Category Archives: Destiny

Autoimmune, Destiny, Elder Scrolls Online, Gaming, Gears of War, Multiplayer, Video Games, XBox One

A Man & His Beard….

Doctor’s visits are always depressing. Today’s was especially so. Seems my current treatment is not doing the job. Stronger chemo is in my very near future unless specialists from both Duke and Baptist along with my local doctors can come up with a better solution. Personally, I have given up caring about my hair or looks or or skin or shape. I mourn the woman I used to be that adored hosting parties and socilizing with friends, who laughed & smiled at the drop of a hat & who had a way of finding the good in all and everyone and everything. I liked that girl. I struggle to find her daily. All that matters to me at this point is feeling like living and participating in life and of course, making sure that I am around for awhile more.  If stronger treatements are required to make that happen, I will gladly walk that road. For now I’m hanging in there & praying for good days that last all the time and not just drop by occasionally. #WARRIOR

As for Xbox One, some of my staunchest cheerleaders and greatest support systems live inside that beautiful little box. Daily they text me to see how I feel and to encourage me to play with them. When I feel o.k., I do. The laughter and the distraction from the stress of my condition is magical. All of my “regs” know exactly how to pick a girl up and make a her forget her troubles. I truly do not know what I would do without them. Horde Zero is what our group calls itself. If you happen to run across a memeber on Xbox Live, be nice. Those are very special and compassionate people with huge hearts of gold. My peeps. ❤

On the gaming front, I have been spending alot of time on Elder Scrolls Online. Never considered myself to be the role player type (at least not virtually. if you want to dress up and go to a rennisance festival or a comicon event tho…I am definately down) but I do love this game! And I am looking forward so much to Morrowind which drops in the near future. Here is a come on:

https://www.gamespot.com/videos/embed/6438497/

I do dabble a bit with Gears4 althought it does not give me the same thrill as Gears2. Nothing probably ever will. One can always hope anyway. I am happy to see flashback maps appearing, Security, Hotel, Gridlock and others bring back memories. The new and improved looks are almost works of art. Gears in some form will always have a place in my tray. After all, it is and will always be, my first love.

With all of this time on my hands, I am constantly looking for games that I can play both alone and with others. On good days, I want a shooter. On not so good days I want something that doesn’t take much effort or that has a superb storyline. On bad days, you won’t see or hear from me at all. I used to love Texas Hold’em for Xbox 360. Multiplayer and your avatar was your in-game character. Met alot of nice folks playing that game. And had lots of laughs too. Low stress, low key. I like Destiny (my gosh! the never-ending expansions) but there is no humor in that game and to stay on top of it you must farm alot, which I find boring and a whole lot like work. The Witcher games I am very fond of. In fact, I recently found figurines of Triss & Yennefer & Geralt at my local Gamestop. $40 bucks…a collectors delight. And an awesome gift 😉 Here they are:

http://www.gamestop.com/collectibles/toys/the-witcher-3-wild-hunt-yennefer-figure/136351

http://www.gamestop.com/collectibles/toys/the-witcher-3-wild-hunt-triss-figure/136354

Which are you, a Yennefer or a Triss fan??? #Unicorn

I also adore anything Bio-Shock, Assasins Creed multiplayer, Borderlands and Red Dead. Halleluah, when more editions of these games arrive! If anyone reading this can reccomend any games that you think I might dig in the meantime, feel free to let me know. I’m in hot pursuit!

Well, friends & lovers, that’s it for now. Just wanted to drop in and say “Hello.” It’s a pretty good day, so while the spirit moves me, I think I will make the most of my afternoon.

Til Next Time ~ Peace

*Thoughts & Prayers go out to all in Manchester*

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Destiny, Far Cry 4, Gaming, Gears of War, Kinect, Xbox, XBox One

Pop Goes the Weasel

Old Saint Nick was a sweetheart this year. He left a shiny new Xbox One under my tree, so I am guessing I have been an extremely good girl this year. 🙂  The holiday season was a busy one, as usual, so while the XBOne and I haven’t been properly introduced as of yet, we have fooled around a bit. The console itself is bigger than the 360. It reminds me a little of the original Xbox. Just more sleek. The dashboard is similar enough to what I’m used to that I had no problems navigating it and neither will anyone who may have purchased Xbox One as their first gaming system. It did come with a Kinect which I have not tried out yet. I’m sure I will not be disappointed when the time comes. I am told by others that the Kinect will allow for voice control over the system as well as hand comands, Skype and of course, one is necessary for the truly interactive physicality of Kinect games, such as Just Dance, Xbox Fitness or The Fighter Within.

