Well season 5 for Diablo 3 has started and I'm doing pretty good. I had a bit of a rough start to the season but I managed to do pretty well lately. I wanted to play a crusader at the start of the season but after a couple of deaths, I switched over to the witch doctor. My first death for the crusader happened at level 17 so it wasn't a big deal since I hadn't played long on it. So after creating a second crusader, I managed to reach level 70 and was on master difficulty. I wanted to push getting my second invoker set item so I tried to do Zolten Kuelle at torment 2. Unfortunately, that's where I lost my character. I didn't feel like the crusader was fun to play at all, especially on the levelling process, so I decided to switch over to the witch doctor. I feel more comfortable playing on the witch doctor since I have played with this class for a long time. It seemed to me that the witch doctor is really super powerful when grinding to level 70. I think in future seasons, I will start playing a witch doctor first and then switching over to a different class later.
The second crusader death made me question why I was pushing so hard to play in the new season. It could have been easier to say "I won't play this season anymore, I will just go back to non-season." But in the end, the reason why I am playing this season is to try to get all the rewards for playing the season, such as the cosmetics, the pet and the extra stash space. It is very difficult to keep playing even though everyone else seems to be progressing further than you are. I know a lot people are playing in groups and gaining bonus experience to grind their paragon levels. Since I am playing solo, it's difficult for me to compare with others who aren't playing solo at all. I know that eventually many people will stop playing the game and that is when I will end up catching to the other players.
So far, my witch doctor has managed to reach paragon 250. Although it doesn't seem to be all that much, reaching 250 a week after the season started feels pretty good to me. I am currently running torment 7 rifts and my highest completed greater rift is at 37. I know I can do a higher torment level, I am just waiting to get 2 Unity rings so that I will take less damage. I am also looking for a Mara's Kaleidoscope so I can try doing a set dungeon with my Helltooth set. Completing the set dungeon will complete my chapter 4 seasonal journey, which will give me a pet. I think the goal for the rest of the season will be to reach paragon 600 and maybe try playing a crusader again.
Saturday, January 23, 2016
Saturday, January 9, 2016
Happy New Year 2016
Well 2015 is in the books and 2016 is here. I had a lot of fun in 2015 and I hope to have as much fun this year. I managed to complete finding all the legendary items for Kanai's cube in Diablo 3. I also have all 6 classes played and most are able to greater rift 25 and above. I also managed to watch the Star Wars movie (finally). I thought the film was very good (not great), probably won't be seeing it again. Now here are 5 things that I am looking forward to in 2016:
1) More Diablo 3 - Just like in 2015, I am hoping that we will get a bunch more patches and seasons in Diablo 3. The next season (season 5) is starting on January 15th. I think each season will run for about 3 months so that means we will probably see a total of 3 seasons in 2016. I think 2016 would be a good time to announce a new Diablo expansion. I would like to attend BlizzCon again this year but I won't mind if I cannot go.
2) Juno Reactor coming to Canada - It looks like Juno Reactor is coming back to Canada in 2016. So far it is penciled in for June 4th. I don't know if it is the whole band coming or just another DJ set with Ben Watkins but I am quietly optimistic that Juno Reactor is coming back for another live show. A lot times in the past, there were rumors of a live show coming to Vancouver that never materialized so I am kind of nervous that this show may not happen as well. Also, there might be another "album" released in August (Juno is playing at the Ozora Festival at the same time). It is very exciting time for Juno fans around the world.
3) Warcraft movie - The new Warcraft movie is set to debut this year (in the summer iirc). I normally don't go to the movie theaters to watch movies but I am very excited about this one. First of all, I've played the Warcraft games and I love the story in those games. Second, this was filmed here where I live so it will be interesting if I can pick out any details in the movie where I possibly have seen it before.
4) New video games - There will be plenty of new video games in 2016. The first new game that I want to try out is Overwatch. I have already paid for this game (since it has some goodies for other games that I play). I don't think I will be playing this game often but I do want to try it. It seems to be fairly fun to play but I think it will be like Heroes of the Storm for me (a game that I will play for a little bit but not too much). World of Warcraft will have a new expansion out but I don't think I will play it.
