Category: Gaming

Little Big Planet – LIVE today!

I received my copy of Little Big Planet a few days ago, even though it was not currently online – it is as of today! I’ve been exploring the basic world and I just have to say, it’s amazing. There’s SO many components to this game and it’s got a little bit for every one. I’ve been playing in a duo team, which has its ups and downs but over all is so much fun. The only down side to being in a team is that some times one person is a little faster or ‘better’ then another, and that may end up being frustrating for those who don’t feel that they’re up to speed. 

The co-op is fantastic, and being able to accomplish some goals specifically because you’re in a team is well implemented. I’ve finished off the garden zones, and headed to the Savannah to work on the next areas. There’s so many hidden things everywhere, you’ll be doing zones over and over again and never get bored. 

Ok so I sort of jumped into that post a little bit excited and didn’t actually explain the game, let me back track. Basically, you get a character called a sackboy (or sackgirl) and you get to adventure through zones that are a part of the game — or — adventure through other people’s worlds that they’ve created. You collect items, stickers, building materials, costumes, a huge number of things. You can also create your own zones. The creation process is lengthy and amazing, with an infinite amount of choices that you can use. There’s also a tutorial to learn each bit, everything from creating a background, adjusting music and placing it, placing the camera views, placing items, changing items a billion ways – it’s actually exhausting. 

Of course, as I type this the online servers have been taken down – figures. 

Anyhow. If you own a PS3 and don’t own this game, what are you waiting for? I am so excited about playing in other people’s creations, and creating a few levels of my own!

Let the sticker collecting begin!

Kylong Plains, Raids, and Rambles

Yesterday evening I headed out to Kylong Plains to level up the defiler a little bit more. I admit now, I didn’t play nearly as much as I had intended, but how could I with Little Big Planet sitting on the stool next to the couch. The game is not on live servers yet so there’s no on line aspects, but I spent hours and hours (and hours) playing yesterday. I absolutely love this game, everything from creating my sackgirl and designing her outfit (currently she’s sporting some bunny ears and a lions tail with an Elizabethan dress) to the part where I was placing a donkey tail on a donkey in order to make it move during a race and accidentally discovered that I could stick the objects to myself. I spent the remainder of the level bouncing through the air with a giant tail stuck to the side of my sackgirls head as it swung around lazily. I went through the tutorials on how to design levels, and simply drooled. This. Game. Rocks. If you own a ps3 add me so we can play together!

Anyhow, back to EQ2. I headed to Kylong Plains with my defiler and illusionist, looking for trouble. Well, more specifically looking for three named that I could ‘tag’ for my quest. Of course in true form the defiler who was autofollowing the illusionist got stuck behind a huge pile of rocks, ended up losing invisibility and then gained the attention of some skeletons, dropping off of autofollow when the illusionist ran out of range. Woopsie. I guess I need to pay more attention to the box to make sure she’s keeping up. 

I’ve still been dragging my heels about the crafting too. I should have enough to gain a level or two on each character who’s standing at the ‘level 50’ mark, and then I have one standing at level 40. Nostalgia could really use some status gains, so one of these days I need to just suck it up and get it done. Not to mention two of my level 80 crafters still haven’t completed their epics.

Speaking of epics, I was invited to join a ‘semi hardcore’ raid guild (I say semi because they raid 6 days a week but required attendance is slightly lower) with my coercer. I am unsure yet as to what I’ll decide. On one hand it would be great to get into a raid guild now, just before the expansion is released and be able to get geared up as well as complete my mythical. On the other hand I also have a lot of stuff on the go right now and I’m not sure how well I’d end up balancing all of it. The guild also raids starting at 9pm EST which was my main reason for not joining in the past. Their raids don’t exactly run late (typically no later then 12-12:30) but I’m up at 5-6am every day and there’s always the small ‘cool down’ period I enjoy after a raid before jumping right into bed. 

It’s something to think about. 

As a final note, as of this point I’ve managed to raise $160 towards my $200 goal for The Office of Letters and Light, in two days. Again thank you to all who donated, that’s fantastic motivation for me for the month of November. I’m really hoping I can raise the final $40 before November NaNoWriMo starts, but if not I’m proud just knowing what wonderfully supportive people I have around me.

Thank You – and Little Big Planet Pre-Order is IN!

