When it comes to The Lord Of The Rings, I never read the books or watched the movies voluntarily (the third one was alright up until the neverending ending). However, Turbine seems to have done something right with The Lord Of The Rings Online (or LOTRO, as it’s more commonly known).
I originally thought that it was just another WoW clone, but there was a reason this MMO was scored 9.0 by IGN and 8.5 by GameSpot – it’s fun. While there are the usual go-here-and-kill-or-collect-that quests, the game never feels repetitive, and with so many tasks available thanks to achievement rewards by way of deed quests, an intuitive three-way crafting system, and points that can go towards temporary stat boosts, you always feel like there’s something to do in the game if you tire of the usual kill/collect quests.
The story, of course, follows the lore of Middle-Earth. Even though I’m not a huge fan, the plot is pretty simple to follow and entertaining, exposing you to enough background and fluff that may make somebody like me a fan. Mind you, I’ve only been playing for 9 days, so it’s still too soon to tell. However, the characters are interesting enough that I’m patient enough to read through all the text and dialogue. I created an Elf Champion, starting off in Ered Luin. The world is open, but isn’t as populated as I thought it would be; this obviously cut down on general chat antics. Nevertheless, I was never too far away from a fellow gamer.
The graphics are more on par with the cartoony/comic style of Rock Band (trust me, this is a good thing). While it isn’t comparable to Aion, LOTRO still manages to surprise you with some lush environments and interesting effects. I haven’t had problems identifying a particular mob from another. Water isn’t the most realistic, but more believable than WoW. Sound effects are pretty standard, and already some key event sounds have made it into my head. The music is pretty damn good; you’ll find yourself humming along to some of the tunes as you hack and slash your way through hordes of mobs. Drops are also pretty decent – I haven’t had a money issue and I always frequently acquired a stronger weapon without having to resort to buying one from a vendor. Armor is detailed and I loved what I got to wear in the n00b zone. I hope to see some interesting armor and weapon designs as I proceed through the game. Leveling is pretty easy too. I’ve been able to gain a level once an hour on average, and I’m currently sitting at level 17 after only 9 days, playing only an hour each day due to my busy work schedule. Skills and combos are fun to pull off, and you get a lot at the start, with at least one active every two levels and one passive every level. Cooldowns are also shorter than most other MMOs, which adds to the enjoyment of using skills more often. I haven’t reached them yet, but there are also hobbies and housing in addition to all the other fun stuff you can do in this game. Finally, with the trait system, no two characters are ever the same even if the same armor and weapons are equipped.
Now for the cons: after being spoiled by Aion’s cutting edge features, I miss auto-approach on target, auto-repeat jumping, and my inventory quick sort button. I also miss flying, but I digress. ^_^ The mini-map shows you where to locate your quest targets, but for some strange reason, you can only target one quest at a time, which is annoying. Quest tracking only limits you to a maximum of five quests, and every time you get a new quest, it appends itself and concatenates the last quest from the tracker. Lame. Finally, selling your wares to vendors is also flawed. You can only sell item by item, which is sorted seemingly at random, not matching how you have your bags sorted. Why the hell is there a Sell All button? Who the heck would sell everything in their inventory, especially when Bankers are not available in most areas?
At the time of writing, I’m on the last day of my 10-day trial. I went back to play Aion for a bit to compare both games, and while Aion is the technologically superior game, I actually have more fun playing LOTRO. Dying in an MMO is never fun, but when I die in LOTRO, I always feel like I did something wrong and could have strategically planned out my combos better. However, dying in Aion makes me feel like I got ambushed unfairly, plus some mobs are uncharacteristically stronger than others but running around in the same area as them.
Definitely better than WoW, and quite possibly the best MMO I’ve ever played. It may be a clone, but it’s a high quality clone. Final score? I think numbers are misleading. The pros definitely outweigh the cons. I feel that more people should be playing this game. I just hope people do. I will definitely be purchasing the full game when I get the money. Warhammer 40,000 – Dawn Of War II is high on my list, but not as high as this one.
Image Sources: In-game screenshots with interface disabled.
See what I did there? Gourds are tasty. But this entry isn’t about gourds. No, sirree.
My nose kept bleeding last Thursday after work. I had to take Friday off to go to the clinic and recover from all the blood loss I endured. Thankfully, my Dad got me Secaris (a cheap knock-off of neosporin/polysporin) to help block it and moisturize my inner nostrils. Better than super glue, I say. The doctor at the clinic diagnosed me with a sinus infection and prescribed me with amoxicillin. I love that stuff, the liquid version tastes like banana! Yum! However, when I went to the pharmacy, they recommended the chewable tablets, which were supposed to be cherry flavor. So, I decided to try it out for fun. What a big mistake!! It tastes like cherry with a banana aftertaste. Not that it’s a bad thing, but… it IS. Why would cherries have a banana aftertaste??? It’s like playing the final boss in Legend of Zelda and getting Super Mario’s I’m-sorry-but-your-princess-is-in-another-castle ending. Or a guy disguised as a girl.
Anyway, I’ve been sick, which explains why my previous post was late. I don’t know if I’m getting better or not, though.
On another note: this morning, I was brushing my teeth and Bad Romance popped into my head for some strange reason. So, when I was rinsing my mouth, I gargled to the tune of Bad Romance.
Lady Gargle. Wait for it; it’s going to be a thing. Maybe.
The site was up and down last week because of my move from Bluehost to Media Temple. More details on ChickenBall Design.
