Working on Part 2 of my game

As the blog post states. :)

After a power outage a few days ago set me back about 2-3 man hours of work (by corrupting the game archive and forcing me to use an earlier backup to resume development), I've been hard at work making up the lost ground. I've got most of the enemies back online, as well as the game's second boss (which I hope will be as fun for you to face as I had fun creating them). In addition, I'm proud to say that I'm over halfway done with chapter 1 of Dryantia Part 2. Part 2 is going to have multiple chapters.

Each chapter will have at least one protagonist and may have several supporting characters. Supporting characters are only hitching a ride with the protagonist(s) until the chapter is done, at which time they'll go off to do their own thing. I expect the end-game party to have around 8 possible characters off of the top of my head.

In other news, I'm still working on minor details for the commercial release of Part 1 of Dryantia.

So, when will it be ready?
Whenever it's ready. :P

Seriously, a big part of making games for me is actually having fun and going at my own pace. I don't like to set deadlines because then I have to force myself to meet them. I prefer just to work at something until it's done and that's that. :D

In any case, that's about it from me for now. Hope you're all doing great! :D

Until the next time, take care and have fun! ;)
-Winterfate

Game Post 10 - Version 1.03e in the Forums and Other Things

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 *as written over at http://forums.rpgmakerweb.com/index.php?/blog/97/entry-542-game-post-10-version-103e-in-the-forums-and-other-things/ *

Long time no see, guys and girls! Hope you've all been great!

At my end, I've been busy at work doing lots of research for the commercial release of Part 1 of my game, Dryantia. I'm going to be taking the month of July to work all of the details out, whereupon I plan to release Version 1.04 as my first commercial release. I'm not really trying to set a certain date in stone since things happen. In any case, while I'm setting up shop, you can download version 1.03e for free in this very forum: http://forums.rpgmak...12467-dryantia/

Besides that, I've been tweaking Part 1 of Dryantia to make the mid-game less punishing, as noted by Matseb during his playthrough of the game. What happened was that, during one of my various test runs of the game, I decided that the exp curve was too flat (allowing players to cap with virtually no effort) and made it a little steeper. However, it turned out to be too steep while Lemnar was in his teens, making the Umbraloth fight nearly unbeatable at low levels (necessitating a ridiculous amount of grinding). So, I debuffed Umbraloth a bit and boosted the experience points that many of the monsters in the mid-game give. That should make that portion of the game more bearable (really, once you have your party members, many fights are much easier).

In addition, I've been fixing some minor bugs that have pretty much no effect on the game but were bugging (punny!) me (mainly word-wrapping issues in text boxes and stuff).

Part 2 of Dryantia is chugging along at a sloths pace since I want to concentrate on getting Part 1 out into the world proper before I really dig in to Part 2 (that and I'm in dire need of some custom graphics so I don't have like 7 placeholder battlers, which is starting to distract me to be honest. The good news here is that I have the first three dungeons completed as well as all of the creatures I have envisioned for said dungeons (with the sole exception of the third dungeon boss).

I don't have much more to add at this time, but feel free to ask questions in the comments section. :D

Until the next time, take care and have fun! ;)

- Winterfate
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Beta version of my game now available for playtesting!

I wrote this up over at: http://forums.rpgmakerweb.com/index.php?/blog/97/entry-487-game-post-4-dryantia-beta-1/

However, for the benefit of those of you who haven't signed up to that site, here it is in full.

Well, hello there guys and girls! It's time for me to release the first beta of my game, Dryantia (well, roughly 97% beta and 3% alpha if you want to get technical). This is the full game in a playable state (to the best of my knowledge, given that I've play-tested it a few times). As you may expect from a game in beta, things can change, so don't hesitate to recommend changes you believe would improve the game.

You can download the beta from Dropbox by clicking on any part of this sentence.

