It was on hold during the Assassin’s Creed craze, but I just had to return to this great game. I decided I didn’t like New Reno very much because all of the quests where about killing someone. That’s why I decided to leave Reno and continue to New California Republic. Once there, I was asked to gain access to Vault 15. Since I was going there anyway, I decided to help out. It seems some people settled on top of Vault 15, and now they won’t leave. After some investigation, I found out the people where being fooled by some Kahn raiders (the same guys the Vault Dweller took care of in the first game. After offing their leader, I convinced the settlement to join New California Republic. After accessing the Vault 15 computers, I’ve also found the location of Vault 13. After joining the New California Rangers (an abolitionist group), I continued to Vault 13. There I encountered a friendly tribe of intelligent deathclaws. They settled Vault 13 after the original residents left. Now they have a problem with the main computer. The voice module is broken, and their claws are t0o big for keyboard input. Luckily, I obtained a voice module somewhere (Gecko, I think), so this was quickly taken care of. While repairing the computer, I’ve finally found the G.E.C.K.! On the way back to Arroyo, I decided to take a quick stop at the old Fallout Military Base where I killed a bunch of super mutants and found my first Power Armor. After the military base, I continued west, and stumbled in to San Francisco. I’ll clear the quests there, before returning to Arroyo.

Another one is completed. I’ve played this game all day today, so I’m finally done. There are still flags to collect, but since I don’t really get much from doing it, I don’t think I’ll bother. This was definitely one of the top games this year. Everything about it was great (except for the ending which screams for a sequel). There are a total of nine contracts which are executed in three cities, each divided in three districts. There’s a spinoff in the end, but I won’t say what it is to avoid spoilers. Another one goes to the “Completed” list!

The game is excellent. The animations are smooth, the level of freedom is huge, as is the world, and the graphics are beautiful. I played trough the first few tutorial levels, got killed, got resurrected, and then finished the first mission in each Damascus, Acre and Jerusalem. I got a few of my abilities back (that I lost when I got killed), and moved the story forward a bit. The game is lagging on my computer (it didn’t even meet all of the minimum requirements), but not too much, and it definitely remains playable. Well, I’m off to play it now.

Broken Hills were on the way to Reno, so I cleared all the quests there first. Well, all except for one where I have to get a part from Reno and then return. Reno wasn’t very nice. It’s a dark themed town with mob families running everything. There are lots of quests, but most of them are bad karma for me, so I won’t be doing them. My car got stolen while I was there, but that ended up being a good thing, because the guy that stole it offered me some upgrades for it. I now have better mileage on it. I didn’t play much, because of lack of time.
Assassins Creed is out, and with any luck, I will be playing it tonight already, so Fallout will go on hold for a while.

This is an awesome game. It’s much longer than Fallout, so I barely made it past about the first third (based on the amount of map squares I explored). I cleared the second town, and solved most of the quests in The Den which is the third town. Then I travelled to Vault City, and discovered a farming town on the way. In vault city I had to get citizenship status in order to enter the Vault there (Number 8). I helped a ghoul town in the mountains repair their nuclear reactor, which stopped the Water pollution of Vault City. This got me citizenship. In the Vault I accessed the central computer, and discovered the location of Vault 15. After clearing all the quests in Vault City, except two, I returned to the town I discovered on the way from The Den. One of the quests there led me back to The Den, so I could deliver a car part I got in Gecko (the town near Vault City) to a local engineer. After giving him the part and paying 2000 vault dollars, I got myself a working car! I decided to visit New Reno afterwards, but I have discovered a raider camp on the way. I tried destroying them, but they are way to powerful right now, so ill return to them later. I’m going to Reno tomorrow.

In the sequel, I decided to play a smarter ranged character. In Fallout, my character was a dumb, close combat ox, but this one is smarter, and uses a rifle. The game starts in a tribe that worships The Vault Dweller who saved the world a few centuries ago. Their village and the nature around it are dying, children are getting sick, and crops are withering. I had to prove that I am The Chosen One and pass a test within their temple. I needed to get the robes of the Vault Dweller (actually a Vault 13 uniform). I did this, and also finished a few miscellaneous quests before leaving to village. The village elder asked me to find The Garden of Eden Creation Kit (or G.E.C.K. for short). This device should help with the famine and illnesses. I should be able to find it in Vault 13, but the problem is, no one knows where the Vault is located. After leaving the village, I visited a city nearby. There, I helped a guy defend a herd of two-headed cows, and killed a Rat God (yes, this game also has giant rats). Right now, I’m at the pub, trying to figure out what to do next (ammo is scarce, by the way).

I installed this game a few days ago, but haven’t started to play it until yesterday. Today, I finished it. I didn’t get the best ending. I destroyed the mutant military base and the Children of the Cathedral, but not before they destroyed the Followers of the Apocalypse. Shady Sands founded the New California Republic. The Brotherhood of Steel helped the other towns defend against the mutants and shared their technology with New California. The ghouls of Necropolis rediscovered engineering, and provided their knowledge with the rest of the world. The hub dispersed before the mutant army and was never restored again. As for me, I was exiled. The Vault 13 Overseer decided it would be too dangerous to live with them again, because that would make others want to leave to Vault to. Exiled, I decided to take a journey north. See you in Fallout 2!

On a side note, it seems Ninja Gaiden was the least of my problems. My DS malfunctioned. No portable gaming until I get a replacement.

So I finished chapter 8 of Ninja Gaiden today, and decided to take a break. After studying for my exam tomorrow, I loaded the game again and noticed the screen was right oriented (I’m a lefty, so this was a bit weird. I get to the main menu, and what do you know, MY GOD DAMN SAVE IS GONE. GONE!!! Chapter 10 was probably the last chapter and now MY SAVE IS GONE. I usually make backup saves, but I do this every few days, and since I got to chapter nine in less than a day, there is no backup to speak of. I can’t even begin to explain how angry I am right now. This game is going on hold until my nerves get settled (which will be at least a few days…

This game came out, and after watching the trailers, I just had to get it. I’ve been playing it for a bit, and I’m not disappointed. The controls are awesome, the game play is even better, and the story isn’t bad either. I got to Chapter 6, and have already collected three dark dragon stones. I upgraded my sword up to level three, bought two max health upgrades, and learned a total of three spells. I have jet to master the fighting system. The system is easy to get used to, but complex enough to require skill in mastering it (another thing I like about the game). The only thing I don’t love about it is the cartoony character style. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t mind cartoon characters in games, but I think they don’t fit so well with the theme. Another style of anime should have been chosen, IMHO.

A homebrew port of Tyrian from the PC is now also available for download. I loved this game on the PC, so I’m really enjoying it on the DS. It’s still in beta (version 0.2), so not everything works quite yet, and the game loves to crash every now and then, but that didn’t stop me from playing it. I finished 4 episodes already, and I’ll probably finish the game soon (Tyrian is about replay value anyway).

EDIT: I’ve played Ninja Gaiden a bit more tonight. I’m now at the beginning of chapter eight, and have already collected five dragon stones which means there are three left. I learned another spell, but I haven’t tried it out yet (all I’m using is my healing spell). IMHO, the game is a bit too easy on normal difficulty. I hope a hard difficulty will be unlocked after I complete the game.

I didn’t play much of anything lately. I installed Civilization IV again (my secret addiction), and have finished a few standard size games. I tried Shiren the Wanderer for the DS but I didn’t like it (it seems a little too slow paced for me). I don’t have much time because I need to study for my exams next week, so my gaming addiction is on hold for a while. Good news is that Assassins Creed is being released right around the time my exams are over, so ill have something to play then.