Brenna's Babble

formspring.me

2012-01-27T14:13:00.001-05:00

Ask me anything http://www.formspring.me/BrennaCeDria

Facebook just now getting a feature Blogger's had for at least a year.

2012-01-20T07:47:00.000-05:00

So according to the linked article, Facebook's going to get a bunch of new buttons users can use to rate posts (I'm assuming across the web, not just on FB itself). I'm just going to be a bit of a snob here and point out that not only has Blogger had "reactions" available for users to add to their blogs, but we're able to customize ours. True, I don't think people actually use the feature here (I know when I had mine enabled, almost no one clicked on any of the reactions) but way to catch up, Facebook.

Digital Life - Facebook's 'Like' button gets new friends: 'LOVE!' 'BOO!' 'OMG!' and many more:

'via Blog this'

Silly little additions for SWTOR Early Adopters

2012-01-19T07:59:00.000-05:00

Okay, so I'm guessing that I'll get the email mentioned in the fourth bullet point either tomorrow or Saturday; I've done everything else up to the point of "30 days of game time" which should expire tomorrow.

Star Wars: The Old Republic | "Founder" title:

'via Blog this'

Games I Own But Have Never Finished

2012-01-05T08:11:00.000-05:00

This list is going to be the start of my "play only games I've never beat" goal for 2012. As of this original posting, this list is based on memory, my Steam library, and my Raptr history. I'll add more games to it as I remember them, or find them in storage, and cross off those items I finish, if I finish any.

Skyrim
Pokemon Silver
Resident Evil (I have 1-3, but will probably only worry with the first.)
Castlevania SotN
Breath of Fire III
Metal Gear Solid
The Legend of Zelda (The only game in the series I've ever finished was LttP.)
SW: KotOR
Alpha Protocol
The Binding of Isaac
Deus Ex
Magicka
Portal (have almost-finished on multiple occasions, but never got all the way to the end without rage quitting)
SWTOR (if I manage to finish the class quests for Jahanae, she'll be put into mandatory retirement for the rest of the year and I'll work on another class)
Torchlight
Trine
Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood
Dissidia: 012 (I'm almost done with this, but not quite)
Dragon Quest and Final Fantasy in Itadaki Street (PSP import)
Super Robot Wars (another PSP import)
Dragon Age Origins: Darkspawn Chronicles (the only DA content I own that I've never finished)
Fallout 3 (mumblegrumble, hate this game...)
Final Fantasies 2, 3, 5, 12, 13
Mass Effect 2 (mumblegrumble, hate this game...)
Professor Layton & the Curious Village
Raskulls
Star Ocean: Second Evolution
SW: The Force Unleashed 2
Valkyria Chronicles
any/all of Brian's Call of Duty, etc games

To say the least, this is more than enough to keep me busy for quite a while, especially when you consider I have book club books to read, other books just for the hell of it, and writing to keep up with.

New Year Game Resolution?

2012-01-01T18:13:00.002-05:00

Toying with the idea of a slightly-different New Year Resolution. I normally don't do them at all, because I feel like people just use them for excuses to say they're going to change when they know they aren't. But as I said, this one's a little bit different.

Last year, a friend said he wasn't going to buy any video games all year, and was only going to play games he'd had in his "archives" for an eternity--by far more than a year's worth of games. He also wouldn't borrow any new games from friends, and if someone gifted him a game, he couldn't play it until 2011 was over. How successful he was depends on who you ask, but that was the overall idea. ^_~

My idea is different, but similar.

Instead of not buying or playing any new games, I'm considering spending 2012 only playing games I've never finished before. This would include games Brian and I already own but I've never finished, new games coming out, and old games bought new. Also, if a game I've already beaten comes out with a new DLC campaign, I'm allowed to get and play the DLC, but not any of the main quest line of the game. This last caveat is my one and only access to anything Dragon Age for the next twelve months if I decide to go through with trying this.

On the one hand, I have both Star Wars: The Old Republic and Skyrim; hypothetically, these two games could get me through the year alone. Other games I have that could qualify are Final Fantasies 12 & 13 (but only barely 13, since I reached the final boss and ended up rage quitting on it), Pokemon Silver or Gold (but not both), some Japanese-import PSP games that I can barely read and as such have never finished, etc. But no Dragon Age aside from the above-mentioned, hypothetical DLC, no portable-console Final Fantasy remakes, etc.

So... what's the general opinion on this? Is it dumb? Am I just kidding myself, saying I'm going to make the (albeit temporary) change when I'm just going to crack in a month or two and go back to my old, Dragon-Age-replaying ways? Or is this something that I could/should actually try for, just to see what I find to play in the meantime?

Leaving GoDaddy

2011-12-23T11:45:00.000-05:00

FYI: All domains registered for Blogger pages through Google are actually processed through GoDaddy. I'm assuming most of the people with a custom domain for their blog know this, or at least knew it and forgot it, but it bears saying just in case.

That said:

I don't think it's going to take effect for a few days, but I've submitted everything to switch this domain from GoDaddy to Name.com based on the recent GoDaddy-supports-SOPA news. I haven't gotten my confirmation email from GoDaddy regarding the domain transfer yet, but from what I understand everything else is done. Everything seems to have gone pretty smoothly so far, and if you're interested in switching as well you can get a one year registration from Name.com with WHOIS privacy for $10.64 if you use the promo code NODADDY. ($6.65 for the domain alone with the code.)

If you want to switch as well, regardless of which new registrar you choose, I found the following two links very helpful:
Get your domain's authorization code
To Transfer Domain Names to Another Registrar

Edit: Just adding in this link to the boycott page: http://godaddyboycott.org/

Edit 2: http://www.scribd.com/doc/76259944/SOPA-Supporters Full list of SOPA supporting companies.

(Image via http://www.sitepoint.com/godaddy-supports-sopa-heres-how-to-transfer-your-domains/)

New Dragon Age tomorrow! (plus: games, fics, and other books I'm trying to read)

2011-12-19T07:17:00.000-05:00

First and foremost: Asunder comes out tomorrow! I've had the book pre-ordered via Kindle for a bit over a month now, and I can't wait!!! I already know a tiny bit more than I'd planned about the plot, but I'm fairly certain that what I've already learned is just the set-up for the book so it's not terribly spoilerish.

I am a bit nervous to see what Thedas is going to look like after the start of the Mage-Templar War, since from what I understand this takes place after all the events of DA2. Then again, we'll be seeing Orlais for the first time, and who knows what the Orlesian Circle was like before Hawke et al ruined the continent trying to free the mages (in my own canon at least, since Marian was thrust into the role of mage sympathizer). So far I've imagined it as more formal than Ferelden's Circle, but less militaristic than Kirkwall's.

...On the other hand, I'm no where near ready to start reading this, in terms of things I'd planned to have done first to make time for it. Most importantly, I wanted to have Hogfather finished before today, and I'm maybe halfway through that book at most. Some of the fault here comes from writing my fic, some from playing Skyrim, and about twelve hours specifically came from playing Star Wars The Old Republic over this past weekend, since Brian got it for me for Christmas and let me play the early access time. :p

Progress on my fic has been moving along much more slowly since the end of NaNoWriMo. I still write most days, but only about a quarter to half as much per day as I did in November. So far I've tackled the mage treaty, the Urn of Sacred Ashes, most of the set up of Elissa and Alistair's relationship (including hardening his, erm, personality) and am now heading to the Brecilian Forest for the elves.

Let's see, aside from Christmas obviously being less than a week away, what else is going on? That's right, Skyrim! I'm almost to level 20 now, but I've only just made my way to the Greybeards, and haven't decided yet if I'm going to side with the Imperials or the Stormcloaks. I did join the Companions already, and got married and am currently working my way through the beginning stages of the thief's guild. Oh, and while I was in Riften I totally killed that woman at the orphanage, so I'm wondering how long it's going to be until the Dark Brotherhood calls me out for impersonating them.

Anyway, I've got a short but busy week ahead, and today and part of tomorrow are probably the only days that any work is likely to get done in the office. In the meantime, I've got the following to work on around and after work:

Finish Hogfather
Read Asunder
Figure out a Legacy Name for my SWTOR character (Jahanae, a human Sith marauder)
Go back to and finish reading Clash of Kings before the next season of Game of Thrones starts next month
Manage not to get sick the week before Christmas (I'm not sure if it's allergies or something more, but I've been fighting off sinus problems and migraines for about a week now)

Wish me luck, and Merry Christmas (or whichever holiday of your choosing) if I forget to make another post before next weekend!

Jahanae lives!

2011-12-16T09:30:00.000-05:00

I already squee'd about it on G+ and Twitter last night when Brian told me I could preorder SWTOR as one of my Christmas presents, but omigawdyay! Technically, I preordered two copies, one for each of us. I haven't got a clue which server we'll be on, so if you have an Empire guild on any of the PVE servers let me know and we'll try and meet up with you.

That's Jahanae above, my Sith Marauder from the beta, that I'll be putting back together as soon as I get access to the game itself. Brian tried both a Chiss bounty hunter and some sort of Sith Inquisitor in the two beta weekends we had access to, but I don't know what he'll be going as, other than Empire in general, once we finally get in.

NaNo success, games, and holidays!

2011-12-15T13:16:00.001-05:00

Holy crap things have been crazy!

I finished my first NaNoWriMo with a day to spare, though in spite of reaching the word goal on time I'm still working on the content of my story--it's only about halfway through as of right now. If you're bored and want to follow along with it, my FF dot Net profile has the link to the story itself. I'm on chapter... 27? 28? by now, and have so far finished writing the Broken Circle and Arl of Redcliffe quest lines. (Fake edit: I just checked, and as of this moment #27 is the last chapter I posted, and I'm working on #28 right now.)

My gaming has been fairly stagnant lately, unfortunately. Obviously, throughout November I was busy with NaNo, but I did give myself two days--one on each of the two weekends I had access--to put in a good amount of time with the SWTOR beta. I don't know yet if or when I'll be getting the game itself, but that's not for anything to do with the game. I just need to make sure Brian's going to play it too, before I get into an MMO of any kind.

I did have a chance to pick up Skyrim a week or so ago, but I haven't gotten very far in it yet. So far I'm on just 3 dragons and 2 words, and have been doing side quests mostly. I did get the money to buy my house in White Run finally, though, so that's a start.

Finally, holidays! ...Yeah, Brian and I have next to nothing planned this year. We've got most of our shopping done, though, so while I won't be spending the holidays playing SWTOR like I want to be, I'm not going to have to stress over most things, either.

I'm still alive, in spite of #NaNoWriMo

2011-11-23T07:54:00.000-05:00

Wow, I can't believe I'm almost to 40k words! Yesterday I was slightly panicked in spite of still being on target with my word count, because it was the first day with a single-digit "days remaining" number on my NaNo stats page. The story itself is no where near done--it'll probably be ~150-200k words altogether when it finally is finished--but barring any emergencies I should be able to win this year's NaNo (my first ever, and first winning!) no-sweat. As I've mentioned before on Twitter and G+ that I'm just writing a DA:O fic this year as practice, but nonetheless I didn't expect to be doing as well on my progress as I have.

In the meantime, if anyone is really bored and has a lot of time on their hands, I'm still publishing chapters as I finish them to my fanfiction.net profile. I'm currently up to the end of the Mage's treaty, and my next chapter (posting it sometime today?) will begin the quest for Andraste's ashes. If you take the time to read, let me know what you think! Even what I have on ff dot net is a rough draft so don't mind some typos, etc; many of them I've since caught and cleaned up as I've gone along, and I'll update the story online with the corrected chapters once I'm done with everything.

At any rate, I've got a ton to do today, so I need to run! I need to get through at least tomorrow's word goal on this story if I'm going to have time to spend on this weekend's Star Wars: The Old Republic beta, and I really want to spend at least a full day on that! If anyone reading this is in the beta and wants to join up with me, I'll be creating a Sith Warrior/Marauder, most likely on Drexl if that server is available this weekend. I'll post more details about how to find me in the beta when I have them!

Sorry for the quiet!

2011-11-10T07:39:00.001-05:00

Just wanted to say that I haven't forgotten about my page here; I'm just busy fighting off more ear infections and participating in my first NaNoWriMo. I'm only writing DA fan fiction for it this year and will try something original next time, but I'm having a blast with it anyway.

If you're stupid bored and want something to read, I'm uploading it as I finish each chapter to FanFiction.net, and the first chapter is here. As of this posting I'm up to chapter four, which finishes the battle at the top of the Tower of Ishal.

I'll post here more often again once I get caught up on my progress in the story; I barely missed yesterday's goal so if I'm feeling well enough to write today I should be able to get back where I need to be and give myself a little trouble room just in case.

Problems with the Fresh Prince theme song

2011-10-27T10:07:00.000-04:00

Okay, so I've got another ear infection right now (second one this season; last season I had six or so in three months) and my antibiotic has me... feeling more than a little abstract than usual. I woke up with the following "problem" gnawing at me this morning:

If the Fresh Prince had an auntie and uncle in Bel Air willing to take full financial responsibility for him, why the hell didn't they pay for him to fly from Philadelphia to Los Angeles? Not only would it have been safer than riding cross-country with a random cabbie, it probably would have broken even on the combined price for cab fare, gas, food, and lodging for the cross-country trip.

...Yeah, I'm going to go back to what I was doing now that I've got that out.

Autumn Updates

2011-10-27T07:46:00.000-04:00

I've hit another lull in things to do and talk about again, so I figure it's as good a time as any to look forward to what's coming for the holidays and as far through the winter as I can think of.

1. Halloween: I still don't know what exactly to dress as, but we're having our party at work for the neighborhood kids on Monday. I want to do a slightly more functional pirate than what's on sale as premade costumes--no pirate wenches or elaborate pirate queens, but rather a men's-style pirate/medieval shirt with a loosely-laced neck and some sort of piratey belt (since a corset costs too much right now) over black leggings, black boots, and my gaudy gold hoop earrings from a few costumes ago. Add either a sash to hold my hair back or a French braid or something, and maybe a toy cutlass, and I should be good to go. Unfortunately, finding a men's-style piratey shirt that isn't too big for me has proven to be... challenging... and I don't have a sewing machine to stitch one together in an hour like I otherwise would plan as a backup option.

