The Video Game Bucket List

While spending some of my free time watching EgoRaptor Sequelitis videos a few nights ago, I realized just how many critically acclaimed games I've missed over the years. Confession time: I never played a single Legend of Zelda game. Blasphemy, right? After hearing so much praise and even some of the awesome creepy undertones in Majora's Mask, I decided to do something different. I came up with the idea to make a video game bucket list. There's so many games I've missed out on and I've decided to list games that have been treasured by many gamers as well as games I've always wanted to play but never set aside the time to play them.

The concept is simple. Make a list of video games recommended by friends, family, strangers, etc., and choose a time to play them such as per month or year. Sort them into categories if you want such as recommended, back catalog (games you own but didn't play yet), games you wanted to play or games you started but never finished. Make a file in Photoshop, Microsoft Word or simply use notebook paper for your list and check mark the ones you complete. Be creative, make a list in Photoshop with pictures for a more visually appealing list. Once you complete each game you can review the game, post a review score or impressions on social media via Facebook or on your list. You could even make a YouTube video review.

This was just an idea that came to me and I figured maybe others would want to do something similar. I plan on making my list and even posting it on this blog. For now though, I'm still compiling the list and I am in need of recommendations. Feel free to leave them in the comments and pass the concept around to others.

May the 4th Be With You: An Ode to Star Wars Galaxies

A long time ago in a galaxy far away...actually it was like 11 years ago. I was a sophomore in high school and still struggling with depression despite being surrounded by many amazing friends. After getting back into Star Wars by way of Star Wars Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy, I first heard of SWG by word of mouth. My friends discussed it and the upcoming Jump To Lightspeed expansion that was introducing space gameplay, adding a whole new level of content for the fledgling MMORPG. I first experienced the game when a friend let me use his account to test it out for myself. I was blown away at the immensity of features to occupy my time with. For that test run, I ran a Marksman and dabbled a little bit in the Scout profession. That test run solidified my interest in what would become my first venture into the MMORPG genre. My step dad picked me up a copy of Star Wars Galaxies, not knowing that I had tested out the game just a few weeks prior. As I looked at the box art, there was something that gave me a real sense of what the game was all about: player choice. The first sentence hooked me: "Experience the greatest Star Wars Saga ever told - Yours."

"You're only limited by your imagination" also sealed the deal.

It didn't just use these taglines to sell you the product, it delivered. I installed the several discs required and launched the game where my adventure began with a sound I will never forget.



The loading screen music set the tone for the character creation process that made me feel like I was truly making a character that mattered. My best friend had played the game prior and used the last name "Runningstrider" so I came up with the idea that my character would be his brother. Thus began the adventures of Malyce Runningstrider. I even gave my character a background story. He and his brother, Oneeve Runningstrider, were orphaned when a Republic/Light Jedi raid would claim the lives of their parents at the dark Jedi temple ruins in Dantooine. They would leave their home and enlist in the Galactic Empire to avenge their family's deaths. That was the basic premise of our characters and we added on as we played.

After creating my character, I began my journey on the planet Corellia. The city of Coronet was a bustling metropolis, full of players looking for groups to grind on missions for combat experience or for buffs. Remembering my tactic during my test play, I went to the outskirts of Coronet to grind for experience points. Eventually I worked my way over to an image designer tent and met my first in-game friend named Diva. She tweaked my appearance and migrated my stats a little so I could solo things easier.

It also led to my first awkward screenshot.

From there I continued my grinding until I reached my main profession: Teras Kasi. It became my favorite class in any MMORPG I've played. It was one of the best classes in-game at the time and eventually I went toe-to-toe with another of the strongest classes, Pikeman. It was my first duel and needless to say I had my ass handed to me.

I was underskilled at the time but the amount of status debuffs he stacked on me was insane. He had to drag me to the water to help heal some of the debuffs.

I explored Fort Tusken at my own peril, joined the Galactic Empire, braved the dreaded Warren on Dantooine, got my speeder slapped by a Night Sister rancor, and witnessed a Dark Jedi Master NPC wipe out nearly the entire Mining Outpost. That was just a taste of the experiences I'd never forget. I joined my first guild: Warriors of Darkness. We would do weekly guild hunts where we braved the wilds on planets such as Endor and Yavin IV. Our guild leader went toe-to-toe with a Jedi while only wearing modified clothing and using a vibro knuckler, and won. It was an amazing thing to watch as I had no idea Teras Kasi could be that strong.

