Long Time, Much Seen: Gigs Galore

I think it's high time I posted again. It's been months now since my last post and I've been neglecting my blog (and any readers who hopefully have found their way to it). My recent lack of posts isn't due to having nothing to post about - on the contrary I've been that busy doing things that would make interesting blogging material that I haven't managed to get round to typing any of it for your viewing pleasure.



I'm going to Sheffield to see Livewire tonight, an AC/DC tribute band. I've never seen them before but my dad has and he says they're good so I'll write back after I've seen them and let you know if they live up to what he's told me about them. For your information, Livewire occasionally play alongside Limehouse Lizzy, a Thin Lizzy tribute band I saw a few years ago who were just about as good as the real thing.



In the past few weeks I've seen:



Pink at the MEN Arena in Manchester - 28th October

Shinedown at Manchester Academy 1 - 4th November

Seth Lakeman at Manchester Academy 2 - 13th November

The Illegal Eagles at the Grimsby Auditorium - 28th November



Each one of the acts I've listed put on one hell of a show, even though their musical and show styles are very different. Pink had an extravagant set, designed to look like a fairground; Shinedown gave us belting rock with decent lighting; Seth Lakeman's stage was beautifully lit by well-choreographed displays and his voice and the beautiful playing of his band were carried to us perfectly with crystal-clear acoustics; and the Illegal Eagles sang perfect harmonies and illustrated their technical proficiency with ease.



Notes on the venues:



The MEN Arena



The largest indoor stadium in Europe. The staff were extremely helpful and competent and wore bright yellow jackets and shirts which made them easy to spot in the crowd, which was swiftly and efficiently managed at the beginning and end of the gig.



Grimsby Auditorium



A venue much larger than I expected. A nicely sized stage and a cozy feel.

Resident Evil and Burnout Takedown

I’ve just had a go at playing the original PS1 version of Resident Evil and had to give up on it.  I don’t think I’ll play it after all, although I thought I’d give it a go because it’s such a classic.  The game was designed before we had thumbsticks so it’s incredibly clunky plus the combat is lame with the handgun making less of a bang and more of a gentle ‘ffft’.  Ah well, at least I got a good giggle in at the horrendous voice acting.

On the plus side, I've just broken out Burnout 3: Takedown which I haven’t played for far too long.  I’m in the EA Trax menu now; I was going to hunt out the rap tracks that so often appear in these games and disable them but was pleasantly surprised when there weren’t any.  I’d forgotten just how good this soundtrack is – pure rock and I LOVE it.  Nothing better than being welcomed to a game by Finger Eleven’s Stay In Shadow.

I haven’t got long to play because I’m off on a motorway trip soon but I’m sure I’ll enjoy it.  Hmm…maybe this isn’t the best game to play right before driving across the country in heavy traffic.  I hope I don’t get any ideas…

Derren Brown – Subliminal Video

I’ve been looking forward to it for a week and after having watched it I’m pretty disappointed that I was unaffected.

Derren Brown promised a video that would ‘literally glue you to your seat’ and I was very excited to experience the effects.  We saw a video of people reacting to it during his ‘refinement’ tests then went to the break.  After the break we heard spiel which was heavy on synonyms and emotive language; Brown told us to focus on the feelings that we might experience of being stuck, glued, welded to our seats and surrender to them.  There were also a handful of flashes of black sketches with simple lines on white backgrounds while he was talking both before and after the video.  I wasn’t able to catch all of them properly but one (the first one I think) was of a woman bound to a chair by ropes wrapped around her torso.  My mum said she saw one sideways on of a man sitting in a chair but my dad didn’t notice anything in the flashes.  When the video was eventually cued it was a spiral of black lines on a white background which made me feel a bit dizzy and disorientated, and gave me the feeling of the things around me pressing in on me.  But when the video finished and we were asked to try moving my mum got up fine, then so did my dad and reluctantly I got up, quite spectacularly miffed at not having it work.

I think Brown’s words before the video and the flashes of people in chairs were probably more responsible for causing people to ‘stick’ to their chairs and that the swirling video just consolidated all of that by inducing disorientation and an oppressive feeling.  I did look for something in the video, imagining that I could see a shape in the centre but that may have been more me hoping to see something in it.  It’s hard to tell.

I’m just wondering why it didn’t work.  It’s strange that it didn’t work on me, my mum or my dad as we all noticed different things while we were watching.  Perhaps being able to consciously make out the images and be aware of them while they’re being presented to you makes you more likely to be unaffected but…my dad sort of disproves that theory because he was completely oblivious to the pictures, only noticing them as white flashes.  I think I was the only one who felt a bit dizzy when we watched the actual video too so…we all had different experiences but none of us was affected as we were expecting to be.

Ah well…I guess I’m not as impressionable as my maths teacher always said I was.

Night at the Museum

I’ve just watched Night at the Museum on Film4 and it was GREAT!
Basic plot line:
Larry is a serial failure of an entrepreneur who has never had a normal job. But when he gets divorced and his wife gets custody of his ten year old son Nicky he reluctantly decides to knuckle down and provide his son with some stability. So Larry takes a job as a night watchman at the Museum of Natural History where the exhibits come to life every night. Mayhem ensues.
My best bits:

• The cowboy tribe tying Larry up Gulliver’s Travels-style and driving a toy train into his head – was seriously tickled by this.
• The idea of playing fetch with a tyrannosaurus rex.
• Every scene featuring Owen Wilson and Steve Coogan – the cowboy/Roman rivalry was great and I loved how they acted like naughty children when Larry told them off.
• The high speed dinosaur ride.
• The Neanderthal/fire-extinguisher scene – the expression on the face of the one who threw the foam at Larry really cracked me up.

My not-so best bits:

• The monkey. For some reason I just didn’t enjoy the scenes with Dexter the capuchin in them. He’s probably fascinating to small children but I didn’t find him particularly cute and didn’t think the scenes were all that funny either.
• The night watchmen team. They all seemed flat and lacking in charisma. Mickey Rooney’s character was just plain baffling. He wasn’t even funny-in-an-awkward-way. He was just…awkward.

