Review - Dark Souls II: Scholar of the First Sin

Wow, how long has it been since I've posted anything on this blog? Over a year? It feels like a lot has happened since I've stopped regularly blogging, but it really didn't. I've been busy working 6 days a week, 9 hours a day for most of the past 3 years now, leaving me very little time to enjoy anything else in life. During what free time I did have though, half of it was spent playing Dark Souls II: Scholar of the First Sin with my friends, and here is my review for the game.

Keep in mind that this is my first Dark Souls game and I have very little knowledge about Dark Souls I or the original Dark Souls II. With that said, let's get down to business.

New Power, New Opportunities

It's been... well, even longer than last time since I've posted here. My life situation is still the same, work practically 9 hours a day, 6 days a week. Don't have much time to update this site ... well, at all, considering it's been over a year since I've posted. I certainly do miss writing things, like my opinions on video games and talking about my experiences in general.

I did buy myself a new computer during Black Friday since Pugyuu, my laptop, hasn't been running as smoothly as it used to. Meet Pal-D879 Kai. It's a desktop, mainly because I wanted the ability to be able to upgrade components in the future when my specs fall below the standard specs for new games. At the same time, I wanted to get the best specs for what reasonable prices were available at the time. Chances are, I won't be needing any upgrades for several years considering the specs I've chosen for Pal.

Here are Pal's detailed specs that I've bought from iBuyPower, including the many free upgrades that I got during their Black Friday sale.

Life -

It's been a while since I made a post on here, mostly due to how much more work has been demanding of my time than ever before. I am still working on Project X Zone, although I have started Phoenix Wright 5 when it was released since then. I really can't seem to find the time to even finish these games, let alone blog about them like I used to...

I hate the idea of having to abandon this blog, but with both lack of time and the lack of content to put on here due to not having enough time to find and/or make content, I don't have much of a choice at the moment. It sucks. It feels like I can't even have a social life. I haven't been able to see any of my friends from my hometown since I moved back to NJ.

Here I am, wasting away my time at work on my birthday, reminiscing about the time when Firion and I met 3 years ago, and the time we spent together. The life I had then and now are so different... Sure, things in Florida wasn't ALL good, but my hopes of a better life with a better paying job... Well, considering the time I spend at work, I don't even know whether if this is truly a "better paying job" at all. What good is a bigger pay if you don't have the time to enjoy them? I just don't understand the work-a-holic mindset, I guess...

Well, I just wanted to let you all know I haven't completely abandoned the blog, but due to my new life, I won't be able to update the blog as frequently as I had promised.

NY Comic Con 2013!

Long story short, Vicki is here to visit for the week, and as it turns out, the week she planned to visit me also happened to be when Comic Con was going on. So... why not go to Comic Con together? So we did, for Friday, since Saturday and Sunday were all sold out when I looked.

Poll - E-mails

It's been a while, but I'm glad to see that the polls are finally working again on the site. Instead, the banner image's randomzier seems to have gone down... Anyway, here's the latest poll results!

Do you check all E-mails that you get?
Yes, I keep my inbox clean. - 1 vote
I only read E-mails I care about. - 1 vote
I don't read any of them. - 1 vote
Yes, I also check my spam box too. - 0 votes
I just use E-mails for log-ins and/or to make accounts. - 0 votes

Legend of Zelda: Symphony of the Goddesses

I went to the Legend of Zelda: Symphony of the Goddesses on August 10th, at the NJ Performing Arts Center, of course with my 3DS in hand, ready to play in the StreetPass Mii Plaza before the concert started. There were certainly plenty of people there, with a good 50% or possibly more with their 3DSes out, especially while I was waiting in line to get myself a poster and t-shirt combo for $25. I found out that there were 3 puzzles that I wasn't aware of in Puzzle Swap; Nintendo Starlets, New SUPER MARIO BROS. U + New SUPER LUIGI U, and Mario & Luigi: Dream Team. Not sure how I missed out on the announcements for these... 

Journal of a Busy Person. Boring stuff.

