¹

It’s what I imagined it was. I haven’t gotten that far into it right now as I’ve been quite busy with work and home life. But still. Just playing the character creation and tutorial storyline to the game was quite amazing. The choices I made effected things around me. And the story immersed me right into the game from the very start.

I’m currently at the normal “Fallout” beginning of the game. If you’ve played the first 2, you know what I mean. It’s when that big round door² has just closed behind you and you’re out in the rad-filled world. But before that I started to feel for the characters in the game. Not just my own, but those that he grew up around. That’s a sure sign of great authors. And when a great literary piece can be experienced, rather than just read, I think that makes it even better.

Oh, and I got my first chance at V.A.T.S. It’s the “turn-based” aspect to the game. You hit the “V” on your keyboard³ and you get this neat little green aiming system. You pick a few body parts while the game is paused, hit the “E” key to tell V.A.T.S. you’re done picking, and the slow motion starts up. Your shots come slowly out of your gun⁴ and the huge cockroach goes >splat<. It was quite cool.

Now, I will say this game is not meant for children. It’s mature for a reason. So, parents, be careful about buying this for your kids. I know I would not let my daughter play it or even watch me playing it. But for the older gamer, the storyline looks likes it’s going to be great⁵ and the graphics look quite awesome. So I’ll be playing this one for a long time to come. After all, it was created by Bethesda, and their games are always epic in length.

1. Banner image comes from the official website. [«]
2. Must have took tons of linear motion parts to make that happen. [«]
3. I have the PC version. [«]
4. or the bat moves slowly in your hand [«]
5. when I have the time to play it through [«]

Posted by Saphrym

Ok. If you’ve got an iPhone¹ or iPod Touch, you’ve really got to try this game. I’ve played the computer versions but it’s never been something for me to stick with them. But, the concept of playing the game every once in a while to check on your villagers and how they are doing is perfect for mobile gaming.

I bought this game yesterday and have played it for about 10 minutes at a time in various locations. For instance, while waiting for High School Musical 3 to start², I checked on my villagers to see how well they were building the school in their village. I also got some more research started and played a few mini games to get their progress going a little faster. All of this within a 6 or 7 minute stretch while sitting in the middle of the theater.

Mobile games are great for those few minutes here and there lifestyles. And this game lets you play something very similar to the Sims in concept any place you want. Since I have my iPhone everywhere I go, this is a great game to have. It’s definitely worth the pittance³ I paid for it. My rule is I must get at least one hour per $5.00 I spend on a game. Well, with all of the time I’ve put into this game and will put into this game, I’ll definitely get my money’s worth.

You’ve definitely got to play it if you’re a fan of the Sims and like easy to pick up and quick to play games. Check it out here:

Virtual Villagers: A New Home

1. works on unlocked cell phones also [«]
2. Yep. Went to see it today with my wife, daughter, and friends. [«]
3. $8.00 [«]

Posted by Saphrym

This is Saphrym the gamer speaking. I used to be nuts about Spore. Still am. It’s a great game to me. Although the new 100 part expansion coming out is bugging me because it’s going to be $20.00 and considering the cost of bite size pieces of software¹, I think it’s way overpriced. Should be around $10.00 at most.

²

But now Fallout 3 is coming out. If you know me, you know I’m easily bored. I constantly change games and have never really played many games all the way through. I’ve been screamed at for not finishing KoToR³. I’ve never finished leveling a character in an MMO as far as they can go.⁴ But I have completed exactly 3 games since graphical RPGs have come out. Those 3 are: Mass Effect, Fallout, and Fallout 2. So, Fallout 3 excites me. And the fact that it will be an open world done by Bethesda excites me even more.

Check out this trailer for it. It definitely shows the 50s retro style from the original 2 games that I fell in love with. Oh, and did you notice the 3 games I finished were not fantasy based games. And the only MMO I fully leveled in was a Sci-Fi? Hmmm. Sorry. Got off track. Back to the trailer that also shows the great graphics:⁵

1. like the $0.99 apps for the iPhone or the cheap WiiWare games [«]
2. Banner image comes from the official website. [«]
3. If you don’t know what it stands for, you won’t understand anyway [«]
4. Well, other than Star Wars Galaxies, but that was different. [«]
5. Although I may now have to go shopping for video cards. [«]

Posted by Saphrym

Well, so far I’m loving Warhammer Online. I’m able to jump in for 30 minutes here and there and actually accomplish stuff¹. I don’t know if it’s because I’m still low level or not, but it’s nice.