Overall I think Night at the Museum is a great film. Its plot is simple, which is all it needs to be, the effects are great and there are plenty of laughs to be had. (When I’m particularly tickled by something I tee-hee just like it’s written and I did plenty of tee-heeing last night!) I think it’s safe to say that it’s got a wide appeal too because I’ve just enjoyed it at the age of 18 and my dad’s just enjoyed it at the age of 61.

Freedom Festival

This weekend I attended the Hull Freedom Festival, a weekend of free live music set up to honour William Wilberforce who was a key player in the abolition of slavery in the British Empire.  The motto of the festival, which has taken place for the last couple of years, is Love music, hate racism which also comes on a range of brightly coloured t-shirts.

 

Overall I was disappointed by the festival but I am thankful that it has allowed me to discover Patrick Wolf and Florence and the Machine.  I think I enjoyed every song that each artist played on the night but of Patrick Wolf’s songs I think think I like Hard Times and The Libertine best.

I’ve watched the video for Hard Times quite a few times in the past few days.  With Youtube videos I often just switch tabs or minimise and listen to the audio while I’m doing something else but I’ve actually been watching this one.  There are some rather funky negative colour effects and people wearing black outfits so that only the coloured objects they hold show up, allowing for some superhuman feats similar to The Scissor Sisters’ video for She’s My Man.

Naruto – Manga reading and AMVs

I’m on to volume 9 of the manga now and I’ve realised just what an awful time Sasuke’s having.  He is definitely starting to look like the series’ human punch-bag.  The chuunin exam has taken its toll on all of the participants, and some of them have suffered horrific physical injuries but still…it’s just one thing after another for poor Sasuke:

Looking out for the entire team because Naruto (bless his cotton socks) is too dim for stealth and strategy and Sakura’s not physically strong enough to cope against the ‘genin’ elite; being battered, bruised and frightened out of his wits by Orochimaru; being bitten by Orochimaru (how much scarier and disturbing could it get); being cursed by Orochimaru; having to spend days recovering his strength, all the while struggling against the curse mark; having to fight Yoroi with the curse cutting him off from his Sharingan; NEARLY passing out; having to undergo the curse sealing ceremony; ACTUALLY passing out.  I hope he’s having a jolly good rest now because he certainly deserves it!

Sasuke’s certainly not had an easy life, that’s for sure (although at this stage in the manga I wouldn’t actually know why) and Orochimaru taking a liking to him is the last thing he needs.  He’s already repeatedly put his life on the line to save the rest of his team.  Give the boy a break.

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As to the second half of my post title – I am now working on a Naruto AMV.  I’ve managed to find a brilliant source of raw (unsubbed, original language) episodes at narutoraws.com and I’m on my way, picking and cutting clips to use.  It’s going to take me a long time because my only experience with video editing comes from a brief community project with the BBC when I was thirteen.  Despite numerous technical difficulties (Why doesn’t software ever just do what it says on the tin?) I’m determined to make a complete, and completely hand-made, video…even if it takes me months.

Naruto – Manga volume 1

Title: The Tests of the Ninja

What happens:

We meet Uzumaki Naruto, Konoha’s number one hyperactive ninja as he attempts to graduate from the ninja academy in Konohagakure, the village hidden in the leaves.

Favourite bits:

Naruto sitting on a swing outside the ninja academy, watching the other children being praised by their parents for graduating.  Very moving.

The strong relationship between Naruto and Iruka, that Kishimoto shows straight away.  At first Iruka seems unduly harsh towards Naruto but his support and affection quickly show through.  The two make quite a sweet double act.

Naruto’s cute breakfast scene in Chapter 3: Enter Sasuke.

The world famous Sexy Jutsu is a whole lot funnier on the page than I ever expected it to be.  Never fails to make me giggle.  Konohamaru’s lesson in the jutsu is especially funny, mostly due to the ‘Sir, yes sir!’ seriousness that the two boys treat it with.  The ninja harem’s a very clever idea too, albeit slightly evil.  Nosebleed of the century.

The facial expressions of the two boys during Sasuke and Naruto’s classroom face-off.

Naruto’s WOO-HOO! and Sakura’s RATS! when it’s announced that they’ll be teamed together and…Sakura’s OH YEAH! and Naruto’s BUMMER! when Sasuke is added to the team in the next panel.  (Sasuke remains unaffected throughout.)

The little insight we get into Sasuke’s life when he defends Naruto, explaining to Sakura that growing up with no family means a world of loneliness, not just free rein and a lack of responsibility.

1000 Years of Pain!

Sasuke’s incredible agility and flexibility in the fight against Kakashi.  Proof: Kakashi actually has to put down his book.

The sound effect SMEK.

Battlestar Galactica: The Final Season

Last night I FINALLY finished my epic BSG viewing experience. And epic is certainly the word for it.

I watched seasons 1-4 over a year ago (I think) then I was struck by the writers' strikes and left hanging with no season 5 available to comfort me. As my holiday approached though I decided to buy each season and see what my dad thought of them. So ever since we watched the miniseries during a night in together he's been hooked and we've watched an episode whenever he's had a big enough gap in his work.

An enjoyable experience but a long one.  All in all it’s probably taken me about two years to complete my BSG journey.

The ending was…I’m going to go with unusual.  This isn’t because it was unexpected (although elements of it were COMPLETELY unexpected, I’ll admit) but more because it was something I’d thought of but never thought would actually happen.

 

If you want to find out my opinion on the ending, including spoilers then highlight the text below the banner.

If you don’t want to have your experience ruined, DON’T HIGHLIGHT ANYTHING BELOW THE BANNER WHATEVER YOU DO.  I’ve taken great pains to make sure that I don’t spoil BSG for any of you (I, unfortunately was not so luck because SOME idiot decided to freely give away information on one of the final five in the Battlestar wiki) so PLEASE don’t let your curiosity get the better of you and then try to make me feel guilty for spoiling things for you.  I’ve done all I can do.

SPOILER START >>>

 

 

<<<SPOILER END

 

 

 

SPOILER END

Death Note

I started watching Death Note on Monday night and I haven't done much else since...

