A lazy fangirl’s summary of events.

Wow, I’ve been planning to post about a lot of stuff, but I kept putting everything off until I completely forgot about them, hahaha. I’ll just try to summarize everything that I’ve forgotten to post about here.

• I bought myself a few model kits: 1/144 Gundam Dynames, 1/144 Blitz Gundam, and an SD Gundam Sazabi. I managed to put Dynames and Sazabi together, but I’m still in the process of assembling Blitz.
• Have I mentioned that Dragon Age: Origins is awesome? Oh yeah, I have. I have a couple of screenshots uploaded at my GamerDNA page. In relation to that, I’m in love with Alistair. Then again, a lot of people are. Check out how many fan communities he already has, LOL. There’s also an Alistair fanlisting coming up over at TFL.org. And no, it’s not mine…but the fanlisting for Dragon Age: Origins itself is. Muahahaha.
• Now that I’ve withdrawn my money from the limbo of Paypal, I’ve been thinking about buying an Xbox 360. When I read some articles on the care and feeding of an Xbox, however, I started having second thoughts. I’ll think about it a little more. Maybe the games that I want to play (like Fable 2, @#%!$@%@#%) might be worth it.
• I’ve been playing Hatsune Miku: Project Diva and Warriors Orochi 2 on my PSP. Miku’s adorable, and Orochi is still crack-tastic.
• I watched Disney’s A Christmas Carol with the boyfriend last week. Like I said in one of my Tweets, the visuals were amazing, but it was still a pretty standard adaptation of the original story. I like how it was a bit creepier than the kiddie-fied versions of it that I’ve seen. Some parts involving the Ghost of Christmas Present were disturbing, and the way they depicted the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come as a literal shadow was cool.

I think that’s about it– oh wait.

I quit World of Warcraft.

Yeah. I guess I got tired of my routine of doing dailies and farming Battlegrounds in between…that, and I found some other games to have fun with other than WoW. It’s only temporary though; I’ll most likely be back next year.

By Andraste’s Holy Knickers, Dragon Age is awesome.

Apart from my faulty internet connection, there is one big reason why I haven’t been online much and why my WoW characters have been gathering cobwebs this week: Dragon Age: Origins.

In Dragon Age: Origins, players can create a unique-looking character (details such as eye size and distance, jaw and chin width, and nose height can be customized) that they will play as throughout the game. Players can choose their character’s gender, class, and “origin” story. There are six different origin stories to choose from, each with their own separate settings and plots.

While the six origin stories differ, the main plot of the game remains the same. The main character is somehow drafted into the Grey Wardens, a group of warriors whose goal is to defeat demonic creatures called darkspawn.

There are three character classes in Dragon Age: Warrior, Mage, and Rogue. Each class has four different specializations (e.g. Templar and Berserker for Warriors, Duelist and Bard for Rogues, Blood Mage and Shapeshifter for Mage) that players will have to unlock by either finding trainer NPCs or purchasing the right item from a merchant.

In combat, players can pause the game to queue up their party members’ actions, and can also assign Tactics for each party member. Tactics work much like how Gambits in Final Fantasy XII work; you assign actions for each character that will be executed automatically if certain conditions are met (e.g. players can assign characters to use a healing item if their health drops below a certain percentage).

Plot-wise, Dragon Age is a typical BioWare fantasy epic; the protagonist gets dragged out of their normal life and winds up having to save the world while picking up some comrades along the way. The characters themselves are what, for me, make the game more fun. Though also falling under fantasy stereotypes (your party can include a sexy evil sorceress, an exotic male assassin, a big burly warrior, and a drunkard dwarf), the characters have depth and distinct personalities, plus the interactions/dialogues with them are well-written and often amusing.

