Tremors in the Force

Glorious Weekend

The entire weekend was pretty crummy outside here in Oklahoma, so as a result we spent most of it inside.  I curled up on the couch with a brand new fuzzy blanket and spent it gaming on the laptop while watching stuff on television.  It had quite literally been a few months since I had last watched television really.  Granted there was a bit of television each night and each morning while going to sleep and waking up respectively, but I had not actually sat down to watch anything of any importance in a very long time.  As such I had a bunch of shows stacked up that I wanted to catch up on.  The most important of these was this seasons Doctor Who.  I had watched the premiere several weeks back, but had not seen any of the episodes since.

I feel like the jury is still out on how I feel about the new Scottish Doctor.  I guess I am just used to the normal fun loving slightly insane Doctor, and this interpretation just feels strange.  The dynamic between Clara and the Doctor also feels a bit strained.  Granted the companion that survives a regeneration I guess is always a bit odd, but this one seems more so.  It seems in part that the Doctor still has a crush on her, and as he is watching her get on with her life…  it feels a little awkward.  As far as the stories have gone, I think I like the “Time Heist” episode the best.  Trying not to go into much detail for fear of spoilers…  because I am sure there are others out there that have not caught up yet.  In fact public television here in the United States tends to be one full season behind.

Tremors in the Force

Other than Doctor Who I finally got around to watching the first two episodes of the new Star Wars animated series “Rebels”.  What amazes me is just how well both of the animated series have managed to get the feeling of the universe, whereas the prequels failed so miserably.  Star Wars Rebels is pretty much the perfect Star Wars show.  You have a scrappy group of fighters, and interesting relationship between reluctant Jedi Master and a force sensitive padawan…  all after the fall of the Republic in a super scary time where being a Jedi means being hunted.  There are just enough call backs to the original series to let you know when exactly this adventure is set.  In the first episode Ezra the main character happens to open a Jedi Holocron with the message Obi Wan Kenobi left for all Jedi during the events of Episode 3 – Revenge of the Sith.  Then in Episode 2, you encounter C-3PO and R2-D2 who are on their way to the Tantive IV.  With those two little vignettes it tells you that the events are sometime in the gulf of time between episodes 3 and 4, which is a super fertile place to base a new series.

The characters are likeable from the start.  They are just “scoundrel” enough to come across as being selfish… but quickly transition into a cell of rebel fighters trying to survive however they can.  The entire series has a very “Firefly” vibe too it, and honestly I am just wishing there was more of the show to watch already.  So far you have Hera Syndulla the Twilek Pilot/Engineer, Sabine Wren the Mandalorian Weapons Expert, Garazeb Orrelios the Lasat Muscle, Ezra Bridger the Street Kid Force Savant and finally Kanan Jarrus the leader of this group and a former Jedi Padawan at the moment Order 66 happened.  The mix of personalities and skill sets makes for a really good viewing experience.  Since Star Wars meant so much to me growing up, I am always happy to watch the fires get reignited for new generations.  I just wish that it was still on Cartoon Network rather than Disney XD, since I seem to be far better in keeping up with Cartoon Network than any other channel.  If you have not watched any of the show and are an old school Star Wars fan I highly suggest you check it out.

Eating some Crow

I finally decided to start giving ArcheAge a chance this weekend, in part because I have realized that so many people I know happen to be playing all in the same place, and same guild to be more specific.  Other than ventures into Final Fantasy XIV this was the ideal game to sit on the sofa wrapped in my blanket cocoon and watch television while playing.  The game itself is still intriguing and intricate, but the thing that turned me off of the game in beta was just how horrible the community had been.  So far the launch servers seem to be far better than they were before.  I was able to complete the early quests without much attempt at griefing.  The place where I had so much frustration during alpha was when you are asked to take a rowboat across a bay.  In alpha there were tons of high level ships waiting there to capsize players as they attempted to cross.  This time around there was just a single high level ship and they seemed to be loading up for a trade run and completely oblivious to the fact that I was trying to do something.

Similarly I have actually had some decent random grouping experiences.  So while the community is nowhere near as nice as say Cactuar in Final Fantasy XIV…  it is at least up to WoW Standards…  which admittedly isn’t saying much.  I did have a really positive experience in doing an elite quest.  There is this event that happens in a fallen fortress where between the hours of 2am and 2pm in game time hordes of undead spawn with a boss and you are given quests to kill multiple undead.  I noticed that it was nearing the spawn so I wandered up into the hills and decided that I would just kill undead while waiting.  There were numerous people up there waiting, and it was moments later that I was invited to a raid team.  Folks were relatively well organized and the leader made sure that everyone had gotten all 20 kills before we downed the final boss.  Granted this might be an aberration, but it seemed like a pretty reasonable response to the situation.

At this point I am still not terribly certain how often I will play.  Right now I have a level 16 Doomlord on Naima Western Continent.  This seems to be where most of the people I know are playing, and white honestly I HAD to play Nuian because they were the only race that offered anything even closely resembling proper facial hair.  Additionally the Western faction is supposedly going to get dwarves whenever XL Games decides to give the North American servers the expanded racial options.  I’ve applied to be in the same guild as Liore, Zelibeli, and several others from both the Machiavelli’s Cats and Multiplaying/Alliance of Awesome communities.  I have to say being patron seems to make all the difference in the world because as a true free to play account you have next to no labor points.  I am not declaring this game the “best ever” or anything like that, but it seems to no longer be nearly as toxic as it was in early testing.  I still prefer FFXIV, but right now I just haven’t had the oomph to grind up another character.  So mostly I am working my way through my book quest and doing my daily elite dungeon.  However since my friend Eliyon is now a newly minted 50 I can see myself probably playing a lot more in the evenings there.  It was a fun weekend nonetheless and I look forward to piddling around in it some more.

#DoctorWho #StarWarsRebels #ArcheAge