Well, it turns out that this work schedule is too much for me to keep up with the blog. It's unfortunate, but I hardly have the free time to plan a post in an environment where I can think without distractions. I wish someone would either get some better taste in music or learn to use headphones... Instead, I have implemented Raptr and my Twitter feed on the side as a pseudo-update to the site. It isn't much, but at least there will be something new to see on the site until I finish moving to the new house.

Also, I have to say, Steam's Summer Sale this year was pretty neat, but I ended up only buying 3 games and a soundtrack. Regardless, I was able to complete the badge via collecting all the Trading Cards for the Summer Sale. I have to say, it's a neat system, and I'm pretty interested in collecting more cards now. There's a good chance that you'll be seeing games that gives cards in my Raptr feed for a while because of it.

Speaking of trading cards, I'm surprised to see that my Dark Summoner Monster Giveaway isn't taking off. I've only given out 3 monsters so far. The previous three giveaways I did were a success, but things have changed. I also want to know why Dark Summoner wants to limit our trades with Trade Tickets or whatever. I may not be able to do any more giveaways if gifting monsters continues to cost tickets to do.

That's all I can post here for now, and I'd like to do a progress report on my games again, since I haven't done one in forever. I feel the need to talk about Project X Zone some, and all these Steam games that I'll be playing will have some details I'm sure.

New StreetPass Mii Plaza!

Holy crap, new games for the 3DS' StreetPass feature! I've been waiting for something like this for quite a while, even though I still haven't gotten all the hats in Find Mii II yet.

So I went ahead and bought the bundle for $14.99, and honestly? They are certainly good games, better than Puzzle Swap and Find Mii for sure. If I were to give recommendations, I personally like Mii Force and Monster Manor in particular. I'm catching myself using up a lot of Play Coins on these games now.

If there's demand for it, I may write up a review for these games, but that may take a while considering how infrequently I get streetpasses.

Dark Summoner A Rank+ Monster Giveaway 4

Sorry to keep you all waiting, but it's finally back! The Fourth Dark Summoner Monster Giveaway, and this is certainly the biggest one so far! I am giving away the monsters listed below for free! Why? I intend on retiring from Dark Summoner very soon, and I may as well have my strong monsters be used by my readers rather than them be forgotten in an inactive account.

This is a great opportunity for new players to catch up with the competition by helping building up your team! It's first come, first serve, and I can only give one gift per person. If you see anything that you're interested in, read the instructions and requirements below to apply.

There will also be a 5th Giveaway since I have quite a few Free Dark Summons saved up due to lack of space for new monsters. When plenty of space has been opened up for more giveaways, the 5th Giveaway will commence, so check back often! 

Edit: This Giveaway is closed now. Keep an eye out for the 5th Giveaway, maybe? 

Status: Busy

Hey, once again, just a head's up update to keep you guys... well, up to date. I'll keep it short though.

1. PS3: New PS3 came in, and it works. I'd like to prioritize it while I have PlayStation Plus membership. 
2. My Schedule: Even busier than before, unfortunately. It seems like I work 8+ hours a day, 6 days a week as the norm. Certainly cuts away at my time for updating the blog. However...
3. Dark Summoner Giveaway: This is definitely happening. In fact, very soon. I'm getting the list updated for the biggest Giveaway yet, including some of my Level 70 A+ Ranked monsters and even a few AA Ranks. Wish I can give an exact date when it'll be up, but I can't guarantee any particular date with my crazy schedule. So the best thing you can do is to check back often, lest someone else grabs the monsters you want. >_<
4. Reviews: A Mario Kart 7 and Paper Mario: Sticker Star review is in the works. I know it's pretty late for a review on these games, but with how things have been, it's hard to get them published any earlier. I'm hoping they'll be a good read for anyone who's still on the fence about getting them or not. 
5. Project X Zone: I picked it up yesterday on release date, and I'm hoping I can play through it within a reasonable time for me to write a review for it as well. At least, that's my goal, but we'll see how this'll go while juggling everything else. 

Thank you for being so patient with me and my infrequent blogging as of late. Hopefully that'll change as I get a little more used to my new schedule. 

