Rational Anarchy

SW:TOR Operation Flashpoint

spyder — Sun, 22 Jan 2012 01:37:14 GMT

So to continue the wonderful adventures in SW:TOR.

Today I did a dungeon...only they're not called dungeons, they're called Flashpoints, but otherwise, they're dungeons. Get a group of you together to clear an area that needs a party, and is instanced to yourselves.

You gain access to your first Flashpoint at the time you leave your starter world, heading out to your faction's capital, which will be round about level 10. At that point you can either take the fast shuttle straight there, or a group of you can take a passenger cruiser, where amusing highjinks are abound.

Firstly to note the Flashpoint is multi level and multi-area. Your route is pretty linear, although, in true BioWare style, there's a few either/or choices which mean the story can play out a little differently depending on what is chosen. Given that there's going to be a group of you, there's an interesting gimmick that governs which choices your group follow.
During a cutscene you get the usual Bioware conversation wheel. Everyone chooses which answer they want, and then the system does a random number roll. Person who gets the highest gets to say their line, and the group is governed by any effects of that person's choice. This also applies to options with Light or Dark responses.
It makes for a degree of variation, both in how the flashpoint plays out, but also who is doing the talking in the cutscenes, since every conversation choice is a new roll
Drawback is everyone has to be at the NPC to take part, and you have to wait for everyone to have made their choice

Some good things...If your party wipes you do get dropped at the dungeon entrance, but because of the segmented map, when you re-enter, you rejoin at the start of the area you were last in, rather than at the start of the dungeon. You can also get added into the party midquest, and you'll be in the same general area of the map as the party
Some bad things...Lifts between areas don't work whilst in combat, so if you're one side of the lift, and someone engages foes on the other side, you're stuck out of combat until they've cleared that mob. Also in the particular map there ae large holes you can fall down. You've seen them in the SW movies, all those walkways with vast drops and no railings. And if you fall down one, you're stuck, since you have no means yo climb out, and unless the fall kills you you can't respawn without leaving the party and getting re-added.
Happened to one of my team-mates, but the others were saying it's a common occurrence that they've seen happen most times they've been though this particular Flashpoint.

On the whole was quite fun for a couple of hours with complete strangers

Oh yes. Big thing for me
I dungeoned with complete strangers!!

Not only that, I'm the one who initiated the LFG, and was party leader

People who know me will know just how much of a big thing that is for me
Talking to strangers in a game without the safety net of someone I know. Freaky

SW:TOR pt2

spyder — Sat, 21 Jan 2012 15:43:05 GMT

It's still early days in my playing of Star Wars: The Old Republic. Last night I managed to get my Jedi Consular up to level 10, and off the starter planet.

Having played through a fair few of the starter areas during the beta weekends at the end of last year it's prety clear there's been very little changes between then and now. Mainly optimization stuff I think. Textures are still looking low res, mind, and I don't know if that's by design, or if I haven't found the right graphics setting

Playwise I'm enjoying it. It is most definitely a BioWare game, but it is also very much a BioWare/WoW hybrid. When you get outside of the story and into the every day combat there's little to distinguish the mechanics from so many other MMOs. Stand here, swing that, CC here, etc. Not inherently a bad thing, just not really anything new. Even the quests, when you boil down to it are all familiar old tropes. Carry this item to that NPC, kill-ten-fleshraiders, go speak to this NPC. The difference is the BioWare story telling, and this is SW:TOR's strong point. In replacing every wall-of-text you'd usually expect from a quest giver with an animated, fully voiced cut scene the quests stop being just kill-ten-rats. You know what you're doing because someone begged you to do it, rather than just handing you a paragraph and saying "read this".
I know I rarely read quest text beyond a cursory glance, and usually rely on the quest goals and map markers to let me know what I'm supposed to be doing. So usually in other MMOs I'd be playing to tick of quest goals rather than because J Random NPC really needs those animal body parts. In SW:TOR you are personally asked, and told why you should be doing something. You often have an opportunity to discuss the problem with your quest giver, or have a different NPC offer you an alternative option, usually for Light or Dark side points. A woman may need cat teeth for her son's medicine, but I know that because I found a holo-recording of a father's dying words regretting he couldn't help his family
The next nice change about questing - The NPC-less quest. If I'm in an area for another reason and I happen to kill one of the local fauna I might get a quest pop up pretty much saying "Whilst you're in the area, kill another 9 of them and you get XP and cash" Now I'm sure you could imagine thius could become a bit of a core, a grind. What I've found so far, though, is if I get one of these sets of kill-10-rats quests there are usually between 8 to 15 rats between me and the goal of the quest which broughtr me out here in the first place, with very little need to go hunting out foes. Respawns seem to be pretty timely also, so a crowded server won't,. I think, be a big issue

Finally on quests you have your Story quests. This is where the Bioware touch really shines through. Complex choice-driven dialogues, reminiscent of Mass effect and of Dragon Age. you get to shose how to respond, and your actions carry though to different instances. For example, as a Jedi padawan i was sent by my master to mnegotiate with refugees in a nearby village fore a mcguffin. Whilst there I could either be polite, or chose the darkside option to intimidate tyhe villagers. I did the latter, went off and continued the story, and though nothing of myt meanness. A few staged on through the quest chain and I'm back at my jedi master ready to cheer at my successes, only to get an earbashing for my actions with the villagers. "We do not do that sort of thing, Padawan"

SW:TOR

spyder — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 21:01:50 GMT

So, yeah, I'm about a month behind, but today I picked up Star Wars:The Old Republic.

