Keyrock

It's being published, not developed, by Namco Bandai, who also published Dark Souls. Dark Souls was developed by From Software, Lords of the Fallen is being developed by Deck 13.

I liked that the battles looked methodical and strategic, sort of like Dark Souls, but a bit faster (which seems fitting since they've compared the game to Dark Souls ad nauseam). I'm down with a combat that's more a chess match than just button mashing. I already stated I could do without the dodge rolling, so we're in agreement in that regard. Anyway, bottom line is that I watched the video and my brain went "that looks like something I'd enjoy playing". /shrugs

Yeah, from the full on goofball fun of Ankh and Jack Keane to the gritty, soul crushing Lords of the Fallen. It's quite the change in tone. I guess Venetica was the transitional game, somewhat serious but still with definite lighthearted moments. Anyway, that trailer is the first thing shown about this game that made me genuinely excited for it. I could do without the dodge roll (thanks Twitcher 2), but otherwise it looks pretty dang good.

New Lords of the Fallen trailer:

"Gameplay" Trailer: I put "gameplay" in quotes since there's maybe 15 total seconds of gameplay in that 2 minute long trailer. They made Laliana extra sexy in this one. Maybe to make up for ugly-fying Morrigan?

Who's Jin-Roh?

Wiped out Shishak and his bandit goons and rescued Mitay. Shishak and 4 goons were in the garage, so I found a spot with partial cover around the other side of a car, lobbed a grenade before they realized what was up, then darted into cover. The blast took out 4 of the creeps (luckily, Mitay had a wall between him and the blast) and I gunned down the last chump with my LR-300 before he could get his bearings. After that it was a simple matter of grabbing a good spot with partial cover across from the one and only entrance into the garage and gunning chumps down as they tried to enter. It was like shooting fish in a barrel, except they were bandits in a garage. I used up nearly 200 rounds of ammo, but took only minimal damage. Mitay is free, bandits are dead, I get paid, and I get to keep the artifact. Everybody wins... except the bandits. I'll stash the artifact in my personal box until I feel like returning to Zaton, then I'll sell it to Beard for major profit. With that I should easily have enough scratch for a SEVA suit which I'll need eventually to get through the Jupiter Underground into Pripyat. There's just no going through there without a SEVA suit. I'm not nearly at that stage of the game yet (got some mutant and artifact hunting to take care of first), but it's something to keep in mind. I look forward to the journey through the underground to Pripyat, as it's one of the more intense parts of the game.

I wanted to get it but I need confirmation that it isn't more of the same as the first one. By "more of the same" do you mean similar gameplay or abysmal PC port?

Box Art Revealed:

You can be diplomatic? Yes. You can pay the ransom, either with the artifact or the money. One of the guards will shake you down on the way out, but it you plan it out and have very little money on you on your way out then it matters little. I'll likely do it the violent way. Pretend like I'm going to pay the ransom, then gun down Shishak and the other guards in the room, then wipe out all the other bandits in the compound. I'll go through tons of ammo, but it shouldn't be too taxing a fight, considering how much better equipped I am than any of the chumps there, and all loot I'll get off the corpses should pay for the ammo I've gone through and any repairs, not to mention that I'll get to keep the artifact.

I'm debating whether I should be diplomatic with the hostage crisis in Call of Pripyat or whether I should pretend to be diplomatic and slaughter all the bandits there for maximum profit.

The Hack-A-Dwight worked to perfection. Edit: Or is the correct term Hack-A-Howard?

Dang, Aldridge went for 46 and 18 in Portland's overtime win. Beastin'.

I got the black box from the choppa in the mine field. The flesh and boars charging the mine field and blowing themselves up is still every bit as entertaining as it ever was. While waiting for Nitro to decode the blackbox, I went to the cement factory and got all the radio supplies for him. Now I reckon it's about time I head on over to the Jupiter factory.

Wow, what a collapse by the Mavs at the end of the game. They had the game firmly in control halfway through the 4th, then went arctic deep freeze cold the rest of the way not making a single field goal until a meaningless garbage time layup at the very end when the Spurs were basically already walking off the court.

Happy birthday!

Woot! I won our family wide egg battle with my pink egg. You don't mess with the pink egg. Happy Easter everybody!

Hmm, I'm at the point in Call of Pripyat where I should start thinking about either siding with Duty or Freedom. The armor you get for helping either side is mostly irrelevant as I'm currently wearing the CS-3a and I intend to stick with it until very late game, possibly throughout. It's a good balanced suit offering all around protection with very flexible upgrade paths. I'm leaning toward siding with Freedom at the moment.

What's crazy about the Dubs win is that Curry, Thompson, and Barnes shot a combined 17 for 47 (ouch!) and they still won.

Nice relatively easy win for OKC in the final game of the night and they become the only home team to win on the opening day of the playoffs.

Pacers got whooped up by the Hawks (the final score was a lot closer than the game was down the stretch) at home, which shouldn't be a surprise since 2 weeks ago the Pacers also got whooped up by the Hawks at home.

That Warriors/Clippers game 1 was pretty fun to watch. Nice win for the Dubs. I only got to watch the second half of it and I haven't seen any other games until now (start of second half of Haws/Pacers) since I've been at my folks' helping out with Easter preparations.

Moving on to a S.T.A.L.K.E.R. game is never a bad decision.

Well, I think I'm pretty much done in Zaton for the time being. I gassed the bloodsucker lair (damn that's satisfying), finished the missing stalkers questline, and disrupted the arms deal. At this point I have a somewhat upgraded Mossberg 88, a well upgraded LR-300, and a well upgraded SVD. Once Nimble comes back with my armor order (I'm thinking it's the CS-3a, if I recall correctly) I'm off to Jupiter.