03/01/2012
Skyrim Diary - Entry 7 - Delphine
Upon entering Kynesgrove I was met by a fleeing villager who told me to run because a dragon was hovering over the burial mound. Delphine shouted to me "Come on let's go"
We ran up to the burial mound and the dragon that attacked Helgen was perched on a rock saying something in dragon tongue to the mound & then with burst of light a dragon came out of the mound. It was am amazing sight to see a dragon being bought back to life, the dragon who attacked Helgen then turned to me & said "You do not even know our tongue, do you? Such arrogance, to dare take for yourself the name of Dovah !"
He then flew off & the dragon out of the mound started to attack, so I charged in with my shield & sword but it flew up into the sky. Lydia grabbed her bow & fired off a few arrows to get its attention, "get it to land" I shouted. I then blasted off a few fireballs at the dragon who then turned around and flew straight at me, I dodged out of the way for it to crash to the ground & then slashed him with my red eagle sword whilst casting fire magic, it gave out a scream & I dealt the final blow.
I turned to look at Lydia who gave a sigh of relief & Delphine turned round and said "You are the Dragonborn" I'm beginning to lose track of how many dragons I have killed now & I am still no closer to finding out why they are here & what they want?
Delphine then explained she is one of the last members of the Blades that serve the dragonborn in hunting dragons. Their numbers have dwindled over the years because of a war with the Thalmor where they suffered heavy casualties. She is convinced that the Thalmor have something to do with the dragons returning, her plan is to infiltrate the Thalmor Embassy in search of information. I am happy to go along with this because information is also what I am after, Delphine then set off saying she needed some days to gather intel on the Thalmor & the Embassy, she will meet me back in Riverwood.
It's been a long day, so I decided to return home to Whiterun.
New Tuesday A to Z - D (games never played)
Just looked like a really bad interactive cartoon to me
Duke Nukem 3D
Started on PC played 2 levels & then the game crashed, tried again on PS1 got bored after 3 levels & then a failed PMG session with Toby & Luffers on the space level I think?
Discworld
I've not read much of Terry Pratchett's material & thus had not interest in playing the game of the book.
Deus Ex
I have both games on the PC somewhere just never got round to playing them, wish they would receive a HD upgrade for the current generation.
Devil May Cry
Capcoms answer to Buffy the Vampire slayer, jump around, slash, slash & kill. Rinse & repeat for another umpteen levels.
02/01/2012
New Tuesday A to Z - C (games never played)
One of the many Playstation efforts of having a mascot platform game character to compete with Sonic & Mario. It had no appeal for me so I ignored & moved on.
Command & Conquer
Somehow I never got round to playing any of the C&C games, At the time JAP RPG's were my interest & even though I enjoyed turn based JAP RPG's I could not get interested in any of the western strategy games of the time until Mech Commander 2
Chuck Rock
Another Platform title that I remember getting the pull out poster with an issue of ST Gamer but never actually getting round to playing it.
Crysis
By this time I had left PC gaming & returned to console gaming, I have recently purchased the sequel & my new PC with a slightly better graphics card should be more than capable of playing this if I feel the urge.
Carmageddon
Drive cars & kill people for points was that it?
Disc Drivin - UGVM Season 1 inc Results - Finished
This time it is season style, there will be 4 leagues (Platinum, Gold, Silver & Bronze) of 4 players each with the winning player getting promoted & the worst getting demoted to a lower league.
For the first season each player will get chosen at random to get assigned to a league. There will only be 4 races, no tournament rounds that drag on for months just 4 races to decide the winner of each league.
The 4 chosen tracks are Prepare To Qualify, Zoom Zoom, Canyon Jump & Bumper Beware
The first player in the league will start the first track Prepare To Qualify & invite player 2, 3 & 4 in order then Player 2 will start the next race on Zoom Zoom & invite player 3, 4 & then 1. Player 3 will start Canyon Jump & invite Player 4, 1 & 2 in that order. Lastly Player 4 will start Bumper Beware & invite in order Player 1, 2 & 3.
Player 1 will wait to play his turn until all 4 races have started & are awaiting his/her turn to play. This will ensure when you come to play your turn you will have all 4 races waiting for you to play.
If any questions on the above then ask me please.