5) Fishing trip with my best friend - My best friend and I are planning a fishing trip sometime in the summer. We were talking about this for a long time. Our plan is to go to Vancouver Island and find a guided tour to fish for salmon. Not all the details have been worked out yet but I am excited about going fishing. We were planning to invite a couple more friends but it seems they cannot go because of their busy schedules.
1) More Diablo 3 - Just like in 2015, I am hoping that we will get a bunch more patches and seasons in Diablo 3. The next season (season 5) is starting on January 15th. I think each season will run for about 3 months so that means we will probably see a total of 3 seasons in 2016. I think 2016 would be a good time to announce a new Diablo expansion. I would like to attend BlizzCon again this year but I won't mind if I cannot go.
2) Juno Reactor coming to Canada - It looks like Juno Reactor is coming back to Canada in 2016. So far it is penciled in for June 4th. I don't know if it is the whole band coming or just another DJ set with Ben Watkins but I am quietly optimistic that Juno Reactor is coming back for another live show. A lot times in the past, there were rumors of a live show coming to Vancouver that never materialized so I am kind of nervous that this show may not happen as well. Also, there might be another "album" released in August (Juno is playing at the Ozora Festival at the same time). It is very exciting time for Juno fans around the world.
3) Warcraft movie - The new Warcraft movie is set to debut this year (in the summer iirc). I normally don't go to the movie theaters to watch movies but I am very excited about this one. First of all, I've played the Warcraft games and I love the story in those games. Second, this was filmed here where I live so it will be interesting if I can pick out any details in the movie where I possibly have seen it before.
4) New video games - There will be plenty of new video games in 2016. The first new game that I want to try out is Overwatch. I have already paid for this game (since it has some goodies for other games that I play). I don't think I will be playing this game often but I do want to try it. It seems to be fairly fun to play but I think it will be like Heroes of the Storm for me (a game that I will play for a little bit but not too much). World of Warcraft will have a new expansion out but I don't think I will play it.
5) Fishing trip with my best friend - My best friend and I are planning a fishing trip sometime in the summer. We were talking about this for a long time. Our plan is to go to Vancouver Island and find a guided tour to fish for salmon. Not all the details have been worked out yet but I am excited about going fishing. We were planning to invite a couple more friends but it seems they cannot go because of their busy schedules.
Sunday, December 27, 2015
Diablo 3 Season 4 Review
Well Diablo's Season 4 is about to be done in a couple of days. Season 4 will be over on December 30th. I want to write what has happened during this season in this blog post. First of all, I was going to have a monk as my main character since I hadn't played with the monk very much. I managed to do very well with my monk, I ended up reaching greater rift 54 with it. But after reaching paragon 650 and losing some of my monks to bad disconnects, I really didn't want to play with the monk again.
So after wondering a bit on what to do next, I ended up deciding to try and cube all the items in the game. I knew this was going to take a long time since you need to play with all 6 classes in the game. I first did the wizard, which went pretty good. One item that I had trouble getting was a Moonlight Ward amulet so I made another low level wizard just so I could use it to gamble for the amulet using blood shards. I ended up deleting the wizard after I cubed all the items for it since the wizard was using a firebird's set and I had already one wizard with the firebird set on non-season. The next class that I played with was the witch doctor. It felt really good to play with the witch doctor since I hadn't played with it for a long time. The witch doctor is really fun to play with, especially the Helltooth set. I am currently running torment 9 rifts and the witch doctor has done up to greater rift 46 this season. One item that was pretty difficult to find on the witch doctor was the Tall Man's finger ring but I ended up finishing finding all the witch doctor items.
The third class that I tried to do was the crusader. There were so many more items that I had to find with the crusader. There were 37 missing crusader items (compared to just 23 wizard and witch doctor items). I had pretty fun playing with the crusader since I really hadn't played with this class at all. I ended up making a blessed hammer build but I haven't found all the Seeker of the Light set. It's currently doing about torment 6 and I just need to find an Eternal Union ring to finish cubing all the crusader items. I will probably finish finding this set when the season is over since I have lots of death breaths in my non-season stash. My next class (and current class that I am working on) is the barbarian. I feel as though the barbarian items won't take too long to do because there were only 17 items waiting to be found and cubed. I found most of the items, I just need to find 2 1h mighty weapons, 1 mighty belt, 1 helm and 1 ring. The ring is probably going to take a while to find (just like the crusader ring) because it has the same small drop rate, which is around 2.35%. The last class, the demon hunter, will probably have to wait until the season is over. I already have a high greater rift leveling demon hunter on non-season so I will probably use that to find the missing demon hunter items.