The interface is very much like World of Warcraft, but don’t let that fool you. Although the fighting is similar to WoW², there are so many features they’ve added and tweaked that make this very unlike WoW. The public quests are quite fun. I’ve done them over and over just because it’s actually fun to be in a PUG³ in this game.⁴ The classes are all pretty much fun. I’m low level because although I’m normally a pet/ranged guy, I’ve been trying them all out. I’ve created a character for every class and am working on getting them all to 5 so I can see how they play.

The sorcerer is an extremely powerful caster. Can’t take a beating, but gets a deaggro⁵ pretty quick in the game.⁶ The mauler is cool because of the mutating arm and it’s fun to watch him slash away with it. My main, the squig herder, is also fun to play. The witch elf is kind of like the rogue from WoW when it comes to the melee damage she can do.

As for the PvE quests, they are very much like all other PvE quests in other games, however, there is a 100% drop rate, meaning you don’t have to kill thousands of them for 5 items. And everyone who kills it gets the item. Speaking of quest items…

There are many little additions to this game that make it where they have removed the tedious aspects of other games and just allowed you to have fun. For example, inventory management isn’t as bad because quest items are instantly put in a separate tab and take up no space in your main inventory. Quest areas on maps are highlighted so it’s easy to find the general vicinity of your quests.There’s a little arrow on the right of your inventory bags that lets you pick what items you prefer to go into what bags. For instance, I make it put my specific crafting materials and potions in my second bag so I know that most stuff in the first one is able to be sold or worn. The quests do not require long walks/runs so far. Everything is pretty close by⁷. And those are just a few of the little extras in the game. It’d take me another few paragraphs to talk about the loot system, which I believe to be quite nice.

When it comes to the environment, it SCREAMS Warhammer. They’ve done a great job of making it look like there’s a war going on around you no matter where you start. I’m a fan of the tabletop game, and this captures the spirit of it in many ways. Even the ground is littered with rust and bones. Many areas have constant animations providing a very living atmosphere. In the orc areas you have cannon shots raining down around you. In the elven area there are constant interactions with prisoners⁸. In the chaos area, there are cannons that shoot dead bodies. You are one of the ones who helps load them up. The world is very alive and the quests do a good job of making you fell like you’re contributing to that life.

And then there’s the RvR. I haven’t played with it much just yet, but from what I have done, it’s quite an amazing way of having PvP without the normal problems of PvP. The long queue lines for some of the instances get me aggravated, but I’ll just go do other stuff while I’m waiting and sometimes even forget I’m waiting for them. With more people joining every day, I’m betting those lines will get shorter as they match people up.

All in all, it’s been a very enjoyable experience. Will it keep me interested after that first month that comes free with the purchase of the game? I have no idea. I’m easily bored. But for now it has breathed new life into my MMO experience, at least until Stargate, Star Trek, or Champions is released, because I’ll probably try all of those too.

1. Which means you won’t need incontinence supplies to keep you going through a 24 hour session nearly as much. [«]
2. Which is fine by me. [«]
3. Pick-up group, meaning a party of players who just get together. [«]
4. That may be because we’re on the RP server and because of the strict rules about it, I haven’t seen any irritating people yet. [«]
5. An ability to make the enemies stop wanting to attack you so much. [«]
6. I used it often against the dragon in the first dark elf PQ. [«]
7. Other than one annoying quest in the elven lands that has you run all the way back north to turn it in. [«]
8. That you help capture. [«]

Posted by Saphrym

Remember Craygor? If not, here’s a reminder. He’s a Spore creature. Well, the creature creator can also record videos and upload them to YouTube.¹ So I decided to take advantage of that:

Isn’t he cute in a frightening dragon sort of way?²

I really am looking forward to this game. Of course, most of my regular readers already know that. I’m looking forward to leading a new race from amoebas to galactic conquerors.³

1. Nifty, huh? [«]
2. Actually, the art of Spore makes it hard to make anything truly frightening. But I still like it. And Craygor is my favorite of my own creations so far. [«]
3. And since they are digital creatures no pet supplies will be needed. [«]

