jdodson | Cheerful Ghost

Just started Skyrim. An hour in and I am enjoying the

Just started Skyrim. An hour in and I am enjoying the game(the shot above is from my current location in the game looking at a sweet mountain). Taking it slow. Following people, listening to them and getting all the story I can. After the initial Dragon attack I had to pick one of the guys to follow. Didn't know who was who so I picked the guy with long hair. After a dungeon crawl we emerged from the dungeon and I followed him to Riverwood village where we met his sister. He is part of the resistance to the Empire. I like the sound of joining them but I really don't know much about the war save Ulrich is their leader and they want Nordic freedom in Skyrim.

I talked to the vendor in Riverwood and apparently he had an Inn break in so I am on the hunt to recover his dragon claw. Along the way I killed some bandits, nabbed some new armor and gold. I met up with a lone hunter in the wilderlands and wanted to see how killing an innocent would work. Apparently nothing happened. Well thats not true as his dog didn't like me killing his master and attacked me too. I had to dispatch the dog as well and after the whole ordeal felt horrible.

I killed an innocent hunter. I am the monster of Skyrim. Oh well at least I didn't behead people like the EMPIRE! BLAST YOU EMPIRE I WILL SEE YOU.... Oh wait, I have no idea whats going on in this conflict. A bit more searching for answers then ill pick a side.

Hopefully. Oh and double hopefully I don't murder more innocent hunters and their dogs. Ug.

Travis Admin wrote on 07/20/2012 at 01:13pm

I advise you to really hear both sides of the story before choosing to side with Ulfric or not. I will tell you that, while I certainly see both sides of the argument, I have never been able to make myself side with Ulfric. The first time you get to Windhelm, go to the darker corners of the town and talk to people about Ulfric and the Stormcloaks.

I fully expect to have a long, in-depth conversation about Empire vs. Stormcloaks on here when you get far enough :)

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 07/20/2012 at 02:26pm

I will thanks! Cool that the game allows you to decide. Everyone I met so far supports the Stormcloaks so it will be interesting to see another side.

AdamPFarnsworth wrote on 07/20/2012 at 04:44pm

IF YOU CALL YOURSELF A NORD THERE IS NO OTHER SIDE!!!!!!11111111111

AdamPFarnsworth wrote on 07/20/2012 at 04:44pm

What race did you pick?

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 07/20/2012 at 04:59pm

Breton

AdamPFarnsworth wrote on 07/20/2012 at 05:53pm

Cool.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 07/20/2012 at 06:30pm

Fun so far. I started as an Argonian once and people seemed pretty prejudiced to me. Figured Breton would be neutral?

Travis Admin wrote on 07/21/2012 at 01:09pm

They kinda are if you're argonian. Even more if you're Khajit. Most nords (who are the most plentiful race in Skyrim) hate you if you're any kind of elf, especially dark elf.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 07/21/2012 at 04:42pm

Ah. Bigotry in Skyrim! What character did you roll?

Travis Admin wrote on 07/22/2012 at 03:39am

Which time? :)

I did an Imperial first (got called "milk drinker" a lot... not sure why that's an insult). Second time I rolled argonian, and I love it. I'm thinking of being a kitty next.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 07/22/2012 at 04:27am

Fun. Milk drinker? Maybe because they are cow herders?

AdamPFarnsworth wrote on 07/22/2012 at 07:25pm

I think Milk Drinker is referring to you still needing to suckle from your mother. I'm a Redguard and get mostly indifference from people.

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When in Doubt, Shift

When in Doubt, Shift

My game play habits have shifted from PC to console back to PC again for my entire life. When I was a wee lad my parents bought us a Commodore 64 then a few Christmases later, our first Nintendo. 4-5 years ago after primarally playing PC games for years I picked up a Wii. A year or so later I nabbed a PS3 and I was primarally a console player up till recently. Fast forward to now and I am shifting back to the PC starting with the release of Lord of the Rings Online Free to Play and then Diablo 3 and now the amazing Steam sale.