Season 4 was real fun to play with. I pretty much achieved every goal that I wanted to do in this season. I ended up getting more paragon points than season 3, I managed to reach a high greater rift level with my monk and I managed to do one conquest. Although I would have liked to do more than one conquest, I think how I played this season was fair. After season 3, I was really getting bored of doing rifts and greater rifts over and over again. So when season 4 started, it was more refreshing to play a different kind of style where finding items to cube was more my focus. For season 5, I will probably work on the crusader for a while and maybe go back to play with a witch doctor, since the witch doctor is my favorite class to play with.
So after wondering a bit on what to do next, I ended up deciding to try and cube all the items in the game. I knew this was going to take a long time since you need to play with all 6 classes in the game. I first did the wizard, which went pretty good. One item that I had trouble getting was a Moonlight Ward amulet so I made another low level wizard just so I could use it to gamble for the amulet using blood shards. I ended up deleting the wizard after I cubed all the items for it since the wizard was using a firebird's set and I had already one wizard with the firebird set on non-season. The next class that I played with was the witch doctor. It felt really good to play with the witch doctor since I hadn't played with it for a long time. The witch doctor is really fun to play with, especially the Helltooth set. I am currently running torment 9 rifts and the witch doctor has done up to greater rift 46 this season. One item that was pretty difficult to find on the witch doctor was the Tall Man's finger ring but I ended up finishing finding all the witch doctor items.
The third class that I tried to do was the crusader. There were so many more items that I had to find with the crusader. There were 37 missing crusader items (compared to just 23 wizard and witch doctor items). I had pretty fun playing with the crusader since I really hadn't played with this class at all. I ended up making a blessed hammer build but I haven't found all the Seeker of the Light set. It's currently doing about torment 6 and I just need to find an Eternal Union ring to finish cubing all the crusader items. I will probably finish finding this set when the season is over since I have lots of death breaths in my non-season stash. My next class (and current class that I am working on) is the barbarian. I feel as though the barbarian items won't take too long to do because there were only 17 items waiting to be found and cubed. I found most of the items, I just need to find 2 1h mighty weapons, 1 mighty belt, 1 helm and 1 ring. The ring is probably going to take a while to find (just like the crusader ring) because it has the same small drop rate, which is around 2.35%. The last class, the demon hunter, will probably have to wait until the season is over. I already have a high greater rift leveling demon hunter on non-season so I will probably use that to find the missing demon hunter items.
Season 4 was real fun to play with. I pretty much achieved every goal that I wanted to do in this season. I ended up getting more paragon points than season 3, I managed to reach a high greater rift level with my monk and I managed to do one conquest. Although I would have liked to do more than one conquest, I think how I played this season was fair. After season 3, I was really getting bored of doing rifts and greater rifts over and over again. So when season 4 started, it was more refreshing to play a different kind of style where finding items to cube was more my focus. For season 5, I will probably work on the crusader for a while and maybe go back to play with a witch doctor, since the witch doctor is my favorite class to play with.
Saturday, December 12, 2015
Juno Reactor vs Diablo
My two favorite things in this world are Juno Reactor and Diablo. While Juno Reactor hasn't done any music related to Diablo, I believe there are enough examples that Juno's music can be included in Diablo's game. Ben Watkins, the force behind Juno Reactor, has said that his music often takes on very dark image. Just like Juno's music, Diablo also has very dark theme to it. Both have lots of themes involving death, angels and demons. Here are some examples of Juno Reactor's songs that can be tied to Diablo's game.
The Perfect Crime (Superman) from Gods and Monsters
This song reminds me of Tyrael, especially his story in the Reaper of Souls expansion.
This reminds me of Tyrael having to steal the black soulstone from the angels and hide it from the angels and demons.
