This. Just this, thank you very much.

An intelligent, fun post on girl geeks. It's also worth following the links she gives at the end, which are others' responses to the same topics.

[Skyrim] Skyrim: Dragonborn

Announcement came out for Skyrim: Dragonborn today.

Some things obviously worthy of note:

1) Dragon mounts.
2) Boat transportation: setting is an island. Solstheim, which makes little sense to people who haven't played Morrowind much in recent memory. It should have both green and snowy areas. Dunmer and Nords should both be prevalent. There are also links to Hircine, so I would guess there might be some werewolf related quests?
3) At 0.25, the architecture has gigantic mushrooms and mushroom-inspired buildings.
4) At 0.28, another bit of amazing architecture. Some people have suggested Morrowind Telvanni influences; others say hints of Red Mountain in the distance.
5) At 1.06, the enemy is mounted on a boar and looks like some sort of goblin. Whatever they are, they appear to be in some kind of stronghold. Edit - These are Riekling Raiders.
6) Obviously again, new enemies and new armor/weapons.
7) At 1.10, there is a cliff-side fortress behind the dragon, so unless that's old, there are going to be mountain fortresses in our new setting. At 0.24. you can see a good deal of the island and some hint of the mushroom architecture in 0.25 on the left of the screen. Solstheim looks pretty big, especially if it supports the mushroom type architecture, which is surrounded by greenery, and the snowy landscape from the other shots.
8) Cool jumping at 0.47. Unsure what that's about, but the architecture of the room the player jumps into is almost Falmer.

Edit - The tentacled monsters are Ash creatures from Morrowind, but I prefer to consider them Lovecraftian.They are even Goths-- Dagoths. Like Shoggoths, but with a Morrowind twist.

The Steam Summer Camp Sale

STOP THE PRESSES! The Steam Summer Camp Sale is here. Yesterday I netted me a sweet Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, Game of the Year Deluxe Edition for only 8.50 -- note, that's base game, two expansion packs, and a whole lot of extra content. Also, Recettear: The Item Shop. The JRPG fan in me could not resist.

Next day's deals begin in, oh, 57 minutes and 20 seconds. Yes, I've been stalking Steam.

On the note of Elder Scrolls IV, I can't believe I can call myself an RPG fan and I haven't played Elder Scrolls, or mentioned that Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim will be out on 11/11/11. I saw Skyrim and basically had a minor joygasm. This game is IT. This is THE RPG. (I will be preordering it even if I have to sell a kidney to pay for it.) This game is big and beautiful and rocks my socks.

This is the link that The Border House blog has for Skyrim and is the best vid, since there is commentary and awesomeness and... I am incoherent over this game, yes. You will want it to. Just... yes. @_@

Dragon Crown and Dragon's Dogma: E3 Dragon Games

Oh, Dragon Crown. Normally, a game from the creators of Odin Sphere would have me excited. I associate Odin Sphere with Atlus and I associate Atlus with some of the most radical, beautiful, insane games out there. However THIS game (here) I can associate with nothing good. Every single female character shown is virtually naked, and the size of her chest puts Barbie to shame. Frankly, this is disgusting. I can't find a single female character role model in this game. Maybe their actions will undercut the fact that they're little more than eye candy, but, seriously? The men are little better. They're all gigantic, unattractive hunks of man flesh. Aside from the very pretty mage. I find him attractive-- but, you'll note, he isn't nearly naked, like the women. What a disappointment. Dragon Crown will be available for PS3 and PS Vita.

A more hopeful dragon game-- Dragon's Dogma. From what I've seen, the graphics are gorgeous, but it might not be quite my thing. The trailers, at least, make it seem like little more than monster-slaying. However, the story is intriguing, and I have hope that they just showed all the hack'n'slash for effect rather than because that's all the game is about. And as a plus? Nary a boob to be seen unless covered by a shirt. Dragon's Dogma will be available for PS3 and X360. (And PC? Please? Maybe?)

I would kill to see an urban fantasy RPG someday.... You people, get right on that.

E3 Update

So, in case not everyone is living their life on the internet to watch every second of it, E3 is from June 7th-9th. The biggest things so far are the two console releases. Playstation Vita, the updated PSP, and Wii U, the updated Wii, are coming up pretty soon. I'm honestly more excited about Playstation Vita at this point. It'll get PS3 ports and looks pretty awesome. Also, it means that the PSP prices are going to go down soon, which means someone's favorite blogger is going to make a purchase sooner or later. (That's me!)

For the Wii U, the strangest part of the update is that you now have a 6 inch screen on your controller. The normal Wii controllers are still used as well. (BOO! Wii's controller sucks!) This personal screen lets you have your own viewpoint while gaming, and has a controller similar to PS3 and X-Box-- I.E. one that actually works. I have intense hate for Wii's controller, which isn't conducive to actual gaming.

The best video I saw on how this weird new controller is actually used:

 

The games that they're showcasing for the Wii U are aimed toward a more hardcore gamer crowd, which would be great. Except they're aiming specifically for a FPS gamer, and the controller seems to me as if it will be best used in an FPS situation. This means they're leaving out the hardcore RPG gamers. *sigh* Here is a showcase of Wii U's upcoming games. I'm going to have to wait to see what I think about Wii U. It seems so much like an overblown DS. But it could provide an interest situation in FPS. I just can't think of what an RPG gamer will get out of it.

The PS Vita looks pretty much like a PSP. The graphics are gorgeous, but other than that, it doesn't seem too much different than a PSP. It has 3G and Wi-Fi connectivity as well, and a touch screen. It seems very fingerprint-prone, from what I noticed in pictures.

Other than that, none of the games have thrilled me much so far. A new Halo is coming out for all you Halo lovers. Cheers on that. I really should probably play Halo sooner or later....

Playing D&D

Since most American RPGs at the very least began with D&D, this seems appropriate to share in this blog--



I absolutely love this song. This and The Guild rock my socks. Does anyone else feel the sudden urge to go slay dragons. (How the dragons get in the dungeons, I'll never know. Is it like the alligators in NYC? And so many ROUS... *shudder* Sorry; getting retro there and remembering all those 3 1/2 inch floppy disks of D&D computer games.)