Giving the warrior class a chance in Oblivion

Still yearning for some epic RPGing, I booted up Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion last night. Now, I haven’t touched this game since I went on an Achievement run last May to reach the top rank in the Arena questline. That’s almost an entire year ago for those good with the math.

There’s plenty of Achievements left to get, namely those for the Thieves Guild, Dark Brotherhood, Mages Guild, Fighters Guild, and the Shivering Isles expansion. I figured that it’d be healthy for me to break my mold and play as a non-sneaky character, someone that likes to charge at his/her enemies, swinging a large sword or mallet, wielding heavy armor with pride, grunting from too much weight all around.

I decided to just make a new character, and so I went with a Warrior build:

Unafraid of light weaponry, they plow into the fray with little regard for injury. Masters of all melee tools, they put little faith in the magical arts.

Specialization:	Combat
Attributes:	Endurance, Strength
Skills:	Armorer Athletics Blade Block Blunt Hand to Hand Heavy Armor

His name is Hodor, and I made him look like an albino monk with some blue hues to his skin. His plan–not mine–is to get some great heavy armor and cover up all things hideously discolored. Then he’s going to go join the Fighters Guild to help better himself, to show the world he’s more than just a freak of nature, that his swing is as swift as any Blades’, and that nobody will get in his way. After that, I might be done with him, I might not. I guess in my mind it’s easier to build characters specifically for these themed questlines rather than try to steer a character in a whole new direction to go from ruling the Fighters Guild to the Mages Guild.

I played through the game’s tutorial last night, getting a feel for the game again. After exiting the prison’s sewers, I took out a nearby crab that was looking at Hodor crossly and then saved my progress, quitting to the dashboard. That was for a reason, as I wanted to start watching Pineapple Express before it got too late, but I’ll try to get back to it tonight and start Hodor’s career in the Fighters Guild. According to my Achievements list, I already unlocked the first three for this questline, but I don’t remember any of the quests associated with them so hopefully this will be like a fresh take on it all.

Better blogging on Grinding Down next week, me promises

I realize that this week’s postings on Grinding Down have been less than stellar. Two 2011 Games Completed posts, and one lonely musings post on my first StreetPass notification. That’s it? Yeah, that was it. I’m sorry for that, but I also have an excellent excuse: I’ve been crazily prepping for MoCCA these last few days. And the con is this weekend, meaning that once it’s all said and done, I’ll be back to my usual standards of randomly pondering about videogames, doing that 30 Days of Gaming meme, and complaining about all the letdowns built into the Nintendo 3DS.

I’ve completed Pilotwings Resort recently–or completed as much as I want to–and am close to finishing Costume Quest, making for another two posts on my 2011 completed games list. Plus, I’ve barely even mentioned all those games I bought last week during Xbox Live’s sale frenzy. Plenty of fodder all around.

So yeah, there should be more content next week. Please stay tuned.

Today’s my first day off from work this calendar year, and the wife and I will be heading to New York City later. Gotta make sure my 3DS is charged and ready to hopefully StreetPass some folk.

Here’s some unused Grinding Down images

As my dear readers know, I like to do things a certain way here at Grinding Down. Specifically, I’m talking about how every post is headlined with a photoshopped image a la LOLCats. I take a lot of pride in finding the right image, adding the right words, and tinkering with it to follow the right format. And by right, I mean my format. Anal-retentive Pauly is anally retentive.

However, sometimes I create images in hopes of posting about them, but then things happen, life gets tossed upside-down, and I never get around to musing about X and/or Y. Here, then, are some images I was gonna use as topic starters. Have fun figuring out what each one was gonna be about:

There you go. A little behind-the-scenes glimpse into how things work around here. Isn’t blogging just fascinating?

Today just might be Monster Tale’s day

Monster Tale is an adorable Metroidvania game that, if the Internet is to be believed, comes out today on March 22, 2011. A few months back, I originally saw a projected release date of March 1, 2011, and when that day came and went without so much as a Monster Short Story, I tracked down some peeps at Majesco Entertainment and asked them if they could kindly spoil the release date as all the Internet was then saying was some time in March 2011. The nice peeps at Majesco were nice and got back to me, but they could only confirm that the Internet was to be trusted. A couple days later I noticed that both GiantBomb and IGN had updated their respective pages to indicate that today is Monster Tale‘s day.

