Vindictus, Bloody good fun.

So, what is Vindictus?

For you who live under a rock, Vindictus is a free-to-play 3rd person action-MMORPG, developed by Nexon, a Koren development studio and ported over to the west by Nexon-America.


It's currently post release, even thou it still appears in many ways to be still in beta.
Namely two of the five playable characters/classes have yet to be released, among other minor content issues that have yet to be ported.
However at it's core, it is basically a full fledged MMO experience.


(do note however that it's limited to ONLY north-America and Canada)
(this can be easily circumvented via proxy servers)



Now why is this even worth talking about? Why play this game?
Simple, it's hands on, engaging, free and most importantly, just good dirty fun.

You play as a mercenary, one of currently three playable characters, which are basically your classes in this game. And yes, you can customize your character like in any other MMORPG.

You have:
Lann: A dual wielding sword user, who slashes his way to victory with fast sweeping attacks and quick movements to duck in and out of battle.
Fiona: The meat shield of the group, who sports a strong shield and defensive capabilities, with powerful direct attacks.
Evie: The spell caster, wielding either devastatingly powerful spells, blasting her foes at long range, or getting dirty with a giant scythe, sweeping over the battlefield with wide reaching attacks.


Unlike most MMO's, where you watch you character attack or cast spells as you tab-123456 your way to victory, Vindictus has you in direct control of your every movement, which is pinnacle to success.


Instead of using a skill that allows you to block or avoid a skill, you have to actively dodge it.
Instead of auto-attack and auto-targeting, you have to actively run up and smash you enemies face in with either light or heavy attacks.
You have to time attacks as to not get hit.
You need to avoid getting hit at all times.
You have to pay attention as not to get surrounded, etc.


All of combat demands that you sit up and pay attention, and that is something that I find very difficult to find in this industry.
But beyond all that, it's just plain fun.
If this was it, while nice, not really all that interesting.

But it doesn't stop there.
You can break or pick up just about anything (except the walls), and use it as a makeshift weapon.
You can grab your foe any perform various grappling moves on them.
You have several secondary weapons to hurl at you enemies, including spears and explosives.

Combat is very improvising and intuitive, you can just wing it and do all sorts of crazy stuff, just for the fun of it.
And when bosses swing around, it can be a really challenging experience, and never needlessly difficult..... which is exceedingly rare.
Everything can be done solo as long as your careful.

All in all, awesomely fun combat.


As for the rest of it.... it's not bad, it's not bad.
Vindicuts doesn't go for the large, immersive world like many other MMO's do, but rather you work from this one small town, doing lots of odd jobs for the residences that you will really get to know, as a bigger story unfolds around you.

The town acts as a hub where you can talk to people and get quests and items.
You then go to the port and take missions via boats, which are instanced areas that you can do on your own or with a small group. You can also wait on the boat, or join anyone who is waiting on theirs to form an PUG. Your not sitting around in town going LFG, just jump right in and have fun.
Quick and simple.

The missions themselves again are instanced, so no one is going to ruin your fun or take your loot. The length of each mission is nice and short, anywhere from 5-25 minutes typically.
So you really are able to jump right in and have fun in nice short doses, and make some actual progress, which is very nice indeed.




Character creation is while a tad unremarkable, is still effective.
Graphics wise it is very, very pleasant to look at.
Sound and music is memorably, and rarely seems out of place.


Overall, I think this is a fantastic game, esp being free and all.
As far as first impressions go, this has left a very good one on me.

If you haven't already played this game and you like action games, go play it right now.


~Yoh

Guess who's back?

Finally, I'm back to this old crusty blog, and have something worth writing about.
Been petty lackluster over the last several months, so I didn't really feel like writing anything, or felt like I had anything worth saying.

But now I do.

Namely, Vindictus. I freaken love Vindictus..... which is something that is very rare for me.
I also quite like Starcraft 2, but I'm having difficultly making friends on it and getting invested in it.


So, from now on I'm going to try and post regularly, main doing news and guides for Vindictus, and occasionally Starcraft 2 when I eventually get back into it.
I'm also throwing around the possibility of doing a Vindictus podcast, so look forward to that in the near future.

This all should help keep me active, and some people might find it worth while. So great.


~Yoh

Out with the new, In with the old.

Well, since I haven't put up a blog post in lord knows how long, here's an update of what I've been up to gaming wise.

Over the last couple of months, I have been playing the Mortal Online open beta with a friend of mine. And until the news of it's impending release, we kind of had a crappy time.
Let's face it, the game just sucks.
It's holly incomplete, boring, and buggy as hell with zero content.
We both felt it was time to wash our hands with it and move onto something more interesting.


As such, he convinced me to try out Final Fantasy 11, which he used to play a while back and enjoyed it quite a lot. I never got into it because it didn't come across a solo friendly, and I'm not a fan of level centric games by any stretch of the imagination.
However, over the last couple of days, the FF11 trial has been really fun.
Sure the game is dated, but it's seasoned as well. There is just a hell of a lot of things to do.