2. Games: Unfortunately, I've got nothing new to talk about on this front. I will be getting Skyrim at some point, but almost definitely not at release. I still haven't even decided how I want to play it: PC version on Mal or PS3 version. (Yes, I know the PS3 version is more likely to be glitchy than the 360 version, but the PS3 is more convenient for me to use than the 360.) I'll probably snag Torchlight 2 somewhat close to its release, though, since it's only $20, but other than that? I don't foresee any new games until the Vita comes out just after my birthday. I haven't preordered the system yet, but I'm about 75% sure I'm getting the WiFi model at launch with Katamari at the very least.

3. Dragon Age: Only new and ongoing thing here at the moment is Redemption, which I'm watching as it comes out but I'm saving the majority of my comments until it's completed. This week's episode in particularly annoyed me when I watched it Wednesday, though I'll get into that when I do my proper write up of the series in a few weeks. On the plus side for DA, though, is Asunder coming out in about a month and a half. I loved the first two DA books, Stolen Throne and The Calling so I'm really looking forward to this next novel.

4. Book Club: A number of PAXers and Twitterers have organized a book club recently, and for October we've been reading Reamde. Right around the corner for November is Ready Player One; but come December I'm going to be overwhelmed with books: Asunder, whichever book the book club chooses, plus Hogfather as well (if the book club doesn't pick that one; while it'd be cool--and much simpler for me--it's no stress if it's not chosen and if I have to I'll just watch the movie three or four more times :p). At least it's something to do while I'm in a bit of a game drought?

5. Christmas: Not sure what Brian and I are going to do this year; normally for either Christmas, anniversary, or both we pick one thing that is for both of us and use that as an excuse to spend more on one shared thing than little bits here and there on small things. He never says what he wants, though, and aside from generic new-hotness-games, etc, there's nothing I can think of that I want. Any suggestions?

6. Android: For all the years that I've been using Android phones now, I've never tried to root one before. Unfortunately as I've learned this week, the T-Mo G2 is not a good place to try and start. I'm making baby steps with the process, but still haven't quite made it yet. When I do get it, though, there's an early build of Ice Cream Sandwich that I'm going to slap on it and see how that looks.

Blah... that's all I can think of at the moment. Today's a big day at work with monthly reporting being due, but so long as there are no issues outside of my control I can normally complete my monthly reports in about 45 minutes. Beyond said reporting, I'll be working on getting as far as possible in Reamde (I started late, so I'm only about 20% through) and helping out with additional prep for the Halloween party that I mentioned above. The co-worker who did the decorating did a pretty good job for the front of the clubhouse's common area, but I think we need more in the back of the clubhouse as well, so I'm going to try and find more spiderwebs, etc that we can put up.

Plus, hopefully, a pirate shirt and belt. ^_~

The War on Ketchup Begins?

2011-10-26T11:34:00.001-04:00

I understand wanting to make sure school meals are nutritious. But for a culture that we're told eats mayonnaise on their fries, seriously what the hell? At least there's lycopene in ketchup, and that might do good against cancer (and there's more lycopene in ketchup than in raw tomatoes!). What does mayo have going for it? Eggs. Seriously, no comparison.

Bites - Sacrebleu! French schools ban ketchup:

'via Blog this'

Memory cards not needed for ALL Vita games

2011-10-22T12:21:00.000-04:00

Unfortunately, "not needed for all" means "still needed for some. Obviously, if you are playing a PSN version of any game, you'll need a memory card to both download the game in the first place and to save your game as well. But if you're buying retail, at least some games will let you save to the game itself.

According to the Joystiq link below, Uncharted, Disgaea 3, and a few others support saving to the game cart. Unfortunately for me, the same link says no word yet on if Katamari will let us skip the memory card or not.

Report: These are the Vita games that require a memory card | Joystiq:

'via Blog this'

Yesterdays's News, but I'm just reading it - Katamari is a Vita launch title in US!

2011-10-21T06:42:00.000-04:00

Posted a day or so ago that Sony was missing my birthday by waiting until the 22nd of February to release the Vita. Now I don't care quite so much; I'll just get Brian to agree to a Vita preorder being my birthday present, I'll pick it up two weeks late, and get Touch My Katamari with it!

On the other hand, I think someone should whisper in Sony's (or maybe NamcoBandai's) ear that we already played out all the touching innuendos back when the DS was brand new with the "Touching is Good" campaign. Just sayin'.

Anyway, I'll definitely be picking up the WiFi-only model of the Vita sooner than later now. Between Katamari and my previous PSP purchases from the PSN store I should have more than enough to keep me busy until the second round of games come out. :D

NAMCO BANDAI Games Inviting Fans to “Touch My Katamari” This February! – PlayStation Blog:

'via Blog this'

Vita is Coming (But Not til Spring is Almost Here)

2011-10-19T06:41:00.001-04:00

Good news: Yay! We don't have to wait until March or whenever the original international date was for the PS Vita's release!

Bad news: As I mentioned in a brief Tweet, Sony's succeeded in missing both Christmas and my birthday. :p

I still haven't decided yet if I'm going to get one at launch or not. I wish there was at least one JRPG I could pass time with, but if Stardust and Katamari are out at or near release I may consider it sooner than later. Plus, there's still the possibility of being able to access games I own on UMD via the store, so if that goes through I'll have that collection as well.

We'll see, I guess.

Get Ready: PS Vita is Coming February 22nd – PlayStation Blog:

Spoilers, etc for Dragon Age 2 Mark of the Assassin

2011-10-17T00:11:00.001-04:00

Okay, so I've finished this content once with each class (Seb-rivalmanced rogue Marian, man whore mage Garrett, and warrior Mari) now. I'm also about halfway through it with my canon save, the run-away-with Anders rogue Marian. I've made every decision choice and unlocked all the trophies.

Unfortunately, unlike both the main game and Legacy this didn't really have much going for it for future plays; specifically, it didn't improve with future trips through the content. Maybe it's just that I don't care for the Qunari story as much, I don't know, but the only "big reveal" of the entire thing was that Tallis is actually an elf Qunari, something that I feel like a fucking idiot for not realizing back when the very first images of Felicia Day in costume were released. This isn't the first picture, but it is one of the clearest, using the game's graphics, and an image from the Qunari pages of the Dragon Age Wiki:

See a resemblance? Most people missing this I can understand, but that symbol on her armor has been visible since the beginning, and yet I didn't expect the "revelation" that Tallis was Qunari at all.

Honestly, none of the decisions in any of the Dragon Age games or expansions thus far have had a real impact on how the game goes, particularly in DA2. But at least I could categorize the behavior of my characters in each save in their own personal story of the Thedas they inhabit, including my own canon character for each of the two main games. In Legacy the result ended up the same, but you could still choose to have your characters' motivations be slightly different. MotA had no such technicalities to the options you're allowed to have Hawke make. Pretty much the only reaction you get out of any of your NPCs is if you're in a relationship with one and start flirting with Tallis.

Also, my first time through I got some amazing random party banter out of Isabela in particular; no such luck with the other characters I've tried so far. Varric's okay, but not like he should be, and everyone else is just dull. The only two characters I haven't taken yet, and won't for a while still, are Merrill and Fenris. Considering Merrill's random comments about dropping marbles in boots from Legacy I'm tempted to take her & Bela together again, but really, this DLC hasn't been as inspiring as I thought at first so I'm going to do as few additional runs as possible now.

All that said, I will give Felicia Day credit. Lack of a Thedosian accent aside, and as dull as the banter was between any of my characters, I eventually was able to hear and see Tallis, not Day, though at first it was a bit distracting still.

Final, overall rating for the DLC: 5/10

What did I just say about unneeded sequels?

2011-10-16T16:44:00.000-04:00

Granted, this isn't a fifth Die Hard but still! God damn, Hollywood, be original for once, for fuck's sake!

"X-Men" Scribes Pen "Top Gun 2" | News | Dark Horizons:

'via Blog this'

Will someone just kill John McClane already, so they'll stop making these sequels?

2011-10-13T07:20:00.000-04:00

Seriously, the fourth movie wasn't terrible, but it wasn't Die Hard, either. Ugh, and the description on Dark Horizons: "...and will send John McClane (Bruce Willis) to Russia where his son's been arrested. Action ensues." Really? Action ensues? I thought we were lining up for a fucking chick flick.

Fifth "Die Hard" Gets Title & A Date | News | Dark Horizons:

'via Blog this'

Spoiler Free Reactions - DA2 Mark of the Assassin & Redemption

2011-10-11T22:58:00.001-04:00

Okay, here are my mostly-spoiler-free reactions, as I had them:

Tallis isn't so bad, actually... even if she does sound like Felicia Day.
OMG I want to kill the Duke. I hope that's an option.
Amazing banter so far between Hawke & Bela alone
HOLY FUCK don't touch the Creepy Altar without a healer mage!!! LMAO (optional boss)
Skullkid? Nope, "ghasts" says Tallis
What is it, Lassie?? Oh, that's.... kinda sad.
Seriously? THAT is what they have me wear as finery for the banquet? Couldn't I have brought that cute skirt-robe-thingy from home?
Cameos yay! Teagan!! Isolde? Leliana!!!
Didn't know Bran was into that sort of... thing
Tiptoe / through the tulips... Or at least through a manor full of Orlesian guards.

Overall? Much better than I expected. You get used to Felicia Day's appearance--mostly--and while I still think she should have some sort of Thedosian accent, there's enough... speculation... to her origin that I can force myself to ignore that oversight. Not a bad three and a half hours at all, and I'm looking forward to playing it through with all my characters so that I can get all the different party banter options. I'll post a fuller, spoilery review once I make at least one more trip through.

Starting tomorrow over morning coffee I'll start the first episode of Dragon Age: Redemption and see how that continues Tallis's story.

Posted via email from brennacedria's posterous

Edit: Okay, so I've watched the first episode of Redemption now. I mean... there are worse videos online. It was also the first of six episodes so we'll see how it holds up as a complete product when the other five are released. I've got a few beefs with it, but I'll write up those for my next post so I can spoil everything as necessary. Here's the first episode if anyone wants to see but doesn't feel like hunting it down:

Waiting for DLC

2011-10-11T13:38:00.002-04:00

Not a lot going on lately... I've been playing Oblivion yesterday and today, waiting for the Playstation store to update with the Mark of the Assassin DLC for DA2. At least the first episode of DA: Redemption is supposed to be available today, too, but I'm thinking I'm going to put that off until after finishing MotA. I'm not looking forward to MotA the way I do normal DA content, but it's better than nothing.

...Meh, maybe I'll go ahead and watch the first episode of Redemption. I'll have to see if I can confirm when it takes place in relation to the DLC, though; I've assumed until now that it takes place after, and I don't want to skip ahead if that's true. Other than that, I guess all that there is is to figure out which of my Hawkes to take into the DLC first once it's available; my canon Hawke (who ran away with Anders at the end) will be my last trip through most likely, just like with Legacy, but other than just "not first" I can't guarantee that, either.

Dragon Age Redeption trailer, "Victory is in the Qun"

2011-10-05T07:36:00.000-04:00

I don't believe that the above is any sort of actual title for what I believe is the first DA: Redemption trailer with dialogue, but it does give us a few hints. Personally, in what little is shown in the trailer I can get behind Felicia Day's acting as shown in this trailer much better than I can her acting in the upcoming Mark of the Assassin's trailer. She still doesn't sound like any sort of Thedosian we've heard so far, but the dialogue flows better comparing one trailer to the next.

We also get more of my Templar buddy, and a look at the Qunari Tallis is hunting. He looks a bit silly in some of the shots, but he'll pass, though he's not bound as Serebaas would be. I can't tell from the trailer if that's significant or not; maybe if a Serebaas is released from his shackles his horns grow back? Who knows. At any rate, I'll be watching this once I finish MotA on either Tuesday night or Wednesday afternoon and I'll be able to make my final judgments on each then.

REMINDER: World Lupus Awareness Month

2011-10-01T20:42:00.001-04:00

This is a reminder for myself as much as for everyone else! If you already know about Jules's virtual art gallery, you know what to do--get your submission(s) together and submit them as soon as possible, but no later than the 28th for inclusion in this month's updates.

If this is the first you've heard about it, though, Jules is a friend of mine who has started the site linked below to help raise awareness of Lupus, which she happens to live with. While Jules and I only know each other online and I don't know anyone else with the disease, I do know what it's like to experience a hidden illness in general so with the exception of the epic fail of this last May's submission to the gallery, I've tried to support her site and gallery in any way I can.

If you are in any way artistically minded, please consider creating something to submit to the gallery. If you aren't, then please just pass the link to her page along to someone else so that they might learn more and possibly submit as well. No one is asking for your money for this awareness drive--just your time and attention.

http://lupus.juliasherred.com/

Desk Vandalism

2011-09-26T10:35:00.001-04:00

Okay, so not really vandalised, but nonetheless. How in god's name am I supposed to know what day it is now?

Rant - Rescheduling Holidays

2011-09-23T10:23:00.000-04:00

Almost every year, someone finds some excuse to "reschedule" Halloween. This year it's to make it a weekend in general, not to avoid coinciding with Sunday services and the like from last year, but still this annoys me. We don't reschedule any other holiday away from a weekday that I can think of. Instead we do the opposite, and make DAMN SURE that government and many office workers get an extra Monday off for no reason. Likewise, we don't reschedule any other holidays that are religious in origin, or that were once religious and have become highly secular in practice.

Okay, I'm done ranting now. Sorry 'bout that.

(original link: Savannah Now)

Katamari Damacy coming to PS Vita!

2011-09-22T14:14:00.000-04:00

Oh god, how did I miss this last week? Okay, I know the answer to that is "but you were in the ER" but that's beside the point, because I still should have seen it before now.

While I haven't been especially impressed with any Katamari since the first game, I think this might be the title that I've been waiting for to make the Vita a day-one purchase. I'm both curious and slightly concerned how the stretch and squeezing of the katamari is going to work in-game, but it should be an interesting way to work in the back panel of the Vita into the actual game play.

