Wednesday, July 31, 2013

Wild Card Wednesdays!

    My day is going swell, and I thought it would be a good idea to mention a game I've looked into recently. I found this game on the steam summer sale, but decided not to buy it. However, it still looks promising; I found it too early in development to consider buying. Like so many other games it's following the "Minecraft Formula". Selling in Alpha to fund development. It's just good marketing.

The game I am talking about is Kenshi. It's and open ended, squad-based RPG with an Asian theme. The open endlessness comes from the sandbox aspect of the game. There is a crafting system and base building implemented. The Sandy desert world that it takes place on is reminiscent of Tatooine. All in all, promising, but not quite at a point where I want to buy it.
If you are interested check it out. For some reason the prices vary depending on where you buy it, $15.99 on Steam and Desura, but only $13.99 from the home site (The key bought is activated through Steam...)







So here is hoping for some cool action later on in Kenshi development. --Dascoe

TECH Tuesday!

     For the first TECH Tuesday I decided to post my current set up that I game and edit on. I had a gaming desktop built in 2008, but it was too big to take on my move to Winnipeg. I had spent two years with out a desktop in Winnipeg, but eventually I found a good deal off a classified add for a cheap second-hand rig. After a couple of cheap upgrades I now have a fantastic rig that meets my every need. Most of the components are old, but they work and I am very happy and proud of this rig.

Power Supply: Corsair 600x 600w


Mother Board: ABIT IP35 Pro

This RAM has some great timing. I just bought another kit recently. The only down fall is the 2.1 volts is eats


When I first bought the rig it came with a Nvidia 8800 GTS (G92), 512mb. It was a good card, but again it was old. This was another cheap second hand upgrade that I snagged off of classified adds. It's been fantastic and was a 50% FPS boost! (that equalled about 20-30 more frames per second in most games I play).

I won't bore you with hard drive details: I have 3 drives, 250gb Western Digital Black C-Drive, 500gb Western Digital Blue storage X drive, and a 500gb Seagate Barracuda drive for games!

I plan to upgrade the C-drive to a newer HDD or an SSD if I find yet another cheap deal in the classifieds! 

This is my baby, and I love it. Comments welcome. I am hoping that these Tech Tuesdays will spur on some debates and opinions.
Cheers! -- Dascoe



Tuesday, July 30, 2013

The harvest is on!

     Rainy day here in the Falls. I started the morning off right; a few good hours in smithing before Thor decided to show up and dowse the area with thunder and rain! But no matter! Today is a good day rain or no rain , 
    
     A rainy day calls for nothing more than good time spent playing Harvest Moon! I had forgotten about this game, and only remembered it after finding it in a box of belongings the other day. Upon finding it I had the urge to fire (EDIT: I hope he doesn't mean burn it!) up the old farm and milk some cows; so I started a new game! By the time the first winter of the game was on it's way all was going well. Presently I own 2 cows, 1 horse, 1 sheep, and 2 chickens.
   
       I make a good amount of  the money off the fish I catch in the river, but also collect every herb and flower to sell to the travelling sales man Van (EDIT: Big Bad Daddy Van!). A lot of the fish seem to catch a fair price. I have discovered the best fishing area seems to be at the waterfall, directly under it as a matter of fact. Yesterday after waiting with my  trusty fishing rod for one (harvest moon) hour I managed to catch a Big Yamame! They run for 1000 gold when sold to Van! Fishing by the water fall is a good way to stay away from the cheaper priced fish. Here is the list of the types of fish:  Happy Tyr Day All! 

There are 16 types of fish. Here is the list of them and their prices.

Ama(Arna)       400g  Big Ama(Arna)        800g

Colombo          20g      Big colombo           40g

Huchep           90g  Big Huchep           170g

Nyamame          60g  Big Nyamame          130g

Snelt            30g  Big Snelt            160g

Rainbob          80g  Big Rainbob          800g

Sharshark       600g  Big Sharshark       1200g

Yamame          500g  Big Yamame          1000g

Huchen(Huchep)   90g            Big Huchen(Huchep)   170g

Monday, July 29, 2013

Noble Steads

       Well, due to the fine hot weather that presented itself today I once again returned to the forge. The project for today was to make more of my "Horse Head Bottle Openers", one of my first small level smithing builds. The plan is to generate in interest/demand in my art before I move on to bigger things, and in my opinion, more fun things.
  I enjoy making these, for both the practice and the general useful nature of them. The bottle openers had started off as an experiment with scrap metal (1/4" by 1/2" flat bar). After some simple hammer blows and a lot of heat I ended up with the design you see in the picture.