Read more...

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Death Note is a supernatural/crime anime series based on the manga by Tsugomi Ohba and Takeshi Obata. I don't want to spoil it for you so I'll only tell you what you'll find out in the first episode. Basically there's a notebook, the Death Note, which allows the person who owns it to kill someone just by picturing their face and writing their name. Now as I'm sure you can guess, someone gets hold of this Death Note and starts killing people with it, setting the Japanese police on a hunt for the killer. When the law enforcement agencies of various nations are stumped by the mysterious killings, they draft in an expert who is responsible for solving some of the world's greatest criminal mysteries to find and stop the killer. Now begins an incredible battle of wits between the owner of the notebook, who believes he is on a righteous path to cleanse humanity, and the eccentric and astoundingly intelligent detective leading the case against him.
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I've been watching Death Note in English on Youtube. I normally watch anime in the original Japanese but this time I decided that I didn't want to miss out on the action and the artwork by reading the subtitles, which are pretty extensive to cover all of the analysis of the situation as the two opposing characters constantly try to stay one step ahead of each other. So far I've found the voice acting pretty good. While there might be a few bits that you'll think could have been slightly better, there is no major problem, as there is with many dubbed animes, of the voices just being jarring and glaringly wrong. According to people on ask.com and similar websites, both English and Japanese are very well acted.

Death Note is pretty heavy going in terms of needing to pay attention. Well...it's certainly not something you can just have on in the background while doing something else as you could easily miss the latest plan. It's not all boring politics though, far from it. The plot twists are always very interesting and they're lightened by extremely subtle humour that will really make you giggle without appearing as blatent attempts to force comedy into the show.

The eccentricities and wit of the characters are engaging and, I think, always remain believable. It's the strong characters that give this anime its edge. Without them the plot could be carried out in exactly the same way but you'd just be watching an anime with a good plot rather than a good anime.


Oh, and the soundtrack's pretty damned good as well! The first opening and ending are songs by Nightmare and although I don't know any of the words they've got just the right rocky/dark tone for the show.

Pink in Concert

I've got a ticket to go see Pink! Yay!

I've been listening to Seth Lakeman a lot this week and watching some live videos of him on Youtube prompted me to have a look on his site to see if he was doing any live performances in my area. Would you believe, he is. I'm taking my parents to see him in November.

Before I clicked to purchase the tickets on Ticketline I thought I'd check the Pink tour listings, with very little hope that there'd be any tickets left - I tried to buy tickets for her summer UK performance the very day they came out and was beyond furious to find out that they'd all gone and people were already selling them for three, four, five times the price. That's officially sworn me off Ticketmaster (just realised as I was typing that it was Ticketmaster that I first tried) as it was their own resale site getmein.com that was full of all those criminally high-priced tickets.

Anyway, would you believe there was ONE concert that still had the buy tickets option AND it was at a venue that I wouldn't have to drive six hours to reach! WOO HOO!!! You've never seen anyone move so fast, I swear. I'm glad my mum was in because despite a speed-of-light room ransacking I couldn't find my bank card. Go mummy with her organisation! ONE ticket to see Pink secured! I must have got the very last ticket available because 'buy tickets now' was replaced by 'please try again later' when I revisted the gig list after I bought it.

The happy post-Pink-ticket-purchase high also gave me enough energy to go down to our new house and get painting after I'd finished skipping about here so...music must be good for the soul!

EDIT: Just checked getmein.com (a Ticketmaster company) and it's £70+ for seats that are worse than the one I got in the first tier for £35+ fees. Ticketmaster shouldn't be allowed to do this.

Buckles’ Big Guide to Shaiya

CONTENTS

To go straight to a particular section of my guide: use CTRL+F, type in the heading from the table of contents below in CAPITAL LETTERS, select ‘match case’ and when you click ‘next’ you’ll be whisked straight to the beginning of the topic.

• THE RACES
• THE CLASSES
• GAME MODES
• LIGHT SIDE vs DARK
• ALL THINGS MONEY
• MOUNTS

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THE RACES

There are four races in Shaiya, belonging to two different alliances.  The Alliance of Light is made up of humans and elves.  The Union of Fury is made up of the Vail and the Nordein.  These are the descriptions of the races, as given by Aeria Games:

The Humans

Newest to the lands of Teos are the Humans. Spiritual, strong, and swift, the Humans are adept at nearly every job that Teos has to offer. However, their power truly lies in their strength of body and spiritual nature. Born Fighters and Priests, the Humans are natural complement to the magical Elves. Brought to Teos by the Goddesses, the hope was that the Humans would help restore balance and unity. Unfortunately, the Humans got swept up into the chaos, and the Elves were the first to assist them.

The Elves

Methodical, deliberate, and smart are just some of the words used to describe the Elves. The Elves, like the Vail, are descendents from the Dumianas. The Laws of Nature are very important to the Elves, and their society relies on order and discipline. The Elves are in constant conflict in their attempts to keep the monsters of Teos outside of their borders. The magical Elves are the chosen of the Goddess of Light.

The Vail

Intelligent and swift, cunning and spiritual, the Vail are the chosen of the Goddess of Darkness. One of the two races that are descendents of the Dumianas, the Vail, while exotic and mysterious in appearance, are not the war-like people most expect them to be. Ferocious and treacherous only when necessary, the Vail seek to find a state of equilibrium in their surroundings. Not as strong as some of the other races, the Vail use stealth and the mystical arts when in battle.

The Nordein (aka Deatheaters)

Towards the end of the great war, the Goddesses created the Nordein to help protect Teos. The Nordein, or “Deatheaters,” have every appearance of being brutish and unintelligent, violent and aggressive. But this race of Ancients is a book that should not be judged by its cover. In the wars that followed their appearance on Teos, the Nordein acquired a disdain for magic and choose not to use it often, if at all. This is likely one reason that they sided with the spiritual Vail, and not the magical Elves.

 

You can find out more about races and their roles in the world of Shaiya here: http://shaiya.aeriagames.com/info/intro

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THE CLASSES

There are 6 different classes in Shaiya. The classes, and the abilities of the classes, are the same whether you choose to join the Alliance of Light or the Union of Fury. The only differences are in appearance and name.