Alas, I’m not going to rush out to the stores later and see if it’s sitting high and mighty on their NEW RELEASES shelves for several reasons. 1) I busted up my back golfing over the weekend and cannot physically rush anywhere 2) I’m still plugging away at several other Nintendo DS games, namely Pokemon White and Radiant Historia, which both require devotion and time 3) and lastly, the nice peeps over at Majesco Entertainment asked for my mailing information after I emailed them so that they could put my on the request list.

What does that mean? I don’t really know. But maybe they took a look at my blog and liked what they saw and want to send me a copy to review. I’ll wait a few days to see if anything arrives, but if nothing comes by the end of the month, I’ll most likely go grab a copy so that I’m well stocked for my MoCCA trip to New York City the second weekend of April.

Man, looking at some of these screenshots again reminds of just how adorable this game is gonna be. I’m holding out hope that it’s a crazy deep adventure with a cute skin. Guess we’ll find out soon enough…

That 30 Days of Gaming meme coming to Grinding Down soon

It might come as a surprise to my many silent readers here that I don’t plan a lot of the content that goes up on Grinding Down. I don’t write drafts or notes as I’m playing games for later posting…I just think and then type up what I’m thinking about. Off-the-cuff is a perfect way to describe how this blog lives, and the only thing I do try to do is remain constant in my updating at least once a day, Monday through Friday. Not too hard, but there are occasional days where I do struggle with a topic to post about. We all feel, at some point or another, that we’re just rambling at a wall and stealing someone else’s oxygen/brain cells with our pointlessness.

Lately, I’ve been seeing a lot of fellow videogame bloggers doing a meme, a meme all about generating topics to talk about. Sounds good to me! So I’m gonna start this crazy meme next Monday and try my hardest to get through the 30 days as strong as possible. I will still, more than likely, take weekends off. But at least now, for the next 30 days, if there is ever a day where I’m drawing a blank, I know where to turn to: um, this blog post.

Anyways, here’s the 30 topic trains I’m going to be, just like Link in The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks, steering your way soon enough:

Day 1 – Your first videogame
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

That’s a lot of musing. Are you stoked?

Games Completed in 2011, #9 – Torchlight

Back in the day, ranging somewhere between my senior year of high school and my sophomore year of college, I played a lot of Diablo and Diablo II. However, I never beat either game, and constantly restarted new characters. My absolute favorite aspect of these now legendary dungeon-crawlers was organizing my inventory. See, Diablo and Diablo II strived for a more realistic inventory system, meaning if you couldn’t fit it in your bag with your dozen of other goodies, well…you’re not taking it with you. Simple as that. Here, let me show you:

Oh man. That image is beyond delicious. It’s like a puzzle minigame!

Anyways, I mention this because Torchlight, despite being heavily influenced by its Diablo big brothers, does not support this kind of inventory. At least not in the XBLA version. PC players get to enjoy this deliciousness:

Instead, us Xbox 360 doods get lists. Lists after lists after lists. Many of which are unreadable. And that makes it difficult to even determine if your character is fully armed. Oh boy.

What’s the story? Well, it all revolves around a mysterious ore called Ember, which is the essence of magic, as well as the keystone in alchemy. Deep below the small excuse for a town called Torchlight, miners dig, searching for the coveted ore. However, these miners quickly discover that there’s more below Torchlight than shiny, special rocks: a dangerous labyrinth of caverns and ruined civilizations, brimming with monstrous creatures. Evil begins to surface, and a champion is needed. Players can pick between three classes–Destroyer, Alchemist, or Vanquisher–and then begin slaughtering evil enemies, collecting loot, defeating bosses, and progressing further below the town. It’s a pretty typical storyline, with 100% shallow characters; in fact, the most creative character exists only to hand out sidequests, and yes, I’m talking about Trill-Bot 4000, that one-man band/aspiring bard/robot. Why can’t I have him as a pet?!

Like its Diablo brothers, Torchlight‘s greatest appeal is its loot. Killing special enemies drops a ton of gear, most of which will need identifying scrolls to truly get, and it’s an addicting thing. Grabbing loot, selling loot, grabbing loot, harboring unwearable loot for later–it’s truly what drove me forward, the promise of an even better staff for my Alchemist. What’s also nice is that, much like Dragon Quest IX, you can see everything your character is wearing or wielding, which gives reason for trying out a lot of odd gear. The graphics are colorful and cartoony, taking a page from World of Warcraft, and they seem right at place in Torchlight‘s less than serious world.

