Girl's Blog of Video Games

Mass Effect: Let's create a Shepard! part 2

2010-04-02T11:44:00.009+03:00

Here's my another female Shepard for your watching pleasure. She is my test "bad Shepard", I will play the game through also with her to try out the darker athmosphere, usually I don't do that because I just start to feel bad... Sob. But this time I will give it a try, lets see how it goes with bad attitude and hardcore difficulty.

With this character I didn't do so well with the design, below is the original picture I used as a model and as you can see, they are not exactly identical twins. But pretty nice still, at least it doesn't have that familiar duck-face which I usually end up when making a female Shepard! I don't have all the sliders for this fine lady, but leave a comment/email and I will send you more pictures of the creation process.

My version:

Dragon Age Origins 2: I want Alistair too

2010-04-01T18:56:00.004+03:00

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/we-want-alistair

I usually don't think petitions make any difference, but this one I just had to sign. Sigh, please, I totally want to have another gaming experience with Alistair, this could really deepen our relationship further... Lets hope Bioware will just listen my wishes and also release the game soon.

Mass Effect: Let's create a Shepard! part 1

2010-01-29T23:55:00.011+02:00

To celebrate the release of Mass Effect 2, I decided -tadaa- to play through the first game again. Yes, it's hard to admit that new releases cost so much money that I just try to think of something else while everyone is hyping about them... but at least I had fun time with ME1 character creation. This time I decided to check what kind of chars people had made before and perhaps learn from the best or even try to copy the looks. I actually found only few nice chars, especially females all looked the same, so I tried this one below with a quite unique look. I also decided to play the game through two times with 2 different female Shepards and then decide which one I choose as my main character for ME2 when I finally buy it. Light or Darkness? We will see. Here is the first Shepard I created (the good one, as you can see), the original picture I used as a model and the result. Did pretty well I must say, since I didn't have any idea of the slider positioning I just had to try everything. Took me an hour or so. I really like the different look, though the cheeks are a bit too ehh.. well, looks good anyway.

Anya Shepard, Adept, Sole survivor

And some extra pictures.

I have the sliders for this one, so if you want them, just post a comment and leave your email.

Dragon Age: Origins - How to break up with Alistair

2010-01-11T07:46:00.010+02:00

After playing Dragon Age for some time, I noticed there are multiple endings with your heart's chosen. In case of Alistair they are not always the happiest, plus combined with his addictiveness, results can be lethal to your health. After all that time you spent together, no happy ending? Why Alistair, why??? I came up with a solution.

How to survive from the devastating realization that Alistair is just pixels and some sexy audio files? It's a tough job, but doable. Actually you can just break up with Alistair. It hurts to go and try to forget that charming man, but listen to me, relationships between fictional character and you don't (sometimes) work. Anyway, you should make it absolutely clear to yourself and to Alistair: this is over.

How to do it? You must harden yourself (hope that Alistair is hardened too, then he will get over you quicker). Then the easiest thing to do is avoid him and search some other company. Give gifts to Zevran and visit his tent, sooner or later Alistair will notice you aren't in his control anymore and confronts you. Tell him what you want but remember, this has to be done, the good way or the bad way. You want everlasting misery in the end of the game when you don't get the prince and your half of the kingdom, instead of peace of mind? You know what to do.

You might want to spend some time alone, so kick him off your party asap. It is easier to deal with your feelings when he isn't there obeying your every whim. When you think you are ready to see him again, or you need him on a quest, make rules. No flirting, no kissing. You might even want to mute your speakers so his sweet words won't seduce you like so many times before.

You should deal with Alistair just like every other npc, no more excessive gifts and stop giving the best armour to him. You might even want to mistreat him, then the rest of the party knows it is over with you and Alistair. It breaks every girl's heart to do so, but keep in mind: the liking meter between "just friends" doesn't have to be 100%. Speaking with other party members is therapeutic and can help you overcome the torment. Slowly detach yourself from Alistair and his oh-so-realistic affection for you. Remember, Alistair is just like any other man out there, just waiting for the next player to step in and create another gorgeus female character. One could argue that it's just how he is programmed, but I tell myself that's the real Alistair. He doesn't care for you like you care for him. There is plenty of fish in the sea and besides, humans are the most boring race in DA:O. It's 21th century, go experimenting with dwarves and elves, it's taboo no more!

Once you really feel that you are over him you can go and enjoy the game to the fullest. There is so much to see and kill, looking back the hours spent flirting and talking to Alistair feels like such a waste. Who needs too-perfect-to-be-true boyfriends when you have your trusty swords and your healthbar full? You even might - gasp - finish the game when you don't have Alistair slowing you down. Find out all the secrets, hidden things and quests. You'll find the secrets of the Grey Wardens more satisfying than the nights spent in Alistair's tent. I mean they were nice, but all you got was some +points with him and it doesn't help you killing monsters faster.

