What I've Been Up To Part One

For the past month or so I've had an excess amount of time on my hands. This always leads to one of three things- excessive cooking, excessive reading, or excessive gaming. In this case it was the latter.

I picked up a PS3 as an early birthday present and promptly got about 10 games for it. I snagged SWTOR for my computer. I even picked up Dragon Age even though I have never liked games like that.

And I've come to a strange conclusion- I don't have the attention span for video games any more.

Star Wars stuck with me for probably two weeks. I found the story lines rather compelling, it was cool to be a good guy or bad guy (even if I was a jedi/sith) and being a Twi'lek? Awesome. Having a companion was probably the coolest part of the game (besides lightsabers because come on) and the fact that your companion did the professions for you sent me over the moon.

However, for a monthly fee the graphics were horrible. I couldn't bring myself to jump because it just looked so unnatural. Running was a necessary evil since I never got a speeder. It also really bothered me that I wouldn't know what would anger my allies specifically. Yes, they have information like "hates jedi" or something equally ambiguous, but when it came right down to it I would often piss off my friend on accident. Shucks darn.

I suppose if I stuck with the game until I got my own ship things might be different. But after getting every class to 10 I realized none of them spoke to me to the point where I really wanted to play the crap out of them. So I un-subbed and moved on. If it goes free to play, I'll be back there when I'm bored.

Guild Wars I've had for a reasonable amount of time and I really enjoyed it. It's amazing for a free to play, incredible graphics and story. My favorite part of the game might be the fact that each weapon has it's own spells/attacks associated with it. As in, if you use a staff as a necromancer it will have five specific spells (which make a scythe blade come out the top whut whut!) but a dagger will have only three specific spells, and if you couple it with a torch you will get two torch specific spells. There are lots of combinations, some more interesting than others.

I also really like the fact that if you fight something underwater, you have a complete different set of weapons/attacks. So far I haven't had more than a dozen short battles underwater, but it's still cool to know they have that mechanic.

Map traveling is easy and simple, quests are straightforward, professions are doable (instantly being able to store crafting goods in your bank from anywhere? priceless) and the world is large and immersible. There aren't a lot of drawbacks to this game, but still...

I found myself bored with it after level 20. I stopped playing, but since it's free I hop on from time to time to kill things or cook up some french fries. Because you can do that.

Tera was a game I've been on since partway through last summer. It has the most beautiful graphics I've ever seen, fighting mechanics are amazing, character customization makes the Sims look like child's play (sims2 at least, I never got the third to work). A seriously beautiful game, but the only drawbacks were painful.

The character limit was something they recently upped. They cut their servers which limits the amount of characters you can make (goodbye my pretties...) and also made it harder to quest when you compete for materials/monsters/quest items. Sure, you can argue that "its an MMO, group up!" but to that I direct you to fatuglyorslutty.com and notinthekitchenanymore.com. I prefer to play alone, as is my choice, and should be doable in any video game.

The only other drawback is that there isn't really anything to do besides quest. I'm not really sure what it's missing, but Tera is missing something in a big way. Sure, there are professions.... but those require lots of things I don't have- like money, or drops from group-requiring monsters. Sigh.

I have to say though, the costumes are pretty cool. But if you are going to have a really money store, you probably shouldn't have a monthly fee. That seems to be the consensus I see.

And that leaves just World of Warcraft. Oh my WoW, what has happened. I've been playing WoW since the day it came out and only took a few month break back in BC. I couldn't tell you what the game is lacking, but I know that the community is one reason I find myself pulling away. It's like WoW was the first big popular MMO (I know about Everquest, just don't son) and the popularity fed the cesspool of jerks and other evils of the internet until they all began feeding there.

Sure, I still love all of my toons. But my guild fell apart, and by my guild I mean my guild of about 10 people, all real life friends or family. None of us play anymore. Some are just too busy (Husky Marching Band Brother and Doctor Dad) some found other games, and some just don't like it anymore. I wish I could loop them all back on so we can adventure together again, but despite telling them all of the cool things in MoP, they still can read me like a book and know the only thing I get on to do anymore is pet battles.

Because let's be honest, it rocks.