Out with the Heat, In with the New Cool(ing fan)

Recently, Pugyuu's been experiencing some overheating problems when I play some games, like League of Legends, Minecraft, and other spec-heavy games I have on Steam. I had gotten a brand new laptop cooling fan for Pugyuu because of it, but the problem persisted, mostly because the air flow was still lacking from the air's out vent.

I had done my usual maintenance for Pugyuu, like cleaning the air vent, fan, and heat sink with canned air and the likes. Dust did not accumulate in the vent like the last time Pugyuu had an overheating problem when I was playing Left 4 Dead 2. Instead, the internal cooling fan was making a little more noise than it should, and showed signs of it wobbling slightly off its axis. It turns out that the fan has aged a bit too much from high usage and is worn to the point where it isn't blowing air out very efficiently. So a replacement had to be ordered online.

Extended Torture

So I said earlier that I was going to be playing some console games, finally, and how I was going to prioritize on finishing Star Ocean: The Last Hope International finally, after 3 and a half years from launch. Well, it turns out that my PS3-less torture continues since the PS3 Phat I have here decided to break as soon as I put a disc in. It won't read the disc I put in, and the console refuses to eject the disc as well. If not for downloaded games, the console is practically useless, whilst holding my UMVC3 disc hostage.

Not sure if I've told the story about this PS3 Phat, but... here's the short story. I randomly found this PS3 Phat in the garage. It turns out my Dad had made a trade with one of his customers which got him the PS3, but never really told us about it. In the end, the PS3 Slim was announced, along with a price drop, and now the PS3 Phat keeps having issues that requires constant repairs.

The moral of the story is, trades are risky... Also, if something's been sitting in the garage for a while, it probably belongs there.

I may just buy myself a new PS3...

Leaving the Heat Behind

I'm back home in NJ once again, for a much longer stay this time. There are many things things I missed about being in NJ, like the (slightly) cooler weather, my friends and family, but one thing to note for you guys is the much faster internet speed that's available here in comparison to the services in FL. That means I'll have more time to get things done, allowing me to do more posts, most likely. I've kept you guys waiting for a whole month, pretty much, so it's about time. 

On a semi-related note, during the move, I had to make the decision of getting a PlayStation Plus membership on my PS3 to transfer some save data, since Star Ocean: The Last Hope's saves were locked from being copied, supposedly to prevent people from abusing downloaded saves for easy achievements or something. Go figure. So I may be taking advantage of the service for the 3 months I have them for, so look forward to my experiences with that. 

Soon after, hopefully I'll have a review up for Star Ocean: The Last Hope. I've waiting long enough to finish the game, I should finish it while there's nothing keeping me from playing it. I DID also pre-order Project X Zone on the 3DS though, so a review for that may pop up soon too. 

Awesome Deals - Defense Grid: The Awakening for Free

I just got word that Defense Grid: The Awakening on Steam can be downloaded for free (legally) through an activation code you can get off of Facebook, by Logitech. I tried it out, and the activation code certainly did give me a copy of the game, so I'm sharing the info to you guys too. I'm not sure how long this deal will last though, so if you're interested in getting a $10 game for free, give it a shot. You just need to "Like" Logitech and Defense Grid. You can get to the Facebook page through the link on this page.

http://slickdeals.net/permadeal/95948/logitech-defense-grid-the-awakening-pc-digital-download

Thanks, Logitech!

404 Error - Blog writer not found.

It really has been a while since I've been posting on my blog lately, partially due to how busy I have been with work, as well as struggling with finding a good time to sleep due to many factors that's been keeping me up. Unfortunately, this will continue for another month for many personal reasons, including a bed bug infestation (which was one of the factors keeping me up; should have discovered them sooner), moving houses twice (once back to my parents' house up north, and again to help them get into their new house), and setting up and preparing for future posts. 

Poll - POLL NOT FOUND

It's already May, so here's... wait... 

It turns out that the polls aren't working on the site for some reason, and I can't get it to show any of the votes. I'm not sure how to fix it, so... it looks like polls will be taken down until further notice from the developers. 