Here’s a basic outline of the six classes including other-side equivalents and race.

HUMAN		NORDEIN
Fighter		Warrior

Your basic melee class.  Uses two-handed swords, one-handed swords in conjunction with a shield, or dual swords.  Deals great physical damage using SP skills or a basic attack and has some debuff skills at its disposal e.g. stinger which teleports the player towards an enemy, allowing an initial attack from a great distance, and stuns if successful.

I don’t have much experience with this class but I’ve been attacked by fighters enough in PvP to know that they hit pretty hard.  Also, if there aren’t enough players around to form an AoE party then warriors can make very good companions for a healer.  A while ago I had a very successful dungeon run healing a group of three warrior boys who I gradually accumulated.

You may want to experiment with your fighter/warrior’s level of defence, evasion or even luck but physical power is obviously the key to this class.  You’ll therefore want to put a fair share of your stat points into STR to boost your strength.

• Gains 1 STR point per level

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HUMAN	VAIL
Priest	Oracle

Shaiya’s healing class.  My favourite and most-played class.  Healers in Shaiya have a great deal of spells to restore health to allies and to buff them, greatly increasing their chances of survival in battle.  Healing and Instant Heal will be your most-used healing spells and Aura of Peace and Prayer are likely to be your most-used buffs.

• Gains 1 WIS point per level

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

 

ELF	VAIL
Ranger	Assassin

Shaiya’s stealth class.  Deals melee damage coupled with a bucketful of debuffs.  Can use daggers, reverse swords or claws.  Has skills which boost the attack power and speed of each of these weapon types.  Can use stealth to become invisible and sneak in to or out of battle.  Can paralyze opponents, leaving them open to attack until the status wears off.  Can also afflict an enemy with reduced defence,

  My second most-played class after the healer.  I decided to try the assassin class as I wanted to be able to dish out some damage but didn’t fancy the hack and slash mechanics of the warrior.

• Gains 1 DEX point per level

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

 

ELF	VAIL
Mage	Pagan

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 

HUMAN	NORDEIN
Defender	Guardian

• Gains one REC point per level

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

 

ELF	NORDEIN
Archer	Hunter

• Gains 1 LUC point per level

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GAME MODES

When you create a character in Shaiya you’ll be given a choice of mode.  Your first character will only have the choice between easy mode (EM) and normal mode (NM).  Hard mode (HM) and ultimate mode (UM) only become available once you reach a certain level in the mode below.

Which mode should you choose?

Easy mode is designed for beginners  or people who are new to the MMORPG genre and its mechanics.  To help you, your character will receive twice as much exp as a normal mode character.  Unfortunately though Aeria have set a level cap, which means that you will not be able to get past level 30, and they’ve restricted the use of special skills.  This cuts you off from some of the best skills in the game: if you were a healer you would not have access to Aura of Peace, Prayer or Resurrection, key skills for any half-way decent healer; and if you were an assassin you would be denied Slasher which is a very powerful, pure damage attack.  The level of slotted equipment that you can use e.g. noble, worship, heroic is also limited.

In my opinion easy mode isn’t worth the hassle.  You might want to use it if you’re absolutely clueless about MMORPGs but to be honest I wouldn’t bother.  When I created my first Shaiya character I chose normal mode and if I remember rightly it was my first MMORPG.  I’ve only ever found myself stuck a few times and always managed to find a solution.  With an in-game tutorial, designated help forums and thousands of players to ask for a hand you’ll never be stuck for long.  PLUS you’ve got ME!  What more could you want?

EM in brief:

• fast levelling
• can’t progress beyond level 30 (cuts you off from having a mount)
• can’t join or create a guild
• no special skills
• can use noble, heroic, worship gear
• 5 stat points and 3 skill points per level

Normal mode is similar to easy mode but is much less restrictive as there is no level cap and you’re not restricted from using special skills.  You also get the reward of unlocking hard mode when you get to level 40.

NM in brief:

• no level cap
• able to join or create a guild
• able to use special skills
• can use noble, worship, heroic and dread gear
• 5 stat points and 3 skill points per level

Hard mode is well deserving of its name.  Although you get more stat and skill points, instantly making you more powerful and giving you an advantage over NM PvPers, levelling takes a LONG time.  Grinding now becomes a major focus of the game, more-so than in normal mode.  Thanks to those extra points though, you should find that you’re able to take on more powerful enemies much earlier on which means you’ll probably be making a lot more money on high-end loot.

I haven’t been playing HM for long but parties and teamwork seem to be a big part of it.  Thanks to my wonderful guildmates and the kindness of a few equally wonderful strangers I haven’t had to put a lot of effort into levelling my new HM characters.  That’s because I’ve been the subject of much charity power-levelling which is a lot easier to provide since the Eternity update.

HM in brief:

• unlocked at level 40 NM
• no level cap
• able to join or create a guild
• able to use special skills
• can use noble, worship, heroic, dread and legend gear
• 7 stat points and 4 skill points per level
• some new skills

Ultimate mode

I have no first-hand experience of ultimate mode because I haven’t reached it yet…but that doesn’t mean that I can’t tell you anything about it.

UM characters have some powerful exclusive skills.  For example, healers receive an instant self-healing spell which doesn’t require them to select themselves before casting, a real time-saver in an emergency.  A UM character also receives 9 stat points and 5 skill points per level, giving them a real edge over all over players.

Sound too good to be true?  It is.

If you die in UM then there is no handy resurrect-at-the-next-town option.  Instead you must be resurrected by a healer within 3 minutes or your character is deleted and dies permanently, losing any items and money in their inventory.  Also, not just any healer will do – only Resurrection 2 works on UM characters so only a high level healer can save you if you fall in battle.  Because of this, UM characters rarely travel into dangerous territory on their own.  Many train with a capable HM/UM healer at all times but as there is no guarantee that the healer will not die at the critical moment, even this isn’t completely safe.  Enter rez runes.

