Observed

Wow Wednesday


25 man naxx was a precipice of insanity. I'm not quite sure what that means, but it sure sounds cool. Truly the first well organized 25 man I've been in, it shows that maybe 25 mans shouldn't be as readily avoided as I previously thought. My shoulders dropped, but alas, I did not win the roll. Which is a shame seeing as how my shoulders are my last remaning blue piece. But I'll be back in the dread citadel soon, and hopefully my pauldrons will be present. EoE is still a mire of wipes, as none of us can even get past the second stage. We are working on Ulduar, however, which is semi-stupid since it skips over EoE entirely, and loot from Malygos could be of prime importance in the battles to come. But as usual, I kept my silence within the guild.


I am a total lore nerd, and the world of Azeroth is pretty much my middle-earth. My world-away-earth, if you will. Because of this, bosses that are steeped in lore are very amusing to me, despite their level of difficulty.



One such boss, pictured above, is Algalon the Observer. A servent of the creators of Azeroth, he has deemed the planet too dangerous to continue its activities, what with the rampant gods of death and demon titans. He's about to send a signal to a inersteller demolition crew to destroy Azeroth (kind of like A Hitchhiker's Guide), and it falls to the heroes (you) to stop him. Although he believes what he's doing is for the greater good, we know that Azeroth has more then enough good in it to warrant survival.

I love good lore! I need to get the book on Arthas. God I'm such a nerd...

Reppin The Row

Saints Row is quite funny. Its hardly needs an explanation on why it is funny, simply play the game for 5 minutes. What you will see, among the G-strings and krunked out teeth, are Hot dog suits chase after ninjas with chainsaws and mini-guns, and see porn stars play microbiologists (Seriously)

But despite being a comedy in the same vein as "Meet the Spartans", it creates a interesting phenomena, it proves to be SO ridiculous, that one forgets its ridiculous, and simply enjoys it. Yes many people bill Saints Row as a "GTA clone." But honestly, its revolutionary in its GPS style navigation system, which had been carried over into GTA IV. Funny old world isnt it?

The recent DLC released for Saints Row 2 includes the afformentioned Microbiologist/Porn Star Tera Patrick and her quest to undo the innerworkings of Ultor. The downloadable content is actually satisfying, as it includes new outfits such as the swat and police outfit which I sought after, AND cool looking shirts that don't look like muscle shirts. All in all, even though I woulden't go to the Row if i knew where it was, its still fun to control.

Descent Into Madness

Wow Wedsday




"God dammit! This is Hard!" has become shorthand in the wow world for Ulduar. The new Instance introduced in the huge patch is truly a wonder. Designed by the titans when they ruled the world, it has become something of a melting pot for MADNESS after the release of the old god Yogg-Saron, who has corrupted the many valiant beings in charge of the Titan city.

The first boss, a thing from nightmares, is a vehicular combat boss. Being the way I am, I feel much more comfortable having my own skill set, rather than learning a new one in a multitude of vehicles (Even though i get to ride a super sweet bike). But since I have yet to get past the first boss, thats all I can really say about this raid.


I finally got my "the Argent Champion" title last night. And even though they didnt throw a parade like i thought they would.....it still means something. I reached the rank of Champion in the Argent Tournament as well, and i got my very own SQUIRE.........(assistant to the knight). I named him Jack. I have no idea why, i thought it sounded cool. He basically just follows me around and offers me bread, which I eat when im bored.

Honestly though, the Black Knight questline, which i was excited about, was TERRIBLY dissapointing. I killed him in five seconds anyway.

-Brenden [Incursio]

Where The Animal Crossing Is

For me, almost all Video games are Relaxing. The greatest of games (I.E. Ocarina of Time) are soothing and exciting at the same time, creating some strange dichotomy. But while games of various genres are usually relaxing, there are few games that are made purely for the means of relaxation. One of those is not that surgery game, cause surgery is never relaxing. More like Animal crossing.

Animal crossing first found its way to the Gamecube in the Summer of 2003 (I think) and being a humongous fan of Harvest Moon, which was really of the same mileau, I immediately ran out and bought it. Not only did it come with its own memory card (as a town took up a large chunk of memory to upkeep) but it also came with an undeniable charm. Yes it was cute enough to make Dethklok fanboys squeal, but it also contained a certain indescribable quality that few other games have.

Unfortunately, my town Delfino (named after the town from Super mario Sunshine) was lost forever in my brothers dorm room, for which i have never forgiven him. Therefore i retired from Gamecube Animal Crossing forever, content that no town I could create thereafter would ever rival the majesty of Delfino.

But This Christmas i decided to enter the world of Animal crossing once again, this time on the Wii. Suffice to say, it is the same old thing, in a very good way. Controls are simple, graphics are a tad better, and customization has increased tenfold. Yes no longer do you have to walk around in a Horned helmet, looking like you just got out of rehearsal for The Valkyrie. Indeed even your hair and your hat can be changed, something that was definitely a noticeable absence in the first. The best thing? Tom Nook returns in all his Loan Shark glory! Yes Nookingtons is open for business, so be sure to drop by when you have a free minute. The only bad thing about the game so far is that Buzz, the majestic eagle, and my BFF from Delfino, is missing. I will find him again one day...and we will hug for a little too long and it will be awkward. SO HELP ME! it will be AWKWARD!!

