Saturday March 31st is the start of the 10th season of VH1 Classic's That Metal Show, which I'm looking forward too.
The 10th season has some great new and returning guest for the show, but none got me as excited as The True Metal Queen Doro Pesch, it'll be her first time on TMS.
That episode will air in May (the 12th I believe), and it'll be one of the last episodes of the seasons. I've been a fan of TMS since the first season in 2008. I've been wanted them to have Doro on there for as long as I can remember.
What makes this so great for me is, here in the USA (can't speak of everywhere else) too many people seem to think that Lita Ford is the Metal Queen, I'd like to find out how she got that title.
Lita having the tittle of Metal Queen is just wrong. Doro is Metal always has been and she is the ONLY Metal Queen.
Whenever I hear someone refer to Lita as the Metal Queen, I just get offended and want to slap them. I mean Lita Ford having the title of Metal Queen is the equivalent of giving the Tittle/Term of Metal Gods, to Motley Crue, RATT, or Poison .
None of those bands are Metal and giving them the tittle of Metal Gods, is a slap in the face and huge disrespect to the Only tittle holders of Metal Gods Judas Priest and Rob Halford is the chief Metal God.
Anyway in the 10 seasons of TMS they've had Lita Ford on the show twice as a guest and then a couple more times where she just dropped by to promote herself. Which there is nothing wrong with that, but what I have a problem with is that each time she was there some D-Bag called her the Metal Queen, which I'm used to but to have it come out of the Host of TMS's mouth each time and in the whole 10 season's not a single mention of Warlock or Doro the True Metal Queen, I was begining to worry that Eddie just didn't give a shit about her or over looked her and didn't know about her.
Finally season 10 the True Metal Queen Doro is going to be a guest. SO I"M ECSTATIC!!! Doro's style of clothing says METAL, I mean just look at her, she is the very definition of METAL.
I've already had my huge post on Doro and Warlock. SO I'll just throw this out there for any one who wants to check out the Metal Queens Work I recommend these albums
Under the NameWarlock
1.Triumph and Agony (If you are a die hard Metal Fan you Have to have this album in your collection)
2.True As Steel
3.Hellbound
4.Burning the Witches
Under Doro
1.Calling the Wild
2.Force Majeure
3,Fight
4.Warrior Soul
5.Fear No Evil
Or just youtube Warlock/Doro songs
Warloco
1.All we Are
2.East Meets West
3.True as Steel
4.Fight For Rock
5.Kiss Of Death
6.Mr Gold
7.Burning the Witches
8.Hellbound
9.Out of Control
10.Evil
Doro songs youtube
1.Now or Never (Hope in the Darkest Hour)
2.Love Me Forever
3.Hell Raiser
4.Thunder Spell
5.Creep into my Brain
6.Haunted Heart
7.Sister Darkness
8.I Want More or the German standard version Ich Will Alles
10.Nigh of the Warlock
11.Running from the Devil
12.Long Lost for Love
13.Under the Gun
14.Save My Soul
15.Angels with Dirty Faces
16.Descent
Ok If I keep this up I'll never get done and will list all the songs from the albums I listed above.
So with that I'm out to go rock out to Some Doro and Warlock while waiting for TMS to air the episode.
Ohh and for those waiting on my in depth fan review of Mass Effect, I'm working on it still and it's coming soon, hopefully have it done by next week.
Friday, March 30, 2012
Friday, March 9, 2012
Mass Effect 1 & 2 and my choices to be imported in 3
SO while I'm waiting for my copy of Mass Effect 3 to get here from amazon I'm writing up my thoughts on Mass Effect 1 and 2.
Before I go to far into either game I want to take some time to cover something I feel is important to what made Mass Effect 1 and 2 a success. Now like I said this is what I feel made the first 2 games so great, I can't speak for every Mass Effect fan out there.
What first drew me into Mass Effect was this video I believe was shown at E3 2006. Here is the a link to the video Link
That is what made both Mass Effect 1 and 2 so great for me. The fact Bioware made the conversations and characters among the most realest and believable I've ever come across in Video Games. Bioware repeatedly reinforced and told fans that Commander Shepard was their character, they wanted us to feel it was our story. The game series would be the most player driven series out there. OUR Actions OUR Story, OUR Character, OUR trilogy.
For me this was achieved in both Mass Effect 1 and 2.
All due to the dialogue options. Bioware made great use of the investigate options too. If I had questions I could ask 'em. It gave me the feeling that even though I ended up doing what I had been told or ordered to, I was still treated as an equal, I was just told to do it and they did it. I felt I was able to find out the Whys, Hows, Whens, and all that good stuff.
Mass Effect 1 and 2 had achieved being a land mark in story telling as I felt It WAS MY Story. The dialogue options put me in the game universe as MY Commander Shepard.
Now that that's out of the way I'd like to address something else that may be of interest to some people before ME1 I mostly played shooters, I never was able to get into KotOR, I also never got big into Halo or Call of Duty, I'd been big on Gears of War, and before that Doom 3 and than that got me into the classic Doom 1 & 2. Quake 4, Half Life 2, Prey, Gun, Red Dead Revolver, X-Men Legends. After Mass Effect 1 and 2 I've had a harder time getting into those types of games, I've never been able to get into any medieval type games.The last games I got into really big are Heavy Rain, Red Dead Redemption, and recently L.A. Niore. Granted I still follow the Gears series (not sure if I'll continue now that the main trilogy is done), I've also fallowed Half Life 2's Episode 1 and 2, and am hoping for that Doom 4.
Mass Effect 1
Well this could be said to be my first Action RPG I really got into. The reason this game got me hooked was not the combat but the characters and story were (for me) Like nothing else in video games. Not to mention Bioware made me feel that Shepard was MINE, and I was driving the story.
Back in 2007 when ME1 came out I was in my Senior Year of High School. I picked up Mass Effect 1 for the Xbox 360 in December of 2007, (I opted to go to an Ozzy Osbourne Concert in November as my wallet wasn't big enough for both). I believe that the things a person experiences will make a person into who they are and what drives them. I did than and I still believe that is the case for most people (excluded sociopaths, Pedophiles, Rapists, and the like as I believe many are born a bad egg).