A resurrection rune will automatically resurrect your fallen UM as long as you have activated it beforehand.  One-shot resurrection runes and 24 hour resurrection runes are available but don’t even ASK about how much they cost.

The philosophy that UMs I’ve met seem to live by is: better safe than sorry.  You may be more powerful when you reach UM so mobs won’t do as much damage as they used to but this also makes you more likely to push yourself, take on more and harder mobs and put yourself in a position where you’re likely to actually BE mobbed.  Know your limits and play it safe and you should be alright.

If anyone wants to share their experiences with ultimate mode to give everyone a better idea of it, please leave a comment.

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STATS

Every time you level you will be given stat points which you can use to increase your character’s power.  Simply press T to bring up your character information and expand the stat window to add your available points to whichever attribute you wish to improve.

STR	Strength – adding stat points to this increases your physical damage.
REC	Responsible for defence.  Adding stat points to this decreases the amount of damage you take from physical attacks and increases your health.
DEX	Dexterity – adding points to this increases your chance of evading an attack and, your chance of landing a hit against an enemy.  Increasing your DEX also slightly increases your physical damage.
WIS	Wisdom – adding points to this increases your MP, your magic defence and the success rate of your spells (apparently).  Increasing your WIS also slightly increases your magic damage.
INT	Intelligence – adding points to this increases your magic damage.
LUC	Luck – adding points to this slightly increases your shooting attack power, chance of a critical hit and chance of evading a critical hit.

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EQUIPMENT

As in most RPGs, Shaiya comes with a wealth of equipment for your character to use.  When you first start the game your character will be very poorly equipped, carrying nothing but a basic weapon.  As you fight monsters and complete quests though you will soon get your hands on pieces of armour and better weapons to improve your performance in battle.

The basic items that you can equip are:

• upper armour
• lower armour
• shoes
• helmet
• weapon
• shield*

*Only fighters/tanks can equip shields.

All items of equipment will improve your stats.  Armour improves your defence and HP while better weapons will have increased attack power.

There are different ranks of equipment which you’ll probably notice quite early on but which you might not understand.  In your first few hours on the game you’ll see noble weapons and armour and notice that these give you extra stat bonuses compared to an ordinary piece of equipment of the same kind.

Oracle/Pagan Equipment

Staffs:

spider staff
curse staff

Armour sets:

Name
Toga
	Toga protector
	Toga leggings
	Toga walker
	Toga muffle
Blitz
	Blitz protector
	Blitz leggings
	Blitz walker
	Blitz muffle
Metrin
	Metrin protector
	Metrin leggings
	Metrin walker
	Metrin muffle
Hearth
	Hearth protector
	Hearth leggings
	Hearth walker
	Hearth muffle
Morcelle
	Morcelle protector
	Morcelle leggings
	Morcelle walker
	Morcelle muffle
Serche
	Serche protector
	Serche leggings
	Serche walker
	Serche muffle
Tatoram
	Tatoram protector
	Tatoram leggings
	Tatoram walker
	Tatoram muffle

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RESTING

Sit down to rest between battles as this increases your HP/MP/SP regeneration rate.  Just make sure that you’re a decent distance away from any nearby enemies as they’ll still come along and wallop you if you’re in range.  On the same note: watch out for spawn points – an empty dungeon room isn’t likely to stay empty for long.

 

LEVELLING

Remember to use your stat points and check for new skills you might want to learn every time you level.  You wouldn’t believe how many times I’ve forgotten then found 10 or 15 stat points waiting for me a few levels later.

 

YOUR MAP

Yellow dots on your map are quests that are available for you to take on.

Blue dots on your map are NPC characters who you should visit to finish a quest.  The blue dots will appear automatically if all you have to do is visit the NPC as part of an errand/make-me-run-all-over-the-map quest, or when you’ve racked up the required number of kills or items required to complete the quest.

Green dots on your map show you where your party members are.  If you can’t see the right number of dots on your map, then some of the members of your party are in another area, either a dungeon or a different map.  You’ll probably be able to see a green dot locked over whichever portal they went through.  Once you run through and join them you’ll once again be able to see a moving dot tracking their location.

NOTE: Be aware that the map isn’t completely accurate.  Some locations are actually slightly removed from their icons/names on the map.  It shouldn’t cause too many major problems but you will find yourself occasionally running in to a mountain range that’s not quite where the map says it should be.  Once you’ve started mapping the area yourself though you shouldn’t have that problem.

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ALL THINGS MONEY

As you slaughter your way across Shaiya you’ll pick up a lot of loot.  Slain enemies will drop weapons and healing items but you’ll also pick up a lot of stuff that isn’t any use to you at all.  To clear your inventory for more valuable objects and earn yourself a bit of pocket change, go to any of the NPCs with ‘merchant’ above their heads or to the ‘professional trader’ and drag and drop the things you want to sell from your inventory to theirs.  Bear in mind that once you’ve sold something there’s no getting it back so make sure that you really want to sell it, and make sure that you don’t drag the wrong thing over.  If you have a number of the same item you’ll get a window asking how many you want to sell which acts as a confirmation of sorts but you won’t get this if you’re selling an individual item.

_______________________________________________________________________

THE BLACK MARKET

As you go through the game you’ll find that you’ll be picking up weapons and equipment that you’re unable to use because they’re exclusively for the opposite alliance.  In certain areas of the map you’ll find more gear for the other alliance than you will for your own, particularly in dungeons.  Of course you can sell this stuff to the NPC merchants as you would anything else but if it’s something particularly rare or valuable you may wish to visit the black market and sell it through bootleggery to someone in the other faction who can actually use it.

To get to the black market go to the location marked on the map of your capital, speak to the gate keeper and choose to go to the Auction House.

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MOUNTS

At level 40 on normal mode you’ll be able to get your first mount from Apulune or Iris. You won’t have a choice of mount because they are alliance and race specific. Your normal mode mount will cost you 11 million gold from the ride merchant. You can buy it before you reach level 40 but you won’t be able to ride it until then. This table shows you which mount your race can use.