I estimate that the game will last you about six to seven hours if you do everything there is to do and about five hours if you speed run. In the spirit of old-school RPGs, there are a myriad of little things that you can discover by experimenting with certain items in certain areas. Also, talking to everyone and exploring all possible locations might make things easier in the long run as well.

On that note, you might not want to eat the first piece of Meat you find in the game (as it may serve a greater purpose if you give it to someone rather than eating it; that's my free tip of Dryantia for the day). ;)

For those of you who played the demo version of this game before the beta, here are the things that change from here to there in the first portion of the game available in the demo:

• There's now an invisible plot wall to the east of Verim. You can bypass it once you talk to the king in Clorant.
• Inner Tlafta Forest (the part after the maze) has been reworked to be somewhat more linear, a lot more lively looking, and have more chests.
• The introduction sequence ends with you warping into the library directly instead of having to walk there.

So, how can you help out?

• Play the beta.
• Let me know what things work and what things don't work so well.
• Definitely let me know if there are any critical bugs in the game (they cause the game to crash, hang, or otherwise freeze, or make the game unwinnable).
• Make particular note of the later areas. The balance there is almost assuredly off, but I need your help to figure out whether said deviation benefits the player or the enemy encounters.

Essentially, the more feedback you can give me, the more information I have to work with. Rest assured that I read all of the comments and such that you write and that I take them into consideration (whether I end up using them or not).

Thanks in advance for your time and help!

Until the next time, take care and have fun! ;)

-Winterfate

New article up at Hubpages titled: Online Games: The Future of Gaming?

As the blog post title says, I have a new article up at Hubpages! Here's the link: http://winterfate.hubpages.com/_Winterfate/hub/Online-Games-The-Future-of-Gaming

Basically, I give my own personal reasons as to why online games are poised to become the future of video gaming (some would argue this is already the case!).

Also, I've been looking on the internet for ways to increase the traffic I get to this blog, to my Hubpages account and to my Twitter account. I'd like to say I've been getting positive results, but they've been mixed at best.

Also, since I can't help but mention it in every blog post: There's NINE DAYS left for the release of Fire Emblem: Awakening in North America (I'll be getting it in 10 days!). I think it goes without saying that you can expect me to write some articles about the game, given that I'm hyping so much about it. I also think it goes without saying that my priority is in actually playing the game and not writing about it. :P

So, I don't really have much else to report! Thanks for reading as usual!

Until the next time, take care and have fun! ;)

-Winterfate

Still alive, in case you cared...

So, it's been an awful long while since I've posted in this video game blog. How long, you may ask? Well, just look at the date of this post and then look at the date of the previous post.

To be fair, it's because life caught up with me. I was working at a job until recently and then I decided to quit. Wait, you may wonder, why would I quit a perfectly good job? Well, the job just wasn't doing it for me. I have numerous talents and my job wasn't allowing me to exploit any of them in a reasonable fashion. So, I left. To do what? Well, to do what I love to do: Write articles and continue developing my very own video game. I've kept mostly quiet about my game, as I want to have a nearly completed game before I start talking more about it. Also, I'm wondering whether to have a beta for the game or not.

Anyway, for those of you who have peeked in here every once in a while during 2012, you may have noticed that the little HubPages widget to the left and the one to the right have both been updating. Also, I've been trying to branch out into other categories of articles in an attempt to get more traffic for my writing. Results up to now have mostly been mixed.

What else can I say? Oh, I fell in love with Fire Emblem. Hadn't played any of them and decided to play Shadow Dragon a while ago. Pre-ordered Fire Emblem: Awakening, so you can look forward to some articles from me related to that game come February. Besides that, I've been playing Baldur's Gate: Enhanced Edition, which is just as good as the original ever was.

That's about it from me for now. So, if you want me to actually maintain this blog for real, please give me comments. I feel like I'm talking to myself otherwise.

Until the next time, take care and have fun! ;)
-Winterfate

Dragon Quest VI: Realms of Revelation released today!