I haven't played in weeks, so today I hopped onto the forums to check everything out. I should know better, but still. The amount of hating made my nose crinkle and I quickly switched back to shopping modcloth.com to cheer me up.

Oh, and Diablo3, yeah... I quit that after going through the game as two classes and realizing it is one of the simplest games I've ever been disappointed by. Lacking is an understatement.

Faces of Tera: Elin

Face:

7

Bone:

17

1

18

10

21

Eyes:

24

20

30

16

25

14

1

Nose:

28

8

8

17

When it comes to Elin, I wish you had a choice between the adorable kawaii girls and maybe a sort of scary cute. That would be awesome. In any case, here was an attempt to make an Elin that didn't look like something out of an anime. She still looks young though. 

And yes, I didn't write the mouth sliders down =/ but pretty much as wide as possible and then it's a matter of how much lip you want. 

Faces of Tera: Castanic Female 2

Face:

5

Bone:

11

1

19

7

8

Eyes:

24

17

17

13

21

7

10

Nose:

13

16

1

22

11

29

9

17

Mouth:

11

12

22

25

24

11

Ears:

1

1

1

1

I decided to remake my lancer on Tera and this was what I came up with ^_^ I'm actually really pleased with how she turned out!

Faces of Tera: Castanic Female

Face:

4

Bone:

17

6

20

19

4

Eyes:

22

21

12

12

23

24

15

Nose:

17

23

8

27

16

27

1

17

Mouth:

6

14

26

25

30

21

Ears:

1

1

1

11

For this one I am pretty sure I picked the dopey-est face and tried to make it passable for pretty. Or at least a scary looking face. 

Is it just me or do all of the female Castanics look reallllly suspiciously similar? >_>

Faces of Tera: Human Female 2

Features:

6

Face:

5

Adornments:

6

Bone:

13

20

31

11

7

Eyes:

25

20

27

11

22

19

19

Nose:

23

26

11

17

15

28

14

17

Mouth:

16

22

16

11

16

21

Ears:

23

1

1

11

The more I look at this one the less I like it :S But ah well. I fiddled with this one much more than the first.

Faces of Tera: Human Female

Features: 

2

Face:

3

Adornments:

10

Bone Structure:

14

15

23

19

3

Eyes:

26

24

24

15

23

14

3

Nose:

15

13

7

13

15

23

11

17

Mouth:

18

11

14

14

28

19

Ears:

1

1

1

13

This was the first face I really tried to customize to look unique. Pretty sure I failed miserably, but hey! Everyone starts somewhere. I have to admit, I tried to model it after myself. I figured that I should start by trying to re-create faces I am familiar with and go from there. 

Things to note: while I'm fine with people copying this face exactly, feel free to use it as a starting point as well. Some details are more important for the overall look than others. 

Controller Not Found...

I game.

There it is. One of my big relationship hurdles, my time killer, my fun, my inspiration. Games, right? Who doesn't game?? From "srs bznz" gamers to people like my mom who just plays solitaire and words with friends on her phone while watching tennis. If she games, I'm willing to say that everyone games.

So why this blog? I dunno. I guess I started fiddling with the Tera character creation screen, and when I realized how many different faces you can make I thought I'd share some here. Talk about customizing how your character looks? That'd be Tera.

I also play WoW pretty regularly, but I am by no means an expert. That game changes more than I care to keep up with, especially with the latest patch to prepare for MoP. Goodness.

Those are the PC games I play, as for console I've got an Xbox and a Wii, not exactly covering all my bases but perhaps the elusive PS3 will join my ranks soon. I tend to play Gears of War more than anything on there, but I just got Rayman: Origins and am on the last level. Gears is good for cathartic killing things with lots of gore and chainsaws, Rayman is more for a group of people who are just tipsy enough to smack you to your death. Seriously, competitive people open up on that game.

Other games might make an appearance on this blog, or at least be mentioned. To be honest, I've been playing video games for as long as I can remember. My dad started me on Starcraft, my brother let me watch as he played the console games, and on recess I would tell my friends about the insane worlds inside the T.V.

There's my gaming in a nutshell. Any questions? No? Then it's down to business.