Posts Tagged ‘Skyrim’

8 results.

Perspective

by Coffinshaker on April 8, 2013 at 12:00 am
Perspective

Haven’t played it yet… going to wait for the steam summer sale, but from what I saw watching my buddy play it… Lara gets the tar knocked out of her.  Now, I’ll admit, she’s a tough old bird, still, I don’t think many humans can survive the amount of falling and getting shot at that she does.  And from the looks of it, she just gets more and more beat up.

Still, as a big Tomb Raider fan, I’m looking forward to this reboot!  The series has long needed a good injection of adequate talent to make it back into the top games position.

That being said, from what I hear, it still highly linear.  Now, maybe I’m spoiled with open world games like Skyrim, Just Cause 2, Fallout3, and the likes, but I think if any series could do very well with large world exploration, it’s the Tomb Raider series.  Yeah, I see it has some, but that last Final Fantasy had “open world” too… still felt like a rail shooter in an arcade.  Also… multiplayer?  What the hell?  Granted… haven’t tried it out… but not all games need a multiplayer gimmick.  Seriously… seems like anything with a gun in it has to have a multiplayer version.  I wouldn’t be so opposed if it was decent and doesn’t interfere with the core gameplay… but TR isn’t a coop/multiplayer game (well, maybe coop with Lara’s twin sister Dora…) so it feels like it was just an afterthought added to bolster sales… all the while depleting resources and development time that could be better spent on making the core game longer or having mod support.

Anywho, I’ll give a full proper report when I sit down with it this summer.  Maybe my surly preconceived notions will warm up… or maybe I’ll set my computer on fire because they battered the franchise as much as they did Lara… We shall see.  >)

(in either case, I’m glad to see someone’s moving forward with the series… it’s been a good long while since we’ve seen it in the headlines)

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A Little Class

by Coffinshaker on September 27, 2012 at 12:00 am
A Little Class

What’s all this then?  No update on Wednesday?  Update on Thursday?  Madness!

Well folks, after much searching it seems your ol pal Coffin here finally got a job!  Wewt!  So what that means for this site is that I’ll be going down to 2 updates a week; Monday and Thursday!  If things get kinda crazy, it might just be mondays… let’s hope not though.  Anywho, What’s Shakin’ should be on it’s regular schedule.  I might keep drawing these CCs without the the shading since it cuts time down by half.  Anywho, hope you’ve all enjoyed my comics so far and don’t worry, I’ll still be making these for some time to come.  >)

ALSO: I’ve been working on doing some ratings and finally got a template to work for my game rating pages!  Ok, it might not seem so impressive on the surface, but I made it so that it will list all the comics associated with that game that I’ve made!  Not bad eh?  Anyways, this is in its early stages so expect a bit more ooph to come in the next few weeks.  I want to, obviously, add more reviews, an explanation of my crazy rating system and maybe better graphics for it, and a review landing page that can be browsed.  This will all take a bit of doing that I’ll weave in my free time, but you can see a sample of what I’m going for with the repost of my Gotham City Impostors review.  So yeah, there you have it!  Seems like it’ll be a fun little diversion and it’ll be nice to get out some of my views on certain games.  Hope you guys like it!  >D

Alright, back to the comics and whatnot.  This is one of those immersion nits I like to pick at when playing many games usually set either post-apocalyptic or in some sort of seemingly abandoned dungeon.  Why in the world, in these bleak and sterile places, do you find fancy scented candles?  (I’m assuming they’re scented…)  Or you find plates of food in some kind of catacomb… that one drives me crazy too.  So really… a candle can last what, 10hrs at the most maybe?  Probably less?  And you just waltz into a random dungeon and it’s lit up like something out of a romantic novel.  Only thing it’s missing is a trail of rose petals.  So who set those candles and why?  The skellies?  Eh, guess the undead like nice things too…  >)

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Spandex Is The New Chainmail

by Coffinshaker on September 21, 2012 at 12:00 am
Spandex Is The New Chainmail

One of the things I never understood with rpg type games is that every piece of equipment is “one size fits all”.  And this is especially troubling when things are labeled “dwarven” or “gnomish”… Those guys are tiny!  You can’t expect my Redguard to be able to fit in that!