Anyway now that I took that psychological detour that will be tying into this, I remember attempting to give MY Shepard a background that I felt would shape him into well a in game version of ME, and I did so by choosing the in game Pre-ME past of my Shepard, I went the route of Colonist and Sole Survivor.
When creating MY Shepard my older brother was over and I asked his input on building a character that resembled me. I'm still very happy with the Shepard we created.
Now back to my review or what ever this is. I had never been big on Action RPG's and had played KotOR. So the fact I got into ME right from the beginning and hooked on it like I did I attribute to the sense of the Game being player driven, (and thinking back on this all, back then I would never have been able to write this sort of stuff like I am now).
The conversations/dialogue wheel were great and the best part of the game. It made the characters seem more real, it made the story better, it felt like I was right there in the game talking with the characters and driving the story.
I do however remember when My Shepard would say something about believing in the Reapers I'd think "God that's dumb, the Reapers are a myth and Saren is just using it for cripes sake"
I enjoyed the level up system, and the Weapon Customization in ME1. My favorite ammo was Inferno rounds, and being able to add stabilizers to weapons My Character class couldn't train with allowed me to use the Shotgun and Assault Rifle if I didn't have the skill set for 'em. I normally play as a Vanguard I have since my first time playing the game. I've played other classes to get the achievements I couldn't get otherwise.
The combat system in ME1 is still among the worst I've played, and is the only game with that awful of a system that I've beaten and came back for more.
The cover system sucked, the squad orders sucked, the only one that was good was ordering both squad mates to go to a certain position, But that too had a set back, It didn't allow ya to order your 2 squadies to separate spots.
The Aiming system was rather bad too. A good share of the Powers were affected by the bad aiming system, it made the powers not connect/hit with the enemy intended or flat out miss them.
The ME1 story is still the best story in any single game in my opinion.
The Armor upgrades were cool but not a big deal to me.
The different armors were cool, but I didn't care for some of the colors and paint jobs to many of the Armors. The Phoenix armor looked good on only Ashley and ok on Liara, (Can't attest to FemShep since I've never played as a FemShep much). Several other Armors looked whacky too. My favorite Armors (for every squadie) were, Colossus, Mercenary, Hydra (or was it Viper? whatever that one that had a few shades of Green was). I can't remember all of them by names right now. I liked the Krogan exclusive armors of Warlord and Battle Master, and the Turian Thermal ,Sliverback, and Agent, were rather cool.
The side missions at the Citadel were fun. but many of the galaxy planet side missions felt too repetitive. I did like the Mako Rover.
I really don't do much complaining about the graphics unless they feel way too dated compaired to everything else out at the same time. Or they give me Headaches. Which ME1 didn't suffer from them set backs for me. Wait ME1 had that Film Grain Setting which I had to turn off as it made things seem fuzzy on my TV, and gave me a headache. Which was fixable once I turned the Film Grain setting off.
There you have it the game and my thoughts on ME1, I didn't want to add much in the way of my favorite characters as I'm gonna be writing up a separate thing on them given I find that characters are subjected to personal views.
ME2,
Well First off the second game was great, and the dialogue wheel was back to add that much more to the over all experience of the game. It again did the job of making me feel like I was right there in the game, driving the story.
I'd like to point out that for me many of the ME2 squad mates had much more depth and complexity to them than the ME1 ones did (Wrex being the sole exception for me), Samara, Mordin, Thane, Jack, and Legion are among the greatest and most compelling characters in the series for me. I enjoyed the depth and complexity of them all greatly.
The ME2 Normandy crew was far more enjoyable and added more than the ME1 ones did. Whither it was, the Engineers Ken and Gabby making me laugh, Kelly the friendly worm face who was always there to great me after a mission, the dude and chick in the crew quarters who talked about the one dudes family on New Canton, the two dudes up by Joker talking about all sorts of stuff, or the two people at the table also talking about all sorts of stuff. The only person who felt like an ME1 crew member was the Chef dude Rupert. Joker, and Doctor Chuckwas were back and this time so much more enjoyable and memorable.
The Armor customization of ME2 was far greater than ME1. I could mix and match various parts, give 'em all sorts of different paint jobs, tints, and chose the color. The only draw back for me was the helmet system I had to either go with wear a Helmet of my choosing at all times (not just in hazardous environments type of things) or go with the default helmet.
Also it should be noted that ME2 did away with things like giving your armors upgrades like Emergency Shielding, Combat Exoskeleton, and all those things. I really didn't miss them, I know some people did but I didn't.
ME2 also gave us the choice of what we wanted our Shepard's to wear in a casual setting aboard the Normandy instead of limiting us to just the one outfit.
I also liked the new squad mate armor system, Sure it limited them each to 2 different options (or 3 if you got the alternate DLC outfits pack), but it gave each character a sense of uniqueness.
The Weapon Customization from ME1 was not present, You couldn't add things like Frictionless Materials, Combat Optics, Stabilizers and so on. A good thing about the new ME2 weapon system was if a class couldn't use a weapon they no longer were able to carry it around and it was removed completely from them.
Things like Inferno Ammo were now part of the Power system and I didn't like that.
The overall new power system and level up system was WAY Worse than the ME1. In ME2 each class was reduced to a few powers. A few biotic powers or tech powers to each character. In ME1 the soldier was the only class affected by these power issues, but was able to use any of the Weapons.
ME2's Limited each class to very few powers and it threw the Ammo Powers in with the other Powers.
ME2 also didn't have any Grenades unless you got the DLC characters of Zaeed and Kasumi and they only had like 2 types of Grenades ( I seem to remember) Fire and Flash Bang Grenades. But the Genades were also thrown into the powers area. The overall Level Setup of ME2 sucked, and was lacking. ME1's was far better.
The Combat system of ME2 was far great than ME1. Taking Cover was easy and better (just press A), the aiming system was far better on both weapons and Powers. And in ME2 Ya could order each squadie to 2 different points. I don't however think that the great combat system was due to the shitty new Level Up System in ME2. Sure the new Combat system was more improved and played like a shooter, I don't think that it really affected the Level Up System and Power System.
I think BW just didn't have the Level Up System High Uo on their list of priority's.
ME2 also got rid of the Inventory system of ME1. and completely did away with it.