Ive shifted to now 90% of my gaming happens the PC and I only go to the consoles occasionally or for BluRay or Netflix. Recently I pre-ordered Borderlands 2 on PS3 and it may well be one of the last full games I play on it. I did that because it seemed most of my friends would own it on that system, but it was a hard choice to make. The PC was so tempting! I like my consoles, but it seems that the PC offers me more right now.

Games load much faster. Games are cheaper(Steam sale, what what?). You can mod them. The graphics are much better. FPS's on the PC are more fun. I can easily chat with my friends while we play or skype. And its just plain fun. Yeah, switching back to PC is a ton of fun. Which is why I play games in the first place.

That all said, I might switch back to consoles when they can up the ante a bit but for now I am happy to switch back to the PC. I know we live in a post PC world and I own an iPhone 4S but the PC is awesome and I love that it is my primary game platform now.

Travis Admin wrote on 07/20/2012 at 03:33am

Same here. I didn't get in on the last generation until late in the cycle. I was pretty much PC only until grabbing a PS1 for the Final Fantasy games, then PC only until I played a friend's copy of Guitar Hero. From then on I had a lot of catching up to do on the PS2 and GameCube and then that spilled into current gen. But now that we are toward the end of this console cycle, I find that my very modest PC plays all the games I care about, often better, and almost always prettier. It is quite amazing that medium quality Skyrim is slightly better than console Skyrim (short of some pop-in).

This will probably be where I stay until the first or second price drop of the next console generation. The only caveat is exclusives. As long as Nintendo is in the hardware market, the next Mario or Zelda isnt going to show up on PC.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 07/20/2012 at 02:30pm

From what I have seen of the next gen consoles, the Wii U seems interesting but nothing gnaws at me to get it. Perhaps the PS4 or XBox 3 would but we still don't know what those will be. If they both have BluRay it will be a tough choice but I still prefer to not pay for an Online service.

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 01/24/2014 at 07:38am

Awesome! The first computer I had was a Commodore 128D (backwards compatible with the C64). I played around with that until we got out first PC in '95. Back in those days, I was predominately a handheld gamer (I had a Gameboy and a Sega GameGear) and then a PC Gamer (Doom II, Wolfenstein, and Command & Conquer). I think it wasn't until I went to college that I became more of a console gamer, which I am now. Lately, I've gone back and forth between handheld, PC, and gaming with Pokemon X, Terraria, and Batman: Arkham City Origins (to name the most recent games I've played).

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Video Game Cakes Are Magically Delicious

As I trawl teh intrarwebs I come across many things. Some interesting, some boring and some I don't want to ever think about in my lifetime. One such thing falls in the realm of interesting and "huh?"

A site called Game Ranx collects and lists certain kinds of game related information. One such list is "25 Best Video Game Inspired Desserts."

http://www.gameranx.com/features/id/7555/article/25-best-video-game-inspired-desserts/#p12

The Gears of War cake... kind of scary. The Zelda cake? Awesome. I get older soon, hopefully my friends bring Skyrim or Metroid cupcakes. That or I cut them loose. I think I draw the friendship line with themed desserts.

Portal 2: Jumpsuit

As I figure out how to capture video to show everyone my Terraria world, he is a video of a real life Portal 2 jumpsuit! I am going to try to convince my wife this should be her Halloween costume.

Hmmmmm, I wonder what odds Vegas would give me on that happening? Longshot or 2 to 1?

Recently BioWare released Mass Effect 3 Extended cut and to

Recently BioWare released Mass Effect 3 Extended cut and to celebrate released the soundtrack for free. I haven't played any of the Mass Effect's but I dig video game soundtracks so I picked it up. Its superb music and if you like that sort of thing I recommend you get it.

http://social.bioware.com/me3ecsoundtrack.php

Terraria: A Shocking Amount of Awesome For Such a Low Price

Recently picked up a few games from this years steam sale. The Bethesda pack, Left 4 Dead, Left 4 Dead 2 and Terraria. I started Terraria because it was a smaller download than Skyrim or Left for Dead and haven't stopping playing it! Its only $5 during the summer sale and I heartily recommend you get it.