In short: Cute games can kick ass.

-Bren

Dual-Spectacular

WoW Wedsdays

Not often do I feel my prayers are answered, in fact they never are. Which might be the leading reason why I am an atheist. But yesterday I had one of my prayers answered, that prayer was "Can we please get fucking patch 3.1.0 already??" and the answer was an empathetic yes.



Yes it seems blizzard actually reads my blog, because no sooner then I complained about it, they released it within a week. Patch 3.1.0 is here and it is bitchin'. I guess. Really I don't have the legal tender to enjoy all its amenities, but with the release of the Argent tournament dailies, I feel like I should in no time. Pictured above is me with my mighty lance getting ready for the Argent games. Evidently, Blizzard thought we should have a competition amongst ourselves instead of fighting the Lich King. Good call! But seriously, I respect Blizzard very much so I find it very hard to criticize what they do. And sadly, I think I'm the only one who feels that way. Tuesday was officially patch day, and a patch of this magnitude, everyone knew downtime was inevitable. While some overestimated and some underestimated the time to get the servers back up, EVERYONE complained. I was frustrated, but nonetheless elated that it finally came. Everyone else was just frustrated.



Malygos the Spell-weaver, or as I like to call him "The most awesome Dragon EVER!!" is the only encounter within the Eye of Eternity, not to mention the Aspect (leader) of the Blue Dragonflight, so it should come as no suprise that he is among the most difficult fights in the game. The encounter is long and grueling, and of course since it is WoW, if you fail, you must begin anew. The problem seems to be DPS, but with my new build from the patch, we'll see if we can't improve upon that. Our battle with the Spell-weaver might be put on hold though, as the new patch included a brand-new raid: Ulduar. The home of the Old god of death. Sounds cheerful! I'll definitly let you know how my foray into the underground went, if Indeed i get to raid it this week.

- The Blue Dragon

Refusing Offers

Sorry about being postless on friday. Had family over and stuff you know the deal.




Despite being panned by most critics I've read so far, I think the Godfather II is a marginally entertaining action game. It has an extremely different taste then the original godfather, and while the original stuck rigidly to the films plot, Part II seems to care very little about the movie its based on. While that is a bad thing, and the story it creates is dull, it is still entertaining none the less. Managing your crew is simply fun as shit, and as sadistic as it sounds, plotting their deaths once they cross you (or pretending they cross you to justify you killing them to free up space in your family) is quite fun. I'd recommend it to anyone who liked the first one, although they should expect a different experience then the first

While I love Gamspot in every fiber of my being, it is sometimes very demanding in video games. Many believe real gamers are simply people who play good video games only, and being caught with, say Superman 64, is the equivilent of Hugh Grant getting caught in the limo with an ugly hooker when he had Elizibeth Hurley at home. I disagree. I believe being a real gamer is playing anything and everything. I've played superman 64 for fun when I was a kid, and Drake and the 99 dragons, and I knew they werent top of the line games, but you could still have fun with them when you were younger. Anyway I'm digressing.

Gamespot gave Godfather II a 4.5/10, which is abysmal by Gamespot standards. I believe its more of a 7,7.5/10. I understand gamespot is a reviewing website, so they have to review and talk about things that i simply dont care about, like sound or whether or not the graphics are top of the line. But i think this game could've gotten a better score, definitly

Forget everything about me loving Gamespot, I rememberd they gave Twlight Princess an 8.9/10. They should burn in hell.

-Bren

Patchwork

Welcome to WoW Wednesday at Sewer Surfin' Where we explore the world of Azeroth from week to week.



Part of me was beginning to think that Patch 3.1.0 was simply an urban legend, made to keep us salivating at the thought of dual specs until we blow all of our money getting our second-spec gear. I thought wherever patch 3.1.0 is, its the same place Bigfoot, the loch ness monster, and Joyce Dewitt from Three's Company reside. Our imaginations!

But that changed a few days ago. Patch 3.1.0 contains a revamp for Noblegarden (The wow version of the Easter holiday), and while many people don't really care about this, it became useful information two days ago when blizzard announced Noblegarden would commence April 25th. Being the practical human being that I am, I deduced that since the patch needs to be released for Noblegarden to start, that must mean that the patch would be released before April 25th! Although it worries me that no release date has been announced, and if it was going to be released that soon, we would've gotten one. Quite perplexing



I usually make it a rule to avoid 25-man's that don't consist mainly of Incursio (my guild) firstly because the threat of a Ninja is always looming. And secondly they require large scale planning and coordinating, and more often then not, one of the 25 believes they know more then the raid leader, and break off to start their own raid so they can accumulate their own loot. However, a few nights ago I made an exception and went to the 25-man Obsidian Sanctum (pictured above). Although it took awhile to get started, it was surprisingly easy. I suppose since OS is approximately 10 minutes and all the bosses require little or no strategy, this is one of the very few bearable 25-mans available. Even though I got no loot (nothing for paladins dropped anyway), I did get the achievement, and the knowledge I need to understand 25 man's better. Experience can be the best loot of all.

-Brenden [Incursio]