Aside from my daily writing, I haven't done any work whatsoever ever since my sister came back from graduating. She's back in Southern California now, but for the past 3 weeks I've been mostly playing League of Legends, Playstation 3, and such with her and my friends online. My Birthday hangout this year went alright. I was able to get 3 friends together and play the downloadable games on my Playstation 3 and then gather 2 more friends online to play Left 4 Dead 2 and Counter-Strike: Source. I also had my first Birthday Cake Shot which is half Hazelnut Liqueur and half Vodka (tasted pretty good).
This weekend, a friend gave me a beta key to Hi-Rez Studio's new Action MOBA "SMITE" which is essentially DotA in a 3rd-Person Perspective played like an Action Game.
Source: Youtube Channel smitegame
It's a fun game. It feels pretty balanced, though lacking in content because it's currently limited to 5 characters in the beginning out of the 18 available.
Although I've been playing a lot of League of Legends, I still have a love/hate relationship with it. The fun part of the game comes from the contingency, spontaneous moments, and team work that's required to win. The problem is that playing alongside with random pubs (public members of the game) can be some of the worst experience you'll have to face when things go wrong. Much like the people on the internet, League of Legends is filled with trolls, immaturity, elitist, whiners, ragers, and everything in-between. There are too many instances where players feel above all others and are obligated to treat everyone like trash. It doesn't matter how good of a player you are if you can't even stick with the team and work with them. The most fun I've had with League of Legends are with and against friends where everyone knows each other and can have good clean fun without someone throwing a fit and spamming the chat box. It's because of the random pubs I've had to deal with that I've been staying away from LoL more often nowadays.
I've started Vanquish on PS3 (finally) even though I haven't finished Ninja Gaiden Sigma or Devil May Cry 4 (which I had planned on finishing before starting another Action game). Vanquish is what I expected it to be, though it's a bit more challenging than I had anticipated. I also got Dragon's Dogma for PS3 in the mail 4 days ago and tried a bit of it. I really like the combat mechanics and the pawn system is pretty interesting too. I have to admit from a lot of the critic reviews that the pawns are a little too chatty though. It's fine during combat since they actually give out cues and some helpful information, but they talk unnecessarily a lot during exploration and in town. My sister got Theatrhythm Final Fantasy for the 3DS and I played a few songs on it. It's an obvious lure to long time Final Fantasy fans who've played the games since the first one on the NES; however, I still found the game to be quite engaging and entertaining.
Two games had announcements that caught my attention. Guild Wars 2 is finally nearing its launch on August 28th and I'm especially excited to play it since I haven't had a chance to try it out. Just today, Phantasy Star Online 2 was announced for a Western release! So now have two games to look forward to playing!
Steam Summer Sales have been the hot topic on the internet for PC players the past month, and it still hasn't happened yet. The wait is seriously driving me nuts as I've been waiting for the past 3 weeks thinking it's going to happen to no avail. I'm hoping that it's next week, but I've been saying that for the past month. I can only hope.
I don't think I mentioned it in last month's post, or maybe I haven't found it yet, but I ran into a new animé series I've never heard of before and instantly fell in love with it.
Acchi Kocchi is a Slice-of-life, Romantic Comedy with a lot of artistic choices that's similar to Kyoto Animation and their work (but it's not them). The girl (Tsumiki) likes Io, but is always too shy to admit it. Io, who's oblivious to Tsumiki's feelings for him, supposedly likes her too but doesn't show it too prominently enough for her to know for certain. This creates the premise of the story where each day their friends try to do extreme things to get the two together. It's very much part of today's moé style animé and probably interest a very specific audience. I haven't been very good with keeping up with Animé in the past 4 years ever since I've graduated, but Acchi Kocchi definitely makes me want to get back into it.
Aside from all the play I've been doing, I'm hoping to get back on track and work on music, art, exercising, writing, job hunting and game making. But if Steam Summer Sales really is next week, I might be playing a bit longer...
