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F.E.A.R. Expectations

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F.E.A.R.Beginning

I’m starting out my October/Halloween playlist with the original F.E.A.R.

My initial exposure to F.E.A.R. was through the demo in 2005. I remember walking into an area and getting my first glimpse of Alma. It was pretty creepy.

Since then, I’ve tried to play through it a few times. As with most games, however, I lose momentum fairly quickly.

It’s not like Deus Ex, where I just couldn’t make myself complete it. It’s just that I get distracted by other games. This time, however, I’m going to finish.

Actually, I’m looking forward to finally getting through F.E.A.R. I’ve enjoyed what I have played of it so far. It is creepy, which I’m normally not a fan of, but still fun.

Of course, some of the story has already been ruined for me. I won’t mention what here but you will know what I’m talking about if you paid attention to the sequels. I’m not too bothered, though. I still think it will be a fun ride.

Torchlight 2 Initial Thoughts

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Torchlight2DraigLevel10

As you can see from the screenshot, I’m about half-way through level 10 with my Embermage, Draig. This is after a little more than 2 hours of play. Here are my thoughts so far.

To Embermage or Not To Embermage

I normally choose the tank class when playing a game like this. My main run through the original Torchlight was with the Destroyer. This is a holdover from the original Diablo. While the Sorcerer became powerful later on, I had a hard time with him at the beginning.

This time, however, I decided to try out the Embermage first. I chose the Veteran difficulty and headed out. 5 levels in, I almost pulled the plug on him.

My main problem was mana. I couldn’t take down very many baddies before I ran out. It was really frustrating. Until I noticed this.

Torchlight2EmbermageChargeBar

I noticed it empty one time and wondered what it was doing. Obviously the way to find out what something in an RPG does is to hover over it with the mouse. Here’s what it said.

Torchlight2EmbermageChargeBarExplanation

Nice! So when the bar fills up, I can blast everything as much as I want for 12 seconds.

This changed my strategy significantly. For one thing, if the bar is close to filling up I won’t stop for anything. It doesn’t matter if I just looted something epic or leveled up, I’m killin’ baddies until it fills. After I bring the pain, then I’ll stop to make adjustments.

Of course I’m still pretty fragile. I died several times trying to kill Mordrox. Which brings me to another observation.

Pet upgrades

The pet makes its return from the original Torchlight. However, it has one upgrade that saved me more than once.

Instead of just being able to send your pet back to town to sell stuff, you can now give them a shopping list.

Torchlight2PetShoppingList

You can tell your pet to pick up different things and they will. After I died the second time against Mordrox, I sent Manx to town to get 20 health potions. It was still tough but it was enough.

I’m enjoying Torchlight 2 a ton! Like Borderlands 2, it’s everything I wanted in the sequel. Now the only question is, which one do I want to play?

Torchlight 2 Expectations

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Torchlight2Preloaded

Playing Borderlands 2 over the last two days has been a blast. I’m 7 hours in and earned elite status on Raptr. However, starting tomorrow my time is going to be split.

Torchlight 2 comes out! w00ty w00t!

I’ve been waiting for this one for a while. I LOVE the original Torchlight. I really enjoy Diablo style games. Torchlight is one of the best. And it’s going to get even better.

According to Runic, Torchlight 2 is roughly 4 times bigger than the original. I put over 37 hours into the original. If they are right, I’m going to be playing 2 for a long time.

I will be interested to see how Torchlight 2 competes with Borderlands 2 for my gaming time. They are both loot based games. Yet they are in radically different genres. I don’t know which one I’m going to gravitate towards.

Either way, it’s definitely a great week to be a PC gamer!

Borderlands 2 Expectations

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Borderlands2Preloaded

Tomorrow marks the beginning of a busy release schedule. Borderlands 2 will be out.

As you can see from the image, I’m preloaded and ready to go. I was a little on the fence about pre-ordering. I knew I was going to eventually play it but didn’t know if I should go ahead and get it now.

However, Green Man Gaming was running a deal where I was able to get the game and the season pass for the DLC for $61.90. So I basically got all the DLC for $1.91. I couldn’t pass that up.

So now I’m ready to go. I’m really looking forward to getting into this one tomorrow. I enjoyed the original Borderlands, although I never finished it. An FPS loot game is just about perfect for me.

In the original, I played as Mordecai, the sniper. I tried Brick initially but changed pretty quickly. Mordecai felt a lot like the mage/wizard class I love the play in MMOs.

They changed the classes around in Borderlands 2. The sniper is Zero, the assassin. However, I think I’m going a different direction this time.

Salvador is the Gunzerker. Gunzerker. In Borderlands 2. With “bazillions of guns”. Yup, that’s who I’m playing.

I’m going to spend some time today playing around with Salvador’s skill tree. I want to have a fairly good idea where I’m heading before I start. I’m going to start off aiming to do as much damage as possible. I may tweak my build to add some of the more tank like abilities later but for now, damage is king.

Man, I’m excited about this one! Between this tomorrow and Torchlight 2 on Thursday, I am going to have a phat loot week for sure!

Deus Ex: Human Revolution – Expectations

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I have had a rocky relationship with Deus Ex. I bought the original game around the time it came out in 2000. I was excited about an FPS that was trying to add something to the genre. However, that excitement quickly faded to dread.

As I mentioned in my FPS Blitz post, I love First Person Shooters. I had played hours and hours of Heretic, Duke Nukem 3d,  Half-Life, and Unreal Tournament by the time Deus Ex was released. So, while I was excited about it bringing something new to the genre, I was pretty set in the way I play FPSs.

My style at the time was heavily influenced by deathmatch. I was a run and gunner all the way. Standing still or moving slowly meant death so I never did. And I shot first and didn’t bother with questions.

So that’s how I approached Deus Ex. I blasted my way through the first level. After all, it was supposed to be a viable option. You could use stealth or strength.

Except the game then proceeded to berate me for killing everyone. I started getting speeches from different characters about how bad it was to do things the way I did. They were telling me I should find ways to accomplish things with less bloodshed.

I’d never had a game make me feel bad about the way I played it. I thought run and gun was just another option. But now it’s telling me there is a right way and a wrong way.

So I just stopped playing. I wasn’t interested using stealth. I wanted to run through guns blazing. Since that wasn’t right, I was done.

I’ve tried to go back to it a few times since then. I have heard so many people talk about what a great game it is. I didn’t want to miss out on a great experience because of my style of play. I even tried to go stealth a few times. But it never worked. I would give up again before I even got started.

But wait. If I can’t even play through the original, why am I including it and Human Revolution in my FPS Blitz? Why would I play something that makes me feel so bad about myself?

To be honest, I’m not quite sure. There’s just something that won’t let me let Deus Ex go. Plus, from what I understand, Human Revolution isn’t as bad as the original.

I will say the boss fights in Human Revolution are part of the reason I’m playing it. I know most people hated them. But they hated them because they broke the game if you are trying to go stealth. They would put all their points into a stealth build so they wouldn’t have to fight anyone and then hit someone they couldn’t stealth around. They weren’t built to fight yet they had no choice.

But I’m not interested in stealth. I want to run and gun. So I will have a build that’s ready for those bosses. I am actually looking forward to them because they fit my play style.

So I’m going to run through Deus Ex: Human Revolution with guns blazing. No stealth. Just the way I’ve always wanted! Smile