Platinum League
HaggisHunter (11 Points)
carldjcross (9 Points)
Hakk (11 Points)
Tlotoxl (9 Points)
Results
Zoom Zoom - Hakk, Tlotoxl, carldjcross & HaggisHunter
Canyon Jump - Tlotoxl, HaggisHunter, Hakk & carldjcross
Bumper Beware - HaggisHunter, Hakk, carldjcross & Tlotoxl
Prepare to Qualify - carldjcross, HaggisHunter, hakk & Tlotoxl
Play off match between carldjcross & Tlotoxl to find out who gets relegated on the Track Flip Out
Tlotoxl won the playoff match so carldjcross is releagated
Gold League
lufferov (13 points)
jochta (14 points)
Xexyzx (9 points)
HarpingOn (4 points)
Results
Zoom Zoom - jochta, xexyyx, lufferov & harpingon
Bumper Beware - lufferov, jochta, xexyzx & harpingon
Prepare to Qualify - lufferov, jochta, xexyzx & harpingon
Canyon Jump - jochta, lufferov, xexyzx & harpingon
Jochta gets promoted & harpingon relegated
Silver League
actionabbas (6 Points)
becs (16 Points)
Sessile (8 Points)
gospvg (10 Points)
Results
Zoom Zoom - becs, gospvg, Sessile & actionabbas
Canyon Jump - becs, actionabbas, Sessile & gospvg
Bumper Beware - becs, gospvg, Sessile & actionabbas
Prepare to Qualify - becs, gospvg, Sessile & actionabbas
becs wins the group & gets promoted & abbas relegated.
Bronze League
GusTavToo (9 Points)
thermalsatsuma (11 Points)
monstermohsin (9 Points)
Fluffmyster (11 Points)
Results
Zoom Zoom - Fluffmyster, monstermohsin, thermalsatsuma & GusTavToo
Prepare to Qualify - thermalsatsuma, GusTavToo, Fluffmyster & monstermohsin
Bumper Beware - GusTavToo, Fluffmyster, thermalsatsuma, monstermo
Canyon Jump - monstermo, thermalsatsuma, Fluffmyster & GusTavToo
Play Off match to be played with thermalsatsuma & fluffymyster on Flip Out
Fluffmyster wins the playoff & get's promoted
Scoring is easy with 4 points for the winner down to 1 point for last place
Good Luck & remember Disc Drivin notifications is broken on iOS5 so make sure you check your app at least once a day.
Ok Season 1 is over, Season 2 to start soon.
2011 - Game of the Year
Assassins Creed follows a similar path to Fable in that I have never played the first game yet loved the second & was happy to play Brotherhood to see the continuation of Ezio's & Desmond's storyline. If it was not for the current game I am playing I would have spent my time over xmas playing the next game in the story which was purchased for Abbas but I then promptly sold on whilst it still had it's pre-owned value. I will now patiently wait till the the complete game with dlc is released in 2012 & purchase for less than £15 to play.
In 2010 Shadow Complex was one of best games I have ever played which is why it is in my Top 30 list. I purchased quite a few xbla games in 2011 but only played Costume Quest, Vandal Hearts & recently with my son Turtles & Assault Heroes. Although quite a short game I did enjoy playing Costume Quest, it's quirky humour & Halloween setting made in an enjoyable simple rpg to play.
The iOS platform be it playing the games on iPad, iPhone or iPod Touch has for me this year been very chaotic, with too many games & thanks to appshopper/freeapphero the daily free download of never-ending titles has really now become tiresome & boring. I have enjoyed the disc drivin, carcassonne & other tournaments that I have organised throughout the year but from the many single player experiences I have completed only Sword & Poker is worth mentioning a mixture of playing poker hands in an rpg setting.
Alas the PS3 & Wii (yes I still have it somewhere I think) have been ignored through-out the year not because I do not have any games for them, the likes of Uncharted & Mario Galaxy sit on the shelf gathering dust. Lack of time & possibly also my preference to using the 360 controller has led to me ignoring these two consoles. Something I hope to correct in 2012.
The summer months were very quiet for gaming, the weather & family activities led me to do little or no gaming for 3 to 4 months but come Autumn & I returned to complete Splinter Cell Conviction, Battlefield Bad Company 2, Batman Arkham City & Rage.