The title of this post says it all! Well, assuming you're looking at Amazon that is. I think retail stores release the game tomorrow, but what's one day anyways? This is especially considering that, if you get it from Amazon, you have to wait for it to ship, so you won't receive it today anyways; but that way you don't get sales taxed. This momentous event marks the first time this game has been released in the Western world, and also marks the first time that all Dragon Quest games have been available for purchase in both hemispheres.

If you want to purchase a copy of this game, feel free to check out the Amazon ad below:
















Speaking of other things Dragon Quest, I have also been looking into a way to get a cheap copy of Dragon Quest V, because the current price is beyond ridiculous ($60+ for a USED copy...). If you've been wondering about this as well, here's a shortened link to Square Enix's Online Store!

Finally, but definitely not least, I have updated my Hubpages profile to better reflect my best hubs, most of which are related to Dragon Quest IX. Feel free to check out all of my hubs by clicking on any part of this sentences to access my HubPages profile.

Well, that's about it from me for now. If you have the spare money and enjoy classic RPGs, then Dragon Quest VI will be sure to entertain you for a long time!

Until the next time, take care and have fun! ;)

-Winterfate

I have reached Gold Rank in Starcraft II !

For those of you who have followed me at HubPages recently, you may or may have noticed one of my newest hubs related to the Starcraft II ladder. You can check it out by clicking on any part of this sentence: It's called Starcraft 2: Tips, Strategies, and Tricks from a Silver-Level Player.

Since then, I have actually been promoted to Gold, which was, to be fair, a long time coming. See, the matchmaking system had been pairing me up against Gold and Platinum level players for a while, so I knew that a promotion was imminent. I was just not sure when it would happen. It finally happened in a game versus a Zerg player who attempted to Mutalisk rush me...on one base. Considering how gas heavy Mutalisks are, that was a pretty bad idea. There are several one base Zerg aggression strategies that do work, but quick Muta doesn't, unless you have insane micromanagement abilities.

If you want to check out my progress on the ladder (or anyone else, for that matter), click here.

In other news, I've also been playing Dragon Quest IX and have been getting some pretty cool rare items from the DQVC. This week is "fashion week" (I'm paraphrasing, but the official name of the week is pretty vague anyways. :P).

So, that's about it from me for now. I hope you're all doing great and having lots of fun!
Until the next time, take care and have fun! ;)

-Winterfate

P.S: I hate early aggression builds in Starcraft II. :'(

Forgotten Realms - Icewind Dale Review And Starcraft II Stuffs!

Well, I decided to write up my Icewind Dale review over at Hubpages.com, which makes it the first videogame article I publish on that site this year. Yay for me!

If you want to check it out, feel free to click on any part of this sentence.

In other news, I've been watching the first GSL tournament of 2011 (that's the Global Starcraft II League for those of you who are wondering what the acronym stands for). I'm particularly impressed with Boxer's superb performance and somewhat saddened by Fruitdealer's two losses in a row. I sure hope he can rebound, because he's awesome, and he plays Zerg, and I loves my Zerg something fierce. :P

I myself haven't played Starcraft II in a LONG while. For those of you who don't know the story (of why I stopped in the first place) yet, well here it goes: Basically I was prepping up for a good old 3v3 conflict against computers (cooperative match) when one of my teammates decided to team kill me because I wouldn't give him unit control. It was enough to make me stop playing. I'm sure people will argue that I should grow a thicker skin. Well, my skin's more than thick enough. It's a case of principle really: Until Blizzard adds some way for players to kick out teamkillers/ignore/otherwise not have to play with them, I'd rather not even hop into the Cooperative queue. I don't feel like having fifteen minutes of my life wasted because someone has self-entitlement issues. If they never add it, I guess I won't play SC II again until my friend gets a copy (already beat the campaign on Brutal except for All In, but that's a whole different monster since I'm trying to fight off ground and air. :/ ). And, if he never gets a copy, guess I'm not playing again. I can always play the original Starcraft on LAN with my dad, but guess what feature they cut out of the sequel?

