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| Saturday, January 26th, 2008 | | 5:15 pm |
cRPG fans: Go pick up The Witcher
Wanting to get into a good computer RPG, I picked up The Witcher on a whim, not having very high expectations, and the opening sequences seemed to support those expectations. It ended up knocking my fucking socks off. I'm writing this because I know that some of my LJ friends really dig PC roleplaying, and I wanted to give those folks a hot tip - pick up this game NOW. Based on a series of Polish novels, The Witcher follows the story of resident badass Geralt of Rivia, and it offered a really robust experience - the characters were quite compelling, with complex motivations woven into a teriffic storyline. I had been expecting a kill -> loot -> level experience on par with Diablo, and it proved to be so much more. If I were to compare it with previous titles I've played, I'd place it as a mix of KOTOR and Oblivion, with a dash of Leisure Suit Larry thrown in. The latter's due to a minigame where your character gets to charm the panties off the locals. You even get treated to a virtual nekkid girl collector's card for each notch made in your bedpost. You can of course completely skip over this aspect of the game, as it's pretty clear which of the dialog choices will lead to "booty time." But I had fun with these, even though it certainly ranks as one of the misogynistic games I've ever played - I mean, collectors cards to commemorate your conquests? Yowza. Top notch artwork, too... :-) Here are some other aspects I really enjoyed: 1. The game's alchemy system - it was set up that the more potions you drank, the more toxic you become, and drinking too many potions at once will kill you. You therefore have to imbibe just the right set of potions in preparation for whatever battle lay ahead, custom tailoring it to the circumstances and to the creature(s) you were fighting. 2. Political intrigue. You had the option of representing one of two warring factions, or remaining neutral. One really cool aspect of this was that it wasn't always clear who the "white hats" or "black hats" were - this game offers a level of moral ambiguity I haven't seen since KOTOR 2. 3. It's stunningly beautiful (though this also means that it WILL tax your graphics card). 4. You can choose one of potentially two romance storylines (this on top of the dozen or so aforementioned fuck buddies who'll cross your path). 5. Other minigames such as barroom brawling and a dice-based gambling game. 6. The game is linear in nature (split into chapters), but the miniquests and other activities give the illusion of freedom. The game is nice and long, too. It took up pretty much ALL my free time for an entire week. 7. The music was great without being too obtrusive. The content itself is so well executed that most of my gripes with the game are technical: 1. It crashes. A lot. It did so both in XP and Vista for me. The internet offers different techniques of ameliorating these issues, and while they helped, they didn't eliminate my crashes entirely. I had to train myself to save after each tough battle so I wouldn't have to re-fight it after a crash. 2. Lengthy and obtrusive loading screens between areas. 3. No fast travel system. You'll find you have to do a lot of running around. These three points make the game a much longer experience than it ought to be (and not in a good way). At the very least, gimme a quick way to get back to a place I've already been. 4. They needed more character models for the generic characters. You see the same damn faces over and over again. 5. The voice acting, while competent overall, was patchy in places, especially at the beginning, where your first impressions of the game are formed. This is a huge pet peeve of mine. I'm glad I stuck it out, though. 6. Inventory management is really clunky. Basically, all items are just thrown haphazardly into a single bag. I can almost hear Geralt fret as he paws through his "purse" - "Man, I can never FIND anything in here..." Quibbles aside, this has been one of the best PC roleplaying experiences I've had in a long time, probably since KOTOR 1. Since I know that some of your really dug that game (*cough* Carolyn), I wanted to point it out. I see a lot of similarities with the Elder Scrolls series as well (*cough* Justin), the main difference being that there's no character customization here. But in this case, I see that as a strength and not a weakness, as it allows for more powerful, less generic, storytelling. Check it out. | | Tuesday, June 12th, 2007 | | 10:45 pm |
| | Friday, June 2nd, 2006 | | 10:13 am |
El Rocío and Internet Losers.