Though I guess WoW got around this with the armor tokens so it wouldn’t really matter what the drop was, you just head on down to the outfitter and get the right sized trousers.  Still though, they should make you tailor gear when you get it!  >)

 

 

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Home Is Where The Hearth Issss

by Coffinshaker on September 10, 2012 at 12:00 am
Home Is Where The Hearth Issss

Bit of a play on the Minecraft meme of sorts where the Creeper says to Steve, “that’s a nice everything you got there… be a ssshame if something happened…” or something like that.  So yeah, seems that the developers of Skyrim are big Minecraft fans so it was a bit of the inspiration for the expansion.  Pretty neat, considering their lawyer folks got into some hot water with ol Notch not too long ago.  I’ve been watching a few videos of the gameplay and I’m really excited about this DLC!  Looks to be a great addition to the frozen tundra!  Seems to be a fun little diversion, plus it gives me some space to lay out all the junk I steal from all the homes.  >)  I wonder what more we can expect from the devs!

Not only that, but you PC folks get the extra benefit of getting stuff off the Steam Workshop, which makes downloading and installing mods quick and easy… which is great for people like me who are more liable to set their computer on fire than get a mod to work properly…  I haven’t seen too much chatter in the way of a proper content expansion in the workshop, but it looks as if there’s one maybe in the works…  See, some volunteers took the challenge to recreate the entirety of the Tolkien Lord Of The Rings series in the Elder Scrolls universe!!  Quests and all!  This was started back in Oblivion and it’s getting ported over.  However, the evil suits at the WB factory decided this infringes on their copyrights (which by any stretch of the imagination, should be public domain by now… just saying… something fishy with this!) so they sent off the usual orders of C&D.  The volunteer devs of this free expansion pack (read: Fair Use) have gleefully rejected this cease and desist order, so we’ll see how this will develop in the coming months.  With any luck, the people at the legal studios will back down seeing this as a great way to get people into their series or strike up some sort of licensing agreement since (and if the screens are any indication) it will be epic when finished!  Personally, I don’t understand why these legal teams get so up in arms about indie developments like this.  They should see this as an opportunity!   Just look at what Microsoft did with the Red vs Blue guys!  And look at all the free publicity and increased sales that have resulted from the arrangement!  Yeah, so it can work out to be mutually beneficial!

So, no poll today, but I’d like to know who in the Skyrim world you decided to make your honey bunny!  Who did you marry?  Who would you liked to have married but are not selectable?  (such as my favorite Narri… life’s just not fair sometimes…)

ALSO!
I have a super special GIVEAWAY of the game Magicka for the Steam platform!  All you need to do is have a Steam account, sign up at SteamGifts.com and enter for a chance to win!  SG is kind of strict with their entrance though, you’ll need at least $100 (not free to play) in games on your Steam account to join… which isn’t an issue if you buy a few bucks worth of indie bundles!  >)  Ends next Monday so get to it!

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Harvest Masser

by Coffinshaker on August 29, 2012 at 12:00 am
Harvest Masser

So it looks like there’s yet another DLC for the Skyrim game coming out!  And if you’re a PC gamer like myself, it also means another few months of waiting while them 360ers prance around all happy… dang dirty consolers…  >)

Anyways!  Skyrim DLC!  Hearthfire Moon!  It’s the expansion to the marriage system where you and your significant other get to buy a nice new house, get materials for it to build additions and various other things, plant herbs and crops, raise childrens, and wait a second!  I’ve played this game before!  Think it was on the Gameboy Color it was!  Harvest Moon!!!!  So yeah, the fine folks a Bethesda have finally lost their little minds and brought the HM farming fun to Tamril!  Now I joke and jest and will continue to mock this mini expansion, but at the end of the day… it just looks really fun!  Maybe it’s because I grew up on games like Harvest Moon, but the tedious day to day “open world” quests to level up a house or clear out the field or just hug some chickens to get the “S” quality eggs… it all just seemed wonderful to me.  It could be why I like Minecraft so much as well, though they could really import a lot of HM elements into that.