Now I've heard various different opinions on various different aspects of the game. For the most part, the majority of complaints seem to have someone else complaining the exact opposite. Personally I think in the majority of cases what we're seeing are people's preconceptions being shattered, but then that's just me

So I'm going to go into this with an open mind.
I've played some MMOs, I've played some BioWare titles. I've watched and read various Star Wars stuff. And I shall like to see whether combining an MMO with BioWare's storytelling is actually worth the bother.

I played a couple of the beta weekends. I got a couple of characters up to level 10 and off their respective starter planets. It's unlikely much will have changed, but we shall see

Since I never uninstalled the client from those betas, instalation was quite straightforward, as the client just updated itself
I already had an account on swtor.com, and could just add myregistration code directly into that account. To activate the live account you have to add a subscription method, or paid time form a paid time card. Subscription will get collected after the first month if you don't cancel beforehand. You can use debit/credit card or Paypal.

I seem to recall when I set up for the beta that an Origin account was created automatically when I made the account on the website (OMG ORIGIN NOOOOOOOOO!) but haven't seen any sign of EA's new lovechild other than that brief message

So now I'm through the install process and setup, which on the whole was pretty pain free. Few niggles about the amount of security questions you have to provide answers for, but that's a one time dealy (did that back at beta) but otherwise quite smooth

Now for some CG intro video (Mmmm Jennifer Hale) and on into the world

PS: You can choose from both Europe and US servers. See that Blizzard? Both! At the same time!

spyder — Mon, 18 Apr 2011 00:11:29 GMT

So a few weeks back, on a whim, and because it was in a sale (damn you HMV) I bought the Spaced Box Set. I don't think I've seen this since it first aired about 10 years ago.
I've finally got round to actually watching it today, and have been laughing like a loon

I'm gonna have to watch it all again, with the Homage-O-Meter on. Way too many pop references to pick up in one go

Thoroughly recommend the series for anyone who appreciates good British TV humour

(Both seasons are on 4oD, and for the US (apparently) on Hulu)

Gaming

spyder — Wed, 23 Feb 2011 00:32:01 GMT

So a few of the ponies have taken to playing World of Warcraft. A few years back I tried one of the 10-day trials. I lasted 5 days, and barely made level 16. I wrote WoW off as a grindfest not worth the effort to get to the good stuff, and went and played other things

Now I've tried other MMOs other than my beloved GuildWars.
- Warhammer:Age of Reckoning was ok, but lacked that something. Too many little annoyances which in and off themselves were hardly anything, but they added up
- Tabula Rasa... I went in for the free play they did as they were winding down to shutting the servers off. Lasted 2 days with a feeling of "Yes? And?"
- Eve Online... 10 days for this one. After the straight forward tutorial missions, which consisted mostly of fed-ex quests, I headed out into the big wild world, and promptly got lost in the interface, community and economy. I get payed to work. I pay to have fun, not get a second job.
- Aion ... Very pretty. Lasted the full first month before they started asking for subscription...but seriously such a grindfest. Not enough quests to generate even half of the necessary XP, Hi, you're level 14, and have just run out of quests. the next area has quests intended for lvl 16. Have fun. And that was toned back for the western market
- DDO online ... 2 days. More than anything I was put off by the graphics and the controls. Felt clunky and dated

Then, since WoW had a big overhaul for Cataclysm, I decided, having been persuaded by other ponies playing, and the constant reminders of its existence by phishing emails, to try another 10-Day trial

I've been playing for 10 days. I outleveled the trial's lvl 20 cap on the second day; partially because they have made it easier to level, and partially because they've cleared out large quantities of the Kill-Ten-Rats quests that bogged the early game down. So i went out and bought the game

My human rogue is now level 47, and I'm tempted to roll a mage as well...although that may wait until after payday so I can pick up Burning Crusade, so I can have a ~~space goat~~ Draenei

spyder — Sun, 09 Jan 2011 13:42:57 GMT

I say this on a pretty regular basis, but i should post more

Christmas and new year have been very busy at work. The UK has had some of the longest severe cold weather it's experienced in some time.
I work in home insurance. Since November we have been dealing with claim after claim for water escaping from burst pipes, and damage to roofs and gutters from sliding snow and ice.
We were given some figures the other day
In November and December we registered over 4,000 more claims than the same time in 2009. In December alone we registered 1,600 more burst pipe claims than the previous year.
Work is busy. I'm coming home brain fried, and you can see why.