"All I know is someday you will
Kill and never understand
What lies beneath in the heart of man"
This can refer to Tyrael questioning the mind and heart of the nephalim, whether he is truly good or evil.
"I've paid the ultimate price
Living in paradise"
Tyrael had to pay the ultimate price, which was to give up his angelic immortal form to one who is just mortal. This is also implied in the title of the song, in which Tyrael can be compared to Superman.
Another track that might describe Tyrael is Guardian Angel from Beyond the Infinite.
Giant and War Dogs from Labyrinth
These two tracks are often played together and reminds me of the Witch Doctor's pets. Giant can be used to describe the Gargantuan, which is big hulking beast, while War Dogs can be used to describe the Zombie Dogs pet.
Conquistador I from Labyrinth
"Mors stupebit et natura
Cum resurget creatura"
Which translates to "Death and nature will be stunned when mankind arises". This can be referring to the rise of the nephalim and how they will stop death. Death can also be referring to the Angel of Death, which is Malthael.
Angels and Men from Labyrinth
This song might describe the relationship between the angels and the nephalim.
"Why are you so afraid of the face of god"
This might be referring to Tyrael or maybe even of the three prime evils.
Playing with Fire from The Golden Sun of the Great East
This song reminds me of Firebird wizard. Just like the song, the firebird set is based around damage over time, meaning that there is slow but steady build up, just like the song.
Invisible from The Golden Sun of the Great East
This track reminds me of the witch doctor's spirit walk skill. While in spirit walk, the witch doctor becomes "invisible" sort of speak. I love playing this song when I am playing with the witch doctor.
The Perfect Crime (Superman) from Gods and Monsters
This song reminds me of Tyrael, especially his story in the Reaper of Souls expansion.
"I've waited the longest time
To commit the perfect crime"This reminds me of Tyrael having to steal the black soulstone from the angels and hide it from the angels and demons.
"All I know is someday you will
Kill and never understand
What lies beneath in the heart of man"
This can refer to Tyrael questioning the mind and heart of the nephalim, whether he is truly good or evil.
"I've paid the ultimate price
Living in paradise"
Tyrael had to pay the ultimate price, which was to give up his angelic immortal form to one who is just mortal. This is also implied in the title of the song, in which Tyrael can be compared to Superman.
Another track that might describe Tyrael is Guardian Angel from Beyond the Infinite.
Giant and War Dogs from Labyrinth
These two tracks are often played together and reminds me of the Witch Doctor's pets. Giant can be used to describe the Gargantuan, which is big hulking beast, while War Dogs can be used to describe the Zombie Dogs pet.
Conquistador I from Labyrinth
"Mors stupebit et natura
Cum resurget creatura"
Which translates to "Death and nature will be stunned when mankind arises". This can be referring to the rise of the nephalim and how they will stop death. Death can also be referring to the Angel of Death, which is Malthael.
Angels and Men from Labyrinth
This song might describe the relationship between the angels and the nephalim.
"Why are you so afraid of the face of god"
This might be referring to Tyrael or maybe even of the three prime evils.
Playing with Fire from The Golden Sun of the Great East
This song reminds me of Firebird wizard. Just like the song, the firebird set is based around damage over time, meaning that there is slow but steady build up, just like the song.
Invisible from The Golden Sun of the Great East
This track reminds me of the witch doctor's spirit walk skill. While in spirit walk, the witch doctor becomes "invisible" sort of speak. I love playing this song when I am playing with the witch doctor.
Saturday, November 28, 2015
My Top 10 Favorite Video Games
Today's list is my favorite video games of all time. This list is fairly small because I haven't played many games at all. I have only played on the NES, PS2, PS3 and on the PC. Let's get to the list:
10. River City Ransom (NES)
- When I first played this game, I didn't think much of it. It seemed like a copy of Double Dragon. You could play co-op with 2 players and the goal is to kill the bad guys using punches and kicks. But unlike Double Dragon, there is an extra layer that makes this games good. When you kill an enemy, you can earn coins. With those coins, you can buy food to increase your health or if you have enough money, you buy special power ups that make your character do special attacks. There are also a bunch of weapons that scattered all over the map and makes this game real fun to play.