FURY
Vail – Black leopard
Nordein – Basilisk

LIGHT
Human – Horse
Elf – Leopard

You can get a second mount when you get to level 50 on hard mode and this one has the advantage of being big enough to carry a second rider so you can take your training partner with you when you go galloping off into the distance. This mount will cost you 75 million. The table below shows which mount your race can use.

FURY
Vail	Blood wolf

Nordein

Red dragon

FURY
Vail – Blood wolf
Nordein – Red dragon

LIGHT
Human – Sunsteed
Elf – Silver lion (actually blue)

The ride merchant is located in the area of the capital marked Tredysis Auction on the dark side, and Stardust Knights on the light side.

The mounts that are available at the ride merchant aren’t the only ones in the game.  There are others but they must be won in real-money raffles through the item mall or received during certain events.  The requirements for being able to use these mounts are pretty ridiculous if you ask me.  Despite this I’ve provided a link to a rare mount gallery so you can see them and find out a bit about them:

http://wiki.aeriagames.com/shaiya/index.php?title=Mounts

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GLOSSARY

buff
debuff
NM
HM
UM
ORC	Oracle
PAG	Pagan
WAR	Warrior
TANK	Adopted term for any class responsible for taking the damage in a group battle in an MMORPG.  In Shaiya – the defender and the guardian. Tank is also used as a verb.  The player with the highest REC tanks in the absence of a true tank.  My assassin, Buckles, has often tanked by attacking first and receiving most of the punishment while pagans have helped chip away at a monster’s health.
Mob	Generic term for a monster which I’d never come across until I played Shaiya.  Don’t ask me about its origins ‘cause I just don’t know.

Perfect World

Original post date 13/07/07 19:36

I installed Perfect World a few months ago but didn't play on it for very long as I was too absorbed in Shaiya (my favourite MMORPG so far). A couple of days ago I decided to give it another try though and BOY am I enjoying myself.
I have two characters: a venomancer capable of taming beasts and turning into a fox; and a winged elf who, as the name indicates, has wings and is therefore capable of flight right from the beginning of the game.
Both characters were at level 4 when I started playing again and now my winged elf is at level 9. She would have advanced more quickly but I've been siphoning her experience off to allow my genie to grow.

Of Flight and Faeries

The thing that I currently like the most about Perfect World (and is unlikely to change, I think) is the flying. As I said, winged elves are capable of flight right from the start, and the other classes can eventually fly by purchasing flying mounts at level 30 which is when a winged elf can trade up her wings for a faster, more impressive pair. Until this morning unfurling my wings and taking to the sky didn't make me any faster than I am on foor. Even so, being able to safely pass over enemies and not having the problem of navigating around mountains or between trees does cut some time off your journey. Now, because I've reached a certain level of spiritual 'cultivation', I've been able to upgrade my wing speed by 20%. It might not sound like much but it certainly is noticeable on long journeys.

 
Here's a screenshot of my character hovering in front of a rather fantastic sunset which I just happened to stumble upon during a joyflight. In the picture you can also see my genie, a small faerie-like companion who'll be given to you a few levels into the game. While I have been giving her some of my exp to keep her level parallel with mine I haven't invested in any new skills for her yet so, while she does have a starting skill which brings down the movement speed of an enemy and increases mine, right now she's mainly an aesthetically pleasing bonus.

There's quite a bit of variety in genies, with more than just my vulgarly-pink breed flitting around after their owners. I think the allocation of genies must be random as I've seen other colours (silver, green and yellow so far) following players of similarly low level. I would assume that the different colours also have different skills and names to match. Mine is called Infliction which I'm just realising might mean that she's status-effect orientated...and I'm now regretting putting all her stat points into damage rather than status-effect success. Oh well.

A recently-spotted green genie.

Character Customisation

My first screenshot also shows the rather wonderful results that can be achieved using the customisation option when creating a character. I went for a realistic look as I wanted my character to look like me. Playing with the many, many sliders and buttons that you are given though, you are free to create anything from girl next door to black-lipsticked goth, blue skinned water nymph to cute ginger kitty-cat, muscle-bound hunk to a pretty boy with an emo haircut.

Health and Mana

As with just about every other RPG in the book, your actions in Perfect World are dependent on your levels of health (HP) and mana (MP).  The MP that is consumed every time you cast a spell and the HP that you lose from getting mauled by monsters, is automatically recharged whenever you are not in combat.  If you’re a cleric though you may still want to use healing spells as the HP/MP regeneration process is slow and gradual.  For non-healer classes, or for healers who are running low on MP with which to cast healing spells, Perfect World has included the option to find yourself a comfortable spot on the floor and drop into a state of meditation which increases your rate of regeneration.

 Lapwing meditating

I’m not sure yet but I would think that, along with other RPGs like Shaiya, resting in PW leaves you vulnerable to attack by nearby aggressive enemies.  Just in case, always find yourself a safe spot, removed from the action before you decide to search out that higher plane.

Mounts

Mounts are a major part of this MMORPG, more-so than in other similar games, because of its emphasis on flight. To reach certain places and battle certain enemies, classes other than the winged elves need to be able to fly. This is where a variety of flying mounts comes in. As well as flying mounts, there are also regular land-based mounts which greatly increase the rider’s movement speed and have the added bonus of looking really cool!

Having only played for a few days, mounts are only a distant possibility for me so every time I see one run/fly past it’s an exciting new treat. These are the mounts I’ve seen so far:

• Horses in various colours
• Manta ray
• Giant (blue) crow
• A white elephant with red and gold saddle and trimmings
• Phoenix
  
  
  
• A wolf which looks very similar to the blood wolf mount in Shaiya. I won’t speculate on which came first or whether one was copied from the other. I will say that I prefer the Shaiya mount though.

  

 

 

Perfect World wolf mount                            Shaiya wolf mount

NOTE: The majority of the pictures used in this article were taken by me.  Any others were found through Google Images.  If you see a picture that you’re not happy about, leave a comment and I’ll get back to you.

Click on the post title to read a detailed review and information guide complete with screenshots.