The Christmas period was a quiet do with the family. I got a few books, and DVDs. Mum got a Kindle. Now I haven't really contemplated an e-reader. I have the Kindle app on my phone, which was useful for one book which was delayed in getting shipped, but getting a dedicated device never really appealed. well that was until I played with my mum's Kindle. It's surprisingly comfortable to hold and to use, and the display is as clear as a printed book. I'm now trying to balance 'need' and 'want'.

Talking of 'need' and 'want' I should get down to getting a replacement car. The insurance confirmed the car was a write-off, but the settlement, even with the excess deducted, wasn't too far off what I paid originally, which is good. I'm also impressed at Direct Line's prompt service. Good going all round there
Now I did really like my Ford Focus, so I'll likely be looking at the same again. Might see if I can get the model with the front fog lights, just because, well gadgets.

wu tu fu

spyder — Thu, 03 Jun 2010 21:27:43 GMT

So I was just thinking earlier today, it's been a while since I last posted, and so I should really post something, and I was contemplating various subjects, including having seen maddmouse on the weekend, and probably some waffle about computer games again.

Then someone stole our rubbish

Thursday night is bin night, and every fortnight it's time to put out the boxes for paper and plastics for recycling. About half an hour ago some youths; drunk, stoned, high or something; came down the street in their delirious state, leaving a trail of ripped bin bags and scattered rubbish in their wake. Our next door neighbour is on their way out, and gets verbally abused by this pair. The guys then pick up the plastic box holding our waste paper, and go running off down the street.

Now about 500 yards down from us there's quite a large reservoir, with access from our road, and it's down that path these youths dart. Dad and I grab shoes and follow gingerly. Now it's past sundown and the dusk is getting really dim, the reservoir has no lighting, and so we're very cautious as we pear down the path to the water, and spot these guys laughing and gesticulating around our recycling box.

The box is smoking quite heavily, and in the dim light the first flames can be seen rising above the edges.
We beat a hasty retreat and call the police

spyder — Wed, 28 Apr 2010 19:11:00 GMT

Ok, I have to share this, because it's cool and shiny and makes me want (more-so) a game that hasn't even reached beta testing yet

Arenanet are releasing news on their upcoming MMO GuildWars 2, and they've just released details the first confirmed player class, the elementalist

Pretty video

More details and videos at http://www.guildwars2.com/en/the-game/professions/elementalist/

Also details of the skills system at http://www.guildwars2.com/en/the-game/combat/part-one/
and ArenaNet's manifesto for GW2 at http://www.arena.net/blog/guild-wars-2-design-manifesto#more-1891

Wooo 3D

spyder — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 21:42:53 GMT

So one of the magazines I buy had cheapo red/blue 3D glasses. Now i happened to note at some time in the past that NVidia ha a sterioscopic setting for some of their graphics cards, so I went a nosing. Whatcha know, but my card is one of them that can to it, so I've been spending the afternoon playing various games to see how they look.

How do they look? Well 3D for a start, but its a strange sepia tinted 3D accentuated with purples and lime greens.
Original Mass Effect looked good, but I forgot I could up the brightness, and so gameplay suffered.
Mass Effect 2 was a little more successful, although the sepia effect made computer consoles almost vanish.
Dragon Age: Origins looked excellent. (even a bit of tent time >_> <_<)
Mirror's Edge was by far the most successful. The predominently white world copes well through the red/blue specs, although= the purples and greens took getting used to.

Made me wanna get NVidia's 3D system, but then I'd need a compatible monitor in addition to the glasses and receiver. Since I'm not in a position i need to upgrade I think I'll wait.

Is funny what you get used to, mind. World looked very strange without the specs on, once I was done.

Edit
Glancing through Amazon at 3D kit, I saw for sale a pair of plastic framed red/blue specs (ok it's red/cyan), and near the bottom of the page one of the reviews read:
Tried to use these 3 d glasses and as they are not polarised they will not work in every cinema.Went to see Avatar at the Imax in London and they did not work. Absolute waste of money !! Don't purchase !!
One wonders why he thought the lenses were coloured

spyder — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 21:59:30 GMT

So what are you up to Valve.

First you update Portal to stick radios in every test chamber, and add an achievement linked to it, then a couple of days later you change part of the ending.
Is this a hint at Portal 2, or is it the long awaited Half Life 2:Episode 3 (Tranmere Rovers 1 /zp).
Perhaps its something else entirely...which reminds me, am looking forward to looking at Black Mesa, a fan made port of the original Half Life into Valve's Source engine. So they were expecting to have this out for 2009, but if the big name companies can't get stuff out when planned, I think a group of fans can have a bit of leeway

Talking of fan made mods of Valve games, there's also Portal:Prelude, which is a fan's attempt to explain what went wrong at Aperture Science. The puzzles are certainly more complex and less forgiving than the original, and it does have its glitches, but again, this is a fan made creation. I admit to resorting to NoClip cheats on a fair few occasions.

