LFGryph

#TSW Kaidan: Atmosphere, Music, and Helpful Players

Posted by Gryph on September 6, 2015

Posted in: MMO, PC Gaming, Secret World Legends. Tagged: #The Secret World, #TSW, horror. 4 Comments

It’s been a while since I’ve really played The Secret World. I mean, I’ve been playing it, but only paying surface attention. Kill the thing, oooo that’s pretty, let’s sort inventory.

The last few days I’ve been getting back into the headspace I prefer for TSW – headphones on, no distractions, less with the multitasking – and it’s well worth it even after all this time.

I’ve been focusing on rerunning the entire Tokyo storyline, taking my time and picking up side missions as I go. It started for the obvious reason that those missions award more bullion, but as soon as I spent some time plugged into the world I remembered how beautiful, if dark, the area is.

Gryph is (Re)Playing Alice: Madness Returns

Posted by Gryph on September 3, 2015

Posted in: Gryph is Playing, PC Gaming. Tagged: horror, screenshots, Steam. 1 Comment

I fall in love again every time I play this game, I really do.

Alice: Madness Returns was released back in 2011. It’s an action/adventure 3D platformer based on a dark version of the Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass stories. (Fans of the original books will find plenty of callbacks and references ingame.) It’s also a sequel to American McGee’s Alice, which was released in 2000 for PC. The Steam page begins its description with:

Eleven years ago a horrific fire took Alice’s family from her and left her mind horrifically scarred. Afterwards she was confined to Rutledge Asylum, where she struggled to confront her demons by slipping further into her fantasy world of Wonderland. Now, after ten years, she has finally secured her release—yet she still bears the heavy psychological burden of that tragic event.

I’ve been a fan of the Alice games since American McGee’s Alice back in the day, and I remember being vaguely nervous when the new one came out. I wasn’t convinced a sequel could avoid being either nothing more than a repeat, or changing things up enough to ruin the magic. Luckily, the game managed that balance quite nicely. Continue Reading

New Holosuite Article Up!

Posted by Gryph on September 1, 2015

Posted in: Uncategorized. Tagged: Humane Society, offsite articles. 2 Comments

My first of the month article is up on Holosuite, and it’s the cute animal edition!

What You Might Not Know About Humane Societies and Volunteering

#Blaugust: Was This Worth It? (31/31)

Posted by Gryph on August 31, 2015

Posted in: Blog News, Communities, Creating, Writing. Tagged: #Blaugust2015, storytime. 12 Comments

Whoohoo, I made it!!! 😀

*does Snoopy happy dance*

This is where I mention I 100% feel anyone who attempted Blaugust should be proud of what they’ve accomplished. Offline life happens, and no matter what you’ve had a chance to experiment and learn. I’ve added a Blaugust Blogroll as a submenu up top there, under the About section. I encourage any of my readers to check out the blogs on the list, we have so many talented writers!

Tactics

After I signed up, I made a list of topics I’d been meaning to cover. Some of them I never got around to, and some came up organically, but it gave me a base to work from. When I heard gaming news, I took a few minutes to consider whether I had anything to say on it. I also tried to read as much as I could (not nearly as much as I wanted) since that often gave me ideas, or at least got the gears moving. I made use of our writing prompts, though I tried to do so sparingly so as to only pick topics I was sincerely interested in exploring. I had notes for a few that I later scrapped because I wasn’t feeling it. I made sure to allow myself a few out-of-the-norm posts, both for fun and also because some days I just didn’t have anything else in me. I decided to try to alternate my posts, if I’d just done a research-heavy post, I planned an easier one for the next day.

I prefer writing in the evening, which works pretty well since I can spend time during the day mulling my topic over. This also makes it difficult during long work stretches, but I managed. (Though I did sleep through my alarm one morning, eep!) I tried to write any time I was home and had a lot of ideas – this meant sometimes I started an extra post after my required one, but it also helped me take advantage of the times I was super motivated on a topic.

Other than that, I kept an eye on my schedule and tried to plan for days I knew I’d be busy. I knew it would be easier for me to keep going with one a day than to catch up, so I made every effort to do that. The hardest days were when I was sick and the night I posted so late. If I hadn’t written part of my post before the podcast and surprise dungeon run, I don’t think I would have made it. Or I would have had to bow out of the dungeon which would have sucked. I had to be careful planning my Holosuite articles as well, since I try to keep them longer and more complete than I necessarily do for my regular posts. Continue Reading

Five Things You Might Not Know About Gryph! (#Blaugust 30)

Posted by Gryph on August 30, 2015

Posted in: Uncategorized. Tagged: #Blaugust2015, Sunless Sea. 8 Comments

Today is both my Friday at work and the penultimate day of Blaugust. I’ll never forgive myself if I don’t grab at least one writing prompt just for fun, and since tomorrow I’m doing my wrapup post looks like I’m doing one today!

[Bonus thing: Two of my backer rewards for Sunless Sea were a physical map…and a geographic feature named after me. Hence, Darkgryphon Straits.]

