a very small post on EQ2

I was a bit bored this weekend, and in my search for something new to do I thought I would try Everquest 2 again. I played it about the same amount of time that I did during the first trial…about fifteen minutes. That is obviously nowhere near enough time to form a defensible opinion, so this in no way resembles a review. It’s merely my initial impression, which is…unplayable.

Seriously. I know that there are tons of longtime fans of this game. It was many people’s first MMO experience, and many people are still happily playing. I started with Warcraft, however, and moved on to games such as Warhammer, EVE, a few months playing LotRO, Aion, Age on Conan, etc. – all more modern games with better graphics. I expected the graphics to be very basic (as indeed they were). But the thing that I absolutely hated was combat. I felt so disassociated from the game. The character seemed quite stiff, and there was a noticeable time interval between pushing a button and the character actually doing anything.

I understand that the crafting/professions system is quite good in EQ2. But I never got to experience it, because my main feeling in the starting area was:

I. Cannot. Play. This.

Steampunk loveliness

This post has sat as a draft for almost a week, so I thought I’d post it. Hellish week at work last week – the only semi-interesting thing was translating meta tags for a viagra site into Italian, German, Spanish, French, and so on. Gods only know what they actually say. :)  Babelfish for the win!  Anyway, there were some interesting steampunky-type stories last week that I wanted to document, including the stunning house below. Also see the video and article on the BBC site, here.

Melancholy and Random Thoughts

I haven’t posted in ages because I’ve been in one of those periods where everything seems grey and not worth doing. Eventually you just need to kick yourself in the ass, pick yourself up by the scruff of your neck (or whatever cliché fits your fancy) and stop moaning about everything. So here I am.

Thanksgiving was a bit sad, as it always is when I’m not in the US – it’s just a normal work day here. It’s always been one of my favourite holidays since it’s one of the less commercial holidays. Thanksgiving is about family and huge meals and being thankful for all of the blessings in our life. And you know what?  To be fair, each one of us is showered with blessings.  Unless something of cataclysmic proportions has happened in your life, you probably have a home and family and friends who l0ve you, and that’s enough sometimes.

I’ve mainly been watching movies or reading at night, not much gaming to speak of. I’m a bit burned out in Warcraft right now, which may be partially to do with trying to level a paladin to 80. She’s mid-sixties now, and it’s just…sooooo…sloooow. Maybe it’s me, I’m probably totally playing her wrong, but god does she take a long time to kill something.

I’ve never been a big console gamer due to my motion sickness, and also a preference for MMOs. But I think what I want to do over the holidays is revisit some old games, and play some new ones:

1. Bioshock. This was a game that I was really, really excited about since the creative was so gorgeous. I watched several people play through a portion of it, but never delved in on my own. I was raiding pretty hardcore at the time, and so I just passed on it.

2. Dragon Age. During my recent meh phase, I haven’t played much. I want to finish this game.

3. Assassin’s Creed II – it’s on my Christmas list.  :)

4. Batman: Arkham Asylum. We’ve got it for the PC, and I haven’t played it yet.

One last random bit of fluff – I just found a link for this trailer, and I am really looking forward to this making it to Europe. (Although every time I see the word “SyFy” I want to punch someone in the manbits.) Anyway, this has potential, and Tin Man was watchable if not wonderful.

I <3 Robin Williams

Robin Williams talking about his video game addiction. This interview is about Call of Duty, etc., but he was a big Warcraft player a while back. I love Robin Williams, and think he’s an extremely funny and very talented person – and can you imagine gaming with him?  Hearing him over TeamSpeak?  :D

Addicted from the first hit

There are a lot of articles and posts around about Warcraft’s five year anniversary. I haven’t been playing for five years, but only since the beginning of 2006. This was my first post on this blog, about my very first character, a warlock named Ravven who I raided on for ages as my main before moving over to my hunter Kitsune.

On my personal blog, this was the first Warcraft reference:

I’ve gone over to the dark side. After months of saying that I wouldn’t, that I was waaaay to busy, I finally set up a Warcraft character. Omigod…this may be the last you ever hear from me.

It’s a human warlock named Ravven (of course). Warlocks can eventually get the cool horses with flaming feet. After hours and hours of play…weeks and months and then I’ll turn into P, whom I never see anymore because of a massive Warcrack addiction.