9. Shogun: Total War (PC)
- Shogun is a turn based territory capture game. The goal is to raise your army and conquer the entire map. Shogun is based on the historical feudal battle in ancient Japan. Much like another game on this list, there is a significant amount of history you can learn from playing this game. Although the turn based system is nothing new from its previous games of the same genre, the fighting of different armies in this game is absolutely amazing. There are various strategies in forming the shape of army and different army types.
8. Skyrim (PS3 + PC)
- Skyrim is an open world role playing game that is made by Bethesda Game Studios (the same company that made the Fallout series and previous Elder Scroll games). Having played a previous Elder Scroll game, I knew what was to be expected (huge world with many different side quests). What made this game better than its predecessors, is that there is no character class selection which makes it easier to start playing. The music in this game is absolutely phenomenal and killing dragons feels absolutely epic (like who doesn't like to kill dragons).
7. Need For Speed: Hot Pursuit 2 (PS2)
- Hot Pursuit 2 is my favorite car racing game of all time. Not are you only racing against other cars but you also have to avoid the police and their road blocks. The graphics in this game is amazing, there are several different types of cars and the soundtrack is pretty good as well. 2 player mode is also a lot of fun.
6. Super Mario Bros. 3 (NES)
- Super Mario Bros. 3 is a game that I played a lot of. Although it isn't too difficult (I made it to Bowser the first time I played it), there are various tips and strategies involved in this game. Since I played this game a lot, I knew most of them by heart. Quick story: When I was working down in the US, one of my co-workers brought his NES along with him. Having told the guys I was working with that SMB 3 was an easy game, I played this game and beat it in about half an hour. All the guys were like "WTF?!!??!".
5. NHL '94 (PC)
- The best hockey game of all time. Not only this game had all the players, teams and stats of the real NHL but it also had things like injuries and glass breaking. The game play was just ok (imo) but the rest of the game (like game modes, the music) made this game pretty epic. This game has an extensive cult following and is still remembered to this day. Like this for example:
Oh yeah this game has one of the finest video game music ever: Brass Bonanza!!
4. Nobunaga's Ambition 2 (NES)
- Much like Shogun: Total War, this is a turn based territory capture game. What this game had that Shogun didn't were things like the amount of generals you could control and the amount of political schemes you could do like steal peasants from rival daimyos or arrange a marriage. Since this game came out before Shogun, its graphics isn't the greatest but the historical aspect I feel is much more accurate than Shogun.
3. Diablo 3 (PC)
- It's probably a shock to many of you but Diablo 3 is one my favorite games. Sure it has had a lot of problems but it is a game that I can play over and over again. Having played Diablo 2, there were lots of expectations for Diablo 3. At first, Diablo 3 was an especially difficult game. But after a while (and after beating Inferno Diablo), there wasn't much of a goal in playing this game. Only after the Reaper of Souls expansion came out, Diablo 3 has been heading in the right direction. With seasons and various patches along way, I know that Diablo 3 will forever be one of my favorite games.
2. World of Warcraft (PC)
- WoW is my first ever massively multiplayer online role playing game (MMORPG). Having not played an MMORPG before, I didn't know what to expect. At first I thought this game had a lot of issues (like how did that fireball hit me through a tree?), but after taking my first flight path to Stormwind, this game really opened my eyes. Not only are the graphics unbelievable but the social aspect was incredible as well. Having experienced the raids and the raiding aspect with my guild makes this game very special to me.
1. Tecmo Super Bowl (NES)
- The finest sports video game ever. Not only is this game way better than its previous version (Tecmo Bowl), but with all the teams and players in it (plus the stats and cut scenes), this game truly has it all. You can select various running and passing plays and customize it even further by selecting your offensive players. Your players can get hurt during a season or just be in a coaches mode by selecting the plays and making the computer execute those plays for you. Not only did I play this game a lot but I also studied the playbook, figuring out which plays works the best. This game truly made me a better football fan.