And talking of big name companies, Ubisoft released Silent Hunter 5 with its all new DRM, that means you have to stay continuously connected. Various reports say that it's already been cracked, although UbiSoft say that the cracked versions will be incomplete. Kinda suggests the DRM does more than just phone home. Time will tell. Still won't be buying another UbiSoft game again soon.

One of the first things I think I'm going to get when I finally move out (again) and have a little spare cash (ha), is buy a games console.

Mass Effect 2

spyder — Sun, 31 Jan 2010 17:31:10 GMT

S I've spent most my free time since Thursday, when my copy of the game arrived, playing Mass Effect 2.

Now, whilst the original Mass Effect came out in 2007, it took until near the end of last year for me to actually pick up the game. It stood on my 'Must get round to looking this up at some point' list. Well fraught started playing, and singing the game's praises, so I finally picked it up. And loved it.

So when Mass Effect 2's release dates were announced, I was quick to pre-order.

Mass Effect 1 was fun. Take a standard 3rd person shooter, and add BioWare. What you get is a lovely space based RPG balanced between characters and plot arcs, and shooting stuff. Even with the changes to gameplay Mass Effect 2 continues to maintain this balance in a wonderfully rich world.
Combat areas have been separated out a bit from RPG areas, and that in itself isn't a bad thing. Even the combat areas have their plot, and rpg aspects, and at least you know why you need to clear this room of mercenaries.

What i do like is I can take my character from ME1, and bring her through to ME2. the latter is set 2 years after the original, and things have moved on since then. What is really nice is that the choices my character made in ME1 have n impact on the world of ME2.
if I let someone die, then they're dead, and that can have an effect. If I let them live, then I may well meet them in my travels. And how will they react when we meet...well depends how I treated them before. Was I polite, then they well come running up all hugs and kisses....but if i was a right bitch to them then there just as likely gonna attack me if they see me. I almost burst out laughing when I discovered the fanboy I met in ME1 annoying bar-staff in ME2. Apparently he didn't take well to my drawing a gun on him.

The game is so expansive and and complex that a brief review does not do it justice. All I can say it must be good because I haven't been able to get to bed before 3 am for 3 nights running, because I've been buried deep in plot and combat and character building. It's easier to slip to bullet points here I think

Good stuff:
- Mass Effect 1 references, including the effects of your actions
Complex plots with their twists and turns. I'm hating that I'm further along than some of my friends because I want to go "OMG I can't believe that just happened"
- Fascinating side quests which add real depth to your team mates and to the world in which you live
- No MAKO tank. No more falling into lava in an over-sized armored shopping trolley
- The humour, both in my own conversation options, and in the incidental background conversations you hear from the various NPCs, news broadcasts and the like that fill the worlds you visit.
- The racism and xenophobia

Ok that last line needs more than just a bullet point, especially as it's in the "Good Stuff" list. this is a massive galaxy populated with multiple species, all with their own wants, needs, aims and histories. The game doesn't gloss over the tensions this sort of environment, and I'm thankful it doesn't. That's not to say the plot is driven just by this xenophobia. The majority of whose citizens work and interact happily together irrespective of species. But as with our own society you will get the bigots, and the game does not hide from that. To do so would just be sugar sweet. As you play through the game you may find amidst the wonderful multi-species melting pot, you'll occasionally come across events like a Quarian accused of theft because she's a Quarian, or a Turian politician using the growth of human influence in the galaxy as the basis for his election campaign, or an organisation wishing to 'promote' Human interest in the galaxy. Every race has its prejudices, and its these conflicts and resentments which add a believable depth and history to the galaxy.

Ok, so on the flip side, the bad things:
- ~~Ammunition~~ Thermal Clips. Much preferred the Overheating mechanic.
Occasional forced plot combat. When you're playing normally you can choose where you go, or which part of the story to follow...until you suddenly get a 'you must complete this plot section NOW before you can get back to your sand-boxing' moment. Very annoying until I started to recognise the pre-cursor conversation type that would trigger these events, and so avoid them (rot13 "Gur Vyyhfvir zna jbhyq yvxr gb fcrnx gb lbh va gur Pbzzhavpngvbaf ebbz") >_> spoiler warnings within spolier warnings :D
- Mining. Whilst the resource collecting in ME 1 as annoying, that was predominently due to the annoying nature of driving the MAKO around the various worlds, but at least you had scenery, and occasional combat, or could stumble on a side quest. Now you stay in space and scan the planet...with the mouse cursor. So tedious, particularly because if you want to upgrade your ship or equipment you need the resources to be able to buy and build the upgrades.

