Saturday, May 26, 2012

Fight intimacy problems

Do you want to impress her every night? http://glowlandscape.com/cool.html

Saturday, July 23, 2011

Optimize Your Blog for Mobile Devices

I thought I'd post a quick tip that will make your blog look much cleaner when viewed on mobile devices. Blogger users just need to click. It only takes a second and I think it is worth the fix.

From your dashboard just click "E-mail & Mobile", then choose, "Yes. Show mobile template on mobile devices. that's it!

Friday, July 22, 2011

Seed 2 is adventure/rpg done right for the iPhone

Tonight I'm taking a quick look at an rpg that is the second installment in the SEED series, titled Vortex of War. With the recent release of Zenonia3, I wanted to jump back a bit and give a little creedence to a game that, I think, still kicks Zenonia's boo-tay. In fact, Gamevil swiped from VoW it's strongest user interface feature, a quick save button next to the player's status bars.

In SEED: Vortex of War, you play the young hero Litta. As with any proper hero, the beginning of his adventure requires him only to look tough while chopping stuff--then, also in good form, he finds himself involved in a massive conflict and glory-bound to save said girly friend from a slightly more badass and certainly evil guy-with-cooler-sword. The narrative is quick and entertaining, and the emoti-bubbles over the sprites during dialogue are original yet add to the game's classic feel, as does the soundtrack.

Coming back to the game with a level 42 swordsman, I had quickly remembered why I put it away last year. I couldn't beat the damned boss of Seita Temple and his dumb polar bear lackeys. Even at the first bossfite, you have to be quick with the health potions and might find yourself selling off some junk to stock up for your next attempt.

Something unique to this game is that each piece of armor and weaponry is innately elemental. Therefore, you might be carrying a few Elite Gauntlets, but one of them will be fire, water, wind, or earth. You can determine an area's elemental coefficient by checking an icon at the top of your screen (the map button, basically). Each town has a full-service blacksmith at which you can refine, combine, enchant, fortify, and dismantle enchanted gear into Hex Tarrion (the currency of the skies). There is weapon socketing as well, but each time you refine or enchant your gear you risk destroying it and the materials you used in the attempt.

There is no overt class system in Vortex of War. Instead, your proficiencies are increased individually for swords, guns, and staves. This is fun because it allows you to have three different setups with moves unique to the weapon you have equipped. In this way you are essentially gaining power through two experience systems; one for weapon skills, the other for stat points.

SEED 2 has plenty of side quests if you need to level up a bit or decide to try a new weapon type, but they truly feel like sub-plot quests, and most likely are not necessary to the progression of the game. I'm expecting to reach ~lvl 90 by the end of the game, as the map menu tells me I'm 56% through.

The combat is exciting and the talents play well off each other. Your standard attack will also be primary, but when you get three moves and a buff in your quick slots, you won't be waiting too much for cooldowns. This game allows you to pick your fights as you will. I like to run around and swipe a few to five-six uglies, trick them into a pile and hit them all at once with some spectacular special abilities. These abilities are fueled by mana, but in addition you will learn special weapon attacks that use your stamina.
Overall I think SEED 2: Vortex of War is worth a look if you are even a little into these style of RPGs. It has a well balanced equipment system, does not lock you into a specific talent tree, and is hack and slash adventure at it's best for the iPhone platform. Perhaps though, what I enjoy most about Vortex of War is that it is more difficult than its peers. You've got to stock your potions to ninety-nine.



"Just wait a minute, what the hell are the three prisms?!"
- Litta

Sunday, July 10, 2011

High Dragon - Dragon Age: Origins, Nightmare Difficulty video and strategy, loot

I'm 67 hours into Dragon Age: Origins and tonight I decided to call down from the High Dragon from her icy watch. To attract her, you must use Kholgorn's Horn, obtained in the temple below. I'm playing through on the nightmare skill level. I got a bit hasteful early in the fight and lost Oghren, Wynne, and Allistair to a few  vicious swipes, bites, and fiery breaths. I decided to see how far I could get with my Arcane Warrior alone and was able to vanquish the foul beast! (Not foul, really. I can't stop snapping screenshots of this game). I won't list the loot here, but I will say that I must have looted ~20 items from this "boss", including a +5 flame ruin.

My character is level 17 and running these buffs:

Shimmering Shield
Combat Magic
Rock Armor
Arcane Shield
Spell Wisp
Frost Weapons
I wonder what a dragon head goes for in Orlais

I had equipped a massive 2h Battleaxe, but 1-on-1 I couldn't get a swing off without being interrupted by her forelegs. I swapped to the Spellweaver with some random shield, and I found i could get a few swings in between lesser health poultices. Of course with these buffs, my mana pool only affords one spellcast, so i would occasionally throw a simple heal or Heroic Offense.

It took until the dragon was ~25% health before she ever seemed to fatigue (2 seconds at most), but it was a relief toward the end of the fight to get a couple extra swings in between healing. I must have dropped forty-five LH Poultice (nearly a full heal for my shimmering combat mage), and was glad i had 2x +4 elec damage ruins enchanted into my sword (I was hitting 20-28 white damage with 4-14 additional on good swings, whereas Oghren is swinging ~40-59 white).

I tried to get groovy and kite a bit, but that is perhaps what I should have done when I had a full party. With just the one fighter, I ended up getting hit in the back and knocked on my face. I just had to swing, heal, swing, hope for a swing and get hit, heal, get hit, get hit, heal, etc. To be honest, I think i only dropped below half health three times or so. Both Allistair and Oghren didn't stand up very well to the special ability "grab" but this only chunked out a third of this magically shielded....ummm...clothie...

If you've downed an ogre in Dragon Age: Origins, or hopefully the Bracilian Dragon, you know that BioWare threw in some really neat finishing animations. I caught the last part of this one, check it out!

Here's a video of what the fight looked like for a majority of the time.






Tuesday, March 1, 2011

Games for iPhone Smackdown - the best and teh meh in mobile gaming right now!!!

After scouring the app store for games that don't suck, I had a real hard time picking the best. Instead of lining up a list Im just gonna slam out some quick reviews of some of the games haunting the back pages of my, err.. telephone