gaming


11
Mar 10

How to make 30 mins of cardio feel like 5

This shit is crack cocaine

This shit is crack cocaine

So i think the developer of Plants Vs Zombies got access to some super secret API for warping the space time continuum. I use it at the gym to make 30 mins of cardio feel like nothing – it’s awesome! (i wouldn’t recommend playing it while on a treadmill though).

$2.99 on the app store & totally worth every cent. Go git it!


27
Jan 09

Arvale: Journey of Illusion Walkthrough for iPhone

Note: Credit goes to MichaelTadashi over @ PDAmill for putting this together. Just thought it would be helpful to iPhone users to have this in HTML format (his requires a ZIP file download) – enjoy!

1. Entoque Castle

You play as the character Duncan Forsythe, the chosen Legendary Hero. In the beginning scenario with King Entoque VII, you are told to go to the town of Nikal, north of Entoque Castle, and visit the Tutorial House there to learn more about the world and the Dragon.

As you start, you are allowed to check out the treasuries in the castle. As you talk to the girl name Silk in the prison, she will ask you to help her out. As you agree, she tells you that you’ll need to bring her the Skeleton Key. The guard near the prison staircase tells you to look for Rufus on the upper wall regarding the key. Rufus will require 200G for the key. Now get back to Silk in the prison. She will take the key and give you the Dragon Scroll, and ask you to give the scroll to Breyn in Thimpote.

2. Nikal

In the Arvale Tutorial Room, you will learn about the system of the game. Get a Nikal Genuine Draft from the Inn (for the Beer quest). After you are done here, you would try to go north to Thimpote, but the guard at the bridge tells you to get the Hero Amulet from the Hero’s Cave before you can pass.

3. Hero’s Cave

You must read the book to the right of the entrance in order to open the first door. Get the Hero Key from the treasure chests in the room to the right. Go all the way up and you will fight the Mage. After you defeated him, you can obtain the Hero Amulet from the chest.

4. Gleymdal Forest (Optional)

This is one of the monster camps in the game where you can gain some experience and levels. The only thing you can do here is to defeat the cursed Evil Ent and restore peace to the forest.

5. Thimpote

Talk to Breyn near the well. You will give him the Dragon Scroll in exchange for the Crypt Key which you need to access the Arhaeldem Ruins. He also asks you to get back to him after visiting the ruin. Also visit the Thimpote Conservatory for some information regarding the Dark Dragon and Sorcynth. Talk to Ashe in the conservatory, and he will ask you to bring back some Abesyne from the Arhaeldem Ruins in order to make a powerful potion to put the dragon back to sleep.

6. Arhaeldem Ruins

If you go straight up to the locked door, you will learn that you need to align the spear and the dragon in order to open the door. The spear and the dragon are in the lower floor. As you enter the door, you will see some Abesyne on the floor, but you will have to fight the great Arhaeldem God, Ypolleus in order to get it.

7. Thimpote

Talk to Breyn again, and he will ask you to meet him at the ‘Salty Orc’ Pub in the port town of Dhierce. Talk to Ashe again and he will take the Abesyne and mix the Comapotion for you.

8. Dhierce
Talk to Breyn in the bar. He will tell you the truth behind the Legendary Hero’s quest. He asks you to visit Tsilon’s Lair in the Locrian Mountain, where the Dark Dragon Tsilon asleep. However, you will need the Dragon Key, which the town Magistrate may have an idea about it. Besides that, you will need some potion in contrary of the Comapotion in order to wake Tsilon. Talk to the Magistrate, he will ask you to persuade his daughter Kyra in Nikal to come back to him in exchange of the information about the Dragon Key. Also, if you talk to Rofe in one of the house, he will ask you to deliver the Cook Book to his brother in Idraces. This is just a side quest. Also, don’t forget to get a Dhierce Brew from the bar for the beer quest. By the way, if you go to the dock, you will learn that the ship is under repair.