Batman Arkham City & Rage were the only games I completed that was actually released in 2011 but both games disappointed me. Batman with it's open world GTA style setting did not give me the enjoyment that I got last year from Arkham Asylum & Rage, the less said about that the better I think.
Battlefield Bad Company 2 & Splinter Cell Conviction I did enjoy, Battlefield for it's design on levels, every level was different giving you a new experience to enjoy & Splinter Cell Conviction's nice stealth gameplay was very satisfying.
Looking through my completion list I have discussed almost every game I have completed except two Lost Planet 2 & Borderlands. 2011 for me was the year of the PMG (Planned Multi-player Gaming), every Monday evening (almost) without fail Gus, Jaimie, Jon (Borderlands) or Jaimie & Toby (Lost Planet 2) would connect over xbox live to game. Lost Planet 2 storyline & somewhat odd game mechanics as a single player experience would be painful to play but is just about playable on a PMG because of the other players.
Thus my game of the year for 2011 is obviously (the picture in the post) Borderlands, the game itself is a mix of a first person shooter with rpg touches but what really makes the game shine is the on-line experience you get with 3 other players. If you are dying someone will come over to heal you, out of ammo? don't worry I will equip my ammo regeneration mod & thank you 'gospvg' for being the bait in Mad Moxxi.
So take a bow Jon, Gus & Jaimie for without The Claptrap Boys, Borderlands would not have been the game of the year 2011.
Hardware Update - Xbox 360 Slim
This led to an impulse purchase of the 360 Slim & I do not regret it one bit because it looks nice in black & has a nice large 250GB hard drive. Also is very very quiet.
Skyrim Diary - Entry 6 - The Gildergreen, High Hrothgar & Greybeards
The pilgrims name was Maurice, he was not much of a warrior more a simpleton but that was fine because I did not anticipate we would run into any problems.
Upon arriving at the Sanctuary, I could hear the distance roar of another dragon roaming the skies. We walked inside & were met by some other pilgrims who said to not use the blade on the tree because it would destroy it. Some roots were blocking our path so I used the blade on them to move them out of the way. Arriving at the tree, Maurice then asked me to not use the blade & that he would pray to the tree instead. Strangely enough that worked & a sapling appeared in front of me. Maurice then decided he would stay at the sanctuary & I should take the sapling back to Whiterun.
I dropped off the sapling to Danica at the temple who agreed to train me in restoration spells if needed. I then went back to the blacksmith to train up my skills until night fell. I was very close to learning how to build Dragon Armour that I woke up the next day & went straight to the blacksmith. After a few hours I had learnt the skill of how to build dragon armour, I went back home to collect the dragon bones & scales I had collected.
I could build light or heavy armour, light giving my the advantage to attack silently & weighing less obviously vs heavy which would protect me more. I went for the light armour & passed all of my currently equipped heavy armour over to Lydia to use.
It was time to pay a visit to the greybeards in High Hrothgar, I needed to find out more about the dragons & me I suppose, what was a dragonborn?
I needed to get to a town called Ivarstead which lies at the foot of the mountain, it's a small little town which only has a farm & an inn. There is also a haunted barrow (according to the innkeeper), I'll investigate that another day & a beggar called Narfi has lost his mind because his sister is lost (I've agreed to help him).
7000 steps !! till I get to High Hrothgar, along the way I met a few pilgrims & some wild creatures including snow trolls on the way up. High Hrothgar looks like an old castle perched on top of a mountain, lovely views I imagine when the snow has settled. I walked in to be met by Master Arngeir (yes he had a grey beard) who explained that the greybeards would train me in the "way of the voice". He explained I was born with the ability to use my voice like the dragons, I suppose that's why I'm called the "dragonborn" or "dovahkiin" in dragon language. The dragons have returned because of me (great, thanks so Sven died because of me) & I should learn the voice to fulfil my destiny (surprise, surprise he did not know what that was).
I was taught two more words by the greybeards, my unrelenting force skill has now improved & is more powerful & I have also learnt a sprint move which lets me move fast, really fast. After the training, Master Arngeir has given me a final test to retrieve the horn of Jurgen Windcaller.