In either case, if the game is anywhere near as fun as the original, then it should be worth its price IMO. Being a portable version definitely adds value in either case. There isn't much more in the way of details in the source post I've linked below, but there is a short little trailer to watch.

All-New Katamari Damacy Game Rolling Onto PS Vita from Namco Bandai Games – PlayStation Blog:

Upcoming Dragon Age II DLC - Mark of the Assassin

2011-09-18T20:04:00.000-04:00

Before I discuss this in any way, let me just post the teaser from Game Trailers:

Get More: GameTrailers.com, Dragon Age II: Mark of the Assassin - Exclusive Debut Trailer HD, PC Games, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360

Wow... I've been thinking at least to myself, and probably have whined a time or two online, both how I'm itching for more Dragon Age content to tide me over until the novel Asunder is released in December as well as being curious when Felicia Day's Redemption was going to be released. When I heard last week that Felicia Day had a Dragon Age-related announcement, I assumed it would be a date for Redemption and while that isn't what I'd prefer as new content in Thedas, I was willing to accept it for the promised return to Ferelden alone.

Fortunately or not, Redemption isn't what we're getting, at least not right away. (At any rate, I don't think a date was announced for Redemption when Mark of the Assassin was announced.) What we are getting is another scenario to add to Varric's collection of tales of the Champion. Clearly, MotA is going to play out like a heist flick set in or around Kirkwall. Playing a flashback to a scenario like this doesn't bother me, though I don't expect it to add as much to the universe as Legacy did. What does bother me is Felicia Day.

Let's get one thing straight: I neither hate nor love Day. I never got into The Guild but I really enjoy her tweets and her character in Eureka, and I adored Penny (and just about everyone else) in Dr. Horrible. When Redemption was announced, I was slightly uncertain about it, but not firmly against the idea. The biggest thing the trailer for Redemption was missing, though, and what has me more than a little concerned about MotA is Day's actual portrayal of Tallis; specifically, her voice and the way she reads her dialogue.

One of my complaints last year when I played DA:O Awakening was the omission of a specific combat voice for the Orlesian Warden Commander. I'm having the exact same problem with Tallis in the MotA trailer. I can look beyond Felicia Day's pseudo-likeness being used in the game. What I'm having trouble with is her voice. I don't hear anything Ferelden, Orlesian, Marcher, Antivan, Rivanni, or any other nationality in Tallis. I just hear Felicia Day.

All in all, I guess if this is all I have to complain about, then I really shouldn't be worrying until the content is actually released on October 11th. That said, here's the dialogue-less trailer for Redemption again while we're at it, complete with a not-so-pretty-as-Alistair-or-Cullen but pretty enough Templar at the :46 mark who I'm assuming is helping Tallis hunt her renegade Qunari mage. After all, I do love my Chantry Boys.

Hm... Now that I mention Qunari mage, I'm a bit worried again. I mean, the Serebaas battles are always brutal against my glass cannon parties in DA2, and Tallis is a rogue herself. Let's hope our unnamed Chantry Boy can handle the hurt the Serebaas should hypothetically be dishing out, while at the same time hoping that Redemption remembered to make the Serebaas as brutal in a fight as they were in the game.

Force Full Twitter Website on Mobile Browsers

2011-09-18T01:09:00.001-04:00

Just wanted to share, since I just found this myself after fighting with the mobile site for about 10 minutes straight tonight. The only real bonus I can find is being able to approve followers if you have a protected account like I do, but for that one task alone it's worth it. You know, for when both computers are shut down & you're playing online from bed via your phone.
http://mobile.twitter.com/settings/change_ui

Dragon Age: Origins speed run progress & completion

2011-09-13T21:52:00.000-04:00

8/30/11: Aside from Torchlight, of which I get one good session in weekly, I've been bored games-wise lately, and looking for something same but different. I was reminded in a conversation last night about this post and while I believe my estimates are accurate, they are just that--estimates. I don't have anything else game-wise going on, so I've decided to attempt a speed run of Origins this weekend to see just how accurate my estimates were.

Okay! So I forgot to make the post announcing my speed run on this page, but the above is a slightly-edited version of the post I meant to make. Below is my actual time for each mandatory quest group in the game, my running totals, and my original estimates from months ago.

One thing I didn't think to include in my original estimates is time for trips to camp or other shops and time for inventory management, which does add quite a bit of time for me. My trip through the Circle Tower, for instance, went over my section-estimate, but that technically includes my time in Lothering as well as completing the treaty itself. Something else I didn't think of when first estimating high and low completion times is the fact that Eamon's quests are split into two--defeating the demon that has Redcliffe under siege, and locating and bring back Andraste's ashes.

Prologue (Origin & Ostagar): I'm well under my low-end estimate with a total of 1 hour and 12 minutes for both sections combined. (1 hour 12 minutes; estimate 2-2.5 hours.)
Treaty #1: I picked the mage tower first, and went slightly over my high-end estimate of 2 hours with 2 hours 17 minutes. I did not allow the Right of Annulment to be invoked. (Running total 3 hours 29 minutes; estimate 3-4.5 hours.)
Treaty #2: Went to the Dalish next, and was right in-between the estimate of 1-2 hours with 1 hour 44 minutes. This actually included one trip back out of the ruins to the Dalish camp to sell off a lot of junk inventory; after all, since I'm not doing any side quests I need to keep every item I can to sell for more gold. I ended up not just siding with the elves, but slaughtering the werewolves. (Running total 5 hours 13 minutes; estimate 4-6.5 hours.)
Treaty #3: Finished the treaties with the Dwarves, finishing in 3 hours 1 minute. I've sided with Bhelen in the squabbles for the crown and against Branka in the search for the Anvil. (Running total 8 hours 14 minutes; estimate 5-8.5 hours. Combined time for all three treaties 7 hours 2 minutes; estimate 3-6 hours.)
The Arl of Redcliffe

Liberating Redcliffe: 49 minutes. To save as much time as possible, I opted to kill Connor instead of running back to the Circle Tower for mages and coming back for a trip through the Fade. (Running total 9 hours 3 minutes.)
Urn of Sacred Ashes: 1 hour 4 minutes. I most certainly did NOT engage the High Dragon, and ran my way though the mountain tunnels and temple as quickly as possible. (Running total 10 hours 7 minutes. Combined time for rescuing and curing Eamon 1 hour 53 minutes; running estimate 6.5-10.5 hours.)

Thank Andraste I was able to make up significant amount of time on this two-part quest! I thought Orzammar had doomed any hope of accuracy in my original estimate!

Landsmeet: 1 hour 29 minutes, skipping as much of the quests here as possible while still gaining enough brownie points with the nobles for Alistair to win the throne, although I did end up having to go through Drakon after all (I was hoping to win the fight with Ser Cauthrien & skip the Drakon section here). Ended up with Alistair marrying Anora. Elissa killed Loghain. (Running total 11 hours 36 minutes; estimate 7.5-12.5 hours.)
Battle of Denerim: I did not complete the ritual with Morrigain & sacrificed Elissa in the battle, since I didn't complete the quest to harden Alistair and there was no official romance with him that would make him prevent my Warden from dealing the final blow. Finished the entire battle of Denerim in 1 hour 17 minutes; this includes 6 minutes to kill the Archdemon (though I did die the first time & had to reload my save; I only counted the successful playtime, not the deaths at any point in the run).

So, there we have it. A final total of 12 hours 53 minutes, and my original full-game estimate was 9.5-15.5 hours. While I've come to realize that the low end estimate of 9.5 hours isn't realistic, the guess I made immediately before beginning the run of 12 hours wasn't too far off the mark. That said, the game isn't really enjoyable if you play it this quickly. You get absolutely no story and no relationships with any of your companions romantic or otherwise, so I don't really recommend a speed run for Dragon Age: Origins unless you're just curious if you can shave any minutes off my times here (which I'm pretty damn sure none of you are insane enough to bother with with all the new game hawtness coming out this fall).

Gaming-related posts I've missed recently and other babble

2011-08-25T08:31:00.001-04:00

Origins + DA2 = DA3?
Aside from the reuse of environments, little to none of my previous complaints about Dragon Age 2 had anything to do with the game play. But I'm intrigued by the way it's phrased in the Joystiq page, as "throwing [the two] ...into a blender" to combine the best of both games. Maybe keeping the speed of DA2's battles but taking away the wave-based combat would be a good start; not adding the voice recognition they're adding to Mass Effect 3 would make me even happier, though!
Joystiq

Bioshock: Rapture
Old news, but slightly intriguing nonetheless. I've had good luck with the Dragon Age companion novels and since I was very intrigued by the world of Rapture, I might eventually pick this up--after finishing Dragon Age: Asunder, that is.

Actually, I'd consider picking it up to pass the time between now and Asunder, but I've got three and a half GRRM books to finish first (not even including the most recent--I'm just counting the first four, which I've already purchased!) and I already have one other book on my wait-list for after that & before Asunder if there's time. I just wish the Kindle edition wasn't $9.99.
Amazon product page
Joystiq

New features, etc for PS Vita
While I've recently deleted my own Facebook account, nonetheless the new mess of features available on the PS Vita is good to know about. Oh, yeah, and apparently some additional games/franchises have been announced for the system, as well.

As for the features, first, the system will have access to Facebook, Twitter, and Foursquare as well as featuring the return of Skype. Gee, sounds like a lot of things my phone can do, you might be thinking. And you're right; I probably wouldn't use any of these features on the go, other than as a backup should my phone battery die, but then again I'm only planning on getting the WiFi version of the Vita, so I won't have an always-on connection anyway. I do see myself using Twitter, at least, while at home, if I happen to have the system closer to me than my phone. I already suffer through the PSP browser to post on Twitter via that on insomnia nights if my PSP is next to my bed but the phone is out of reach, so having a native app will just make that sort of thing that much easier. Also, just as these apps are on your phone, they'll be available at no-charge from the PS Store when the time comes.

As for franchises, it's possible these have been mentioned before elsewhere, or maybe it was announced originally at gamescom, which is what the link I'm working off for this section is discussing. In either case, there will be new Resistance and Assassin's Creed games developed custom for the Vita, as well as a "touching adventure" game titled Escape Plan that sounds like some sort of platform puzzler from the very brief mention of it. Unfortunately, none of this elevates the Vita from "eventual purchase" to "day one purchase" for me. I know there are people who love these franchises that could be pushed over that edge by this news, but I'm not one of them. All I need right now is one good, solid JRPG of 30+ hours and I'd be in for it, though I'd strongly prefer it not to be another Square-Enix remake.
PS Blog
Fake edit: Kotaku's posted another article over the past 24 hours with four more Vita titles, all from Konami. Sorry, Sony & Konami, but these aren't the games I'm looking for. I'll continue to wait, hopeful that titles I'm interested in will be announced for launch or near to it.

Every Vita game downloadable
Speaking of Vita, it sounds like Sony has partly learned from it's error with the PSP Go. It seems like all games released for the Vita will be available as downloads from the PS Store, but as we've already heard the system will feature (some? most? all?) games at retail stores on proprietary memory cards as well.

Personally, I know Sony wanted to go all-digital with the Go and fell flat on their collective ass with that jump, so easing customers into the idea with the Vita is probably a good idea. I wouldn't be surprised if a future revision of the system goes download-only once the idea is more firmly planted in the public's mind, slowly phasing out the retail editions.

My only worry here is that said future revisions will leave early adopters making the choice between upgrading, or losing the ability to play their retail-purchased games. Maybe Sony can compromise with us by allowing PS Store downloads of retail games we've registered online? I doubt it would happen, but it'd be a nice move on their part.
Kotaku

And a little more recently, the following links:

New Singstar Song Packs!
Really not a lot to report that's not in the subtitle above. If you're into Singstar, click the link to see which packs are now available. Unfortunately for me, I already own many of the songs listed that I'd even consider in the first place, but if you haven't downloaded as many songs as I have you might get some value out of it.
PS Blog

Gamestop instructing employees to remove OnLive codes from retail copies of Deus Ex on PC
If you haven't heard of this yet, the best you can do is just read the link below. The short, short version is, somebody's been baaa~~aaad!!!!!
Kotaku

Other than all of the above, not a lot going on. I'm going to try and post coverage of PAX Prime from home to my alternate Twitter feed similar to how I posted about E3. I've temporarily renamed that account BrenPAXspam if you're interested in following it, but because PAX is more hands-on than just watching E3 pressers on G4, I'm afraid my so-called coverage of that isn't going to compare to what I had going on back in June. For the most part, I'll be tweeting and retweeting links and photos from others; a lot of it's going to depend on my workload each day Friday through Sunday, though, since I'm working all three days.

Contact Congress Today to Save Funding for NIH

2011-08-20T07:57:00.001-04:00

I normally try to publicly stay as far away from political issues as possible, but this is really important to me. Please take the time to send a letter to your senators, congressman, and the POTUS, especially if you have anyone in your life with a medical condition that could benefit from research done by the National Institute for Health. In my case, I have multiple people I worry about medically: Brian and his kidney disease, friends and acquaintances with various auto-immune disorders (including but not limited to Jules's lupus), and myself, because my doctor hasn't reached a positive diagnosis on anything so far, but she considers me at risk for developing some form of auto-immune disorder myself. This site did require me to type my own letter, whereas I normally just use the form letters organizations provide to send to Washington regarding one issue or another, but because this is more personal I really didn't mind. If I can write a decent letter in 20 minutes while half-asleep, I'm hoping others will take the time manage the same.

Thanks in advance to anyone who does participate.

Contact Congress Today to Save Funding for NIH

Holy shit, Brian started playing Dragon Age again! #shock

2011-08-15T07:36:00.003-04:00

To be fair, I should probably go ahead and clarify the above statement. As of yesterday, Brian started playing Dragon Age II. He never finished Origins, claiming that his entire goal was to bed as many people as possible in a single night at camp and once he'd achieved that he had no reason to play. Keep in mind that he already had healed Arl Eamon and completed at least two of the three, if not all three, treaty quests in the first game. He was practically done and just decided to stop.

