Free Candy For Everyone

Hello out there on the internets! I have returned to the blog and will hopefully begin updating with a bit more frequency. I had a nice holiday break for about 10 days at the end of ‘07 and had some time to get excited about gaming again. I’m now trying to juggle five different games and spending most of my home time hours playing through the piles.

What am I playing, you ask? I shall tell you!

First up, I’m playing World of Warcraft. What? That’s not news, you say? I know. But I recently got re-invigorated in the game. Late last year Blizzard put out a patch that changed the whole game. Not that WoW was ever a really hardcore MMO, but this patch made everything easy-mode. The made every single part of the game in the 10-60 level range easier. You level faster, the enemies are easier, the dungeons are easier. The loots are better, it’s just a faster, quicker, even more streamlined experience. There are some things I don’t like about it, but that’s for another time. The main thing is that a bunch of folks from work all started new characters on a PvP server and we’ve been playing together a huge amount over the last month. It’s been a long time since I’ve been on a server where every time I logged on there was someone to quest with or run an instance with. It’s refreshing. I’ve leveled a Tauren Shaman up to 34 (almost 35! teehee) so far. We’ll see how far this goes before the PvP rage sets in. Though I’ve learned some lessons and things seem better this time around.

Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 3 is a PS2 Japanese RPG that is just completely strange and completely awesome. Now, for those 1 or 2 people that have been reading my blog from the start, I began this thing back in 2005. At the time, I was playing a strange quirky JRPG called Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne. I mentioned that I was basically at the end. Well, I never did manage to finish that game since I picked up World of Warcraft before completing the final dungeon. I guess it’s fitting that the game that has pulled me back into console RPG gaming in earnest is another in that series. The series is a “series” in the way that Final Fantasy is - there are spells with the same names, there are demon/persona things with the same names. There are a few things that carry over, but the worlds are different, they aren’t really games that follow each other. The game is definitely not for kids, as you summon your inner “persona”, a spirit-demon-thing, to fight your enemies. And you evoke it by apparently shooting yourself in the head. There’s some adult language as well, but nothing too inappropriate. When you’re character isn’t killing evil Shadows, he’s managing his busy social life. In high school. It’s awesome.

I’ve been playing Rock Band since the day it came out. The drums are awesome. The guitar is super fun (myriad controller problems aside), and I’m still not done with it after weeks of the silliness of it. I really liked Guitar Hero (just search my site for all my talk about it, here, I’ll help you out), but I got tired of the game after a few weeks. But I’m still loving the drums on Rock Band, playing solo. I love playing the game with friends, it’s just a blast. And I’m a complete sucker for the downloadable content. I’m sad to say, I am now one of these people.

I also was the happy recipient of a Nintendo DS (and yes, that one, super-cute and pink with a paw)! I’ve been playing Orcs & Elves, a very cool old school dungeon crawler RPG. Turn-based, you move through the tiled dungeon in first person. Simple puzzles and a growing variety of weapons keep you interested while it still remains simple. And then, of course, who could have such a DS without also player Nintendogs? My little dog Schneitzl is very difficult and stubborn. I don’t think I’m a very good trainer. But she’s super cute and I take her for walks. Right now we’re trying to learn to play catch. She gets the part where she catches it, she just doesn’t bring it back. Heh.

Well, that’s all for now. I’m just trying to get enough sleep while doing all this gaming! I have been spending quite a bit of time with all these games. But it is so fun, it’s worth it!