A new hero in Champions Online.

This weekend was a weekend of trying out new games for me, guess i am getting kind of bored and wanted to try some new stuff.

I found the Champions Online free trial on Steam and decided to give it a go.
My first impression through the tutorial was one of "i have allready been there" as it feels a lot like City of Heroes.
But still i think Champions Online is a fun game and i did spend a lot of time this weekend playing it.
I do think there's a lot of grinding, maybe a bit too much, but i still find myself having a lot of fun.

To me it is a lot like Star Trek Online, a lot of fun for a game "on the side", not for my main MMO, i guess that's Cryptic, their games are a lot of fun but after a while you want to play something else for a change.

Anyway, here's my new hero, she is called Dawnblade, her main power is Dual blades, but i thought it would be fun to make her blind, hence the blindfold :)
And of course she can fly with the help of her "rocket boots".


Oh yeah, i also love the iPhone app for Champions, hope they're also gonna make one for Star Trek Online, definatly love that stuff :)

I really would like to play Alpha Protocol but..

Sometimes i come across a game that doesn't work very well with my 3840x1024 screen resolution, unfortianatly Alpha Protocol is one of those.

Eventhough the game works, it's menu screens are partially off screen, meaning i can't click anything to agree or like in the screenshot below, can't select a class to play.


Usually i get by this by selecting a smaller screen resolution, like for example Mass Effect (1&2) they both have the same problem where the menu buttons were off screen, but i selected a 1280x1024 resolution and i could play the game, not the way i would like but at least i could play.

Alpha Protocol however, i can't even change the resolution, as i can't get to the button to accept a new resolution (if there is one)


There is also no option to change the resolution before starting the game, even messing around with the games .Ini files did nothing as the game just started up in 3840x1024 resolution.

To all game developers, is it so hard to at least make a menu screen that adapts to the screen resolution, no matter what it is, so that you can get to all options...

Looks like, unless they fix this, which is very unlikely as not many gamers would have this problem, i won't be able to play any Alpha Protocol, so i just wasted 50 Euros..

Into the Gateway to Khitai

Tianyi finally made it to the Gateway to Khitai, after reaching lvl 20 i started the "end battle" at Tortage and went on my way.
I did decide to speed up the leveling by using some xp potions, as i allready went to Tortage several times and i didn't really feel like doing it all again, eventhough some of the storylines are different depending on the class you play, so as soon as i could i started the quest that lets you leave Tortage and go to your homecountry.

I was actually surprised to see a ton of quests to start there, as i didn't see any quests when i went there with my (instant) lvl 50 character (named Hsiumei), so no wonder i felt lost with her as there were no quests to lead me on, all i could do was continue on the destiny quest.

When i got there with Tianyi and got all those quests the whole thing finally started making sense, as the basic story is that the caravan you're travelling with stops because they see another caravan that has been attacked and you're basicly going out there to help them.

Although there is a lot of lag at the Gateway to Khitai, it sure is refreshing to see some new areas/surroundings.
I also decided to go with another class when i created Tianyi, so far i have mostly played my main, who is a barbarian, which i think is a really fun class, but with Tianyi i decided to try out a guardian, and i have to say so far that's a lot of fun, i definatly prefer to use a polearm, but i think i might give some other weapons a try.

So far i really like the melee classes a lot more than the magic classes, personally i really feel the melee classes are more "Conan", but that's just personal i guess.

Another thing i am still hoping for in AoC is an appearance tab/appearance armor, so that you can look the way you want to look and still use the "good stats" armor, and at least look a bit (more) different than everyone else, right now you wander around in game and you constantly see people running around in the exact same armor as you are wearing, sometimes it feels like you're in the army where everyone wears the same uniform.
And no, i don't think PvP is an argument against appearance armor as i am on a PvE server.

Meet Tianyi, Khitan Guardian

Say hi to Tianyi, a Khitan Guardian, my latest character in AoC. :)
She is not the first Khitan character i created, i made a Demonologist first and decided to use the (one time only) instant level 50 option and ended up in Khitai.

It just didn't feel right playing her, being thrown into a class i really haven't played much at lvl 50 just didn't do it for me, so i decided to roll a new character and start at Tortage as lvl 1.

So far i am having a blast, although i can't wait to leave Tortage (allready reached lvl 17) and head out to Khitai, from what i have seen so far it looks pretty good.
The only bad thing is, there's way to many people in Khitai at the moment so the lag is awefull :(

Anyway a few more levels and i am off to Khitai :)

WTF Funcom?