The side missions in ME2 were also improved. The Uncharted Planet side missions no Longer felt repetitive, each felt unique. One of my favorites was a mission where I (Shepard) found and went to the sight of a wrecked ship. The Ship was just a skeletal hull, on the edge of a cliff or something. I went in solo and had to make my way to the bridge of the ship to activate a system and get data. After which the Ship fell over the edge of the cliff it seemed and I got extracted by my new shuttle just in time.
The Normandy was greatly improved. It had 3 separate floors, well really 4 and the fourth floor was Shepard's personal living quarters.
It had several new rooms, and all that sort of good, stuff. The Galaxy Map was also improved. Each system had sub systems that could only be accessed by that system and the new sub systems required Fuel to get to them, which you had to buy, along with Probes to scan uncharted Planets. Which was how side missions on uncharted worlds were found along with resources that were used to upgrade stuff in the new Normandy. It made Mineral searches mean something as opposed to serving in ME1, which was done by landing on a planet and searching for boulders for all sorts of Metals.
One could agree that this hurt the Weapon Customizations of ME1, I can't say as I disagree with that assessment. BW used this as sort of a cop out. It did away with the repetitive side missions, but hurt the Weapon Customizations and Inventory System. I think BW got a bit carried away with it all. The Research lab could have been used greatly just to build upgrades for the Ship, but BW got carried away with it (I think) and used it for the Weapon Customizations Upgrades and Armor Upgrades. They cut out the Inventory system with it too.
The DLC Firewalker vehicle Hammerhead or whatever it was called was ok but I liked the Mako better.
The Story of ME2 wasn't as good as that of ME1. Given it's the 2nd game of what was supposed to be a trilogy where the Players Choices carried over across all 3 to have Big repercussions in the 3rd game, I wrote it off was being the set up for the saves to carry over and being all that, so the story didn't matter as much as getting the Players Choices and Consequences to carry over to the 3rd game where it would be an epic climax with a wide rang of vast endings.
I'd even heard (from interviews with people from BW that worked on ME2) that Mass Effect 3 was being created behind ME2 and at times along side of it, to get the programing and stuff to carry over and work out all sorts of issues much more easier.
I'm now going to cover the choices in ME 1 and 2 for the first import into 2.
ME1,
Lets see, here I did a mostly Paragon game. Completed all side quests and everything.
Main Story choices,
1.Wrex lived (I couldn't stand killing him)
2.Kaidan died on Virmire.
3.Romanced Liara
4.Saved the Council
5.Nominated Anderson for the Council
6.Let the Rachni Queen live
7.Saved the colonists of Zhous Hope on Feros. (Hopefully I spelled all that right) Jong and all the colonists lived
People who lived or died and other side quest of note
1.Rana Thanoptis I let her live (The Asari working at Saren's cloning facility)
2.Captain Kirrahee and his team Lived
3.Helped Gianna Parasini bust the Administrator Anoleis
4.Shiala lived (asari on Feros)
5.Hela Blake lived and disbanded her gang
6.Tombs lived but the Cerberus dude I killed
7.Convinced the Biotics to let Chairman Burns live and Chairman Burns to help the L2s
8.Talked Talitha down and into getting help. In the side quest I remember me.
9.Convinced the Salarian and Volus dudes to work together and Helped them Scan the Keepers.
10.Got Service Men Bhitea's body back home (not sure if I spelled that right don't really care either)
11.Saved the hostages in Bring Down the Sky and Balek is still at large.
12.Conrad Verner I didn't use Paragon or Renegade to finish that idiots side quest so he didn't show up in ME2 and hopefully not in ME3.
13.Gave Tali the Deta to help her Pilgrimage
14.Anderson gotta Punch Udina (I wanna punch him in ME3 SOOO Bad)
15.Saved all the drugged scientists in the Paragon side quest that were held hostage
16.I can't remember if Fist is alive or dead. IF he's dead Wrex killed him
17.Got to the end of the interview with Kalisa than punched her when she asked about Saren
18.Can't think of anything else of note right now.
ME2 main story
1.Everyone survived the Suicide Mission all Squad Mates and Normandy Crew Members
2.Romanced Jack and than after Suicide Mission Ended it all she said to me after that was F*ck Off looking forward to seeing how things go in ME3 with her
3.Saved Samara and tried to romance her, and she told me that "Another Life Another Place" Thing I still want this Romance arch resolved and taken care of, The feelings need to be resloved
4.Collector Base was Destroyed
5.Told The Illusive Man to go to hell
6.Got my Specter Status reinstated
7.Vetor went with Tali
8.Romanced Kelly Also
9.Can't think of any other main story choices
Loyalty Missions
1.Mordin's: Malen Lived, Told Mordin to keep the Genophage Data and Help the Krogans
2.Tali: Didn't get exiled, didn't show the evidence, and told the Quarians to go for peace, brought Legion along too.
3.Legion: Destroyed Heretics: Was too worried about a Reaper Indoctrination hardware being implanted and it felt it was too big a risk of it infecting all Geth
4.Zaeed: Is alive and Veto got away
5.Kasumi: I destroyed the Grey Box
6.Told Jack to let that dude live
7.Thane: Stoped his kid from killing that dude and Captain Bailey is taking care of his son.
8.Samara lived and I covered this in the main plot above
9.Garrus: Sadonis is alive and he ended up turning himself in to C-Sec
10.Jacob T.: His dad got killed by the people he kicked out and enslaved Boring LM
11.Miranda: Told her to talk to her sister blah blah boring LM
12.Grunt: Killed the Thresher Maw
Other things in ME2
1.The Patriarch is alive I was his Krant (or however its spelled)
2.Helped Giana again
3.Got the Salarian Karosa Family data back
4.The Biotic God is alive
5.The Asari that murdered the Volus is still alive and at large
6.The Volus that was a crook got turned over to the Captain
7.Rana is alive again (not sure if I could kill her in ME2)
8.Didn't punch Kalisa this time
9.Conrad never showed up
10.Told the Asari (Blue Rose of Illium) to stay with the Krogan who likes poetry Char (I think)
11.Told Udina I had a list of people I didn't want to see while I was visiting Anderson and his name was at the top of that list. Also told Anderson to fire him. Hope this comes up in ME3.