I started out having no idea what I was doing and watched a tutorial video saying I should build a house to survive the night. I did that and survived. Then I built my house underground. Then I created a huge mine. The I started chopping down trees and planting more. Then I realized I could build a stone house/castle in the sky (picture above). Then I wanted to see how deep I could mine. Then I realized the hours had melted away and I needed to stop.

If you grab the game checkout the wiki:

http://wiki.terrariaonline.com/Terraria_Wiki

And then read and watch these videos on starting:

http://wiki.terrariaonline.com/Guide:Getting_started

I haven't built a house for the NPCs because right now I dont care about that, that said at some point I imagine I will. Died a few times, apparently you can't fall absurdly high from your sky castle. Found sand, clay and a bunch of other sort of rare-ish materials. Still trying to figure out what else I can build.

Such a rad game for $5 that said I need to pace myself or bye bye time and subsequently my life.

Valve recently dropped the source film maker on folks and I

Valve recently dropped the source film maker on folks and I have been trolling teh intarnet swarm-fest for interesting videos created with it. The above video isn't Source Film Maker creation, but its an awesome mashup of Team Fortress 2 and The Dictator.

That said here are a couple videos I found interesting or amusing:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kXEnIfSrnFo [ Batman? ]
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=1YrrAroK6bI [ Save as .dmx ]
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xIZQpwCOCaQ&feature=player_embedded [ Shit just got Real ]

I just pre-ordered Borderlands 2 for the PS3 at Gamestop

I just pre-ordered Borderlands 2 for the PS3 at Gamestop with all extra goodies. Radtastic.

This past week was San Diego Comic Con and in typical fashion 2k was around to demo Borderlands 2.

A few morsels:

"It was really the Commando that did it for me, though the Assassin's pretty fantastic as well (more on him momentarily). But the Commando, with his wonderfully helpful turrets and outlandishly explosive upgrades, really won me over."

Go on....

"Having only messed with Roland a bit in the first game, I'll just say that while his turret stuff was neat, Axton (the Commando) is a whole other deal entirely. We were shown characters at levels 25 and 35, so we got to go pretty deep into one of the individual skill trees for each character. For the Commando, it's all about how you build out your turrets. You'll of course start out with minor upgrades like ammo counts and cool down periods, but as you start going further in, you'll be able to do all sorts of wacky stuff. You can add grenade launchers, rocket blasters, and even stack a second turret on top of your main one, with all upgrades included. There's even an option to make your turret stick to any surface, including walls and ceilings. When you're trying to avoid getting swarmed by rabid creatures, this can come in handy."

Awesome. All the classes in Borderlands 2 seem solid to me. Interested in the Ninja, Commando and I believe I will start as the Gunzerker for my first character.

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http://www.giantbomb.com/news/borderlands-2-on-skill-trees-psychotic-children-and-the-joys-of-being-a-ninja/4270/

A funny video about video games from the bad guys

A funny video about video games from the bad guys perspective making the rounds on the intarwebs.

I am unsure what to make of Epics forthcoming game Fortnite

I am unsure what to make of Epics forthcoming game Fortnite because I haven't seen any game play and in depth description of it. That said, Epic's Cliff Bleszinksi said something at Comic Con today that made me think about gaming and how things move:

"We're here and we're announcing that this is a PC-designed game, it's shipping exclusively for the PC," he told a crowd of attendees."

"Next-gen's here. It's been here. It's a high-end PC," Bleszinski said. He added that the dudebro-free Fortnite didn't "make sense" for Unreal Engine 3, and cheered PCs as being part of Epic's "heritage.""

Epic has been a primarally console based developer for the last few years and in the case of Gears, XBox only. Its cool to hear them make a choice about the PC as a first class citizen. I wonder how many other developers will push PC ahead of consoles now that the consoles lag so far behind in terms of graphics?

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http://fortnitegame.com/
http://www.joystiq.com/2012/07/12/fortnite-is-epics-first-unreal-engine-4-game-heading-exclusive/
http://www.pcgamer.com/2012/07/12/fortnite-will-be-a-pc-exclusive-and-epics-first-unreal-engine-4-game/ (fortnight screens)

jdodson1

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