There is quite a lot of grinding involved, but I'm not minding it that much. Mostly because I'm playing with someone else, and partly because they've made the game a great deal easier, and soloable.

So by the end of the trial, I may very well shell out for this game.
It starts with a 15$ purchase, that includes all the expansions, plus 30 days game time.
Pretty damn good deal I think.
And to make things sweeter, the subscription is cheaper than usual.
Only 12.50$ per month rather than the 15$. Hell, I'll take it.


But so far, there really hasn't been anything too objectionable about the gameplay.
It's just fun...... grindy yes, but fun non-the-least.

So if it continues to go well, I think I'll update my blog a bit more often with news of my adventures in FF11...... at least until Final Fantasy 14 comes out.



~Yoh

Anime Update 01

Haven't done a blog post recently, so here's something different.


This is going to be a short anime/manga recommendation/review series that I will do from time to time, whenever I find a few good animes to watch.


First on the list is Baccano!

In short, this series is nothing but pure, unadulterated entertainment.
From start to finish, it's hard to find a single dull moment.

The series is split into three different timelines, each being told at the same time and seemingly having no connection with one another, all told from the points of view of a dozen different people.
This sounds confusion, and you will be confused. But in the end, it answers all the questions, threads the three stories together, and ties up all the loose ends rather nicely.

The is no particular character that is the main character in this one, but if I had to choose, it would be Issac and Miria. The comedy pair of the series. Every time they are on screen it is nothing but comedy gold. You will piss yourself laughing in this one.
Otherwise, pretty much every character, even the psychotic ones, are likable to a degree.

It is however, quite gory. With loads of blood and violence. Which doesn't detract from the series at all.


It seriously is one of the best series I've seen in a long time.
It also happens to have something I find exceedingly rare, good english dubs.
Combine all that with a catchy jazz intro, reminiscent of Cowboy Bebop, and you've got a great anime.

Overall, I give it 10/10.



Second is a creepy little anime, called 11Eyes.

I starts of as your typical thriller harem, but then it takes a road I didn't expect.
Characters start getting killed off, minds get a bit broken, weird shit happens, and nothing is quite what you expect.

Despite only being a 12 episode series, it actually does a fairly good job of characterization.
While the beginning is a tad slow, and the ending is a bit anticlimactic, it really was an enjoyable watch.
And apparently there is a sequel in the mix, so I look forward to that.


It has a little violence in this one, but not nearly as much as Bannaco!
This deals more with mindfuckery.
And it does have a little bit of fan service, but it is really rather minor.

Other then that, it has good, abet fairly typical characters, and a rather different story.
But as it features the every elusive Yandere, it does good in my books.


I give it a 8/10.



Speaking of Yandere, the manga I'm reading atm, is called Mirai Nikki (Future Dairy).


Wow, this takes creepy fucking stalker chick to a whole new level.

The story revolves around a gutless coward named Amano Yukiteru.
He's a pussy, antisocial, and generally a complete twat.
And he has a not so imaginary friend named Dues ex Machina. Ie God.

Dues, being a bit of a clever prick, decides to make Yuki's life a lot more interesting, by entering him into a anonymous deathmatch with a dozen other people, for claim of Dues's position as God.
Their weapon, a supernatural dairy that can predict the future, in their own unique way.

At that point the shit pretty much hits the fan.
And as a result, Yuki undergoes a fair bit of characterization, and becomes pretty badass in the end.
(well, the series isn't over yet)
Of coarse this is mostly due to the help of this crazy stalker girlfriend, Yuno.


Enter Gasai Yuno, another participant in this deathmatch, who is madly in love with Yuki. Emphasis on the 'mad' part.
She is clingy, jealous, and dangerous as allfuck.
But despite this, underneath it all she really is quite sweet, timid, and caring.
However, as soon as Yuki is in danger, or their relationship takes a turn for the worse (usually because of her), she rapidly begins to turn back into a psycho bitch. And people die.

For all intents and purposes, Yuno steals the show.
As the story goes on, it begins to unravel just what made this girl so crazy in the first place, as well as making her much more approachable. Psycho with a heart of gold as it were.

All in all, I just love this character. Every time you think she catches a break, reality kicks her in the teeth. Usually due to her own lack of foresight. Which is ironic since she has a dairy that predicts the future and all.


Overall, this is an excellent manga, and I expect to see it become an anime in a few years, as it is just that bloody good.

I give it a 9/10.




And lastly, one anime you should not come within a 100 miles of.
Seikon no Qwaser should die in a fiery pit of hell.

Unless your into ridiculously over the top fanservice, with pretty much no plot, while paradoxically trying to take itself seriously, don't watch this.

It basically involves a not so russian looking glowing scarface kid, that gains his power to manipulate metal and take on a church, but sucking breast milk. I fucking wish I could make this shit up.
The whole anime is one big elaborate plot point for this little shit to suck on titties.