Can't think of anything else that may matter
DLC choices
1.Overlord: Gaven Archer is alive (not sure if he could be killed) his brother went to the Grissom Academy
2.Lair of the Shadow Broker: Ending things with Liara as friends didn't want to push things and want to get with Samara still
3.Arrival: Tried to worn the Batarians, and Killed Dr. Amanda Kensen (not sure if she can live or note I always shoot her ass as soon as I can)
That's all I can think of, other than my character is Colonist and Sole Survivor if any fan of ME1 and 2 has anything else they want to ask or mention that I forget please let me know in the comments or just let me know what your thoughts are in the comments.
Before I go to far into either game I want to take some time to cover something I feel is important to what made Mass Effect 1 and 2 a success. Now like I said this is what I feel made the first 2 games so great, I can't speak for every Mass Effect fan out there.
What first drew me into Mass Effect was this video I believe was shown at E3 2006. Here is the a link to the video Link
That is what made both Mass Effect 1 and 2 so great for me. The fact Bioware made the conversations and characters among the most realest and believable I've ever come across in Video Games. Bioware repeatedly reinforced and told fans that Commander Shepard was their character, they wanted us to feel it was our story. The game series would be the most player driven series out there. OUR Actions OUR Story, OUR Character, OUR trilogy.
For me this was achieved in both Mass Effect 1 and 2.
All due to the dialogue options. Bioware made great use of the investigate options too. If I had questions I could ask 'em. It gave me the feeling that even though I ended up doing what I had been told or ordered to, I was still treated as an equal, I was just told to do it and they did it. I felt I was able to find out the Whys, Hows, Whens, and all that good stuff.
Mass Effect 1 and 2 had achieved being a land mark in story telling as I felt It WAS MY Story. The dialogue options put me in the game universe as MY Commander Shepard.
Now that that's out of the way I'd like to address something else that may be of interest to some people before ME1 I mostly played shooters, I never was able to get into KotOR, I also never got big into Halo or Call of Duty, I'd been big on Gears of War, and before that Doom 3 and than that got me into the classic Doom 1 & 2. Quake 4, Half Life 2, Prey, Gun, Red Dead Revolver, X-Men Legends. After Mass Effect 1 and 2 I've had a harder time getting into those types of games, I've never been able to get into any medieval type games.The last games I got into really big are Heavy Rain, Red Dead Redemption, and recently L.A. Niore. Granted I still follow the Gears series (not sure if I'll continue now that the main trilogy is done), I've also fallowed Half Life 2's Episode 1 and 2, and am hoping for that Doom 4.
Mass Effect 1
Well this could be said to be my first Action RPG I really got into. The reason this game got me hooked was not the combat but the characters and story were (for me) Like nothing else in video games. Not to mention Bioware made me feel that Shepard was MINE, and I was driving the story.
Back in 2007 when ME1 came out I was in my Senior Year of High School. I picked up Mass Effect 1 for the Xbox 360 in December of 2007, (I opted to go to an Ozzy Osbourne Concert in November as my wallet wasn't big enough for both). I believe that the things a person experiences will make a person into who they are and what drives them. I did than and I still believe that is the case for most people (excluded sociopaths, Pedophiles, Rapists, and the like as I believe many are born a bad egg).
Anyway now that I took that psychological detour that will be tying into this, I remember attempting to give MY Shepard a background that I felt would shape him into well a in game version of ME, and I did so by choosing the in game Pre-ME past of my Shepard, I went the route of Colonist and Sole Survivor.
When creating MY Shepard my older brother was over and I asked his input on building a character that resembled me. I'm still very happy with the Shepard we created.
Now back to my review or what ever this is. I had never been big on Action RPG's and had played KotOR. So the fact I got into ME right from the beginning and hooked on it like I did I attribute to the sense of the Game being player driven, (and thinking back on this all, back then I would never have been able to write this sort of stuff like I am now).
The conversations/dialogue wheel were great and the best part of the game. It made the characters seem more real, it made the story better, it felt like I was right there in the game talking with the characters and driving the story.
I do however remember when My Shepard would say something about believing in the Reapers I'd think "God that's dumb, the Reapers are a myth and Saren is just using it for cripes sake"
I enjoyed the level up system, and the Weapon Customization in ME1. My favorite ammo was Inferno rounds, and being able to add stabilizers to weapons My Character class couldn't train with allowed me to use the Shotgun and Assault Rifle if I didn't have the skill set for 'em. I normally play as a Vanguard I have since my first time playing the game. I've played other classes to get the achievements I couldn't get otherwise.
The combat system in ME1 is still among the worst I've played, and is the only game with that awful of a system that I've beaten and came back for more.
The cover system sucked, the squad orders sucked, the only one that was good was ordering both squad mates to go to a certain position, But that too had a set back, It didn't allow ya to order your 2 squadies to separate spots.
The Aiming system was rather bad too. A good share of the Powers were affected by the bad aiming system, it made the powers not connect/hit with the enemy intended or flat out miss them.
The ME1 story is still the best story in any single game in my opinion.
The Armor upgrades were cool but not a big deal to me.
The different armors were cool, but I didn't care for some of the colors and paint jobs to many of the Armors. The Phoenix armor looked good on only Ashley and ok on Liara, (Can't attest to FemShep since I've never played as a FemShep much). Several other Armors looked whacky too. My favorite Armors (for every squadie) were, Colossus, Mercenary, Hydra (or was it Viper? whatever that one that had a few shades of Green was). I can't remember all of them by names right now. I liked the Krogan exclusive armors of Warlord and Battle Master, and the Turian Thermal ,Sliverback, and Agent, were rather cool.
The side missions at the Citadel were fun. but many of the galaxy planet side missions felt too repetitive. I did like the Mako Rover.
I really don't do much complaining about the graphics unless they feel way too dated compaired to everything else out at the same time. Or they give me Headaches. Which ME1 didn't suffer from them set backs for me. Wait ME1 had that Film Grain Setting which I had to turn off as it made things seem fuzzy on my TV, and gave me a headache. Which was fixable once I turned the Film Grain setting off.
There you have it the game and my thoughts on ME1, I didn't want to add much in the way of my favorite characters as I'm gonna be writing up a separate thing on them given I find that characters are subjected to personal views.
ME2,
Well First off the second game was great, and the dialogue wheel was back to add that much more to the over all experience of the game. It again did the job of making me feel like I was right there in the game, driving the story.