Your character’s own personality isn’t measured by a morality gauge or by the usual Dungeons and Dragons alignment system; you are free to make your own choices when it comes to the various scenarios that involve a major decision. You can choose to save a clan of elves from cursed werewolves or aid the werewolves in slaughtering the elves. You can choose to help drive off a merchant who sells items to poor folk at outrageously opportunistic prices, or help him out to get your own share of profit. The closest thing to a moral compass you’ll have is your party’s approval. Certain actions and decisions will increase or decrease your approval rating with your party members. Things like murder and underhanded scheming will often amuse “evil” characters like Morrigan or Zevran, but will offend the “nice” characters like Alistair or Leliana.

I have quite  a few characters, but I’ve only finished the game twice using a City Elf rogue and a Human Noble rogue. The City Elf rogue was my first character, so her “personality” wasn’t well-planned out since I was seeing everything for the first time. My Human Noble rogue is a goody-two-shoes type who tries her best to do what’s best for everyone without having to resort to anything underhanded. Now I’m playing as a slightly psychotic Elf mage who seems to have a penchant for murdering people and making deals with demons to get what she wants. With all the various options and possible outcomes in the game, I have a feeling I’ll be playing this game for a long time just to see all the possibilities.

Though I’m having fun with my mage, I seem to have developed quite a fondness for rogues. I’ve been thinking about drafting a Rogue guide since there aren’t a lot of Dragon Age guides around…but we’ll see.

Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to get back to my quest to defile Andraste’s ashes so that I can unlock the Reaver specialization.

Final thoughts on Gundam 00 (Season One)

Finished watching Mobile Suit Gundam 00 last week. I think I used up an entire roll of tissue paper while watching the last few episodes.

WARNING: THE REST OF THIS POST CONTAINS A LOT OF SPOILERS.

---

Too many deaths and painful losses were depicted in this series. Although it hurt and made me cry so hard my eyes were swollen for a day or so, I still enjoyed watching the entire thing. For some reason I liked how series captured the kind of things that happen during times of war. No one is safe from it, not even the civilians ensconced in their homes or the supposedly powerful Gundam Meisters. No uber Mary Sues or Jesus Yamatos in this series; no sir.

Lockon Stratos broke my heart. I adored him from the beginning, but then he just had to up and pull that stupid revenge stunt. I literally screamed when he got injured saving Tieria, and I couldn’t stop crying when he died because of that hot bastard Ali.

Speaking of psychos…the Trinity siblings? I hate them, especially Michael and Nena. Johann was tolerable (except for his strange preference for cycling shorts), but Michael and Nena were just infuriating. I was very, very happy when Ali killed Michael and Johann, but was disappointed that that bitch Nena got away.

I absolutely despise Nena. I’m fine with cutesy characters, and I can tolerate psychos to some extent. But a psycho who acts like an innocent twit just to get away with the shit that she does? I hate it. Fuck you, Nena Trinity. I hope you die a slow and painful death in season two.

…dammit, now I’ve lost my train of thought and wasted my time ranting about her and making a fugly image of her. Ffffffffffff.

Anyway.  What else can I say about Gundam 00… the animation is consistently good; I didn’t spot a single episode with animation/art that looked rushed or subpar. The music is great…but then with big shots like L’Arc~en~Ciel and Stephanie doing the theme songs and BGMs composed by Kenji Kawai (the same guy who composed music for the Ghost in the Shell movie), you can’t really go wrong. The mobile suit designs are awesome. They look sexier less clunky compared to most other mobile suits from the other Gundam series, and somehow the designs seem to make more sense…well, I still sort of don’t get Nadleeh’s “hair”, but it apparently has a function and still looks cool in its own way.

I think my only complaint about the series is the fashion design. I mean, sure, some of Sumeragi’s outfits were cute, but some of the clothes were just awful, as illustrated by Johann’s cycling shorts and Tieria’s pink cardigan.

All in all, Mobile Suit Gundam 00 is one of my favorite anime series to date. And with those damned cliffhangers at the end of season one (…is that a Tieria clone or did he just get a perm…?), I need to buy myself a copy of season two before I start trawling the net for spoilers.

Random thoughts on Gundam 00 (Season One)

I just started watching Mobile Suit Gundam 00 recently (which might probably come off as strange because I bought my Gundam Nadleeh before I even got to watch the series), and I can honestly say that I like it. Watching some of the other Gundam series (like Wing and Seed) was kind of a chore for me, so I’m surprised that I’m actually looking forward to watching more of 00.

