Allow me to clarify that for a minute. One is not born a gamer. Some people have an obvious talent for it, but I didn't. Especially not in the beginning. Sure I played, games like Knights of the Old Republic, but there the combat was turn based. You can pause, queue up some actions and watch your character fight.
Thanks to games like Halo and Mass Effect, I slowly got used to first and third person shooters. It was a big disaster in the beginning. I couldn't even get my characters to 'move' right.
Now, a few years of experience later, I managed to nearly solo all 10 waves of the Mass Effect multiplayer. No chance to pause, just thinking on your feet and pew pew pew!
So I had a little proud moment, did a little victory dance.
Here's the proof ;)
Next goal, to completely finish the campaign :D It's out of my system now! Thanks for reading ;)
The last couple of days I have been working on a few recolor. I learned to use the Sims 4 Studio tool to extract the objects and walls I liked. Then it was up to me to unleash my creativity.
I'm a big fan of anything 80's style. I'm planning on doing an entire house, slowly but steadily
So without further ado, here's my first room. An 80's style Bedroom!
For a bigger view, you can click the picture! The set consists of:
Please let me know if any links to the downloads are wrong or broken. These walls and objects are very taste specific, but I hope someone out there likes them too :D
Long time no write! Usually life gets in the way, but no more. Thanks to/despite a spot of health issues (nothing life threatening, no worries!) I suddenly have a lot of time for reflection. And what better to reflect upon then games, more specific, Bioware games.
I recently finished Dragon Age Inquisition and man alive, I LOVE this game. Love in all caps, because that's just how much I love it. It may not be a perfect game. There are some glitches and it took me a while to adjust to the User interface and different controls. Combat is a bit different from Dragon Age Origins and DA2.
Honestly though, those little irksome details can not spoil the fun there is to be had for me. The characters are so well written that boundaries seem to fall away. You know they are fictional characters, but you can't help but get a serious lump in your throat if something bad happens to them.
It also follows what I like to call the Bioware formula. Of course, I can only apply this to the Bioware RPG's that I played. Knights of the Old Republic, the Mass Effect trilogy and the Dragon Age trilogy.
This is not a pic of my game, but this is 'my' Revan tho :D
The formula goes as follows.
Something bad happens. You are the Nobody who happens to be very talented and just right for the job at hand. You meet a lot of colorful characters along the way who have interesting back stories. Depending on your gender and preference, you can even romance one. Sometimes it's nice and fluffy, sometimes they break your virtual heart.
Most of them have issues, like Carth Onasi from Knights of the Old Republic (henceforth abbreviated as KOTOR) He was brutally betrayed by his old mentor, losing his wife in the process. That's why he doesn't trust anybody. At first at least.
The complexity of the characters has also increased during the years. For instance, in Mass Effect 3 there are openly gay characters and the best thing about it is, it's not regarded or treated as anything out of the ordinary. In Dragon Age Inquisition there is even a very clear transgender present. Krem is a man, who was born a woman. Discriminated in his homeland of Tervinter, but accepted by his captain for who he is. I'm a big supporter of everyone being and being with whomever they like.
In Dragon Age, being gay is a bit more sensitive, much like in the real world, but there is dialogue about it.
The biggest plus however, is that you can play as a man or a woman and it has next to zero effect on the storyline. My M.O. in these things is, I don't mind what gender the protagonist is, if it fits in the story. Given a choice however, my immersion rises sharply when I can guide a female Revan, Shepard, Warden, Hawke and Inquisitor to glory or certain doom.
There has been a lot, in my eyes, unwarranted consternation about it lately. Female characters, gamers that happen to be female. Sigh. I ain't touching that with a twenty foot pole and am happy to escape into Thedas, not giving a single thought to what others think and how it might affect their own immersion.
Here's some pics of my most recent Mass Effect 2 play through.
That's my Shep! Voiced by the excellent Jennifer Hale. Makes me love this character even more!
So yes, the Bioware formula works. For me. Beautifully executed yet again in Dragon Age Inquisition.
Oh man, where to start!
I didn't let myself get spoiled, I didn't watch any previews or trailers whatsoever. So for me the big surprise started in the load screen, when I pressed new game. The two neat rows of mages and Templars got quite a shocker as the building they were going towards exploded with a load of green smoke.
After a short intro, you go to the creation screen. The tools are quite intuitive and you can customize to a great extent. This is my favorite Inquisitor so far!
