Halo ODST - Mission Accomplished

Well, on September 28th I defeated Halo 3 ODST. I will not place any spoilers in here so fear not. I will go on to say I felt the game was shorter than the others available in the series. I don't mean that in a bad way, I still enjoyed the game greatly despite the length of play. I managed to find 21 out of 30 audiofiles. I didn't really pick up on looking for them right away. I could have gone back to locate the rest but I really wanted to see the way the story continued and ended.

I will say that there was not much to the game when you were playing the Rookie walking from point A to point B. The city kept you limited to certain areas, and you pretty much encountered patrols of grunts, jackals and brutes. Occasionally you would run into a new alien race, non violent towards you, and Hunters. The hunters could be a real pain. Once I managed to find a ghost any patrol or encounter with the Rookie turned into easy mode.(on Normal Difficulty). I plan to try Legendary next.

The backstory of the rest of the squad was fun to play. It was a different way of looking at the game.

I have not tried Firefight yet, nor the multiplayer side of the game. I'll post a separate post mentioning stuff that includes spoilers.

What the Hufflepuff?!

Which Hogwarts house will you be sorted into?

Said Hufflepuff, "I'll teach the lot, and treat them just the same."

Well if that isn't a kick in the teeth. My friend and I were scheming about Harry Potter spells, houses and the like, when I had the idea to write myself, her and a few others we know into the Harry Potter setting, for fun of course. The News has shows Rowling becoming so obsessive about anyone writing about ole HP she'll sue you faster than you can blink! Oh well, no sense rattling on about that.

So, I am looking at four characters: Myself, Tal, Ace and Rysm. I decided I needed to officially try to sort myself to see where I'd belong. My friend was screaming Gyffindor, I was saying possibly Raveclaw (creativity) and I was gagging at the thought of Hufflepuff, and did not see Slytherin as too far fetched. So it was off to the internet to uncover a few quizzes.

I managed to find two sites that I seemed to respect the questions and results. One was short with 12 questions, the other was rather unweildy at 100+ questions (very thorough). So what did I get? You can make a good educated guess if you recall the beginning of this blog entry; thats right, Hufflepuff.

Now, at first I was disappointed, I kinda wrote Hufflepuff off as the runts, the average joes, the meek and weak of spirit. I mean you have the hard charging houses, Gryffindor - brave, courageous, jocks, we had this house shoved down our throats through every book. It was the base of the story, good versus evil. So basically you weren't anyone unless you were here. Slytherin, well not much to say here. Scheming, dark, cruelly intelligent, pure blooded, family line is everything. Then Ravenclaw, who didn't get much game time either. These are the intellectuals, the brains, the pens the brushes, maybe even diviners of truth and the cosmos. Lastly Hufflepuff, and as I felt from the books, "the pile of everyone else".

Now to be fair, those are just labels. I am sure if there was an actual sorting hat, there would be plenty of wiggle room, its magic after all. Since we live in a reality without a sorting hat, I guess my creativity and the general base of the quizzes will have to do.

Thats all for now, if I manage anything soon I'll post it up.

The Company of Art Blades

This band of adventurers started out in a very cold Eleint, amongst the Dalelands. Each seeking a path all their own, but together forming a stronger bond of loyalty and friendship. The sun elven wizard of the group, in a very forward thinking human manner, sent a request to the Royal Kingdom of Cormyr, seeking to make the small band official in the eyes of the surrounding human kingdoms. A lesson the gold elf was quickly learning, to survive in human dominated realms, one must either be human, or act human. She sent a formal request to the Royal Regent Alusair, offering services of the very capable band in return for formal recognition of the Company. An official charter was drawn and solidified with the Royal seal.

A charter of this nature, signed by the Forest Kingdom, is not taken lightly. The Dalelands while not Cormyrian in nature, will undoubtedly recognize the trust given the adventurers. Harpers as well will respect the formality of the document and recognize the station it provides. Sembia will not be impressed by the document and will warily regard the company as operatives of Cormyr, and that such a paper has no bearing on Sembian business. Merchants of Sembia may still see a band of capable adventurers and may be unable to resist the possibility of committing some royal subterfuge.

Below is the Charter that is signed by her royal Highness, Regent of Cormyr, Alusair.

The Company of Art Blades

“Expressly empowered by Her Royal Highness Alusair, to grant a charter of the right to bear arms within the territories and protectorates of Cormyr”

Witnessed by Brenden Ylisire, Royal Court Scribe,
Eleint, XX 1374 DR

“The Company of Art Blades is relied on to act in the best interest of the Kingdom of Cormyr. Know ye all, by this good and true document, that the bearers are entitled by the Crown of Cormyr to bear arms within the lands under our writ and hand.”