Overall. Great game. Really recommend it. I go back to playing it now

A poem for the season

spyder — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 01:04:54 GMT

The Raven —Edgar Allan Poe

Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary,
Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore,
While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping,
As of some one gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door.
"'Tis some visitor," I muttered, "tapping at my chamber door —
Only this, and nothing more."

Ah, distinctly I remember it was in the bleak December,
And each separate dying ember wrought its ghost upon the floor.
Eagerly I wished the morrow; — vainly I had sought to borrow
From my books surcease of sorrow — sorrow for the lost Lenore —
For the rare and radiant maiden whom the angels name Lenore —
Nameless here for evermore.

And the silken sad uncertain rustling of each purple curtain
Thrilled me — filled me with fantastic terrors never felt before;
So that now, to still the beating of my heart, I stood repeating,
"'Tis some visitor entreating entrance at my chamber door —
Some late visitor entreating entrance at my chamber door; —
This it is, and nothing more."

Presently my soul grew stronger; hesitating then no longer,
"Sir," said I, "or Madam, truly your forgiveness I implore;
But the fact is I was napping, and so gently you came rapping,
And so faintly you came tapping, tapping at my chamber door,
That I scarce was sure I heard you"— here I opened wide the door; —
Darkness there, and nothing more.

Deep into that darkness peering, long I stood there wondering, fearing,
Doubting, dreaming dreams no mortal ever dared to dream before;
But the silence was unbroken, and the stillness gave no token,
And the only word there spoken was the whispered word, "Lenore?"
This I whispered, and an echo murmured back the word, "Lenore!" —
Merely this, and nothing more.

Back into the chamber turning, all my soul within me burning,
Soon again I heard a tapping somewhat louder than before.
"Surely," said I, "surely that is something at my window lattice:
Let me see, then, what thereat is, and this mystery explore —
Let my heart be still a moment and this mystery explore; —
'Tis the wind and nothing more."

Open here I flung the shutter, when, with many a flirt and flutter,
In there stepped a stately raven of the saintly days of yore;
Not the least obeisance made he; not a minute stopped or stayed he;
But, with mien of lord or lady, perched above my chamber door —
Perched upon a bust of Pallas just above my chamber door —
Perched, and sat, and nothing more.

Then this ebony bird beguiling my sad fancy into smiling,
By the grave and stern decorum of the countenance it wore.
"Though thy crest be shorn and shaven, thou," I said, "art sure no craven,
Ghastly grim and ancient raven wandering from the Nightly shore —
Tell me what thy lordly name is on the Night's Plutonian shore!"
Quoth the Raven, "Nevermore."

Much I marveled this ungainly fowl to hear discourse so plainly,
Though its answer little meaning— little relevancy bore;
For we cannot help agreeing that no living human being
Ever yet was blest with seeing bird above his chamber door —
Bird or beast upon the sculptured bust above his chamber door,
With such name as "Nevermore."

But the raven, sitting lonely on the placid bust, spoke only
That one word, as if his soul in that one word he did outpour.
Nothing further then he uttered— not a feather then he fluttered —
Till I scarcely more than muttered, "other friends have flown before —
On the morrow he will leave me, as my hopes have flown before."
Then the bird said, "Nevermore."

Startled at the stillness broken by reply so aptly spoken,
"Doubtless," said I, "what it utters is its only stock and store,
Caught from some unhappy master whom unmerciful Disaster
Followed fast and followed faster till his songs one burden bore —
Till the dirges of his Hope that melancholy burden bore
Of 'Never — nevermore'."

But the Raven still beguiling all my sad soul into smiling,
Straight I wheeled a cushioned seat in front of bird, and bust and door;
Then upon the velvet sinking, I betook myself to linking
Fancy unto fancy, thinking what this ominous bird of yore —
What this grim, ungainly, ghastly, gaunt and ominous bird of yore
Meant in croaking "Nevermore."

This I sat engaged in guessing, but no syllable expressing
To the fowl whose fiery eyes now burned into my bosom's core;
This and more I sat divining, with my head at ease reclining
On the cushion's velvet lining that the lamplight gloated o'er,
But whose velvet violet lining with the lamplight gloating o'er,
She shall press, ah, nevermore!

Then methought the air grew denser, perfumed from an unseen censer
Swung by Seraphim whose footfalls tinkled on the tufted floor.
"Wretch," I cried, "thy God hath lent thee — by these angels he hath sent thee
Respite — respite and nepenthe, from thy memories of Lenore
Quaff, oh quaff this kind nepenthe and forget this lost Lenore!"
Quoth the Raven, "Nevermore."

"Prophet!" said I, "thing of evil! — prophet still, if bird or devil! —
Whether Tempter sent, or whether tempest tossed thee here ashore,
Desolate yet all undaunted, on this desert land enchanted —
On this home by horror haunted— tell me truly, I implore —
Is there — is there balm in Gilead? — tell me — tell me, I implore!"
Quoth the Raven, "Nevermore."

