Dragon Age: Round Two

After taking a little bit of a break to explore Vana’deil my Dragon Age addiction came back. I really enjoyed my first play through as a Human Noble rogue so this time I decided to try my hand at the warrior class.

I have always liked the idea of creating a 2-handed Dwarf fighter, so I did. This time I want to explore the darker side of the game so I made my main party out of Morrigan, Sten and Zevan (dropping Sten when I am forced to add another character for story reasons). This group worked well together, having all the basic classes and some lively banter between them. Also they didn’t seem to mind when I intimidated the Head Mother of the Chantry for some holy symbols or just push a few people around to get what we need.

My team just made it to the Landsmeet and I discovered one problems with this team, loyalty. I guess I was not paying my assassin enough attention so when the Crows showed up he decided to try to get back in their ranks by finishing me off! He was unsuccessful I have yet to decide who will be the next member of my group but I think it might be my faithful hound. Akhran.

So far I like the unique feeling of playing the shady side of the game. I do force myself to take all the darker outcomes even if it is against my nature.  The ability to set the mood of the game many ways really helps the replay value.  trophies on the PS3 are another nice motivator, so far I have 77% of them.  One more trek through the game with a Mage and I will hopefully get my platinum.

One Month of Final Fantasy XI!

Time flies and I have already have spent one month emerged into the world of Vana`diel.  I have really enjoyed my time exploring this rich environment and taking in all the game has to offer in low-level content.  I do admit that I have not logged in much in the last week because my Dragon Age addiction has once again raised its ugly head (71% to plat!).

I have really enjoyed my time in Final Fantasy XI, one of the main reasons for that is the people.  I got to join a great LinkShell in TakeChunks, my shell mates have been very helpful in answering all my questions and helping me when I need to carry out a goal or get some items for a quest.  I have also found that every pick up group I have joined in the Valkurm Dunes has been very helpful in offering tips and information about FFXI.

According to X-fire I have spent about 35 hours in-game over the last month and managed to get my Red Mage job to 18 and Warrior up to 16.  The pace of getting levels seems about right in this game, it does not happen to fast so you cannot get accustom to your new abilities and its quick enough to feel not like a hopeless grind.  I soloed most of my time until I reached level 12-13 then spent my time in the dunes and found it a good way to do things.  After talking to people in-game the story really develops a lot more after you reach the level 30 and can unlock some of the elite jobs (Dragoon!).

Overall I am very pleased with the Final Fantasy XI game and community.   The game has been out for about 8 years and has a lot of polish.  They have made lots of patches and bug fixes to keep the game flowing smoothly.  The only downside I can see so far is the limited amount of items in the auction house which makes is a little difficult acquiring certain items at times.  Besides that I have no complaints and look forward to playing this game for at least the next few months waiting for Final Fantasy XIV to be released.

So many games… so little time…

As the month of February starts and more good games hit the shelves I continue to fall hopelessly behind on my wish list.  There are so many great games coming out that I just cannot keep up to them all.  It does not help that I really enjoy RPG’s that I have to sink about 60+ hours into every play through.  My other gaming vice is playing MMO’s, you know the games that NEVER end!

As of today the list of games I want to play or am currently playing include:

Dragon Age: Origins (67% towards my Platinum!)

Final Fantasy XI (Currently playing)

Uncharted 2

Final Fantasy XIV

White Knight Chronicles

Assassins Creed I+II

Transformers: War for Cybertron

Final Fantasy XIII

God of War III

Ok, I know I forgetting some but with a full-time job and a baby on the way I will be lucky enough to try the demos for each of these great titles.  I am starting to think that 2010 might be a really busy year for me!

Raycroft to the rescue!

I watched the last period of the Vancouver Canucks versus Toronto Maple Leafs game and have to say I am very glad the Canucks decided to resign the Sedin twins.  I think the best story of the game though has to be Andrew Raycroft coming back to Toronto and getting the win.  This is the team that bought him out 2 years ago (and are still paying him).  He prevented the Leafs from increasing their three goal lead and got rewarded with a come from behind 5-3 win.  On a side note it’s nice to see the former Frontenac in the spot light from time to time.  My home town hockey team seems to have more hard times then good recently, but heres hoping it turns around soon.

The people you meet….

It’s amazing who you happen to run in to just messing around trying to find a group in the Dunes.  I got invited to join a Dunes group by a character named Zilzo a few days back.  While taking a break in the action I asked if anyone was looking forward to Final Fantasy XIV and most of them were.  In Zilzo’s cast he has gathered tons of information to created the website FFXIVbase.com.  It looks like a great community site with lots of articles, information and forums for discussions.  If you are looking forward to Final Fantasy XIV I think you should check it out.

I want to be Canada’s Worst Driver!

