Author Archives: Self Similar

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Covered Up

I’m down two more Xbox 360 games from my oh so intimidating backlog of games.

First, I finally got around to playing through Gears of War 2. I did so cooperatively and I have to say it was a pretty polished and fun experience. The game still has excellent graphics despite its age and whether or not it does anything for you personally, a unique visual style. As a sequel it felt like “more of the same” of the first game in pretty much every way. Of course, I haven’t played the first game for quite a long time so that impression might be slightly skewed. My only real complaint other than the typical observations about the meathead characters and hole filled plot was that as a cooperative game I’m not sure I appreciate the designers’ decision to constantly try to separate the players by making them take separate paths. I’m pretty sure they were attempting to force you to work together by completing different but related goals to help foster some kind of greater feeling of cooperation but more often than not it just garnered a disappointed “aww, they’re making us split up AGAIN?” response from us. It felt like the game was attempting to keep us apart half the time and exactly what kind of co-op experience is that?!

“Football sure has changed in the future…”

I also dusted off my copy of Tom Clancy’s Rainbow 6: Vegas 2. Damn, that’s a long title.

Immediately Vegas 2 came off as very dated compared to most newer FPSes. It took me a while to get familiar with the controls which work fine for the most part but are definitely different enough from the Halos and Call of Duties of late to screw you up for a bit – I chucked plenty of grenades at my own feet early on. Once I got over that curve I started to appreciate the brutal, tactical nature of the combat over any lack of modern polish. I haven’t talked about it a lot here since I haven’t played much of it lately but I am a big fan of the more realistic, Tactical FPS genre of games so I suppose it started scratching an itch that I haven’t had scratched in a while. Having overcome that I struggled to remember how the hell the story of the first game ended. I knew it ended with a “To be continued…” sort of thing but Vegas 2 definitely doesn’t pick up feeling like a direct continuation. Then again this is a Tom Clancy brand game and I’ve played enough of those by now to not have to worry too much about the story.

While I had a lot of fun ordering my squad mates around, clearing rooms with well-timed flash-bangs and flawless shots through thermal goggles, sniping from afar in the pitch dark, and otherwise being on the enjoyable end of a lot of face pwning, it wasn’t all puppies and rainbows. I actually became quite frustrated with the game more than a few times during the run. Silly stuff, like unevenly placed checkpoints, including a major pet peeve of mine: checkpoints right before scripted events or cut scenes. Probably the most of annoying of these was right before the final major firefight of the game. I must have had to watch that damn thing play out 20 times before finally surviving the fight long enough to make it to the end scene of the game. Most of the checkpoints were placed decently early on but it definitely seemed to go downhill the later into the game I got.

“Rainbow 6 prefers to conduct most of its firefights in crowded city streets.”

Of bugs, the generally fairly well received cover system of Vegas seemed a bit less reliable in Vegas 2 than I recall it being in the first game. I found myself flipping out of cover, leaning out of cover on my own, and generally not behaving as expected a bit more than I was comfortable with. This seldom resulted in any fatalities though so I guess I can’t bash on it too much. I also ran into one part of the game which I had to replay about 5 times due to the cut scene at the end the level not triggering after completing my object of clearing an area despite wasting tons of time trying every trick in the book to avoid having to reload. Arghhhh!

Your squad mates are still hilariously stupid at times. They often fail to do a good job checking corners when entering rooms or taking up good defensive positions when ordered to move to certain places which contrasts sharply to how well they do these things at other times. Probably my favorite example of their stupidity is that when one squad member is injured (which itself is frequently the result of something pretty shockingly dumb occurring) the other will usually make their way their location as if to secure them BUT won’t actually try to save their life without being manually ordered to. This can create some pretty tense situations if you decide to split yourself up from your two squad mates to employee some more creative flanking tactics, as the game encourages you to do from time to time. Dashing around to try to get a clear shot of my downed team mate to issue the “heal” command in time resulted in at least a few deaths of my own during the campaign… oh, and despite how easy it is to heal your squad mates they’re apparently completely incapable of healing you. Why?! Oh, I guess because you’re not alive to explicitly tell them to. Pfft…

“My squadmate decides to investigate an explosion face-first while I intelligently take cover behind a barrel of highly flammable liquid.”