9. Nikal

On your way to Nikal, drop by Thimpote and talk to Ashe. He will make you an Amonipotion with your Comapotion. Find Kyra in the town (she is walking around outside the inn). In order to make her goes home, she ask for an authentic Entoquian Soldier’s sword. You can get the sword from one of the soldier in the soldier room in Entoque Castle. After you give her the sword, she asks for a new Brooch this time and meets her in the bar (inn) when you get it. You can buy an Onyxide Brooch at 300G from Rufus in the Item house in Thimpote. As you get into the Nikal bar (inn), it seems that a Slimey Sorcynth is teasing Kyra. After you fight off the bad guy, Kyra finally agrees to go home, and you give her the brooch of course. Now that Kyra has gone home, the Dhierce Magistrate will give you the Dragon Key.

10. Locrian Mountains / Tsilon’s Lair

This is a pretty straight forward mountainous area. Near the end of the mountain path, you will fight the Warrior Orc. After you enter Tsilon’s Lair, you will see Tsilon the Dark Dragon lying deep inside. Instead of fighting him, you tell him what Breyn had told you, and he asks you to find and wake the other three dragons.

11. Dhierce

As you enter the town, you will notice someone unfamiliar near the entrance. Talk to the guy (elf) who introduces himself as Brodun. He tells you that the ship has been repaired and is leaving for Klumet on the Stygian continent, where you should go (where else you can go in fact?).

12. Klumet

On your way to Klumet, there is a scenario where a Socynth General is reporting your situation to his mysterious superior. Once you reach Klumet, just walk around and talk to people. Here, you will get yourself into three side quests.

i. In an Old Man’s house, he asks you a favor to help him on the laundry. As you agree, you will soon find out
that you need soap. You can get the soap from Thimpote, in the conservatory, on the long table between the
man and woman where the samples are. You get 400G for the laundry.

ii. Outside the old man’s house, you will meet Aryeill, mother to a sick boy Jephyl. You give her 400G for
buying potion. When you visit the boy is his house, the doctor suggests that the Hydrephyl Herbs may help
the boy. (You will get into this in the later part)

iii. When you come across an Entoque Knight, he mention about his ex-girlfriend name Violet in Dhierce (Note:
This conversation will only happen if you have talked to Violet beforehand), and he asks you for a favor to
deliver a Love Letter to her. When you do so, let Violet write a reply (Love Letter 2) to the knight, and you
have to be the dispatch boy again. Then, the knight asks you to tell Violet that he will meet her. And you tell
Violet about that, she will thank you and give you the Ancient Key.

When you talk to the sailor, you learn that the captain lost his Serpent Compass and the Leviathan Map, which are necessary to travel to other continents. When you meet a man name Runkip, he tells you that he is doing some research on the mines in Pike and that he is working out some sort of map, and he also mention about the Serpent Compass. In the Inn, you need to pay for a sleep in different rooms in order to get access to the treasure chests locked in the rooms. Don’t forget to get a Klu Bru from the bar.

13. Arhaeldem Ruins

With the Ancient Key you get from Violet, you can now enter the locked house near the entrance of the ruin. In the house, you will read some notes left by Blynt and you will find the Dragon Stun, the weapon used to put the Dark Dragons to sleep. Whether you obtain the Dragon Stun or not decides which ending you will get.

14. Stygian Forest

As you get out from Klumet, there is only one place you can head to – the Stygian Forest. As you enter the forest, there is a ferryman offering ferry service, but a ticket will cost you 10,000G! Pay for it if you could afford, otherwise just walk through the forest. Midway through the forest, you meet Rufus, and he informs you about the large Troll blocking the north exit. At the end of the forest, you will fight the Forest Troll.

15. Pike

Chat around and you will hear about the mining business here and the trading activity with Melonchi. You also learn that the only way to go to Idraces is through the Durkire Marsh. Visit the pub and get a Pike Stout. Remember the guy in Nikal hankering for fresh Pike water? Get one from the lady near the well for 10G. Give the water to the guy in Nikal and he will thank you by giving you some magic items. When you try to get into the mine, the Mining Captain rejected your application somehow. Now, you can either go to the Hermit Cave or head to Idraces through the Durkire Marsh.