And now let’s discuss what I passionately disliked about Torchlight. We’ll start small. Whenever your pet loses all its health, it will flee from battle until it heals itself. You know this is happening because the voiceover dude goes, “Your pet is fleeing.” He says it even flatter than I’ve typed it. The problem is, sometimes your party is surrounded by enemies, meaning your pet is fleeing from one group to another, and the voiceover guy will just not shut up. “Your pet is fleeing,” he says, and then nine seconds later he says it again. Oh, is it? WELL, FLEE ALREADY THEN! GO AWAY! Sheesh.

I also discovered a sharp increase in difficulty from the Black Palace (levels 31-34) to when you have to fight the final boss in the Lair of Ordak (level 35). Playing on Normal difficulty, I have never died until then, and rarely had to use health potions as my Alchemist knew a Heal All spell which did the job just fine. However, towards the end, I found myself guzzling bottles of red faster than probably possible.

Lastly, my biggest gripe about Torchlight is its love for tiny text. Most of the dialogue between characters is readable, but when a weapon or special piece of gear comes jam-packed with abilities, the text drops to really tiny, making it hard to figure out what is what. Does that armor require my defense skill to be 27 or 29? It gets even worse if you try to compare it with another piece of armor in your inventory. I ended up selling most of my gear because I couldn’t read what it did. At the top left corner of all items is either a green dot, a red dot, or both. Green means it is greatly better than what you’re currently using; red is worse; and green plus red means it’s a mix of both. I used this as my guideline on what to wear, what to sell. A shame really, as I know I missed out on a lot of strong purple-colored loot.

Hate tiny text, too? Good news for you then! I’m working on an article about it for The First Hour. Stay tuned, fellow blind people.

So, is Torchlight worth getting on consoles? I’d say no. It’s a good game, but better suited for a mouse and keyboard, as well as a screen mere centimeters from your face.

March 2011’s flotsam and jetsam

It seems like, at least a few times every year, I am a little overwhelmed with multiple games at once and little time to play ’em to their fullest. Such is March 2011 then, a month where I’m playing three to four new titles, as well as working on older games or miscellaneous purchases. Throw into the fight the fact that I’m also scrambling to get Supertown minicomics drawn and printed for MoCCA 2011, and well, yeah, there’s a lot to juggle. Here’s kind of a short rundown on what I’m currently playing:

Torchlight (XBLA)

Right. Diablo II on a console, but much more cartoony and fast. I’m digging it, and normally by now I’d have written up some early impressions of the title, but the truth is that I’m almost at the end, meaning all my big boy thoughts will have to wait for the final review. Still, I like a lot of it except for one big caveat–the tiny font size. And when a game stands on a mechanic such as loot, being able to read and compare magical spears is vital. I’m pretty sure I’ve sold a lot of excellent gear simply because I couldn’t read what it did or its requirements for wielding.

Pokémon White (Nintendo DS)

Only have two gym badges so far, but that’s okay. It’s not a race, no matter what my rivals say. I like finding a good team of ‘mon and then training them to be, roughly, around the same levels. Right now I’m rocking Victini, Snivy, Timburr, and Audino, and the other two spots haven’t been truly filled yet. I’m giving that trash bag Pokémon a chance though since many others probably won’t. Its Sludge move is pretty good. But man, oh man…it’s a trash bag?

Radiant Historia (Nintendo DS)

I was stuck for awhile in this one, unsure of which timeline node to jump back to, but Greg Noe steered me in the right direction. Now I’m working my way through the Closed Mine in hopes of learning a sword dancing move from somebody to help Stocke progress with a circus act in the alternate timeline. Yeah, it can be a bit confusing. Still, the combat is fantastic. Really do need to schedule more time with this one.

Fallout: New Vegas – Dead Money (Xbox 360)

Having now beaten this game twice, my second character, an evil woman named Zelda that loved hitting enemies with s-weapons only–sticks and shovels and sledges–was perfect for attempting the DLC add-on again. My first fly with Dead Money didn’t go very well. But it’s going much smoother now that I can handle the Ghost People more effectively, as well as heal better from radiated food. Just finished gathering Dog, Dean, and the mute. Now to get each of them where they need to be…

Penumbra Overture (Mac)

Started this on a whim, and have only played a wee bit of it, but I dig its mood and atmosphere and the way opening a drawer feels. Seriously. It feels good, true, like I’m actually doing it myself and not with a mouse. I would have loved to see this technique used more in games like Fallout, as it makes searching a room actually feel like searching. There’s a special kind of warmth that comes from opening countless empty drawers and then opening one to find batteries there, yours for the taking.