My other biggest complaint about Vegas 2 is probably the difficulty. Yeah, yeah, I know I just praised it for its brutal combat two paragraphs ago, but honestly, damage and ballistic models aside, most of the more difficult sections of the game felt only difficult because of the sheer number of enemies they pack into some of these areas, and most often, the absolutely painful choke-points and scripted scenarios they expose you to along the way. In other words, it oftentimes only felt difficult because the designers’ went out of their way to make it overly difficult in those particular spots. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: a good Tactical FPS doesn’t need a ton of enemies to be fun! If the damage and weapons models are “realistic” enough, 2 enemies in a room is a challenge… and that challenge usually feels much fairer than, say, the scripted hordes of unlimited NPCs games like Call of Duty 4 throw at you. Combining that, however, with having to have your 3 man squad off 50 terrorists in one level encourages you to run through quickly rather than carefully entering and clearing rooms, only adding to potential frustration while minimizing the tactical gameplay the series is supposedly built around.

Despite all of those negatives playing through Vegas 2 did in fact feel fairly satisfying and refreshingly different alongside other FPSes I’ve played through recently. I highly doubt I’d volunteer to play through it again anytime soon but it might indeed inspire me to play through some of my favorite oldies such as SWAT 4.

Ahh, one last thing… when I played the original Vegas I didn’t have an Xbox Live Vision cam so I couldn’t test out the awesome ability to map your own face to your in-game character. Thank god for that! After my several attempts to get it working at all I was greeted by some horrible looking, wax golem-like facsimile of myself. Yes, even more hideous than the real thing. Yikes!

As usual for console games, not my screenshots.

The Tale of Garn Chapter 25

Warning: potential side quest spoilers ahead!

From Garn’s recollections:

Treasure Hunt

I was minding my own outside of the Roxy Inn, packing up my horse and preparing to set out once again when I was approached by a stranger in a grey cloak. He introduced himself as a runner from the Court of Bruma and said that the Countess insisted on seeing me about work. The runner tossed me a small coin pouch and told me it was a stipend to help ease my consideration. Temporarily dumbfounded by this I had little time to ask questions before the runner again made his way back to the road and disappeared into the surrounding hills.

At first I was a bit puzzled by these events: Had my reputation grown enough that a Countess would send for me from afar? Had my reputation grown so much that people were starting to take note of my whereabouts even? Was this a trap? Should I be concerned? The 25 gold coins in the pouch sealed the deal – I had few enemies in Bruma so far, had certainly done a few things there and around there to gain reputation, and I still had little to go on regarding my suspicions of a forgotten past that I should be wary of catching up to me over. This was what I was after, and what my adventuring career had been building up to. I mounted my horse and began to ride towards Bruma.

“This old place again..”

As I walked into Castle Bruma I was greeted by the court’s herald, Tolgan, who had been expecting me and escorted me to the Countess. Countess Narina Carvain seemed absolutely giddy with excitement upon my introduction. The Countess told me that she had been looking for an experienced adventurer for quite some time and began to lay out the entire scenario for me. Apparently the Countess was an avid collector of ancient Akaviri artifacts. Although I didn’t know of their origin, I could see signs of her being a collector by the various displays in her throne room. The Countess told me that she had been in search of a particular item, an amulet called the Draconian Madstone, that she had been able to track to a location known as Pale Pass. Pale Pass, however, was thought to be a legend and no one knew exactly where it was. Some of the Countess’s scouts were able to track down one of the landmarks mentioned in the journal of a Akaviri messanger that was part of her collection which lead her to believe that it might actually exist, however. This was where I came in – her scouts were unable to continue their search due to dangerous monsters and wildlife in the area.

“See how happy I make her?”

This sounded like a simple enough task – she gave me a copy of a simple landmark map that was drawn in the journal as well as precise directions to one of these landmarks. She seemed quite certain that if I could find the other two land marks described in the journal I’d be able to locate the Pale Pass and hopefully find the Draconian Madstone. The beasts roaming these northern mountains weren’t much of a concern either – sure, they could be dangerous, but I’ve dealt with them before without a problem.

“Still better than Oblivion’s animations.”

