2014

Farewell River

stargrace June 12, 2014 No Comments

Yesterday a bunch of us video game bloggers and twitter friends and G+ families heard that we lost one of our own. Christopher “River” Cavelle passed away. He was young, and he wasn’t someone I would say I typically got along with – but that doesn’t matter, I followed his posts and opinions anyway because I think a difference in opinion is a good thing, and River was always very vocal with his. I remember one of his final tweets (though I doubt he knew it would be his final) mentioned that he was going to be “streaming his pee” later that evening. A joke about video game streaming. It still makes me giggle. I marked it as a favorite it at the time.

There has been an enormous outpouring of support from friends and family, both in blog posts dedicated to River, and in a facebook remembrance page set up in his honor. I never got to know him in person, but I read through all of the comments and pictures others shared, and you can just tell that he was an amazing person.

You will be missed.

Farewell River.

Gaming

Tamodochi Life

stargrace June 9, 2014 No Comments

I haven’t had a whole lot of time to game lately, so I was really happy when I picked up this 3DS game called “Tamodochi Life”. I had never heard of it before, but a friend was writing about it on Anook and G+ which piqued my interest. It’s a casual game where you create / import Mii’s to an island where they live. You’re in charge of solving their day to day issues, such as providing them with clothing, food, and playing games with them. It’s a bit like a watered down version of sims, without the building.

It also reminds me a lot of Glitch, because these Mii are absolutely bonkers. You never know what’s going to happen, or what odd dreams they’ll have. You earn rewards for your museum, or items that you can give them. There are two types of items, one goes into their inventory and will add said item to their room every so often as you peek in on them (for example, rent a cat, or a dog, and when you peer into their window they may have a visitor) and the other items are one time uses that provide the Mii with a bit of fun, like the fan pictured above. You level the Mii up as you provide for them, and they’ll lose experience if you don’t give them what they want.

You also unlock portions of the island as you play, there’s an amusement park, a lot of shops, beaches, and a cafe. So far I’ve had a LOT of fun playing this game. Of course it helps that I imported some friends via QR code, and I also imported some “celebrity” Mii from the official site. These Mii are a one time only download, and include people like Shaq (who is best friends with another of my Mii).

If you’re looking for deep thought provoking game play and in-depth story, you probably won’t find it here, but if you’re looking for a casual cute game you can dip into when you’re looking for something light, I highly recommend checking it out.

As always, happy gaming, no matter where you find yourself!

Gaming

Wild for WildStar

stargrace May 29, 2014 2 Comments

Headstart is just around the corner (May 31st 12:01 PDT) and I couldn’t be more excited. It’s amazing to me just how fast the time has gone by since I started working for Carbine Studios back in March.

I know it won’t be for everyone, and I know there are people out there who have less-than-nice things to say about the game, but I have been waiting for this release well before I ever got involved with the company. I’ve seen some amazing creations come out of the housing forums, and it just makes me giddy.

Of course then comes the question, if I’ve been so enthusiastic why haven’t I been writing about it here on my blog, and that’s simply because it’s too easy to look at a post and dismiss it because I have personal interest in the game succeeding. Those who know me or have read my blog for the last.. oh.. I don’t know.. almost 8 years know that isn’t the way that I operate, but it’s still better to be safe.

It is looking like my main will be a Chua medic on the NA RP server, but that isn’t set in stone yet. I just absolutely love the Chua, they are the most maniacal awesome little fuzz balls ever and playing one was awesome. Of course I will probably also create an Aurin at one time or another, because why not, but for now I’ll be sticking with just one character.

Since I passed by ESO when that launched, it has been nice to get into the excitement of another game. Sure there’s Archeage (so much love for that game) and Landmark (more love) but those games are both in beta (or alpha) and I have no idea when release is slated. Hopefully things go well for WildStar, and you get to see many more posts in the future.

As always, happy gaming, no matter where you find yourself!

Gaming

A Graveyard of Dead People

stargrace May 26, 2014 No Comments

I started up (yet another) new village in Banished, and am now on year 15 or so. I finally had my first disaster, a wooden house caught on fire. The only well in the village was up North quite a ways, so I had some fear that the fire would spread, but since it was winter I had extra labourers (I remove the farmers from working in the winter since fields are stagnant) and they managed to put the fire out with only the one home falling apart. Of course that meant the family living there had no home, so I got to work repairing it.

I’m currently working on expanding the town up north, which is where the only stream and body of water is located. I wanted a place to fish, so right now there’s a big long road, an area with docks, a single home where the fishermen live, and a storage shed close by so labourers don’t have to travel too far with their goods. Eventually I’ll start building up that road with new homes and create a trade rout, but for now I have been focusing on survival.

I know the main ‘jist’ of the game is survival, seeing how long your little village can manage, but once you have ‘beaten’ that aspect of the game (pretty easy to do on my settings) the ‘game’ at least for me, becomes expanding and watching your little town thrive much like a sims game. That’s the point I’m at now, though the town is still quite tiny. I think I have 35 total adults, a handful of students and some children. The older generation has been dying off (the NPC you start with) and thankfully I had more than enough new labourers to cover their jobs.

I love Banished, and have ever since I started playing it. For such a well priced game ($20) I have really gotten my moneys worth out of it.

Gaming

The Firelands Raid

stargrace May 26, 2014 No Comments

One of my favourite things to do lately is old raids. Last weekend (or the weekend before?) our small guild of 4 took down the Lich King for the first time. This weekend we decided to venture into The Firelands Raid and defeated Ragnaros. My favourite part was the screenshot above, us posing. From left to right there is Ebonsteel, the fearless Deathknight, myself as priest keeping these four alive, Toargo, our warrior, and Kanad, the hunter.

Yeah, it was awesome. We died a few times when the flames became too much (har har) but we also got some awesome transmog gear and achievements. The whole evening was just a lot of fun, and I couldn’t have asked for a better bunch to hang out with.

As always, happy gaming, no matter where you find yourself!

Farewell River

Tamodochi Life

Wild for WildStar

A Graveyard of Dead People

The Firelands Raid

You Missed

Leveling Up With Timewalking

The Construction of Quail Landing

Making Gold – One Sale at a Time

Timewalking, Gets me Every Time