1. I joined the Army after high school and my original shipdate for Basic Training was September 11, yes that one.

I never really planned on going into the military while I was in high school. Both my parents were in the Navy, I have other family members who were in the military, my brother was in Civil Air Patrol…but none of that ever seemed right for me. Plus I was only moderately physical, I’ve always had trouble breathing when I run no matter how many techniques I try.

Soon after I graduated high school (I was 17 at the time), I met a young woman who had just recently finished her training and was helping the local recruiter. I don’t even remember how or where I met her, but I was sort of fascinated seeing a woman of about my own age who had completed training. She was in the National Guard (they go through the same Basic/AIT as regular Army, with the same standards) and I started thinking about how amazing it would be to have a chance to really help people during natural disasters. Continue Reading

Puppy, Manufactory Romp, and GW2 Rant (not what you think) (#Blaugust 29)

Posted by Gryph on August 29, 2015

Posted in: Communities, MMO, PC Gaming, Secret World Legends. Tagged: #Blaugust2015, #The Secret World, #TSW, Humane Society, otters. 6 Comments

It’s going to be a short one today, folks! We had a call-in at work and no one was able to cover the shift, so it was just me and the groomers. The groomers are awesome, and we had a volunteer for part of the day, but I’m still super tired now.

In happier news, an 11 month old black lab I’ve been trying to work with (he’s scared of everything, sits in his cage and shakes) not only came up to me for pets today, but got halfway to sitting in my lap. *melted Gryph* This time, I am going to go ahead and show you what he looks like:

Manufactory

As some of you may know, I got a chance to romp through Manufactory Elite for the first time right after last week’s Beyond the Veil stream. OtterDown otternapped me after kindly waiting until the show was over. The picture at the top of this post is the best one I got, I was too busy trying not to die for most of it. ^^ Continue Reading

Gryph is Playing Fran Bow (#Blaugust 28)

Posted by Gryph on August 28, 2015

Posted in: Gryph is Playing, PC Gaming. Tagged: #Blaugust2015, horror, new games, puzzles, Steam. 6 Comments

Wow.

For perspective, I almost never buy games right when they come out, not even smaller ones on Steam. Partly I’m forever behind on games to begin with, and partly I like waiting for sales. I saw this game mentioned on my Twitter feed yesterday, though, and was immediately intrigued. (I don’t remember who posted it, sadly. I caught it right as I was getting ready for Beyond the Veil and was distracted.) Continue Reading

My Gaming Spaces (#Blaugust 27)

Posted by Gryph on August 27, 2015

Posted in: Console Gaming, PC Gaming. Tagged: #Blaugust2015. 6 Comments

Quite a few Blaugust bloggers have jumped on the chance to share what their gaming spaces look like. Soul of the Forest, Cannot Be Tamed, and Floor Tank Gaming to name a few. (I swear I’ve seen more, but now I can’t find them, gah!) It’s a neat idea, and I’ve enjoyed seeing other people’s places. I’m jumping on the bandwagon tonight; incoming pics of my current gaming spaces! Continue Reading

Gryph is Playing: Mobile Edition (#Blaugust 26)

Posted by Gryph on August 26, 2015

Posted in: ARG, Gryph is Playing. Tagged: #Blaugust2015, Fallout, Ingress, Minecraft, mobile gaming, Myst. 2 Comments

Quite a few Blaugustians have been posting about the mobile games they’re playing, so why not talk about what I’ve got on my phone? As promised, I’ll keep the screenshots large.

Minecraft: Big surprise I have this one, huh? The mobile controls aren’t stellar, and it’s weird playing on such a small screen, but it’s not bad for what it is. The touchscreen is very nice for placing blocks and sorting inventory, though I’m not a huge fan of the way crafting is just picking results from a list. I can see why they’d make that change for the mobile version, but simplified crafting doesn’t feel right. If you don’t expect the full Minecraft experience, there’s worse than spending a few minutes mining on your lunch break.

New Single Player Horror Game From Funcom (#Blaugust 25.5)

Posted by Gryph on August 26, 2015

Posted in: PC Gaming, Secret World Legends. Tagged: #Blaugust2015, #The Secret World, #TSW, horror, The Park. 6 Comments

Even though I was working on a different post today, I want to get this up where people can read it. I’ll post the other one later.

Today has been super exciting for fans of The Secret World, as Funcom officially announced their new single-player horror game The Park. The announcement was made even more exciting when it was confirmed to take place in the world of TSW. As an extra bonus, we found out this game was the “secret project” our old Game Director, Joel Bylos, has been working on.

If there’s one thing TSW, and by extension Funcom, excels at, it’s story and atmosphere. (I think there’s even more they excel at, but that’s me. ^^) You only have to play a few missions in TSW to know that, or remember this is the company that once brought us The Longest Journey. Assuming the game takes place at the location it appears to be, that park has some very, very dark history that we’ve all been curious to learn more about. For those new to the world, this should be quite the introduction.

The teaser trailer and the first couple screenshots are up at http://www.theparkgame.com/. Joel has confirmed on Twitter that the teaser graphics are “in-engine, realtime.” The Park is planned to come out October of this year.

And if it needs to be said, I’m super psyched to play it! 🙂