Tuesday, July 10, 2012
Monday, June 18, 2012
Welcome back summer
Summer doesn't officially start until 2 days later, but with all the kiddies out of school and my friends graduating, it pretty much feels like summer has begun. I'd love to kick back and relax like I usually do for Summer and be reminded of all the great memories I've had in the past Summers, but I think I have to work equally hard to get anywhere this year.
What a weekend I just had...Word of advice: never eat junk food all in one day. Just this past Friday, I set course to Los Angeles to watch the graduation ceremony for my sister (I'm so proud of her). On Friday, I ate a dog in a blanket (a hotdog covered all the way around), a Cheeseburger and fries from Wendy's, something called a hearty bowl from Jack in the Box on the way down to L.A. and by dinner, I wanted to get a salad at BJ's brewhouse but was tempted to get a chili-cheese hamburger. That night, I felt throbbing pain from my stomach and tried my best to ignore and hoped that I would feel better by morning. The next day, I still felt sick and ended up throwing up in the bathroom during my sister's reception. I felt conscious enough to watch my sister's graduation ceremony and take lots of pictures for her afterwards. So throughout the rest of the trip, I felt sick, broken and tired. I got the chance to meet up with friends from Irvine which I was really happy about. When we finally departed to return home last night, it took us nearly 8 hours to get back when it generally takes 6 hours. I still feel tired and somewhat in pain right now...
I've been getting really lazy, which I believe I mentioned before. I haven't gotten new instructions for sound effects yet so I'm just waiting. For the other project I was supposed to do music for, I think I've come to the decision to not continue it. It's not really helping that much more than what I was doing before and I think I should really take the time this summer and gather my stuff to create a portfolio (finally). I really need to start advertising to the industry and show that I could be very valuable to a serious gaming project. I also want to push forward on the things I want to focus on (and have always wanted to work on since jr. high/high school) and start creating those games and producing those videogame music remixes.
Besides Diablo 3 and League of Legends, I don't really feel like I've played much anything else. I've been playing "From the Abyss" on the DS and I'm finding it quite entertaining, even if it's a bit lacking in content and dynamics. I guess I'm still working on my backlog of games, with one of the main focus on PC being FarCry 1. The game was really fun in the beginning, but it got to a point really early in the story where everything kills you in one hit or quickly which results in having to start over from the last check point (no creating save points). It's become really frustrating and very much a study game as I find out some of the poor design choices that were implemented into the game. I'm surprised at how highly regarded this game is/was seeing how I'm having very little fun from it anymore. I heard FarCry 2 is significantly better and I can wait to complete 1 so I can move onto 2. This summer seems kind of boring in terms of new releases of games; however, I think I'll be saved by an upcoming Steam Summer Sales. I know there's a ton of games I haven't played yet and I think it's going to grow a bit more after the Summer sale ends. I can't believe that Cherry Tree High Comedy Club isn't out on Steam yet. That was one game I was highly anticipating to release on Steam so I can get it during the Summer Steam Sales, but there still hasn't been any word on when it will come out. I know I'm going to spend quite a bit on this year's sales. There's a lot of games I'm looking forward to getting that I didn't before because of it's higher retail price and because of my backlog. I haven't really lightened the load on my backlog all that much, but I feel ready to get more games nonetheless. One of the games I'm hoping to get a good deal on is Fortune Summoners:
This video was recorded and uploaded by a friend. It has a sort of Castlevania-ish feeling to it and is one of the reasons why I'm so interested in it. I've finally delved quite deep back into RPGs now, but I've still been getting and playing a LOT of FPS. It's like I can't get away from shooters (the industry feels the same). So I think a change in pace with games like Fortune Summoners can help me take a break from the sheer amount of FPS and RPGs I've been playing.