"Prophet!" said I, "thing of evil — prophet still, if bird or devil!
By that Heaven that bends above us — by that God we both adore -
Tell this soul with sorrow laden if, within the distant Aidenn,
It shall clasp a sainted maiden whom the angels name Lenore -
Clasp a rare and radiant maiden whom the angels name Lenore."
Quoth the Raven, "Nevermore."

"Be that word our sign in parting, bird or fiend," I shrieked, upstarting —
"Get thee back into the tempest and the Night's Plutonian shore!
Leave no black plume as a token of that lie thy soul hath spoken!
Leave my loneliness unbroken!— quit the bust above my door!
Take thy beak from out my heart, and take thy form from off my door!"
Quoth the Raven, "Nevermore."

And the Raven, never flitting, still is sitting, still is sitting
On the pallid bust of Pallas just above my chamber door;
And his eyes have all the seeming of a demon's that is dreaming,
And the lamplight o'er him streaming throws his shadow on the floor;
And my soul from out that shadow that lies floating on the floor
Shall be lifted — nevermore!

And Vincent Price reads it with such passion

Aion

spyder — Sat, 26 Sep 2009 18:40:01 GMT

So, I went and bought Aion, the new MMO that went live officially (in the west at least) last Friday. Luckily I spotted a Pre-Order box in my local gamestore a few days earlier, so managed to get a couple of days play in the head-start, before the official release

So I've been playing for a few days now. My Asmodean Mage, Hela, has become a Sorcerer and earned her wings, and is on track to level 13 at the moment. My Elyos Ranger is stuck at level 6 because the server she's on usually has a 2 hour wait to connect

That's something I seriously dislike, the wait to connect. Hopefully that'll die down once the initial "OMG new game. Must play" buzz fades, but still, I'm used to logging on and being right there ready to go.

Aion's big thing is flight, and it's early days yet for me to see how it goes. I only have a minute's worth of flight time at the moment, which seems just enough time to get up to something before you have to fly down or else plummit. We'll see how it goes.

The game hasn't turned me off yet, but there are a few niggles which may make or break it.
- It's subscription based. I've been spoiled by GW and it's no fees gameplay
- The wait times to access a server. We'll see how that goes
- If you lose connection the game client shuts, so you have to go through the startup process (including agree to the Terms all over again) to get back in
- If the client is closed, your browser opens the official website. Every time. Why? \o.O/

The biggie though is the grind. Pretty much all the quests so far have boiled down to "Fetch me $number $bodypart from $monstor"
Admittedly some of the latest tasks have included an "Investigate what's happening" type quest, but these are followed by "Oh you found X? Bring me $number X".
Again I have been spoiled by Guildwars.

It is pretty though

Batman: Arkham Asylum

spyder — Sat, 19 Sep 2009 23:43:59 GMT

So, since it's one of the few new games Yahtzee actually likes, and since I have free points on my Game reward card, I thought I'd treat myself

I'll just say, wow. It is a great game. I don't know how to describe and do it justice it without spoilers. It's a complex mix of Batman law, puzzles, combat, stealth and gadgets. It even has some of the same voice actors as voiced the Batman cartoons; including Mark Hamil playing The Joker wonderfully.

There are some annoying bits, but gamewise they're pretty minor against the rest of the game. the really annoying bit, at least as a PC game player is that old nemesis of PC gaming: Games For Windows Live

GFWL was an annoying pile of crap when I encountered it on Fallout 3, if only because F3 seemed to have completely different save location depending on whether GFWL was logged in.
Batman, however, won't even set a save point without Live being logged in, which I discovered to my upset this afternoon when I came to pick up from last night, and had to start again cause the Live servers were not letting me log in on Friday

Arrg Why do I have to tie a single player game to the internet for $deity's sake, especially when they're installed from a disk. At least with Steam I can get to my games in offline mode

Brain dump

spyder — Sat, 01 Aug 2009 00:00:40 GMT

So a few months back I made a music video from Guild Wars, which came out quite well if I say so myself. I'm currently working on another one, since despite the frustrations of repetition and editing, I actually find it rather fun :).

What I did find, however, was I had to relearn how I went about it. It's scary how quickly knowledge fades.

So I've decided to document what I'm doing. This is for my own use, but others might find it interesting.

Software list:
XFire - A gamer's social networking tool which has a rather neat video capture facility

VirtualDub - A rather versatile freeware video editing program, which allows relatively easy trimming, resizing, and re-encoding of video files. It's main drawback, however is that it can only manage one file at a time. the add-on VirtualDubMod, also includes the means to separate out audio tracks.

PowerDirector 7 - My workhorse. Is able to work with multiple files, combine video, audio and still images, apply transitions, create and animate credits; and then save the whole thing in a number of different formats.