16. Hermit Cave (Optional)

This cave is just another monster camp in the game. It is a pretty straight forward cave. Near the deep end of the cave, you will fight Iggy and read some notes left by Blynt.

17. Durkire Marsh

This is also optional – provided you have a ferry ticket that can bring you straight to Idraces. This is a rather confusing marsh and it is not in a linear dimension – exits join at points it seems impossible to be, some sort of space warping. In order to get to the right way, you have to follow the directions given by the sign. However, bear in mind that the directions (E,W,N,S) mean the exit to take on that particular room, and not necessary the direction of walking. For example, in a room where you should take the west exit, you may need to walk down then left then up then left to reach the exit.

18. Idraces

Go to the bar, you will meet Silk there. She will tell you about the story of Kryphen and Sorcynth. She also tells you that the next dragon is probably in the mountains to the southwest – which you cannot enter before you talk to Silk. And after you are done with the dragon, you shall visit the Old House to the northeast. Before you go for the dragon, remember Rofe in Dhierce asked you to deliver the Cook Book to his brother in Idraces? In return, his brother will ask you to deliver the Fung Shui Guide to Rofe. You can deliver it now or later. There is another little side quest here. A woman is looking for her cat, which you saw near the entrance.

19. Skaphe Lake (Optional)

Before you go for the southwest mountain, you can come to this lake northwest of Idraces. You have heard about this lake in Idraces. This another monster camp of the game and it is a very straight forward place. In the house at the end, there are two chests locked by the Skaphe Key. Then, a Sorcynth Officer shows up and you get into a fight with him. You obtain the key after you defeated him. That’s it for this place.

20. Klaetrocus Lair

Just as you are about to enter the lair, some Sorcynth Workers notice you and get you into a fight. Continue on and you will see Klaetrocus, the Earth Dragon.

21. Veritaes Base

Go downstair, and you will see all Veritaes members are there for a meeting. Stand next (below) to Silk and the meeting will start automatically. Just as the meeting is going to end, the guard informs everyone that several Sorcynth Soldiers are approaching the base. As you get upstairs, the Sorcynth workers attack you. Finish them off and head out of the base. Now you can go to Pike or Stygian Forest via the ferry as Breyn has given you a ticket.

22. Klumet

Talk to Runkip, and he will give you the Mining Map. Give the map to the Mining Captain in Pike and he will let you enter the mines. Before you get back to Pike, you may want to sail back to Dhierce to settle the book side quest, and also to Nikal for the Pike water side quest.

23. Pike

Talk to the Mining Captain, and then the Foreman will allow you to enter the mines. But before you enter, visit the Item shop and get some mining gears i.e. a Lighter and a Pick. You will find the Serpent Compass in the northwest corner of the mines.

27. Klumet

Talk to the sailor. With the Serpent Compass, now you can sail to Kytar Continent.

28. Blue Harbor

Just as you go ashore, you hear a woman shouting of a robbery. Fight off the thieves. Talk to Fyllos the botanist. He will give you information regarding the Hydrephyl Herbs which you need to heal the boy Jephyl in Klumet. You can find it in the Vastid Cacti Garden on Soneros continent, and he will give you the Trident Spade in order to get the herbs after he bluffs you about the way to get the spade. But how would you sail to Soneros? Talk to Garef the cartographer, and he tells you that the Entoque King has one of the five original copies of the Leviathan Map, and he can make a copy for you. As you wander around the harbor, you also heard about the King Highwatch in the Highwatch Castle, and also Invyl town on Soneros. Before you leave, don’t forget to get a Blue Beer from the bar.

29. Highwatch Castle

Talk to King Highwatch. It seems that Brodun is the prince of Highwatch. He requests you to tackle the Black Thieves in the Chartreuse Forest in exchange for information on the dragon. While the King offers you a rest in the room, you dream of fighting Tsilon and is waken up. As you walk out of the room, you realize that you cannot leave the castle at night. Go upstairs and you will meet Brodun, and he tells you about the story on Kytar continent between the Kytar, Majesto, Dividions and Sorcynth. As you wake up the next morning, you are free to leave. Now you can either head to the Chartreuse Forest as you suppose to, or you can go to the Beylord Castle and Maestyl.