Anywho, I like this.  I really do!  I like the adoption of the “mini daily task” aka “chores” into games such as this, where you can shape your world and the people within it.  It gives you something tangible to work towards and I swear I’d be darn sold on it if we had to cook up a prize winning sweetroll for the winter’s Evening Star cooking contest!  Other than that, I’d love to see more growth and interaction between the main character and the rest of the (handfull of) inhabitants of Skyrim.  Like quests or gifts to make them happy and they’ll do fun stuff for you or unlock things… like in that one game… what was it called?  >)

But that’s just me!  How do you all feel about this?  Do you think domestic type quests and chores improves gameplay or is it just another time wasting daily quest thing that’s not really needed.  What say you?  Moon it up or not?

Edit: This just in!  Turns out there’s a new game on the horizon, State of Decay, a zombie apocalypse type game… with… wait for it… Farming!  Yup, your favorite HM pastime is coming to a zombie shooter near you!  Source - Escapist

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I Was An Adventurer Too

by Coffinshaker on February 22, 2012 at 12:00 am
I Was An Adventurer Too

Heh, I just couldn’t help but jump on the bandwagon for this one!

So this is just a testament for how easy viral ideas spread.  The whole “I was X until I took an arrow to the knee” started off in Skyrim, when guard NPCs would just randomly spout off cookie cutter lines, this being one of them, to the point that it be came ridiculous and funny.  Of course, like anything else on the internet, eventually it went viral, ruined the brains of many people, and is chanted in an almost cult-like fashion in every game, forum, vent, or whatever people use to communicate with now a days.

It’s interesting though, how the marketing community has latched on to this and use the hive mind of the internet against them.  Just look at stuff like ” Nope, Chuck Testa” that was an engineered viral advertisement.  While the results and actual ROI may be intangible, the effect and success of an artificial viral meme (which I shall now name here and forever more a “meme retro virus”) is beyond amazing.  To put it another way, those evil marketing dudes basically duped the internet into accepting an advertisement as one of their own.  It’s like a scientist trying to get in good with the gorillas by becoming one of their tribe… well, more like a parasite really.  While however harmless and amusing this is anecdotically (it’s a word now), I think there are some real and serious implications to this.  What I mean is, it’s attempting to not only advertise through a new channel, but socially engineer though it as well.  Put another way, if you are able to spread ideas easily, like a virus, which were engineered for a specific purpose, then who knows how you can propagandize that message.  While a just terrible terrible movie, Inception did get one thing right; the seed of an idea is the most destructive force of all.  Ok, the movie wasn’t all that bad, but it had some real horrid moments… anyways, off track!  My point to all of this is not some sort of foil hat message of fascist doom, rather a warning to all the users of the “interwebs” that their fun little games they like to play may be turned against them for unsavory and possible malicious reasons.  Sure, “long cat is long” or “y u no man” may not cause the downfall of internet society, make you buy the latest sports drink, or turn you into anti-communist crusaders, but the fact remains that the internet as a communal entity is highly susceptible to influence that can spread with the ease and speed of a virus.  So… um… just be careful out there!  There’s no immunizations for memes just yet…

Oh!  And also… HAPPY BELATED COFFIN COMICS 2 YEAR ANNIVERSARY! +9 days…

 

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It’s A Small World After All

by Coffinshaker on December 28, 2011 at 12:00 am
It’s A Small World After All

Ah, Skyrim, it’s been on my review todo list for a while.  But looking at this game critically is very hard; I mean, they pumped out one darn fine game so anything I can come up with will be little nit picks.