DA2 plays much differently than Origins, though, so he started that up yesterday. Since he didn't have a completed save to import, I had to provide a bit of a Cliff's Notes for each of the prebuilt histories the game provides (primarily "Who's ruling Ferelden, Alistair, Anora, or the two together?" "Did you let Loghain live?" "Did you complete the ritual?" and "Which of you killed the Archdemon?¹") so he could decide which back story to use. He ended up taking the default Hero of Ferelden story, since with the exception of his character was a human mage rather than a noble, everything in that scenario matched his answers.

Then, he broke my heart.

Since he preferred playing as a mage in Origins, he took that class for his Hawke in DA2. He knows about how only one twin makes it out of the prologue alive and which twin survives based on your player class (though he didn't know how the other died and was a bit surprised by that) and yet he still chose to play as a mage. It made me extremely sadface to see Bethany die by the ogre's hand, but at least Brian agrees with me that Carver's a pain in the ass little twit. I don't remember if Brian knows how to kill Carver later in the game, and I haven't decided yet if that should be spoiled at the last minute when the time comes.

Let's see, Bethany who stands up for what she believes in, or Carver who folds and does what big brother/sister says in spite of it going against everything he believes. Plus, Bethany's hot.

Anyway, he only got as far as recruiting Varric and initially meeting Sebastian when I decided he was okay to play on his own without me there to answer questions and give advice (mostly advice that was requested, and questions about the events in Origins). I went to the other room to take a nap, and I think he saved and quit for the afternoon shortly afterward himself. I forgot to ask last night specifically how much he did before turning it off, and if he intends to even continue the game, so I'll have to check with him later today. If he does continue, I already see him being just as furious with the game as I was the first time I finished it, since I gave him the same advice I've given everyone--PICK A SIDE--and he said no, he'll just answer each time based on what he feels is right. Or maybe he said whichever response was "evil", I can't remember. :p

At any rate, if he continues with the game then this could be interesting. Or it could be really, really frustrating, depending on if he asks for advice throughout the game or not. I don't mind discussing how I felt about certain parts of the game, but if he takes the alternate paths and then gets mad at the game for being "wrong" it's going to get old really quick. After all, I've already been through that set of emotions with this game. ^_~

¹This question brought up a whole slew of other questions that weren't entirely related to starting his character, since Brian didn't get far enough in Origins to learn how an Archdemon is actually killed. Somehow I'd told him about Morrigan's ritual, but not the reason behind it. >.<

Posted via email from brennacedria's posterous

I am a sleepy idiot and never gave this post a title before actually posting it. :p

2011-08-13T10:51:00.002-04:00

There is so much going on, and so little, all at once right now:

I found out from one of the guys on Twitter that I'd missed Malvernis, an optional boss in Dragon Age II: Legacy, which I kind of suspected but still was a little annoyed about. The short, short version is when you get the quest item "Warm Orb" you need to turn your ass around and march back out to the arena-like area outside of the ruins. There will be a small structure there that wasn't before, and that will begin the fight. If you have a mage trained in Elemental and/or Primal you shouldn't have to even blink at this fight--just use AoE attacks on the helper monsters and any ice spells you have on Malvernis himself. I won't go into any more detail on that boss for spoilers' sake, but that should get you through the fight at least.

On the topic of DAII: Legacy, I mentioned in my original posts about the content about trouble I had with the final boss, Corypheus. Lots of random mentions online that I've noticed complain that your companions' AI is terrible in this fight and that's why everyone's having trouble, but I don't know if that's really the case. Yes, on my first fight I had a lot of trouble, and I assumed at the time it was due to my preference for "glass cannon" parties--they can't take any damage if they get hit, but they deal out so much damage so quickly that they very rarely do get hit--combined with the fact I was only level seven when I started Legacy on that particular mage character.

Looking back at that first time through Legacy, it could have been a problem with my characters' levels and skills, or it could have been the companions' AI, as I hadn't customized any of their tactics yet beyond instructing them to replenish their own health and stamina. Out of four versions of Hawke, I only had trouble with Corypheus with one other party--a post-game glass cannon that also had nearly default tactics. With the others, though, each companion's tactics I set up and maintained manually throughout the game, and these parties never once got caught on Corypheus's traps. My third glass cannon group (and ironically, my canon save) took Corypheus out so quickly that he barely got started. Keeping that in mind and considering I've been through both scenarios, I have to wonder how much of the "our AI sucks/the boss is too hard" is really the game's fault, and how much of it the result of lazy players.

Anyway, let's get off of Dragon Age for now. One thing that's very new for me is I'm going to be recording an episode of Game Club for ZombieFrog radio at some point soon. I'm not sure when exactly we're recording or when it will be online, but I'll post more when I know more. A number of the games reviewed on previous Game Clubs are older games; this episode is no exception, and it was kind of nice going back to a game I hadn't played almost since the PS2 launched to begin with. I'm probably going to be going back through the game a second time today just for the hell of it, so if you see me swearing a lot on Twitter, that's probably why.

Finally, I actually jumped on the Xbox last night for a bit & played some Mortal Kombat. I sucked horribly, as usual, and only won matches when I resorted to cheap-ass moves like Sheeva's ground pound, but it was fun as hell. As I mentioned online, I don't mind losing--so long as the game is still fun. Shoot me an @, comment, email, whatever if you want to jump on that pretty much any time, and I'll get with Brian to "let me" use the Xbox for a bit.

Anyway, that's all I can think of game-wise at the moment, and while there's other stuff going on (or not going on, like my lack of PAX) none of it is really post-worthy right now.

PS: Back to Dragon Age for a minute, what the hell happened to Dragon Age: Redemption? It's not like I was terribly thrilled with the thought, but I'm not against it either, and there is nothing new on it that I can find in a quick Google search other than "early this fall" from the Comicon panel that Felicia Day did. Oh well, it'll be out when it's out.

SPOILERS & SPECULATION - My canon Hawke's trip through Dragon Age II: Legacy

2011-08-06T21:56:00.002-04:00

(If you aren't familiar with my canon Marian's progress through the game, a summary can be found here.)

For my canon save of DA2, I took my post-game Marian into the Legacy content with lover-Anders, Grey Warden Bethany, and Aveline as a tank. Presumably, this was completed at some point during Act 3 since this Marian very much did not become Viscount.

Having played through Legacy three times already when I finally began it with my canon save, I already knew which choices I would be making--the opposite of those, for the most part, from what I chose with all three previous trips. In my non-canon characters, including Mari the Warrior, my alternate Marian the rogue (who became Viscountess of Kirkwall & Princess of Starkhaven), and the fresh Jennasir the mage (who I created specifically to complete the DLC) I chose to side with Larius over Janeka regarding whether Corypheus should be freed or destroyed. There was no way I would chance letting him go, he was too powerful, etc.

I deliberately chose the opposite with my canon Marian. In one of the few actions she took against Anders’ advice, she decided that learning more about this ancient darkspawn was worth the risk--after all, the Warden Commander and Queen of Ferelden was able to trust one of these Emissaries who could think for himself, so clearly the Warden Janeka understood the risks she was taking. (And after all, we already know from the game’s epilogue that the Thedas that Elissa saved from the Fifth Blight has been all but destroyed by the Mage-Templar War that Anders has begun. What did Marian care if there were another mega-darkspawn on the loose?)

In the long run, though, even Janeka came to realize her mistake, and Corypheus had to be destroyed. Anders refused to believe the possibility that the darkspawn before us could be one of the Magisters of the First Violation until after the battle, when we found an amulet worn only by the priests of Dumat--a sect that hadn’t existed since the First Blight.

One thing is slightly haunting, though: When Corypheus awoke, and calls to Dumat, he claims that the City was already black and corrupted when they arrived. Was it always Black, and never Golden? Were the Old Gods goading the Magisters to break into the Maker’s City in revenge for their imprisonment? Why did the Maker really imprison them? I doubt this is something Bioware will delve too deeply into, at least in the next game, but it should make for some very interesting theories and fan fiction, at the very least.

It might be messy here for the next week or so

2011-08-01T06:45:00.000-04:00

I'm going to be playing with the Blogger templates and CSS again in my spare time probably for the next week or so, so if things look... odd... here for about that length of time, that's why. I've already saved a backup of where I am now, so reverting things won't be an issue if necessary.

I'm just asking if things look strange, ignore them. If they act strange or if anything (links, photos, anything) is broken please let me know as much as you can about it so I can try and get it fixed.

Thanks!

REVIEW Dragon Age II: Legacy - little/no spoilers

2011-07-30T22:18:00.002-04:00

I have to say, this is what I wish we had more of in Dragon Age II the first time around. Yes, I know the point of the sequel wasn't about the Blight or the Wardens. But we were introduced to Thedas with such a strong dose of that mythology that the almost complete lack thereof in Kirkwall never sat well with me. The Legacy content definitely rectifies this. From the Bioware page for the content:

Targeted by a vicious criminal cartel that are hunting "the blood of the Hawke," you must put an end to their relentless attacks. Leave Kirkwall, and journey to an ancient Grey Warden prison in order to find the source of the aggression and uncover the harsh truth about the Hawke lineage. Playable from any point in the Dragon Age II campaign, face new breeds of darkspawn, forge a powerful new weapon and come face to face with an ancient horror.

Wardens? Ancient prisons? New darkspawn? Sounds right up my alley!

I started with a brand new character to take into the expansion, which meant that I had to spend a few hours leveling up before I could actually get to the meat of Legacy's content. I went into it as a mage at level 7, with Anders, Isabella, and Carver. With only a few exceptions, I didn't have any trouble with this party until finally reaching the ancient horror that we're promised--more on that later, though¹.

While Legacy is shorter than I expected, there are a few subplots to it in addition to its main plot. You're still exploring what turns out to be a Warden prison, but there are hints of secrets to a few different family "legacies" that begin to pop up--not all of which belong to the Hawkes' and one major revelation involving the Wardens of the First Blight itself. These little mysteries are where the best of the Legacy content shines: we're given tidbits of history, here and there, our curiosity pushing us deeper into a prison where the only way out is to delve further in.

One small problem I do have with it is how it effects the canon timeline of the universe, as closely as I can tell it. We know from DA2 that Lothering is destroyed by the Horde approximately one month after the fall of Ostagar, and Leandra states in Act 1 that the twins were eighteen years old; this doesn't change at all, luckily, since Leandra's statement of "eighteen years of loving and caring" is pretty damned precise. Hawke's exact age is never mentioned that I can tell, though I've always assumed the character to be roughly twenty-three at the beginning of the game, possibly as old as twenty-five. (Gamlen mentions something about Leandra running off twenty-five years ago before you leave for the Deep Roads expedition, and unless Malcom had some of that magical birth control the Circle Tower in Ferelden obviously had², I can't see the two of them being together for long before having their first child.)

The problem here comes from the fact that we can play this content at any point in the game: Acts 1, 2, 3, or in the post-game boot up are all treated the same from what I can tell. When you have a game with a "ten year narrative" though, and you start referring to things that happened so-many-years-ago, you need to remember to adjust how long ago events in the near past actually happened. Near the end of Legacy, a Warden states that the last time the prison was active was thirty years ago. Assuming you play Legacy post-game, this means that Hawke is twenty when Lothering is destroyed--not necessarily unbelievable for f!Hawke's default appearance, but I find it hard to believe that m!Hawke was just twenty during the family's escape. On the other hand, if you go into Legacy in Act 1, the Warden still claims the previous events were thirty years ago and it's still mentioned that Hawke has already been at least conceived, if not born. I don't care how unrealistic video game characters' appearances are, there is no way that f!Hawke is thirty at the beginning of the game. I suppose we can split the difference on this, pretend the canon for Legacy is that Hawke was 24-26 at the time Lothering was destroyed, and that you go on this quest in Act 2. Personally, I'm going with Act 3/post-game for my canon characters; it makes Hawke a little bit younger than I thought, but it's more believable than to think that any version of the Champion is nearly forty when the Right of Annulment is invoked at the end of the game.

...Wow, that took a lot longer than I expected to type out. The age thing is literally the only problem I can think of from Legacy though, nit-picky as it may be.

The other thing I really love so far, though I'm only about halfway through this part, is the NPC interactions and dialogue. The first time I tried to fight the final boss I heard the following exchange:
"Get his armor off!"
...to which Anders immediately shouts back something to the effect of "Seriously, Isabela, this is not the time!"
"...That's not what I meant!" was the last thing I heard in that conversation before I had to go back to actually paying attention to the fight. I had to pause the game to stop laughing, because I nearly died when I heard that and stopped to listen. There are a ton more tiny little one- and two-liners depending on which companions you have, but since I'm only on my second play of Legacy I haven't heard all of the new lines yet.

One thing I adore, though, and I'm also looking forward to seeing more companion interaction and opinions of, is the implications of the final boss on the entire landscape of Thedas. There's one confirmation and many hints, but the information revealed goes back before the First Blight and the First Wardens, and could continue to effect Thedas long after anything I can currently imagine Bioware producing in the Dragon Age series short of destroying the world entirely.

When we left Dragon Age II originally, all the focus was on the coming war against the Chantry. It turns out there's still something much bigger in Thedas than the politics of mages, templars and Revered Mothers of Andraste, bigger than Andraste herself, and Bioware has the option right now to run with it or close it as they wish. Enough has been said that they probably can still close the series out as a trilogy if they choose to do so, but enough has also been said that will keep Dragon Age an amazing universe for a very, very long time.

Legacy by itself: 8.5/10
Dragon Age II with Legacy content added: 7.5/10 with promise of more later on.

¹I just realized that I've been typing for over an hour and forgot to discuss my slight problems with the final boss battle. These are technical and based on my party composition, not the content of the expansion, so I'm going to try and remember to just make an additional post for that comparing my first and second plays through when I finish my current go.

²In Act 3 when you're hunting down the three escaped blood mages for Meredith, one turns out to be an idiot virgin who claims to be a blood mage "to get girls". If Anders is with you he quips that "everyone was kissing everyone" in Ferelden's Circle before the abominations came. You know there was more than kissing going on, especially if you have the spare time to read The Calling. And yet there's not a single child in the tower who isn't an apprentice brought in from elsewhere. Either the mages have their own form of controlling things, or the Templars have found a way (presumably a preemptive way, considering the lack of mage outrage on the subject) to stop mage procreation.

