Sky's Hangout

I told myself I wouldn't watch another Gambit game after the original members split up, but during the intro for the IEM Cologne grand finals I heard the name of their ADC: P1noy! Well, I could not NOT watch that! 

The casters and analysts all seemed to favor CLG so that kinda bummed me out at the start.  But I wanted to know more about GMB's ADC...they were talking about how aggressive he was, and I thought, well, that's a perfect partner for Eddie, right?  I was also happy to see that DiamondProX was still their jungler. I crossed my fingers to see his greatness again though I told myself not to raise my hopes up as everyone was saying CLG would win.  The lineup: [CLG] Irelia, Elise, Kassadin, Lucian, Janna; [GMB] Gnar, Sejuani (Russia!), Le Blanc, Graves, Thresh.  The analysts were saying how Irelia counters Gnar and Lucian was a better choice over Graves.  So that was a downer again.

Oh, but was I rewarded!  Game 1 started off beautifully with a double kill for Diamond as Sejuani when he ganked mid.  He snowballed and got really tanky from there and orchestrated a lot of ganks to keep the Irelia and Kassadin in check.  There was a party going on at bot lane as there were a lot of skirmishes that happened there, with GMB's side losing  the first few rounds.  However!  Mid-game, P1noy did show how amazingly aggressive he was and started bursting down Doublelift/Lucian.  There was even one cheeky ulti snipe.

The entire game itself was very fun to watch with both teams having nice rotations and showing pro plays.  In the end though, with GMB's tanky CC combo of Gnar, Sejuani, and Thresh, and the burst of LeBlanc and Graves, victory was theirs. :)

A couple of weeks ago, I got a 7-day access to Landmark's closed beta.  Landmark is from the folks who made the EverQuest series, and is basically an exploration game where you gather resources and build structures out of them.  Kinda like  Minecraft.  There is no non-disclosure agreement and the makers have encouraged players to share their experience, so here's mine.

Character Creation

So once you've launched the game the first thing you do is to create your character.  I found the options here a little too limited to my liking.  My character reminds me of Lara Croft:

Start of Exploration

You select a world to enter (servers), with each world having mirrored  "biomes"/islands like Dunes, Beach, Cliffs, Tundra, etc.  Each biome has a different environment (although to be frank some look pretty similar to each other) like some are snowy or sandy or are heavily forested.  Biomes are categorized into tier levels; so for tier 1 biomes,  you find tier 1 and/or 2 resources only.  You have to hop around these biomes as you level up to find resources of higher tiers.

You spawn into a random tier 1 biome into the server you selected, right next to its hub.  The hub contains a portal that will let you jump to another hub in other biomes.  It also contains crafting equipment that will help you create tools and synthesize material (you eventually get to build your own crafting equipment but that's for much later).  This is basically your base of operations until you get your own place, a.k.a. you set up your claim and create your own crafting equipment.

The game provides some guidance on what to do at the start, telling you about how to stake a claim in the Landmark world and how to gather resources:

You are already equipped with a pick and an ax, so you can start mining and cutting down trees right away.  You have to move away from the hub a bit though cause you can't gather resources or make a claim when near a hub (what happened to a lot of players though, was that the warning didn't appear right away and so they spent many a time whacking at the nearest copper vein and wondering why they aren't getting anything out of it.  The warning appeared for me when I already learned of this fact a little later.)  So you start wandering around the island looking for copper veins and trees so you can make a claim flag which will allow you to stake a claim.  

Staking Your Claim

Once you have the needed number of resources, make your claim flag.  You can now explore some more to find a nice place to set up your claim.  There aren't a lot of players yet [I barely ran into any the entire time I played] so there's a lot of space.  I got one on a cliff by the ocean.  Once your claim is set up you can start building in it using materials you have gathered so far (which this early would probably be a lot of dirt, sand, stones, copper and wood).

At this point I already got some aquamarine so I have some nice blue green panels for my pool.  That's right. I made a pool :D  If you have snow or ice you can turn them to water for your pool.  There's a rippling effect when you walk through the water but this bleeds into the walls which kinda ruins the effect.

Building Structures

If you want to keep things simple, you can be like me and just put blocks on top of each other to build whatever you want.  The game provides several tools to build things which (for me at least) take some time to get the hang of.  Changing the tip of your cursor changes the shape of your blocks in all sorts of ways.  I've seen some of the structures more advanced players have made and they were pretty awesome.  Floating fortresses, modern glass buildings, castles.  I got a little discouraged by the mechanics of building so I just piled on the blocks (lazy bum).  I just wanted to build something right away on my claim!  

