- Savich, oh my dear Savich. He was so sweet. Our love was bright, but fleeting. He could see how much I loved the gloves, but he could not meet my clothing needs. So he told me that there were others, brothers of his, who would be willing to trade for matching garments. He pointed me toward Fort Ranik and my destiny. I will never forget those ten minutes we spent together.
- Fort Ranik is northeast of Wizard's Folly, but it is not a straightforward climb down the mountain. The path down leads through a cave full of ice elementals. Not that my Flare spell and I were in any danger. In a way, it was a very leisurely, scenic trip.
Have I mentioned before how beautiful this game is? Even this cave is beautiful. The game is six years old and it still holds up.
- As we left Wizard's Folly (we being Gwen, my gloves, and I), we found ourselves on the bank of a river. Runoff from the snow flows through here out to, well, who knows where. We're nowhere near the ocean, right?
- As we walked down the river, we were set upon by Giant Aloe Seeds. Ascalon is a crazy dangerous place. And here I thought the Charr were bad. You can't even walk through the countryside without being set upon by bandits, scales, and these freaking seeds.
Okay, we need to talk about naming things. Aloe Seeds are already giant when you compare them to regular seeds. Giant Aloe Seeds are not all that giant when you compare them to the already giant Aloe Seeds. Somebody has their scale set all wrong.
- After we overcame many obstacles, we arrived at Fort Ranik. My goal was finally in sight.
- The fort itself was rather barren. The soldiers must be out patrolling the countryside, right? Since it's so dangerous out there, right?
- Savich's brother, Hatcher, was easy to find. He hadn't mentioned that they were identical twins. Be still, my heart. Hatcher was willing to trade a Krytan Robe in exchange for five unnatural seeds. Since I had harvested several from the Aloe Seeds, I handed them over and took my reward. The robe was more like a halter top with wings, but that's what he called it. The trip was already worth all the trouble.
- Hatcher pointed out his other brother, Varis, also an identical twin! Three identical twins, if you can believe it. He was offering Krytan Leggings in trade for, um, something else.
- "Did you say you wanted three spider legs?" I asked, hoping that I heard wrong.
- "Yes, three spider legs," he replied earnestly.
- I repressed a shiver. "Spider legs are pretty small, though, right? How about I just find you a spider and you can pick off the legs yourself."
- "You misunderstand. I need the legs of giant spiders."
- "Is that anything like the Giant Aloe Seed where they aren't much bigger than a regular Aloe Seed?"
- He thought for a moment. "Yes, I believe that you are correct."
- That calmed me down a little. "Okay. I've heard of giant spiders like tarantulas. Do you mean about that size?"
- "Maybe a little bigger."
- I bit my lip. I really don't like spiders. Really don't like them at all. But if I could get some nice new leggings in return for some a-little-bigger-than-tarantula spider legs, I would do it.
- "You have yourself a deal," I told him.
- When I left Fort Ranik, I ran across Mary Malone. The poor woman had been collecting apples, but was forced to leave her basket behind when she ran across some giant spiders. She had run all the way back to the fort and was hiding behind a tree. I told her that I would be happy to help recover her basket. And if I can find some spider legs along the way, all the better.
- I followed the road to the south, keeping my eyes open for any spiders. The basket was sitting alone in the middle of the orchard, completely devoid of arachnids. Well, at least I can return it to Mary, right?
- AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!
- When I finally escaped the madness and dropped off the apples, I returned to Fort Ranik with spider legs for Varis to claim my prize.
- And then I punched him square in the face.
Here ends part four. We are close to the end of Pre-Searing now. Next time we'll delve into the Catacombs, and then we're off to the Ascalon Academy. See you next time!
- I've come to the conclusion that I will never play Dragon Age II again. Not even that great song could get me to go back and play it. It was a mistake to purchase the game in the first place. And considering how little I enjoyed the first game, I regret even only having spent the twenty dollars for the game.