I like how the story centers on the the power struggles between nations and the prevention of war and terrorism. I find it somewhat timely, and the themes are something that most people can relate to. The characters seem pretty decent too. None of them are really annoying (i.e. so stupid and/or badly written/designed that I can’t stand them) thus far…although I sometimes want to punch Setsuna F. Seiei in the face for being a robotic, Gundam-obsessed moron and bitchslap Tieria Erde for being such a tight-ass.

Lockon Stratos is my favorite so far. Not just because he’s the hottest Gundam Meister there is, but because I like his laid-back-but-serious-when-necessary attitude, he pilots a smexy Gundam, and has an entire crew of cute little bouncing Haros.  Ali Al-Saachez is hot too, but I’ve been warned about his personality beforehand, so I’ll try to stay away from him.

I have mixed feelings about Allelujah Haptism. Growing up in a predominantly Catholic country, his name just makes me frown whenever someone mentions it. And his voice is…too young. Whenever he and Tieria are having a conversation, I catch myself wishing that their voice actors would trade places. My boyfriend says that there’s a reason for his voice being like that though, but since I have yet to find out what those reasons are, my dislike for it will remain. Al (I will call him that because his real name is a pain to type and, like I said, it makes me frown) is pretty okay overall, though; his name and voice are the only things about him that bug me.

Seeing as I’ve only watched ten episodes of the series, my opinions are subject to change. I have a feeling I’ll eventually start hating/bitching on something (or someone), and I’ll be sure to post my raves/rants here.

Crusaders and pirates and dwarves! Oh my!

So many things happened in WoW this week that I don’t know what to talk about first, LOL.

Weeping for a Fallen Crusader

I never liked Crusader-type characters. You know, the Tirion Fordring type who believes in the goodness of all and the Light and whatever else the goody-two-shoes like. They just seem so…unbelievable to me. Like it was just a front, or they were brainwashed to be like that, or whatever.

Crusader Bridenbrad, a member of the Argent Crusade who chose to isolate himself from everyone upon learning that he was infected by the Plague, was…different somehow. He seemed more sincere, more noble, and more worth my trust and affection. Call me a shallow softie, but his quest chain had me in tears toward the end. I’m not the only one who shed tears for Bridenbrad though. RIP, noble Crusader.

Chain Heroics and learning the ropes of Survival

Earlier last week, I did some chain Heroics with my guildmates (that’s a few of them up there dressed up as dwarves and dancing with my Hunter). We were at it for a really long time, and it was around 7am my time when we were done. I forgot which dungeons we ran, but I do remember that we did Gun’drak and Trial of Champions. One of our guildmates, a more experienced Survival Hunter, helped me out by giving me tips on shot rotations and about my pet…and he even Enchanted my equipment, gave me some gems, and gave me half the gold I needed to learn Artisan Flying. Yes, my guildmates are generous like that, haha.

Pirate’s Day and Brewfest

Not much to do on Pirate’s Day, but it was fun to run around in a pirate costume for a while. I accidentally removed Captain Demeza’s buff though, so I didn’t get to run around in costume for very long.

I don’t drink in real life (I seriously don’t drink anything with alcohol in it…well, fine, I taste some of them, but I don’t down entire glasses), but Brewfest is an awful lot of fun. The music’s kind of catchy too, and the goblins’ chatter is kind of funny (“I can’t feel my legs!” “I can’t see!”). My only problems with Brewfest are random disconnections and horrible lag when I go to Orgrimmar’s Brewfest grounds.

That aside, I think the game somehow made it up to me by letting me win the roll when the Great Brewfest Kodo dropped while my guildmates and I were trying to complete the “Save Brewfest!” quest and the Direbrewfest achievement.

I really need to get me some more mounts.

We’ll continue farming Coren Direbrew throughout the remainder of Brewfest, so hopefully even more members of our guild will be riding on Brewfest mounts soon.