I highly doubt Blizzard is crying over my departure, so it's win-win at both ends.

I'll end this blog post on that note.

Anyways, until the next time, take care and have fun! ;)

-Winterfate

Happy Holidays/One Year At Hubpages/Icewind Dale Done!

First of all, I'd like to say happy holidays to everyone, as I conveniently (:P) forgot to do so during the holidays. I hope you all had a great time with the people you love and cherish, no matter what you were doing.

My holidays could've been better, but then again, they could've been worse, so perhaps I shouldn't complain. :P

I also took an hour or so to write up my 93rd article over at Hubpages.com today. As of a day ago or so, I now have the accolade for being a member of Hubpages for a whole year. Thus, I wrote up an article celebrating the occasion. You can read it by clicking on any part of this sentence.

However, this is a videogaming blog, so I couldn't very well finish this new post without making at least one reference to the subject. :P

I have recently finished the entirety of Icewind Dale, including the expansion pack content. In hindsight, the game's a lot shorter than Baldur's Gate, but that may be because the emphasis is on combat, so once you hit the ground running, it's much easier to grind through a dungeon of baddies than it is to find the five pieces of a flail to create the ultimate flail of destruction (kudos to whoever figured out that reference!).

I still owe you guys a hub to finish up my Fallout Let's Play, but life and the dire need to make money have been halting my efforts. I hope to get something concrete done between now and 2012. :P

Anyways, I thank you for following my blog. I hope you have a great day!
Until the next time, take care and have fun! ;)

-Winterfate

Legacy Boss Hunter - Baramos over at Hubpages!

Hello there, how have you been?

I wrote up this blog post to bring attention to one of my top articles over at HubPages. The article in question is for Dragon Quest IX (go figure, eh? :P), and deals with beating the Legacy Boss Baramos. Given that he'll probably be your first Legacy Boss (unless you use Tag Mode to acquire other Legacy Boss maps from other players), I consider that this article is a must-read if you want to get into the Legacy Boss killing mindset.

If you want to read it, feel free: The link is: http://hubpages.com/hub/Dragon-Quest-IX-Legacy-Boss-Hunter-Baramos

Also, here are some general tips that apply to most high-level boss runs:

• You NEED a healer. Don't argue this point. Just don't. Gamers tend to argue this with me until they get destroyed over the course of 2-3 turns by mass attacks. :P
• You'll probably need a tank as well. Unless you're doing the 3 Gladiators and 1 Priest party setup, which involves killing the boss before your party bites the dust, then you'll have to take things a bit slower. Paladins make the best tanks, but Warriors are adequate.
• Each character should have an Yggdrasil Leaf. There's nothing worse than losing your healer to a lucky boss critical and then having no one that can revive.

If you heed the above, you're on the path of victory. If you need any more help, feel free to hit me up either here or at one of my Dragon Quest IX articles.

Until the next time, take care and have fun! ;)

-Winterfate

A Videogame related comic I discovered!

Well, hello there! I apologize for not updating this blog or my hubpages account in a few days, but I've been busy trying to make money online. :/

With that said, I need my leisure time as well, so I've been reading a webcomic called Ctrl+Alt+Del. It chronicles the daily occurences of two videogamers called Ethan and Lucas. The author does a pretty good job of making the comic strips humorous to all readers, so if you're not a videogamer, you'll probably still get quite a few laughs out of it. I wholeheartedly recommend it to anyone who's had a bad day, or just wants to distract him or herself for a while. :)

In other news, I haven't really played Dragon Quest IX for a while, so my next Legacy Boss Hunter article could take quite a long time to get written up. You can blame Icewind Dale for that.

