A month of video games – Prelude

…or something that I’ve happily ganked from Pikestaff. She started doing it and it had actually been something that I had been thinking about lately in pieces, so hey, perfect! So coming up for the whole month of April, here’s the list of things that will get posted:

Day 1 – Very first video game.
Day 2 – Your favorite character.
Day 3 – A game that is underrated.
Day 4 – Your guilty pleasure game.
Day 5 – Game character you feel you are most like (or wish you were).
Day 6 – Most annoying character.
Day 7 – Favorite game couple.
Day 8 – Best soundtrack.
Day 9 – Saddest game scene.
Day 10 – Best gameplay.
Day 11 – Gaming system of choice.
Day 12 – A game everyone should play.
Day 13 – A game you’ve played more than five times.
Day 14 – Current (or most recent) gaming wallpaper.
Day 15 – Post a screenshot from the game you’re playing right now.
Day 16 – Game with the best cut scenes.
Day 17 – Favorite antagonist.
Day 18 – Favorite protagonist.
Day 19 – Picture of a game setting you wish you lived in.
Day 20 – Favorite genre.
Day 21 – Game with the best story.
Day 22 – A game sequel which disappointed you.
Day 23 – Game you think had the best graphics or art style.
Day 24 – Favorite classic game.
Day 25 – A game you plan on playing.
Day 26 – Best voice acting.
Day 27 – Most epic scene ever.
Day 28 – Favorite game developer.
Day 29 – A game you thought you wouldn’t like, but ended up loving.
Day 30 – Your favorite game of all time.

I’ll still be posting other things, but these will go up no matter what. If nothing else, this should be amusing.

Reevaluation

For kicks, I went back and started playing Dragon Age: Origins again. Here’s a few things that I’ve noticed between the two that I’m starting to think that Dragon Age 2 improved (and one that I think DA:O still did better).

1. Voice-overs – DA2 has them for your character. DA:O doesn’t. After playing DA2 and going back to play DA:O, I didn’t realize how much I missed my character’s voice. Watching my character just stand there mute in DA:O just makes me want to start looking for a tube of superglue in the background.

2. Speech choices – In DA:O, you pick from a list of lines your character can say. In DA2, you pick from a radial menu of vague shortened options of what your character might say. Example: you might have the option of “No.” in DA2. If you pick it, your character might actually say “Are you insane? That is by far the worst idea you’ve ever had, and trust me, you’ve had some bad ones.”  After playing both games, I infinitely prefer the radial menu. It’s faster and gives my character a chance to talk instead of being a mute witness to everything.

3. Combat – In DA:O, combat is steady, with your characters trotting up to the enemy and systematically hammering away at them. You can pause and plan strategy before the killing begins. In DA2, it’s much more fast paced, your characters leaping to engage the enemy, abilities flailing all over the place at breakneck speed. Sure you can pause and plan like in DA:O, but most of the time, I find myself shrugging and just diving in. I can’t say I prefer one to the other, but sometimes I want that quick battle and sometimes I don’t.

4. Abilities – Dear god, I’d forgotten how many of the abilities sounded good in DA:O and I never used cos they were worthless. Thank you, DA2, for giving us the passive abilities and upgrades. Now if I didn’t have to swap between 5-8 different screens to see all the trees…

5. Motion – Thank you for making the characters no longer plod across the screen in what can be loosely termed a “jog”. The motion is a lot snappier and better flowing in DA2. However, that hip sway that my female character does when she walks is still ridiculous. My lower back hurts just looking at it.

6. Locations – Sorry, DA2, you’ve done a lot of improvements to the UI, etc., but I think DA:O still takes this. Kirkwall is interesting and all, at least for the first chapter, but then… that’s it? Kirkwall and 3-4 places outside the city? Meh. And I just keep revisiting all of those places over and over? Meh. Sorry, Kirkwall’s just not that fascinating to me.

Just a few thoughts.

Lace Skies

I’m so proud of this bit of knitting, I can’t stand it. No, really. A little over two years ago, I got it in my head to relearn how to knit. I had the internet, one book, and determination to knit fuzzy socks like what I wear in the winter with my clogs. (I live in the South, where we can get away with that sort of thing.) Another blogger told me about this site called Ravelry, and after I looked at it, my brain blew up at all the pretty, pretty things that could be made. I worked my way up through the first couple of scarves, tackled hats, and slowly got around to making my first pair of socks.

And then I saw it: Hanami. A gorgeous lace stole, part basketweave pattern and part random holes like cherry blossom petals. My brain blew up yet again, and I determined that at some point I was going to make it. And, well, I finally have.