After a quick trip to a local supplier for some extra furs I saddled up and began to ride away from Bruma. It was a lonely ride up into even higher elevations than city sat at, with snow blowing at my face and poor visibility to watch for predators. As I set camp for the night I began to read some of the journal transcriptions the Countess had given to me. Assuming the accuracy of her scribes, the journal tells of a messenger who was being sent to the invading Akaviri army’s headquarters which was hidden in Pale Pass. The message was a simple one but not delivering it could have dire consequences – the fort would not be supplied as scheduled, and they would have to ration their supplies for longer to hold out. The messenger never made it, besieged by the elements, wolves, and what sounded like Ogres.

“At the foot OF the foot.”

At day break I set off again and soon found the second of the landmarks – an huge and ancient Imperial statue of a knight. I thought it to be quite an odd location for such an elaborate piece of art but who knows what this place was in ancient times. As I admired it I heard my horse, left to graze nearby, in distress. As I dashed to it I discovered a hulking Ogre kneeing over its corpse. Nimbly out maneuvering the creature I slashed my sword deep into its shoulder and again across its midsection. Luckily I wasn’t carrying too much extra on my horse and I was, in theory, close to the final landmark and entry way into the Pale Pass.

Soon I found it – an ornate doorway carved into the very face of the mountains. As I opened the door it was quite clear that I was the first visitor here in a very, very long time. I carefully made my way through the dusty cave – it seemed to be mostly one long passage, though there were outcroppings containing chests and strongboxes and what seemed to be some caved in rooms and passageways leading off in different directions. Most of these chests seem to have been picked of their more precious items by thieves long ago despite the generous smattering of traps scattered throughout the cave system. In one of these outcroppings I discovered the remains of the very messenger whose journal had been so useful in finding this place. Although his skeleton had obviously been picked clean long ago, I did find a copy of the message he was supposed to be delivering. Feeling that this might be worth something to the Countess I pocketed it and continued on my way.

“Now THAT’S dedication!”

After hiking a good 20 minutes I emerged from a door on the other side into what was unmistakably Pale Pass – ancient ruins fill the basin whilst the wildlife, nearly undisturbed for years, thrived as best it could in the harsh climate. I said nearly because the creature at the top of the food chain in this forgotten place soon made itself known – Ogres. The entire area was simply teaming with Ogres and I had to continually check every corner for potential danger. Luckily Ogres are seldom known for their stealth or their cunning so I never gave them the chance to get the better of me. It didn’t take long for me to discover the fort – the ancient Akaviri headquarters. The upper levels of the complex appear to have been almost entirely decimated by a landslide but a quick search through the ruins soon revealed an intact passage into the lower levels of the building.

“Cleanup on aisle 3!”

Below the ruins I found an surprisingly intact fort. There was little in the way of interesting treasures to be found but it may have been kept quite lean in times of war. I didn’t get to explore long before I encountered two things I’d be coming across quite a bit while down there – traps, and undead. Traps were simply everywhere in this place though many of them were too ancient to continue to function now. I theorized that the holdouts at the fort, knowing of their fate, barricaded themselves in. Perhaps they feared an impending attack? Such knowledge is likely forever lost. More mysterious to me, however, was the presence of undead Akaviri soldiers that frequently ambushed me as I moved through the complex series of passages and rooms. How did Akaviri became undead? Perhaps a curse or some sort of necromantic charm used on recruits. In any case this was not my idea of good adventuring – much danger with very little reward. Even the Akaviri armor and weapons which could be priceless to collectors such as the Countess, were so deteriorated as to be worthless.

“Well, the weather hasn’t been so great…”

I continued to make my way through the dark and dusty underhalls of the fort carefully looking for traps and any sign of the Madstone. Not having much luck I eventually came to what appeared to be an officer’s quarters judging by the decor. My search was interrupted by another undead solider, although this one began to speak. It was the Akaviri Commander, and he seemed to be addressing me as the missing messenger. He demanded to know of what his orders were. Instinctively, rather than attempting to fight it I reached into my pocket and presented him with the copy of the message I had found in the cave. Seemingly content with whatever details lay within, the commander collapsed into an unanimated pile of bones and armor and I could hear echos of other undead soldiers doing likewise throughout the fort. While I was happy to be rid of the nuisance I was still no closer to finding the Madstone. Almost as soon as I had completed that thought, however, a large stone slab began to slide away – something had triggered it opening in the officer’s quarters, revealing a small treasure room. The treasure certainly wasn’t the great heaps of spoils of war that I had imagined, not too surprising given the less than successful end to the campaign, but at least the Draconian Madstone did seem to be amongst the items I recovered. I quickly filled my bags and began the long walk back out.