I'd like to point out that for me many of the ME2 squad mates had much more depth and complexity to them than the ME1 ones did (Wrex being the sole exception for me), Samara, Mordin, Thane, Jack, and Legion are among the greatest and most compelling characters in the series for me. I enjoyed the depth and complexity of them all greatly.
The ME2 Normandy crew was far more enjoyable and added more than the ME1 ones did. Whither it was, the Engineers Ken and Gabby making me laugh, Kelly the friendly worm face who was always there to great me after a mission, the dude and chick in the crew quarters who talked about the one dudes family on New Canton, the two dudes up by Joker talking about all sorts of stuff, or the two people at the table also talking about all sorts of stuff. The only person who felt like an ME1 crew member was the Chef dude Rupert. Joker, and Doctor Chuckwas were back and this time so much more enjoyable and memorable.
The Armor customization of ME2 was far greater than ME1. I could mix and match various parts, give 'em all sorts of different paint jobs, tints, and chose the color. The only draw back for me was the helmet system I had to either go with wear a Helmet of my choosing at all times (not just in hazardous environments type of things) or go with the default helmet.
Also it should be noted that ME2 did away with things like giving your armors upgrades like Emergency Shielding, Combat Exoskeleton, and all those things. I really didn't miss them, I know some people did but I didn't.
ME2 also gave us the choice of what we wanted our Shepard's to wear in a casual setting aboard the Normandy instead of limiting us to just the one outfit.
I also liked the new squad mate armor system, Sure it limited them each to 2 different options (or 3 if you got the alternate DLC outfits pack), but it gave each character a sense of uniqueness.
The Weapon Customization from ME1 was not present, You couldn't add things like Frictionless Materials, Combat Optics, Stabilizers and so on. A good thing about the new ME2 weapon system was if a class couldn't use a weapon they no longer were able to carry it around and it was removed completely from them.
Things like Inferno Ammo were now part of the Power system and I didn't like that.
The overall new power system and level up system was WAY Worse than the ME1. In ME2 each class was reduced to a few powers. A few biotic powers or tech powers to each character. In ME1 the soldier was the only class affected by these power issues, but was able to use any of the Weapons.
ME2's Limited each class to very few powers and it threw the Ammo Powers in with the other Powers.
ME2 also didn't have any Grenades unless you got the DLC characters of Zaeed and Kasumi and they only had like 2 types of Grenades ( I seem to remember) Fire and Flash Bang Grenades. But the Genades were also thrown into the powers area. The overall Level Setup of ME2 sucked, and was lacking. ME1's was far better.
The Combat system of ME2 was far great than ME1. Taking Cover was easy and better (just press A), the aiming system was far better on both weapons and Powers. And in ME2 Ya could order each squadie to 2 different points. I don't however think that the great combat system was due to the shitty new Level Up System in ME2. Sure the new Combat system was more improved and played like a shooter, I don't think that it really affected the Level Up System and Power System.
I think BW just didn't have the Level Up System High Uo on their list of priority's.
ME2 also got rid of the Inventory system of ME1. and completely did away with it.
The side missions in ME2 were also improved. The Uncharted Planet side missions no Longer felt repetitive, each felt unique. One of my favorites was a mission where I (Shepard) found and went to the sight of a wrecked ship. The Ship was just a skeletal hull, on the edge of a cliff or something. I went in solo and had to make my way to the bridge of the ship to activate a system and get data. After which the Ship fell over the edge of the cliff it seemed and I got extracted by my new shuttle just in time.
The Normandy was greatly improved. It had 3 separate floors, well really 4 and the fourth floor was Shepard's personal living quarters.
It had several new rooms, and all that sort of good, stuff. The Galaxy Map was also improved. Each system had sub systems that could only be accessed by that system and the new sub systems required Fuel to get to them, which you had to buy, along with Probes to scan uncharted Planets. Which was how side missions on uncharted worlds were found along with resources that were used to upgrade stuff in the new Normandy. It made Mineral searches mean something as opposed to serving in ME1, which was done by landing on a planet and searching for boulders for all sorts of Metals.
One could agree that this hurt the Weapon Customizations of ME1, I can't say as I disagree with that assessment. BW used this as sort of a cop out. It did away with the repetitive side missions, but hurt the Weapon Customizations and Inventory System. I think BW got a bit carried away with it all. The Research lab could have been used greatly just to build upgrades for the Ship, but BW got carried away with it (I think) and used it for the Weapon Customizations Upgrades and Armor Upgrades. They cut out the Inventory system with it too.
The DLC Firewalker vehicle Hammerhead or whatever it was called was ok but I liked the Mako better.
The Story of ME2 wasn't as good as that of ME1. Given it's the 2nd game of what was supposed to be a trilogy where the Players Choices carried over across all 3 to have Big repercussions in the 3rd game, I wrote it off was being the set up for the saves to carry over and being all that, so the story didn't matter as much as getting the Players Choices and Consequences to carry over to the 3rd game where it would be an epic climax with a wide rang of vast endings.
I'd even heard (from interviews with people from BW that worked on ME2) that Mass Effect 3 was being created behind ME2 and at times along side of it, to get the programing and stuff to carry over and work out all sorts of issues much more easier.
I'm now going to cover the choices in ME 1 and 2 for the first import into 2.
ME1,
Lets see, here I did a mostly Paragon game. Completed all side quests and everything.
Main Story choices,
1.Wrex lived (I couldn't stand killing him)
2.Kaidan died on Virmire.
3.Romanced Liara
4.Saved the Council
5.Nominated Anderson for the Council
6.Let the Rachni Queen live
7.Saved the colonists of Zhous Hope on Feros. (Hopefully I spelled all that right) Jong and all the colonists lived
People who lived or died and other side quest of note
1.Rana Thanoptis I let her live (The Asari working at Saren's cloning facility)
2.Captain Kirrahee and his team Lived
3.Helped Gianna Parasini bust the Administrator Anoleis
4.Shiala lived (asari on Feros)
5.Hela Blake lived and disbanded her gang
6.Tombs lived but the Cerberus dude I killed
7.Convinced the Biotics to let Chairman Burns live and Chairman Burns to help the L2s
8.Talked Talitha down and into getting help. In the side quest I remember me.