I just uploaded a brand schpankin' new set of pics to Flickr, this time detailing all the fun had at the Huelva parade for el Rocío. Although religiously themed, if you're the sort who likes to PARTY (and you've got no freaking business reading this blog if you're not), then this is the celebration for you. More on El Rocío in a sec... But before we do that, I wanted to post a quick PSA on perverted internet weirdos. And I'm not talking about the regular sort of perverted internet weirdo like you and me. I refer instead to the dangerous, predatory kind, and wanted to issue a quick warning to those of you posting all your cute kid pics on Flickr. I'm having a huge lover affair with Flickr right now. I've got a new digicam, and this service makes it incredibly easy to share my pics with ones we love who live thousands of miles away (and there are a lot of you). There are privacy settings baked into Flickr, but most people leave all their pics publicly accessible, figuring that only the people they know are ever going to bother seeing them. But that ain't necessarily the case. A few days ago, I was scanning one of my sets that featured Rubén in the bath (and then out of the bath, but still in the buff). Flickr automatically shows you the number of times your pictures have been viewed by someone other than you. My jaw dropped open when I saw that those scantily clad (or non-existently clad) shots had 3-4 times the number of views than the others. The best I can figure, I used the term "naked boy" in one my captions, which some of these creeps have been subsequently searching on. Just the thought of someone looking at my little boy as an object of sexual desire makes me want to put my fist through the screen... At any rate, I immediately set the accessibility of those pics to "private," and I'm strongly considering making the whole collection private. While I don't think anyone would ever show up on our doorstep (esp. since most Flickr users live on a different continent than we do), I ain't taking any chances. So here's the deal. I will continue to post cute pics of my little guy, but they will only be accessible to friends & family. At some point, all my pics may have the same protection. If you want to keep viewing them, here's what you do: 1. Get an account with Flickr if you don't already have one. Their basic account is free, and their pro account is only $25 a year. I would love to see more people make use of this service. It really does rock. 2. Make me one of your contacts in Flickr. My username is "danielrpark." If I know you, I'll respond in kind. 3. Enjoy! If any friend or family members are having trouble figuring out how to do this, let me know and I'll make you a video. While I hate making people jump through hoops, this is too important to ignore. It's also a good reminder for the rest of you. If you post cute kid pics to Flickr or any other service (Hello!, Snapfish, etc.) or even if you just have them on your blog, please make use of the available privacy protection tools to make sure that your kid isn't a potential target for some scumbag with a net connection and a lot of dirty thoughts in his head. Remember that unlike the rest of us, some folks are drawn to naked kid pics for more than their cuteness value. So be safe. Now that that's out of the way, on to El Rocío... This is a four-day religious festival that takes place in a tiny village normally having a population of under 100 people. But one weekend a year, the little town square gets mobbed by A MILLION PEOPLE. Literally. It's a veritable fuster cluck of good food and good times. It's like the Spanish version of Woodstock, except that it's bigger, happens every year, the food is better, the weather is nicer, and the music is home-grown. It's a religious festival that celebrates the virgin Rocío, but the religious aspect typically takes a back seat to the par-tay. Guitars, amazing food, and lots of alcohol are what makes El Rocío what it is. My brother-in-law is really into it. He and his wife go every year with the same group of friends. If you don't have money, you camp out. If you do have money, you typically rent a large house, along with 5-10 other couples. The rent for just this one weekend STARTS at around $12,000. Typically, you also hire kitchen and service staff, so that you only thing you have to worry about is eating, drinking, having fun, and looking fabulous. The pics I've taken are just from the parade out of Huelva, where the wagons (along with people on horseback and on foot) begin their 1.5 day long pilgrimage to the site where the celebration is held. Now, María José and I have been invited by Emilio (bro-in-law) to visit them there on Monday. So I'll post an update and more pics after we've been there. I just hope there's still jamón and beer left, and that people aren't too hung over at that point to provide entertainment. We'll see. | | Tuesday, May 30th, 2006 | | 9:42 am |
Parks at the park.
I'm digging this Flickr thing. Anyhoo, there's a brand new set of shots up... | | Saturday, May 27th, 2006 | | 9:57 pm |
| | Sunday, November 27th, 2005 | | 7:48 pm |
| | Wednesday, September 14th, 2005 | | 9:13 pm |
Twenty random facts
Apparently I have to post twenty random facts about myself 'cause Carolyn says so. 1. I have a tattoo of a purple peace symbol on my right shoulder blade. My mom wigged when she found out about it, and nearly pulled the funding for my planned semester abroad that was a mere 1.5 months away. 2. I beat the arcade game Double Dragon with one quarter. 3. I taught beginning- and intermediate-level German at the university level. 4. I once ate brain. 5. When starting grad school, I reconnected with my best friend from junior high, and we became best friends again. We remain so to this day. 6. Back in my childhood, when the term "LARP" was years away from being coined, I was running around my neighborhood with a broomstick "quarterstaff" and in "armor" made out of duct tape. 7. In college, I dressed up a Frank-n-Furter for Halloween, and then went to a local "frat" bar. One person actually walked up and asked if I was male or female - I said, "thanks for the compliment to the make-up job." In retrospect, I'm amazed I didn't get my ass kicked that night. 8. In high school, I was moody, hypersensitive, and socially inept. I'm amazed I escaped that place without a good ass-kicking as well... 9. My wife, son, and mother-in-law are all Leos. 10. I have a true addiction to chocolate, a vice that has proven more formidable than alcohol and tobacco combined. I suppose I could give it up if I got really discipined about it, but why the hell would I do that? 11. I once attended the high school graduation party of someone I didn't know, pretending to be a German exchange student. I kept up the charade the entire night. 