the Witcher - starting areas

The Witcher - messing around in Chapter 1



I recently started another playthru of Witcher (I beat it last year), wanting to play it a little different this time - supporting the rebel faction and using a lot of the lesser used talents (like bombs, etc).

Also, I just really want to see it on my new rig w/ all the details cranked up, and I have to admit that it looks really good.

These are just some videos from the first chapter showing off some of the areas, theyre really immersive and fun to play in and just run around and check out. The vids are kinda boring because nothing really happens except for the last one, which I battle a drowner at the edge of the lake. Ive since progressed to Chapter 2.

Demigod

Demigod turned out to be a pretty fun "arena strategy" rts game, Ive spent about 20hrs so far battling the computer all the way up to nightmare difficulty over the last couple weeks. Basically, you start out picking a Demigod in the beginning of the match, then have at it - the goal is to destroy your opponents and their stuff. There's some Mortal Kombat-esque story about battling to the top, the whole thing is some battle the demigods to attain ultragod status or something. Whatever.

It's just an excuse to get a bunch of varied warriors slugging it out in a battle royale, while mindless warrior drones pour out of portals and support. Or do you support them? Depends on your playstyle I suppose. My favorite to use is a tie between the Vampire Lord (Erebus) & the Queen of Thorns. As Erebus levels up he gets some really killer vampiric abilities that drain the life of his enemies, turn dead enemies into minions, and he can even turn into a swarm of killer bats!


Those little spiky guys are "Nightwalkers" that emerge from the corpses of the recently slain foe. Before long, he's rolling w/ a pretty heavy duty crew...


Looking resplendent as ever in his plate armor w/... spark plugs on the shoulders??

Queen of Thorns

Oh yeah. A crazy redhead who rides around in a giant rosebud, carried by scarabs, who emerges to cast crazy spells and summon minion, while whipping fools with thorny branches and roots who dare to defy her. The first time she decimated me in a match, I knew that I had to play her. She's really fun to use, and has two sets of abilities depending on whether she's inside the rosebud or out. As she doesnt care to wear much armor, she can definitely be pretty vulnerable at times when out, so she has to be used wisely.





Most people probably start out with the Rook, who's basically an ultra-tough walking fortress. As time goes by, you get archer towers and ballistae on his shoulder. He absorbs buildings, healing himself. While he's fun to use, he's so tough and self sufficient, you almost feel guilty using him later. Definitely a good noob vehicle, but you need to move on if you want a challenge!

Guild Wars marathon & BaK Enlightenment

Another day, another irresistable Steam games sale...

This time it was Guild Wars GOTY edition for 9.99, and I couldnt resist. 2 days and 10 levels later, we're both bleary eyed and... ready for more?? MMOrpg, thou art a cruel mistress indeed!



Speaking of cruel mistresses, the latest character of mine is a human Necromancer - codename: Doma Naatrix. She's pretty mean, Ive made sure to use all the nastiest spells and even play her to where she refuses to use any holy or benevolent-themed equipment or do any goody-two-shoes quests. Game of the Year edition also gives you a cool little fire imp that you can use in game - Tell you what, that little guy really pulls his weight in battles. Her build is a mix between Minion Master and Nuker. Basically she has a few different spells that literally siphon the life out of the enemy, then she turns around and summons undead creatures from their lifeless remains.

Who says Necromancers dont know how to have fun?






Ive also been playing the great Betrayal at Krondor, a classic party-based rpg from the 90's. While the presentation is crude by today's standards, I have to say that it really is a great game so far. I have no time to do any in depth coverage right now, i have err.. something else I have to do... think i can get Level 11 by midnight??

Left 4 Dead II

I was originally not going to get this game because I got so burned out on the first game, but zombie (err.. "infected") killing instinct got the better of me when it hit 24.00 at Fry's Electronics. The graphics are better, the environments more varied, and there's a better variety of infected. Everything from run of the mill joe-six-pack zombies, to biohazard suits and clowns! This game is insane - and it's every bit as good as the original. Except for this one is actually difficult!

I was having a hard time getting into the groove at first. They really nail you hard and fast w/ the new mutated "special infected" spitting acid and charging into you, and the lesser infected are coming out of the woodwork at you left and right. Nothing an hour or so cant fix, before long I was topping the scorecard all over again.