“Sweet, sweet loot!”

The walk back out of the fort, the pass, and finally the mountains, without a horse, was quite miserable, but before long I found myself back in Bruma. Countess Carvain couldn’t believe her eyes when I presented her with the amulet. She was so pleased with its condition that she gave me one of her other, lesser Akaviri artifacts, a magical ring, as a reward. Although the ring didn’t seem to be exceedingly useful to me it was likely worth quite a bit to one of the dealers in the Imperial City. Speaking of which, I had seen my share of these cold mountains for the time being and decided to set out for home, hoping my modest shack hadn’t yet been robbed of its riches in my absence. It could very well be filled with squatters by now…

Shattered Memories

I started writing this on the eve of the release of Cataclysm, not too long after “The Shattering” has given Azeroth’s zones a face-lift. Some of these “classic” WoW zones have seen more drastic changes than others but all of them have at least seen minor changes and quest line overhauls. I planned on doing a few different articles about pre-shattered Azeroth but I procrastinated a bit too long and none of them really panned out. Instead of focusing in detail about any specific zone or change, inspired by two excellent podcasts I’ve been listening to recently (Postcards from the Old World and Warcraft Less Traveled) I thought it might be fun to briefly give my impressions about ALL of the old world zones my first character, still my main today, leveled through. Some of these early zones I also ran in beta, just to clear up some potential discrepancies.

“The logon screen from beta, advertising a place you can’t go until you buy the first expansion!”

Durotar was where my young Orc started his adventure and I’ve started here many other times on various other servers since. I always enjoyed ransacking Tiragarde Keep as slaughtering Alliance humans in a building straight out of Warcraft 3 after almost nothing but wildlife save a few trolls and centaurs always felt like a welcome progression to me. Cleaning out the cultists in Skull Rock, leading up to the eventual visit to Ragefire Chasm was a staple as well. Going after Fizzle Darkstorm in Thunder Ridge always felt like a challenging mini-adventure each time I leveled through the zone – I don’t recall having too much trouble with him as a Rogue but other classes I leveled here with had to come up with more inventive techniques without the benefit of stealth.

When I finally got to The Barrens it felt like the world finally opened up. This quickly turned from a positive to a negative as I ran all over the place questing. The Barrens has an infamous reputation for that so no need to dwell on that topic. That said I always enjoy the Crossroads and Ratchet and the zone had some decent quests as well. The Wailing Caverns was the first REAL dungeon I ran and I’ve still got a slight but undeniable soft spot for it. So called “Barrens Chat” wasn’t quite as out of hand in the beginning as it eventually ended up being but I feel like it deserves a mention as well. Quest wise, raiding Northwatch Hold and Bael Modan were some of my favorites, along with the Sludge Fens area.

I eventually ran through Mulgore to get to Thunderbluff, as quests demanded, and I always thought it was a beautiful zone. I didn’t have a Tauren for quite a while later so I never really leveled there back then but now I can say that it almost felt like a mini-Barrens to me – lots of open space, and running around therein to complete quests. Not a huge fan, but not bad. Thankfully the post-Shattering revamp has streamlined these quests a little bit and overall the zone retains its feel without being quite as painful – it feels like you’re out quicker to boot.

I ended up in Tirisfall Glades to visit the Undercity at some point as well. The main attraction here was eventually the Scarlet Monastery and much later, the entrance into the Western Plaguelands of course. I ran into Silverpine Forest a few times as well to help a few friends and the like. I always hated the long, narrow feel of the zone despite its cool aesthetic. I recall bumping into a Son of Arugal once when I was much higher level and being surprised when it started kicking my ass. I remember running Shadowfang Keep a couple of times back then with guildies and being intimidated by the fact that it felt like a real dungeon, even more so than the Wailing Caverns, and being a bit worried that I’d screw something up since I hadn’t done many instances or grouped much period.

