Working through the Trilogy (again)

Posted by on March 26, 2012 No comments

Lately I have been suffering a little PTMED (Post Traumatic Mass Effect Depression, it’s a thing).  I tried to go play some Old Republic, but found myself too distracted with all of the huge range of emotions I experienced with my playthrough of ME3.  (Note, still liked the ending).  As I have mentioned before, I never did a second playthrough, only the single story, and single save.  The quick recap about this meant that I was able to experience the whole story in a very unique way.  It didn’t get convoluted with alternate choices or multiple stories.  (Not that there is anything wrong with that, just not what I wanted to do).  I have now experienced the whole story, and I loved it.

So, what do you do with a story you just finished and loved?  You experience it again!  I made the decision to run through the whole story again, starting at Mass Effect 1, and working through the whole trilogy.  I experienced a small snag in this though.  My ME1 disk went missing!  I had pre-ordered and bought the collectors tin for ME1 and had the tin, and the bonus discs…..but no game disk!  I checked with Gamestop and they wanted $30 for a pre-owned copy (WTF!!!).  Amazon had new Platinum editions for $19 (UPDATE, it’s $16 now!!!) with prime shipping so that’s how I went.  It arrived on Friday.

To accompany this epic playthrough I also splurged and purchased the N7 branded G155 Personal Gaming Environment.  I have a number of trips coming up that may end up with me in a place that might get boring. (assuming I don’t get out and take pictures.) So I picked up this case so I could take a 360 with me.  I will probably have a post about the case after I get it wit photos and such.

So, I am now 10 hours into Mass Effect 1 and the experience is amazing.  First off, it’s VERY difficult to transition from ME3 controls down to ME1, you can tell they improved on quite a bit.  Outside of that, though, it’s been outstanding.  It feels like one of those movies where I have been transported back in time and given the opportunity to make new choices, knowing what I know now!  My favorite moment so far was meeting Wrex for the first time (again) with the Dialogue

Wrex: Do I know you human?

Me: * Not yet
* You will
* Shut Up

For those that are curious, I am playing through as BroShep.  My first was with FemShep, and my Romance options were ME1: Liara (Duh), ME2: Garrus (Comedy Option), and ME3: Traynor (Stress Relief).  I would be happy to explain these if you ask, but I think I know how I will steer things this time around.  I will certainly keep you updated on the progress both here and on Twitter.

The new Retro (Wait what?): Braid

Posted by on March 22, 2012 No comments

Also featured at http://www.retronick.com

You got Retro in my Next Gen!  Well you got Next Gen in my Retro!!

Stop stop, you’re both right!  I want to talk a moment about a current gen game that brings the classic retro style that we all know and love.  This one is about….Braid.

Braid is a side scrolling game created as an indi project by a developer named Jonathan Blow.  JB took the initiative on himself and solely funded the Braid project with the idea of creating a classic style game with high artistic value.  Using $200,000 of his own money, he did just that.
In Aug of 2008, Braid was released on the Xbox Live Arcade platform.  Since then it has taken off on all platforms now.  It’s even been featured on the Humble Indie Bundle a few times.

But what is it?

Braid tells the story of a young man working to rescue his girlfriend from a horrible monster.  To do this he uses various skills and tools to master the art of time and space.  He can rewind time to fix mistakes and move objects to solve puzzles.  Each world he visits presents new challenges that he may or may not need tools from a different world to solve.  To your average player, this may seem like a copy of many other classic games like Prince of Persia, or even the various Mario games.  (Yes, your princess IS in another castle)

What sets Braid apart from these other games is really in the artistic presentation.  The artwork is very stylized and beautiful.  Even more so than the visuals, the music was outstanding.  I almost found myself using Braid as a way to relax because the music was so soothing.  I am not even kidding about that.  If you doubt me, listen to yourself. (link to Magnatune, embeds below)

Personally, I enjoyed the hell out of Braid.  I bought it on XBLA and couldn’t stop playing it.  I picked up the Humble Bundle and now I play it on my PC.  I highly suggest it to any gamer who appreciates the art of the game as well as the art of the world.

