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Showing posts with the label gaming

“Things Every Southern Woman Should Know How to Make”

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Alice clicked on the headline, mildly curious about what yet another stranger thought should be in her kitchen repertoire. Pictures of China plates mounded with crispy fried chicken, greens, cobbler, and a pile of biscuits a mile high flooded the screen, all set off with a pitcher of sweet tea beaded with condensation. The table was set; an apron draped off to the side next to a box labeled “Gramma’s Recipes” in fine calligraphy. She closed the browser and put away her tablet. She was born a Georgia peach, but she couldn’t make a cobbler to save her life. Did that mean she wasn’t southern? Or maybe just not “Southern.” For Alice, there was no recipe box full of family traditions. Her younger years were filled with rental homes in different states and her father’s voice coaxing her toward a text book rather than a cookbook. Metalworking and fabrication held more interest than learning to flambé or sauté. Did it make her less of a woman that her cooking skills consisted of fresh salads...
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Ramblings of a Gamer: Open World Maps

I love the freedom of an open world map. I've spent endless hours traveling across Skyrim, climbing mountains and discovering hidden altars and caves, enjoying the scenery, and meeting other travelers on the road. Of course, there's danger; a dragon could swoop down and roast me, bandits could (attempt to) waylay me, or I could get caught in a magic battle between two random mages. Most of the time, though, I can go about my business, hunt a few bears, and take in the countryside. Sure, there's a story line to follow, but the game doesn't demand it of me, and I can venture into it at any time. FFXV allowed me to roam for the most part, too. I repeatedly left my car behind to enjoy a chocobo ride with the guys, visiting my favorite fishing spots and seeing how far I could get before night fell and the hordes of fiends came out. I spent a lot of time exploring the map, searching out hidden places until I reached the point of no return and was funneled to the ending. ...
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Ramblings of a Gamer: FFXII: Zodiac Age II or I Sometimes Miss Random Battle

Life's been busy, so gaming's been slow, but I managed to get a little time on FFXII: Zodiac Age. I'm currently hanging out on the Phon Coast, woefully unprepared for the flying fiends and in need of better equipment. There are way too many birds for me to not have found Telekinesis. I'm, of course, out of gil from my last shopping spree in which I loaded up on some spells I'd neglected early on, so I decided to go hunting. Unfortunately, hunting means finding the monsters on the map, battling, and then moving on to another map area to locate more monsters until I've made a circle back to my starting point. I kinda need a lot of dough. It's moments like these when I miss random battle systems. Need money or to harvest a drop item? No problem! Just spin around in this spot until the screen does its flashy transition to a battle. Need to fill your pockets with the equivalent of the king's coffers? Go for it. The enemies won't run out here. Od...
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Ramblings of a Gamer: Drakengard

Hey folks! Today I'm hopping into the game time machine! (cue flashy lights and eerie noises) I dove into gaming late. My brother played everything, but nothing really caught my attention until some high school friends of mine shoved Final Fantasy VII into my hands, and then I was hooked. So, for the longest, FF games were my go-to, and from there it was Square and later, Square-Enix. DRAKENGARD was one of the first non-FF games I played. I was drawn to the gorgeous artwork and movie clips and it had dragons! And it was by Square-Enix, so I felt confident that I would love it. And I did love it, but it was so very different from the worlds I was used to. The game was an action-RPG, where I was used to turn-based RPGs, but I caught on quick enough. I honestly loved the weapon wheel and the ability to change weapons on the fly. My favorite weapons were the pole-arms, and that running dash that sent my enemies flying was the best. With the help of free expeditions, my body c...
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Ramblings of a Gamer: Kingdom Hearts III and a Storytelling Fail

**** SPOILER ALERT: IF YOU HAVEN”T PLAYED AND HAVE MANAGED TO AVOID SPOILERS, RUN AWAY NOW! ***** Still here? For real, there’s going to be spoilers because I can’t talk about this without them. Staying? Okay! Here we go! I’ve been a fan of the Kingdom Hearts series since the early days. The thought of Final Fantasy mashed together with my fave Disney characters was just odd enough to make me check it out, and that gorgeous opening sequence with Utada Hikaru’s Simple and Clean absolutely drew me in. The game was beautiful and strange, and it had a compelling story that somehow made these characters from completely different franchises work. I bought a Gameboy Advance to play Chain of Memories, and I eagerly snatched up KH2 when it came out, but after that, I couldn’t keep up. There were too many games on too many platforms, and while I love my gaming collection, I’m not much of a handheld gamer, and I couldn’t justify all these extra purchases ...
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Ramblings of a Casual Gamer: Dragon Age: Inquisition