30. Maestyl (Optional)

It is located at the southeast corner of the continent. In the upper big house, the Warrior Spirit tells you that the town and the people are cursed and that you have to defeat him in order to free them from the curse.

31. Beylord Castle (Optional)

Go downstairs, and you will see Beylord the vampire in his coffin. He will tell you his story – and it is related to Sorcynth again. To fight him or not, is up to you.

32. Chartreuse Forest

At the end of the forest, you will fight the Master Thief. At this point, you actually should go back to King Highwatch for information regarding the dragon, but in fact you can actually go straight to the dragon lair through the back door hidden behind the bookshelf in the house.

33. Malzubed Lair

Just as you enter, the thieves notice you are intruder (although you try to bluff them) and will fight you. And you will fight another Master Thief as well. After you answer the questions at the door, enter and you will find Malzubed the Fire Dragon.

34. Highwatch Castle

Talk to King Highwatch for information about the dragon, although you have found it. Now that you are gong to find the last dragon, you need to sail to Soneros. Remember the cartographer in Blue Harbor saying that the Entoque King has the map?

35. Entoque Castle

Talk to the King and he will give you the Entoque Key to enter the chamber. The map is on the table. So now you can sail to Soneros from Dhierce. Note that you must have the map with you in order to travel to Soneros, so don’t give the map to the cartographer for duplication yet.

36. Soneros

There is nothing much beside some information from the town people. There is a side quest here. A Guru will ask you all sort of philosophy questions. You get a mace if you proceed correctly. Also, there is a villa for sale here. You will be able to cut the price only if you have read a book on how to buy expensive house in Pike. Buying the villa or not will not affect the game, but with the Villa Key, you get the Ultiven Wand from the cabinet. Note that there are two beers you could obtain here – Soneros Red from a girl near the beach, Soneros Light from the bar.

37. Werewolves Cave (Optional)

At the end of the cave, you will fight the Pack Leader. You get the Moon Stone by defeating him. You can trade the stone for 1000 gold.

38. Vastid Desert

You can get some latest equipments from Queous before coming here. Here you can find the Hydrephyl Herb needed to heal Jephyl in Klumet. It is near the lower left corner of the desert. At the center of the desert, you will fight the Desert Spirit and obtain the Ice Sceptre.

39. Queous

In the bar, you encounter a few Sorcynth Workers and get into fights. Get a Queous Beer afterwards. Now you can head to Invyl by the ferry.

40. Invyl

Talk to the Guild Master in the top house – he is Silk’s 300-year-old greatn grandfather! He told you that the dragon could be to the west, and if you travel to the Nedge Ice Plains, you will need an Ice Sceptre, which you obtained from the Vastid Desert. While the Guild Master offers you to rest in the Inn, you couldn’t sleep and go outside, and meet Silk and hear her story. In the Guild Master’s house, if you talk to Gyrne and agree to get him some Mithryl from Melonchi, he will make you the best weapon – the Ultiven Sword.

41. Mevallus Forest (Optional)

Before you go to the Nedge Ice Plains, you can come to this forest, yet another monster camp to gain some levels. Near the center of the forest, you will fight the Forest Troll.

42. Nedge Plains

Follow the instruction given by the Ice Sceptre. As you enter the icy room outside Hyandine’s Lair, some Sorcynth soldiers and a Knight are waiting for you. Finish them off and go in to wake Hyandine the Water Dragon. While you have waken all four dragons and have no idea what is next, Hyandine senses that Tsilon is in danger and ask you to look for Tsilon. As you are about to leave, Silk shows up and tell you that Tsilon has been captured by Sorcynth, and that you have no choice but to go to the Sorcynth Factory. But in order to pass the tight security in the Sorcynth Factory, you will need a Sorcynth ID and some disguise. You can obtain them from the Sorcynth Outposts on Kytar and Entoque Continents.

