Look at this sexy mofo

Magicman does whatever a Magicman can.

That's the welfare tier 13 robe, yes it is. Since the new scroll of bringing people back with crazy benefits and playing WoW again, Seedus the mage has actually been able to do a raid and kill the dude on the box. The whole "killing the big baddie on the box" has always been an issue with me. Ever since I started playing Warcraft, either my lack of ability to sink time or find a good guild or have a decent internet connection has never allowed me to raid. With super easy Raid Finder raids though, I've done it. Yes, it was easier than it should be, yes it was with a group of strangers, but still, I did. So, props to Blizz for making casual raiding a reality. 

This might be worst screenshot of the Deathwing fight ever. 

Does it mean less though? Not taking down the big bad Deathwing in a challenging and rewarding way? I have been playing this game for years. I'm just glad I got to see the fight to be honest. 

Rawr.

And it's not like the gear is the best, so to get the upper level stuff, it would be more of a challenge. I felt a bit bad this morning when the chestpiece dropped and a Druid whispered me asking if he could have it. Then an awesome trinket dropped, which I won the roll for, and he couldn't believe it. It does come down to luck when getting items in LFR, and maybe if I had better gear I might have given it to him. But they were upgrades and I won the roll, should I feel guilty? If I'd won the roll on the shoulders then...actually I would have kept em, because everyone knows that shoulders make up 50% of a set. 

Bear Stealth mode activated.

Now I will get Gambito the Troll Druid to max level, and then see how I feel. I like Warcraft, it's a polished and huge game, and running dungeons with my mates is always the best. Am I interested in purchasing Mists of Pandaria? I'm leaning towards yes right now, but we'll see when it gets closer to release. I have a soft spot for Seedus, and taking him on a holiday to a mystical land full of panda people sounds like a good reward for him. 

More like Axo"lol"tl

Been working on the next Codex entry, (my god has been seven months since the last one?) which concerns bird people. Or, since they don't have wings, as my sister pointed out, beak people.

Here's a sketch I did of one riding an Axolotl-type creature. Had a serious "ohmahgawsh" moment this morning when I realised that I had created a nomadic people...with no mount in mind.

Sure, you have some nomads who just wander on foot like the Native Americans, but the majority tend to have some sort of pastoral relationship with animals. Hence, the Sandwalkers (or Kaz'adir in the tongue of the beak people).

Edit: I should have mentioned, Native Americans before the introduction of Horses by the Spanish.

So once I have a bit more written, I'll make another codex entry. Believe it!

Planes Creature Codex: Varoan

So, when I make things, I usually like to have a think about the story behind it. I needed some bat-like creatures for the game I'm perpetually working on so I had a chat with the gang (Lawrence, sonics was an awesome idea) and sat down and started writing out a backstory for these things. Was good fun.

Planes Creature Codex:
Entry 751
The Varoan

The Varoan are a race of humanoid bat people, who evolved in the dark underground reaches of Opal Mountain. They are a proud race and followers of the god Roan. (The name of their people basically translates to the "Children of Roan"). However, of late a schism between the working class and the clergy has led to a divide in the Varoan people.Biology

Varoans have poor vision compared to humans, but compensate with an internal sonar, with which they can detect even invisible beings. They stand from 7 to 8 feet tall, and have vestigial webbing between the arms and torso. This webbing allows them limited gliding ability, and helps to break falls that would otherwise be fatal. A Varoan can also emit a sonic attack that can liquidize flesh and crack solid rock.

Weaponry

Varoans are adept at the use of their tuning weapons, usually a sword or spear, which they use in a traditional form of martial art developed to give them the advantage in tight, cramped conditions. These weapons are also capable of emitting sonic waves which can disorientate, stun of knock out foes. All Varoans are trained in combat from an early age.