Casualty 1909

I missed the first series of this show and I haven't seen all of the current series but what I have seen has been fantastic. The insight it gives into turn of the century medicine is fantastic, the drama is gripping yet always believable, the acting is consistently good and the cinematography is great considering the majority of the story takes place in a close locale.

If you can handle the blood and the screams of the patients (anesthetic's one of the areas of weakness at this time) then I thoroughly recommend you watch this programme.

The full series* is available on BBC iPlayer.

*There are 14 days left until the first episode is removed.

Michael Jackson Vinyl Collection

After Michael Jackson's death I spent days just sitting downstairs watching his music video on TMF and also watching some of the documentaries that were put on a couple of days later. My mum said she was surprised that I wasn't more upset about him dying but that was probably because I was too busy enjoying the treat of days of nothing but Michael Jackson music.
My mum and I watched a lot of the prgrammes together and we both enjoyed having a dance and being reminded of JUST how many fantastic songs Michael Jackson was responsible for, both in his solo career and as a member of the Jackson 5. Seeing how much I loved the music, my mum dedicded to buy me a set of second-hand vinyls from an online dealer. They weren't all in great condition - a few had the middles missing and unfortunately the sleeves aren't in great condition but I LOVE them all the same.

Mock the Week

I’m going to talk about TV programmes even though television isn’t included in the title of my blog (I could put it in but things would start to sound a bit clumsy and one should NEVER break the golden rule of three).

Mock the Week returned for a new series tonight and, as usual, gave me some serious giggles.

Russell Howard brought his usual cuteness with an unusual euphemism for breasts and an insight into the workings of his brilliant mind as he refused to commit to a bag for life in his stand up routine on human behaviour.

Frankie managed to lower the tone about ten seconds into the show (by Andy’s reckoning) with a joke on Stephen Hawking: "And so it begins!" says Russel.

Media Collection

I've spent the last couple of hours cataloguing my collection of books/DVDs/CDs and games. I've wanted to do so for a while both for security reasons and out of curiosity. I began searching for software that would allow me to create a collection but then changed my mind after experimenting with DVD Profiler and finding it clunky and unuser-friendly. Instead I'm using Microsoft Excel to create a spreadsheet.

This might take a while as I've had a few shopping sprees on Amazon and HMV in the past year and GOD KNOWS how many books there are in this house. We're moving house soon though so it's all going to pass through my hands one way or another. I might as well take note of what I've got as it does.

FFIX

After mentioning the track Cleyra's Trunk in my post about Daughtry I listened to it on youtube then strayed to some vids of FFIX playthroughs and game tips. I'm now off to play as far as Steiner's escape from the bird cage in the Alexandria dungeons to set him up for some quick levelling with the blood sword. Might as well get it done now as it'll save me time in the long-run (I can return to my wonderful blog knowing that I'm getting somewhere with a game) and I can be sure that no one's going to turn off my console as my mum's still at work.

Let's see how high I can get Steiner. I think I stopped around level 50 last time.

EDIT: Plan abandoned. Can't find PS1 memory card. Must tidy room.

Daughtry

I rediscovered It's Not Over by Chris Daughtry a few days ago. I'd heard it before as the soundtrack to a fanmade video on Youtube which I'd forgotten about until I accidentally found it again. So between shuffling my MP3 player for a bit of variety, I've been listening to It's Not Over fairly regularly, sometimes on repeat grace a Youtube. This morning I've started the day with it again, and I've followed the related video links to listen to a few more. So far I've listened to Gone, Crashed and Breakdown and I quite like what I'm listening to.

It's Not Over is an instant fav with a strong, belty yet melodic chorus and Daughtry's voice captured my attention from the first deep, softly-sung lines.

Gone has a nicely paced guitar solo that merges very nicely into the voice as Daughtry launches into his final choruses. The phrasing of the Every time I see... lines is unusual and creates a good momentum. I also like the watery, distant effect used in the intro. (Anyone find it somewhat reminiscent of the Cleyra's Trunk music from FFIX? There's another song that really does seem similar but I have to remember it first...might be Light On by David Cook.)

Crashed has nice layers of soft guitar in the intro and through the first verse. Daughtry's voice is strong and we get hints at a bit of soul in some of his line endings and also a bit of country eg I can't walk away-y. I also love the way the drums pick things up between verse and chorus.

I looked up the album on Amazon and HMV yesterday and I'll buy it as soon as the lovely 13 track version is back in stock. The Amazon reviews got on my nerves a bit though, with one person describing his music as 'accessible'. Now to me accessible music is stuff that's easy to get hold of thanks to Youtube and online music vendors. It's clear that the reviewer meant it in a negative sense though, as a kind of criticism. If by accessible, the reviewer means that it has a wide fanbase then why should there be a problem with that? This sort of rock might not be as alternative and experimental as Led Zeppelin or Pink Floyd or stray into heavier, classic metal territory like Metallica or ACDC but does that mean that there's anything wrong with it? In my opinion music doesn't always have to be new and push boundaries and break the mould. Too much emphasis is placed on genre and classification now (a general trend in our society I think) and on always being groundbreaking and 'alternative'. To me, the only thing that's important is the sound.

Yes, every now and then something new and unusual comes along and it catches my attention. Sun Goes Down by David Jordan is a recent example of this. But to my mind, while David Jordan's music is very different to Chris Daughtry's supposedly 'accessible' rock there is no difference when it comes to liking it. If a song makes you want to sing along, makes you want to dance or instills any kind of emotion in you at all, then it is a good piece of music and no one should feel ashamed or apologetic for wanting to listen to it. Labelling something as 'accessible' is, in my opinion, an example of this.

Lost Odyssey - Restart

As I have an extremely long holiday this year between my A-level exams and my entrance into university, I am spending a rather large part of my time playing computer games. I have so much time in fact that I have decided to restart a number of games which I either didn't complete on my last run through or have just never completed. Last week I moved my PS2 downstairs to the big telly as an incentive to FINALLY complete FFXII. Today I restarted Lost Odyssey for the second time, hoping to complete it too.

Perhaps I didn't choose the best time to start playing as, having started this blog this morning I was anxious to get back to it, so I only played long enough for my wireless network to kick in again after it died on me.