Speaking of which...I picked up a copy of Icewind Dale Complete over at Good Old Games. So, you MAY see me write up a review for that game some time soon. Whether I write it here or over at HubPages, don't worry because you'll hear about it here in either case. ;)

What I CAN tell you in advance is that it's pretty fun. For those of you in the audience who have played Baldur's Gate, Icewind Dale features more of an emphasis on dungeon crawling than quest-doing. However, it is my humble opinion that, if you enjoyed Baldur's Gate, you'll enjoy Icewind Dale as well. :)

That's about it from me for now. Feel free to comment on this, or any other of my blog posts. I don't bite...hard. ;)

Until the next time, take care and have fun! ;)

-Winterfate

A Rant about Videogamers by a Videogamer (aka. Myself, Winterfate, and I.)

So, hello there!

Today, I'm going to write up something different. This is going to be a rant about videogamers and how they seem to have low attention spans nowadays. So, feel free to turn away because I'm about to put in my old man dentures and find a walking cane.

[Gramps mode]

See, back when I was a kid (not TOO long ago, I'm actually only 22 as of the time of this writing), the average videogame took a LOT more attention to detail. Oh, did you accidentally kill that one gargoyle? Yes, that ONE gargoyle that actually wasn't hostile? Well, guess you can't finish the game. Or, maybe you drank that bottle of wine you were supposed to give to your friend so that, satisfied with the beverage, he could give you a stick that you could throw to distract a monstrous dog-like alien. Umm, New Game is looking pretty nice right about now.

Situations just like those, or similar to those, were all over the videogame library about 15-20 years ago. If it wasn't you essentially shutting yourself out of completing the game because of a poor decision, it was the game's difficulty cranked to 11 that essentially forced you to restart the entire game repeatedly. Battletoads and Contra come to mind right about now (I have played neither of these games and, from what I've seen, my sanity thanks me for it).

I wrote up an article at Hubpages talking about how games have changed in the past decade or so that's pretty appropriate to the subject, so feel free to check it out by clicking on any part of this sentence.

Now, the reason I bring this up is because I've been repeatedly assailed in some of my Dragon Quest IX articles for help. Mind you, I love helping people and, my conclusion usually states that any feedback and/or comments should be directed to that section. So, if you ask for help, you'll get it. The problem is when people post their party setups AFTER reading my "how-to beat a boss in DQ IX articles" and AFTER reading the recommendations and then wonder why they can't beat the boss with their party. I look at their party and it has critical, glaring, flaws that I address during the article. I mean, if you posted in my comments section for a given article, I have to assume you did read it, right?

(If you ask for party help in one of my DQ IX articles that doesn't involve killing bosses or setting up your party, then you're forgiven out of principle. After all, I can't know for a physical certainty whether you've read the relevant articles or not.)

Most of the time, they lack a strong healer. The need of a healer in Dragon Quest IX is something I repeat ad nauseum. DQ IX plays like a classic roleplaying game, and in those games your most important character is your healer.

You may scoff at that statement, but think about it: What good is it if you can kill someone with one spell if you're dead before you can cast it? Your healer makes sure your mage can let loose with that One Spell of Death.

(Oh, and inb4butwhatifmyhealergetskilled, since I know some of you probably went there.)

Nevertheless I help them out, in spite of the fact that, had they read the article they were posting a comment to, they would already have their answer. But, it gets grating. It's like you telling someone how NOT to fall into a hole, and they do it anyways. Then, you remind them, and they fall in AGAIN!

But, what would I know right? This is the generation of Too Long; Didn't Read anyways. If YOUR party setup isn't working despite not having a healer and/or capable tank then it's obviously MY fault isn't it? Heavens forbid the article you're posting your question to actually answers it! -_-

Now, this isn't a declaration that I'm the ultimate Dragon Quest guru. In fact, I could name a few usernames of people who have posted in my comments section for said articles that have helped ME out with builds and such things. Like a true rant, this has gone all over the place, so here's the main idea I'm trying to put across: If you're going to ask for help in the comments section of an article, at least have the decency to read it first and mention the fact. If what has been said in the article doesn't help you out, THEN you can call the writer out on it. Until then, you're just being lazy and inconsiderate.