Strange Dream: Dracolich Attacks Seattle

2011-07-30T08:52:00.000-04:00

So, last night I had a crazy kaiju (Japanese for "strange beast" or "monster" a la Godzilla) dream. I originally only posted a brief summary of the following on Twitter, then I wrote up as much as I could accurately remember in a limited post on Google+. I've been thinking about it since posting to G+, though, and decided I wanted to make a public post after all. Unfortunately, I don't know a simple way to switch from "limited" to "public" on G+ once a post is already made without erasing and reposting entirely, and I don't want to lose the little bit of conversation I already have there with people regarding the zaniness below. So, here's a more or less direct copy/paste of the original G+ post, changed only for some grammar and formatting:

A giant dracolich was attacking Seattle during (maybe the day after?) PAX this year; I had suspected it earlier but no one believed me until it was too late. (There was a two-day-long "trying to convince people" period in the dream, but it was kinda montage-y, so I don't remember much of it.)

I made it out and got to L.A. for a new job that started the next day, the first day of which was networking computers in a sex shop upstairs from where Seth Rogen was having a huge movie premiere / party / something.

But the next day a monster attacked there, too. It started with a kaiju monster scene in Seth Rogen's movie and I was understandably freaked out / shellshocked / looking for a way out because I thought it was just the party downstairs, not a movie showing, and I thought I was actually looking at L.A. being attacked by something. Seth Rogen was being slightly dickish to everyone at his party, then all Jurassic Park style the floor shook and drinks spilled, and the theater/club/sex shop roof was torn off. I didn't get a chance to see the monster and don't know if I survived the attack, but I was very "I told you so" pissed off at the same time as being terrified.

Then I woke up. I went to bed completely sober and medication-free last night. If I'd been on anything, I might could understand having such a fucked-up dream. The last song I listened to was a gorgeous piano version of "Battle with the Four Fiends", and I guess that could lead to some sort of "boss fight" scenario in my subconscious, but damn. I have a weird brain.

So yeah, that's my brain for ya. What the hell?

Dragon Age II: Legacy - Running Behind

2011-07-29T07:40:00.000-04:00

Just popping in to say I figured I'd have my first impressions post up by now but exhaustion has kept me from gaming the past two nights. I wanted to get two solid runs through before making a full post, but I should be able to at least finish my first run tonight if I'm as far as I think I am, and I'll make a post then.

In the meantime, the short-short version is it's intriguing in a good way. There's just enough mystery to unravel.

Official Android Gingerbread 2.3.3 for T-Mobile G2

2011-07-28T05:25:00.004-04:00

Use these instructions at your own risk right now, as I've received one error on the boot loader already, but here's the link to the rom and instructions on T-Mobile's forums:

T-Mobile Support Community: Gingerbread 2.3.3 Direct Download. (note, see 6am update below for further instructions)

The error I'm getting isn't bricking my phone at all, so no worries on that issue to my knowledge. If you get the error screen with the red exclamation mark, taking the battery out has fixed it for me.

Will update as I have more info on my success or lack thereof. Also, stores are supposed to be able to give you the update manually in August, but some sites are saying that you'll lose all data on your phone if the store does the update. Not sure if this is "wiping the entire SD card" losing data or just "need to resync with Google" losing data.

Edit 5:39am: As far as the error I was getting, it looks like my still-sleepy brain was just picking the wrong option in the boot loader. Do not click "recovery", and when I followed the instructions on the linked forum exactly and select "image crc" it just checked the update file but didn't run it. "System restore" did just that, with no update. I remember previous manual updates needed the zip to be renamed, but that hasn't been mentioned at all in the instructions for this one. ~~I'm going to try it anyway and see if that helps.~~ (It doesn't help, just move along.)

Edit 6:00am: Okay, following the top post on this page of the forums (the post by aquaticdex) got the update to boot for me. The short, short version is when you have the zip file in the right folder and open the bootloader, just spam the power button to click "next" before it reads the update file. I don't know how or why this worked, but it does. You'll have to reset your phone settings as if it were factory-new, but your SD card should be intact (I've never had an SD card erased by a system restore on an Android phone, and my files look to be safe this time as well.) At any rate, I just completed the basic set up for my update! I haven't gotten my apps re synced yet, but there's some slight spiffiness to the UI at least, plus a much easier shortcut to the app management menu that I've already found. I'll try and post full details about the update later today, but I've got it and it works! ^_^

Scrobble Google Music to Last.FM

2011-07-27T15:00:00.000-04:00

Just FYI for those in the Google Music beta, there's an extension you can install for Chrome that scrobbles to Last.FM the same way as the Amazon Cloud scrobbler I posted a little while back. :)

Google Music with Last.fm | Daniel Slaughter

Dragon Age II DLC Day!

2011-07-26T08:07:00.001-04:00

I've had my hate-its and love-its with Dragon Age II. But I doubt anything can make me not look forward to new content in Thedas, even if it is just more content revolving around the Hawkes in Kirkwall. From what little I've read, this goes deeper into the story of one of Hawke's ancestors--probably an apostate and hopefully a Warden since there's new Darkspawn and Ancient Horrors promised.

While I believe it takes place within the regular timeline of the game, just like in Origins you can load up a completed character to play additional content released later--I already tested this myself by reloading my first or second character to find Hawke in her estate with a similar on-screen message to the one in Origins when it starts you in camp post-game.

Either way, I'll be doing this quest three times--first as a brand new mage, then with my first and second canon Hawkes for eventual import into DA3. The question is, do I keep Carver alive to become a Templar? I hate the bastard like crazy, but I wonder which will better serve the DLC's story?

BioWare | Dragon Age II

A Mess of a Catch-Up Post

2011-07-13T16:35:00.000-04:00

I've posted a few little things lately, but haven't made any big posts in a while. I figured I'd catch up on a group of things today to make up for it:

New Netflix prices - As much as I'm unhappy with the new pricing plans Netflix announced, I think @trixie360 said it best: "Netflix rate increases are XBL Horse Armor all over again: You bitch, but you pay it anyway." (original post here) And while I think that's going to be true for most subscribers, we'll most likely be at least cutting down to one disc at a time from our current two at a time plan.
Fucking hot outside - I think this speaks for itself. It's hot pretty much everywhere according to the news, but since I'm one of those "sensitive individuals" that they talk about needing to take extra precautions, this continually is an issue for me.
Google Plus - It's Facebook, but it's not! My page can be found here; if you add me just make sure to send me a quick message saying who you are if it's not obvious, so I don't block you by mistake--you know, same rules as my Twitter page.
Medical - Things have been good and bad on this front. On the good, I'm still mostly free and clear so far as cysts and endometriosis is concerned. On the bad, my Meniere's is more active than it's been in years; it turns out a lot of the problems with what we thought were ear infections last winter and spring were probably starting off as regular ear infections, but they were aggravating my inner ear and that's where some of the pain and pressure was actually coming from.
Steam and gaming - I've been on Steam for a while, but since my main computer was a laptop until recently, I never really bothered with it. I just got a new system (see below) so I'm actually trying out some PC games for a change now, though. If you wanna add me, my profile's here, though so far I don't have a lot of multi-player games yet--just TF2 and Alien Swarm, I think.
Maleficar - Meet my beautiful new PC! (Link will probably require that we're friends on G+; I'll edit in a better pic when I get home tonight.) At least, that was when we first got all the parts in, before we got him put together. While his full name is Maleficar, we're just calling him Mal for short. I <3 him. ^_^
Summer movies - There are only three movies I really care about this summer that I can think of off-hand: Harry Potter, Cowboys and Aliens, and Captain America. The real priority here is Captain America, too. I couldn't give a damn about the story and I'll be the first to admit it. I just have a celebrity crush on Chris Evans at the moment. Out of the other two, I'm sure Harry Potter will be the better movie but ever since seeing the first trailer for Cowboys and Aliens I've been in giggles to see that. It just looks so... ridiculous... and I love every minute of it.
Dragon Age - The few posts I've made recently have been regarding the coming DLC for Dragon Age 2 and the new novel from David Gaider, Asunder, that takes place sometime following the events of the second game. The DLC will help tide me over for a little while, but does anyone have any DA-related suggestions for something to keep my attention until Asunder is out in (I think) December? I'm getting bored with reading fanfiction for a change.
PAX - Is not happening for Brian and I this year. It sucks, but I've known since roughly January it was the case and it was confirmed when passes sold out super early. This is partly why I went ahead and got the parts to build Mal, but that doesn't make the situation any less sucky. I'm sure I'll be a pain to be around PAX weekend, moping around and all.

I think the local paper needs a new editor >.>

2011-07-08T07:21:00.001-04:00

Okay, so this screen cap is from MSNBC's site, in the section where it imports local news. I have two questions:

What the hell is that headline supposed to mean and/or how is it supposed to be read?
What the hell is the actual post on SavannahNow.com supposed to be?

At any rate, whatevs. It's too early to think too hard on this.

Posted via email from brennacedria's posterous

DA2 DLC coming 7-26-11

2011-07-07T19:30:00.001-04:00

It's about damned time. That said, while I will almost certainly download it on Day One, I'm not going to get terribly hyped for this, especially with what little we know about it. Even the achievement/trophy list is kind of bare bones, though it's probably more likely that the vague titles & descriptions will make more sense once we actually have our hands on the expansion.

Also, the Joystiq comments are kinda fun to read, especially the ones making fun of the original game's "multiple environments" and such. I am curious where in the timeline this fits, though, since the original link below says something to the effect of it can be played at any time during or after the story. Literally the only thing that tells me is it's before the Right of Annulment, but no other insights are given.

'Dragon Age 2: Legacy' DLC due on July 26 | Joystiq

Game Night!

2011-06-18T15:35:00.003-04:00

Edit: Gah, the actual form is too wide for my page here. Replacing the embedded poll with a link instead!

Assuming I get first pick from all the characters in the game, who should I use when playing the BSG board game tonight?

New Dragon Age Novel Available This Year

2011-06-16T10:10:00.003-04:00

I've been hoping for a new Dragon Age novel since I finished The Calling and there's finally one that's been announced! The Joystiq link below has the full press release attached, but the two most important details included are:

* Asunder takes place following Dragon Age 2

* It's set around events taking place in an Orlesian "Templar stronghold" so it's probably going to expand on the rebellion of the Circles throughout Thedas.

The press release mentions a character named Adrian, and implies that he's a mage; ~~What isn't mentioned yet to my knowledge is anything about the characters involved~~, though considering the end scenes of DA2 and the Orlesian setting, I'm hoping for a Leliana apearance, if not also her point-of-view at some point in the story. It doesn't seem too far-fetched considering the POV of the last two novels, which both included primary characters we knew from the games (Loghain in Stolen Throne and Duncan in The Calling).

'Dragon Age: Asunder' is latest franchise novel, available late 2011 | Joystiq

Edit: I almost forgot, there was a link to a video interview on the Dragon Age twitter account yesterday that apparently discusses the new novel. I haven't watched it yet, but here's a link to the video page just in case anyone's interested! That link goes directly to the BioWare TV page, so if the correct video doesn't load automatically, click on "Bioware Pulse ep5 - Dragon Age Asunder" to load the video discussing the new book.

Bioware Hacked

2011-06-16T06:27:00.000-04:00

It was only a server for Neverwinter Nights (so far, at least) but add Bioware to the list of game companies to get hacked recently. Seriously, when are the trolls going to grow the fuck up?

At any rate, if you haven't gotten an email, or if you're still able to log into any of the EA sites, your account is fine (for now). I'm sure this nonsense isn't going to stop here, though. :(

The Hackings Continue - Neverwinter Nights | LoudMouthedGamers

A Scholarly Wiki Regarding the Musk Deer

2011-06-14T10:35:00.001-04:00

*ahem* My brother made a post to his Facebook this morning, quite proud of himself for updating the wikipedia entry for the musk deer. I have no idea what brought this on, but it is fucking hilarious. I don't know how long his edits are going to remain on the page before someone finds his edit and erases it, so here's his addition in full for posterity:

Characteristics

Musk deer are evil, disgusting creatures with a stocky build, and hind legs longer than their front legs. They are approximately 80 to 100 centimetres (31 to 39 in) in length, 50 to 70 centimetres (20 to 28 in) tall at the shoulder, and weigh between 7 and 17 kilograms (15 and 37 lb). The feet of musk deer are adapted for climbing in rough terrain, scaling fortress walls, and scalping small children. Like the Chinese Water Deer, a cervid, they have no antlers, souls, or remorse for the ingestion of human flesh but the males do have enlarged upper canines, forming sabre-like tusks which are used to rip the flesh off of unsuspecting toddlers. The dental formula is similar to that of true deer:

The musk gland is found only in adult males. It lies in a sac located between the genitals and the umbilicus, and its secretions are most likely used to attract mates and scare away all other predators to include lions, tigers, and none other than T-Rex himself.
Musk deer are carnivores, living in hilly, forested environments, generally near human habitation (their primary food source). Unlike most deer, they do not eat mainly leaves, flowers, and grasses, with some mosses and lichens. They take pride in gorging upon the flesh of unsuspecting or weakened humans. They are solitary animals (because they don't need to hunt in packs, duh), and maintain well-defined territories, which they scent mark with their caudal glands. Musk deer are generally agressive, and either nocturnal(because they have super scary eyes that glow red in the dark), or crepuscular.

Males leave their territories during the rutting season, and compete for mates (by offering human sacrifices to the desired females), using their tusks as weapons. Female musk deer give birth to a single fawn after about 150–180 days. The newborn young are very small, and essentially motionless for the first month of their life, a feature that helps them remain hidden from predators.^[1]Musk deers have been hunted for their scent glands which can fetch up to $45,000/kg on the black market. Hunting musk deer has resulted in 1,000,000 documented deaths since 1941. It is rumored that ancient royalty wore the scent of the musk deer and that it is an aphrodisiac.^[2]

Well, there you have it. This made me laugh too much to not share.

What was your favorite childhood toy?

2011-06-14T06:46:00.001-04:00

EARLY childhood: my Moondreamers dolls. I'm pretty sure I had the full set, looking at pages online about the toys, and all of them were apparently lost when we moved from England to Maine. Second place around the same time as that move would be my Gobo & Red, my Rainbow Brite, my Popple(s) (I think I just had one, but I'm not 100% on that), and my Rhinokey (I probably had other Wuzzles, but Rhinokey is the one I remember most).