You can find a demo version of Braid at http://www.playgreenhouse.com/

The Mass Ending Effect

Posted by on March 19, 2012 5 comments

Its done.

3 years of playing Mass Effect have come to a close.  I finished Mass Effect 3 last night.  I have managed to avoid all of the spoilers and got to judge the ending on my own.  I will do my best to make this spoiler free, or at least make it so you have to do something special to see the spoilers.  I love WordPress.  I looked for a spoiler plugin to handle that sort of thing and Boom!  So Spoilers are marked, click to read if you want. (It should be noted that the Spoiler tags ONLY work if you view on the site.  If you are reading Via RSS feed, I marked the paragraphs that are spoiler-ific)

As I had mentioned in my Single Playthrough post, I have been playing Mass Effect using only the Auto-saves and one single story.  If I made a decision, I stuck to it. No regrets.  This was the story I played with in Mass Effect 3.

To Address all those who are complaining about the ending.  I really have only one thing to say.  If you don’t like the ending, go make your own epic story arc video game and make the ending you want.  Seriously.  I enjoyed the ending as it was. the roller coaster of the game WAS the ending.  Mass Effect 3 WAS the ending of the story.  The last 20 min of the game was just the, the last 20 min of a 40+ hour ending of a 3 year game.  If you are complaining about the “ending” of the game, then you didn’t do it right.  That’s not Bioware’s fault.

Many people are complaining that the ending should have encompassed all of the decisions.  Now think about this.  ME3 accounted for decisions made in ME1 and ME2.

Spoiler: For example, in Mass Effect 1:

In ME1, I let Kaiden die.  Because of this, Ashely was the crew member that was brought through to ME3.  There was story in ME3 that specifically was aimed at Ashley.  It affected my missions and the conversations between the crew.

Spoiler: And then in Mass Effect 2:

I will tell you that I lost quite a few people at the end of Mass Effect 2.  I started ME3 without Thane, Grunt, or Jack.  They gave their lives at the collector base and that’s just how it was.  Their names are etched on the Normandy’s wall and they will be remembered.  Without them in the game I didn’t have many conversations that some of my friends had.  Other interactions between crew members were different, and my friends didn’t see them, because those crew were missing.

Spoiler: So, in Mass Effect 3:

Wrex was in charge of the Krogans, Miranda helped me with the Cerbrus base, Tali helped me with the Geth, and a number of other main story plots were altered due to my decisions in the other games.  When it came to the ending.  I looked at my options and weighed them with the other decisions I have made.  I went with the Synthesis ending, simply because it was the best option for letting the people I fought for survive in the best way possible.  I knew before I even attacked the reapers, I was not planning on living.  Shepard’s job was to do the best by her people.  When I met with my crew on Earth, just before the final push, I was saying goodbye.  That was my closure.  Those people were there because of the decisions I made.

Spoiler free version: It wasn’t just about picking a path in the last 20 min of the game, it was about the entire journey. The ending of the game was DAYS long, not 20 min.
So, like I said, if you are unhappy with the ending, Go make yourself a multi-tiered epic video game and write your own ending.  Bioware did right by me.

Of Websites and Podcasts And things

Posted by on March 14, 2012 No comments

For the past few weeks I have been helping a friend work on his website.  He was using an old Blogger site to post some incredible works and I knew that WordPress would help him get some better exposure and have a better design.  So, having done some work on mine, and Sarah’s site, I thought I would lend a hand.  So now I present to you, RetroNick.com!  It’s a retro style gaming site where Nick talks about his collection of classic games and even some discussion on current games.

You may notice that in honor of the site relaunch, there is an inaugural podcast along with it!  That’s right, the gang here decided to start up a podcast!  The podcast is going to be mainly game oriented (with various antics, of course) but a lot of comparing new to old and how the industry is.

Well, we hope, that is.

Odds are it’s just going to be a bunch of guys drinking and talking about games.  Only recorded.  So check out RetroNick’s new site and maybe give the Podcast a listen!

