New Directions (I hate singing teens)

After getting through AC I decided to take a couple of days off to just relax from video games and recenter myself.  I think I got caught up in the drive to clear off as many games as I could in a small amount of time that I didn't take the time to enjoy things.  So I have been watching Eureka, Deadliest Catch, and Hulu.  A lot of Hulu.  I love me some Hulu.  Its good to just relax and rest.  Well that and I have over 400 episodes of shows on Hulu sitting there and waiting for me to watch for the past year, and that number grows every week.  Sigh.


During this restful time I thought it would be good to get back into FFXI.  Its nice to do this.  I have a freeworld to do things in without have to follow too much of a linear path to a conclusion.  Yes.  I love the missions and quests and fights, but I could spend my whole day crafting if I wanted to (I would get a lot of Hulu watching done, thats for sure).  With that in mind I wanted to get on a theme of some sort.  So what should I do???

What should I do???

I know.

Get all my jobs up to at least level 20-25.  That is what I will do.  I only have warrior, dark knight, dancer, and ninja over that (they are 95, 60, 52, and 50 respectively).  So I need to get the other 16 up.  Some are close (paladin is at 19), while others are far (bard is the farthest at level 3).  So its time I start to play some catch up with my jobs.  Most everyone else has almost all if not all in the 90's.  Its great to have a lot of variability when it comes to what you can help people with.  Especially since all I have had was my warrior (WAR) and it has been quite limiting.  Also, I have a lot of low level


So I started off with a job I never really wanted much to do with.  Well, not that much with (I HATE bard (BRD)).  That is white mage (WHM).

Not me, but a WHM in AF gear

I had mine at lvl 11 and decided to take it with a basic equipment load to Gusgen Mines and joined a burn party.  A burn party is one that is made up of many people all synced to a low level, attacking the same enemy.  With the Ground of Valor system, all we have to do is kill certain enemies a set amount of times and we get a reward of experience points and other things.  The more pages (like contracts) you do, the more experience you get.  So its easy to rack up a lot in a short amount of time.  So I worked with WHM and went from lvl 11 to 25 in 2.5 hours.  I accumulated about 52k experience.  It was purely insane.

This experience not only allowed me to rack up my WHM with lots of spells and help me to grow and like my WHM.  It also resparked things for me in the game.  I was pumped.  I wanted to lvl EVERYTHING.


So what to do next??

The races in Dragoon Relic Armor

Thats right.  Dragoon.  I have long thought about taking Dragoon to the top with my wyvern buddy.  So I repeated the process again and took my DRG to Gusgen Mines and went to town.  I got my DRG up to lvl 30 and realized that I like this different type of Damage Dealing (DD) job.  WAR is a DD and a backup tank.  You can do a lot of damage with a WAR, however DRG's bring something new to the table with their agility and piercing damage.  And those damn wyverns helps as well.

So now that I got DRG up, I decided it was time to work on a good sub for my WAR, my DRG, as well as a good DD itself.

Samurai

Kind of badass

SAM is a great DD.  Their inherit ability to build up tactical points (TP) to use weapon skills, as well as abilities to increase stats that relate to attack and accuracy.  AMAZING.  Since they use a Great Katana which is a two handed weapon, when you sub them onto a WAR or DRG (a WAR using a Great Axe, also two handed) you will have a powerhouse.  I can just say this.  I really got into SAM.  I felt like I was working with my WAR again.  It just felt natural.  I like going into battle and charging up and knowing that when I hit the monster I am doing some serious damage.  Plain and simple.  I am starting to love this job.  Hell, there are great possibilities with this subbed onto my DRK as well.

Back to the matter at hand.  I get my SAM up to lvl 31.  I got out of Gusgen Mines and made my way over to the Crawler's Nest where I picked up with another burn party (there seems to always be one there anyways).  I think now that I have grown to like SAM, I might shelve my earlier goal of all jobs to at least lvl 20-25, and take SAM all the way up.  Its fun.  I am having fun.

Holy hell do I love FFXI.

Freaking Conspiracy

Assassin's Creed


Completion time is unknown.  I couldn't find a clock for the game.


Finally have another game done.  I know I haven't really kept you abreast to how this one has gone lately, however I have been all over the place and really had to force myself to keep on point with completing this game.

I am happy.  This is the first time since I started using the Backloggery that I have a completion done.  I am sooo happy.

So lets talk about Assassin's Creed (AC).

It was a good game.  Graphics were nice, the story line was good.  I really have no big complaints about things.

Well.  I take that back.

The controls were a little buggy, the game became quite repetitive, and the ending was just...well...blah.

I liked the game for tying up the loose ends that I developed when I started the "trilogy" with AC2.  I am glad they improved the game with AC2 (however that in itself does have glitches galore.  I LOATHE YOU AC2 FOR ROBBING ME OF MY PLATINUM TROPHY).