Mid-to-late childhood: My video games. I got my GameBoy & Tetris for my birthday when I was in... 3rd grade. My grandma got me a Super Nintendo the following Christmas. I probably haven't been outside since. :p (Okay, I went outside SOME up through early teens, mostly just to get away from my house for a few hours, though.)

Ask me anything

#SonyFail Arrests?

2011-06-10T11:18:00.000-04:00

Not a lot of info, but what there is is in the link:

Three arrests made in connection with PSN hack | Joystiq

Twitter + Photobucket = Who needs TwitPic?

2011-06-08T21:23:00.002-04:00

Okay, so I confess. I skim the headlines for a lot of the items in my feeds but don't read the actual posts. I knew there was an in-house Twitter photo service being rolled out, but I honestly thought it was just announced & done. On the other hand, I heard a few days ago that I might get to try out something new. I was very intruiged, but waited patiently for my turn at whatever this "something new" was.
Me, being the idiot that I am sometimes, didn't even realize at first (once I received notification tonight that my new feature was activated) what the new feature was. Like I said, I thought the photos were already implemented when they were announced. Then I logged in with my other account in another browser to compare the two screens, and realized how wrong I was.
Now, if I'd read the original announement post--the link to which is below--I'd have known already that Twitter was partnering with Photobucket for their service. Anyway, in my very brief experience so far:

Uploads appear to be fast--faster even than TwitPic via web. Granted, I've barely played with it so far, but what I have tried has seemed almost immediate.
Image quality gets reduced a bit if the size is too big. I believe this is a Photobucket image size thing, but I haven't uploaded any large images to that site in quite a while so I don't remember.
It's using Photobucket! While I'm sad that I can't change my username there to match most other sites, I've been using Photobucket for as long as I remember and I still adore it.

Now then, for things I want:

Auto-link between our Twitter/Photobucket uploads to our pre-established Photobucket accounts! We can already link these accounts on the Photobucket end to tweet our uploads, how about going the other way around? Give us a "Twitter Uploads" album in our Photobucket account that they can go to, and we can later move them to other albums later. I don't know the back-end of the arrangement at all, but I'd imagine this would eventually save time and money on Twitter's end with the users hosting their own PB accounts, plus there has to be someone who uses Photobucket Pro, saving Photobucket on a little bit of costs as well.
Mobile support! As of now there's no integration for the official mobile apps or TweetDeck, but the original announcement post states that mobile support including MMS support is coming. I'd assume this won't happen until the main site's feature is more established, but who knows? What I haven't tried is the mobile website to see if that works in place of an app or MMS uploads. I'll try that out in an hour or so and edit in my results when I get it done (or not, whichever the case may be). Edit: If you can force your phone to give you the standard site rather than the mobile site and have access to the feature you may be able to upload from your phone that way, but my phone's only giving me the mobile site & it isn't offering me the option for any photos. Just FYI!

Anyway, like I said I just got the ability to try the Twitter photos feature tonight, so I'll have much more time in the future to play with it more & report more on it later.
Original post discussing the new photo hosting service: http://blog.twitter.com/2011/06/searchphotos.html

Posted via email from brennacedria's posterous

Found On Twitter - Wii U Footage not Wii U

2011-06-08T10:50:00.001-04:00

Thanks to @mmmfutter for the below link. My opinion of the Wii U presentation, and the Nintendo press conference in general, has been severely reduced. On the other hand, I think this is hilarious. Looks like that weird-looking bird & horrible-looking koi in the actual tech demo is more what we should be expecting out of the Wii U after all.

E3: Wii U third-party games were actually PS3/360 footage- Destructoid

FYI - Scrobble Amazon Cloud Player to Last.FM

2011-06-08T10:07:00.005-04:00

Amazon Cloud Player with Last.fm Scrobbling for Greasemonkey and Chrome | Daniel Slaughter

I'm just now installing this so I'll edit this post later today after some testing, but the install was as easy as the instructions claimed, so we'll just see how well the scrobbling itself works, now!

Edit: Wow, that was fast, and though it's just the first song, it works damn near perfectly. GaGa's "Americano" was less than 10 seconds into the song when I checked my Last.FM profile to see if it was showing up yet & it was. Very much "Like".

Edit #2, 6/15/11: The plug-in seems to be having some on-again, off-again days. Last week neither the plug-in nor the site I linked to above was working, but today both are fine. Just FYI.

I Love Memes

2011-06-03T10:47:00.000-04:00

I've had this saved in my "Watch Later" list for ages now and never got around to it. Not sure why I haven't until now, cause it's awesomes.

(Also: What about or from Pretty Green Onions is a meme? I just know it as one of my awesome DJ Sharpnel songs.)

Snagged from imgur via Facebook (politics, kind of)

2011-06-02T08:17:00.000-04:00

"We The People" via imgur

I don't normally post or talk about politics of any kind, but this makes me lol. Apparently, this note is taped to Palin's tour bus. :p

Really Sprint? Really?

2011-06-01T06:36:00.000-04:00

BBC News - Sprint moves to block AT&T, T-Mobile deal

While I personally don't mind, cause I'd love to keep my T-Mobile and not have to deal with AT&T in a year or so, I'd figure Sprint would be the last company to want to fight this merger. Even with Sprint's terrible signal locally, almost everyone I know here in town who is actually considering leaving once the TMo/ATT merger is complete isn't planning on going to Verizon, we're considering Sprint instead.

But hey, if you want to fight for our rights as consumers without taking us in like poor, orphaned children when the merger is finally approved, don't let me stop you. I might only get a so-so data signal at home, but I can get my calls when I need to, and WiFi covers everything that my (lack of*) T-Mobile 3G or HSPA+ signal doesn't.

*To be fair, Savannah gets both higher speed T-Mobile services, but where I live twenty minutes outside of town we don't, unless we drive down to the airport 5-10 minutes down the road instead. And I'd STILL rather keep my service with T-Mo!

Twitter Status - Some users might not have been receiving email notifications

2011-06-01T06:22:00.000-04:00

Oh noes!

It might just be me, but I have a feeling not a single person has been bothered, hurt, or upset by a temporary lack of email notifications. Seriously, Twitter, most of us are turning that shit off as soon as we received our first message.

Place your bets on the end of #SonyFail!

2011-05-31T06:58:00.000-04:00

Full PSN Services, including PlayStation Store, Return This Week – PlayStation Blog

I know, I know, I'm a day late on this. I've also been sick, so sue me--between this, my PvZ update that's already gone up, and god knows what else, I'll probably be quite spammy today. Hell, I already have been on Twitter, and it's not seven A.M. Eastern Time yet.

To the topic at hand, though, Sony says that we'll have full functionality of PSN (and Qriocity) this week, including the store in general and code redemption in particular for those of you with games like L.A. Noire. Well, those of us in "the Americas, Europe/PAL territories and Asia, excluding Japan, Hong Kong, and South Korea" will have full functionality. God only knows when those areas will get service back and how long it will be before PSN goes through either a "ha ha-fooled you!" hack or just plain crashes under the pressure of thousands of nerds trying to get the free content that was promised in return for our patience.

Not that said content has a promised date. Personally, I'll just be happy to get new, free PS Minis via PSN+ again.

PvZ on Android via Amazon App store!!!!!!!

2011-05-31T06:35:00.000-04:00

Amazon.com: Plants vs. Zombies (WiFi Download Only): Appstore for Android

I think the title and the link say it all. Normally it'll be $2.99, but today it's free so jump on it!! All I hope is that I can run it on my Archos; Chuzzle refuses to start on it so I'm not terribly confident in PvZ running on the tablet, but at least I still have my phone to play it on.

Born This Way

2011-05-24T14:41:00.001-04:00

I don't think I've ever done a review for an album before, but there's a first for everything I suppose. The new Lady Gaga album was on sale for 99 cents yesterday, so I went ahead a jumped on it--so long as I liked just one song in addition to the title track Born This Way, I figured I was getting my money's worth. I almost never enjoy Gaga's songs until I've heard them a dozen* times or so and they kind of get stuck in my head. While the album itself I wouldn't pay the full $6.99 Amazon MP3 price for (at least, that's the price today for the version of the album I got yesterday), there are a few songs I've liked enough to not regret my decision to download while it was on sale. Overall, here's my impressions of the various songs on the album, listed in the order that I decided each song belongs in each category:

Songs I liked the first time through
Yoü And I
Judas

Songs that required 2 or more plays
Born This Way (though I heard this whenever ago when the single was first released)
Americano

Songs that required 5 or more plays
Bad Kids
Scheiße

Songs I'm still not thrilled with
Bloody Mary
Marry the Night

No opinion so far
Highway Unicorn (Road to Love)
Heavy Metal Lover
Hair
Government Hooker
Electric Chapel
Edge of Glory

Of those "no opinion" songs, I'm thinking "Heavy Metal Lover" & "Government Hooker" I'm going to like eventually, it's just going to take time for those two to grow on me. No clue about the others yet, though. Regardless, I got two songs I love and four more that I like--more than worth the dollar spent on the album, and maybe (almost) worth the retail price, even.

*In this case, "dozen" = I haven't got any clue how often it really is.

Posted via email from brennacedria's posterous

OMGSOCUTE - Otter Juggles Stone - #ICHCB

2011-05-23T09:29:00.000-04:00

VIDEO: Otter Juggles Stone - Lolcats 'n' Funny Pictures of Cats - I Can Has Cheezburger?

Work in Progress?

2011-05-23T08:42:00.001-04:00

Needless to say, I've been using Rasputin the Undying Laptop for a week or so now while Brian uses Hex to tinker with some extra parts that a friend had lying around. Unfortunately, the mobo we were given won't fit in Hex's current case, so he had to... improvise. While I was playing DA2 last night Brian literally shouted from the other room, "if I burn the house down, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to."

The scariest bit? I'm pretty sure that whichever components are actually connected at the moment are functional as they are in this photo. I just want my desk back, if not my actual computer.

Completionist

2011-05-23T06:45:00.001-04:00

Okay, so I've mentioned on Twitter how I'm going through DA2 again, trying to pick up the last few trophies that I hadn't gotten on my other three and a half plays. There are only three trophies that I need to get the plat, plus the friendship/rivalry trophy for Sebastian. In addition, I'm trying to get the Sebastian romance completed, just to say that I have. All's been going well--made a rogue, avoided flirting with everyone else, and was about to head into the Deep Roads to finish Act 1. I had been very careful in any quest-related areas that I knew I couldn't return to, making sure I'd gathered up every crafting resource in each area, since "Supplier" is most time consuming of the three trophies I need. It occured to me more than once that I should probably print out a list of every resource in the game with its location, but with the exception of the Bone Pit Mines, I knew I had gotten every item out of every quest area, and I could always go back to the Mines to get anything I'd missed there.

The good news, I guess, is that I did in fact check my list for Act-One-completion before heading down to the Deep Roads and I was right! I'd successfully found every single crafting item I thought I had, and the only ones left were in areas I could return to any time, like the Wounded Coast in general. Unfortunately, when I went back to the Bone Pit to recheck the mines (I figured I left some lyrium down there) the icon on the map for the mine entrance was still on the map, but the entrance itself was invisibly roped off by the game and I couldn't get inside.

Well fuck, there went about 10 hours of gameplay.

Anyway, I went back and remade Ria (all my Hawkes outside of the first Marian and Garrett have names that are a play on the original default name, omitting letters or syllables here and there) last night and started Act 1 over. I'm just shy of five hours back into the game, I'm a bit over half way through the Act, and I'm marking each material off a list before continuing from one area to the next this time. I've got all the items but the ones in the Bone Pit and the Tal-Vashoth cavern, excluding those found during the Deep Roads expedition.

As for the other two trophies I need for completion, that's just Master Craftsman & Archaeologist. I should have had archaeologist last time through, but forgot in Act 3 to get a third "Band of Three" codex entry. Master craftsman should be much easier, since you only have to craft everything from one of the crafting trees, the potions tree only has six recipes to begin with, and from what I understand (I'm marking these off on a list as I go as well) you get all of those recipes by the end of Act 2.

In the meantime, as inspiration for my goal of getting the Sebastian romance this game, I've been reading DA2 fics featuring him lately. Lots of these are angst-ridden, but the best ones are by far the ones that either feature Isabela being a bad influence on Hawke and convincing her to taunt the poor choir boy, Isabela taunting him herself, or are complete and unabashed smut that turn out to be Varric embellishing the story to Cassandra again, pissing her off and having her call him on his bullshit. Actually, I might just switch from searching for Sebastian fics altogether and set my search to character = Varric / genre = humor and see what I find overall. I can't imagine any character in the game would be as much fun to tease as Sebastian, but I'm sure there have to be a few good fic authors out there who can handle Varric's story-telling prowess.

Posted via email from brennacedria's posterous

Achievement Unlocked - Hot as Balls

2011-05-22T15:28:00.001-04:00

Thank god it's been a slow day at work today, and I haven't had to go out in this but twice so far. I do not envy our maintenance guys when they're scheduled during weather like this, however.

Posted via email from brennacedria's posterous

I remember...

2011-05-21T10:42:00.001-04:00

...when Cracker Jacks came with actual little toys. Kids just don't know what they're missing sometimes.

What's the scariest piece of fiction you've ever come across be it a novel, video game, or anime? I'm not talking cheap thrills either, I mean -really- scary. Or, if you can't think of anything what is the most recent you've come across?

2011-05-17T18:51:00.001-04:00

HP Lovecraft "The Rats in the Walls" by far, though "The Shunned House" comes very, very close. It's not that the stories themselves are so bad, either.