43. Melonchi (Optional)

To go to Melonchi, talk to the sailor in Soneros. After a discussion with the captain, they agree to risk it to go to Melonchi, as you agree to fight the Leviathan. You obtain the Leviathan Scale after you defeated it. In Melonchi, talk to Grwyth the Jewel Master. In order to make a Mithryl Gem, he tells you to collect 5 Gems – 1 Sunstone, 1 Diamond, 1 Sapphire, 1 Crystal, and 1 Ruby, which can be found throughout the cave. Talk to all the dwarves, and the corresponding dwarves will give you the gems. (Hint: All in extended areas). After you get all the gems, talk to Grwyth and he will ask you to bring them to Aybrund to make Mithryl. After you hand over all the gems, talk to Aybrund again and he will give you the Mithryl. (Note: This will only happen if you have wakened all four dragons). Before you leave Melonchi, you can go to the Swelling Slope (far upper left), where you fight a lot of Rock-Head and the Rock-Master. Also, if you talk to the same dwarves again, they will give you the gems again, but you cannot sell them or get another Mithryl.

44. Invyl (Optional)

Talk to Gyrne in the elder’s house whom you promised to bring the Mithryl to him. Talk to him again and he will give you the Ultiven Sword made from the Mithryl.

45. Blue Harbor (Optional)

Talk to Garef the cartographer. You will give him the Leviathan Map for duplication. Talk to him again and he will give you the Duplicate Map together with the original Leviathan Map.

46. Kytar Sorcynth Outpost

As you enter, a Sorcynth Soldier will approach and fight you. After you settle him, get inside the house and out to the yard. You will find the Sorcynth Clothing in the chest.

47. Klumet (Optional)

Go to Jephyl’s house and talk to the doctor. You will give him the Hydrephyl Herb. Now talk to his mother Aryeill. Talk to the doctor again and it seems the herb works. Talk to Jephyl and he will thank you. Talk to Aryeill again and she will give you the Ultiven Shield and Ultiven Armor which belonged to Jephyl’s late father as a token of her gratitude.

48. Entoque Castle (Optional)

Remember the King Entoque VII asked you to return the Leviathan Map to him after use? Well, you will, but the duplicate :-P . He will then give you the Armory Key to access the armory room as a reward for your duty.

49. Entoque Sorcynth Outposts

As you enter, a Sorcynth Soldier will approach and fight you. After you settle him, get inside the house and out to the yard, and you will find a Sorcynth ID in the chest.

50. Idraces (Optional)

Go to the bar and talk to the Kytar soldier who is dying for alcohol. First he will tell you his situation and asks you for a favor to get him ales from all over the world. Talk to him again, and you give him all the beers you obtained prior to this – Blue Beer, Dhierce Brew, Nikal Genuine Draft, Pike Stout, Klu Bru, Soneros Red, Soneros Light and Queous Beer. He will reward you by 10000 gold.

51. Sorcynth Factory

As you try to enter the main door, the Sorcynth Guard stops you, and you are able to fool them by putting on the Sorcynth Clothing and the Sorcynth ID.

1F: Found Blue Key
2F: Found Red Key (From ‘Blue room’)
1F: Found Green Key (From ‘Red room’)
Found Yellow Key (From ‘Green room’)
2F: Found Level 3 Key (From ‘Yellow room’)
3F: Meet Ra, the Entoque chamberlain. Defeat him.
Found Orange Key
1F: Found Purple Key (From ‘Orange room’)
Found Pink Key (From ‘Purple room’)
2F: Found Level 4 Key (From ‘Pink room’)
4F: Found Gold Key
Found Tsilon. Fight Tsilon.
Note: If you have obtained the Dragon Stun from Arhaeldem Ruins, there will be two options during the
last dialogue with Tsilon.
For ‘not-so-good-ending’, choose “Shoot.” and defeat him. Then Tsilon will be gone.
For ‘good ending’, choose “Hmmm…if I use Blynt’s Spear…” and defeat him. Then Tsilon will fell
asleep again. (You defeat him with normal weapon, not using Dragon Stun which you cannot choose).
1F: Found Level 5 Key (From ‘Gold room’)
5F: Meet Breyn – Kryphen actually. And he will reveal the entire shocking story behind.
You fight and defeat him for the first round.
6F: Fight Breyn (Kryphen) again after he drink the Dark Elixir and transforms into a monster.

