The Lone Gamer

Fast Tube by Casper
Yet another peaceful village becomes the testing ground for Mod Munitions… WHY? WHY?

I’ve been seeing tons of videos like the one above, demo’ing various mods being created everyday for The Elder Scrolls V Skyrim. Now, I enjoy quite a lot of these vids and like how they try out cool stuff like overpowered spells and swords that I will probably never use since they break the game or lavish Player Houses that have more mannequins than what’s reasonable. But there is one thing that I am noticing and kinda getting tired of. I mean, most of the time when these guys post testings of this or that badass weapon or spell, they always try it out on the poor, defenseless citizens of this or that little town (like Riverwood above).

Now, far be it from me to go all prudish when a virtual granny gets skewered (which I actually don’t find funny… but maybe that’s just me) or some poor guy walking along minding his own business suddenly gets fried by a bolt from the blue. But really- what’s the sense of doing that? Why not go out and find something else to try that awesome sword or spell on… I don’t know… like an ACTUAL ENEMY? Maybe, just maybe that’s a better gauge of how badass a sword is, to see how it fares on something that’s actually fighting back, instead of some unarmed farmer or an old lady sweeping her porch. Just saying. Okay, back to Skyrimming, people.

Fast Tube by Casper
If this isn’t an April Fool’s Joke… Whoa.

I’ve been having tons of fun with Elder Scrolls V Skyrim on PC, with various mods tweaking the game and visuals, making it new and refreshed with every new install. But here, it seems, is a mod that is set to not just tweak gameplay style but transport it to a totally new genre style. Tower Defense, Skyrim-style? The Ultimate Tower Defense Mod by aTittyKitty will put you in command of a castle, which you can then upgrade with various defenses to withstand various deadly assaults. You can do everything from setting up barricades, hiring soldiers to man the walls, getting farmers and workers to gather resources and upgrade your troops’ equipment and weapons. Best of all, you can jump into the fray yourself aside from just standing back and watching your peons do all the work.

According to the mod trailer, you can expect to have every enemy available in the game coming at your abode, so this should be something sweet. I mean, if it’s REAL. It WAS, after all, posted on April 1… but the channel owner has said that it isn’t a joke. So, we’ll see. Man, this could be freakin’ awesome. Once again, I have to say… Skyrim on PC is the only way to play.

Fast Tube by Casper
The Adventures of Felix the Cat… Monk.

In videogames, where destroying or killing the opposition is pretty much the most basic and primary way of winning or scoring, it’s quite amazing to see players going against the grain, and somewhat thriving. Take the Skyrim video above, where Youtuber WestSideLuigi has dedicated his character to living and playing as a pacifist. That means no killing- AT ALL. Not even wolves, and not even undead (who technically shouldn’t really be considered kills since they’re already dead anyway). How he’s doing this? By use of the game’s non-lethal illusion magic, in particular the spells/effects Calm and Fear. So far, he’s gotten to Level 9, all with a Kill Count of Zero. As well, he refuses any quest that requires him to kill anything- which pretty much blocks off pretty much every quest not item or fetch-related. Quietly awesome!

While this means he won’t progress questlines such as the Skyrim Civil War, the Companions (Fighters’ Guild), the Dark Brotherhood and, oh, The Main Quest among others, he could conceivably play indefinitely as a cat burglar (heh) since the Thieves’ Guild don’t normally kill.

It’s certainly a unique way of playing Skyrim, although this isn’t entirely new- Metal Gear Solid 4 for example, can supposedly be played throughout without actually killing anyone. Just goes to show though what a setting or platform the latest Elder Scrolls game is, to allow such options or ways to find your pleasure in, no matter how odd.

Next up, Skyrim’s Dog the Bounty Hunter, who makes it his goal in life collecting, well, you guessed it, BONES…

Fast Tube by Casper
Just a small part of the making of this mammoth game, revealed.

At just seven days to go, I can’t tell you how hyped and psyched I am for Elder Scrolls V Skyrim. This game dominates my thoughts these days, even topping my usual gang of beat ‘em ups. One of the last games I really lost myself in and spent days and days with was Oblivion… and Skyrim looks to be many times more enthralling. Never mind the look of the game, which ratchets up the detail and fullness of the new world we’re presented with- the featurette above reveals to us the effort and work that went into giving Skyrim it’s unique sound. Music, voice acting, sound effects. Remember that first, awesome Skyrim trailer with the ingame footage? I’d say as awesome as the visuals were, the impact and sheer emotion was from the hammeringly powerful music, bringing back the familiar tunes of the Elder Scrolls theme, only with the deep voices of what seems to be a barbarian choir.

Check it out. Not sure if this vid is part of the BTS features in the Skyrim Collector’s Edition Making Of disc, but that would be cool.

Have to say, Skyrim’s more focused setting, the frigid, wild North, lends very well to a more particular voice and tone to the precedings. The deep-voiced choir that serves as the musical bed for this game is just perfect for getting you into the mood for some brutal skirmishes or stealthy dungeon raids. Or a battle with dragons. Freakin’ fan-tastic. Just a week to go. Let’s all try to avoid the inevitable spoilers, I think. This is one game you want to experience on your own. 11-11-11 Then.

Hey there, everyone. It’s the Witching Hour here, so I should get some shut-eye soon… but darn, I’m still wide awake after playing a couple of hours of Red Dead Redemption. That’s the regular RDR mode, albeit I’ve already installed my newly-purchased Undead Nightmare DLC. Strange is, I only got RDR recently, and now I’m enjoying playing it. Heck, I may just have to play through a lot of it in regular mode before I switch to UN. I mean, there’s a lot of referential stuff that you’ll probably enjoy more in UN if you play through RDR first. The good news is, it’s not really a chore at all- living life through John Marston’s boots is pretty awesome. It’s literally living every Western Movie I’ve ever watched.

Anyway, I’m enjoying the long weekend break. Should be able to play a lot more games before the good times end. Everyone, enjoy yourselves and stay safe. Happy Halloween!

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RCdCV3ix5M4]
The Wild West just got rabid.

I’ve been hearing all sorts of awesome things about Rockstar’s western epic, Red Dead Redemption, but for some reason I’ve always put off getting my own copy. Well, that looks set to change with the coming of the Undead Nightmare DLC. The zombies just look freakin’ scary, and that has me sold. Nothing better than gatlin’ gunning your way out of a horde of biters. As soon as this expansion drops, I’ll probably rustle my copy of RDR… if I can pull myself away from playing multiplayer on Uncharted 2 (hey, I’m a late bloomer). For now, check out the cool as heck debut trailer… with ZOMBIES!