For "The Shunned House" our (mine & Brian's) first experience with Mythos was playing a premade/one-shot campaign that was loosely based on the story in the Call of Cthulhu rpg, so I was able to place myself within the story very intimately when I finally read it months later. I ended up calling Brian (we weren't even living together yet, this was so long ago) at four in the morning because I couldn't sleep/turn out the lights/etc after reading the story, even though by Lovecraftian standards it has a somewhat happy ending. By the way, Brian and I both made it out of the house alive in our game, no thanks to his magic-shunning character. ^_~

"The Rats in the Walls" though... *shudders* Again, the story itself isn't so bad, but it just happened that the first time I read the story I got so immersed in it that I could not only hear, but also FEEL the scratching of the rats' claws against my skin, and I've been fairly scarred by it ever since. I tried once--ONCE--to reread it, and the creepy-crawliness of it still makes me cringe.

On the complete opposite note, I laughed incredibly hard when I finished "The Outsider". I don't know why, but that one just tickled me silly at the end.

Ask me anything

Preparedness 101: Zombie Apocalypse

2011-05-17T16:22:00.000-04:00

CDC - Blogs - Public Health Matters Blog – Preparedness 101: Zombie Apocalypse

Snagging this link from @AmyLukima. I already retweeted the link itself, but I figured it deserved as much screen time as possible. ^_~

PvZ & Chuzzle each coming as free app-of-the-day!

2011-05-16T11:45:00.000-04:00

Plants Vs. Zombies Coming to Android for Free (for a Day) - Kotaku

The only thing I don't know is what day PvZ is coming, since that's the game I'm most interested in. :D

"Please don't hate on us anymore, it's fixed, we swear!!!" #SonyFail

2011-05-14T20:36:00.000-04:00

PS3 System Software Update

Okay, I don't actually know myself that it's fixed, I'm just taking Sony's word on it for now. I've got the update installing as I type so we'll see. Anyway, the full details are in the link above, including info about changing your password, which apparently can only be done from one of you activated systems (to make sure you're you, I presume).

I fucking hate this town & its weather

2011-05-10T18:10:00.001-04:00

With luck the app hasn't resized the pic too badly for everyone to see what the hell happens to me when it gets roughly 90 degrees or more outside. I don't know specifically how hot it got this afternoon, but when I looked up the temp about 45 minutes ago it was 92 out. By the way, this is my rebellious skin with minimal exposure to the heat outside; I spent MAYBE 20 minutes total outside today in increments of no more than five minutes at a time MAX. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go get an icey shower & find some Benadryl cream for my back. :(

(BTW, my arms & chest are just as bad, and I haven't had a chance to check my legs yet.)

If you can't say something nice... #SonyFail

2011-05-10T17:11:00.002-04:00

PSN Restoration Timeline Update – PlayStation Blog

Okay, honestly, I'm not withholding a major comment because I can't think of anything nice to say. I can't think of pretty much anything to say in response to this, simply because this "update" gives us no information whatsoever. To save you any clicking, here's the entire post from the link above:

I know you all want to know exactly when the services will be restored. At this time, I can’t give you an exact date, as it will likely be at least a few more days. We’re terribly sorry for the inconvenience and appreciate your patience as we work through this process.

So... "it will likely be at least a few more days" before we get service? Before we get a date? Before aliens come and enslave humanity? I know I commented earlier that it was stupid that the European FAQ concerning the outage was updated yesterday while the North American one wasn't, but this isn't what I meant when I complained about a lack of updates regarding the PSN outage.

The People vs George Lucas

2011-05-10T14:38:00.000-04:00

The People vs George Lucas - Star Wars Vs. Star Trek

Thanks to Jules, whose Twitter I snagged the above link from. The site itself may be "Star Wars Vs. Star Trek" but the article is pure Star Wars--it's a trailer for a documentary that looks like it touches on both sides of the nerdlove/nerdhate for George Lucas post-Prequels.

It's pretty unlikely to come anywhere near me, so I'm mostly hoping it ends up on Netflix Instant eventually, but that didn't stop me from submitting the "Want it? Demand it!" form at the bottom of the main page. ^_~

Where do you see yourself in 10 years time?

2011-05-09T15:00:00.001-04:00

I know I said to ask anything, but this is a question I always refuse to answer. On the one hand, I don't want to disappoint myself if I look back 10 years from now and haven't achieved something I set out to do. On the other hand, I don't want to limit myself either. That's not to say I don't plan for the basics, but I'd still rather take experiences as they come, rather than get bogged down in meeting goals that probably won't mean much to me by the time I'm on my deathbed.

Ask me anything

Nearly Six Weeks?! #SonyFail

2011-05-09T14:51:00.000-04:00

PSN Outage and FAQ- Updated Monday 9th May - Official PlayStation® Community -PlayStation.com

So yeah, May 31st is the current date for the restoration of PSN services. I suppose I should note that this is the scheduled date for "full restoration" of service, meaning that Sony is probably hoping for partial restoration before then, but still--six weeks is insane. I don't even play online that often but I have to say--even if Mortal Kombat does suck with the Xbox's controller, I'm glad I got the game on 360 instead of the PS3 after all.

In the meantime, how about we play a game to see who can most accurately predict either how much Sony will be eating crow come their E3 press conference on June 6th. ...Yeah, that's kind of vague. I'll come up with a more specific game in the next few days. Maybe I'll even put a PSN prepaid card up for grabs to the winner if there's enough interest--assuming, of course, there's a PSN to input codes to. Otherwise, it might have to be MS Points. :p

In which I crawl into a hole, hoping to die.

2011-05-09T10:50:00.001-04:00

...Especially after my little tirade around this time last year about being disappointed by others for saying and not doing. I honestly intended to honor my commitment to Jules's virtual art gallery, but even while personally failing and feeling guilty, I figured I'd be the exception to the rule, the one person who fell through. Surely others with much more talent would pick up the slack and I'd be the only one aware that I was missing.

Judging by some Facebook posts today, though, I couldn't be more wrong, and it makes me feel even more sick about my own failure. For fuck's sake, I was even tested for lupus myself this week, among a host of other things! Yes, all of my bloodwork came back normal in the end, but for roughly 24 hours? It was possible. Not likely, but possible, and I'd never wished more for a positive mono test in my life.

Jules, I'm so sorry, more than you could ever know. Internet-only-friend or not, I'll find a way to fix this. It may be soonish, or it may be closer to the October update, but I'll find something. And if you have any particular request, just let me know, and I'll do everything I can to meet it.

Posted via email from brennacedria's posterous

Angry Turtle

2011-05-07T09:10:00.001-04:00

Brian's younger sister works at a vet clinic, and whenever there's an animal that is especially cute she uploads a picture of it to her Facebook. Normally the pictures are of cats or dogs, with the occasional bird, rodent, or in one case a deer. Yesterday, the upload was the following pic of a box turtle sporting a little bandage:

The turtle's name is General Grevious, and she (I'm taking Abby's word that it's a she, cause hell if I know how to tell the difference between turtle genders) was brought into the clinic after being attacked by a dog.

The thing is though? Look her in the eye.

At first I thought GG was just annoyed by the bandage and not feeling well. When I looked again, though, I realized she's actually in the midst of an ice cold rage. That turtle is murderous and is actively plotting a calculated revenge on both the dog that attacked her and the humans who have subjected her to the indignity of a bandage and photo.

Let's all hope she doesn't come across any ooze, lest she suddenly mutate into a form that will let her put her plots into motion.

Posted via email from brennacedria's posterous

Your favorite Star Wars movie? Quote? Character? Light saber color?

2011-05-05T01:54:00.001-04:00

A New Hope, because even if the other movies had never been made, ANH can stand on its own. Han's "Who's scruffy-lookin'?". Mara Jade. If I remember my EU correctly, Kyp Durron (Kevin J. Anderson's Jedi Academy trilogy) had a lightsaber that could change colors. That'd be pretty damned awesome.

Ask me anything

I'm a bit slow on the repost today, but Sony's (partial?) plan to get back online

2011-05-01T19:10:00.000-04:00

Press Release: Some PlayStation Network and Qriocity Services to be Available This Week – PlayStation Blog

You'll have to excuse me for a moment, since I started snickering at the reimplementation of "chat functionality" on PSN, but other than that everything looks okay. I especially like that they will be forcing users to reset their passwords the first time they sign back in to the relaunched Playstation Network; if they don't, some idiot somewhere won't change his or her pw, they'll get hacked, and they'll naturally blame Sony.

The new security measures taken on Sony's end seem pretty standard: improved ability to detect intrusions, better encryption, more firewalls, etc.

As for compensation, everyone gets a month's worth of PSN Plus, and current PSN+ members get an extra month tacked onto their current membership. I can appreciate being given an extra 30 days since I'm already a member. Unless the month trial they're giving out includes downloads that will work after that trial expires, though, I don't see this as much compensation for anyone who wasn't planning to pay to extend beyond that first month "complementary" subscription.

As for when, Sony's still kind of vague about that. "Some Playstation Network and Qriocity Services to be Available This Week" the headline says, with mention of a phased global roll-out by region. Which regions? When? And when will the store be back, and will we be able to erase our credit card data as soon as PSN is back in the slightest way, or will we have to wait to get access to that part of our accounts since it's part of the Wallet/Store?

More Minor #SonyFail Updates

2011-04-29T06:11:00.000-04:00

Q&A #2 for PlayStation Network and Qriocity Services – PlayStation Blog

So apparently, all of our accounts will be completely intact when PSN comes back, including trophies. This actually irks me a little since when PSN messed up last year over the fake leap year mistake, my trophies weren't restored once it was fixed. I'm assuming that either what ever reason there was that they couldn't be restored has since been fixed, or that issue never came up in this incident. Hell, even if they aren't restored, so long as I am able to re-earn them I'd be ok (since the last time, my account still flagged those trophies as complete, but they're listed as unearned on my profile and my system),

A Much Less Frustrated, Slightly More Informational Response from Sony

2011-04-27T22:04:00.001-04:00

Q&A #1 for PlayStation Network and Qriocity Services

They really should have been more careful with their wording in the original FAQ, to be less abrasive if nothing else. Now I'm just curious when I'll be able to log in & fix my password. Well, that and what the next huge drama online will be to make most of the Internet forget about this as they shift their rage elsewhere.

Getting Defensive About #SonyFail

2011-04-27T06:50:00.000-04:00

Clarifying a Few PSN Points – PlayStation Blog

While I do understand the point, it seems to me that Sony's getting just a tiny bit defensive here regarding the #SonyFail PSN outage. Combine that with the massively-not-helpful FAQ regarding the incident and I don't think Sony's attempt at informing its customers is going to be taken very well, considering the nerd rage that's rampant on the Internet right now.

Finaly some PSN news?

2011-04-26T16:03:00.000-04:00

Update on PlayStation Network and Qriocity – PlayStation Blog

So, it looks like credit card info wasn't compromised, but usernames & passwords were, in addition to other account info. Guess it's time to update everything again. *sigh* Definitely removing my card info & switching to prepaid cards from now on.

The Zombie Apocalypse has just begun. Where are you right now? What are you going to do to survive?

2011-04-26T12:13:00.001-04:00

Unfortunately, I'm at work. We have 380 apartments total, so that's a lot of potential infectees to avoid. I guess we would need to get to Sam's or Walmart (1st next door, the next across the street) for supplies--food, weapons, and medication. Then we have to decide if we hole up and try to wait it out, or go somewhere. Brian has his own idea of a zombie plan that involves a local historic fort, but I'm not so certain that's the best idea. For one thing, we'd have to pass through Savannah the long way to get there, so it's not likely we'd be able to get there before anyone else.

Most likely, we'd end up arguing until we died. Brian *says* he'd kill me if I turned, but I don't know that I can trust him with that. I'd be fine if I KNEW he was beyond hope, but until he was officially a zombie I don't think I could take him out.

Ask me anything

It's Not the Heat

2011-04-26T08:46:00.001-04:00

I'm pretty sure no day that starts off 75 degrees with near 90% humidity can turn out well. My only hope for today is a good thunderstorm, but that's only a 50% chance all day. :(

What was your favorite thing to do during recess at school?

2011-04-25T19:37:00.001-04:00

Playing on the ice piled up from the snow plows when we were stationed at Loring AFB in Maine. In the mornings the snow would get pushed away from the building, and over the next night most of it would freeze over smooth for the next day. There was still enough fresh snow to cushion everything, but those ice mountains made FANTASTIC slides, and you never had to share since the entire playground was covered in them. :)

(If you're reading this on Blogger, this was a Question of the Day on Formspring this afternoon.)

Ask me anything

Re: PSN Outage. Short Answer, "We don't know yet."

2011-04-25T16:08:00.000-04:00

PSN Update – PlayStation Blog

At least admitting that they don't know when a service or product will be available is better than promising a date or time and not delivering.

Happy 1/2 Price Chocolate Day!

2011-04-25T14:46:00.001-04:00

Yum :)

Possessed, dying, or both?

2011-04-23T11:03:00.001-04:00

What began as my video driver crashing & restarting itself when I watch anything on YouTube has expanded to cover any and all flash video it seems. Not only that, but this morning it started giving me a completely bonkers Blue Screen, seen briefly below. I don't know if you can hear it around/behind my "ZOMGZ ITS POSSESSED" commentary, but it has a funny, broken little buzz to it, too.

VID_20110423_105020.3gp Watch on Posterous

Posted via email from brennacedria's posterous

Brief Games Update

2011-04-22T13:06:00.000-04:00

Just in case anyone's interested in playing, I picked up Mortal Kombat last night on 360. My gamertag's "MNC Brenna" if you need to add me, otherwise if I'm online, just shoot me an invite; and if I'm not then @ me on Twitter, email me, post here, etc. and I'll see if I can talk Brian into giving me the system long enough for a few matches. (Unlike with the PS3, I have to share the 360 so I don't always have access to it.)

As for my briefly-mentioned need for a new RPG, I also picked up Dissidia 012 (Duodecim) Final Fantasy last night for my PSP. I haven't tried it yet but supposedly the game has more RPG elements than the original, and most reviews I've read say that if you liked the first game, you'll like this one and vice versa. I was very pleasantly surprised by the first Dissidia, so we'll see how it goes. Plus, I got it for $10 off since I had a Best Buy gift card for getting MK. I really don't give a damn about the Sub Zero dlc they were offering there, but points + gift card was worth going there over anywhere else.

Web cam cuteness overload!