- Having come to this realization, I dug back into the archives of the Gamers With Jobs Conference Call and listened to the Dragon Age II spoiler section in episode 234. I figured that I had already heard enough spoilers that going back and listening to an in depth discussion would not make matters any worse. Having listened to the podcast only cemented my decision. Although the individual character arcs seem interesting, the overall plot arc sounds like a complete mess. I'm not going to spoil the game for anyone else, but the ending sounds nonsensical.
- I've already learned my lesson from this experience. No matter how excited everyone else is about a game, it is not worth spending the money on a game that I have reservations about. It has been some time since I have bought a new game. I do not intend to do so until something comes out that I'm looking forward to. I like getting caught up in the conversation around a new game, but playing games that I'm not excited about is no good for anyone.
- Especially if all we get out of them are lame posts like this one.
- As it turns out, there was this one guy who asked if I had a devourer egg. Something about using it to lure a worm queen and driving the vermin from a field. It's not the work of heroes. But hey, I have an extra egg, right?
- Upon my return to Ashford, I discovered that the place was overrun with pigs. None of them tried to kill me, but they certainly did not belong here. With a little effort, I corralled them and Farmer Dirk gave me 25 gold for my trouble.
This pig herding event is actually a hidden quest, one of two available in Pre-Searing. I'm not aware if this mechanic is used anywhere else in the game.
- Pitney was happy, and a little shocked, when I returned with a devourer egg. We wrapped up the worm problem without any trouble. As we returned to Ashford, Devona mentioned that she wanted to investigate the rumors that the Charr had been seen south of the wall. Since killing Charr is the reason I came to the Academy, I agreed to help.
- Devona was right. There was a real and actual Charr roaming the path from Regent Valley. The coward ran off before we could get to him, but we finished off his Grawl buddies who stuck around.
Not shown: me losing my chance at the Survivor title before I get out of Pre-Searing. Pathetic.
- Devona was quite concerned about this Charr running loose, but she knew I had business in Wizard's Folly. As I left Ashford, she told me, curiously, "Think warm thoughts." Okay.
- Wizard's Folly, it turns out, is up in the hills. As I made my way south, I came upon this waterfall. The sound of the rushing water was so peaceful that I took a moment to catch my breath and reflect on my journey so far.
This waterfall, overlooking Ashford, is one of my favorite sites in Pre-Searing, much less the game. There is no real reason to come up here other to take in the view. For as game-centric as most of the environments are, ArenaNet still found a way to put in these little explorable wonders.
- Once I got up the hill, I understood what Devona was talking about. Snow, lots and lots of snow. What she should have mentioned were all of the elementals roaming the hillside. I can't help but wonder if this wizard's folly involved making too many elementals.
- As Gwen and I made our way up the mountain, I discovered a small, green valley untouched by the snow. Since the frost was setting into my clothing, I decided to explore a little.
- A number of tents and wagons ringed the clearing. A merchant and various people milled around the makeshift encampment. This must be Foible's Fair, I thought. Such a fitting name for the camp, a foible in the shadow of a folly. As I looked across the camp, I saw a woman with blue hair. An elementalist for certain. I walked over and introduced myself.
- The woman drew herself to her full height as she addressed me. "I am Ralena Stormbringer, master of the element of air."
- "Stormbringer?" I mused. "That would be a perfect name for a Charr."
- "Do I look like a Charr to you?"
- "Not in the least," I replied, although her expression looked just as hateful as one of the fanged beasts.
- "Hmm," she said as she appraised me. "You have the stink of one of those fire fetishists. Well, there is more than one element in the world, you know."
- "Oh, I only know a Flare spell. I would love to learn more about Air Magic."
- "Would you? Very well, listen carefully." Ralena taught me how to cast Lightning Javelin and Blinding Flash. I'm not sure how a Lightening Javelin is any better than a flare, but I smiled and kept my mouth shut.
- Ralena also let me know that another elementalist, Aziure, was performing research up at the tower atop Wizard's Folly. She asked me to go slay the Tower Guardian using her Air Magic and rub that fact in Aziure's face.
Really.