The first game that I plugged into my new console was Far Cry 4. I was a huge player of its predecessor so my expectations were high and I am happy to say that I am not disappointed. Ubisoft has once again delivered a beautiful game with colorful characters, an interesting storyline and loads & loads of stuff to do. Straight from the opening scene, the excitement and adventure is rich and intriguing. I know that this game will be in my tray for quite a while and I highly recommend it to anyone who enjoys shooters.

The next game that I tried on the XBOne was Destiny  I know, I know, you have heard me bitch about this game and as I have explained, I’m still spinning it on 360. Mostly for the multiplayer value. Just so happens, my cousin also moved on to the next-gen console at Christmas and he made sure to provide me with a copy of Destiny so we could take this journey together. Games for the XBOne must be installed and this does take a little time. Next I had trouble connecting to Destiny servers but who doesn’t these days? Even Dinklebot looses signal in the Ocean of Storms story mission. Between Bungie’s Zoo (baboon, elk, rabbit, kingfisher, sheep, weasel, Marion Berry, etc.) & asshole hackers, I had a difficult time getting this version of Destiny to load. When I finally did get to play…wow! The graphics “pop” and are much more pristine than in the 360 version. All of my Destiny 360 content moved over to the new console effortlessly and even the DLC, The Dark Below downloaded without me having to repurchase the season pass. This I was thrilled about! It saves me money and it makes it easy to bounce between platforms depending on my mood and who I’m playing with. That being said, I would not mind spending more time on the XBOne version, if I could ever get to the servers. Eight out of ten times when I try to play Destiny on  XBOne, I can’t, even though I have done an uninstall/reinstall. Thank my lucky stars I have Far Cry to fall back on during these times.

Even though I have plenty of new “shinys” to explore, examine and experience (all of which you will be hearing about in the near future), tonight, my friends and are going old school. We are spinning my first love, Gears of War 2 as well as a little Gears 3, just to get the party star-ted. 🙂 Yes! It’s officially game night ’round here and I for one cannot wait to be back in the arms of Marcus Fenix as his frag-taggin’, two-piecing, cog-lovin’, death-defying, killing machine, femme fatale!! It’s going to be a BLAST!

See ya’ll on the box! Stay warm & stay real!

Peace

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Destiny, Gaming, Xbox

Let’s Get Sharded!

Yes! I am still spinning Destiny in spite of the fact that Bungie is at the top of my naughty list this holiday season. The disappearing Murmur is my bone of contention. According to the forums over at bungie.net, the weapon has vanished from many player’s backpacks. This is obviously a flaw in the DLC, The Dark Below, but Bungie has yet to do anything about it and a posted a statement on their website saying this:

BNGHelp4

Dec 14 at ‎8‎:‎43‎:‎43‎ ‎PM Permalink
“Hi everyone,
We have taken your information and have spun up an investigation. That said, we   cannot restore missing items or gear. We apologize for the inconvenience.”
I find this response totally unacceptable. First of all, the way I see it everyone who purchased the DLC, The Dark Below, paid $35 for the Murmur. It was a mission based drop from Eris. No one had to complete some grand feat or spend hours of gameplay to attain it. Secondly, the implication here is that the missing weapons are the fault of the gamer or cases of user fraud. That, in itself, is a kick in the teeth to all who play Destiny and frankly, is insulting as hell. Well, I have news for Bungie: One claim of the Murmur disappearing or even a dozen, may constitute the possibility of fraud, but hundreds of reports of the same problem means that the error is yours and the responsibility of “making it right” rests solely on your shoulders. The fact that a studio that is as successful as said mentioned would sweep this issue under the rug and then take a “sorry about your bad luck” attitude is beyond me. I mean let’s face it, IF there are cases where someone’s weapon was replaced illegitimately (ie., they have broken it down and claimed to have lost it just so they can get another, which in my opinion is ludicrous, but hey, Bungie is the one that is suggesting this, not I) IF that were the case, which it isn’t but IF it were & IF Bungie were to replace the Murmur thru the Postmaster, Cryptarch or various other creative ways, what is the worst that would happen? Players would end up with an extra weapon that they would dismantle and receive a shard?!? Please! Does Bungie really feel that would be such a loss?? Is a shard really worth all the bad press and lost revenue that could result from the fallout of Bungie not standing behind their product? I personally feel that a “patch” or “fix” was not and has not been put into place because someone would have to lose some valuable holiday time away from the studio in order to correct the problem. And we, the consumers are obviously not worth the overtime it would take. Or the loss of a programmer’s extra slice of pumpkin pie on Christmas.
On this matter, my message to Bungie is this: If “Sorry for the inconvenience” is the best you can do, how about I inconvenience you by never buying another product that comes out of your studio! Seriously, the only reason the game is still in my tray is for the multiplayer value. And that will get old as the grapes grow more and more sour. My friends and I will move on. So will others. The competition is high. There are other games coming out on the regular. There are other development houses that guarantee excellence and care about the satisfaction of their customers, that own their mistakes and do their best to correct them. It is a shame that the first MMO that I have actually enjoyed playing has disappointed me (and others) so profoundly. My voice is small, Bungie, but I can make it large. And I intend to make it large enough to tell anyone who is listening that I paid cold, hard, cash for a product that is defective. And that no one at your studio cares.  Please correct your mistake and restore the faith.
And please address the issue of the Vanguard Mentor Missive which does not work. (for me anyway). It is broken. If not fixed, that will make two weapons that I have lost out on since The Dark Below dropped. I am not a happy camper. And I can’t help but feel that I have been “sharded” on. Big time.
Thanks, Bungie & Happy Holidays!
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Destiny, Gaming, Xbox

