Which is the reason I haven't submitted anything of late. I've been attempting to advance my own skills into more useful areas, mainly digital painting.

Now, I really do want to this and I've put quite a bit of work into trying to get somewhere with it. But, I haven't gotten anywhere really. Actually, I've gotten nowhere :/

I've looked at some tutorials, but most discuss general techniques, such as blending and what not. None of them were that thorough either, I never got enough information to get much of anywhere, as I said before.

My other real issue, is the fact that my general art skills when it comes to drawing are limited in themselves. I never drew/painted much, nor seriously. Although, I always stick to the mindset that you can learn what you do not know, as long as you're willing. I have tried digging for information, but I haven't been able to find much that was useful.

I ask anyone who happens to read this to please link any good sites that discuss techniques to draw/paint environments and humans. As well as lighting, color theory, and flow. Also, those discussing digital painting in itself. If it matters, I am particularly interested in more realistic painting, not ultra-realism though. As for environments, I would like to learn the art of painting science fiction landscapes, the science fiction subject also goes for the humans.

Thank you for the help,

- Eric

This was a triumph
I'm making a note here
HUGE SUCCESS
It's hard to overstate my satisfaction

Still here, not exactly kicking, I'm a bit tired. But, alive am I!

I'll be uploading a few new deviations, just haven't been busy lately. Although, of course, there's a few things I wanted to touch on:

The recent Pirate Bay.org trial. It's amazing they actually won the case, shoddy evidence, even shoddier evidence brought in in the middle of the trial. They did it though, here's some more info so you can pour over it yourself: [link]

I recently picked up a crap-load of games, FarCry 2, Fallout 1, Fallout 2, Elder Scrolls: Oblivion, H.A.W.X., Bioshock, Lost Planet, Mass Effect, EVE online, blah blah blah. Either way, I planned on a lot of reviews, and I still do, I just plan on beating the game first . On that note, it may be a bit before I get any real reviews up (except Mass Effect, almost got it done).

Also, the new Star Trek movie, say the review from IGN for the UK version. 3.5/5, they said the most off was for the action scenes as they were dull while the characters were well developed and very much like their TOS counterparts.

On EVE Online, look me up as Jordaniel Torey if you happen to play.

Thank You,


- Eric

PS.

Remember, Mommy,
I'm off to get a commie,
So send me a salami,
And try to smile somehow.
I'll look for you when the war is over,
An hour and a half from now!

Some of my friends nagged me into coming back to WoW, I finally fell in and resubbed for one month. Think maybe I was wrong, maybe the game can be fun. Yeah... right.

Start off with the obvious, the graphics. For being four years old it's really not too bad. I can't complain too much, I mean, I can't expect everything game to be really pretty. I can tell the objects from each other and the bright colors make it easy to see. Although my issue with the graphics/visuals is the fact that on my rig (2.4 quad core proc, 8600GT OCed, 6GB DDR2 800 RAM), it still manages to be laggy. This same rig can run LOTRO at full settings, it can run Crysis at High and Fallout 3 at high. The WoW engine needs to be updated to take advantage of multi-core procs and soon. There's no excuse for this.

Another thing that erks me is how laggy these servers are. I play on a US West server (I live in the Western US) and I still get bad lag at times. I played the US East server of Tabula Rasa with no lag. I can play the European servers of Priston Tale 2 (an FTP game still in Closed Beta mind you) with no lag. There's no excuse for a company that claims to have 11 million active subscribers paying 15 dollars a month, plus the fact you have to buy The Burning Crusade to play Wrath of the Lich King, and they claim they've sold 4 million copies of WoTLK. So... 365,000,000 that would 365 million dollars taken in this month. The equation is here:

15*11,000,000 = 165,000,000 = 20+30*4,000,000 = 200,000,000 = 165,000,000 + 200,000,000 = 365,000,000

It is a lot of money. With all this money, they should be able to do the following things:

- Improve the engine to work with multi-core procs
- Improve the servers
- Get some moderators to stop the idiots in Trade
- Make some free patches that do more than fix a bug and nerf a class.

But they don't. The game continues to have laggy servers, and an engine lacking improvement. What does this tell me? The dev team doesn't give a crap. There's no excuse for it, none at all.

Moving on, the sound. It's bah at best. Grunts, whacks, occasional decent music track. Voice-over every now and then (on seemingly random NPCs). Nothing special at all. Nothing horrible.

The gameplay, the meat of the game obviously. I'll break this up since there's a lot of crap (no really, crap) to go over.

Combat, it's slow. Not that the spell recharge times aren't way too fast, but the combat is just damned slow. The combat is subtly turn-based. And the turns take FOREVER. At least when trying to pass for real-time. I shouldn't be left waiting after my opponent's attack animation is over and I receive damage. To be fair there shouldn't be turns at all. But if there are, make them quick. Like LOTRO, it has turns but it made them fairly quick. By the time my opponents animation is done and I get damage it's my turn, no waiting.

Crafting, not bad really, but most of what you craft is rubbish and easily beaten by anything from a dungeon run, which doesn't take long and isn't hard. There's no customization to what you craft either. Apart from tinkerers whose gear can't be looted easily, there's no point to crafting.

Fishing/Activities, again, nearly worthless. You loot a ton of food. The only reason to fish is to feed your pet. The first aid is worthwhile, but that's really about it.

