In Other News...
”Its not unusual to be loved by anyone
Its not unusual to have fun with anyone
But when I see you hanging about with anyone
Its not unusual to see me cry,
Oh I wanna die.”
- Tom Jones, It’s Not Unusual
Well, I guess some news is better than none, right?
First, I got my books Friday. Yay! I can’t wait to start them, along with the 20 million others I need to read…
Speaking of books, I’m seriously thinking of trying to call my friend Bryan and see if I can’t change books in our contest. Between Star Trek: Captain’s Glory (latest book in the Shatner series), Star Wars: Allegiance, and The Last of the Jedi books #s 5 and 6, I’m seriously itching to get back into those series.
It’s not that I’m not enjoying the Shannara trilogy. But it’s a totally different kind of read. Where normally, I would try and speed read (which I’m very good at doing while still remembering a lot of the details I read), it just can’t be done with this series. It’s too complex and rich and really requires me to sit down and read it when I have no other books truly pressing on my mind. I need to focus and really give it the attention it deserves. And the fact that it’s a trilogy only compounds the problem. *sigh*
If Terin goes through half of this, he really does have my pity and I would love to know how he gets by…
Moving into the video game world, I managed to beat X-Men: Legends Friday night.
I really enjoyed the storyline. But there were some issues I had with the game:
1.) You can’t import characters into new games. I know it’d make things easy when starting a new, but hey, I think if I beat it, I earned a cake walk anyways.
2.) You can’t go back and do other things once you’ve beaten the game. When I beat it, my characters weren’t maxed out. They were in their high 30s, near 40s. Which is nice, but I really wanted to test their limits and see what I could do. I also didn’t have all the Danger Room scenarios unlocked. The prospect of having to start ALL over just for these things really made me not want to play the game again
3.) The lack of a Restart Level option. Oh, I found this VERY irking when I realized I might have hurt myself from completing one level and not realizing I was on the last level, I was very made and frantic that I would have to start all over.
The level I would have liked a restart on was the Saving the Arbitiar, where one is on a timer. To save the people and seal leaks. Well, I didn’t realize I was on a timer and took my sweet little time until I reached a save point. It was then that I realized I only had a little over 2 minutes to do 2 more sections of the ship before Jean refused to go Phoenix and we all drowned and very wet and unheroic death…
I was just about to restart when I thought to give it another go. I just BARELY managed to complete it after 20 or so deaths learning the layout and shortest routes. However, this could have been easily been rectified with a Restart Level option.
4.) Graphics. While I loved the cut scenes, the actual play graphics left something to be desired when it came to the characters. The locations were very nice, but I would have preferred a little more attention to the characters. But this is minor.
And of course, the best aspect of the game is Patrick “Too Cool For One Genre” Stewart who voice acted Prof. X. Now if only Gandalf himself voiced Magneto…
On other game news, I have been accepted to partake in the Lord of the Rings MMO (Massive Multiplayer Online) beta. I was very excited to hear and as of today, it is installed and I have played some. The interface is a little weird, but nothing I’m not used to with Galaxies, and I like the simplicity of the interface while the game itself seems to allow a complex level of variety. It reminds me a little of Galaxies in some aspects, while remaining unique (to me) in others. The other thing I like is that, thus far, it’s not taking place during the movies, which is nice. I’m kinda tired of the games that all rehash the story we know.
I also like the character name help, as well as the class choices. I was a little disappointed though that Gandalf’s kind wasn’t usable, nor were any villain classes, but it’s also Beta. They might either add these classes in upon closer to release, or with an expansion. That’s the only thing I fear with MMOs; they force you to play one side without the other.
And I suppose that’s really it. I’ve started playing X-Men Legends II: Rise of Apocalypse and I have to say, I like the graphics and interface much better so far over the first one. The only thing I’m not liking right now is a lack of Magma, the unique mutant that the first game focused around. She was a cool character and would have liked to have seen her used again…So much potential in her.