In other news, I’ve finally accumulated my buffer enough that I can stop living paycheck to paycheck! YNAB rules! Well, the YNAB rules are pretty cool, but I meant that YNAB is the best. Sorry, pun intended. Unfortunately, I’ve more than killed any semblance of a life I may have had by working hard enough to earn enough money to do so. The extra money also helps for… you know, comics. Who cares about a social life? A life without reward is no life at all. NO LIFE AT ALL!!
When I was going to sit down and write this entry last weekend, I got waylaid by my friend, Noreen, who wanted help buying a new laptop. I like shopping for new gadgets and toys, even if they aren’t for me. I guess it’s all about the adventure than the end result for me. That, and I like helping my friends if I can. I sure as heck can’t help save their lives or be a wingman, but I can certainly help pick out a good computer worth every bang for the buck. So, we go to Staples and they only had Windows 7 laptops, which was perfect, because Vista was a steaming ball of horse manure encased in stained glass. Metaphorically speaking, of course. If I was speaking literally, then maybe Vista would have sold better because, let’s face it: stained glass is colorful and neat-o. That’s right, I said neat-o. I grew up in the eighties, what more do you want from me?
Anyway, I digress (the first of many times this post, perhaps). We checked out one of the first laptops available. A Toshiba Satellite with Core i5, 4 GB DDR3, 320 GB HDD. Nice specs! Nice design! Overpriced. Next up, we saw a decent Acer Aspire with Core2Duo, 3 GB DDR3, 320 GB HDD. After that, we saw nothing else but HP. Boycott HP. Their printers are good, but I would rather break a stained glass ball of horse manure on my head than accept an HP computer as a gift, let alone purchase one. Needless to say, we went with the modest Acer Aspire. Yay!
A few add-ons like a new laptop cooler mat and external hard drive (darn my innate RadioShack training), and we were off to the races! Except, not really. It slipped my mind that Noreen would have wanted her laptop setup. I spent most of Saturday and some of Sunday morning helping out with that. I’m a great friend, right?? I sacrificed video gaming for helping out a friend.
As an aside, I may have played my video games with a bit too much vigor later on this week, but I’m jumping ahead of myself.
Saturday night was spent at James G’s place playing Magic: The Gathering. It was my first time playing in years… maybe since high school? Anyway, it’s been too long, yet I managed to open a can of humble whoop-ass. Mind you, it’s Magic. I can’t exactly brag about such a geeky hobby anyway. It’d be like saying, “Yeah, I buttered some toast at my soup kitchen community service job like a pro. Like. A. Pro.” Not that I’m insulting Magic; far from it. However, Magic doesn’t exactly bring a crowd to their feet like the Olympics. There – I mentioned the Olympics. Am I good or what?
On Sunday afternoon, I played Warhammer 40,000 with Colin the Cripple. His Tyranids defeated my Necrons like a bundle of dynamite would take out Chinese coal miners, but not by much. Mid-game, however, my throat started feeling hoarse (whinny?) and I was coughing like an angry asthmatic (sorry, Ian). By Monday morning, I had caught a slight cold because I was only coughing. Then, the fever and aches came. I was down for the count by the end of the day, yet I somehow managed to work on twice the tickets at work than Adam did. I wonder why?
I took the day off on Tuesday to recover. I was back on my feet in no time and back to work on Wednesday. Then today came and my cold gained superpowers and beat the living tar out of me, adding sneezing, nasal congestion, and nosebleeds to my woes. Hooray for death!
Don’t worry, I’m not going to die (probably), but I sure wish I could.
EDIT: This entry was supposed to be posted last week, but the cold got worse!! The next entry will explain it all.
Originally posted at ChickenBall Design.
The year in retrospect
2009 was a year of struggle; workers struggling to find a new place after losing their jobs as a result of the recession, companies struggling to stay afloat, and people struggling to find solace from the loss of their beloved celebrities. To me, it was a struggle to find my place in the world outside of my Northern mining town. Unfortunately, I was unable to forge my path due to many reasons, one of which was thinking ahead. I let my emotions guide my way, and as a result, I was unprepared for the harshness of the outside world.
The year in projection
2010 is going to be the year I change all that (well, obviously, I can’t solve the world’s problems, but I can affect my own). Starting with my own name, I’ve decided to create a new personal brand identity, along with rebranding for ChickenBall Design itself. What does this mean? It means that the way I present myself and my one-man design firm is going to change.
Change forward, not backward
Who I am, my thoughts, and my blurbs about life are going to be separated from what I represent, the services I offer, and my portfolio. Speaking of my portfolio, I’m planning to build one. I may be inexperienced and just starting out, but I plan to hit the ground running after exercising my legs with figurative walking. I want to prove my worth not just to people and potential clients, but to myself. I’ve never felt so passionate about web design than I have while doing computer repair. My life as it is at this time of writing is unfulfilling, so I’m filling it fully.
In Conclusion
My English teachers warned me against using “in conclusion” to conclude an argument, but I’ve always been one to challenge the rules, and this is exactly what I’m doing.
Much has happened between the last entry and now. First off, I went to Central Canada Comic Con in Winnipeg at the end of October. It was great, and I’m still recovering from all the money I spent there on various comics and prints. I meant to hang out with Esmond and Shan while there, but ended up hanging out with Kayla, Cale, and two of their friends – Brett and Jaden. One flat tire and the purchase of two guitars later, and it was a weekend I would never forget. I’m looking forward to C4 2010!
When I got back to Thompson (after an icy highway between Grand Rapids and Ponton), I moved out of my parents’ house into Colin and Crystale’s place. Good times.
Now the Internet has mysteriously stopped working. Uhh… did somebody at MTS remove the enhancement for our line? O_o
I’m posting this from my parents’ restaurant, which explains the shortness of this entry.