numenor.ca

Shed the blood of the Saxon man!

jay — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 06:13:33 +0000

I hope, that when I’m 87, after having made myself into the epitome of ancient wisdom and cunning manliness, and THEN been knighted by the Queen, I’ll be cool enough to be stand in the shadow of Christopher Lee, who’s now apparently doing vocals in a metal band.

an introduction to Christopher Lee’s newest work…

The associated Myspace page — Charlemagne: Heavy Metal Hero — reinforces my unswerving belief in his unswerving badassedness.

Dragon Quest IX: Sentinels of the Starry Skies

jay — Thu, 26 Aug 2010 18:48:44 +0000

Azeroth was getting old and tiresome, so all my new adventures have been in the Protectorate (and beyond!), and I’m a happier man for it. For one thing, the plot’s a lot less grim, overall, even if it is tinged with much sadness along the way (Coffinwall, I’m looking at YOU). But the game seems to have an unshakeable faith in the essential goodness of people, and the story communicates this well, which is probably why I got hooked on it in the first place.

Now, some 60 hours plus into the game, they’ve deployed their second grasping claw; mastering the subclasses, and grinding for gear. It’s got all the item-compulsion of an MMO without having to rely on nine to twenty-four other people. Plus, you can save the game at almost any time.

I’m not quite endgame yet, but I’m close, so I’m starting to collect more and more rare alchemical materials, wandering the world for sidequests, and prepping for the time when I’ll be delving grottoes in greater depth. And speaking of which, with PAX 2010 on the horizon, and already-scheduled meetups and other Canvassing for Guests occurrences, there should be a great number of maps to share and characters to bump into! It’ll be fun to have a packed meeting room in the Quester’s Rest, for a change.

map lovingly plundered from Zaraf

Response to the game has been overwhelmingly positive. Some of the best and most interesting takes have been Jeremy Parish’s 1up review and Chris Kohler’s article on map trading in Japan. On the crunchy side, there’s The Dragon’s Den, with its lovingly detailed item data and a writeup on the deeply magical Hoimi table. The only bit it’s really missing are the Vocation data, and GameFAQs fills in the blanks there. Now, back to farming up liquid metal slimes…

Post-Moffat Sundays

jay — Sun, 15 Aug 2010 22:14:21 +0000

Summer’s a dry season, and not just in a “oh god, oh god, the sun is evaporating my vital fluids” kind of way. All the good TV shows are in hiatus, waiting for fall, and if you’re a fan of British television, you’ll be waiting even longer. Series Five Doctor Who’s won’t be back until December with the Christmas Special, and Sherlock‘s come to a close, waiting for the (now approved) second series to start filming. So, aside from rewatching The Big Bang for the umpteenth time, or listening to the Eleventh Doctor’s Theme on repeat, or waiting for the Series Five soundtrack to drop sometime in November, you’ll have to console yourself with a picture:

One-upping Doctor Evil

jay — Tue, 03 Aug 2010 06:11:36 +0000

shamelessly stolen from MMO Champion

While I’ve seriously cut back on my World of Warcraft habit, replacing it with uh, Dragon Quest IX instead, I’m still avidly looking forward to the WoW Cataclysm expansion, where everything old becomes new again. But mostly, hey, sharks. Also, yes, it’s Shark Week.

The most soothing voices in the world

jay — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 03:25:45 +0000

Someone once asked me, if I could have my wish, who would I choose to replace the current almost-strident robotic voice of most GPS’. Without hesitation, I said “Morgan Freeman”. Mind you, Stephen Fry was a close second in that list.

Now, thanks to BBC One’s program - Stephen Fry in America, you can now experience the sheer mellifluous awesomeness of two of the most reassuring voices in the world at once.