Such lands of Cormyr, reach from the shores of Suzail and the Dragonmere west to the Storm Horns, including Skull crag and the High Horn; Northerly from Suzail past the Kings Forest, beyond the Storm horns and into the Farsea swamp and Stonelands; Northeasterly from Suzail as far as the Shadow gap and Tilvers Gap, east along the Immerflo, past the Hullock forest and to the Thunderpeaks; Lastly as far easterly from Suzail, along the Dragonmere and the Way of the Manticore – past the Vast Swamp – and into Daerlun. These boundaries comprise the lands of the Forest Kingdom, the Kingdom of Cormyr.

“While in good standing, Members of the Company of Art Blades will receive the rights and benefits of the Royal Kingdom of Cormyr citizenry. The Royal Kingdom of Cormyr, grants members of the Art Blades unhindered access to its lands in the service or protection of the Crown of Cormyr. In matters of security and special circumstantial missions, members of the Company of Art Blades shall not be detained or questioned without due reason.
A member of the Company of Art Blades word is supported by royal mandate. Members of the Company of Art Blade will be expected to cooperate with Purple Dragon patrols, War Wizards if approached and such Patrols will respect the rights granted by this charter.
Members of the Company of Art Blades have great honor and power bestowed upon them by the Royal Kingdom of Cormyr, and to betray such trust will exact a heavy toll.”

Hereupon is written the Company of the Art Blades Formal list of Adventurers, to hereby receive complete benefits bestowed upon them by the Company of the Art Blades and Royal Kingdom of Cormyr. Ergo their appellation will placed upon this billet and be recorded as law:

Talindra Shalandaerl

Dungeons and Dragons, meet Pathfinder - Your New Home

Pathfinder, is the way into the future of Dungeons and Dragons. Through Paizo.com Pathfinder was born. This newest edition does not say Dungeons and Dragons directly on the cover, but it is Dungeons and Dragons. The newest source book for D&D adds to Wizards 3.5 edition. Players who purchased hordes of books over the last nine years can convert their adventures into Pathfinder rules. The new book updates and fixes some problems with the Third edition gaming mechanics, and also adds new flavor to the game. It does not alienate a loyal player base dedicated to the game Dungeons and Dragons.

I played Fourth Edition and can honestly say that it is a terrible game compared to Third Edition or Pathfinder. I returned three of the newest books I purchased for Foruth Edition, I just could not have fun reading them or playing the destroyed game they called Dungeons and Dragons.

Pathfinder gives Dungeons and Dragons a new lease on life and has allowed so many gamers to continue playing a game they know and love. One day the game will change again, on that day the gaming community of Dungeons and Dragons will make their decision based on Pathfinder or Fourth Edition. Until that day, I chose Pathfinder as my Dungeons and Dragons. True to the game, True to the player!

Halo ODST - 3 days 21.5 hrs and counting!

HALO ODST will be released this Tuesday, September 22nd, at Midnight. Since the release of Halo 3 back in Fall of 2007, I did get a great sense of anticipation from new game releases. That does not mean there are not any games that have been released since then that I do not like. Since Halo 3 was released, I came to love Bioshock, Mass Effect, and Call of Duty 4 and Gears of War 2, to name a few. Maybe it was a time in my life that I was in a video game rut. I recalled, over the previous last two years, that much of my time was devoted to increasing my physical activity, college work and other types of gaming. Perhaps because of these distractions I wouldn't allow myself to get captured in the wonder of these releases. Maybe there just was not a game that grabbed my attention before hitting the shelf. Well now that has all changed.
Halo Wars failed to catch my eye, I just was not interested in a Real Time Strategy version of Halo. Maybe I was not interested because it was too soon after I felt the Halo genre ended. I should be wise enough to realize, Halo would never go away provided it would generate countless millions in revenue for Bungie. Now Halo ODST is hitting the market and I am the most excited about a game than I have felt since Halo 3.
I think a few things are catching my eye about ODST, besides it being a Halo FPS, that sold it to me. Firstly, I get that Master Chief is pretty much super human. He makes his way through the entire Halo series and helps save Earth, humans and Covenant alike. What really lends to my personality is that ODST is the story of actual humans. These humans are of course the elite, hardened, tough as nails men AND women of the human forces. I think it is great that the regular forces fighting alongside the Chief are included.
Second, the ODST helmet was my helmet of choice in multiplayer and I loved the idea of ODST since Halo introduced them! Now it appears my love of ODST is rewarded and we are going to get to see the battle from the point of view of these Shock Troopers!
Third, the game will include cut scenes to other ODST troopers. As you play, you will encounter scenes of destruction or carnage or story where you will go back to that time and play through the other ODST troopers as they fulfill their mission.

I am going to be at my Gamestop at 10pm, Sept 22nd, in the Winchester VA Appleblossom mall for the game release! I also am excited about Modern Warfare 2 coming out just after Halo ODST, Dragon Age - by Bioware makers of Mass Effect and Mass Effect 2!!!!, Bioshock 2 due out early 2010 and Mass Effect 2!!!!!!!!!!!!!! In 2010. These next 6+ months are going to be fantastic! See you on Xbox Live!