9.Convinced the Salarian and Volus dudes to work together and Helped them Scan the Keepers.
10.Got Service Men Bhitea's body back home (not sure if I spelled that right don't really care either)
11.Saved the hostages in Bring Down the Sky and Balek is still at large.
12.Conrad Verner I didn't use Paragon or Renegade to finish that idiots side quest so he didn't show up in ME2 and hopefully not in ME3.
13.Gave Tali the Deta to help her Pilgrimage
14.Anderson gotta Punch Udina (I wanna punch him in ME3 SOOO Bad)
15.Saved all the drugged scientists in the Paragon side quest that were held hostage
16.I can't remember if Fist is alive or dead. IF he's dead Wrex killed him
17.Got to the end of the interview with Kalisa than punched her when she asked about Saren
18.Can't think of anything else of note right now.
ME2 main story
1.Everyone survived the Suicide Mission all Squad Mates and Normandy Crew Members
2.Romanced Jack and than after Suicide Mission Ended it all she said to me after that was F*ck Off looking forward to seeing how things go in ME3 with her
3.Saved Samara and tried to romance her, and she told me that "Another Life Another Place" Thing I still want this Romance arch resolved and taken care of, The feelings need to be resloved
4.Collector Base was Destroyed
5.Told The Illusive Man to go to hell
6.Got my Specter Status reinstated
7.Vetor went with Tali
8.Romanced Kelly Also
9.Can't think of any other main story choices
Loyalty Missions
1.Mordin's: Malen Lived, Told Mordin to keep the Genophage Data and Help the Krogans
2.Tali: Didn't get exiled, didn't show the evidence, and told the Quarians to go for peace, brought Legion along too.
3.Legion: Destroyed Heretics: Was too worried about a Reaper Indoctrination hardware being implanted and it felt it was too big a risk of it infecting all Geth
4.Zaeed: Is alive and Veto got away
5.Kasumi: I destroyed the Grey Box
6.Told Jack to let that dude live
7.Thane: Stoped his kid from killing that dude and Captain Bailey is taking care of his son.
8.Samara lived and I covered this in the main plot above
9.Garrus: Sadonis is alive and he ended up turning himself in to C-Sec
10.Jacob T.: His dad got killed by the people he kicked out and enslaved Boring LM
11.Miranda: Told her to talk to her sister blah blah boring LM
12.Grunt: Killed the Thresher Maw
Other things in ME2
1.The Patriarch is alive I was his Krant (or however its spelled)
2.Helped Giana again
3.Got the Salarian Karosa Family data back
4.The Biotic God is alive
5.The Asari that murdered the Volus is still alive and at large
6.The Volus that was a crook got turned over to the Captain
7.Rana is alive again (not sure if I could kill her in ME2)
8.Didn't punch Kalisa this time
9.Conrad never showed up
10.Told the Asari (Blue Rose of Illium) to stay with the Krogan who likes poetry Char (I think)
11.Told Udina I had a list of people I didn't want to see while I was visiting Anderson and his name was at the top of that list. Also told Anderson to fire him. Hope this comes up in ME3.
Can't think of anything else that may matter
DLC choices
1.Overlord: Gaven Archer is alive (not sure if he could be killed) his brother went to the Grissom Academy
2.Lair of the Shadow Broker: Ending things with Liara as friends didn't want to push things and want to get with Samara still
3.Arrival: Tried to worn the Batarians, and Killed Dr. Amanda Kensen (not sure if she can live or note I always shoot her ass as soon as I can)
That's all I can think of, other than my character is Colonist and Sole Survivor if any fan of ME1 and 2 has anything else they want to ask or mention that I forget please let me know in the comments or just let me know what your thoughts are in the comments.
Wednesday, March 7, 2012
W.A.S.P. The Last Command
W.A.S.P.'s 2nd album The Last Command released in 1985. This album is oddly (well really not oddly) hands down W.A.S.P.'s biggest radio album. The Music Video for the song Wild Child was my introduction to the the band.
The Line up on W.A.S.P.'s 2nd album is Blackie Lawless: Lead Singer and Bass, Chris Holmes: Lead Guitar, Randy Piper: Lead & Rhythm Guitar, and Steve Riley: Drums. This is the first album to have Steve Riley on Drums (Original Drummer Tony Richards was gone shortly after the band Released their first album).
I remember seeing the video for the first time around 2004 or 2005 on VH1 Classic. For the longest time that was the only song I knew of W.A.S.P.'s and I really didn't think much of them. The video is lame, and makes the band look like idiots.
The band is playing in the desert, if it can be called Playing, every time the Camera goes by Randy Piper Randy runs his hands through his hair, and Steve Riley looks like he hardly knows how to play the drums, and Blackie is well being the front man and putting on a show, and hardly plucks any strings on his Bass in the video. The only Member who looks like they know how to play in the video is Chris Holmes.
When the video don't show the band playing in the desert it's showing Blackie Lawless riding his Motorcycle while some weird chick keeps popping up. It's a very bad music video and really makes the band look like fools.
Now anyway back to the album. The Last Command which the big songs from the album (Big meaning they got radio play) Wild Child, and Blind in Texas (which also had a music video that had a cameo by ZZ Top in it) and for radio hits that's about it along with music videos.
Now given I own most of W.A.S.P.'s 13 studio albums, this album I have mixed feelings on. It is not a very good W.A.S.P. album. W.A.S.P.'s first album was a Kick Ass, Loud Mean Metal Album. The first album was a very different sound which W.A.S.P. went back to and is the True W.A.S.P. sound and style. The first album had so many kicking songs, From I Wanna Be Somebody, L.O.V.E. Machine, Hellion, Tormentor, and of course the infamous Animal F*ck Like a Beast.
The Last Command is a much more tame album and is way to soft and nice for this bands sound. It's got slow drums (not thundering drums). If I wanted to take an easy way out I could blame the lack of sound on the new drummer Steve Riley (who really did the whole tour for the first album), given his drumming style never fit W.A.S.P. and he sucked playing the drums on the next W.A.S.P. album, but the drums are not the only thing out of place on this album.
The album has next to no Bass Lines, and the songs sound as if only Chris was doing Guitar work, But Randy is still doing the Back Up Vocals right behind Blackie's lead Vocals. It's a much too tame album sound wise.