To be honest, I'm a little scared about this summer. I really want to work hard and finally get my foot into the game industry by the end of this year, but I also want to be able to enjoy my Summer like I usually do. I should never focus entirely on work. I've done that too many times in my life and ended with regret. I need to find that balance between productivity and play to survive this summer and year.
What a weekend I just had...Word of advice: never eat junk food all in one day. Just this past Friday, I set course to Los Angeles to watch the graduation ceremony for my sister (I'm so proud of her). On Friday, I ate a dog in a blanket (a hotdog covered all the way around), a Cheeseburger and fries from Wendy's, something called a hearty bowl from Jack in the Box on the way down to L.A. and by dinner, I wanted to get a salad at BJ's brewhouse but was tempted to get a chili-cheese hamburger. That night, I felt throbbing pain from my stomach and tried my best to ignore and hoped that I would feel better by morning. The next day, I still felt sick and ended up throwing up in the bathroom during my sister's reception. I felt conscious enough to watch my sister's graduation ceremony and take lots of pictures for her afterwards. So throughout the rest of the trip, I felt sick, broken and tired. I got the chance to meet up with friends from Irvine which I was really happy about. When we finally departed to return home last night, it took us nearly 8 hours to get back when it generally takes 6 hours. I still feel tired and somewhat in pain right now...
I've been getting really lazy, which I believe I mentioned before. I haven't gotten new instructions for sound effects yet so I'm just waiting. For the other project I was supposed to do music for, I think I've come to the decision to not continue it. It's not really helping that much more than what I was doing before and I think I should really take the time this summer and gather my stuff to create a portfolio (finally). I really need to start advertising to the industry and show that I could be very valuable to a serious gaming project. I also want to push forward on the things I want to focus on (and have always wanted to work on since jr. high/high school) and start creating those games and producing those videogame music remixes.
Besides Diablo 3 and League of Legends, I don't really feel like I've played much anything else. I've been playing "From the Abyss" on the DS and I'm finding it quite entertaining, even if it's a bit lacking in content and dynamics. I guess I'm still working on my backlog of games, with one of the main focus on PC being FarCry 1. The game was really fun in the beginning, but it got to a point really early in the story where everything kills you in one hit or quickly which results in having to start over from the last check point (no creating save points). It's become really frustrating and very much a study game as I find out some of the poor design choices that were implemented into the game. I'm surprised at how highly regarded this game is/was seeing how I'm having very little fun from it anymore. I heard FarCry 2 is significantly better and I can wait to complete 1 so I can move onto 2. This summer seems kind of boring in terms of new releases of games; however, I think I'll be saved by an upcoming Steam Summer Sales. I know there's a ton of games I haven't played yet and I think it's going to grow a bit more after the Summer sale ends. I can't believe that Cherry Tree High Comedy Club isn't out on Steam yet. That was one game I was highly anticipating to release on Steam so I can get it during the Summer Steam Sales, but there still hasn't been any word on when it will come out. I know I'm going to spend quite a bit on this year's sales. There's a lot of games I'm looking forward to getting that I didn't before because of it's higher retail price and because of my backlog. I haven't really lightened the load on my backlog all that much, but I feel ready to get more games nonetheless. One of the games I'm hoping to get a good deal on is Fortune Summoners:
This video was recorded and uploaded by a friend. It has a sort of Castlevania-ish feeling to it and is one of the reasons why I'm so interested in it. I've finally delved quite deep back into RPGs now, but I've still been getting and playing a LOT of FPS. It's like I can't get away from shooters (the industry feels the same). So I think a change in pace with games like Fortune Summoners can help me take a break from the sheer amount of FPS and RPGs I've been playing.
To be honest, I'm a little scared about this summer. I really want to work hard and finally get my foot into the game industry by the end of this year, but I also want to be able to enjoy my Summer like I usually do. I should never focus entirely on work. I've done that too many times in my life and ended with regret. I need to find that balance between productivity and play to survive this summer and year.
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