It makes me feel better if you ask, "Hey, I read your article and it says I need a healer. But, I don't want to use one. Here's my party setup." than if you ask: "So yeah, here's my party. Help me please."

[/Gramps mode]

Anyways, that's about it for now. I really had to get that off my chest and so decided to kill two birds with one stone by writing it here. :)

I hope you have lots of fun, even more so now that you know that you need a healer in Dragon Quest IX. :P

Until the next time, take care and have fun! ;)

-Winterfate

Dhoulmagus Map Get! Also, a blog update.

I finally got that forsaken map off of Murdaw. Ironically, after about two good hours of failed attempts on a previous night, I got it within 3 tries this morning. So, now that I've beaten on Dhoulmagus (which happens to be easier at level 1 than Murdaw is at level 16, go figure!) for a bit, I'm going to write an article about him for my Legacy Boss Hunter series, as promised. I'm not sure WHEN I'll do it exactly, but just stay tuned, for I'll be announcing it in this blog as usual.

In other gaming blog news, I've removed blueadvertise from this site, as they didn't make me a single cent. So, now I'll be using that advertising space right below the blog description to promote Clickbank products related to videogames (affiliate marketing is kind of my side job). The banner I have placed in that spot as of the time of this writing is for the Warcraft Blueprint. You can read more about it by following the banner or clicking on any part of this sentence.

With World of Warcraft: Cataclysm being freshly released not too long ago, I figured this was a perfect time to bring something WoW-related to the table.

Feel free to leave feedback or comments in my blog posts. I don't bite...much. :P

Until the next time, take care and have fun! ;)

-Winterfate

Dragon Quest IX: VUST - Armamentalist's Fource Hub at Hubpages.com!

As the title of this blog post states, I've released a new article over at hubpages.com. The ninth installment of my Vocation Unique Skill Tree series (or VUST, for short) talks all about the very interesting and unique physical attack buffing Armamentalist skill tree, called the Fource.

This is my 91st hub, and my 87th videogame hub, so I want to take a moment to thank everyone who has been reading my articles for all of this time. Your continued readership is much appreciated. :)

So, feel free to check out the article by clicking on any part of this sentence. :)

If you read my previous blog post, you're probably wondering why I wrote this one up first. Well, the truth of the matter is that it's easier. I can write about skill trees any day, but to write about a Legacy Boss, I prefer to have some hands-on experience, which means actually fighting him a few times to get some details I can work with. Murdaw, however, refuses to drop Dhoulmagus' Map. They must be in cahoots to stop me from talking about Dhoulmagus. But, I'll wrest the map from Murdaw's control one of these days. Once that day comes,  you can expect a blog post linking to that article as well. :)

Anyways, that's all from me for now. Take care and have fun! ;)

-Winterfate

Blog Name Changed and other Videogame Thoughts.

The post title says it all: I have decided to change the name of this blog.

You see, my original intent with this blog was to talk about videogames and what-not. However, ever since I started writing over at hubpages.com, I've realized that this blog has turned into more of a gateway for my articles and other videogame related things I can think up. Anyways, while the other title had more mystique, this one is more down to earth and describes the blog better, don't you think? :)

In other news, for those of you who follow me over at hubpages.com, you've probably realized that I've stopped updating my Fallout walkthrough. Bad things happened and, while I managed to back up my save files, I had to reformat my computer, so that's going to be delayed indefinitely. I might write up a summary of the rest of the plot to help out those who were following my walkthrough. You have my most solemn apologies, and I will come up with some way to compensate for this occurrence as soon as I can. :)

Anyways, I hope you like the new look of the blog (and by new I mean I took out the Adsense and have been dabbling with other ad companies).

Until the next time, take care and have fun! ;)

-Winterfate