Again, you can only use materials which you have already gathered, which brings us to the main point of this game: exploring to gather resources for you to use in your claim.  So you'll pretty much be doing this most of the time:

It's fun at first, and there's the excitement of finding new material, but after hours of running around islands looking for a particular material, spelunking, holding down the cursor to mine a vein, and waiting for trees to get chopped, it gets pretty tiring to the eyes and wrist. 

Impressions

I enjoyed my first hours of the game.  It was exciting to go around exploring, discovering resources, crafting materials, building my house on my claim.  I was encouraged to be creative with the house and I was motivated to go searching for more resources so I can use them for my house.  I dropped down into caves and used the grappling hook I crafted to mine rare materials.

BUT.

After doing pretty much the same thing for hours, and having built a decent house already, I soon grew tired of the running around and the clinking sound of my pick.  As I went to other islands and caves, I didn't notice too much change in the environment (except for the snowy ones I guess).  In short yeah it got seriously repetitive for me.  Also, while there is a help section in the game with information about resources, tools, and building, I couldn't help feeling that the game could have provided more guidance especially for beginners.  After telling you how to stake a claim you are pretty much on your own.  Of course, you can always visit the game's site and forums but not everyone's always inclined to do so (I did as I started feeling aimless and didn't want to waste time).  

As it is still in the beta version there were several bugs.  The game would sometimes crash in the loading screen (when you travel to different islands/servers).  In the server and biome I was in, there were no resources to be found in the caves.  Lucky me ( :/ ) this happened the first time I got into a cave looking for a particular material.  I searched the cave for hours thinking it MUST be somewhere in here.  I eventually found out that this was a bug and I had to switch servers.  Ah, the frustration I felt.  

Overall, I think it's an okay game if you're into gathering, crafting  and creating structures.  The problem with me was that was ALL there was to it.  The tasks and scenery became too repetitive.  And since I only had a 7-day closed beta access, I didn't feel inclined to invest so much time (you have to continuously pay copper to maintain your claim, otherwise you lose it).

If you're up for the challenge though, if the developers like what you've built there, there is a chance that it could be used in their upcoming game, EverQuest Next.  You can buy founder's packs in the Landmark website to get unlimited beta access and cool in game items.

Just finished the game.

Damn you Valiant Hearts.

You are probably one of the most beautiful games I have ever played.

Rurouni Kenshin Live Action Movie Sequels Release Dates Mini Poster.   Dusted an old sketch of mine to make this.  I liked how it ended up looking like a mix of the RK anime and manga style.  The flowers on the background were created using brushes made and shared by Deviant Hana-Keijou.  The poster in the background is the official movie poster in my country.

Always nice to read something like this.

-------------------------

It's very sad that Gambit Gaming's roster has changed so much this season.  First the captain, Alex Ich leaves, then Darien and Diamond get benched.  I never thought it could happen.  Especially Diamond, one of the best junglers in the world, probably THE best at some point, getting benched.  Kudos to EDward and Genja though for working out their differences and showing consistent play.

Maybe it is time for a change, the team had not performed well after their victory in IEM Katowice.  But still, it's pretty sad that it had to come to this.

[edit] A bitter part of me wants to blame this on that ridiculously unfair SK match remake.  Now that I think about it, that was when I stopped watching the EU LCS.  My attention has shifted to the NA LCS which has begun to become pretty interesting lately (4-way tie for first place!) with many teams starting to settle in their roster changes and really stepping up. [/edit]

The original Gambit Gaming team though will always have a special place in my heart.  I wish Alex luck with NIP and getting back into the LCS.  I hope Darien and Diamond can get back to their old form and get back to the stage where they belong. And a part of me will always be wishing that they can all get back together and continue showing us amazing plays.

This game...

This game...

I've been wanting to play it since I first saw it on Steam.  I felt compelled to buy it when it came out during the summer sale even when it was not discounted.  

I've only put in about a couple of hours into it so far but I could already say that it was SO worth it.

So so so worth it.

You have to first set up a UPlay account to get into the game.  Kind of annoying but at least you don't have to log in again the next time you play as it automatically does that for you.  

We are then shown the title image which is the picture above.  So simple.  Seemingly stark.  This is war.

Then the melancholic piano music immediately comes in.  

I almost cried right there and then.  It was so sad and beautiful at the same time.  Had there been no one else in the room with me I would have been reduced to tears.

[Minor spoilers]

We are immediately thrown into the thick of things, it is World War I. A simple yet happy farming family in France going about their business.  The peace is shattered by the arrival of soldiers who capture the husband, Karl.  He is to be deported because he is German.  The wife, with their baby in her arms, could only cry.

But Karl is not to be the only one taken from her.

Her father, Emile, is then drafted into the French army.  He is old, why must he go?!

But we go, as Emile, to undergo training in the Army.  This serves as the tutorial part of the game.  We learn how to whack things, throw bombs, then on to our first battle.

Where we watch all our companions die and we are captured.