The Single Play-through.

Posted by on March 7, 2012 2 comments

The long awaited trilogy ender Mass Effect 3 came out yesterday.  I picked up my copy from GameStop, pausing quickly to ensure the cover is set to FemShep, came home and got everything ready.  I set about migrating over my save games from the previous ME games, just as I had done before.  Thankfully, it didn’t take long since I only have the single character, the single play through.  One run, one set of decisions, one story….my Shepard story.

Mass Effect is one of those epic adventures that BioWare has created to have a bazillion different choices along the way and different outcomes.  They do this to increase the playability of the game.  It’s a great idea and it makes the game full of possibilities.  The problem I have with this is that the story is not done yet.  I haven’t reached the end.

People have told me that it’s like reading a book more than once, or watching your favorite movie again.  The difference being that, when I do that, it’s the same story.  It hasn’t changed, branched off, turned evil.  All of the decisions in the book/movie are the ones I enjoyed and delight in experiencing because they still lead in the direction of the ending.

Mass Effect allows you to change the path you take to the ending so drastically that it could be considered (and often is) a different story.  This isn’t so bad except that I knew that it wasn’t over yet.  Mass Effect 3 is supposed to be the ending we are all waiting for.

Imagine if you will, you are watching Star Wars: Episode IV.  The first watch through is great, you are rooting for this young do-gooder Luke who flirts with Leia, crys over his aunt and uncles deaths and then goes off and helps the rebels win against the evil empire.  Now, say you watch it again, only this time, Luke abandons his aunt and uncle, flirts with Chewbacca, sells out Han Solo to Jabba, and steals the Falcon to use on the Death Star run to blow up the Death Star, only to demand money from the rebels to do so.

Now you have to wait till Empire Strikes back comes out.  You are now invested in two very different story lines.  Yes, you can play them individually, but when it comes to an important decision in the next installment, The good side was ok, but the bad was so much fun and OH MY GOD WHAT DO I PICK?!?!?!

By playing through just the once, from 2007, when ME1 came out, to now, I have had one story.  My Shepard story.  I lived with my decisions, be they good or bad, I have made my choices, and lost a few people.  When I wander around the ship, I get flashbacks to events that happened there.  They are not muddled with other play-throughs, they are the memories of Shepard, they are my memories.  No confusion, no regrets.

Now, I need to get back, apparently the world needs saving…..again.

Those Wacky Internet People

Posted by on February 27, 2012 No comments

Playing a MMO gives you the great opportunity to experience a whole different class of individual on the Internet.  The douche-bag.  Now this isn’t you ordinary garden variety Jersey Shore style of douche-bag.  The internet douche-bag is a special breed.  This is very similar to Penny Arcades “Greater Internet Fuck-Wad Theory” (“given both anonymity and an audience, an otherwise regular person can become a “total fuckwad,” i.e., a very disagreeable person.”)  except in MMO’s you loose the audience and gain the Pokemon “Gotta collect them all” attitude.

In an MMO, it comes down to stats and gear.  If you play online for longer than the average player, you can gain access to all sorts of good gear, higher ranks, and stat bonuses.  This can be great when playing the game because it gives you an advantage that may take other players a very long time to obtain.  There is nothing wrong with this “gear grind”, except when that douche-bag switch gets flipped in your head and you are suddenly leaps and bounds better than anyone who doesn’t have what you have.  Apparently, on the Internet, this means that those people are somehow lesser than you.

In a game where it’s every man for himself, I would think that would be more tolerable (but still douchey).  In a team based Multi person match, though, it’s the team you are on that needs to win, not just you.  It is in every ones best interest to ensure that the team wins.  These gear mongers spend all of their time in game just working to get the best gear possible so they can lord it over anyone who hasn’t spent 90% their game time working towards the best gear.  People like this don’t care about the story of the game, or another outside of the gear grind.