I like getting some nice sniper shots in on 'em now and then, relaxes me...

Dragon Age: Mission Accomplished

Got about 120 hours out of this one, well worth the "collectors edition" cost ( i think it was like 70 bucks). This is one of my only Rogue class characters, and I have to say - she was really fun to play! While not able to take too much damage in direct combat, the high Dex and use of several specialty assassin and duelist talents had her barely getting hit by end-game.

I also made heavy use of poisons, with good armor penetration it's a death sentence for the enemy. It's worth noting that poisons do stack in the game, opening up potential for absolutely insane amounts of damage - tho I was often too frugal for burning multiple poisons for a single fight. Grenades are extremely powerful as well and are essentially a fireball/acid/frost spell effect for the Rogue (or anyone who has improved poisons for that matter). Good fight opener, have the rogue instigate the foe w/ a nice grenade from stealth. Very nice also for clearing the end-game waves of annoying and easily-felled enemies. Toss a grenade at 'em and watch the bodies hit the floor!




I was never wanting for Stamina, as most fights didnt last all that long, so I didnt bother w/ "Feast of the Fallen", the last entry in the assassin line. My cunning was high enough that I didnt need to spend a point in the last level of lockpicking, I was able to open everything in the game. I didnt feel the need to do the last level of Dual Wield either, since it was basically just allowing the use of two full-size weapons. I went the entire game using daggers. As you can see, I focused more on the specialty lines w/ crits and evasion tactics instead of flashy dual-wield talents. In the end, I had some extra points and dropped a couple here and there, but I can count on one paw how many times I used them... Stealth was huge, primarily the ability to stealth in combat and pre-combat scouting and setup.





My faithful Mabari war hound. By end game, w/ full talent lines tricked out he was my dedicated caster-killer. Powerful attack, a little bit of crowd-control stun w/ "Dread Howl", and a cool knockdown-n-chew attack "Overpower" kept him in my lineup from the moment I aquired him til the end.

Torchlight

First of all, I have to report that Saints Row 2 does not seem to work w/ Win7 64bit... Kinda bummed about that one. I guess I'll have to play it on my old XP system, a dirt cheap D2D score that I havent played yet.

EDIT - turned out Saints Row 2 barely works on XP. Guess I'll have to get a console if I really want to play it...

Torchlight:
Even tho Barbarella is shown here w/ her shotgun, a majority of the time she uses here new pistolas shown below - great score today!







This boss went down pretty fast, in spite of an accidental quest log fumble in the beginning of the fight.

Torchlight

Almost at the end of Dragon Age, thought I'd slip into a little action-rpg for a few - little did I know how addictive "Torchlight" would be. Fun game, burned half a day on it building up my Vanquisher (rogue equivelent) class character. It's a lot like Fate - a sort of Diablo tribute w/ a cool pet to help you out. And fishing! ( the pet likes fish)



Specializing in the Marksman line, going full-on gunslinger w/ this character. All the way w/ crits and ranged specialization. I really like the "ricochet" skill, usually the first skill they give you starts to suck pretty quick and youre stupid to dump points in it, but it's turning out to be pretty cool. Pretty bloody and violent, yet cartoony fun!

Dragon Age movie mayhem

Now that I'm running a real pc, FRAPS can handle the task of taking movies in Dragon Age. I particularly like the "finishing moves", here's a couple movies of just that.

Morrigan is casting spells on and blasting away at an Ogre during a fight, infuriating the creature. It charges her, and she uses a quick spell to temporarily freeze it in it's tracks - just enough time for the wily Rogue to come up behind and dramatically take him down w/ her poisoned blades!





Ogres can be dangerous foes if allowed to bust out their special attacks. Twice Draconia is pummeled hard by the creature, the second attack sending her flying. Unfortunately for the big oaf, she has a little special attack of her own called "dirty fighting". The momentary stun is more than enough time to unleash a fatal combination of blows that paves the way for her signature takedown.






The "Brood Mother" was a particularly revolting foe, Draconia was more than happy to put her down with a merciless throat slashing.