Society

Varoans have not had a king for many centuries now, although there is of course, a prophecy about a king rising in a time of great peril for the Varoan people. The priests of Roan lead the masses, but lately have been opposed by the workers and intellectuals of Varoan society. The reason for this schism is the emergence of one Vexus, known as the Herald of Roan by the clergy. Common Varoan are mistrustful of Vexus, because although Roan speaks to him, he is also human.

The Cult of Roan (And the Rise of Vexus)

Roan is an old and bloodthirsty god, he demands regular blood sacrifices and ceremonies from the Varoan in exchange for his protection and knowledge. However, like all gods, he seeks to expand his power and in the merchant Vexus he saw his opportunity.

Vexus is a man with charisma, a powerful talker and leader, who was originally a merchant from the lands south of Alandria. Roan spoke to Vexus in his dreams, promising him power and status if he were to bring about the age of the Bat God. Vexus gathered a cult of like-minded or simply weak-willed humans and set off to find the promised Lost City of Varonan.

The Avatar of Roan

In his travels through the vast underground lands of the Plane, Vexus encountered a huge four-winged bat. Unusual for its great size, this particular bat had grown so large that it had taken to hunting Wyrms for food. Vexus merged his life force with this bat, empowering it and forming a telepathic link with the creature.

Upon this bat, he entered the City of Varonan at the head of a massive host of cultists. The Varoan people were suspicious of this surface dweller, but the Priests of Roan regard him as a messianic figure, the chosen one of Roan, the Herald of the Age of the Batgod.

Rebuilding a World

Everytime I talk about old RPG's that I have played, my friend John goes "Man, you know what RPG I liked? Terranigma, did you ever play that?"

And I have to say no. Because I hadn't.

Yesterday, I decided to remedy that problem.

Terranigma was a game released in 1996 for the Super Nintendo Console, and was produced by Enix, who also made Soul Blazers and the Dragonquest and Dragon Warrior games. It's an action RPG, so while you have hit points and armor and such, you attack enemies by pressing the A button. What I found really cool though, was the amount of different attacks you get. For instance, while running, if you press the attack button Ark will charge forward. If you press it while running and jumping, you'll do a pretty fancy (for 1996) divebomb.

I haven't finished the game yet, so I can't tell you what happens later, but so far I've learned that the main guy, Ark, is a bit of an idiot. He lives in village called Crysta, in a strange underground world. One day, he opens the door that should never be opened and finds a magical box and a strange creature called Yomi.

By opening the box a curse is laid on the village, and all the villagers (including the girl who fancies you) are frozen. The Elder tells you that in order to lift the curse you must journey to 5 towers and complete the trials that await there.

It's cool though, because inside the box you find an awesome spear and set out. The box acts as your inventory, and kind of exists in a pocket universe sort of thing. In order to access your inventory, you have to jump inside the box, which contains a whole bunch of rooms. I particularly liked this little touch, as it explains the vast amount of junk that Ark carries around with him all the time.

Anyway, you finish off the 5 towers and after every one a continent on the overworld is restored. However, these continents are all barren and void of life. So the Elder, ever confident in Ark's abilities, sends him to restore life to the freaking planet.

And thats where I'm up to. I've restored the plants, the birds and the animals, and right now I'm on my way to restore Humanity.

I'm going to leave now with a little story. While exploring Eklamata, the zone where humanity sleeps, Ark was caught in an avalanche and passed out. What happened next was a bit...strange.

Oh, did I mention that Ark can talk to animals and plants?

So, with my new friend, the Obvious She-Goat, I decided to explore the little cave we were in.

Only to find the carcass of her mate. Yeah...

Then it starts to get dark. Ark's friend the goat starts to look at him differently now that she's single. One thing leads to another and...

The next morning Ark wakes up to find the goat butting against the wall of the cave. Eventually, she manages to bust through where the ice is thin, but is stopped by sheer cliff. Ark however, has a pair of handy Sharp Claws (I got's em from some demon birds, good fun!) and just leaves his friend the goat behind. Just like that!


Yeah, this game has its moments.

Doomquake!