                                        >Raldorix.  
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          
                                                                                                                                                 

Around Skyrim in 400 hours: Entry 1

And so, Rolo awoke with a start, cold, hungry and naked. He had no idea what was going on, or where he was. There was a dagger in his right hand and a flame spell in his left. Two bandits were moving in on him and he had to act fast!
    Without a second thought he raised his left hand and blasted the first female bandit in her fugly face! With a screech that resembled a saw mill cutting a nail in a log, she fell. The next bandit was male, and was wielding two swords at once!
     Rolo's magic was depleted for the time being and he had no chance to get close to stab the man with his dagger. The only option left was to run his undie clad ass out of there. As Rolo turned tail and bolted the bandit male shouted "The sacrifices never escape!" This gave Rolo pause, a pause long enough to see the hidden bear trap that was in front of him and jump! It was at this point that Rolo's luck changed, the bandit giving him chase became victim of his own trap and was stuck. Rolo stopped and turned around, the bandit's leg was pinned in the trap; he had dropped his swords and was clutching his leg. Rolo cautiously trodded back to the bandit, it was question period...
    It was not hard for Rolo to make the bandit spill the beans after Rolo had threatened to spill the bandits guts. Rolo was to be a sacrifice to their heathen gods, they had bought him off the prison in Solitude, that is all the bandit knew. Rolo couldn't leave that bandit alive, and so he broke his neck.
Rolo took both bodies and burnt them to unrecognizable crisps, then tossed each one in the river.





















It was at this point that Rolo realized just how naked he was... He needed to find some pants, and a map... Rolo ran back up to bandit camp and rummaged through the chests until he found some suitable slacks.
The sun was up now and Rolo thought it time to leave. He needed to find a town and some help.
   









Rolo set off down the nearest path and came to a place where he could fjord the river he had thrown the bodies in. It just so happened he also found some breakfast.

Across the River Rolo found a camp, with soldiers and a blacksmith. The soldiers were to busy with discussing the civil war that was apparently going on. They just brushed Rolo off, tagging him as some weary wondering beggar trying to get their rations. The blacksmith however, was eager to hear Rolo's story. The Blacksmith listened carefully to the details of Rolo's plight, he even offered to cook Rolo's egg when he was finished. After Rolo had ate the egg the Blacksmith pointed him to the nearest town and sent him off with a gold old hearty bum slap... The Blacksmith said it was a Nord custom... Rolo wasn't so sure.

Upon cresting a hill down the  road Rolo came to the town the Blacksmith had told him about, "Karthwasten". It was a small mining town, and to Rolo's dismay, it had it's own problems. This meant that no one had time to help him and he was not about to seek out another lusty blacksmith for directions...
Once again, Rolo had a realization; he was a nobody, and although that meant no one respected him, it also meant he could do what ever the hell he wanted too!
    From what Rolo had over heard there was a group of mercenaries that had taken over the mine in an attempt to make the owner sell it to their employers the Silverblood family. Rolo talked to the owner, Ainethach, and decided to help him in exchange for a map.... However, when Rolo confronted the mercenary leader he offered to give Rolo armor. Naturally Rolo took the armor and decided to help the mercs.
Rolo sauntered back out of the mine and went up to Ainethach, demanding that he sell the land! Ainethat decided that is was time for a round of old "Fisty Cuffs". Unfortunately Ainethach was an old man, and Rolo beat the shit out of him... twice...

But, stubbornness also comes with age and Ainethach would not sell the land. Rolo didn't want to kill the old bastard so he demanded Ainethach sweeten the deal. Rolo was allowed to mine all the silver in the mine if he killed the mercs.
Once again he ran into the mine, but this time he proceeded to kill off each merc one at a time. There were only four, and the only one that could fight was the boss of the group... As he burned and hacked his foes Rolo mused about creating his own merc group someday, one that could actually fight well...