So here is the fun fact.  Once you have all the greatest gear in the game….what then?  I am fully aware that I can spend all my time collecting stuff that makes my character better, but I will eventually hit that wall where it’s “Well, I guess I have all the best stuff, now what do I do?” The answer is “The whole rest of the game!!” there are other character stories, lots of exploring, group missions, operations, etc.  Plenty of stuff that doesn’t involve berating those who haven’t spent elventybillion hours getting PvP gear.

What spurred this was an encounter I experienced the other day in Star Wars, The Old Republic.  If you haven’t experienced the WarZone areas, it’s a PvP arena where the Imperials ad Republic get to fight for certain objectives.  The winning team gets extra points that can be used to upgrade gear and stats.  The losers still get points, just not as much.  On our server, the empire players have been dominating.  They just play better, are more organized, and due to their wining, they have some better gear.  This is starting to balance out now that the Republic is catching up, but it’s slow.  Many times you can join a match and someone will leave the group leaving the balance at 6 players vs 8.  When this happens, it’s pretty much a lost match.  Most people will play through to the end anyways to get some points.

TLDR: I met an Internet Douche-bag and had an argument. He got his ass handed to him and we lost a match because of him.

This happened to me and I made a comment about it.  Only to be yelled at by another player and told to “STFU” because I was under-geared.  That somehow my having less than the top tier gear was causing the match to be a loss.  (Mind you, I have won quite a fair share of matches, and have pretty good gear).  I mentioned to this person that, if we were to play as a team and work towards a win, everyone would be better geared and it’s puppies and kittens for all! (paraphrasing) The slew of arguments that flowed from this person about how “Under-geared n00bs” were ruining WarZones, made me (and several other players) not want to aid him in the rest of the match.  (Naked Dance Party time!*)

Sure enough the very next WarZone we were matched up with this player and 3 others from his guild.  The warzone we were on was the Alderaan turret capture map.  He asked if I was “Planing to throw the match again”, I asked if he was “planning on working as a team?”  Myself and one other player went to capture and hold the left hand turret while he and his guild members, along with two others went to the middle turret.  On the left, we had a few invaders that were quickly dispatched and we held the left turret.  The max geared Internet douche and his team were wiped out repeatedly and never captured a turret.

I didn’t hear anything else from him.

Remember kids, Wil says “Don’t be a dick!”

*Naked Dance Party in a warzone is were everyone strips off their gear and uses the /dance command.  It basically means we know it’s a lose.

Getting Down with Bluegrass

Posted by on February 20, 2012 No comments

This weekend we managed to pry ourselves out of the house and get out to accomplish things!  First was taking a long walk to make sure we got some extra steps on our FitBit’s.  2.6 miles of walking out for lunch, and errands netted us quite the step count.  After that it was off to Old town Alexandria to meet up with Sarah’s Sister and Brother-In-Law.  You see, it was Josh’s Birthday and because he loves music, the plan was to go out and hear some live.  The place that was picked….Tiffany Tavern.

When I heard “Tavern” I was all set to see a pub-like atmosphere with some fish and chips and Shepard’s pie. (although, I a a bit spoiled when it comes to Shepard’s Pie) Unfortunately, when we arrived I noticed that it was a lot more “Dineric” and less “Pubish”  The food was ok, and the service was great, that is, until the band started playing.  After that we rarely saw a waitress.  (Maybe they were groupies that were fawning over the band members)  I wouldn’t say that you shouldn’t go there, but it was not the greatest place.  I give it a good solid “Meh”

So, how was the band?  The band was actually great!  Fun fact, as a kid I grew up around Bluegrass music so I am no stranger to it, and for the most part, really do enjoy it.  The technique that goes into it is outstanding and it’s one of the forms of music that comes from a very deep rooted story based culture.  Satyr Hill came with 6 band members (although I believe that a few of them were just visiting) and a rocken good time!  You can see pictures from the set here at my Flickr page, and enjoy the slideshow below.

Oh, and the final step count for that day?

Gadget Time!!

Posted by on February 16, 2012 No comments

It’s been a while since I have posted about some interesting gadgets, and I happen to have come across a few that are post worthy!  So here goes.