All I Want For Christmas Is My Murmur Back ~ I’ve Been Robbed!

In between all the turkeys and tinsel and family get-togethers, it is hard for a girl to find the time to pick up a controller. But hey, who doesn’t love the holidays and the joy this time of year brings. And fear not, lads and lassies, a true gamer will always make the time to push that button no matter how hectic one’s schedule may become.

Of course, I picked up the DLC that dropped December 9th for Destiny ~ The Dark Below. This addition to the game definitely raises the bar and offers some new objectives for players that may have been feeling like things were getting a little stale. Especially those of us who have been spinning it since drop date. The addition of Eris and her missions give us some deeper perspective on the very vague storyline. The bounties she hands out make me think though that she may be a jilted lover of Crota and is having Guardians exact her revenge on him and the Hive. She definitely has it out for them specifically.

Along with the new missions that Eris provides, players will find new and more powerful weaponry and armor from vendors on tower. These items will be needed because the Blades of Crota have invaded and they are much more formidable enemies than previously seen in the game.

I am enjoying the DLC for the most part and only have two negative things to say about it:

1. The new portion of the game feels like it should have been part of the original $60 game. Story wise, I feel no real connection to any of the game characters, not even the one I play. Bungie basically shipped us the game and said play it with no explanation or a very vague one, as to how or why we got here and how things became they way they are.  I am told that you can learn more about the backgrounds of the races and enemies in the game by going online and reading the grimoire cards collected during gameplay. But truly, I barely can find time to play, much less spend hours on bungie.net reading what I could be learning through storyline. I feel that the best games touch a nerve and create a emotional bond with the gamer. Destiny lacks this. Too, the stronger items now available seem as though they should have been in play from the start. I understand that the main objective of development houses is to keep their game in your console for as long as possible and DLC helps to achieve that. I find sandbagging unacceptable though.I have absolutely no proof that is what happened here. This is just an opinion. Maybe it’s just me but I do wonder if The Dark Below was ever part of the original storyboard.

2. I ran into a major problem doing a daily story which just happened to be a DLC mission. At some point during this , a very nice legendary fusion rifle, which was given to me by Eris, called Murmur and does both Arc and Solar damage, disappeared from my backpack. No, I did not break it down. It just vanished. Looking at the forums, I am not the only unfortunate soul this has happened to. Also during this same session, Eris presented me with a Vanguard Mentor Missive and instructed me to take it to Xander 99-40, the Bounty Tracker. This missive does not work. Xander has an exclamation mark over his head, indicating we need to talk, but when I try to nothing happens, the missive does not pop up and Xander stays silent. I do hope that Bungie will address and fix these issues quickly.

Other than that I enjoy the game and so do my friends. I hope that we continue to.

In the past week I have also tried Game of Thrones, available on the dashboard. It is an arcade game and plays as such but could be enjoyable for fans of the television series. I like it so far myself even though the first episode seemed a little short the storyline is breath-taking.

Until next time…….Peace

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