I had to journey to his tomb in Ustengrav, which was surrounded by bandits who were easily dealt with, Ustengrav is full of various traps from spikes to poisoned arrows, making my way to his tomb I came across a new shout "Become Ethereal" & finally after checking behind every waterfall I came across I manage to find a secret room defended of course by draugr's. I had to use my whirlwind sprint shout to unlock three gates that were activated by stones which led me into a room with a fire trap whenever I walked the ground, I just decided to run through this section & healed myself at the end only to be met by some spiders.
I reached the throne room only to find a note left in place of the horn which wanted me to spend the night at the Riverwood Inn?
Everyone seemed to be going about their business at Riverwood, like they had forgotten Sven had died only a few days ago? I suppose they all just wanted to get on with their life & move on. I went to the Inn and spoke to Delphine about hiring a room for the night.
It was not a comfortable bed & I missed Breezehome, I was awoken in the middle of the night by Delphine who explained she was the one who placed the note at the Tomb & gave me the horn. She needed the help of the Dragonborn to stop the dragons coming back to life & wanted me to go with her to a dragon burial site which she was convinced the next dragon would be bought back to life. I told her I would meet her there after I have returned the horn to the greybeards.
Back at High Hrothgar I gave the horn back to Master Arngeir & was taught the last word of Unrelenting Force, using this shout is now very powerful but it takes a while to recharge if I use the full shout of Fus Ro Dah.
It has been a long day but I can't leave Delphine waiting so I am off to the dragon burial site in Kynesgrove
01/01/2012
2011 - Completed - Year in Review
These included some truly enjoyable experiences like Fable 2, Assassins Creed Brotherhood. & Borderlands but also some disappointments like Rage & Batman Arkham City
Fable 2(Xbox 360)
Borderlands DLC - Zombie Island of Dr. Ned (Xbox 360)
Azkend (iPod Touch)
Sorcerer of Fortune (iPod Touch)
Assassins Creed Brotherhood (Xbox 360)
Borderlands DLC - Secret Armory of General Knoxx (Xbox 360)
Costume Quest (Xbox Live Arcade)
Sword & Poker (iPod Touch)
Cash Cow (iPod Touch)
Streets of Rage 2 (PS3)
Tiny Tower (iPod Touch)
Borderlands DLC - Claptrap's New Robot Revolution (Xbox 360)
Splinter Cell Conviction (Xbox 360)
Space Miner - Space Ore Bust (iPod Touch)
Torchlight (Xbox Live Arcade)
Vandal Hearts - Flames of Judgement (Xbox Live Arcade)
Battlefield Bad Company 2 (Xbox 360)
Borderlands DLC - Mad Moxxi (Xbox 360)
Guardian Saga (iPod Touch)
Splinter Cell Conviction - Co-Op Story (Xbox 360)
Batman Arkham City (Xbox 360)
Turtles in Time - Re-Shelled (Xbox Live Arcade)
DLC Quest (Xbox Live Indie Game)
Assault Heroes (Xbox Live Arcade)
Lost Planet 2 (Xbox 360)
Rage (Xbox 360)
Splurge - 2011 - Year in Review
So let's break this splurge down a bit to find out more info. £328.70 was spent on purchasing games & consoles for the kids, the remaining £916.11 was games & consoles I purchased.
Another breakdown of the figures that is interesting to look at is they consoles that the purchases were made for, no surprise then that the 360 comes out on top. It is after all my preferred home console & I spent a staggering £948.30 on it, The DS came in second with 2 hardware purchases pushing it to £144.04.
Some may look at the total figure of £1244.81 & think how much but when put into perspective on how much you spend on entertainment in a year & bear in mind gaming is possibly my only vice I do not see that figure enormously large.
2012 should prove more challenging because I have set myself a limit of not spending more than £15 on any gaming purchase (I do not anticipate making any hardware purchases in the year & this rule has 3 exceptions in Borderlands 2 & the boys presents)
2012 - The year that I will
So this year I will ...
Complete a Playstation 3 game
Quite easy just need to get round to playing Uncharted
Not purchase any game above £15 except (Borderlands 2 & presents for the boys)
With my current backlog of games again this should be quite easy to achieve. I cheated a bit by purchasing quite a few titles towards the end of 2011 :)
Complete a Wii game
I've own the console for quite a few years & have not completed a single game, looking at possibly Super Mario Galaxy or possibly even a Zelda game?