Back to Kalimdor, I went from The Barrens to Stone Talon Mountains around the same time as other guildmates. Stone Talon had a fairly deserted feeling, much as it does today, with few people questing there. I really dug Windshear Crag at the time. I also remember helping a buddy complete the grindy feeling kill quests in the Charred Vale. Each time I’ve visited it since it has felt just the same – maybe a bit easier than before, but still very, very similar to the early days of classic. I’m quite curious about how much this place has been changed but I haven’t made it back here yet.

After that I distinctly remember heading directly into Desolace and spending a good amount of time there. I think a lot of my guildies must have headed elsewhere, because at first I was pretty much alone in the zone. Soon, as I began to wrap up in the southern Centaur areas (AKA “noob’s first rep grind”) they began to join me, and I had my first PVP experience. I did mention I was on a PVP server, didn’t I? During the centaur rep grind we started to see red names talking to some of the NPCs. It was only a matter of time before someone attacked – I don’t recall if it was them or us, but that doesn’t really matter in the end. This was, of course, only the first of hundreds of such PVP sessions but it was memorable and fun. World PVP really makes you appreciate being a rogue, I must say. Some of my favorite Desolace memories include the Naga quests on and around Ranazjar Isle as well as exploring the well hidden Shadowbreak Ravine back before it was populated with mobs or even had a name assigned to it.

I’m sure I visited Hillsbrand Foothills and the Alterac Mountains a few times around this time, speaking of PVP. I didn’t do much leveling here but the area around Tarren Mill was always such a hot bed for world PVP (AKA “ganking”) it was always an interesting place to visit. I also have fond memories of sloshing through the river, searching for and stealthing into Ravenholdt, and yeti hunting in the mountains. I would occasionally revisit Tarren Mill when exceedingly bored to PVP – even though I was a rogue I rarely ganked people without provocation but once you were on my hit list I would be fairly merciless. I’d fly in and stand just outside the town limits waiting for the almost inevitable Alliance player to come along and gank some seemingly innocent quester as they entered or left the town. I liked to play Sheriff and Tarren Mill definitely felt like a frontier town.

Back west, Ashenvale was a zone I’ve always had a love/hate relationship with. It’s a beautiful zone and is probably about the best place to experience Night Elf flavor as a member of the Horde. That said, on the Horde side the long, boring run (or flight) from West the East and vice versa and the long travel times involved in some of the quests made this place one I wasn’t too eager to return to. Now that this area has been “shattered” and lives up to its name a bit better, this may be vastly improved now.

“The Kodo Graveyard in Desolace.”

I ran back down south to Thousand Needles, a zone I had eagerly wanted to visit, tantalized by The Great Lift in the south of the Barrens. Not one of my favorite zones to quest in, but definitely unique and beautiful in its own way. The Shimmering Flats was a cool subzone despite its boring “kill x mobs” “collect x items” quests. It should be noted that I totally skipped Dustwallow Marsh though there wasn’t a whole lot of content there for the Horde at the time anyway. That was a zone that was vastly improved even before the Shattering.

I did run through the Deadwind Pass and visited the Swamp of Sorrows, however. I went there initially to grind for whelplings at Itharius’s Cave. I never did get a whelpling pet to drop but I grinded out an entire level or two here, and when I later came back to quest I already knew much of the zone rather well – definitely one that I have a soft spot for. I can’t wait to come back here to see how it has changed. While I’m in the area, I never did quest in The Blasted Lands. It was an intimidating area with few quests for the Horde… and I was very intimidated by the Dark Portal. It was sort of the icon of high level content – hell, it was our log in screen back then. In fact I never REALLY explored the zone until after Burning Crusade launched!

As most people did in classic, I spent way too long in Stranglethorne Vale. It felt like you could spend 10 levels or more questing in STV. It was also an insane hotbed for world PVP action. I recall being ganked there many, many times, as well as occasionally returning the favor. Naturally, Booty Bay was always an fun town to hang around because of this. My favorite areas of old STV were probably the northern Troll ruins and the southern Pirate camps.