Some options are a bit more questionable. She might be the savior of this world, but please, get the girl a pair of tweezers!
The world is plunged into chaos. Rifts in the Fade open willy nilly and have demons pour out of them. Of course, you have a mysterious mark on your hand. The only thing that can close said Rifts.
One of the first characters you meet is Cassandra Pentaghast. If you played DA II, you will remember her as the Seeker that interrogated Varric about Hawke, the champion of Kirkwall.
At first she seems like a staightforward character. Warrior, indomitable, linear. As you play on and manage not to piss her off too much at least, you get the best cut-scene (to me at least) in the game!
Here's the resolution to that situation.
The game is full of characters that aren't just black and white like this. To me, that's the beauty of it. Even some of the bad guys come from a troubled background.
Another thing that blew me away are the locations. My favorite location must be the Winter Palace, Halamshiral. Also non-accidentally the place where my favorite mission takes place!
A grand Ball with a great soundtrack. Murder, intrigue and dancing. Sounds like the perfect night out! :D
Best Easter Egg ever!
The only thing that irked me is that my Inquisitor couldn't wear one of the beautiful dresses the other guests were wearing! I do understand why however. There is a scene where you dance with the Grand Duchess. Two poofy dresses would have gotten in the way of smooth animation I reckon.
The rest of the time, between big missions, you spend a lot of time doing side quests, gathering materials, crafting and talking to your team mates. Which is great, cause you get to know them better. They all have a personal quest too. Some of them, like the Iron Bull's, leave you with a gut-wrenching choice. Do you let his company of mercs go to their untimely deaths and save the Qunari dreadnaught or vice versa. Knowing that the latter choice makes a Tal Vashot, aka outcast, of Iron Bull. One of the things he hates the most.
He's such a cool drinking buddy too! :D
Another great part is the party banter! I recommend taking the three Mages along. They could not be of greater opposites of the mage spectrum. Their conversations sometimes lets you wish for cold water to apply to the burns...
The material gathering can get a bit tiresome, but I just can't walk past when yet another Embrium or Elfroot blip on my radar. I could start my own Flower shop in game for sure.
Must...pick...the...flower....
I could go on and on! I do recommend before starting, that you play the Legacy DLC in DA II. That's where you'll meet this game's Biggest Bad for the first time. If you haven't and Varric tells you about the encounter he had, together with Hawke. You have a bit of a "Who the What?" moment. At least I had.
That's my two cents, I could write a lot more, but I don't want to spoil everything for you!
Something completely different from Sims this time, but still game related!
I've been wanting to do a cosplay before, but I always reconsidered. Not enough time, not enough skill to pull it off. Not daring too. After a while of thinking and reading up I decided to do a Quarian cosplay. Like Tali'zorah from the Mass Effect series. The fabric was different, cause I wanted to go for an Admiral Xen look. Like so.
It didn't go without a hitch. For the fabric, I got a lot of help from my mom! Thanks mom!
The helmet went in a couple of stages too. I got to know Pepakura. It's a a papercraft technique. It splits a difficult shape in tiny pieces which you glue together. A bit of a poor man's 3D printer so to speak :D
Here are a couple of Work in Progress pictures. It was a long process, I still had black hair back then.
The full helmet worked really well, until it was time to add the visor. For people without any industrial machinery, it was hard to make a visor that would fit the form completely. It would require a vacuum former, but that was impossible to get around here.
So I had to rethink it. My new idea got inspired by no one less than Doctor Phil. I was watching the show and saw a woman with a full face UV visor.
So I thought, if I turn that shape around, it kind of looks like a Quarian visor. So I decided to use that shape and make the pepakura around it.
That had a few hitches too, but finally worked. Here are some end result pictures!
People were really nice and I got very good reactions. I experienced a few wardrobe malfunctions which my husband handled beautifully as those gloved hands make for real butterfingers.
It was a great experience and I will improve upon the costume for next year!
My Halloween Mansion. Past it's due date, I know, but it can double as a Gothic Mansion too ;)
Casa Sarita.
A Spanish style, although I have been told by Spanish Simmers it resembles the Andalusian style more. Every day you learn!
For the remainder, life has been busy. I've been doing some odd jobs for Mind Shake, the firm that handles EA's pr here in Belgium. Grown out of hand hobby anyone? ;)