Been playing some Torchlight in between bouts of shivering and pain. I took a break from it mainly because I did something to mess up my save game on the ol' Alchemist, and started up a Destroyer to vent a bit of frustration. And yes, his name really is Captain Fuzzyboo. Because boots wouldn't fit, that's why.

Lisztomania

So with a little help from my sister (she has good eyes for letters, although she seems to see the word "rooted" everywhere for some reason, I knew I shouldn't have let her hang out with the Griff so much) I beat the last boss in Bookworm Adventures Volume 2. Woohoo me! And yes, my World of Warcraft account is down again. This explains my sudden interest in other games and my increase in comic output, for sure :P

Apparently, my highest scoring words were ones like regulators, marveled, and defecate. I don't know why I saw that word there in the tile box but there you go, it's on my high scoring word list. I'm pretty proud of pugilist though.

I'm off to try the Arena mode, which will probably be super hard!

Here's the second page of the Ambrose comic, it has energy blades in it!

Last Bosses should always be this hard.

So I'm kinda stuck on the last boss of Bookworm Adventures. That fucker has so many buffs and debuffing things on him that the whole bottom row of the battle screen is always full of bleeds and shields and shit. And then! The fucker sets my tiles on fire! I actually went to bed at 2 in the morning after trying about a billion times to beat him. The crap thing about that game is, you can't just keep trying over and over again, because you actually have to think about words to do damage.

I shall try again later today, and let you know how I go. Until then! I have been working on a new Ambrose comic. Wilson actually asked me yesterday, why I'm doing it. I have no idea at the moment, I just know that I have a few ideas that I want to draw. Also, John suggested a new coloring idea that I'm interested in. Kind of a saturated look for some of the pages, we'll see how it ends up :D

Snake High

I just realised that this is the second dick joke in 2 posts. I apologize if my humor has been snake high, belly low lately.

Been playing a bit of Bookworm Adventures lately (as you can probably tell) it's good fun! I tend to spend most of the time looking for words like vagina and erect in the word scramble though.

Edit: Just realised that the word vagina is actually in the word scramble that is pictured above. Coincidence?

Time Sinks

It started out innocently enough. John got his new vodafone internet thing, and suddenly had the oppurtunity to download a bucketload of things quickly, so he got a couple of games. One of them was Plants Vs. Zombies. Then he gave it to me.

Normally i'm not a big fan of tower defense games, but theres something different about this one. Sure, in essence you're just stopping zombies from reaching the left side of the screen, but the combination of the fact that you're using plants to stop them, and the character design make it something special. Theres something soothing about a little sunflower bopping along to a beat in its head. Now imagine a whole row of them.

For the last couple of days, i've found myself playing this game when i should be doing other things. Like, maybe i should work on the website that i'm getting paid to design...after i finish one more level. But you can't just finish one more level, because every level gives you something cool for finishing it. The reward system is very, very sweet.

And...i finished it, the adventure mode is over, the last boss is defeated. Theres the minigames though...i could finish those. Wait, did you hear that? Sounded like someone saying "braaaains."

I'll be right back.

What I'm Wasting my money on Currently

Fallout 3. Why it is good. Discuss.

The sheer idea of it sells itself as wonderful. It's a post-apocalyptic wasteland, full of raiders, mutants and giant ants that breath fucking fire. Seriously, those fire breathing ones scared the hell out of me the first time i met them. I was wandering around on the outskirts of the capitol when i saw an ant in the distance. Meh, i thought, an ant. Time to get some batting practice. So i sauntered up and bopped it on the head with my baseball bat. It then proceeded to turn around and set me on fire.

I also like the different morality choices, and how you can play completely different games from other people. Personally, I'm a pretty friendly guy. I will help people out, i'm polite and i try my hardest to reach a solution with a minimum amount of bloodshed. Doesn't mean i'm bad at fighting, but i will try the diplomatic route first.