*Trick: There is an Augment Point before you meet Kryphen for the final battle. If you have enough golds, you
can boost your stats to as high as you like. He will be done by just one hit.

Good ending: After you defeated Kryphen, Silk shows up.
And the prince and princess are living happily forever…blah…blah…blah…

Not-so-good ending: After you defeated Kryphen, Brodun shows up. So, only Hero survives and no fairy tales.


8
Jan 09

How to beat 7 Cities TD for iPhone

First we had Fieldrunners, then Tap Defense and now 7 Cities TD. The first 6 cities in this game are very easy, but i have spent hours on my train commute trying to beat the last city “Onyx Monolith” and finally beat it tonight with only 7 lives lost. Here are some pointers you can follow to beat this level yourself, and save yourself some frustration (note: i have only tested this strategy on easy):

1) Like my strategy for Tap Defense, it turns out an Arrow Tower strategy in the beginning works wonders. Build them as soon as you have the gold because the more towers standing the more gems you can get with each kill. DO NOT BUILD ANY OTHER TOWER TYPE YET.

2) The mistake i was making was trying to distribute my gem +dmg upgrades across too many towers. I found it best to put 100% of my gem upgrades into the arrow tower in the picture below. Eventually you are just one shotting everything that attempts to pass by.

3) Once you have covered the map in arrow towers and have the gold, replace 3 of them with Obelisk towers, each using different auras (Damage, Range & Speed) and overlapping your “uber” arrow tower pictured above.

4) Continue to spend gems on this arrow tower. You may find a couple heavy armor turtles get by near the end.

5) Once you are comfortable with how things are going feel free to add a few tornado towers before the area where the rivers converge to maximize impact of your uber tower.

6) Use the “Critical Hit” upgrade on your arrow towers as they level up.

Here is what my map looked like when i finished the game:

You can also check out my strategy for beating Tower Defense for iPhone here.


10
Dec 08

How to win at Tap Defense for iPhone

Update Dec/08: This strategy is even easier now that you can upgrade your arrow towers to level 4.

Tap Defense is a tricky game at first, but once you understand a few things – it’s actually very easy. The game is most difficult in the first 20-30 levels when you don’t have much gold and are limited in terms of what you can build. Because of this it is really important that you limit your spending as much as possible. I have used these pointers on easy/medium & hard and can beat the game on any difficulty now:

1. In the beginning, build only arrow towers
2. Never build so much in one level that you run out of gold
3. With each new level, you should actually have more gold than you did the previous level. If you don’t, you are spending too much
4. Don’t upgrade arrow towers until you have most of the map covered
5. Use your first 4 halos on interest upgrades
6. After you get the 2nd interest upgrade, focus on upgrading arrow towers until you can get a halo to research the ice tower
7. Build at least 4 ice towers near the beginning of the road, staggered 1 or 2 spots (don’t put them all beside each other)
8. Upgrade ice towers to level 2 asap
9. Use next halo to research the storm tower & start replacing arrow towers near the beginning (they should be beside the ice towers). Aim to have about 4 of them full upgraded asap
10. Continue to make sure your gold is increasing each level

By the time you get 3-4 fully upgraded storm towers, you will notice things are ridiculously easy and you can basically cruise to level 43 (the end of the game).

Check out my guide on how to beat 7 Cities TD for iphone as well here.


30
Nov 08

Guy playing Dragonforce on Guitar Hero using drums

This song is insane enough on guitar!


16
Oct 08

Fieldrunners: best iPhone game to date?

The Good

  • Lots of fun, fast paced.
  • Seems to have pretty solid replay value.
  • Controls are simple and feel good.
  • Graphics are pretty solid.

The Bad

  • No soundtrack or even sound effects, although this is rumored to be coming in an update.