Dragon Age gets an ATi makeover

Good shot of Draconia about to deliver the final blow to a downed Ogre. With the shadows and lighting, this pic kinda looks like Simon Bisley'ish.


I'm really liking this new card. No slowdown at all, anywhere, and I have everything cranked up. The firewall, antivirus, and everything else is running as well, things that I used to have to shut off on my other PC. I guess the processor and 8g of ram helps a little bit too.

And the game looks good.

Nvidia gets fired

After updating my video drivers, the Nvidia GPU cookout went down and they were taking them off the site and telling everyone to roll back to an earlier version. That, plus the lack of any good utilities, and locals urging me to go ATi convinced me to jump ship while I still had a 30 day return escape hatch.

The XFX Radeon 5850 "black" edition (overclocked out of the box) was about 150.00 more, but in still keeping my system under 2K I think that I'm doing good. I'm a hobbyist, and this is an investment in my hobby - that I theoretically shouldnt have to upgrade for literally years....

Theoretically

The Raven has Landed

Ive taken a bit of a gaming hiatus due to a new family member, codename:Raven.

This is the first pc that Ive ever built from the ground up, and I have to say - I'm pretty surprised w/ how smooth the whole thing went. From getting the parts that I needed, to fiddling w/ the BIOS and installing windows 7 x64, there was really no problems. There was a little bit of an issue when trying to install Dragon Age, but as I was canceling out of the failed install, win7 asked if I'd like to let them do it "their way". Paraphrasing of course.

Next thing I knew, I was running around Ferelden at the highest frames-per-sec Ive seen yet. This thing is amazing.

Quick report on the win7 64bit compatibility, these all work fine:
Dragon Age
Company of Heroes
Warhammer 40k II


Here's my specs, and the final total of the system:

CASE: ANTEC 900 II	$100.00
MOBO: GIGABYTE P55A-UD4P	$202.00
PSU: ANTEC TRUEPOWER 650W	$108.00
GPU: XFX RADEON HD 5850 'BLACK'	$390.00
CPU: INTEL I7-860	$329.00
RAM: 8GB KINGSTON HYPER-X 1600	$238.00
HDD: WD BLACK 1TB	$119.00
DVD: HP DVD-RW 1270I	$55.00
OS: WIN7 PRO 64 OEM	$164.00
FINAL COST + TAX=	$1,705.00

Here it is w/ both side covers off, ready to get decked out in it's new hardware



The intel I-7860, the brain of the system

I didnt even see the ram before I bought it, we pretty much did everything on a pc there at the store to see what would be the best for my money. Worked out well w/ the color palette, as you'll see later.



Motherboard Phase#1 - install cpu



Motherboard Phase#2 - heat sink & fan


Motherboard Phase#3 - ram installed


Installing the PSU, I dragged the wires thru the holes in the back, but at this point wasnt sure how to run everything. Better put the motherboard in.


Mobo installed, things are looking up now.


I really like this "behind the motherboard" style of wiring, keeps the mess out of the case.



The casual observer would never suspect the mess of wires behind the motherboard...



The absolutely massive Nvidia BFG GTX 260 OC. Yes, it actually fit in the case!



I didnt bother taking pics of the HDD & DVD install, so lets wrap it up!












Loaded w/ LED fans, a huge one up top, two in front of the drive bays, and the standard rear fan. Again, the color palette that just coincidentally happened on this rig is pretty nice!





Time to get some gaming in!

Dragon Age: Draconia the Rogue

Dragon Age: Origins is one of the best role-playing games that Ive played. I got about halfway (90+/- hours of play) and decided to give it a rest. I have lots of games and wanted to play around w/ some other stuff, and just thought it would be good to take a little sabbatical from it for a while. You can even get burned-out on a good game.

The release of the "Return to Ostagar" downloadable quest, which has the player return to the site of a key event in the early game, seemed like a good time to fire it up again. Time to dust off one of my favorite characters of all time.. Draconia, the Dalish Elf Rogue.

• Level 17
• Class: Rogue
• Specializations: Assassin, Duelist
• Weapons: dual daggers (fire and ice)
• Favorite secondary weapon: Fire Bomb
• Favorite poison: Concentrated Crow Poison