Wilson and i play pretty similarly, he put a lot of his skill points into the speech option, which i found interesting. His character is a talker, and although we're both the sort of guys who play good characters, i think that i usually let my guns do the talking in the end.


John on the other hand, is a different kettle of fish. He will kill everyone. He killed the damn dog that's supposed to be your companion for crying out loud. Someone looks at him funny, they die. Someone wanders by him in the wasteland, they die. He was so fucking evil, that when he went to the town of slavers, they got out of his way.

Theres also a sort of randomness to the experience that i like too. I, for example, have yet to see a Deathclaw. They're supposed to be these huge, fast moving demon things that will mess you up three ways to sunday. I have yet to meet one.

But i'm looking forward to it, me and ol' Betsy will be ready too.

The thing fell out

I would write a long post here about Fallout, and how much i've been playing it, but my sister is having a fit about me getting off the computer. So instead, here are some sketches i been make. 

I am particularly proud of Bobby here, my rendition of the Lone Wanderer :D

Twisted Psyche

So this weekend i had to find something to do to kill some time. My family were all going out and i was the one who drew the short straw to stay  home and "guard the house from threats". So i went to the vidjagame shop and bought me some Psychonauts. I wasn't in the mood for another RPG, Disgaea 2 kinda sucked that outta me for a while, and i wanted a hop and bopper, you know? A platformer that required little brainwork and more manual dexterity. 

I kinda lucked out on Psychonauts. It's the story of Razputin (Raz for short, voiced by Steve Horwitz, the guy who voiced Zim from Invader Zim) a boy who runs away from the circus to become a psychonaut, a kind of psychic secret agent. He ends up at Whispering Rock Summer camp, which is a training camp for psychonauts, where young psi-cadets are trained to harness their powers. Raz has to complete his training as fast as possible, before his dad shows up to take him home to the circus. Of course, something goes terribly wrong, and the other kids have their brains stolen to fuel psychic death tanks (yes, you read that right) and Raz is the only one who can get them back and stop the madman behind it all.

The way i see it, a good platformer has to have good locomotion. The way you control a character, and how they get around the game world has to feel good and responsive to make it truly memorable. Since Raz was raised in the circus, he's very mobile, flipping around and walking tightropes with no problem. Also, he's psychic, and can double jump by bouncing off an orb of psychic energy. Combat is kind of secondary to the puzzles, but they give you a nice array of psychic powers to deal with enemies (including censors, which are little lawyer guys with a big rubber stamp that are mental constructs designed to stamp out foreign thoughts) like Telekinesis, Pyrokinesis (as Raz says, fire is pretty), Psy-blasts and Invisibility. Raz also is too cool to punch things, instead, he uses his mind to project giant psychic hands to beat things up. 

The writing is also wonderful, full of twisted jokes and characters. Thankyou Tim Schafer, you made me laugh this weekend. One of my personal favorites was the one where Raz discovers the reason why there are so many arrowheads (the games currency) around the camp. It's because the camp was built on an ancient Indian Burial ground. They didn't bury their dead there, just arrowheads. The terms for ingame items are cool too, health is Mental Health, Instead of lives you have Astral Projections and you can collect emotional baggage and mental cobwebs from peoples minds. It's the little touches that endear you.

The art style is wonderful, a twisted sort of un-symmetricalness that really makes for different and interesting visuals. If you have some time, check out Scott Campbells blog, he was the art director on the game. Also, the game was released in 2005, which makes me wonder if i'm ever going to be able to play new releases :P

All in all, it gets five slices of cake outta five. Also, i wouldn't mind some psychic powers. 

Snake Mastaaaah!

based on actual events! The Griff likes to bother me while i play snake on my phone. i mean honestly, how am i going to become the snake master, if i can't have time to concentrate.

highest score so far, by the way, is 2064. yes, one day i shall be the Snake Master.

EDIT: if joo want to read the awesome comic, you're going to have to click on it...until i can figger out how to make it, like, readable :(