Setting up for a Let's Play

After looking into what is required to do a Let's Play, I went and checked out the free evaluation version of Fraps, downloaded Audacity, and tested both programs out. Fraps certainly works a LOT better than this other, commercial screen recording program I tried out for free. I think it was Screen Recorder Gold that I tried out, but I can't be 100% certain since I uninstalled it a long time ago. Audacity probably isn't a necessity, but I wanted to be able to edit my commentaries, and this program is great for doing just that. Otherwise, Fraps IS capable of recording both the game's audio as well as an external audio source like a microphone, but the audio will be compressed together, making editing not-so-easy to do.

After the recording phase, I intend on working with Windows Movie Maker first to see how much editing I can do with it. I kind of doubt that I would need high levels of editing for my videos, at least not yet, but seeing how I've heard good things about Sony Vegas Pro, that is something I will look into later on.

But one of the things that slipped my mind was the issue of Copyrights. Having had issues with copyrights before, I'd like to know where the fine line is when it comes to them so that I know not to cross what legal rights I'm allowed and not. So here are some webpages that I found were somewhat helpful in regards to copyrights.

http://socialtimes.com/fair-use-youtube_b61891

As well as the "Copyrights" link at the bottom of YouTube's page.

Searching "Copyright Laws regarding Let's Play videos" on Google provided quite a few discussions in forum threads regarding the matter, with most of them pointing out that while it's technically a legal gray area, it's unlikely that a game company will file a copyright infringement lawsuit on an individual for uploading a Let's Play video.

Sooo... in the end, I'm still a bit iffy about how much content I can put in my videos, like... whether if I could put music from other games in them, or whether if giving credits to all things included would be mandatory.

I'll try experimenting a bit with a few recordings and see how well they turn out. It's about time I get some more content on this blog anyway.

Time to Experiment

There has been a lot of "Let's Play" videos on YouTube lately, and some of which have seen quite some success at getting an audience for simply playing the game while recording. I've always wanted to do one myself, but I don't exactly have the tools for doing that quite yet. Even aside from that, I don't have a gaming partner to be in the show with either, unfortunately. That might not be all that important, but I'm not confident in my own personality to be entertaining to the audience, especially when I may be too focused on the game.

I have been talking a lot about doing experiments on this blog with very little to show for it as of yet, but I may start looking into ways of recording my gaming sessions with Fraps or possibly stream the game on Twitch. I'm not entirely sure if Pugyuu can handle all that however, but that's what the experiment will be about. I will be posting updates regarding this, as I'd really like to put more gaming related entertainment here, and possibly a lot less walls of texts I end up having. Stay tuned!

Adobe Flash Fail

Don't worry, this is just an image; not actual flash on the site.

It feels fairly frequently that Adobe wants us to update our Adobe Flash plug-ins for our browsers; at least for FireFox for me. But honestly, I find that each of these updates they give us ends up breaking something else with Flash. What's up with that? Is Adobe even checking the updates for the recent browser versions before releasing them? Seriously, I've skipped the past 5 or so updates because one of them would crash my whole browser if I tried to access my webcam to go on a webcam chat. Another time, it would stop any and all videos I try to watch after one minute or something and won't let me continue watching them. As for the latest update that it asked us not even a week ago, it's not as bad as stopping the video, but the videos lose audio after a minute. What the hell, Adobe? Get your updates straight for FireFox already.

Demotivational Post

It certainly does seem like I've been updating a lot less frequently on this blog for some reason. I shouldn't be any busier than any previous months since the start of 2013, and yet my posting frequency is only decreasing. Why is that? Well, the simple answer is that I am not sure what I should talk about. A lot of things that I had to say have already been said on the blog. I try to bring myself to be more productive, but I end up being too tired from the morning job schedules. I'm wondering whether if this could be a sign of depression causing a lack of motivation on my part to be as productive as I could be. Honestly, I wouldn't doubt it. It's nearing half a year since Firion had passed away, and I certainly don't have much to look forward to each day. And yet, I am still being oppressed by the undeserving cats in this house who are still being pampered by everyone else when Firion never got any attention at all. This isn't a healthy situation I am in, but what else is there for me to do but to shut myself away in the sanctuary that I've made in this room for Firion, all by myself?