It was an impromptu duel during a guild hunt.

Eventually, after months of grinding and badge hunting, I had reached "glowy" status. Glowy is what players call the act of reaching Force Sensitive status as there are different messages that pop up when you reach a certain percentage of completion towards unlocking Force Sensitive. I would get a visit from an NPC known as "The Old Man." Once I spoke to him he gave me a force crystal and disappeared. A day later I was attacked by some Sith NPCs that I dispatched with little trouble. I then received the location of a village known as Aurilia on one of the most dangerous planets, Dathomir. Dathomir is occupied by two factions of force sensitive witches known as the Night Sisters and the Singing Mountain Clan. This presents a clear challenge just going from Dathomir's outpost to the village. I mean I've been chased by a whole mob of angry NPCs, including Night Sisters and rancors and I've lost three speeders on that planet in a few months. It was treacherous but fun. And a little expensive as speeder repair was pretty costly then.

I can still hear my speeder weeping.

Soon, the CU, or combat upgrade was announced and a small outcry of subscribers were visibly upset, often appearing at starports and protesting the upcoming change. What ensued wasn't as bad as expected. We still used skill points but SOE incorporated combat levels in addition to the skill point system. I ended up mastering profession after profession in order to grind out the Force Sensitive boxes required to unlock the Jedi profession. The process required numerous trips to Dantooine's Mining Outpost to group with other players to speed up the process. The process also involved doing village quests in phases meaning for a certain amount of time, the village is undergoing a specific series of quests. Once that phase ends, another would begin and so on. Once I reached the third Force Sensitive box, news of yet another combat upgrade was making waves. One piece of news about the upgrade involving Jedi was that it would now be a starting class. My heart sunk. Over a year of building my character and months of force sensitive grinding, it was all for nothing.

Pictured here is some of the starport protests in action when the CU was announced. I also managed to sneak my pet Kimogila into the starport.

So there I was, a Jedi. But I didn't work for it. I didn't earn it. I was given the Jedi class via respec system and I felt cheap. I would continue to play for several more months. Despite all the negative changes, I managed to enjoy the Battle of Restuss. It was an interesting dynamic event where the Empire and the Rebels would battle for control of the city of Restuss. Once the initial battle concludes, the city is turned to ruins but the battle did not end. Players continued to battle each other over control of the city for repeatable quests and rewards. I dabbled in other professions for the remainder of the Restuss events until I decided to call it quits.

Here I am overlooking the city with my alt Bounty Hunter character, Amanov.

After leaving SWG due to dwindling server population and overall lack of improvements, I tried World of Warcraft. And that didn't last too long. After years of staying out of the MMORPG scene, my best friend told me about SWG's changes and server merging. Radiant was our server and was one of the servers that became merged with the more populated servers. We moved to the Flurry server and things started looking up. We joined a guild called Old Republic Legion, probably the best guild I've ever been in as far as MMORPGs go. I still keep in touch with some of my guildmates on Facebook. The new changes included an in-game TCG, new raid instances, profession/skill tree balancing, more quests, lots of new Jedi content, a redesign of Aurilia, introduction of the Death Troopers, the battle of Hoth, and the ability to adjust a character's look without compromising armor or essential gear. It felt like a completely different game than the one I left after NGE.

Inside the Temple of Exar Kun instance.

Just as quickly as my love for the game came back, it was announced that Star Wars Galaxies was closing on December 15th, 2011, just shortly before the release of Star Wars: The Old Republic. During that time period, I was unable to see the final battle that ensued before the game closed forever. During these final hours, the Battle of Endor took place. SOE even introduced atmospheric flight for the special event. It was an important event that I regret missing to this day. A true victor was declared in the Galactic Civil War on each server in that final battle. So my adventure began on Radiant and ended on Flurry. Star Wars Galaxies was a huge part of my life in high school and college. It helped me cope with depression, explore my creativity even further, and gave me a gameplay experience I would never forget.

ASurrealEntity Plays Alien Isolation

Hey guys, just thought I'd post what I have so far for my Alien Isolation let's play.  I will be adding onto the playlist but here's what I have so far.
-ASurrealEntity

Null Skillz w/ ASurrealEntity & Metisou Episode 1: GTA Online Part 1

Let's start off this blog with some random GTA Online stupidity from Metisou and I (ASurrealEntity) in the first episode of our series under the collective now known as Null Skillz.  Enjoy!  Oh, and turn on the captions.