- I thought that was a little bitchy, but I wanted to see Aziure anyway. If I could wipe out a guardian on the way, more fun for me. With Gwen in tow, I set out for the top of the mountain. We found the tower surrounded by earth and ice elementals. The guardian was easy to spot and easy to kill. It ignored all of the rampaging elementals, but it made a beeline right for me when I came into view. Not surprising really.
- The amiable Aziure was quite happy to have the guardian gone. In fact, she even asked if I would help her with her research.
- It turns out that she wanted me to help by acting as a bodyguard. Since I am just a novice, she taught me how to cast a Fire Storm and the Glyph of Lesser Energy.
- Aziure began casting her Ward Against Harm which immediately drew the attention of all of the elementals in the area. As she taught me, I covered the area with Fire Storms and the elementals melted away. Take that, Ralena!
- Her task complete, Aziure gave me her thanks and went about her way. Without teaching me how to cast the ward. To make sure the day was not a complete waste, I collected the various lodestones that had energized the elementals. Some sorcerer would find a use for them.
- As we walked down the mountain, we passed a shrine where an odd man was waiting. "Hail, good lady," he called to me. "I was hoping you might help me. My name is Savich and I am in need of icy lodestones to help a friend. I have no money, but I could trade you these gloves which are too delicate for my rough hands. If you have the time, I will share with you a tale that will..."
- "Shhh, shhh," I said to him, reaching out to take his hands. "You had me at gloves."
And here ends this episode. For a second time because Blogger ate the first version. You might think that having a second go would let me polish the story, but mostly I'm just annoyed. At least it's done.
Join us next episode when Khilesia says "AAAAAAHHHHHHHH!" See you next time!
- As promised by Nintendo, the 3DS Ambassador Program has gone live and the ten NES games are now available. I played and enjoyed a number of those games back when they first come out. In fact, one of the first things I did when we moved into the new house was hook up my Nintendo and slap in The Legend of Zelda.
- As I fired up the games, memories came rushing back to me. Zelda, Zelda II, Metroid, and more. I can't wait to relive these classics on my fancy little handheld.
- As I've played through these games so far, I find that I've fallen into the same patterns as before. There was an unspoken rule that I always followed. Whenever an item drops, I take the time to pick it up even if my energy/hearts/missiles/bombs are full.
- Somewhere along the time, I came to the conclusion that if I passed up a power up I did not need, I would not receive a power up later when I really needed it. It's almost as though there is some gaming god who would punish me for turning away from their gifts. And even though I know that item drops are decided by a random number generator, I still follow this old behavior. I doubt that I could overcome this superstition even if I wanted to.
- Are there any gaming superstitions that you still observe?
© 2011 Marty Runyon. All rights reserved.
- In a moment of weakness, I started the main campaign, 1939 - Early Blitzkriegs, on the Easy difficulty. I tell myself that I just want to see all of the scenarios that I wouldn't be able to reach under a real difficulty and that I'll go back later and try the other campaigns on Normal or harder. In reality, I just like things easy.
- Panzer Corps: Wehrmacht starts with the invasion of Poland. It was hear that I discovered how the difficulty is implemented. All of the opposing units are at half strength. So while combat is not super tense, I still has to plan my attacks to insure that I'm not taking costly casualties. Even as I took my time, I easily rolled over all of the objective cities and reached Warsaw well within the allotted time.
- I followed the conquest of Poland with an invasion of Norway (quite a maneuvering challenge), the Low Countries, and finally into France. My troops bowled over the defenders quite satisfactorily and with plenty of turns to spare. I would like to say that the lack of challenge was no fun, but I did enjoy myself immensely. Next up will be the 1940 launch of Operation Sea Lion to take over England. On a normal difficulty, I probably wouldn't see the mission outside of the scenario menu.
- That said, the farther I go, the more I'm interested to see if I really have the mettle to take on a fully equiped opponent. I may do well, but I hope to surprise myself. But I'm not ready to do it yet. I have a world to conquer first.
© 2011 Marty Runyon. All rights reserved.