I haven’t done one of these in a while, mainly because I’ve been playing Skyrim, and there’s not a lot to say about that other than it’s freaking addictive. I’m still largely avoiding the story line and turning bandits into human pincushions. Over the Christmas break I started Dragon Age: Inquisition. I really love this series; the characters are always interesting, the banter hilarious, and the story line intriguing. So, I was extremely excited when they announced Inquisition, and it went straight to my wish list. It’s a beautiful game. The characters and scenery are well-developed, and I love the color. One of my favorite things? Short load times. I love Skyrim, but sometimes it takes forever to load on my PS3. The story’s great, continuing with some of the characters and the effects of Dragon Age 2. I’m missing the personal touches from my choices in the previous games, but my saves were lost in the Great PS3 Meltdown of 2013. (The bemoaning of which can be found in pre...
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2014: Skyrim, Rocksmith, and Words

Hello, all! First off, I hope the new year is going well for everyone. I sort of fell into a blog black hole toward the end of 2013. I’m back now, and I hope to keep a better schedule, but no promises. Last year, I mourned the death of my old PS3 and, thanks to my lack of home internet, the loss of my save data. I bought a new PS3 and piddled around with some games, but I just couldn’t get back in the groove. Well, I’m once again traversing Skyrim with my bow, sneaking up on bandits and shooting down dragons. The nonlinear play of Skyrim and the vast number of missions has kept it from being too repetitive. Not to mention, I now have the Legendary version, complete with all the download expansions. (I’m ridiculously excited to build my own house.) I’m also starting Rocksmith 2014. I’ve always wanted to play guitar. Once I’m done cursing the tuning section, I think it’ll be a fun way to learn. Assassin’s Creed 4 is on my to-do list…after I finish AC3. Not all my free...
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Gamer Remorse: File Backing Isn't Just for Computers

Tragedy struck recently: In the midst of a bout of Skyrim, my 60Gb, backwards compatible Playstation 3 gave up the ghost after six years of faithful service. There was no warning, and it wasn't a simple overheat. No, this was much worse. The Yellow Light of Death. Needless to say, I was distraught. My entire gaming history was saved to my PS3's hard drive, from my first PS1 save to my 166th hour of Skyrim. And to rub salt into the wound, my Skyrim disc was caught in the BluRay drive. And here's my epic fail. It never occurred to me to back up my save files. Not one time. Even after the death of my first Xbox 360, I didn't think about it. The hard drive from my old Xbox slapped right on the new one, and there wasn't anything lost. I could kick myself. Everything I've read says I can't do the old hard drive switch with a PS3 that I could do with the Xbox. Popping it in another PS3 will only format the thing. There's no way to pull ...
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Rambling of a Casual Gamer: Skyrim and Why I Love the Bows

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I’m quite a ways into Skyrim now, and of all the weapons I can choose from, my favorite is the bow. I’m far enough along now that I have a Daedra bow (well, two). My enchanting is crap, but my knock-down power is excellent. The best part is I’m not even done with the Archery perks. I will get stronger! I like the bow versus the other weapons because it’s long range. I pop enemies before they ever get a glimpse of me. And unlike some games, the Skyrim bows are nicely effective. The targeting works well. For most things, lower level arrows are fine, and since iron and steel arrows are easily obtained in battle, ammo is usually free. Nothing makes me happier than taking down a dragon with my bow. Except maybe turning their bones and scales into my armor. Dragonscale armor, oh yeah!   On a practical note, I like the bows best in Skyrim simply because they don’t mess with my line of sight like the melee weapons. I have a staff and a war-axe I carry for close-up situati...
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Rambling of a Casual Gamer: Glitches Make Me Twitch

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My Bosmer, Fayruz. Wood Elf, FTW! I am 115 hours or so into Skyrim. The awesome part about that is, I’ve barely touched the main quest, and I’m not bored. My character has a dresser full of dragon bones and scales, just waiting for the moment I hit level 100 on my smithing. (I’m at 92. Soon, precious dragon armor, soon.) I am Arch Mage and Harbinger. And I’ve only been eaten by a dragon once. While I love all the fantastic dragon-slaying, bandit-smiting, ore-mining goodness of Skyrim, I have just one problem. Glitches. Most of them aren’t a big deal. The lag when I’ve played for a while is annoying, but by then it’s usually time to quit anyway. The inability to start a mission because I already have a mission at the same destination was a bit eye-twitch inducing, but I got around it, and it was fine. After I picked up a staff that was quest-oriented and it wouldn’t let me hand it over until I placed it on a weapon display…okay. But the one that sits like a white el...
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Casual Gamer: Initial Thoughts on Skyrim

I recently started Skyrim. (Yeah, I know, I'm behind. Don't judge!) I'm not too far into it, and I'm still getting used to the controls, but so far, I like it. What's my favorite thing? The crafting. I absolutely love the fact that I can tan the hides from animals I hunt and use the leather to make new armor and weapons. I also love that I can make jewelry at the forge as well.  I like playing with the alchemy table and mixing random things to see what I get. Everything I pick up in the world has a use, from the wild flowers along my path to the simple food items out of barrels and gardens. And nerd that I am, I like the books. Not just the ones that let me learn spells or boost my skills, but the ones that give me hints about the histories of the world, too. I'm carrying too many of them right now while I eek out enough of a living to buy a house to store them in. But I can't bear to part with them. I like the variety of weapons and how I can use a o...
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