I made this. Me. All on my own. I learned how to do all the bits and pieces to do it, then buckled down and did it. And it’s soft, light, and perfect for the Spring weather I wish we were having.

And best of all, it’s done! I had fun knitting it, and learned a lot along the way. I’d love to do this pattern again, but right now, the basketweave section would make me curl up and whimper for it to go away. The cherry blossom petal section got almost as bad towards the end. So maybe in a year I might go back and revisit it, this time altering it to have more beads on it.

Until then, I’ll be happy with what I’ve made. I’m taking a break from something so intricate and working on another pair of fingerless gloves. But already I’m plotting the next Big Project like this. I have my eye on a large circular shawl, the edging of which is all done in beads. If I can make it through that one, then I can probably make it through the large circular shawl past that, that’s beaded, huge, and begging to be made in silk.  But for now, it’s back to fingerless mitts and socks for me. Maybe I might finally get around to knitting that cardigan I’ve been eyeing. Who knows? But for now, I’m pleased.

Hail and well met

The weather around here has been less than pleasant as of late. We’ve had hail at night twice now. And after having temps in the upper 70s and low 80s, suddenly going back to 40s and 50s is a bit rude feeling. Overcast and raining is not my idea of a good time. /sigh

Last night was really bad though. While Mom and I were in the living room watching TV, the storm was raging outside, making both of her dogs twitchy and one of them gave up and hid in the library behind the chair in there. We took pity on Lexi and moved her blanket in there so she’d at least be comfy. My two cats kept lurking around me, and finally ended up flopped around and on me, unwilling to be moved.

My main concern though was Jared driving back from work an hour away at midnight. I figured he had the sense to pull over it if got bad, which is exactly what he did. I’d have been up pacing til he got home, except my head was killing me (damned sinuses) and needing a dark room meant I fell asleep. (Okay, the nice warm kitties on me certainly helped the sleepies along.) Jared woke me when he got in, and I passed back out.

But this morning, once we got up and he talked to his HR person at work, we drove into town to get him a cell phone. Yeah, he’s been without one for most of his time down here. But with this weather and his driving back so late at night, I needed that reassurance of his having a phone with him. He picked out the HTC Inspire, and since he gets a discount on service through his company, we added a line and got him all signed up. And now he’s driving to work, new phone in hand, and I feel a lot better.

I did manage to get my latest project blocked and looking nice, but the stupid weather isn’t cooperating with trying to take nice photos, so that will have to wait until later in the week. Stupid clouds and rain. For now, I’m off to go crawl under a blanket and possibly knit. Possibly play Final Fantasy 13. We’ll see.

So tired

Last night, I finished working on a stole called Hanami. It’s a patterns I’ve been drooling over for over a year now and finally got the nerve up to attempt. At 12:30am (okay, so it was really this morning, but who’s counting?), I finally cast off the last stitch. Later today, I’ll start blocking it, fretting the whole while to make sure it comes out okay.

Hmm. I think i’ll need to be distracted. Yep, video games should work. Final Fantasy 13 it is. Otherwise, I’ll be dozing in the corner. Sleepy days with the rain and the cold. /sigh I want my Spring back!

Knitting ahoy, part 2

So yesterday, I showed off some of the recent knitting I’ve done. Recent meaning “finished in the last 4-6 months”. What can I say, I’m occasionally lazy. ^^;

I did find out with knitting that I’m love to knit fingerless mitts, those gloves without the fingertips on them. They’re fast to knit, don’t take a lot of yarn, and they’re fun to wear. It’s so addicting to get finished objects so quickly. So far, this year I’ve knitted 3 pairs. The first was out of some Malabrigo worsted yarn as part of a knitalong with the Fingerless Glove Fanatics group on Ravelry. They’re… oh man, I know what places I bobbled on them, and I want to go back and knit them again, but so pleased with these anyhoo.

Right when I joined the FGF group, they were starting their 11 Pairs in 2011 challenge. So I started with the Fire and Ice mitts, then went looking for another pattern. I found Suzie’s Reading Mitts, and figured I needed a bright blue pair.

And the last pair of mitts I’ve made recently aren’t really fingerless mitts, but more armwarmers. But oh man, I do love them.

i think one of the knitting patterns just about everyone on Ravelry makes at some point is the Clapotis shawl/scarf. When I first saw it, I wasn’t sure I’d ever make one, but now that I have, I’m glad I did.

The one shawl I knew I wanted, no, needed to make was the Lady Eleanor shawl. It looked large, warm, elegant, and oh so complicated. To my surprise, it wasn’t complicated at all and I adored knitting it. Even better, I adore wearing it.

I’m working on finishing another shawl/stole, and plotting another pair of fingerless mitts, so there will be more pictures again soon. Mwhahaha!