It don't stop there though, lyrically my god Blackie these lyrics are like only half realized lyrics compared to what you normally write. Songs like Widow Maker make me scratch my head and say WTF is this supposed to be about? That's not the type of thoughts that are normally provoked in W.A.S.P. lyrics.
Then there is Fistful of Diamond I have no doubt Blackie wrote it right after cashing his Massive Signing Bonus for signing with Capital Records. It's rather lyrically simple.
The Last Command is a Raise Your Fist rally around Anthem for Metal. A good Song and one of the best in my opinion on this album.
Cries in the Night is a great song, that at one time had been a different song that Blackie wrote when he was in another band. I think Blackie came back to the idea and meaning behind this song and It turned into something different and far greater and more complete in the meaning behind it on the 1992 album Crimson Idol. I think it became The Idol Regaurdless Cries is completely different than the song the Idol in terms of Lyrics and Music, It's one of the better songs on The Last Command.
Then there is the sound Jack Action which Blackie had a Co-Writer on which was Steven Riley. My God where did this song come from it's like a half finished story song about some dude looking to Hunt Down someone named Jack Action for taking his woman or killing her or something.
Blind in Texas is about getting shit faced in Texas and Wild Child is about some chick cheating on her husband with a bad boy (maybe some one in the band?).
Sex Drive and Running Wild in the Streets have a more Heavy sound typical of a W.A.S.P. album but that makes them feel out of place on this album, and I wonder if they were not left overs that didn't get on the first album.
The other song IS Ball Crusher and this is a Very Great W.A.S.P. Song it has the feel of this album but yet has enough of the old original sound too not feel out of place or like a left over like Sex Drive and Running Wild in the Streets. Ball Crusher also has the greatest lyrics on the album.
Now given this album is a VERY Tame album it's the most radio friendly W.A.S.P. album out there but that's the big problem here this album is too friendly compared to any other W.A.S.P. album.
Is it a bad album no, it's not even the worst W.A.S.P. album but it is not a GREAT album. Both Blackie and Chris are known to be Perfectionists, so how did this happen?
I think the main reason this album is so Tame is the band had just done their first world tour came back and they were wore out when making this album and the Record Company had someone take advantage of that by Producing and Mixing the album, the person who produced and mixed it was the same person who did Quite Riots Metal Health oh boy we're getting down to the core of the problem now boys. Yep I'd bet that the Record Company wanted to try and get the chart success of the Quiet Riot album on a W.A.S.P. album and QR's sound is just way too Tame compared to W.A.S.P.
I sure the only reason I give a shit about this album is it was my introduction to W.A.S.P.! If you ash me W.A.S.P.'s '97 album Kill, Fuck, Die or KFD is their worst album, it's shitty, and the '99 album Helldorado was a bit off. It's hard to pick my Favorite W.A.S.P. album when all of their stuff is fairly consistent except the 3 albums I listed.
I think Blackie saw what happened afterwords because every album since The Last Command he's done all the Producing and Mixing himself.
The Line up on W.A.S.P.'s 2nd album is Blackie Lawless: Lead Singer and Bass, Chris Holmes: Lead Guitar, Randy Piper: Lead & Rhythm Guitar, and Steve Riley: Drums. This is the first album to have Steve Riley on Drums (Original Drummer Tony Richards was gone shortly after the band Released their first album).
I remember seeing the video for the first time around 2004 or 2005 on VH1 Classic. For the longest time that was the only song I knew of W.A.S.P.'s and I really didn't think much of them. The video is lame, and makes the band look like idiots.
The band is playing in the desert, if it can be called Playing, every time the Camera goes by Randy Piper Randy runs his hands through his hair, and Steve Riley looks like he hardly knows how to play the drums, and Blackie is well being the front man and putting on a show, and hardly plucks any strings on his Bass in the video. The only Member who looks like they know how to play in the video is Chris Holmes.
When the video don't show the band playing in the desert it's showing Blackie Lawless riding his Motorcycle while some weird chick keeps popping up. It's a very bad music video and really makes the band look like fools.
Now anyway back to the album. The Last Command which the big songs from the album (Big meaning they got radio play) Wild Child, and Blind in Texas (which also had a music video that had a cameo by ZZ Top in it) and for radio hits that's about it along with music videos.
Now given I own most of W.A.S.P.'s 13 studio albums, this album I have mixed feelings on. It is not a very good W.A.S.P. album. W.A.S.P.'s first album was a Kick Ass, Loud Mean Metal Album. The first album was a very different sound which W.A.S.P. went back to and is the True W.A.S.P. sound and style. The first album had so many kicking songs, From I Wanna Be Somebody, L.O.V.E. Machine, Hellion, Tormentor, and of course the infamous Animal F*ck Like a Beast.
The Last Command is a much more tame album and is way to soft and nice for this bands sound. It's got slow drums (not thundering drums). If I wanted to take an easy way out I could blame the lack of sound on the new drummer Steve Riley (who really did the whole tour for the first album), given his drumming style never fit W.A.S.P. and he sucked playing the drums on the next W.A.S.P. album, but the drums are not the only thing out of place on this album.
The album has next to no Bass Lines, and the songs sound as if only Chris was doing Guitar work, But Randy is still doing the Back Up Vocals right behind Blackie's lead Vocals. It's a much too tame album sound wise.
It don't stop there though, lyrically my god Blackie these lyrics are like only half realized lyrics compared to what you normally write. Songs like Widow Maker make me scratch my head and say WTF is this supposed to be about? That's not the type of thoughts that are normally provoked in W.A.S.P. lyrics.
Then there is Fistful of Diamond I have no doubt Blackie wrote it right after cashing his Massive Signing Bonus for signing with Capital Records. It's rather lyrically simple.
The Last Command is a Raise Your Fist rally around Anthem for Metal. A good Song and one of the best in my opinion on this album.
Cries in the Night is a great song, that at one time had been a different song that Blackie wrote when he was in another band. I think Blackie came back to the idea and meaning behind this song and It turned into something different and far greater and more complete in the meaning behind it on the 1992 album Crimson Idol. I think it became The Idol Regaurdless Cries is completely different than the song the Idol in terms of Lyrics and Music, It's one of the better songs on The Last Command.