PvP, it's all gear based with little skill involved. It's that easy. Twinks WILL win unless they're total idiots or you have numbers/back-up. Nation vs. Nation is stupidly all consensual. Kind of takes out the whole "Two nations at war" feel that is the point of NvN PvP.

Questing, this where the meat of the game is supposed to lie. But there's no/little/crappy story anywhere. Quest chains are generic at best. At worst they're just crappy writing with bad attempts at humor. The only DECENT story arc is that of the Death Knight, which was just copied and pasted from Warcraft III. I know it's based on Warcraft, but we don't want to go through the same story again.

Balance, actually, the balance between classes is good. I must give a little kudos there.

Content, it's quantity over quality. Lots of land made of the same tiles with little difference in the way things look. Get's boring quick. Plus there's no bonuses or rewards for adventuring.

Community, it sucks. It's horrible. Pathetic. Full of idiot teenagers and total asses. I don't care if only the retards talk in Trade and on public chat, they're the ones I gotta listen to and I'm not blocking them all or a whole channel. Get mods. And tons of gold sellers.

Overall, lackluster at best. Horrible at worst. 3.5/10

___________________________________________________

City of Heroes:

Here's a game by Cryptic Studios, makers of the coming Star Trek Online and Champions Online. CoH takes place in Paragon City, which branches to a few different areas. Not a ton to explore but it's not so much about exploration as action. Which there is plenty of. Let's start:

Graphics, it's pretty even today. It has a great physics engine for an MMO, with full particle physics. The textures are crisp, sharp, and detailed. The animations are fluid and very well done.

The servers are really smooth too, I only get lag spikes when something with MY connection goes wonky.

It takes advantage of dual-core procs and PhysX on Nvidia cards, no problems with the engines technology.

Combat, it's actually fairly fast paced. Although clicking on each individual skill is clunky at times when trying to go fast and kill your opponent. It's actually pretty close to real time too.

There's nothing extra to do like crafting/fishing with kind of sucks, but you can do a variety of events like skiing during the winter. You can craft enhancements too. Otherwise it's mostly about dungeons/fighting/missions.

The content is kind of varied. There's a lot of area to go over, especially with all the buildings and little nooks. And you get badges to going to some obscure places. Like by certain flags.

There's really not a TON to do like some other MMORPGs, but for what it was trying to do it did great. And it'll definitely hold me for the free time I get.


EDIT: Horribly off equations fixed. Shows what I get for doing math at 2am

As of February 28th, 2009 all servers for the online MMORPG Tabula Rasa will officially close. This is quite a blow to me, I had many friends on TR, and the game itself was a blast. But in the immortal words of Bob Hope:

Thanks for the memory:
Of things I can't forget, journeys on a jet,
Our wond'rous week in Martinique and Vegas and roulette.
How lucky I was.

And thanks for the memory:
Of summers by the sea, dawn in Waikiki.
We had a pad in London but we didn't stop for tea;
How cozy it was.

Now since our breakup I wake up
Alone on a gray morning-after.
I long for the sound of your laughter,
And then I see the laugh's on me.

But, thanks for the memory:
Of every touch a thrill. I've been through the mill.
I've lived a lot and learned a lot, you loved me not and still;
I miss you so much.

Thanks for the memory:
Of how we used to jog even in a fog,
That barbecue in Malibu, away from all the smog -
How rainy it was.

Thanks for the memory:
Of letters I destroyed, books that we enjoyed,
Tonight the way things look, I need a book by Sigmund Freud -
How brainy he was.

Gone are those evenings on Broadway.
Together we'd go to a great show.
But now I begin with the Late Show,
And wish that you were watching, too.

I know it's a fallacy:
That grown men never cry, baby, that's a lie.
We had our bed of roses, but forgot that roses die.
And thank you so much.

I must digress, Fallout 3 is tip of awesome. It's not only Awesome with a capital A but AWESOME with every capitalized. Total freedom.. pretty much. If if exists, you can shoot it. If it breathes or runs with gears, you can kill it (women and children included, no I haven't gone off killing any children... yet... Muwahahah >). The graphics are stunning although nowadays that is to be expected. The combat is spectacular, engrossing and very much Fallout.

The story has a nice tie-in ending for Fallout 1 fans. And the story, dialogue and characters are very much in the Fallout niche. All in all, it is Fallout. Fallout perfectly brought into the now. So in summary I have two words. Buy it.


Now, Lord of the Rings Online: Mines of Moria, the first, and HUGE, expansion for the popular MMORPG. I already enjoyed the game but the new classes, Rune Keeper and Warden, are awesome. The Warden is very fast paced and does both ranged and melee damage off the bat. They also have a cool Gambit system. Which is kind of a combo, you add different styles of moves together to make a gambit which is a stronger move or buff.

I have yet to try the Rune Keeper.

Although I have not explored it (not high enough) the new area is huge and very beautiful I've heard. And the Legendary Weapons are simply amazing. If you plan on start LoTRO just pick up the Mines of Moria Complete Pack for 40 bucks. Of course, if you want I have some 14 day free trials to hand out, just ask and I'll give you a key. You'll have to download the client from lotro.com though. It's about 7.70GB, with a pretty large patch.

That's all,

Good night

- Eric