Clear out my ATTIC !!
I have no choice, this has to be done to make way for the attic conversion
Only 4? Yep that's it I could not think of any more & wanted to set myself goals I could achieve. Of course if this is the year of the Armageddon then I will not be around to post in December on how I done :)
2011 - The year that was
This year I will not buy games to sit on a shelf #2011 #ugvm
Ok I think we all know this was a big #fail
This year I will play the games that I have forgotten inc Fable, Mass Effect, Bioshock & Dragon's Age #2011 #ugvm
Apart from Fable 2 I have not played any of the other games mentioned above #fail
This year I will play at least 2 UGVM PMGs a week #2011 #ugvm
This sort of worked through-out the year but mainly it was just the usual Monday PMG game Borderlands followed by Lost Planet 2 #Win
This year we will have our first UGVM meet in February at Cambridge #2011 #ugvm
In fact we done better we had two meets Cambridge & Nottingham #Win
This year I will go back to pc gaming thanks to Guild Wars 2 & Back to the Future game. #2011 #ugvm
I did purchase new PC during the year but alas I have not played a single PC game #fail
This year I will win a game of Chess with Friends ..... hopefully :) #2011 #ugvm
The few games I did play I was dreadful at #fail
And last of all this year I will clear out my attic & reduce my video game collection :( #2011 #ugvm
I got rid of a few consoles during the year but not near enough #fail
On now to 2012...
Skyrim Diary - Entry 5 - Sven
Danica from the Temple of Kynareth wants to restore the Gildergreen to its former glory thus I am off to search for a weapon called Nettlebane which will help me retrieve some sap from the Eldergleam tree.
Before going to Orphan Rock I decided to pay a visit to Riverwood, upon arriving the town was under attack from a dragon !! Sven saw me & shouted "Perfect timing !! could use your help if you are not busy?" The dragon was hovering above town & spraying frost breath on any victim it could find, leaving the dragon in town was dangerous & I needed to get him to land so I could attack. I lured him out of the town onto an open field where it landed & I equipped my Red Eagle sword & charged in to attack, after a few swipes the dragon flew back up into the air & attacked Sven with it's frost breath. I saw Sven fall to the ground, I then charged at the a dragon with my sword & went straight for his head. The dragon fell to the ground & it's soul lifted & got absorbed into my body.
I ran over to Sven whose body laid motionless on the ground, I screamed out "No !!" !!! Lydia put her hand on my shoulder and said "My Thane, he has gone" Sven was dead !! I picked up his body & took it back to town. His mother & Camilla burst into tears and cries of "Why" !! I felt really numb inside, Why did the dragon attack? What do they want? Why did Sven have to die !?
With these thoughts in my head I turned to Lydia and said "Let's go" The townsfolk had now come out & collected Sven's body to prepare for the funeral. I took out a coin bag & clutched Sven's mother hand, gave her a glance & walked off.
I got back on my horse (Marr) & set off to Orphan Rock. I think I need pay the greybeards a visit to find out what they know about these dragons. Upon reaching Orphan Rock Lydia turned round and said "Ok?" I replied "Yes!, let's go get this nettletwig!"
The rock was surrounded by witches but I was in a determined mood & walked straight in with my sword & shield. The witches spells were ricocheting off my shield but my sword would swoop down on them to kill, nothing could stop me today. A Hargraven then screamed my name "Dragonborn!!" & Lydia turned round & shot an arrow straight for her head. I walked over, removed the arrow & collected the nettlebane blade.
We then rode back to Whiterun not saying a single word to each other, Lydia took Marr (the horse) to the stables & I went to the Temple. I walked over to Danica & said here is your weapon, placing it on the table. She looked at me & could see I was angry "what happened?"
I explained what had happened in Riverwood & she replied "I'm sorry". I asked Danica what does she now do with the blade? She said "I need to ask if you could take this blade to the eldergleam to retrieve the sap for me please?" At this point a pilgrim asked "If I could please travel with you Dragonborn, I would love to visit the eldergleam". "Fine, I'll see you tomorrow morning by the gates".
Returning back home I could not help but think of Sven .. RIP my friend.
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