Free AVI to FLV Converter 3000 - Does exactly what it says on the tin. Turn an avi video into a format playable by a Flash player

FlowPlayer - The flash player I use on my site to play my .flv vid. Free if you don't mind the non-obtrusive FlowPlayer branding, which I don't

The Process
Firstly I capture the in game action with XFire. I've set up a hotkey on my keyboard to hide the in-game HUD and start recording simultaneously.
More often than not I'll have 2 instances of the game open, particularly if I wish to see in-game chatter, or for controlling one character whilst filming from another
XFire records at half size, and in either an uncompressed or barely compressed format, which makes massive files (my folder of raw clips for my latest project is up to 8GB,and I'm just past halfway for footage needed)

Raw footage out of XFire gets dropped into VirtualDub, where it's re-encoded into DivX format, and trimmed down to get rid of unwanted sections, and to break long recordings into manageable chunks. (8GB down to 770MB)

The compressed video is dropped into PowerDirector's library along with the audio track, and any still images I'll be using., where they can be arranged, and resized to fit along the planned timeline. I can then add transitions between clips, and text details, like credits and titles.
(I wonder how it would compare to Apple's iMovie)

Then, once everything is where I want it, it gets saved as a new DivX video file. I could if I wanted upload it directly to YouTube from PowerDirector, but since YouTube have started getting snotty about music you can use on your uploads, I'd rather not, to be honest. Since PowerDirector can only save in a limited number of image dimensions (i.e. those most commonly used for YouTube, DVDs, VCDs etc), the new file gets dropped into VirtualDub. There I can trim and resize the video into the dimensions that AVI to FLV uses and saved again.

This latest file then gets opened in AVI to FLV, and saved as a FLV. Then this gets uploaded to my site. A bit of webpage jiggering, incorporating FlowPlayer's code, and pointing at the FLV file, and you have a working video on a web page.

Other software used. Audacity for editing sound tracks, PaintShopPro for editing still images, AnimationShopPro for some graphic effects, TopStyle Pro for web page writing, Filezilla for uploading, and mIRC for maintaining my sanity

spyder — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 12:26:51 GMT

So what is it about vampires that makes them such a hot topic for books and film. Oh a mass murduring obsessive-compulsive with canabslistic tendencies. How romantic

Windows 7

spyder — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 12:13:30 GMT

So my Windowsa 7 Beta, on my laptop started complaining it was out of date at the start of the month. Before madly hunting for the recovery disks that came with the machine, I thought I'd nose round for an updated version of Win7. SUre enough the 'Release Candidate' version is out, so I stuck that on the lappy.

Now for whatever reason you can only update to RC from Vista. All other Windows flavours require a full install, so this is what I did last night.

Install order for extra software after install:
AVG > Firefox > Guild Wars > Winamp > GW -image

Gotta get priorities right.
Will stick other stuff on over the next few weeks.

So far it's looking good. Faster, I think than the Beta was. Was pleased to see it came with drivers for my less than standard Wifi card (Beta needed me to add those) Just had to add the hardware specific program for the laptop's non-standard buttons, which took seconds

We shall see how it goes

I have a dream!

spyder — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 11:36:28 GMT

So this will mark me as a geek and/or a sad case. I had a dream last night featuring a Guild Wars - Doctor Who crossover. I don't recall quite what was happening, but it involved much debate on the merits of Clarke's third law (Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic), Niven's Law (any sufficiently advanced magic is indistinguishable from technology), and whether map travel an be classed as a form of time travel. Also, the TARDIS was parked next to the Lions Arch fountain. I'm not sure which Doctor it was, but I'm pretty sure it was pre the Time War, so probably Silvester McCoy

Doctor Who

spyder — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 17:11:39 GMT

So a few weeks ago I started watching old Doctor Who. I'd started with some late Peter Davidson, and moved on from there. Now I'm heading toward the end of Silvester McCoy, and it's been a rather interesting ride. Once I've finished this run I think I'll head back, see if I can pick up some more Peter Davidson and Tom Baker

What I have discovered is my ongoing distaste for Colin Baker as a doctor was well founded, since he's annoying and uncaringly selfish, wrapped in a painful arrogance. How Peri lasted as long as she did as a companion still surprises me, since he treats her like shit. Yeah I knowe some of it's put doen to re-writing of the Matrix in the Trails of a Timelord, or the effects of regeneration sickness, but that doesn't account for much the rest of his behaviour in other episodes.

Silvester McCoy gets better as his run goes through, and he moves away from the clown and more toward the Chess Master. Happiness Patrol was a rather painful set of episodes to watch.