How it works
Your goal is to stop waves of enemies from making it from the left side of the screen to the right. With each wave, you’ll face different & stronger enemies. Once 20 make it to the right, it’s game over. So how do you stop them? You’re able to create 4 different types of ‘towers’, each having it’s own strengths/weaknesses. You have your “Gatling Tower”, which has a weak but continuous short range attack. The “Goo Tower” which does no damage, but slows enemies down from a medium range. The “Missile Tower” which causes fairly significant splash damage & from a long range and finally the “Tesla Tower” which does massive damage but only within medium range.

As you kill bad guys with your towers, you get cash. Cash is required to buy towers. The other interesting dimension to the game is you can also spend cash on upgrades for existing towers to make them more powerful. The positioning of towers and the types of towers you use make for a really interesting strategy game.

So here’s what i think about it.

Graphics 9/10
Really solid for an iPhone. Only seems to be one level right now (albeit a long one), but the textures are really nice and suit the game. Kind of reminds me of Legend of Zelda for SNES if you recall that game.

Audio 0/10
Unless i am missing something, which i don’t think i am there is none! No sound effects, no music – nothing.*

Gameplay 8.5/10
Tapping & positioning towers feels just right. If i was going to complain about anything it might be that i wish you could zoom in a bit more and add more variety of maps.

* On the App Store page the developer mentions a big update is coming that adds music, sound & new content, which will take this game from great to awesome most likely.

Fieldrunners is available on the App Store for $4.99. Here’s the link.


31
Jul 08

Why i quit World of Warcraft

I was really into this game for a long time. I started playing in fall 2006, and a week ago i logged in for the last time & disabled my account. I think i probably logged about 60 days of total playtime.

I was in a great guild, mind you we weren’t nearly as hardcore as most (i would play 2 nights a week for 4 hours, most required at least 4 days * 4-6 hours). I was also pretty decent at the game if i do say so myself, consistently in the top 3 for healing in our 25 man raids (I played a holy paladin Oavil). We were progressing, having cleared all T5 content, MH (Mount Hyjal) & were working on Reliquary of Souls in BT (aka Black Temple). The experience/high of killing Kael Thas & Lady Vashj are still the most pleasurable experiences i’ve ever had in a video game.

So why quit?

For me things changed when Blizzard removed attunements from the T6 dungeons (BT & MH) a few months ago. Specifically, the attunement which required killing Kael Thas & Lady Vashj before gaining access to T6 content. The purpose of attunements was to ensure that guilds progressed content in order, and therefore had to earn access to higher level content. So because your guild had to work to get access to the higher level content & rewards, attunements made raiding accomplishments special.

When Blizzard removed these attunements (probably because they wanted more players to see the content before the next expansion is released) suddenly everyone could access any boss/content/gear and suddenly everything was meaningless for me. Nothing was special.

I’ll probably come back to the game when WoTLK hits to check it out, but i doubt i will ever raid again.


29
Oct 07

Guitar Hero 3 delivers the goods folks.

Holy smokes did i have fun with this yesterday. Game plays mainly the same as Guitar Hero II with a few additions / changes that i mostly love.

1. Track Year: Small detail, but i love the addition of the year beside each track. There are a few tunes i wasn’t familiar with so it’s interesting to know what era they are from.

2. Battle Mode: i took out Tom Morello on hard mode first attempt and didn’t really know what i was doing. Got to Slash and had to really understand the mechanics of what was going on. I think it’s pretty well done but it takes a few attempts to understand how to beat your opponent. I love how if you survive the ‘banjo dueling’ to the end the band stops but the solo’ing continues for awhile.

3. The Tracklist: Not much to say here except very excited to see alot of original performances (no more fake Zach De La Rocha) and great bands (Weezer / Muse / Chili Peppers).

4. The Storyline: They did a better job this time with building your rise to fame with some short but amusing ‘Gorillaz-style’ cartoons in between levels.

5. Extras: As usual a great job done here with bonus tracks and a few videos, although i miss the in depth ‘behind the scenes’ videos they had in GH2. Still it was funny to hear Tom Morello talk about jumping around in a ‘Mocap’ suit.