I’d really not been a serious gamer prior to that time. I loved lan parties and fps games, but I have a terrible problem with motion sickness which limits my ability to play. I have the same problem with many console games. I’d never tried an MMO prior to Warcraft, and had never realised just how immersive and fun it could be. I tried it, admitted that it was actually kind of fun, and then some days later had that realisation (that we all have at some point)  when you stand up from the computer and realise “my god, I’ve been playing for six hours” – something that you could never have imagined previously.

Funny how things turn out.  :)

*sniff*

I was offline this weekend partially because we were spending time with friends whom we haven’t seen in ages, which was lovely, and partially because we were having a swap-around of computer parts and reformatting of all the gaming machines. My PC now runs faster and quicker, and for once I didn’t forget to back up anything essential aside from my fonts folder. (I have a large collection of unusual fonts that I use in design work, all lost now.) So, back up and running without any major problems, but my machine feels empty, bereft of all my games aside from Warcraft and Dragon Age.

Warcraft was easy because it’s quite a sensible install. If you want to move your installed game to another machine, or back it up, you just copy your whole Warcraft game folder, and then drop it in the Programs area on the new machine. Easy, the way things should be.

But all the others? LotRO, Age of Conan, Warhammer, Aion, Runes of Magic, EVE?  Gone.  All gone. And that makes me sad. I’m much less likely to take advantage of any free resubscribe offers. I can’t get a wild hair and decide to resub to a game, since I will be looking at reinstalling and then hours of downloading patches.

I feel naked.

 

my head, it hurts me

So let me tell you about my day yesterday. I’ve had this headache which moved in a week and a half ago and evidently decided to stay – rather like acquiring an unpleasant roommate with poor personal hygiene and no respect of personal space. You really, really want him to just leave, but there he is, day in and day out, sitting on your couch playing pocket pool  in grimy boxers, eating your pizza and cleaning out the liquor cabinet. That’s my headache, an obnxious fat guy who stinks of stale beer and crotch. I hate him.

Anyway, my new best friend, my headache that I have had nonstop for a WEEK AND A HALF got even worse yesterday, so I took some second-hand prescription painkillers (not mine) in hopes that it would be quiet enough to allow me to work without bleeding from the corners of my eyes. (I think it’s blood – it might be liquified brain matter for all I know. It sure feels as though my brain has turned to soup and is ready to start dripping out if I tilt my head far enough.) So, I took these pills, and then put my coat on and got part way to work before we had to pull over for me to be sick. I was really sick, the kind where you wish you were home so you could rest your head on the lovely, cool porcelain of the toilet. I throw up things that my grandmother must have eaten, I swear it went that far back in history. And finished, wiped my mouth with the little white handkerchief which was the only cloth in the car, and we drove off again. And then…

You guessed it. Vomiting part two, sans the pulling over and opening the door part.  Not vomiting, but VOMITING. I’ll spare you the description of how awful it was. But if I had seen a farmer with a gun right then I would have said PLEASE SHOOT ME NOW. I AM BEGGING YOU. MY HEAD, IT IS EXPLODING AND I CANNOT LIVE LIKE THIS. But there was no damned farmer, and somehow we made it home (finally) and then do you know what I did?

I cleaned the car.

P. doesn’t do sick, or anything gross. Plus it was my mess. So I washed the car down and did my best on the inside and then I went inside and I cried.

So, the moral of the story is don’t take other people’s prescription drugs. Talk to the kids on the corner and buy smack instead, it will be a lot better for you. That’s what I’m doing next time.

 

Running of the Bulls – Videos

Again, just for me to keep track of these…after the jump.

Where I Work

This is a shot of my desk. More specifically, this is a shot of the reminder that I’ve carried with me for longer than I can say – over twenty years, I would imagine. Everywhere I work, every computer desk, has had this saying displayed somewhere. It carries strata of ancient clear tape on the corners, and it’s creased. But it’s travelled with me through many US states, and now to England – everywhere that I call home, every workspace I’ve ever set up at home, has had this reminder displayed someplace.

There is no defeat except from within.
There is really no insurmountable barrier
save your own inherent weakness of purpose.

look at what was hiding in my bags…

I haven’t logged into WoW in ages. When I did this weekend, look what I found!

An old Mysterious Egg was found to have hatched

and…

Ravven buys an interesting pattern

and…

Dravven gets her wings

Well, that makes a change from aged egg yolks.  :)