made over all three games combined and most importantly, the fate of the uniquely written characters that they’ve grown to love. Knowing that your actions and choices mean something has always been a major drawing point for Bioware’s games and the Mass Effect series and the sad fact here is that with Mass Effect 3, Bioware has effectively robbed thousands upon thousands of players of that opportunity to seek closure at the end of such a long and illustrious game series. To that end, it doesn’t quite help either that most of the game’s ending CG cut-scenes pretty much portray the same series of events save for the color of  the energy released by the Citadel. While I can appreciate the symbolism in the way Shepard’s story concludes, the execution of the game’s various endings were just downright trashy and unworthy of all the hype built around the game and its protagonist.

In Closing

Would I go as far as to say that the last twenty minutes of Mass Effect 3 ruined the entire franchise? No, and any fan that proclaims so is purely being overly dramatic. The game’s conclusion sent me into a minor state of contemplative depression and had me examining the themes and symbolism that has persisted throughout all three games in the series. Yes, it’s resulted in me feeling pretty damn empty about how things played out but at the very least, Mass Effect 3 actually had me thinking in detail about events that transpired; and that is something that I can definitely appreciate out of any game. However, I do take serious issue with how the game denies you an adequate means of closure.

For all we know, this could have well been the manner in which Bioware intended to cap off Shepard’s career and story from the very beginning. If that were the case then yes, I’d say that Bioware slammed a massive sledgehammer into everyone’s nutsack because they would have effectively brought every fan and player on an extremely long and personal journey only to reveal at the very end that when compared to the grand scheme of the universe, your choices and actions don’t actually matter. There are grains of truth in that message,  no doubt, but seriously, is that really how you’d want your fans to remember one of your most popular franchises? It’s insane.

A Quick Blurb On Bioware

There was a time when I’d fork out any amount of money for Bioware’s content. I remember spending hours on end playing games like Knight of the Old Republic, the first Mass Effect and hell, let’s not forget my whopping sixteen odd playthroughs of Dragon Age: Origins. These days, all I really feel for them is disappointment and hesitation. I used to be a huge fan of Bioware, really, but the content and gameplay they’ve been putting out has really taken a huge hit in quality. Looking back, Dragon Age 2 was beset by a flimsy storyline and painfully boring and repetitive level design and encounters, Mass Effect 2 had great audio and pacing but was really little more than a combination of a glorified “Looking For Group” advert and a main-story-detached bug-stomping expedition, The Old Republic is simply yet another stale clone of the age-old World of Warcraft MMO model that sorely needs to be phased out and Mass Effect 3, well, it’s a pretty good game on its own but its ending really left too much to be desired.

If Bioware ever gets their head on straight and stopped allocating resources into the creation hundreds of T-Shirt variants and lithographs, did away with gimmicky marketing campaigns, stopped launching games into space and really hunkered down and focused on the quality of their actual game content then just maybe, in years to come, they’ll once again be hailed as the kings of the computer RPG genre.

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It’s been a while but at long last, Michael Shepard is back on duty.

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yVE-k9cT1GM

Oh, woe is me and my damnable weakness for all things epic. That said, this has to be one of the most impressive game trailers I’ve watched in at least the past six months.

In other news, I’ve had my go at Mass Effect 3′s single and multi-player demos and despite my initial skepticism, they were actually quite decent. I might just write a detailed a post about the demo in due time but for now, I will say that the game plays very much like its predecessor and comes equipped with quite the noticeable improvement in graphic quality.

Still – and I’m sure most of you will agree - whether this game tanks or not will greatly depend on its storyline and how Bioware intends to bring Shepard’s story to a close. Till then, my judgement shall be stayed.

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So here I am just being a little random and posting an image of the mount I just looted off Darth Malgus in The Old Republic.

The Rendili Fireball may look like a giant nose that’s been set on fire, but it is sure as hell still better than this giant piece of trash.

Damned be the designer who decided it was a good idea to create a floating brick.