Ainethach was pleased, Rolo was pleased, and all the miners were pleased. They didn't have to work anymore as Rolo had mined all the silver...




But, it still remained: the town was a shit hole, and Rolo despised the place. So, after the courteous good byes and farewell hugs, he burned the place to the ground!

With his map and silver in tow it was off to Solitude. As Rolo skipped down the road he came upon a official courier of Solitude. Just a boy to most, but to Rolo he was an easy disguise and a way to get into the city later on! Out came the bow, and in flew the arrow to the boy's head. It was the perfect shot, but because the arrow had hit the brain the boy's nerve system reacted in kind causing him to flail about and shit his pants... Rolo chased the maniac corpse all the way to the river where he pushed it in for a bath.


Rolo dawned his new diggs and set off down the road, relishing in the life of a nobody. Along the road the killing spree continued. A rat was roasted, a thief was roasted and even a bandit ambush was roasted. Rolo was running on fumes by the time he reached another fjord in the river...

New Diggs
"I HATE RATS"
"I HATE LIZARDS!"
"I HATE BLOOD STAINS!"
"RIVER FJORDS ARE OK!"

     Rolo jumped the fjord and walked a little ways when he spotted the peak of a roof. He decided it was here he would stay the night, and there would be no more killing this day. He walked up to the door way and asked if anyone was home. A young man came in the back door and asked how he could help. He was a crab fisherman, and this was his summer camp. He told Rolo he was more than welcome to stay, as there was not much company in these parts. Rolo was pleased but asked if the man knew anything about the Nord bum slap custom. The man had no idea what Rolo was talking about, and so Rolo was content. In the morning he would leave for Solitude, hopefully not having to kill or burn the man's house down.


--END--








Sunday, July 28, 2013

Around Skyrim in 400 Hours

Well, I was itching to play a good game that I didn't want to force myself to beat... and here it is. Skyrim! I have a long history with the Elder Scrolls games, and many hours logged. When Skyrim came out I bought it hot off the shelf, and was not disappointed. However, between school and life I only logged a measly 97 hours... I only made 2 characters, and I have not completed every thing in the game.... I will let the shock wear off....





......





After watching a lets play of Skyrim my interest was renewed! I saw a player on Steam that had logged over 400 hours, and thought "Hey, I can do that!" So I downloaded the game last night, then modded it up using the steam work shop! Here is a list (Not many additions, more so slight alterations to make the game last):

SkyUI, to make the mouse/keyboard more friendly
Dynamic Weather, THUNDER STORMS!
Playable instruments, BARDS!
More Stuck Arrows
Static Mesh redo, makes items look nicer
Dynamic Guards
Various Quest Marker Additions
Random Alternate Start (The Skyrim Start is Bollocks) This one is really cool! Random Items and 400+ start locations!
Improved Lighting
Wearable Lanterns
Reduced NPC Greetings (They won't greet you unless you are super close)
Beast Skeletons
Enhanced High-Level Gameplay
Unofficial Skyrim Patch
Better Combat AI
Bandoleers
Arrow Smith
Realistic Map + Roads
LOTR Weapons (Hehe)

They all seem to work so far, I started a new Nord character named Rolo, after the chocolate bar. He started with an iron dagger, nice pair of slacks and some sturdy leather boots and gloves. Unfortunately he began his adventure in a Foresworn bandit camp... Rolo fought for his life and took down 2 of the bandits. The last bandit was a crazy son of a bitch with a sword in each hand! Rolo couldn't get close with his dagger... He surmised another plan to kill the crazy wanker and lured him into one of his own bear trap! While the bandit was stuck Rolo burned and stabbed him to death. After a sit down Rolo took all he could carry and ran off into the night!

Thus begins my 400 hour playing goal for Skyrim! I figure I can get 100 hours from the Vanilla game, 50 more from my RPing, then just get some more mods that add new areas to finish off the 400 hours!

Regular updates will continue, I am planning 2 per week on Around Skyrim in 400 Hours.

Other games will also be blogged about, a YouTube channel is in the makes, and normal updates will commence as well.