10. River City Ransom (NES)
- When I first played this game, I didn't think much of it. It seemed like a copy of Double Dragon. You could play co-op with 2 players and the goal is to kill the bad guys using punches and kicks. But unlike Double Dragon, there is an extra layer that makes this games good. When you kill an enemy, you can earn coins. With those coins, you can buy food to increase your health or if you have enough money, you buy special power ups that make your character do special attacks. There are also a bunch of weapons that scattered all over the map and makes this game real fun to play.
9. Shogun: Total War (PC)
- Shogun is a turn based territory capture game. The goal is to raise your army and conquer the entire map. Shogun is based on the historical feudal battle in ancient Japan. Much like another game on this list, there is a significant amount of history you can learn from playing this game. Although the turn based system is nothing new from its previous games of the same genre, the fighting of different armies in this game is absolutely amazing. There are various strategies in forming the shape of army and different army types.
8. Skyrim (PS3 + PC)
- Skyrim is an open world role playing game that is made by Bethesda Game Studios (the same company that made the Fallout series and previous Elder Scroll games). Having played a previous Elder Scroll game, I knew what was to be expected (huge world with many different side quests). What made this game better than its predecessors, is that there is no character class selection which makes it easier to start playing. The music in this game is absolutely phenomenal and killing dragons feels absolutely epic (like who doesn't like to kill dragons).
7. Need For Speed: Hot Pursuit 2 (PS2)
- Hot Pursuit 2 is my favorite car racing game of all time. Not are you only racing against other cars but you also have to avoid the police and their road blocks. The graphics in this game is amazing, there are several different types of cars and the soundtrack is pretty good as well. 2 player mode is also a lot of fun.
6. Super Mario Bros. 3 (NES)
- Super Mario Bros. 3 is a game that I played a lot of. Although it isn't too difficult (I made it to Bowser the first time I played it), there are various tips and strategies involved in this game. Since I played this game a lot, I knew most of them by heart. Quick story: When I was working down in the US, one of my co-workers brought his NES along with him. Having told the guys I was working with that SMB 3 was an easy game, I played this game and beat it in about half an hour. All the guys were like "WTF?!!??!".
5. NHL '94 (PC)
- The best hockey game of all time. Not only this game had all the players, teams and stats of the real NHL but it also had things like injuries and glass breaking. The game play was just ok (imo) but the rest of the game (like game modes, the music) made this game pretty epic. This game has an extensive cult following and is still remembered to this day. Like this for example:
Oh yeah this game has one of the finest video game music ever: Brass Bonanza!!
4. Nobunaga's Ambition 2 (NES)
- Much like Shogun: Total War, this is a turn based territory capture game. What this game had that Shogun didn't were things like the amount of generals you could control and the amount of political schemes you could do like steal peasants from rival daimyos or arrange a marriage. Since this game came out before Shogun, its graphics isn't the greatest but the historical aspect I feel is much more accurate than Shogun.
3. Diablo 3 (PC)
- It's probably a shock to many of you but Diablo 3 is one my favorite games. Sure it has had a lot of problems but it is a game that I can play over and over again. Having played Diablo 2, there were lots of expectations for Diablo 3. At first, Diablo 3 was an especially difficult game. But after a while (and after beating Inferno Diablo), there wasn't much of a goal in playing this game. Only after the Reaper of Souls expansion came out, Diablo 3 has been heading in the right direction. With seasons and various patches along way, I know that Diablo 3 will forever be one of my favorite games.
2. World of Warcraft (PC)
- WoW is my first ever massively multiplayer online role playing game (MMORPG). Having not played an MMORPG before, I didn't know what to expect. At first I thought this game had a lot of issues (like how did that fireball hit me through a tree?), but after taking my first flight path to Stormwind, this game really opened my eyes. Not only are the graphics unbelievable but the social aspect was incredible as well. Having experienced the raids and the raiding aspect with my guild makes this game very special to me.
1. Tecmo Super Bowl (NES)
- The finest sports video game ever. Not only is this game way better than its previous version (Tecmo Bowl), but with all the teams and players in it (plus the stats and cut scenes), this game truly has it all. You can select various running and passing plays and customize it even further by selecting your offensive players. Your players can get hurt during a season or just be in a coaches mode by selecting the plays and making the computer execute those plays for you. Not only did I play this game a lot but I also studied the playbook, figuring out which plays works the best. This game truly made me a better football fan.
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