So what are we dealing with in AC??

Don't want to see him in an alley

You have above a man by the name of Altair.  He happens to be an Assassin.  He loses his rank within the clan and must redeem himself by killing a number of targets.  This is all meant to protect an artifact.  Beyond that I will not venture too much into the story.

This is a video game that bases itself on this conspiracy about Templars and how they have affected the world.  Things that they are hiding and what their aim to humanity is.  It brings that added level of intrigue to things and keeps you wanting more.  Knowing what I know from the other games in the "trilogy" it gets all sorts of crazy after AC.  

What its all centered around

The above is the mysterious artifact that the story revolves around, as well as the "trilogy".  I won't go into details about it since that would ruin many many things.  You must play to learn.

Why do I keep saying "trilogy"?  Well, There is AC and AC2.  AC3 will be released later this year.  However there are 2 "sequels" to AC2 that make it more than just 3 games (use those math skills you learned in elementary school people).  AC3 will be based during the Revolutionary War period so I am excited to see how they are going to involve some more modern elements into things.  EXCITEMENT!!

Back to things.  Should someone play this game?   Yes.  Its a great series and thus you need to know how things began.  Will I play this again??  No.  I did a full completion of it now because I didn't want to deal with the clumsiness of it again.  Experience it at least once.  It might just change your world.

Holy Fish!!! (Mackeral)

I know I have been away for awhile and that is in part due to work.  I have been working a lot of late night games and events that I get home exhausted.  Once that occurs I just don't feel like putting words onto paper (screen).

I was checking up on things today with the blog, thinking of a post when I saw that I have surpassed 2000 views. WOW!!!

I know that most of this might be spam sites.  I need to figure out how to counteract that activity.  However still. I am impressed.


Now what have been up to lately??  Well.  I have been working a lot on FFIV, and on Assassin's Creed.  I have been working on FFXI too since We$$ is able to get on more now.  I am trying though to keep my play time on FFXI down so I won't get absorbed into that too much and forget about everything else.

I have been working hard on AC lately.  I have decided to get a complete on it since it will be my first complete since I started using Backloggery.  I have been working a lot on my Backloggery page.  If you wanted to keep up with my daily progress it is the best way to go about it.  I posted a link to my page on the links section of my blog.

Exchange Rates

I have been thinking for awhile and I believe that it times for some changing.

Not some big life changing thing, nor a mid-life crisis.  Heck I am only 26.  Not there yet.


No, I need to juggle up my groups a little bit in terms of the console selection.

Currently I have Final Fantasy XIII-2 on the playlist, however I think I need to change that.  I just beat FFV and Crisis Core, and I am currently playing FFIV.  I also am working a lot on FFXI so I feel like I am just surrounded by fantasies that are all final (joke joke).

Seriously though.  I never thought I might get sick of Final Fantasy games.  I love the series.  Thats very easily known.  However I need a change though, especially on the console side of things.

I think the best thing to do is to switch FFXIII-2 out with Assassin's Creed.  I never did play the first game in that series and I now have that plus Assassin's Creed: Revelations.  So what I plan to do is to start playing AC.  Then after that see how I am feeling and reevaluate if I want to start up FFXIII-2 again.  I know for Group III I have FFVI slated to play.  I am going to see about changing that as well whenever I get to it.

FFVI has been something that I have been debating on what to do.  I do own it for GBA and I am pretty far on it.  I know the story of it however I am willing to restart it again.  If I did that I would want to purchase it for the PSP and play on there.  I do favor playing handhelds on my PSP and when I get the chance I like to play games on it.

However do I really want to spend money on something that I already have??

Knight on!!

Things have been a little slow lately.  I blame it on the fact that I have been pretty stuck on my comp as of late just making sure that the final adjustments are made and everything is running properly (i.e. testing its processor power in many ways, including FFXI and Half-Life at the same time).

Because of this I have been having issues committing to playing FFXIII-2.  That and the fact that I have been working every night since last Thursday and that will continue until Tuesday.  I haven't had the drive to really sit down and get working on FFXIII-2.  Since I am in the beginning stages of the game it does require a lot of effort to go through all the tutorials and get the basics of the story down.  My hope is to do that next week, however I have been contemplating switching it out for Assassin's Creed (AC) so I can not be completely over FFed.  I still have sometime however to make that decision.

Instead lets focus on FFIV.  I had made a lot of progress with FFIV awhile ago, but then as always I stopped playing it for awhile.  I tried my best to figure out what was happening in the game but I could not for the life of me figure out things.  Thus I decided to delete a 30 hour saved game so I could start from scratch.

I like the story of Cecil and his journey of being a Dark Knight and finding the "Light Side".  I love the Dark Knight job and its mystery that surrounds it.  Also the armor for it is pretty damn sweet.  Its my second favorite job in FFXI as well.