Knitting ahoy!

I finally snapped out of the pollen-generated “bweh” yesterday long enough to go outside and take pictures of some of the latest knitting I’ve done.

Once upon a couple of years ago, I bought a skein of 100% silk with some birthday money from my dad. The price normally would have made me gag (at least until I found out there’s even pricier yarn), but this yarn looked like water in string form. This amazing blue, like what you see just off a tropical beach, was sitting there, begging to take it home with me. Who am I to say no? Almost a year later, I finally figured out what to make with it, and it turned out quite nice.

This past fall, Jared and I got tickets to go to the Ole Miss Homecoming football game. A couple of years before, I’d spotted some yarn that was self-striping and was in the Ole Miss colors. Since I’d learned to make socks by then, naturally, I made socks to wear to Homecoming.

And speaking of socks, Anna, one of the WoW bloggers, got me addicted to Malabrigo yarn early on when I restarted knitting. Their yarn is so damned soft, it’s unbelievable. And since my socks are starting to be well-fitting socks, I went and knitted me a pair of socks from some Malabrigo sock yarn I’d been hoarding. Result? OMG, needmoreMalsockyarnNAO! /drool

Tomorrow, more knitting showing off! Today? Errand running and a trip to the yarn store. They have baseball tickets I need to purchase. Heehee.

Damned pollen

::hack, cough, sneeze::

Guh. Yep, pollen’s hit my sinuses. Fortunately, it’s not hit in the form of a sinus infection, but just mild congestion. But add that in with a chilly morning (and a day that’s not supposed to get much warmer than it is now), and I’m not too convinced to do much of anything other than lay under a blanket and vaguely knit. There will prolly be television watching involved as well.

So if anyone needs me, I’ll be on the couch, trying to not fall asleep again. Meh. ::sneeze::

Bweh

Ever wake up and just -know- it’s going to be one of those days? Yeah, that’s today. Not only did I wake up way earlier than I wanted to, but it’s supposed to rain today. And then it’s supposed to get chilly again. I am not happy about this. I demand my mid-70s temps again! Rawr!

::A strong breeze blows through::

/shiver

Okay, see you all later. I’m going to go find a nice cup of hot tea and a blanket. /grumps off

Ooo it’s a dragon…age

I adored Dragon Age: Origins. It was one that kind of snuck up on me, but once I got it, I was very happily obsessed. I loved the story line, the characters, the look, the gameplay – everything. It was one of those games that not only did I go around telling people they needed to play, but if I’d been able to, I’d have dragged along a cart with copies of the game to push onto people.

Hmm okay, maybe not quite that obsessed, but close.

So it was a no-brainer when I heard about Dragon Age 2. The only reason we waited so long to place our pre-order, was because Jared and I were in the middle of packing and moving and wanted to wait til we got moved up here. We still got the Special Edition pack, so all was good. The night it came out, Jared was coming back home from work, stopped at the GameStop to pick up our copy, and we started running the downloads for it overnight.

We both played obsessively for the next few days. But after a while, I started not playing as much. Part of that was having sinuses that were messing with me, so I wasn’t playing anything, much less DA2. But part of it was getting to a point in the game where it just went… meh.

Don’t get me wrong, it’s still an enjoyable game. And I’ll go back and finish it, but not right now. But this time, I’m just not as caught up in the story as I was with DA:O. The characters are all nice and all, but none of them really feel like the boon companions that I had in the first game.

The gameplay? Well they certainly shifted it around. There are more skills that I want to use and less fluff. It’s faster paced, and I like the leap into action that your character does when it’s near to the enemy. But to some degree, it almost feels like “Random Fantasy Game #1285352″, and I’m not sure why.

And then there’s the art. They cleaned up the models a lot from the previous game. not that the art in DA:O was horrible. But the art style, at least on the faces, is a little too painterly and polished. I mean, sure it looks nice, but it’s almost too clean, if that makes any sense. Then again, it could just be me being insane, which is always a viable possibility.

So last night, instead of playing DA2 and being distracted by odd-to-my-eyes art and not having a storyline that’s gripping me and characters that I just want to sigh at and not in a good way, I restarted Final Fantasy 13. Slick and shiny art? Sure, but it’s not trying to be anything other than slick and shiny. Whiny characters? Yep, but I just ignore Hope and focus on the baby Chocobo. (Baby Chocobo rocks.) And right now, it’s working for me.

Later today, after I run an errand in town, I’ll come home, poke the art supplies again, and possibly even knit. Somewhere in there, I’ll put out more feelers for jobs, and tonight I’ll commit carnage in Final Fantasy. Go me.