Having driven the MINI around for the last few months, and being a part of the DC Metro MINI club, I REALLY enjoy my car.  Many of the club owners like to make videos of their drives using the GoPro brand cameras.  Being a camera type guy, I thought I would check one out and have some fun.  So here is my pro/con list

 

 

Pro:

  • Light weight – Very small for just the camera and easy to pocket.
  • TONS of attachments (I got the Motor-sport version)
  • Easy to use – Menus are quick and easy
  • Cool Wide Angle – Gets everything in the shot
  • Good Quality (Not great, but good) – Auto adjustment of speed and ISO does oddly in low light

Con:

  • Over Simplified – It would be great if there were a few more options and configurations.
  • Low light sucks – In low light it ramps up the ISO a lot so there is some significant grain. But it’s not really meant for low light so….
  • Ball Joint mount would rock. – All of the mounts are pivot one way, you can add pivot points in, but it increases vibration.

Overall, I like it.  It is currently mounted behind my rear view mirror and is nearly invisible to my FOV while driving.

This ties into another gadget I picked up.  The OBDII adapter for Blue-Tooth.  This is a chip that plugs into the data-port on my MINI (and any car after 1996) and provides all sorts of information on real time data from the engine to fault codes.  I connect to it using my Android phone and an app Called Torque.

Now I just need to know what all that data actually means!  (I am still learning).

Now, how does this all come together?  Well, there is another android app called aLapRecorder HD.  This connects to the OBDII chip and then can record all of that data for a specific drive.  I can then output that data into a format that can be overlayed on to the GoPro video.

I will be using this for future drives out with the MINI to record the results.  Especially the upcoming MINI’s on The Dragon event.  If you have any questions about the above gadgets, please feel free to ask!

On the subject of Jelly Beans

Posted by on February 15, 2012 No comments

The other day Sarah was out at an event with some friends while I gleefully stayed home and slept of played video games.  Sometimes we do this.  Well, when she came home she was loaded down with various food stuffs that were excess from the event.  Some very evil person sent her home with a jar of Jelly Belly brand jelly beans.

O_O

Yes, the most amazing jelly bean on the planet.  It is taking all of my willpower to not devour the whole jar in one sitting (it’s a big jar too).  To combat my desire to “eat all the things”, I decided to set up a little photo shoot.  Below are the results:

Forever Alone
No one likes the black jelly beans!

Jelly Bean Statistics
As you can see from this chart, we show 100% Deliciousness.

Both of these shots were done with my SB600 strobe mounted on the Gorilla pod stand, positioned about 2 feet away and the Lightsphere about 1 ½ feet above the subject. (Triggered remotely)

3 Years

Posted by on February 13, 2012 5 comments

My life is pretty wacky.  I am a pretty huge geek on a number of levels.  At 37 I still love to play video games, I love comic books (Batman > Superman), I own and have worn many different costumes from Superhero Spandex to StormTrooper Armor.  I sometimes collect various toys and still love to play with Legos.  I can discuss the inner workings of the Star Trek Holodeck and have seen the entire run’s of shows from Firefly to Doctor Who.

Just 10-15 years ago I would have been considered an Outcast to society, (some may still think that) but, I love who I am, and I love what I do.  I have many friends that think/act/enjoy like I do and those are my family.  Some people may look at me and think the typically “Bro” thing of “How do you ever date?”

Well, here is the secret.  Almost 5 years ago I met someone perfect.  She worked at a comic book store and we had so many of the same interests.  She loved to play her Super Nintendo on a tiny CRT screen and would stay up late nights playing Fallout 2.  She had assembled a Teen Titans Raven costume to wear and has a Batman tattoo.  It was a match made in Gotham.

3 years ago today we escaped out to Las Vegas to get hitched.  Family and friends were still there and it wasn’t weird.  I wore a suit, she wore a dress (which for us was still like wearing a costume).  Ever since that time, I am constantly amazed that we managed to find each other and still wonder/fear that this amazing dream will end.

I hope it never does.

Happy Anniversary Sarah!