I couldn't help but laugh my ass off at how inane this plot point was, while it was trying to take itself serious while doing it. Of coarse anyone with a functioning brain can see right through it, as just an excuse to show porn, but not call itself that.
If your going to watch it, watch it for the porn, and not for anything vaguely resembling a storyline.

1/10.



Well, that's it for now. I'll add another entry next time I watch a few new animes.

Enjoy.



~Yoh

MO Open Beta

Well, yesterday Mortal Online's open beta started.... sort of.
Like damn near everything in MO, the patcher doesn't work most of the time.

After watching the forums, no end of problems have ensued from patchers breaking, desinc and lag, to the server crashing over night. (the devs were asleep at the time, so I'll cut them some slack)

Not a good start.


As for myself, I have even been able to get pass the broken launcher, due to the ever popular, yet seemingly impossible revision error, said the dev Sebastion Perrsson.

You'd think they could at least make a functioning patcher, but no, apparently even that is beyond their grasp.


I can't help but feel that Starvault is doomed in the long run if they struggle with even the most basic of things, but maybe it's harder then I think.
But in saying that, I've played many more low budget games, and few of them have these kinds of problems.


Nothing will suck modivation from you quicker then a crap patcher.


~Yoh

MO let down

Well, I participated in the 2nd stress test for Mortal Online yesterday, which was extended for another 6-8 hours due to popular demand, which was cool of them.

While it wasn't for the purposes of beta testing, I had a good enough go of it to get a general sense.

It was bad..... really, really bad. It warrants my blog's name in full.
Just down right painful, from beginning to end.... almost.


Combat was effectively non-existent.
Everything was sluggish and unresponsive, and you just couldn't hit anything.
Seriously, they have this weird, backward ass hitbox system, that just doesn't work half the time.
You end up aiming over your intended target, waiting about 5 seconds before you find out weather anything happened or not.

Easily the most incomplete, arduously painful combat I have ever seen in a game.
Even as far a beta goes.


Even the most basic of tasks was a drawn out affair in frustration.
To mine or gather wood, you had to go through about 3 different windows to find the right skill to use, put it on you skill bar that won't sit still, draw your starter axe, then continue to activate the relevant skill every 2 seconds.

Oh, and after all the, at least in the beginning, you only get 1 piece of word/ore about 50% of the time. Here's the kicker, you need about 500 just to make starter weapons.
Yeah, fuck that for a joke.


Inventory management is also downright painful.
The drop system is weird, requiring you to press about 3 or 4 different keys just to open your loot bag.
And when you gain items, you'd think they'd auto-stack right? Nope, duplicated of the same stuff has to be manually stacked. And due to the lag involved in this, it becomes irritating very quickly.


And don't get me started about the text based taming..... fuck me was that painful.
Thought it was a quaint idea at first, but practice proved it to be otherwise.

I can go on and on about just how freaken bad it is, but it's time I leverage it with some high points.



First, the world is vast and pretty nice to look at. Vacant, but nice.
The only real enjoyment I got out of it was jumping down a 90ft tall waterfall. That was cool.

Second, there we're quite a lot of play made structures, and that gives it a nice feel, and shows that it has something in the long term to work for.

Lastly, while I never got to experience mounts, due to the fucking taming system, they appear to be great fun, as well as being one of the few nearly complete systems in the game.
(minus the fact there is only one type of mount as it stands)



So overall, I'm grossly disappointed.
It sounds so good on paper, but in practice it just doesn't go anywhere.
There are so few good things to say about it, and I'm trying to be generous.

While it is still beta, as many fucktards continue to point out, this is beside the fact that is was a inch away from releasing a month ago. And it has made virtually no progress since.
Unless they fix the parts of the game that matter, combat being chief among them, then MO will likely die right out of the gate.
It's almost unplayable.

Too bad to, it has so much potential.


~Yoh

Guild Wars revisited

Well, it's the new year..... and I haven't blogged in a long while.

Over the holidays, and still to some extent I got back into Guild Wars, despite not having played it in a year.
Part of that being that it is so accessible. I can come a go from it when I please, where as with EVE, I just can't bring myself to resub.

Made some new friend with the Veritas Invictus (TRUE) guild, one of which is Rubi Buyer from Massively. Currently I've opted to put my art skills to usage for my guild, as to get back into the habit as the holidays ruined it.


But I must say, even after all these years, Guild Wars is still fun. You can always find something to do, even for a little while. Although there isn't much in terms of long term appeal, It's great for those of short attention spans like myself.

Although I'm not playing it much nowadays as most of the guild are off playing DDO and other games, but we still chat from time to time, and that's nice.
Currently entertaining myself with Monster Hunter Freedom Unite, on my PSP.
Having a lot of fun with that.

Kinda wish someone in my guild was playing it so that we could play co-op. Oh well.



All in all, I've enjoyed my little trip down memory lane with GW. It's been fun.
Hopefully the guild will be able to transend the game onto GW2, or anything else for that matter.

And I hope I can find the energy to blog more..... I've been slack.



~Yoh