Think of your career first. After the war is over you have all the time in the world to meet the guys. Soon the thing you have with Alistair is really nothing but a scar reminding you of the brief moments of happiness spent during the chaotic times of war. There is a lesson to learn: don't mix love and work. With Alistair at your side as a tank and nothing more will serve you better, trust me. Then you don't have to worry so much about every hit he takes and every CC he puts his head into. You have other things on your mind, like maximizing your dps. Do your thing and not his!

There you are, after a huge struggle with your heart, body and soul, you are finally free and victorious. Alistair is just another guy you met, loved and abandoned. Now you can start it all over with a different character and see if true love can find a dwarven girl too... Or you can download the mod and have some hot boy on boy action with Alistair.

Dragon Age: Origins - Eternal imagination of mod maker's mind

Love at first gameplay - Hunks in Bioware's games

2010-01-10T09:29:00.011+02:00

To put the trivial things aside... let's get to the point, shall we?

Romance has been in games from almost day one and ever since it has been very popular theme. Save the princess, save your wife, save your girlfriend... You get the picture. Due to development of games during the past years, perspective to love and romances has changed quite a bit. Usually you still save the girl of your dreams in the end but nowadays you have this important thing we gamers didn't have in the past... you have a choice. Hate the bitch? Don't seduce her. Any games with these kind of "interactive", choice-based romantic plotlines are what I really like. In this article I'll tell you about some of my romantic adventures in Bioware's games (which rock btw) and reveal who are the real hunks of their games. So prepare for some pixel eyecandy.

1. Carth Onasi, Knights of the Old Republic

Carth was one of the first male game characters I really really liked at more personal level. When I bought the game in 2004 with insanely high price and played it with my mother's laptop (it didn't actually work that well), only thing on my mind after the first hour of gameplay was how hot voice Carth had. Graphics really weren't the main thing to me those days, nor today, but the voice, there isn't a game which couldn't be improved with a excellent voice acting. Kotor really had that base secured and that's one of the reasons why I loved the game the first minute I played it.

After all the fighting in the beginning you get to have a long conversation with Carth and that was the situation when I really noticed how amazing character he was. Backstory was average, but touching, looks were okay (the beard really got me), he seemed loyal (always good feature) but the voice was pure gold and honey to my ears. I was really mesmerized by the character after the conversation and when I continued the game I noticed that Carth was everywhere. He was in my every party and every fight and once every 30 minutes I tried to talk to him to see if he had anything new to say. When the flirting started I was about to jump off my seat. I hadn't seen much of games like these where you really had a chance to build your own relationship based on choices and conversation options, it was an amazing Heureka! moment for me and since then I really started to look for games where a romance crazy girl like me could get a similar experience while playing a good game.

Today Carth is pure nostalgia for me, he was one of the most interesting characters in the game and the first game guy with which I had "a serious romance" with a hint of realistic feeling. I always disliked Bastila because I thought her voice acting was emotionless (i.e. rubbish) and when I later played the game with a male char, of course I wasn't that excited of her. Carth was the only true love for me that time and I still remember how I tried so hard to find his missing son from Korriban during my first playthrough. I fucked up the mission and Carth never got his son back and I was so heartbroken thinking what I had done to him by screwing it up. But later I noticed it didn't have that much of an impact on anything, so I just finished the mission in other playthrough to see how it would end, out of curiosity. Too bad that subplot mission in Kotor didn't feel that important after you had completed them once. But anyway, Carth will still get four stars from me, it was nice first experience of actually interactive gaming romances but nowadays he has been dethroned by more versatile guys.

****

2. Kaidan Alenko, Mass Effect

Yes I know, Raphael Sbarge who voiced Carth also acted Kaidan. I actually noticed that right away, can you imagine?

I never like Kaidan as much as I liked Carth, there was some passion missing in his personality in my opinion, but better graphics, many options for romance plots and again, ah-so-good voice acting saved the day. Kaidan's background was more interesting than Carth's and building a relationship with him was much fun, so I fancied him. Again I noticed that in the end of the day I had kept him in my every (possible) party and spent some time with him every time I boarded the ship, just hoping him to give new delicious conversation options. Too bad it seemed like that when I was halfway the game, Kaidan didn't really have much more to say to me (guys don't like talkative girls I guess) and the romance cooled down a bit. I had heard there was a sexual cut scene in the game between the player and the chosen sweetheart, but when it finally occured I was little disappointed. It was very simple scene with no real action shown, only minimum of skin and it was only few seconds in length, I waited much more after all the stir around the game. And more importantly, I waited more pillow talk, hmph! But it was still good entertainment and I appreciated the effort game developers had made, somehow I sensed that this was something players like and want more (ehem) and the situation will continue to evolve in the future (meaning much more sex in games, hurray!).

But Kaidan, what could I say about him? He had a fun romance with my character but I must admit I have higher hopes for Mass Effect 2 romance subplots. Something more extra and it will be perfect. Kaidan is still adorable, I'd give him another chance in the sequel.