So unless you just aren’t into the first person rpg genre, this is Skyrim, part of the Elder Scrolls series (not to be confused with Scrolls, the game by the Minecraft guy, I’m sure nobody confuses them, but you know…).  My first introduction into the series was Oblivion, which was just wonderful… though it had its moments… I think, however, they fixed most of the issues with Oblivion with this edition; being the stupid stupid AI pathing that would usually end up with you tossing out a fireball in the direction of your buddy as he rushed into battle… resulting in them either dieing or turning on you.  The other was the extreme bottom of the valley uncanny stares you’d get when speaking with NPCs.  Man, still have nightmares about that…

But with the venture to the frozen north in, what I’m assuming is the Canada of the Elder Scrolls world, AI is much better and they don’t look directly into your soul as much as before.  I still can’t stand that everytime I walk somewhere, EVERYBODY looks at me.  And it’s not like some sort of antisocial thing either, it’s just that… everybody looks at you.  I guess my Redguard in dragon skin armor could warrant a few stares, but that’s not even the worst of it.  They, well… they don’t turn to face you.  What I mean is, they will turn their heads like a demon possessed owl in what can only be described as completely unnatural for anything other than a jellyfish.  Just one of those things that kind of kills the immersion when you get that Children Of The Corn feeling in the back of your neck every time you enter an inn.

Then, of course, is the distinct lack of population.  I know programming is hard and filling up the world with useless characters takes away from other works, but when you sum up the total number of NPCs that are not randomly spawned, like bandits, then you get the feeling that there may be only about 100-200 some odd people in this entire area.  And let me tell you, the area of Skyrim is HUGE, so it feels very desolate.  Sure, you can argue that it’s a wintery wonderland, but when you hit a big city like Whiterun, and there’s only about a dozen homes, it kind of kills it.  I swear Oblivion had more filler homes/people, but I might be remembering that wrong.  Still, I’d be happier if it was filled a bit more.  Oh and… more marriage choices!  What’s the harm in making any non married person an eligible choice?

Ah well… but you know what, there’s not a whole lot more you can say about it.  Sure, it had a rough PC launch with more bugs than a knock off Snes game*, some U.V. issues, and there could be more work done on the little details like population and more flavor items, BUT this really is THE game to get!  It’s awesome and you’re missing out if you don’t have it!  So there!  XD

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The Rest Is Just A Side Quest

by Coffinshaker on November 16, 2011 at 12:00 am
The Rest Is Just A Side Quest

Ok, so I broke down and got Skyrim.  Gotta say… good decision!  I’ll be writing a review comic about it later, cause uh… I’ve played it for about 3 hours only, so… probably need a bit more time to form an opinion other than “is good, go buy”.  But I’ll give an overview of what I’ve seen so far… which amounts to about 10min of actual game and 2 someodd hours of character building.

Anywho… it’s DEFINITELY a Bethesda game, with intricate slider bars for everything.  Though, I have to admit that it feels there’s quite a bit less options in this incarnation.  Like, Fallout 3 had so many options and tweeks that the more you spent working on constructive surgery, the more Picasso your face ends up.  Hmm… come to think of it, that’s probably why there are less!  Honestly, do we really need 20 slider option bars for how my eyelashes should look?  I like customization, but only to a point.  Then again, I found it VERY difficult to make a “me” in the game with the constrained options.  I guess it was close… ya know… if I was all buff and about 2o years older…

But I guess that’s the game I always end up playing.  I figure, if I can get the character to look like me, I win!  Though I think the best set of appearance options award goes to Champions Online.  Yeah, they’re cartoonish, but there really isn’t a whole lot you can’t do.  My other successes have been in Lord Of The Rings Online, Fallout 3 (to some extent), Global Agenda, and Half Life. >)  Hmm… all this reminds me of a comic I did just about a year ago LINK.  Déjà vu!

(ps… my roommate back there.  He’s got some guest comics coming for when I’m out.  There’s still a little time before I’ll be out for like 3 weeks, so… contact me via that contact page if you want to submit a tooned news or something.  I’ll be gone just about next week at this time and back early December.  Don’t worry… there will be stuff here to amuse y’all still!  XD  )

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