Speaking of places with neutral cities and a ton of PVP, Tanaris was one of the most important zones in my main’s classic leveling career. I remember hitting what I perceived to be a lull in content at around the time I was questing in Tanaris and ended up spending several levels grinding pirates in and around Lost Rigger Cove. I claimed much of the main camp there and would chase off any Alliance who came to do more than their few quests, or who tried to interrupt me. There was a chest spawn that I became a master of tracking which eventually became the source of my first blue world drop. I also visited Feralas at some point but I don’t have much to say about it. I remember doing the robot chicken escort quest here 50 times, and I remember grinding for Golden Pearls in the naga cave on the Isle of Dread, but nothing too major stands out. The whole Isle of Dread no longer exists post-Shattering, interestingly enough.

I went on a brief visit to the Badlands, from one desert to another. There wasn’t a ton of quests here but it was worth the visit in my leveling treadmill. The main memory that sticks out in my mind is scanning the horizons for red names – it seemed like you could see enemy players for miles in a lot of the areas here, which means as a rogue I could make myself scarce rather easily… whether to avoid conflict or to setup my own ambush. I only briefly visited Searing Gorge and didn’t quest in Burning Steppes at all. Both zones seemed extremely uninviting and with only small quest hubs, didn’t seem worth the risk. It definitely did seem like a risk too… flying over the Burning Steppes and watching Volchan, an elite giant stomping around, was one of my first glimpses at the zone. It wasn’t until I later visited Blackrock Mountain that I came back to the area. I never really ran any of the Blackrock instances in classic, though I recall a failed expedition to infiltrate Blackrock Depths with 4 other rogues at some point to look for a specific drop for a guildmate of mine.

I also stopped back up north briefly, questing in The Hinterlands. Just as it is today, it was fairly empty back then, and just as it is today, Skulk Rock was a great place to farm for Ghost Mushrooms. (Yes, my main is a herbalist/alchemist.)

Un’Gore Crater was a zone I spent a fair amount of time in. I’m sure everyone remembers their first few encounters with the Devilsaur. I loved all of the wacky references here and I think I still have Linken’s Boomerang in my bank somewhere. There was a fair amount of ganking here at and around quest areas but I seem to recall being more worried about all of the dinosaurs and the damn Silithid in the area than other players. Speaking of Silithids, I never did, and even to this day still haven’t ever quested in Silithus. Back in the day it was rather barren, and I simply didn’t want to visit another damn desert zone. It was eventually improved more and more and I’d guess is now a worthwhile destination these days, provided you don’t have any kind of insect phobias of course.

Azshara was next, I believe. Cool zone. It was pretty empty at the time. Another guildy was here with me and I recall showing him the stranded crew of the Horizon Scout and their quests. The southern forest around the Ruined Reaches was one of my favorite wooded zones in the game for atmosphere alone. I was also always fascinated by Azshara Tower. A wizard tower high on a mountain that you can only get to via teleportation? Sign me up! This zone got radically, and I mean RADICALLY overhauled with Catacylsm and is intended to be the Goblin equivalent to the Barrens, level wise now.

Moving into Felwood and running through to Winterspring was a bit of an adventure at the time, and Winterspring was a zone that I hung around in for quite a while, grinding on Highborne spirits around Lake Kel Theril as well as in the various caves is a distinct memory that I retain from my main’s 50s. I’d probably rank Winterspring up there as one of my favorite classic zones at the time.

Finally, I headed over to the Western Plaguelands. Running around in the farms and the Ruins of Andorhal was a lot of fun. This was another time in which I both hooked up with some other guildies as well as spent a lot of time ducking and/or starting PVP. When I finally headed over to the Eastern Plaguelands PVP seemed even more encouraged thanks to the towers system and questing at/around the shared camp of Light’s Hope Chapel. Corin’s Crossing was real creepy and stuck with me and the northern area, Plaguewood, filled with its Ziggurats, was straight out of Warcraft 3. I eventually hit 60 by grinding on High Elves at the Quel’Lithien lodge of all things.

That’s my brief tour of the old world. Hope it brought up some memories for some of you who were there and raised a few questions from the (many) World of Warcraft players who joined well after classic.