Because of this I wasn't completely into the experience as I usually am when I play an RPG. I skipped all of the lengthy cutscenes, save for the introductory battle scenes which I find quite engrossing. I also hurried my way through the first part of the game, quickly getting to the save point after the first meeting with the grand council and leaving the game there. I may have neglected speaking to the many NPCs (a major feat for me as I usually want to hear everything that everyone has to say) but I didn't neglect any of the available goodies up for grabs. I'm a serious searcher of nooks and crannies.

The sense of boredom and borderline annoyance at the beginning of this game was probably a product of wanting to get back to my blog, as I've mentioned, and of being back at the beginning of the game. I clearly have no one to blame for the second reason as it's completely self-inflicted but I often find that I have trouble playing a game from a mid-point if I haven't picked up my controller for a while. It just doesn't feel right to me. So...I found myself being annoyed at the unfancieableness of Kaim in one of the cutscenes (don't game developers realise that all male video game characters have to be as good looking as my original pixellated crush Squall Leonhart?) and at THAT DAMNED PIECE OF HAIR that's always hanging in his face. That's nothing new though. That piece of hair has bothered me from the start. It haunts my dreams. While I might be being a little bit overdramatic I still want to take a pair of scissors to him. What were the character design team thinking when they decided on that little aesthetic quirk for Kaim? The animators must have loved having to be conscious of that one strand of hair for the entire game. Ah well. I've only ever got as far as the beginning of disc 2 so I've got my fingers crossed that he'll eventually go for a Garnet-style symbolic haircut and I'll be rid of it.

I am currently making mental notes for a possible walkthrough.

ACOG Sniping in CoD4

I've been on the receiving end of my fair share of high caliber rounds courtesy of ACOG snipers in the last few weeks. More than my share actually - several other people's too it seems. Not really that fair at all. Anyway, watching the kill cam and seeing the seeming impossibility of shots at both long range and close quarters, I decided to have a go. So last night in a private pistol match while waiting for the rest of our party to get ready for a spot of domination, I kindly asked my friend TOM if he wouldn't mind awfully standing still for a while and letting me kill him. Repeatedly. Since he loves me, I was able to get some practice in at different range and was surprised at how well my M40A3 held up with an ACOG scope attached.

I must say that I did have Stopping Power selected as my second perk which is perhaps the reason for the amazing performance of my ACOG rifle - as is the case when I use the M40A3 with its ordinary scope, I did not need to aim for headshots as a hit to the main bulk of the body did the trick and got me one-shot kills. It seemed to me though that the ACOG rifle might even have been more powerful than the version with the regular scope as even shots to the lower body were providing me with one-shot kills. I'm not sure whether this is really the case as I may have been forgetting that the bullet travels to the top of the red triangle. Perhaps the reason that my ACOG M40A3 seems so powerful is that, due to its much faster aiming speed, I am now able to hit fast-moving enemies full on rather than clipping them in non-critical areas as is often the case with a regular rifle.

Mounts in MMORPGs

For me, mounts are a major part of any MMORPG, as I'm sure they are for many of you too. Their role in the games varies from functional to a symbol of your status in the game. Mounts can provide a speed boost for travelling across vast maps, protect you from nearby enemies and even give you new skills and greater damage in battle. Beyond this though, mounts present a challenge for players to get their teeth into as they often require carrying out a number of quests, reaching a certain (and commonly high) level or dedicating a large amount of time to raising adequate funds in order to be able to purchase one. Because of this, acquiring a mount is often a very rewarding experience.

On top of this, let's not forget the amount of charm that mounts and pets can lend to a game. I recently reached level 40 on Shaiya and raised enough cash to buy myself a black panther mount. The mount is certainly useful as it greatly increases the speed at which I can get to where I'm going but more often I find myself forgetting about my destination and taking my new pet for a joyride, content in watching it bound across the landscape with my assassin safely on its back.

Thinking that I might not be the only one out there who prioritises mounts and pets in the screening process for new MMORPGs, I've decided to compile a list of games that include mounts along with details of each of the animals. Bear with me as this is going to be quite an extensive project but I think that it will prove useful or at least interesting to anyone who happens to read.

MMORPGs (that I have played) with mounts:

Shaiya
Last Chaos
Perfect World
World of Warcraft

http://www.warcraftmounts.com/
This is an extremely detailed site with a one-page gallery of all(?) the World of Warcraft mounts. There is information on how to obtain each mount and which classes/alliance it is limited to as well as bonuses which the mount gives. Aside from that, there are so many pretty pictures that just looking at the mounts can be a source of entertainment.

First Post

This is a newly created blog which I intend to use for all things media.

I plan to post:

• Video game tips/walkthroughs
• My opinions on games/films/music
• My gaming experiences
• Helpful links

I shall now start wracking my brains for a subject for my first real post.

Gamerscore Update

I reached 2000 Gamerscore on my XBox 360 today. The game that pushed me over the edge was Fable II which I still feel slightly underwhelmed by but which is handy when my brain has switched itself off and I'm quite happy for it to remain that way. I picked Fable up last night because I was sick of being stuck at 1975 points and saw that there were some easily achievable...achievements.

Prior to this very recent gain in gamerscore, I stayed at 1000 points for a VERY long time. I liked the number so for quite a while I devoted myself solely to playing online to avoid spoiling things. (Call of Duty 4 helped greatly with that.) Eventually though, as I preordered Resident Evil 5, I had to admit that staying rooted on a number because of its niceness wasn't particularly practical. I therefore went boldly into the heart of zombie-ridden Africa, marvelling at the rather twisted genious of the creators as I unlocked bloody achievement after bloody achievement, with only a slight twinge of regret each time I saw my gamerscore in the menus.

Now I'm at another round number I fear I might relapse again so I think I'm going to have to bite the bullet and play something quickly before I can give it too much thought.

EDIT: Fifteen minutes after making this post I was able to move past my second milestone thanks to Hexic, which I've only just noticed I have. I'm happy to have got past 2000 points but this is slowly evaporating as the many brightly coloured thingies are making me dizzy. Must find another game to play.