FlingSmash (Nintendo Wii)

Every week, usually Friday, sometimes Saturday night, Tara and I go visit her brother to play some videogames. We call it “games night,” and we focus mainly on all things Wii (but I swear to teach him Munchkin before too long). Wii Sports Resorts is so much fun with a good group, but two players had to share one remote, and I got tired of this after several weeks. So I purchased FlingSmash, which is basically a Wii MotionPlus controller ($40) with a game thrown in for good measure ($10). The game is just an excuse to shake the remote around, but I hope to examine it more closely soon.

::deep exhale::

Whew. Too many games. There’s the possibility that I’m not even writing about more.

Also, a friendly reminder that by the end of this month I’ll also be picking up Monster Tale and a Nintendo 3DS…so yeah, more to come. Woe is me? Naaaaaaaaaah.

Chop their heads off with Munchkin Axe Cop

Don’t worry, I just double-checked, too: it’s March 11, not April 1.

Anyways, big announcement time from Steve Jackson Games as they have just thrown into the limelight their very first licensed Munchkin game. It’s Munchkin Axe Cop, based on that hilarious webcomic series that exploded on the Internet last year. Written by Malachai Nicolle (age 5) and drawn by his older brother Ethan Nicolle (age 29), Axe Cop has all the workings for a Munchkin game: it’s random, it’s erratic, it’s funny, it’s beyond belief, and it’s all about fighting enemies with whatever one can. I’m still a littled bewildered over this, but also curious to see it pan out. Munchkin Axe Cop will be a third quarter release.

This gives me hope that maybe one day, my very own webcomic (Supertown–please go read it!) could be turned into a Munchkin core set. I just need to fill it in more with crazy adorable characters…

Prepare for trouble, Pokémon fans, and make it double with White/Black

I bought Pokémon White this past Sunday, the day it was released, and it was much more than an impulse buy. Much, much more. There’s a story to it all, but it’s very sad, and I don’t think I can type it up just yet–or even explain in a way to make sense outside of the clusterstorm that is my processing of life and all that jazz–but yeah, I went out and bought the newest Pokémon game without really completing the previous one enough (HeartGold).

And so far, it’s good and all, but a bit too much like HeartGold in terms of the first hour or so. You start out as a fatherless trainer (boy or girl) who picks one of three special Pokémon to call their own. Once that is decided, it’s off to collect ’em all, conquer gym leaders, and stop an evil corporation from doing something justifiably evil. It doesn’t feel very different except for the battles, which are nicely streamlined and presented with much more pizzazz (not to be confused with pizza). I am pretty stoked about the seasonal changes and what that will do; right now it’s autumn in-game, with some nice leaves blowing in the wind action.

Right, here’s my team of five, all at various levels:

Pretty adorable designs, but I am a little tired of battling Patrats. Are they the new Rattata? I surely hope not. Yeah, the minute I saw Snivy, I had to have him–he’s too smug to be left in the distance. As for his name and Lillipup’s name, well…they seemed fitting. “Are you going to name every Pokémon after Harry Potter characters?” my wife asked over my shoulder. No. Not all. But maybe 75% heh heh.

Still waiting to catch a sixth Pokémon. I personally don’t like using doubles of any pocket monster, even if they are different genders or have unique abilities. I was hoping to add Victini to the party right away, but it seems like I can’t acquire it (genderless Pokémon!) until I’ve collected two gym badges and reached a specific city. Wah. Thankfully, I found a free WiFi access point during my lunch break and downloaded the Liberty Pass, so I’m ready to go.

But yeah, Pokémon White. I’m playing it, as well as looking forward to the game opening up more.

Halo 3: ODST, a story of love, sacrifice, and a wormy alien

I can’t wait to complete Halo 3: ODST, dear Grinding Down readers, but only because I am eager to write about it for y’all. See, I’ve barely been paying attention to what is going on and already know next to nothing about the Halo universe, which should make for a very interesting write-up. I think I even played the last two levels on the lowest volume possible because I had a slight headache, meaning that if Captain Mal said anything important, I most certainly missed it. Right now, I’m on the level where I have to escort some worm alien thingy to safety. Not sure if that’s near the end, but judging by the Achievements I’ve unlocked so far, I’d say we’re fairly close.

On top of not knowing what is going on, I still don’t see the appeal of this series. Everything screams generic, and I am constantly cursing under my breath at the controls because there seems to be no such thing as a run button. And the night missions? Frak the night missions. Might as well as turn my TV’s monitor off and play it that way.

But yeah, aliens and guns and shooting aliens with guns. That’s been Halo 3: ODST so far for me. I’m glad I bought this cheap and on a whim. Otherwise, I’d probably feel like I just bounced a sticky grenade off a wall and on to myself.