Sideshow & Syrana

Last week I posted some screenshots from Allods Online.  In the comments, Tami asked the following, which I will answer today:

I’m curious to know how you like the game, past the opening scenes. I don’t know if it was just me being flighty or not, but it seemed really hard for me to connect to the game (adorable hamster people with vicious attack squirrels notwithstanding – mine were Khuu, Bhuu, Rhuu, and Twidget).

Characters

Allods offers some interesting characters to choose from.  There are two factions to choose from: League and Empire.  Each side has 14 different classes you can choose from (which play off of 8 basic classes).  The character creation was kinda fun, but not a whole lot in the way of customization. Plus, I noticed it was easy to change factions and/or classes during the process.

I didn’t see much for descriptions of the races or classes during the character creation. I sort of missed that, especially after World of Warcraft improved their character creation information.  And, honestly, I didn’t want to poke around outside of the game to find out this information. (continue reading…)

This first full work week after two short weeks due to the holidays is just killing my brain.  Seriously.  At least I have some time off coming up really soon, which will definitely help me get back on track with the normal posting schedule.

If you listened to Episode 6 of Polygamerous, you’ll noticed I mentioned playing around with Allods Online and Dreamworld.

Allods Online is in the 3rd closed beta until January 11th, and since I hadn’t spent a lot of time playing it during the previous closed betas I wanted to get a bit more time in over the weekend.

Dreamworld, on the other hand… is on Facebook.

Yup, you read that right.  I’ve finally joined the Facebook gaming phenomenom and accepted a guildmate’s request for that game.  Currently it is the only Facebook game I’m playing around with.  We’ll see if it catches on.

You can listen to me talk about them a bit more on the podcast, but I thought I’d share some screenshots I took of each. (continue reading…)

…from Barrens Chat and omgwtf names.

Clicky for bigger version

This is a screenshot from Allods Online closed beta shortly after I exited the beginner phased area and became surrounded by other players.  Although, all the Chuck Norris comments were scrolled off the chatlog before I took a screenie.

Alright, so we’re still in open beta right now, but I still get altitis.  I guess part of it is, I know my characters are going to get wiped so I don’t want to overinvest in them just yet.  Right now, it’s sort of like the trial period where I can putz around before making more permanent selections upon live.

And selection dates are coming up fast!

So, primarily I’ve been playing an Asmodian Spiritmaster.  This is similar to the WoW Warlock, so, y’know, pretty fitting for me.  Can I compare Asmodians to Horde? Meh, not really, no… at least not at this point.  Maybe somewhere down the road I can take a look at lore/war/oppression/whathaveyou parallels or something.

Now, the Asmodians are considered to be the dark, shadowy faction while the Elyos are bright and shiny.

….

I had to make one just to see it.  But I decided I needed to roll something different, so I went warrior.  The first random face that I got was this:

I’m sorry.  I cannot smash faces with a HEART ON MAH CHEEK. (continue reading…)

I admit, I’m a visual person.  Detail, colors, images, etc. are things I pay a lot of attention to.  Now, I’m not saying that stunning graphics make or break a game, but if it’s not visually appealing to me…. it’s going to be a hard sell.  For those interested in checking out these virtual vacation photos, please do so after the cut.   Oh and to check out my two spirit pets.  (Of course I’m playing a Spiritmaster, it’s the closest thing to a Warlock!)

If you want more information on gameplay details, impressions, and the like… please be sure to check out Massive Nerd and SpoonCraft (to go straight to his videos, go here).

What can I say, I like to screenshot loading screens.

(continue reading…)

As some of you may know, probably from following me on Twitter, Sideshow and I pre-ordered Aion.  Unfortunately, we only did so recently and weren’t in the closed beta.  But! We were just in time for the start of the open beta, which was yesterday.

The Usual Suspects

Let me stop here for a sec.

1-This is not about jumping ship

2-I know I have more BlizzCon stuff to post yet

But as you probably know from reading me, I talk about what I want in my own style and get to it when I can (or when the mood strikes).  So, if there is something you are awaiting to read… all in due time, trust me.

Ok – for those of you still with me….

After defeating the server/we’ve been bombarded by people logging in at the same time/site boss yesterday to actually get inside Aion… I must say, I’m liking what I see so far.  And when I say “see,” for the purposes of this post, I’m referring to just scenery.  (Not that I don’t like other things, just… FOCUS!)

The scenery, is beautiful -no, breathtaking.  Sure, there are some areas that are dark and ugly, as intended.  But there are plenty of other areas that are absolutely gorgeous.  For example, the lake in the beginning Asmodian area – Negi’s Dock – beeeeeauuutiful.  Gorgeous.  Stunning. (continue reading…)