That’s about it for now. Later.
Its not unusual to have fun with anyone
But when I see you hanging about with anyone
Its not unusual to see me cry,
Oh I wanna die.”
- Tom Jones, It’s Not Unusual
Well, I guess some news is better than none, right?
First, I got my books Friday. Yay! I can’t wait to start them, along with the 20 million others I need to read…
Speaking of books, I’m seriously thinking of trying to call my friend Bryan and see if I can’t change books in our contest. Between Star Trek: Captain’s Glory (latest book in the Shatner series), Star Wars: Allegiance, and The Last of the Jedi books #s 5 and 6, I’m seriously itching to get back into those series.
It’s not that I’m not enjoying the Shannara trilogy. But it’s a totally different kind of read. Where normally, I would try and speed read (which I’m very good at doing while still remembering a lot of the details I read), it just can’t be done with this series. It’s too complex and rich and really requires me to sit down and read it when I have no other books truly pressing on my mind. I need to focus and really give it the attention it deserves. And the fact that it’s a trilogy only compounds the problem. *sigh*
If Terin goes through half of this, he really does have my pity and I would love to know how he gets by…
Moving into the video game world, I managed to beat X-Men: Legends Friday night.
I really enjoyed the storyline. But there were some issues I had with the game:
1.) You can’t import characters into new games. I know it’d make things easy when starting a new, but hey, I think if I beat it, I earned a cake walk anyways.
2.) You can’t go back and do other things once you’ve beaten the game. When I beat it, my characters weren’t maxed out. They were in their high 30s, near 40s. Which is nice, but I really wanted to test their limits and see what I could do. I also didn’t have all the Danger Room scenarios unlocked. The prospect of having to start ALL over just for these things really made me not want to play the game again
3.) The lack of a Restart Level option. Oh, I found this VERY irking when I realized I might have hurt myself from completing one level and not realizing I was on the last level, I was very made and frantic that I would have to start all over.
The level I would have liked a restart on was the Saving the Arbitiar, where one is on a timer. To save the people and seal leaks. Well, I didn’t realize I was on a timer and took my sweet little time until I reached a save point. It was then that I realized I only had a little over 2 minutes to do 2 more sections of the ship before Jean refused to go Phoenix and we all drowned and very wet and unheroic death…
I was just about to restart when I thought to give it another go. I just BARELY managed to complete it after 20 or so deaths learning the layout and shortest routes. However, this could have been easily been rectified with a Restart Level option.
4.) Graphics. While I loved the cut scenes, the actual play graphics left something to be desired when it came to the characters. The locations were very nice, but I would have preferred a little more attention to the characters. But this is minor.
And of course, the best aspect of the game is Patrick “Too Cool For One Genre” Stewart who voice acted Prof. X. Now if only Gandalf himself voiced Magneto…
On other game news, I have been accepted to partake in the Lord of the Rings MMO (Massive Multiplayer Online) beta. I was very excited to hear and as of today, it is installed and I have played some. The interface is a little weird, but nothing I’m not used to with Galaxies, and I like the simplicity of the interface while the game itself seems to allow a complex level of variety. It reminds me a little of Galaxies in some aspects, while remaining unique (to me) in others. The other thing I like is that, thus far, it’s not taking place during the movies, which is nice. I’m kinda tired of the games that all rehash the story we know.
I also like the character name help, as well as the class choices. I was a little disappointed though that Gandalf’s kind wasn’t usable, nor were any villain classes, but it’s also Beta. They might either add these classes in upon closer to release, or with an expansion. That’s the only thing I fear with MMOs; they force you to play one side without the other.
And I suppose that’s really it. I’ve started playing X-Men Legends II: Rise of Apocalypse and I have to say, I like the graphics and interface much better so far over the first one. The only thing I’m not liking right now is a lack of Magma, the unique mutant that the first game focused around. She was a cool character and would have liked to have seen her used again…So much potential in her.
That’s about it for now. Later.