Then there is the sound Jack Action which Blackie had a Co-Writer on which was Steven Riley. My God where did this song come from it's like a half finished story song about some dude looking to Hunt Down someone named Jack Action for taking his woman or killing her or something.
Blind in Texas is about getting shit faced in Texas and Wild Child is about some chick cheating on her husband with a bad boy (maybe some one in the band?).
Sex Drive and Running Wild in the Streets have a more Heavy sound typical of a W.A.S.P. album but that makes them feel out of place on this album, and I wonder if they were not left overs that didn't get on the first album.
The other song IS Ball Crusher and this is a Very Great W.A.S.P. Song it has the feel of this album but yet has enough of the old original sound too not feel out of place or like a left over like Sex Drive and Running Wild in the Streets. Ball Crusher also has the greatest lyrics on the album.
Now given this album is a VERY Tame album it's the most radio friendly W.A.S.P. album out there but that's the big problem here this album is too friendly compared to any other W.A.S.P. album.
Is it a bad album no, it's not even the worst W.A.S.P. album but it is not a GREAT album. Both Blackie and Chris are known to be Perfectionists, so how did this happen?
I think the main reason this album is so Tame is the band had just done their first world tour came back and they were wore out when making this album and the Record Company had someone take advantage of that by Producing and Mixing the album, the person who produced and mixed it was the same person who did Quite Riots Metal Health oh boy we're getting down to the core of the problem now boys. Yep I'd bet that the Record Company wanted to try and get the chart success of the Quiet Riot album on a W.A.S.P. album and QR's sound is just way too Tame compared to W.A.S.P.
I sure the only reason I give a shit about this album is it was my introduction to W.A.S.P.! If you ash me W.A.S.P.'s '97 album Kill, Fuck, Die or KFD is their worst album, it's shitty, and the '99 album Helldorado was a bit off. It's hard to pick my Favorite W.A.S.P. album when all of their stuff is fairly consistent except the 3 albums I listed.
I think Blackie saw what happened afterwords because every album since The Last Command he's done all the Producing and Mixing himself.
Monday, March 5, 2012
Mass Effect 3
If you are holding off on ME3 because of your well founded fears, too much autodialogue, not enough player involvement in conversations, Unresolved character relationships and plots, the whacky endings, RPG mode being Action mode with the occasional dialogue wheel, or anything else.
I'll try and cover it all here once I get my Xbox 360 Collectors Edition from Amazon. Given BW has already locked the ME3 boards and only let ME3 owners access to post in them, I wanted to do something to help those fans BW turned their back on and left in the cold.
I don't like that the boards are being locked to people who don't have a registered copy of the game. It's something I'm against, it's a form of censorship and N@zi Policing if you ask me. If you can't take negative feedback for something you created and face the consequences of fans expressing being upset with ya in a adult manner than you lose much of my respect, not to mention when those fans being locked out have registered on the boards years ago and been with ya for years. If ya take a sh!t on long time customers and fans how long before ya start sh!ting on new fans?
All the DLC
ME1 DLC Bring down the Sky and Pinnacle Station.
The ME2 DLC, Normandy Crash Site, Zaeed - The Price of Revenge, Arc Projector, Cerberus Weapons and Armor, Firewalker Pack, Kasumi - Stolen Memory, Equalizer Pack, Aegis Pack, Firepower Pack, Alternate Appearance Pack 1 & 2, Overlord, Lair of the Shadow Broker, and Arrival.
I'll try and cover it all here once I get my Xbox 360 Collectors Edition from Amazon. Given BW has already locked the ME3 boards and only let ME3 owners access to post in them, I wanted to do something to help those fans BW turned their back on and left in the cold.
I don't like that the boards are being locked to people who don't have a registered copy of the game. It's something I'm against, it's a form of censorship and N@zi Policing if you ask me. If you can't take negative feedback for something you created and face the consequences of fans expressing being upset with ya in a adult manner than you lose much of my respect, not to mention when those fans being locked out have registered on the boards years ago and been with ya for years. If ya take a sh!t on long time customers and fans how long before ya start sh!ting on new fans?
I don't have the capabilities to post any videos of my ME3 playthrough online or take video of it for that matter, but I'll try and cover things the best I can.
If your wondering about my credentials here are My Mass Effect credentials,
I've been a fan of ME since E3 2006 and have been playing ME since it was released on the 360 in 2007.
I've played ME 1 and 2 more than 30 times each, and those are complete playthroughs all side missions and everything.
All the DLC
ME1 DLC Bring down the Sky and Pinnacle Station.
The ME2 DLC, Normandy Crash Site, Zaeed - The Price of Revenge, Arc Projector, Cerberus Weapons and Armor, Firewalker Pack, Kasumi - Stolen Memory, Equalizer Pack, Aegis Pack, Firepower Pack, Alternate Appearance Pack 1 & 2, Overlord, Lair of the Shadow Broker, and Arrival.
I've read and own the novels Revelations, Ascension, Retribution, and the Abomination written by William Dietz Deception.
I own the ME Comics in TPB form of Redemption and Evolution.
I can be seen speaking my mind on the BW ME Forums with the name gearseffect, and my user pic is of Samara. Samara's romance sub plot being finished in ME3 is something that I've wanted for a long time (sadly I don't think it will be touched on in ME3), So I should be more than qualified to do this, I've made it known that I will be doing this over on the Forums. SO if you need a place for honest answers, not @sskissing answers I'll be attempting to do that here.
As you can see I rarely hold my honest (and at times Brutally or Blunt) opinion back, I'd probably end up getting banned on the forums for being very blunt and critical in my assessment of the game. I hope that ME3 is not as bad as it looks, and I'd love to be eating my words but I fear that I won't be.
The footage I've seen of the game so far is full of autodialogue.
Here is a link to a Youtube user who's been posting his play troughs of ME3 click the Link.
If anyone has any questions or something feel free to please leave me Comments.
As you can see I rarely hold my honest (and at times Brutally or Blunt) opinion back, I'd probably end up getting banned on the forums for being very blunt and critical in my assessment of the game. I hope that ME3 is not as bad as it looks, and I'd love to be eating my words but I fear that I won't be.
The footage I've seen of the game so far is full of autodialogue.
Here is a link to a Youtube user who's been posting his play troughs of ME3 click the Link.
If anyone has any questions or something feel free to please leave me Comments.
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