 I didn’t game yesterday, being busy with other things, but I did want to send a quick thank you to Calreth and Kasul for sponsoring me in the NaNoWriMo event that I’m taking part in. You can find all the details as well as up to date posts about this event here. Thank you for sponsoring me, the extra motivation to finish the 50,000 words by the 30th of November is great. I’ve raised 80% of my goal so far, which is actually more then I thought I’d do, so that’s wonderful! There’s still time to sponsor me, so go check it out if you’re interested.

On the gaming front – EBGames called me last night to tell me Little Big Planet is READY to be picked up! I have no idea if the game is actually live yet, you may recall that it was supposed to release last week on the 21st but was postponed due to some offensive religious lyrics in a song. Apparently these were patched out of the game and things are ready to go. Or at least I get to stare at a pretty box for a few days until it goes live. The store doesn’t open for another 3.5 hours, so I’ve got some time to waste until then.

** Edit ** Another huge thank you to Jason (Odius) for his huge contribution! Now the pressure is really on for me to finish this by the end of November *grins* Also thank you to Heather, and David who donated. As of right now I’m 80% through my goal! WOOT!

Nostalgia Meets Again – BoT

Last night Nostalgia met again, as they have been since last April. Hard to believe so much time has gone by. I had not been going for the past little while, caught up in other things – but decided it was time to rejoin the gang. We had a full group last night, and we’re still hoping maybe a second will start up. It’s not too late, though I completely understand how people don’t want to be starting from scratch or leveling alone. We had a mercenary tank who did exceptionally well – despite breaking mez a few times. A real tank would of course be better, but we’re just so very happy that the adventures are not at a stand still when we can’t fill the group. As Tipa said “It’s hard to explain just how much the mercenaries of the Seeds of Destruction have changed EverQuest. It’s like a whole new game, now.”

Qutey is now sitting at level 62, and part way into it. The experience was not amazing, but none of us expected it to be, BoT is not a hot zone any longer. We got a few drops (and a few drops over and over) as well as some vendor fodder and a few gems that can be cut. 

We all gathered in the voice chat in game, our resident bardling was having some issues with his computer unfortunately so we switched over to vent. It was nice to hear everyone again. We didn’t even have any deaths last night, go-go team awesome! Not to mention I had an absolutely wonderful time. Every time I play, it reminds me why I love the game, why I love the people I’m with. 

I’m thinking of leveling up a bard, just for fun. We’ll see how it goes.

Today I’m headed out for Pho with my brother (it’s the most awesome Vietnamese soup evah) and then after that I’ll be headed into the city (contraire to popular beliefs I don’t actually live IN the city of Ottawa, I sort of live on the outskirts) to watch Feist in concert at the NAC (National Arts Center). I’ve mentioned this a few times now, I know. I can’t help it I’m VERY excited. Concerts give off an aura and feeling as you watch, surrounded by everyone else. It’s just amazing. Plus – I have 3rd row center seats. 

WOOT

Crafting Woes

Screen shot is taken of Silhouette’s desk in her 1 room home. I didn’t play that much yesterday, but I did get a little crafting done. Very little. Goudia, my alchemist, managed to hit level 50. Which means I now have two characters who are in those ‘hell’ levels. The levels I hate crafting through more then anything else for only one reason. The harvesting.

There’s no great place to harvest T6. Your options are sinking sands or pillars of flame where the nodes like to hide or are already being camped by other players. Aside from that you have Lesser Faydark where I’d be hard pressed to find static spawns most of the time. Someone had given me a suggestion for rock nodes, but it’s really roots and pelts that I need most of. 

Speaking of expensive crafting – Najena has a very low population of low level characters, and that means less harvesters. Most people would rather just buy their supplies with their mains – T2 (level 10-19) raws (not rares, just regular harvests) are going for over 2g each right now. Of course I’m sure it’s directly related to the fact that the Halloween goodies out there use these materials to craft them and hopefully the price will drop over time. 

I don’t mind the crafting grind except for the 50-59 stage. Now that I have two crafters sitting there and potentially a third if I get my armorer a few levels, I’m going to have to just suck it up and either spend the money to get the 10 levels, or go out harvesting for a good long time. Days like this make me wish Nostalgia was level 50 so we could have purchased the harvesting bots. Those things are simply amazing, especially if you have the harvesting depot to go along with it. 

Ah well, we’ll get there in time!