12. I took six months of karate lessons after watching "The Karate Kid." 13. As a kid, my older brother and his friends used to pit me and my younger brother against each other for their amusement. The winner would be rewarded with the title of "Bruiser," whereas the loser had to endure the moniker "Buttshaker" for an entire day. 14. I'm very particular about my remote control. I actually invested in a $150 remote that lets you program macros and map any function to a given button. 15. In my childhood, in an act of trying to impress the neighborhood kids, I made up a pretend girlfriend. Her name was "Sunny DuBois." I picked the name Sunny because that was the name of Donna Dixon's character in "Bosom Buddies" (and boy, I sure thought she was hot), and DuBois just because it was exotic sounding. Plus, I think that was Benson's last name. Man, I watched too much TV as a kid... 16. I once lost a series of pool bets, and ended up at Dooley's (now Harpers) and Sensations (now whatever that crappy disco below Harpers is called) wearing canary yellow bell-bottoms that were two sizes too small, a powder blue turtle neck, and a blue necktie with the USS Enterprise emblazoned on the front. 17. Since the age of fourteen, my jaw clicks whenever I open my mouth. One day during my senior year of college, it froze. I couldn't open my mouth wider than a 1/2 inch for six weeks. 18. I once narrowly avoided riding a family friend's horse into their swimming pool. 19. I once met Willem Dafoe in Berlin after seeing a play in which he, along with the rest of the cast, appeared completely nude. 20. I've been to both Climax, Michigan, and French Lick, Indiana. M'kay, I guess I have to tag a couple of people now. Problem is, I don't have many LJ friends outside of TechSmithees. Oh well, braindonut and jennyvel, you're on... | | Tuesday, May 10th, 2005 | | 9:06 pm |
Final farewell party
Hey guys: I know I teased you with the idea of reprising the small yet highly successful pole barn party. I thought about doing another one this weekend, but then I considered hey, why not have some sort of cool pole barn / Star Wars event? Is anyone up for doing a showing of Star Wars next Thursday or Friday, and then retiring to the pole barn for drinks and chair jousting? I may even be able to finagle tix to the Wednesday midnight showing, so that we party first and then watch later. I know there may be work issues for Wed or Thurs, or it's possible that you've already got your Star Wars premiere plans ironed out and I'm just a day late / dollar short. This is an official poll. Ask around. Let me know. We're gone on the 22nd (hopefully this time for good). It's your final chance to see me (and play with all my cool toys). What say you? -d. | | 9:06 pm |
| | Wednesday, May 4th, 2005 | | 6:08 am |
| | Monday, April 18th, 2005 | | 10:58 am |
Happy birthday to me: an LJ-only post.
It was my birthday yesterday. I had a wonderful day, despite coming off from an utterly useless (and SUPER expensive) trip to Pennsylvania. I'll post more about that in my regular blog. This post is LJ-only for two reasons. First (after much prodding from Alan), we're going to have a PARTY down here. Friday, April 29. So all you TechSmithies can skip the two-beer Friday and make a quick road trip down to Jacktown. We have a party barn on some acreage with the following amenities: A full-size bar, PS 2 with dance dance revolution poker and blackjack tables huge firepit trampoline for drunken antics good company If there's sufficient interest, maybe I can talk Alan & Matt into helping me set up a LAN party or something. But for those who have no interest in gaming, there'll still be lots of cool shit to do. Any interested TechSmithies & their sig. others are invited, so spread the word. Anyone is welcome to crash here, so you needn't worry about finding a designated driver. This is my (hopefully) last hurrah in Michigan (we're taking off May 23), so this is a combination belated birthday / bon voyage type thing, and I want to make it a memorable one. (Good) beer & soft drinks will be provided, all other drinkables are BYO. Please come! Second, I wanted to talk about how much I'm loving the gift from my wife, a Playstation Portable (a topic of very little interest to most of my regular blog readers). This thing rocks! I haven't been this excited about a gadget in a long time. Usually I shy away from from being an early adopter of a gaming platform, as I seem to have a knack for always choosing the platform that DOESN'T take off (remember the Turbografx 16? How about the Atari Lynx? They were both way superior systems in their generation, and they both died in obscurity, thanks to superior marketing on the parts of Sega (Genesis) and Nintendo (Game Boy), respectively). But as soon as I saw one of these devices in all its glory, I just knew I had to have one. I've got three games for it thus far: Ridge Racer - by far my favorite, and I'm not even a fan of the racing genre. It looks better than any portable game has any business looking. And the gameplay is awesome. Lumines - a Tetris knock-off, it's okay, but I'm not enjoying it anywhere near as much as I expected to. Twisted Metal - hard to say yet as I just got it yesterday (MJ let me open my PSP on Friday, the day we returned home from PA), but it's okay so far. Plus, it's the first game with "infrastructure" multiplayer, meaning you can play against strangers on the web, good if you want an actual human opponent for a change. I also got a "power brick," which will let me recharge the unit without access to a wall jack. This'll be handy for international flights, which seem to be a way of life for me. My next purchase is going to be the Pirates of Caribbean movie on UMD (Sony's proprietary disc format). Current Mood:  cheerful | | Saturday, March 26th, 2005 | | 9:25 am |
| | Saturday, March 12th, 2005 | | 8:42 am |
| | Wednesday, March 9th, 2005 | | 11:31 am |
| | Monday, February 21st, 2005 | | 11:51 pm |
| | Wednesday, February 16th, 2005 | | 1:39 pm |
| | Tuesday, February 8th, 2005 | | 8:38 am |
| | Friday, February 4th, 2005 | | 8:10 am |
| | Sunday, January 30th, 2005 | | 8:33 pm |
| | Monday, January 24th, 2005 | | 10:43 am |
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