Well not really.  The Discovery Channel has shown Canada’s Worst Driver for 5 seasons now and I love the show.  I started watching it at the start of season 4 and was amazed at the courses the drivers got put through.  They selected a great host in Andrew Younghusband and pick drivers that have interesting and unique personalities.  The reason I want to be Canada’s worst driver is to try my hand at doing the courses.  I am a good drive (so would never qualify for the show) and think the mazes and trials the drivers get put through would even test my limits, but I would love to try!!  Take a look at the show for yourself at The Discovery Channel and tell me what you think.

Final Fantasy on your iPhone!!

I heard some great news while watching IGN.com’s Daily Fix Video Podcast, Final Fantasy is coming to your iPhone (or in my case iTouch).  As a Square addict this is great news because Final Fantasy is one of my favorite games of all time.  From what I have read Square Enix will be releasing both Final Fantasy I and II for the iPhone in the future but no release date has been announced.  There is not a lot of information out yet but keep an eye on these sites for updates:

Square Enix DLG

Square Enix DLG Facebook page

FFXIV Podcast: Aetheryte Radio

I just listened to the new Aetheryte Radio: Beta and more! podcast (the official podcast of Eorzeapedia). The hosts pack the episodes full of interesting and entertaining discussions.  The topics range from the latest news to what they think Square Enix should do to improve the game over FFXI.  It’s a great podcast, and if your looking forward to FFXIV like I am you give it a listen.

Dunes Party, Final Fantasy XI Style

On Wednesday night I sat down for an extended gaming session (about 5 hours).  My goal for the evening was to level Gutvik up as high as I could soloing in La Theine Plateau or if I got lucky get a group invite to hunt in the Valkurm Dunes.

The first thing I did after logging on was to update most of my equipment to take on the new areas I planed to explore.  Being limited in the cash department I price shopped for my armor and turned in some conquest points for a nice pair of boots.  Thinking ahead I also picked up my Red Mage spells for level 12 (Aquaveil) and 13 (Slow) hoping to achieve at least that amount of success while wandering around the Plateau.

I traveled to the La Theine Plateau and started doing the solo kill quests  (I forget the name of the book that you get them from).  Over the next 2 hours I explored and hunting all over the beautiful Plateau.  It was a fun experience in which I managed to hit level 13 and complete 3 quests.

Just as I was finishing off the third quest in La Theine Plateau I got a tell wondering if I wanted to join a party in the Valkurm Dunes.  Needless to say I accepted and headed off to join them.  I advised them that I had never been to the Dunes and they were cool with that and had an escort waiting to lead me to where the group was hunting.  Little did I know my low level was what this group was looking for so they could sync down to it and generate good experience for everyone.  Over the next 2 hours we fought enemy after enemy while having a great time just chatting.  For my first group in-game I would like to thank Sin, Lindwurm, Inoue, Muzy and Auenkiss for a great evening of xp grinding.  When we decided to call it quits I had just hit level 15 and the time was getting close to 4am

Overall I had a great night both soloing and partying!  There were many discussions like is it Pop or Soda, what comedy should a Linkshell mate watch and lots of other off the wall topics.  I am starting to think instead of trying all those other MMO’s in the past few years I should have tried this one again a lot sooner.

One Week of FFXI

I have logged about 12 hours now in Final Fantasy XI and am really enjoying it.  Most of my time has been playing solo, hunting in West Ronfaure with a minor excursion into La Theine Plateau (where some rabbits easily killed me).

So far I really like the game, it’s a nice change of pace from all the crazy button mashing MMO`s.  This one plays more like a turn based RPG where you select an option from an action menu.  I am currently playing a Red Mage and just hit level 10.  I enjoy the versility of the this class, I have to ability to heal, cast damage spells and use bladed weapons!

The ability to change your jobs is a huge advantage in my mind for this game.  It offers you the chance to try classes without having to delete your character if you don`t like them, instead you just head to your Mog House and switch to another job.  I also like the auction house set up in FFXI.  There are 2 key reasons:

1. I like are the fact it shows all the items that can be purchased even if no one is currently selling it, and

2. You can check what the item has been previously sold for.  You can see the past 10 sales for the item which is great for new players to make sure you don`t over pay or put items up for a lot less than they are worth.

Since this MMO can be played on a console (I am playing it on my PC), I went out and bought a Gamepad.  I plan to play FFXIV on the PS3 so I decided to see how Square set up FFXI for the Xbox 360 and PS2.  After playing around with the setting for about half an hour I finally had it set the way I though would work best for me and spent about an hour playing and really enjoyed it.  Being able to use the two analog sticks for movement and camera is a very nice.

Overall I am really enjoying my time in Final Fantasy XI and I have just cracked the surface.  I still need to unlock the Sub Job option that lets you partly combine two classes and I hope to open the Dragoon class.  I see myself enjoying this game for the next few months at least.  If you are looking to try a different style MMO that is well polished look Gutvik up on the Asura server.