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Cstriker

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  1. Cstriker
    ...Toward which we have striven these many months. The eyes of the world are upon you...or rather of all Bronydom. This shall be my first foray into blogging on MLP, my mane mare Rarity, and whatever suits my fancy. Checkout my profile page: I'm a gamer, an Iraq Vet and EOD tech, and a family man. Interestingly enough, lately MLP has actually tought me a little patience with my wonderful children! Funny how simple media or writting, art in general can effect us so much on so many levels. I digress.
     

     
    If you haven't guessed RARITY is best pony. I love them all, and I even have a little Twilight in my personality, but mah favorite fashionista has taken the cake, the delicious jeweled cake, or my heart.
     
    What is this blog about? Well I could gush over Rarity OVER AND OVER...and I will. But I plan on other things as well: Love Cinema, and I love gaming. I plan on giving reviews and thoughts on these subjects too. Really anything that strikes Cstriker's fancy that is. So, if you are a brony (which you are if you are here), a vet, a gamer, or friend...stick around and let's see what happens!
     
    Let's start simple. What's your most enthralling game or film right now, followed by your favorite mare or colt? Also, why are they your favorite?
     
    Thanks for sticking around!
  2. Cstriker
    So, Path of Exile (POE) has gained a lot of attention on Steam and just released their first Expansion. They launched the expansion alongside Diablo 3s Reaper of Souls...but not in its shadow!!
     
    POE by Grind Gear Games is a small indie studio of real gamers that wanted their classic D2 style game play back, and succeeded in that regards but yet wanted a free to play model that was ethical. Well what the hell does that mean? http://massively.joystiq.com/2014/03/03/grinding-gears-wilson-talks-f2p-ethics-in-path-of-exile/ for the interview with GGG. It means that therer is absolutely no pay to win in this title. It is so popular that Metacritic scores have garnered over 85% approval and a large fan base. The game is a Diablo clone, but that would be an understatement as it is more Diablo gameplay then even Diablo 3 is currently. Permanent choices and stat upgrades, robust loot system, MASSIVE SKILL TREE, unique skill system to boot compared to D3s current casual "pick the flavor of the month on a whim builds." This is not to bash on D3 as it still has amazing gameplay and production value, but with POE it feels fresh compared with a lit of nostalgia.
     
     
     
     
    Graphically it is dark and gritty, comparative to Diablo 1. Many areas with gore and bodies laying around, boosted by great lighting, good ability effects, and smooth edges from AA. You wont find a lot of recycled textures in its 4 act campaign (with the expansion...did I mention that was free too?).
     

     
    The story is simple and can be summed as your character messed up some how and has been exiled from their home continent to Wraeclast, a inhospitible land where everything wants to kill you (much like Australia).
     
    Gameplay is mared only by occassional Dysncs having to do with server issues, and yes the game is always online too but has WAY less down time then D3 and never suffered from Error 37 launch failures. There are leagues in addition to a hard core and soft core mode which tweaks the way the game is played adding in new rule sets, loot oppertunities, boss challenges, and traps. These run for about 4 months then your character is booted to either standard softcore or hardcore mode after the league time is over. This nice touch adds replayability and experimentation to your builds and forces you to try new things keeping the game fresh. The skill tree has over 1000+ nodes to experiment with and the choices are relatively permanent, meaning your character is unique and there is a lot of balance in the game meaning lots of viable options for end game content and life. But with the tree, you really want to make new characters to either perfect previous builds or try brand new combinations which breathes a lot of life into such a saturated Genre.
     
    Free to play as defined by the ethical interview link provided above means the ONLY things real money will get you is cosmetic changes and vanity pets, and maybe designing your own unique in game item for other players (you dont even get a free copy of yours as that gives you an edge and would be unethical). This is a AAA game in free to play form that many developers could learn from, and should. If anything GGG and Chris Roberts (Star Citizen) is teaching the Gaming industry, is that customers drive the experiance and the market, not Day 1 DLC and coorporate Fat Cats (looking at you EA/Activision).
     
    Overall this game is tragically beautiful and dark, and possibly the greatest entry into ARPGs since Diablo 2 and Torchlight 2 (sorry D3, bring back your RPG elements and we will talk). Do yourself a favor and check it out. This gets the Rarity Certification of Excellence:
     

  4. Cstriker

    Pwn3d?

    By Cstriker,

    How much Pwnag3 can a Pony Pwn if a Pony could Pwn N00b5?
     
    Also if via MLP: EG there is a human equivlent for everything, does that mean there is a Pony equivlent for Battlefield, Call of Duty, Counter Strike, and Titanfall in Equestria? Could you call a killstreak that summoned Discord into the sky to rain rattlesnake bombs on to your enemies heads? Or for a pack of dogs, tons of Winona's run around the map racking up kills?
  5. Cstriker
    When you can't do that, you find someone to carry you the rest of the way. -Mal
     
    I was musing today and I figure, let's have a war story.
     
    Charles Coward, probably a lesser known hero during the second great war. He testified at the Nuremburg trials as this was the man who had broken into auschwitz during the war and reported his findings back to England on what occured to the prisoners there. Pure badassitude.
     
    Charles Coward was captured in May 1940 while serving with the the 8th Reserve Regimental Royal Artillery ; he was sent to Monowitz in December 1943. During those times, he had tried to escape, one time possing as a wounded German soldier in a hospital, he even was pinned with the German Iron Cross for his service and faux wounds. Eventually though he did make it Monowitz, a section of Auschwitz where he was liason for the 1200 British POWs kept there. The Brits were treated okay as they had signed the Genva Convention and Germany held to some of hte standards of that. One night, he traded clothes with British Jewish military doctor and fellow POW and smuggled himself into Aushwitz proper where he saw the 10,000 jewish prisoners, the gas chambers, and their squallid living conditions. He decided to do something about it. He frequently sent coded messages in letters back to England reporting his findings and the state of the British POWs.
     
    Then, he bribed German SS guards with chocolate and recieved non-jewish French and Belgain bodies where he then set up a series of ditches in Aushwitz and put the bodies in them. Smuggling back into Auschwitz, Charles was able to free around 400 Jewish prioners by having them fall out into the body lined ditches during the death marches to the gas chambers, switch the document papers and IDs from the dead non jew bodies with hte live prisoners to have them assume those identities, where he then smuggled them out all together.
     
    There you have it, the heroic exploits of POW Charles Coward, that despite his namesake, proved great valor in the blackest hell.
  6. Cstriker
    So, I thought I would detail my adventure in writing as of lately. I have been searching for more sources of income and though "If Stephanie Meyer can get a book deal, why can't I?"
     
    Now now, it unfortunately will not involve me writing fan fiction brony goodness, but I have always prided myself on my writing ability and I have begun the adventure of penning a Sci-fi epic. My title is tenative right now, but I have firmed a lot of themes and have drawn from a few influences such as:
     
    Frank Herbert
    H.P. Lovecraft
    Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child
    Robert Howard (yeah, Conan baby)
     
    Lately I have been making notes and started a journal of my antagonist, who for this blog we will call Magnis (to keep my intellectual property mine). As I have started penning him I started seeing connections to other villianous figures such as Moreiarty, Diogenes from the pendergast series, and Count Fenring from Dune, amongst others. Keeping with some of my themes, dealing with the human mind and madness and grounding it in hard science fiction is difficult to say the least and is quite the adventure.
     
    Out of curiosity, what are some of your favorite antagonists and why?
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