I do wonder that, when people watch old copies of David Tennant's run in 25 years time, that the style will date the series as much as these old episodes now.
I wonder if the new series would ever revisit the aborted Catmel Masterplan which is hinted at acros McCoy's run. Perhaps not

My day out

spyder — Sat, 16 May 2009 23:44:00 GMT

Today has been a good day

Went for a drive this afternoon, and bought a toy for my toy (In point two miles turn right)

Then, after a bit of driving about, and going to places and back I went to the Imax here in town to watch Star Trek \o/

I loved it. Won't say anything else, cause I don't want to spoil it

Watching it on Imax was amazing. Was glad I was early in the queue, as the seats at the back filled fast. I don't think it would have been quite as good at the front craning to look up at the screen (22 metres by 16 metres)
I think I may be going to see more films there in the future...although perhaps not Night at the Museum.
The next Transformers is due there sometime in June, though

GW babble

spyder — Sat, 25 Apr 2009 20:15:54 GMT

So, this won't be news to a lot of my friends list, because you're in my guild and have seen all this stuff, but for those of you who haven't and are interested (if you're not, then ignore) Guild Wars is almost 4 years old!

In addition to the usual celebration stuff (Shing Jea Boardwalk, Arenas, celebratory drops) The weekend has seen the release of a big update. The blurb can be seen here. However one of the new features is the ability to redesign the look, or even the gender of your character

Now I've had Holly for just over 3 years. She was my first character, and still my favorite. However it has been 3 years since she was first created. More looks and hairstyles have been added to the game, and really, you can start to get tired with the same look. So Holly's had a makeover

Here's before and after

I've only changed the hair style. To paraphrase kamara To change her face would have meant she wasn't Holly any more. Yeah, I know it's just a digital character in a game...but she's my character, so that's alright

Bahrain Grand Prix

spyder — Sat, 25 Apr 2009 12:26:25 GMT

So qualifying is just over, and Toyota have the front row ready for tomorrow's race. It's refreshing to see another manufacturer on the front row this season. Much better than the processional nature of last season, where it was either Maclaren or Ferrari.
Speaking of both those teams, it's good to see Maclaren are working their way uyp the grid after their slow start this year. Hopefully this will put them in a position where they can fight with the others, but not run away with it. Ferrari on the othert hand. I'll admit that I'm biassed against the Italian team, but it does warm my heart to see that of the 10 teams only 2 have no points, and one of them is in red

Testing testing

spyder — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 00:19:53 GMT

This will probably bug people over on Dreamwidth who have my journal there (spyder) on their reading lists, and bug the people on LiveJournal who have my LJ account (spyder) friended.

That's mainly because I'm trying out Dreamwidth's new crossposting tool. So the DW people are probably seeing a lot of these type posts, and the LJers probably aren't interested (or already have an DW account)

I've been crossposting manually between the two accounts for the last few weeks; well when I say manually, I mean using Semagic's crosspost feature.
I have no plans on actively leaving LJ, at least not unless LJ management get much worse than they currently are. At the moment I'm not sure whether my DW account will be a passing fad, a journal mirror, or serve a specific purpose other than just journalling.

Anyhow, let's see if this works

Dates

spyder — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 21:30:20 GMT

So the powers that be have announced the date for Open Beta for Dreamwidth. The plan is for:

Thursday, April 30, 2009

The site will open for account creation and paid account sale in the evening (EDT) of April 30. At that time, 200 of the 400 available Seed Accounts will be put on sale ($200 USD). The remaining 200 Seed Accounts will go on sale twelve hours later, on May 1, 2009. (This is to accomodate our users in non-US timezones, and give them equal chance to purchase a Seed Account in the event they sell out quickly.)

Heee, I'm excited.
Whilst I haven't done much besides stand on the sidelines encouragingly whilst the coders have coded, I'm still chuffed as to be a part of this project, and I want it to go well

those silly little moments

spyder — Sun, 15 Feb 2009 15:28:10 GMT

OMG I filed a real life Dreamwidth bug report \o/ /geek
What? It's a big thing. It means I'm actually contributing rather than just standing on the sidelines waving pom-poms

What's Dreamwidth? you might ask. Well a lot of you won't ask because you already know, have likely already contributed, or are at least hanging around the IRC channel cheerleading. For those of you who don't know what I'm talking about, Dreamwidth is a new social journalling site based on LiveJournal's open source code. A code fork.

This isn't an attempt to eclipse LJ, or to steal LJ users. Its an attempt to to take the LJ base and follow a different path, perhaps meeting some slightly different wants and needs than are offered elsewhere. It's being set up by people with plenty of experience using the code, including those who have worked with the code professionally or long term as volunteers.

So why am I interested in Dreamwidth? Because I like the people behind it, and the volunteers who are helping make it work. I like the philosophies behind it's purpose and function. I like some of the ideas coming out of its development, and the changes that have been made to the base LJ functionality that expands its function. For example separating LJ's "Friends" system into those who you read and those whom you want to be able to read you, or rewriting the journal styles system to make it a little easier for users to adapt to their own look.
The site's in closed beta at the moment. I'm not in that beta. I've only filed one bug report after all, and that's probably not really a bug anyhow. Plans are for open beta in a few weeks, and to go live soonish there after. Really want this site to go well; not as a replacement for LJ, but as another option.