Today i got a very surprising email from Funcom, they decided to freeze (cancel) my account because i had not paid the upgrade for the collectors edition of Rise of the Godslayer.
Now i pay this by using their "Pay by Cash" service and it didn't go through yet, nor did i get a message about this.

The main thing that pisses me off here is the fact that i have a paid account, paid for a full year that still runs to Dec 2010, so at least 6 more months.
I also allready paid for the "normal" Rise of the Godslayer expansion, i just added the collectors edition.
I would have understand it if they would have simply disabled the expansion for my account but instead they decided to simply freeze my entire account, which i f'ing paid for in advance..

Now i know it can be easily fixed, and i did by sending payment for the expansion, but i still believe they have no right to shut down my entire account when it is paid for in advance.
Really not a nice move, especially since i got no previous warnings about the payment not going through.
I would have been ok with just the expansion being turned off, afterall that was the only thing not fully paid yet.

Not a nice move.. not nice at all...

Gaming in 3840x1024 resolution on 3 monitors

For some time now i have been playing with a screen resolution of 3840x1024 and i have to say i am never going back, i really feel like i am missing out when playing on a smaller resolution :)



Sometimes i do get a game that doesn't support a resolution like this or the game simply won't work properly because of menu screens extending beyond the resolution so i can't click on the "ok" button (like Mass Effect does). But i am glad to see that most games nowadays do support those resolution. I am aware that i am probably one of very few gamers that play with resolutions this big so i really think it is awesome when a game supports it.

So how do i manage to get a big resolution like this across 3 screens?
Well pretty easy, i am using the Matrox TripleHead2Go Digital Edition.


Basicly this little device sits between your monitor(s) and your PC and it makes Windows think that this is just one monitor (Windows only sees one monitor).
There is some software coming with this device, so that you can make a game compatible with resolutions like this but most games nowadays will just give the option to set it to a 3840x1024 resolution.

What else am i using to power this rig, well i have an Nvidia GTX295 in there with an Intel core 2 quad processor and 4 gigs of memory, I also used to have an Ageia Physx card in there but with that GTX295 i felt it was kind of overkill.


Just to be able to use the max amount of ram and make use of Directx 10 i recently upgraded from WinXP to Win7 and i have to say i am really enjoying Win7.

Of course i also added some stuff to make the rig look cool :)


For a full rundown of all components (if you are interrested in that) you can go here and see a full list of all my gaming gear.

Needless to say it is a lot of fun gaming with a resolution like this, the view is somtimes breathtaking, not to mention the fact that i can have many (inventory) windows open without them obscuring my view, this of course is especially helpfull in MMO's.

For the first 15 to 30 minutes i really had to get used to this, because all of a sudden you see a lot of movement in front of you, you basicly look at the center screen and the two other screens kind of act like the corners of your eyes, and you basicly get what Matrox calls surround gaming, really makes it feel like real life where you can see in the corner of your eyes, but it also takes a little time to get used to as sometimes it feels like everything is moving in front of your eyes, so if you get motion sickness this might not be the setup for you.

Right now i am limited to a 3840x1024 resolution because i am using three 19inch (1280x1024) monitors, but i am allready looking at possibilities to get even bigger resolutions/monitors :)

Free Roaming

Lately i have been having a lot of fun again in games like Just Cause 2 and Saints Row 2 and it really made me think about what it is that i am enjoying so much in them.
Well it basicly came down to "free roaming". Having a huge world at your disposal and go wherever you want to go to explore or do whatever you want to do.

I also think this is one of the main reasons for me to play MMO's, having this huge world to explore and have adventures in, however in MMO's you are often limited by levels, which i think is a major dissapointment.

It has happend often to me, that i would wonder of into the world to explore only to suddenly find myself surrounded by mobs that can one shot me, kill me on sight. Of course than starts the (very) annoying task of trying to get out of there in one piece, back to an area where my character can actually survive.

I really wish MMO's could be more "Free Roaming", no more levels (or everything scaled down/up to your level), so that you can actually explore everything and do whatever you like and enjoy the world for what it is, as i am pretty sure that all games have their areas, those moments where you actually stop what you're doing and enjoy what you are seing in front of you, without being constantly attacked.

I guess that is why i keep going back to games like Saints Row 2, so that i can actually enjoy a big world without boundaries, without level restrictions and just have fun, afterall isn't that why we play games?