Posted by Saphrym

Ok, so this is old news as it was at the recent E3, but I just saw it a few minutes ago. It sums up the game rather nicely, and I wanted it here to archive it. I also have a few friends who read the blog and also like Spore. So this is for them too:

Posted by Saphrym

I’m a geek. There’s no doubt about it. I love playing Risk the board game. I enjoy trying out new apps on my iPhone. I don’t know what I would do without my DVR that lets me watch television on my own schedule. And instead of things like gold cufflinks that other more “professional” men may enjoy, I am getting the “Christmas Jitters” for Spore. So the following video really made me want it even more:

Will Wright talks about the creativity of the game:

Is there anything you have the “Christmas Jitters” for?

Posted by Saphrym

This is in response to the question asked in my forums by Monique Renae:

What do you think is the best thing about blogging? What does blogging do for you?

First, let me tell you how I got into blogging: I used to have a “blog” back in 1996. It was on my old website, theebs.com. The Saphrym cartoon character was actually created as “Ely Beasel” and theebs.com stood for “The Ely Beasel Show.” At least, that’s what it meant at the time. It actually first began as “The Electronic Book Store.” But I had an Internet Journal. Didn’t do much with it and later I lost theebs.com. Blogs got popular a couple of years after that. And we all know how popular they are today. Well, about a year ago I decided to install Wordpress for the simple purpose of keeping an online portfolio of my fictional writing and poetry. But then I was diagnosed with diabetes.

So, I decided to use the blog as a way of documenting my weight loss¹. Wasn’t really looking for readers, but then I stumbled on Entrecard. Got some readers from there. People started asking for more information than the boring diet posts². So I started providing more. Blogging became a way of me being held accountable for my diet. It wasn’t just my wife and daughter watching me lose weight. It was now more and more people on the Internet. I didn’t want to let them down. So I lost 70 pounds.

But then I hit a plateau. No more weight loss. Was quite irritating. Lasted for months. Actually only got passed it this past week. However, I needed something to write about. So I started writing about my life, my thoughts, my ideas. The personas I list in the categories of this blog became that much more interesting to me. And people still came to visit even though it wasn’t just about dieting anymore. You guys said you liked my writing. So I have continued.

I’m hooked on blogging. It means I get to write anytime I want and I know at least 10 people will read it other than my family. Sometimes more. Sometimes a lot more. It’s a great feeling to know that people like what you write. And that feeling, along with the support for my continued dieting, is why I will continue to blog for as long as people will read. Even when I’m skin and bones, I’m hoping you guys will enjoy my philosophical points of view and the tiny bit of humor I inject here and there.

1. And I swore I’d never use quick weight loss methods. I wanted to go with natural diets. Although I do use Slim-Fast in my diet. But I want my metabolism to be naturally high. [«]
2. click on that link and you’ll see how boring they were [«]

Posted by Saphrym

I know. I know. I’ve written a bunch of posts today. But I just wanted to share so much information. And there’s another one I want to share (can you tell I’m jonesing for Spore to come out?). The following is a picture of a unicorn/pegasus I designed for my wife over the last hour using Spore Creature Creator (click it for full size):

It took me some time, but I’m quite proud of it.

Posted by Saphrym

If you haven’t heard of Spore, then you’re either really not into computer games, or you’re hiding under a Craygor. What’s a Craygor, you ask? I’ll show you:

It’s a dragon creature I created using Spore Creature Creator. What that screen doesn’t show you are the creature parts options on the left that remind me of wine refrigerators, except in this case you’re picking noses, eyes, ears, etc.

I went ahead and purchased the full version of the creator. The trial version is available at the Spore.com website. My daughter and I have made over 30 creatures so far. Here’s a few:

Yes. I put Craygor in there too. Wanna know why? Because those PNG files that you see are actually saved creatures. You can literally right-click on them and save them on your computer and put them in your own copy of the game right now if you have it. The data used to create the creatures is saved right in the image file.

If you’ve got kids who love to play with clay, this is a really easy and non-messy way to do so. I know. My daughter loves it. Her hands don’t turn colors and there’s not bits and pieces of clay stuck in our carpet.

Posted by Saphrym