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Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance sees Johnny Blaze straying far from modern civilization and hiding out in Eastern Europe as he tries ever so desperately to maintain control over the burning demon within. Despite his efforts to remain in isolation, he is soon sought out by a priestly warrior who sets him on an unholy quest to save a young boy – the anti-christ, supposedly – from the knobbly clutches the Devil and his conspirators.

Airing five years following the first Ghost Rider movie, Spirit of Vengeance doesn’t exactly come as much of an improvement over its already lackluster predecessor. Ghost Rider 2′s central plot and feeble attempt at character development is so much of a mess of an execution that the film ultimately amounts to little more than a string of flimsily written events that may be described as distracted or confused at best. The plot glaringly lacks in direction and focus and were it not for the film’s  and explosive action and Cage’s portrayal of a tormented and erratic protagonist, would have easily failed to grabbed anyone’s attention.

Worthy of some praise at least however is the movie’s general vibe and aesthetic direction which, interestingly enough, happens to be remarkably different from that of the first movie. Compared to its predecessor, Ghost Rider 2 isn’t necessarily darker, but it is definitely dirtier, rougher around the edges, somewhat more violent and in possession of edgy connotations of horror. I reckon that the film was made as such to highlight the struggle, torment and flashes of psychoticism Cage’s character experiences in his constant wrestle for control with the demon that is the Rider. On the whole, despite its weak excuse of a plot, there just seems to be an odd psychedelia and awkwardly comedic tragedy to the film that I can’t help but be drawn to.

At the end of it all, though I attribute this to my general fondness of motorcycles, fire and badass anti-heroes, I came away from the film sufficiently satisfied, albeit very, VERY far from impressed. There obviously isn’t a lot of substance or depth to Spirit of Vengeance but pair the movie’s high octane action scenes with a leading character that is as demonically eccentric as he is intense and what you’ve really got here is a fiery and, at times, unintentionally hilarious joy ride.

My advice? If you intend to watch this movie, you may just want to leave your brain and all pre-conceptions and knowledge of Ghost Rider at the door.

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So I’ve reached a point in The Old Republic where there really isn’t much else for me to do other than wait for weekly scheduled raid events.

Rather than grinding my way up to Valor 60, leveling an alt character, gearing up my companions or hunting them datacrons that have been so annoyingly hidden and scattered across the galaxy, I’ve resolved myself to simply camping out at the Imperial Fleet’s cantinas and Galactic Trade Market kiosks. As painfully boring as that sounds, I don’t find myself motivated to do much of anything else in the game.

I’ve been an MMO player for over seven years now and I don’t think I’ve ever come across a situation where I literally run out of interesting things to do in such a short span of time. This situation that I face right now, I think, speaks of something – or many things – that The Old Republic lacks.

Once you’ve amassed a respectable amount of gear in PvE (which isn’t very hard at all in itself), any pre-raid content the game dishes out seems to lose all appeal and despite the massive worlds Bioware has designed, there just doesn’t seem to be much out in the galactic wilderness worth exploring (especially when compared to games such as WAR). The Old Republic’s PvP scene is also far from polished and is riddled with bugs, exploits and on the whole, sorely lacks in variation. The game’s warzones really aren’t half bad (Hutt-ball is especially fun for me) but Bioware’s sordid half-assed attempt at open-world PvP on Ilum is truly nothing short of a disaster.

Understandably, the game is still in its infancy so I will give it the benefit of a doubt and hope for a brighter future ahead. It does seem very lazily built and doesn’t offer much in the way of innovation but it works just as well as any other MMO would in its first couple months. There are, of course, many areas of the game that deserve some attention, some of which may even sorely require a complete do-over (*cough* Ilum *cough*).

Regardless, I foresee myself sticking with this game for a good while longer, especially with the opening of its Asia Pacific servers in March. Things may be a little slow right now but hopefully, with the regional change in servers, my current guild finally see some significant progress and possibly swelled in its pool of competent players.

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