2011-04-20T13:58:00.001-04:00

1. I don't even want to see what web searches get me hits in the next 24 hours, lol.

2. OMG PuppyCam and PandaCam twin powers activate!!!

It Must Be Italian!

2011-04-18T11:49:00.001-04:00

Cat Vision

2011-04-14T19:39:00.001-04:00

I know cats don't literally see heat, or even "see" it the way I've heard reptiles can, but sometimes Ninja really makes me wonder.

I've posted probably a dozen or so random TwitPics over the last few years of her sitting on the counter over the dishwasher or on the stove while the oven is on. Lately, though, she just sits and WATCHES the burners on the stove after they've been used, then seemingly at random she'll either sit between them, if two were used, or try to curl *around* one before it completely cools off.

I've long since determined that she doesn't have a concept of time outside of her nap schedule, so she's not likely waiting a certain amount of time before approaching the hot burner. And the fact that the burner is red when it's really hot doesn't seem to be a factor, cause the color is almost always faded before she gets a chance to see the burner. So what in the world sort of signal is there that tells her it's cool enough to approach but still warm enough for her liking?

I guess I should just be glad she's not watching invisible pixies or whatever else it is that cats stare at in corners.

Lying in Wait

2011-04-14T16:03:00.001-04:00

Look at Leda, so smug... She thinks she's going to get me when I go move the golf cart later, but I know better. Unfortunately, I think she saw me through the window taking the picture. Stupid Velociswan.

What motivates you to be the best version of yourself? #FormSpringAnswers

2011-04-14T08:10:00.002-04:00

I just want to have a clean conscience. Originally, I was going to phrase it as "be able to sleep at night" but I have really bad sleep habits that have nothing to do with my conscience, so it wasn't be best way to say it. Also, I sleep better during the day than I do at night.

Ask me anything

Saving the Spider and the Butterfly #DragonAge2 #spoilers

2011-04-11T10:26:00.001-04:00

Most of you are probably familiar with how I ranted and raged over the ending of Dragon Age 2. I finished the game for a second time last night, this time as a mage, and I have to say my perspectives have changed. If you haven't read my original reaction post, give it at least a quick skim before reading the rest of this post. Even though my opinion of the ending has been... adjusted... the nitpicky things in my original post still hold true. The 10-year-narrative is still an illusion, locations are even more repetitive the second time around, and the game still desperately wishes to be epic in the way Empire Strikes Back was such a brilliant second-chapter, but fails miserably. What I didn't do in my first post is give a total summary of how I played (like I did for Elissa at the end of Origins), and I have a feeling doing so for each of my two characters so far in DA2 will put quite a bit more perspective on things.

In my first game, I played Marian Hawke, a rogue. In my original post I mentioned that I played her as if she were incredibly close to her younger sister, Bethany, and so in most situations I took the mages' side in arguments with the templars. I refused the entire time to actually side with the mages, though. If a choice let me be diplomatic I took that option while still implying that I leaned toward mage rights, and if sarcasm presented itself while allowing me to mock both parties I took that route instead, implying that I thought both parties were being absurd. Here are Marian's major decisions by act; for the most part, this will just include the main plot choices but there are a few side quest items thrown in.

Act One

Worked for the smugglers to get into Kirkwall
Did not accept help financing the expedition from Dougal
Took Bethany on the Deep Roads expedition
Allowed Anders to find the Wardens in the Deep Roads to save Bethany
Chastised Merrill each time she mentioned blood magic or the Eluvian
Sent Feynriel to the Dalish
Told the Templars that the apostates from Starkhaven were all killed to give them time to escape
Convinced Cullen to allow Keran to remain a Templar
Through the various companion quests, supported whichever tasks were asked of me, except those which went against my tendancy to protect Bethany; if I had to perform any actions which went against my standard mages-are-people-too stance, I did so grudgingly.

Act Two

Sent Feynriel to Tevinter
Let the dwarf Javaris escape Kirkwall to get away from the crazed elf during Blackpowder Courtesy
Hid the disappearance of the Qunari delegates from the Arishok
Killed Gascard DuPuis
Followed the blood trail to the foundry where Leandra had been used for necromancy
Sent Bartrand to an asylum
Told Isabela to give the relic back to the Qunari, and when she finally showed up in the throne room during the Act 2 finale I gave her to the Arishok to punish for her crimes
Throughout this, flirted with Isabela (who I had a quick fling with) and Anders, who eventually moved in to the Hawke estate.

Act Three

Refused to take sides with either Meredith or Orsino in the opening scenes
"Believed" Anders about the potion to separate him from Justice (I had already read the spoiler about what really happens, but to play in character I had to stand by my man)
Was shocked & betrayed when Anders blew up the Chantry but stood by him afterward regardless (see above note about Marian standing by her man & combine that with "what if Bethany were turned Tranquil" as motivating factors)
Tried to make Orsino & Meredith see reason before the Right of Annulment was invoked, and before the final battle
Agreed to run away with Anders after the final battle

Overall, I tried very hard to be a good person and do what was right, even though family loyalties & personal relationships sometimes clouded Marian's judgement. I wanted so very badly to save everyone, so when Orsino turned to blood magic at the end¹ and it turned out Meredith had been driven mad by the lyrium idol, I felt betrayed not by the characters, but by the game since it didn't give a fuck if I wanted to save everyone. Hell, it didn't seem to give a fuck if I wanted to save just one person. I was trying to save both the spider and the butterfly, and unlike Vash the Stampede² with Knives, I failed horribly. Between the original reaction tweets and my original blog post, it was fairly obvious I felt betrayed by the game and was very seriously considering not making additional play-throughs with the other classes.

...That said, this is Dragon Age we're talking about, and I'm the one writing this post. Of course I ended up going back for additional play-throughs. My second time through I played a mage. I'd originally started as Marian again, but when I started getting the "of the Champion" armors in Act 3 I decided to start over and play m!Hawke instead, because f!Hawke looked absolutely ridiculous in the end-game gear. With Garrett, many of my choices were the same as with my rogue Marian, but with much different motivations. I took @Danielemmons's suggestion and played Garrett as much like Jack Harkness as I could--a bit sarcastic, and willing to love any and every being he encountered.

Captain Jack Hawtness Harkness

And my Garrett loved a lot of people: Jethann in the Blooming Rose, Isabela, Anders, Merrill, and even Zevran briefly in Act 3. I knew that Sebastian wasn't an option for Garrett, but I didn't realize that Fenris is no longer an option once your character has slept with any other. I also tried for Aveline, even to the point of choosing the angry responses when she continued to be oblivious to anything other than Donnic. Needless to say that flirtation is set up to fail by the game. It's a bit disappointing for my love-everyone Garrett, but I suppose five lovers is enough for one play-through.

Anyway, back on topic. My Garrett's response priority first focused on flirting, then on siding openly with the mages against the templars, then for all other questions the sarcastic answers were chosen. Any choices that remained the same as what I did with Marian are omitted in this list, which just has the differences:

Act One

Worked for the mercenaries to get into Kirkwall
Took Dougal's money to fund the expedition
Left Carver home during the expedition (in my original Marian attempt at mage, I took Carver with me & let him die)
Supported Merrill even in dealings with blood magic and demons
Killed the templars hunting the Starkhaven apostates

Act Two

Allowed DuPuis to live
Asked DuPuis for help once Leandra was kidnapped, then killed him when it turned out he was only hunting Quentin to try and learn necromancy
Had Varric kill Bartrand to keep him from suffering from the insanity brought on by the idol
Asked Anders if he wanted a sandwich (skip to roughly 1:38 for the "I'm hungry" discussion)
Supported Isabela completely against the Qunari, encouraging her to take the relic and facing the Arishok in single combat

Act Three

Defied Meredith in the opening & supported Orsino
Helped Anders with his "potion" even though through dialogue my character had figured out Anders wasn't telling me everything
Scolded Anders after he destroyed the Chantry for not allowing me to help
Defied Meredith again just before the final battle, and tried to goad Carver into fighting me just so I could kill him (me the player, not my character; god do I hate Carver!) but he ended up helping against Meredith anyway
Went my own way when everyone split up after the ending.

I'll be starting a f!Hawke for my warrior playthrough soon, and will be strongly anti-magic in that game. Beyond that one quirk & bedding Sebastian & Fenris (through multiple saves if necessary) I haven't decided how to play my last character. Most likely, I'll go the cheap way out and cheat through every quest for 100% on everything available to me instead of playing honestly like I have on my other two saves. Either way, I'm going to try and put a few days at least between finishing my mage save and beginning my warrior.

¹I understand that Orsino was desperate when he violated everything he claimed to believe by turning to blood magic and Quentin's research into necromancy. But why and how the hell did he turn into a Harvester like in the Golems of Amgarrak expansion?

²I was already thinking in a vein similar to the Trigun "spider & butterfly" bit while finishing up my mage save yesterday, but Brian randomly started Trigun up on Netflix last night and the analogy kind of got cemented in the game. I still wish desperately that my rogue had been able to accomplish what Vash did and save both the spider (the templars) and the butterfly (the mages) but the game just isn't built that way, and my disappointment with that fact is part of what had me so angry the first time I finished the game--I felt like Vash when Knives kills the spider, I guess. With my mage though, after clearly picking sides, I might have only saved the butterfly, but the ending was more satisfactory that way, because at least I accomplished my chosen goal.

Posted via email from brennacedria's posterous

No Wonder Work Computer Sucks

2011-04-11T09:49:00.001-04:00

I haven't got a clue what's taking up so much room on the hard drive for this computer, but it's so full that it won't allow me to save a Word document that's only been revised to change the date on a letter's heading. Guess I'll be cleaning this system up today before I get most of my regular work done.

Posted via email from brennacedria's posterous

Monday #Earworm: "Save Me"

2011-04-11T08:35:00.000-04:00

No idea why, but I woke up with this in my head this morning. I can't remember the last time I heard the song, and I don't even have it on my iPod so it's not something that would have been playing when my alarm went off. *shrug* At least it's better than most of my earworms.

Dairy Cravings Gone Bad

2011-04-09T22:40:00.001-04:00

I almost grabbed this & just started eating it from the can. If I do that, though, I won't have any left for if Brian makes crepes for breakfast tomorrow morning. I am sadface. :(

Man Hawke looks less manly

2011-04-09T14:28:00.001-04:00

Yeah, the Hightown finery looks much better on f!Hawke than it does on m!Hawke. I couldn't get the screen to zoom in so what the pants were also visible, but still. They should have at least make it more red than pink for the top when you play as a dude. :p

Brenna's Babble

formspring.me

Facebook just now getting a feature Blogger's had for at *least* a year.

Silly little additions for SWTOR Early Adopters

Games I Own But Have Never Finished

New Year Game Resolution?

Leaving GoDaddy

New Dragon Age tomorrow! (plus: games, fics, and other books I'm trying to read)

Jahanae lives!

NaNo success, games, and holidays!

I'm still alive, in spite of #NaNoWriMo

Sorry for the quiet!

Problems with the Fresh Prince theme song

Autumn Updates

The War on Ketchup Begins?

Memory cards not needed for ALL Vita games

Yesterdays's News, but I'm just reading it - Katamari is a Vita launch title in US!

Vita is Coming (But Not til Spring is Almost Here)

Spoilers, etc for Dragon Age 2 Mark of the Assassin

What did I *just* say about unneeded sequels?

Will someone just kill John McClane already, so they'll stop making these sequels?

Spoiler Free Reactions - DA2 Mark of the Assassin & Redemption

Waiting for DLC

Dragon Age Redeption trailer, "Victory is in the Qun"

REMINDER: World Lupus Awareness Month

Desk Vandalism

Rant - Rescheduling Holidays

Katamari Damacy coming to PS Vita!

Upcoming Dragon Age II DLC - Mark of the Assassin

Force Full Twitter Website on Mobile Browsers

Dragon Age: Origins speed run progress & completion

Gaming-related posts I've missed recently and other babble

Contact Congress Today to Save Funding for NIH

Holy shit, Brian started playing Dragon Age again! #shock

I am a sleepy idiot and never gave this post a title before actually posting it. :p

SPOILERS & SPECULATION - My canon Hawke's trip through Dragon Age II: Legacy

It might be messy here for the next week or so

REVIEW Dragon Age II: Legacy - little/no spoilers

Strange Dream: Dracolich Attacks Seattle

Dragon Age II: Legacy - Running Behind

Official Android Gingerbread 2.3.3 for T-Mobile G2

Scrobble Google Music to Last.FM

Dragon Age II DLC Day!

A Mess of a Catch-Up Post

I think the local paper needs a new editor >.>

DA2 DLC coming 7-26-11

Game Night!

New Dragon Age Novel Available This Year

Bioware Hacked

A Scholarly Wiki Regarding the Musk Deer

What was your favorite childhood toy?

#SonyFail Arrests?

Twitter + Photobucket = Who needs TwitPic?

Found On Twitter - Wii U Footage not Wii U

FYI - Scrobble Amazon Cloud Player to Last.FM

I Love Memes

Snagged from imgur via Facebook (politics, kind of)

Really Sprint? Really?

Twitter Status - Some users might not have been receiving email notifications

Place your bets on the end of #SonyFail!

PvZ on Android via Amazon App store!!!!!!!

Born This Way

OMGSOCUTE - Otter Juggles Stone - #ICHCB

Work in Progress?

Completionist

Achievement Unlocked - Hot as Balls

I remember...

What's the scariest piece of fiction you've ever come across be it a novel, video game, or anime? I'm not talking cheap thrills either, I mean -really- scary. Or, if you can't think of anything what is the most recent you've come across?

Preparedness 101: Zombie Apocalypse

PvZ & Chuzzle each coming as free app-of-the-day!

"Please don't hate on us anymore, it's fixed, we swear!!!" #SonyFail

I fucking hate this town & its weather

If you can't say something nice... #SonyFail

The People vs George Lucas

Where do you see yourself in 10 years time?

Nearly Six Weeks?! #SonyFail

In which I crawl into a hole, hoping to die.

Angry Turtle

Your favorite Star Wars movie? Quote? Character? Light saber color?

I'm a bit slow on the repost today, but Sony's (partial?) plan to get back online

Facebook just now getting a feature Blogger's had for at least a year.

What did I just say about unneeded sequels?