***

3. Alistair, Dragon Age: Origins

Oh, Alistair. This one I really like, even now, since I still haven't finished the game. Dragon Age looks and sounds good in every aspect and romance plots are top-notch, but really, the truth is I didn't care that much of Alistair in the beginning. His looks aren't my favourite and he seemed a bit boring in the beginning. However, after the episode in Ostagar I saw his true colors. Of course then I had the first opportunity to flirt with him, but that's not the main reason, nope. The one and only reason is his sense of humor. In the beginning when I hadn't yet gotten Zevran or Oghren he was the number one source of humoristic comments in my party. Especially his quarrels with Morrigan were fun to watch and I really enjoyed his boyish jokes. ("Yes, fun. Tricking Morrigan... oh, who am I kidding? That does sound fun. I'm a bad man.") That really caught my attention and I began to notice him and I started to train him to be my number one tank, any excuse to keep him talking and in my party eh.

After few flirting moments with Alistair in the camp, I soon notice him to be a) shy virgin ("No, never licked a lamp post in winter.") and b) shy lover. I tried to get him into my tent in every conversation after the option came available, but he just wouldn't do it. Those templars... Then I gave up and focused my efforts to not-so-innocent flirting and kept teasing him in every way possible, that was something I really enjoyed, seeing the mighty Grey Warden blush because of something I said, hehee. Many of the best conversation moments for me in the game have been when other party members have been teasing Alistair, there is so much chemistry between different characters that I kept spamming conversation spots in cities to hear it all, it was quite addictive actually. It became even more fun when the relationship between main character and Alistair got more serious, I found myself laughing out loud many times when in party with Wynne, Zevran or Oghren.

But really, finally, the secret tent moment came and I was pretty pleased. Some good music on the background and the cut scene was much longer than in Mass Effect. Even some talking after the scene, well done. Audience's wishes were heard I assume! After that I was pretty addicted to Alistair's company and the situation still continues. I know there's many possible endings ahead and I'm not yet sure which one I want, as far as I know the options aren't really that black and white.

Btw, there has been really a girl movement around Alistair, there's even fanclubs and fansites for him, drooling everywhere, Bioware must have done something pretty right with this guy! One of the funniest things is to read comment sections in Youtube-videos of Alistair, they are really something. I'll post some of them here for your reading pleasure:

"i know its probably been said but I LOVE ALISTAIR!!!"
"I can't believe it, he's not even real, but i <3 him, sooo much!"
"haa i love him to ^^ hes one of my fav his approval is 100 love XD i always blush when he stops to talk to my char"
"I'm going to make another female noble character, play through the whole game just to experience the romance with Alistair AGAIN."
"He is so unbelievably.... perfect! Gahhh, I love him too much! I just got this game because I heard its an amazing story, but no one ever warned me about the irresistible force that is Alistair!"
"I'm Alistair obsessed. He is like the perfect man."
"Why can't I find an Alistair in real life? *sigh*"

Without further ado and after all this hype, my score to Alistair is five stars, what I encountered was really a romantic lovestory.

*****

Here are 3 lovestories and 3 sexy game characters, I'm sure that I'm not the only one who likes these guys. I think love brings much more excitement to gameplay and romance subplots are always fun to play through. Finally I could ask, are there any other male game characters which are better than these guys? Tips are always welcomed.

Gamer stereotypes part 1: Dark hair and glasses

2010-01-08T23:38:00.013+02:00

I was really shocked today, I searched some "rival" gameblogs from google when I came across this picture.

I... I have dark hair and glasses!

There are lots of gamer girl stereotypes in the internet and common joke is to say that chicks don't even exist in the gaming world, there are only guys and guys pretending to be girls. Especially in MMOs players usually assume that you're one of the guys and never has anyone guessed my sex without me giving any hints. Usually I have to do something girly like collect flowers, be extra nice or talk about my love life to raise any suspicion but even then most fellow players think that I'm just being a bit gay. That's why I usually don't see myself representing the stereotypic female game enthusiast but that picture really hit a vulnerable spot.

Post some of the stereotypes you know in comment section and I'll write about them in a post some day in the future.

How to raise healthy gamer kids

2010-01-08T23:15:00.004+02:00

This is targeted especially for all those parents of cute baby girls.

Why this Gamer Girl loves Steam

2010-01-06T00:08:00.006+02:00

I just love Steam. I created my own Steam account 2 weeks ago and... well, their holiday sales were so awesome that I registered right away and bought about 20 games with 30-40 euros during the Christmas holiday. Who can really resist 90% discount? I have never bought so many good games with SO LITTLE amount of money, I just really couldn't say no to anything so cheap. Half of the games I bought just for lulz, cheapness or sentimental value but the rest were real stuff.

Now the situation is following: I'm the proud owner of 10 interesting games I have never played before and which also seem to be pretty good quality (theme and genre to my liking, nice plot and well-working gameplay...). I have been playing Dragon Age:Origins for some time now and I have only 10 hours or so per day to organize my private life AND my gaming (not to mention my private life in my games). So what can I do?

When I figure out what to do with my new darlings, I continue Dragon Age and admire the beauty of my gamelist in Steam.