Its pretty late now and I think that I am going to call it a night.  However I will have more to talk about as I play further along.  I got a 2 hour one way bus ride tomorrow, so I will have enough time to play on.

Updates

So I made some changes to the blog today and going to change some of the ways I do things.

First, I changed the List Page and created a new page that will contain all the completed games on it.  I wanted to do this so it would make the list easier to read for me but also for you without having to scroll around looking at what is not crossed off.  I can also keep track what I have beaten to keep a count of how long until I can get a new game.

Second, I will be making "groups" of games to play.  It will be a way for me to make a course of what to play in what order.  I pick one game for each system, plus something to do on FFXI in terms of a mission pack.  I thought this might be easier than to just randomly pick games cause there are so many games that I want to play.  If I beat a handheld game I can either go to the next group, or wait to finish the group that I am in before I proceed.  However I can not go past the groups that I have planned.


Here are the Groups of I have so far:

Group I
1. Crisis Core PSP
2. Diablo PC
3. FFXIII-2 PS3
4. FFXI -Crystal Add-on/ZM

Group II
1. FFIV DS
2. Diablo II PC
3. Assassin's Creed PS3
4. FFXI - Moogle Add-on/ZM

Group III
1. FFVI still making a decision on the format
2. Diablo II: Lord of Detruction PC
3. Assassin's Creed: Revelations PS3
4. FFXI - Shantoto Add-on/WoTG

List Update

I updated The List page today.  I added numbers to the side to give a firm number.

I also added the following games to the list:

The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword Wii
Assassin's Creed: Revelations PS3
Assassin's Creed PS3

A Couple Down

I have been away for a bit. It's easy to blame it on me not having a laptop, but it's cause blogging with an iPad is a bitch and I have gotten distracted with work. The time I have been away has not been a waste though. I have 2 games down. Yes, 2 whole games completed in the time that I have been away.  WOW!!  GOING BIG HERE.

Haha.  Yeah, I know.  Maybe I should have gotten more done, but I couldn't get going on FFV, so I slacked on things.  Don't kill me.

The two games that are now off the list are....
Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood DLC, and Infamous.

What is funny is I was only 30 minutes from completing the DLC for ACB, so I chuckled at that.
One thing that I can do is go back and work on getting all the trophies, especially for Infamous.  I can do a complete replay and probably end up getting a complete game trophy list, however I might put that on the back burner for now.


My sights are now set on FFV.  I have gotten on a roll and I am ready to kick some ass with that game.  Then I might take a FF break.  Its hard doing back to back to back RPG's.  Especially when you play FFXI a lot as well.  Can you say overkill????



overkill



I will update this later once I get more things in order.  I am finishing up right now at work and can't wait to sit down when I have time to put some pictures on here, and also get to know the new interface blogger seems to have.  Don't know if I am a fan yet.

An Expansion, but not that theory for the Universe

Downloadable Content (DLC) is something of a conundrum I feel.  I only own a handful of DLC since a lot of games I have are so long that DLC would be beat a dead horse.  However you don't want to make the main plot really short and then have to get DLC to see what happens.  Yes this will make money for the companies, and there are people who will buy packages as well.  Yet it does make the game look bad.  To me its as if they released the game unfinished and the DLC is some lame excuse to make up for it.

DLC should be like its ancestor, the expansion pack.  It adds to the story by providing a mini sequel and placing add-ons without having to do a completely new things.  Example: Diablo II.  AMAZING!  Plain and simple.  Keeping with my list, I think of them Fallout 3 has some very good DLC for it.  I only have Broken Steel which opens up an extension to the main plot, plus open up your character to level 30.  The other DLC/add-ons for Fallout 3 allow you to battle in other places and open up an entirely new story that wraps around the main plot.  Like the famous Anchorage battle, on searching out the aliens.  I love those ideas.  Really new and exciting.

Another look is at Assassins Creed: Brotherhood.  I stopped Fallout 3 for now and decided to work on the DLC The Da Vinci Disappearance since I recognized I have many games that will take a lot of man hours to get through and that I had some that won't take much time at all.  The Da Vinci Disappearance is a quickie.

Just to go over Assassins Creed: Brotherhood, the AC series is graphically beautifully, the plot is rich, and the experience sucks you in completely.  I never played the first Assassins Creed, but I did play Assassin's Creed II.  ACII was a lengthy story.  However I feel AC:B was a lot shorter.  The story just seemed to be over by the time it started.  Plus there was not a lot of development with the overall arc of the main character, which is and will be spanning multiple titles.  So when I started to play the Da Vinci Disappearance add-on I felt this may have been better as a side quest arc in the game,  It has no real advancement to the main plot, nor does it bring a lot in terms of new abilities and all.  I just feel it could have been added in the game with its initial release and all would be have been fine.  I guess Ubisoft needed to make some extra Florins.