Emile ends up as a prisoner and is forced to cook for the Germans.  While in the German camp, we discover that Karl is there!  We take the little comfort that we could get.

Which is of course short-lived as the camp is suddenly devastated by a bomb attack.  Karl had to escape with the other Germans.  Emile, meanwhile, is rescued by an army dog (our dog!) who then becomes his companion.  They escape together and eventually make new friends in Freddie, an American who joined the French army and a Belgian student named Anna, who is also a nurse.  

I am excited to find out what happens next, but at the same time I am deeply terrified.  I sense tragedy in the future.  I have grown to love these characters (and the dog of course!).

[End of minor spoilers]

The gameplay of Valiant Hearts is very simple.  You walk left or right, climb up or down, dig, whack enemies from behind, throw stuff, interact with levers and other objects.  I found the puzzles in the game not too difficult, but still rewarding when you solve them.  There are also mini-games where you would usually have to dodge bombs and bullets. Perfect for those who are not really hard-core gamers but would like to experience the story.  A nice element is how you work with the dog to solve some of the puzzles.

I was quite surprised with how they made the game evoke so much emotions given the comic-y art style used and the fact that there weren't any spoken dialogue.  It's mostly narration and reading of letters.  When characters talk to each other a bubble would usually pop up with the images of what they are trying to say, or you hear some indistinct babbling.  But it works.  And the music.  Just beautiful.

Finished The Wolf Among Us a couple of days ago!  Glad I didn't have to wait too long for the last episode as I really wanted to get on with the story. 

The chapters in this last episode (the fifth) were pretty short which was kind of disappointing but the quick pacing combined with the knowledge that this is it, the final episode, I'll finally find out what the heck is going on, made it all so exciting.  

[SPOILERS AHEAD!]

There were I think only a couple of action quick-time events, one of them being the thoroughly enjoyable final confrontation with Bloody Mary! She was already disturbing in her glamoured form but man, her real form creeped me out (it also caught me by surprise as I wasn't really thinking about her having another form).  The sounds she makes during the fight were really distracting!  Brrr.  Thankfully, she pisses Bigby off enough for him to transform into the big badass that he is (I was soooo relieved at this point).  May I say how awesome it is to play a giant wolf?  I gleefully crushed them Bloody Marys with my fangs and claws and huffs and puffs.  Awesome demonstration of the big bad wolf's power.  I wish there'd be more chances to do this XD

Story-wise Bigby learns more about Vivian and that damned ribbon.  It was touching to see how much toughie Georgie cared about her.  This part ended in despair, however.  Bigby also captures the Crooked Man and gives him a trial (at least in this playthrough).  A group of Fables encountered in the previous episodes are present during the trial and you'd really feel the pressure of having to convince them about how the Crooked Man was bad.  You had to choose your statements carefully given the allotted time. Bigby's previous interactions with the Fables also affected their attitude towards him during the trial.  I managed to get them on my side (with the help of Nerissa who suddenly appears, the curse of the ribbon having been lifted) and had the option to toss the Crooked Man in the Wishing Well or just imprison him.  Softie that I am I selected the latter.  I was very tempted to toss him in the well though.

Life goes back to somewhat normal for the Fables (for now).  Snow White is very busy as deputy mayor.  In the final scene, Nerissa speaks with Bigby and reveals that it was she who placed Faith's head on the doorstep to get his attention.  That's all nice and explains things...however!  However!  While this is going on we see similarities to Nerissa and Faith's gestures, and Bigby gets flashbacks of conversations that seem to allude that NERISSA IS ACTUALLY FAITH!!! Wow.  It was all a bit ambiguous though and nothing definite was said so I felt something was missing.  Nerissa (Faith?) then walks away and the last choice I was asked to make was whether to let her go or go after her.  OF COURSE I WENT AFTER HER.  I want to know who is who and what really happened!  Unfortunately, the game ends in that cliffhanger.

While that ending may have left me with a slight feeling of "what the fuck?", I am still very happy with episode 5, and the whole game in general.  The artwork, story, and soundtrack mesh well together to provide an immersive experience.  The gameplay itself is simple so you can really focus on the story.  And hey, you get rewarded by playing as the actual big bad wolf in the last episode, what else is there to say?

I hope they'll come up with Season 2.  If not, well, I've already started reading the comics. 

This is Leona, one of my favorite League of Legends champions.

I've been playing LoL on the NA server for more than a year now.  I was initially on the local Garena server but got tired of playing with kids XD.  The NA server has a lot of trolls as well but I have been able to find a lot of good gaming friends there.

The support role is where I am very comfortable with as I think it matches my personality.  I used to do decently in other roles but as I got matched with more experienced players and as I play mainly support, I have begun to suck in the other roles. XD  I am currently trying to re-learn them but it's been challenging so far.