Borderlands 2

Partial Review Time!!

Borderlands 2

Borderlands 2 is the sequel of Borderlands, it was released in 2012 published by 2K Games developed by Gearbox Software. It is set five years after the first game and starts you off with you waking up in the rubble with Claptrap digging through the remains not far away. 

I'm just going to interrupt myself here by saying, I freakin' love Claptrap and yes, I did complete his birthday party side quest and dance with him. Who wouldn't? Claptrap is amazing. And yes, I might have almost blown him up but...*cough* anyway. 

I haven't played the single player part of Borderlands 2, and it's honestly some of the best multiplayer that I've ever played. Then again, I don't play a lot of multiplayer so don't bite my head off. 

The art style of the background and all the characters is amazing, the little transitions that flash across your screen whenever you meet a new character with their name, picture, and nickname is one of my favourite parts. And I have to say Tiny Tina's is my favourite, but you'll hear me talk about her later because to me she was a HUGE part of the experience. 

Yes, this is another partial review, why? Because I haven't finished the game yet. Why? Because I haven't yet. 

I have to admit in multiplayer that ability to challenge your partner was a feature that the BF and I made use of, mainly while waiting for something, or when we were bored. And I am not going to admit how many times I won or lost, because frankly, that'd just be embarrassing. 

The voice acting in Borderlands was great,  my favourite though is Tiny Tina and Claptrap, I'm not sure why but hey they're my favourite characters. I'll have to get my hands on the DLC for Tiny Tina, because hello? Who can resist a slightly psychotic teenage girl with explosives and tea parties? I'm a fan of the combat as well, which is strange because usually I have a lot of issues with combat in games, but I loved this combat system. 

I am just babbling now. Hopefully, I will get around to doing a single player campaign review of this as well.

Gamer Spotlight #1

Welcome, welcome, to the first ever Gamer Spotlight on GGP. For this feature I have picked a youtuber, who I believe is funny, talented, and most of all entertaining. Now remember, you have the chance to affect next months Gamer Spotlight, by commenting below and letting me know who your nominations for the next month are.

But enough talking from me, without further ado...

Jesse Cox

Jesse Cox is the youtuber who also goes by OMFGcata, he is also a co-host on the TGS Podcast, along side TotalBiscuit and Dodger Leigh. By clicking on his name over there, it'll take you to his youtube page. 

The first time I heard about Jesse was during a Nerdy Nummies episode ( if you've been here from the beginning you might remember that Nerdy Nummies is the baking show for nerds on Youtube, run by the lovely Rosanna Pansino). After the cupcake fail where I couldn't stop laughing and the voices he does during the episode, I decided to check out his channel. 

If you are looking for a really good laugh, you must watch some of Jesse's videos. He has done a bunch of colabs with Dodger, TotalBiscuit, and many others, but watching his solo Let's Plays are just as hilarious. Seriously, some of the episodes had me crying I was laughing so hard. Jesse is also a voice actor, which let's face it makes his play throughs even more entertaining.

So, I will leave you with a video from my favourite video game series he's done, so sit back, relax, and enjoy the humour. 

New Feature Alert

I am just stopping by quickly to let you all know that, I've decided to add another feature to this blog beside the reviews and the JPG posts. This shiny new feature will be a little spot light for youtubers, who, you guessed it, game.

For now I am going to be making this a monthly feature, where I'll link to the youtuber and write a little bit of my impression of them and leave you with their most recent video.

If there is a youtuber you think should be nominated for a spotlight post, just comment at the bottom of the Gamer Spotlight post with your nomination, and I'll check out their channel if I haven't already.

That's all there is for now.

xo

Just Plain Geekery #3: The DIY Edition

If you're just stopping by and have never been here before, JPG is the post where I talk about some awesomely geeky things I've seen around the interwebz lately. And because I feel like I have to say this again, I am in no way paid to put these things up on my blog, it is strictly me sharing things I think are pretty awesome, and maybe you think they are too.

JPG

The DIY Edition

Feeling a little crafty? Maybe a little artistic? Or are you just bored? Well here are five geeky DIY projects I've seen around the web.

#1

Who doesn't want a Wither Plushie? I mean, look at it, it's adorable. Best of all, you can make it yourself if you're crafty like that. Here's the link from Instructables

#2

Are you bored of how your USB drive is looking? Is it plain white or black? Do you like Lego? Well, here is a bunch of different tutorials on how to make your own custom USB drive. Click me

#3

So maybe you're not crafty in the sense of wanting to make things like the USB's above. But maybe you're baking crafty. Here's some awesome game controller cookies that you can make, pretty easily.

#4

Or maybe you're more of a cake ball person. These Dragon Balls are honestly so perfect that I might attempt to make them myself. Also, you really should check out Nerdy Nummies, it's amazing. 

#5

And if you are a big Zelda fan, bling out your clothes and bags with this DIY from Dodger. I'd do it, but I can't sew.

Metro 2033

Partial Review Time!

Metro 2033

Now, the first thing you might be asking is "Partial review, what the heck is that? Why didn't she just finish the game?" and I can answer that for you right now. The answer is simple, my computer decided it hates me. So, because of that I will be reviewing Metro 2033 up to the Depot, which is where my game decides to freeze and crash and fail in so many infuriating ways.

I am hoping however, that once I finally figure out the problem, I will be able to come back and do the review on the other half of Metro 2033. So, really this is more like a part one. 

*Ahem*

Moving on.

Metro 2033 is a video game based off of a post-apocalyptic book of the same name by Dmitry Glukhovsky (can we just take a moment to appreciate how his name rolls off the tongue?). It was released in 2010 ad developed by 4A Games. Metro 2033 now has a sequel released in May of this year under the name Metro: Last Light.

In Metro 2033, you play as Artyom in the metro tunnels underneath a completely destroyed Moscow. The world is inhabited by Dark Ones, mutants, and humans. And naturally with people forced to live in such close quarters in the metro, tensions are high. As Artyom you travel through areas of the metro occupied by the Soviets and the Reichs, as well as, unallied stations, all in order to find D6. D6 is the underground missile base that Artyom, Hunter, and others set out to find in order to "reclaim" the surface from the Dark Ones.

One thing that I find that Metro does extremely well is all the atmosphere. This is a game where you want to be sitting in a dark room with good headphones on and the volume cranked. When you are in the metro stations walking through the masses of people who call the station their home, and the refugees from either side of the war, the way the sound hits you can be overwhelming. Which, is great. The voices and cries of people and the advertisements from vendors seem to bounce of the close walls all around you. You literally hear everything everywhere, it left me with a claustrophobic feeling.

Another thing that I love Metro for is all the little details on the surface or below in the metro, how everything just seems to have stopped. How the buildings crumble and the play ground equipment still creaks in the background. How there are personal affects of people left laying around and skeletons to loot.

Bullets are rare in Metro 2033, and if you aren't careful you'll end up shooting the only currency in the game at an enemy and being dirt broke when you need that armour upgrade (yes, I am speaking from experience). But that just adds the urgency to the game, an unwillingness not to shoot unless you have to, not to shoot wildly, and aim properly. I love games that force me to explore and loot in order to have extra bullets, extra bombs, add in the lore, etc.

Metro 2033, is so far one of my favourite games thus far and that is based on pretty much only the atmosphere. Seriously, if you haven't had a chance to play this game yet, play it. I know I will be finishing it once I can figure out why it's suddenly stopped running on my computer. 

Interview Time! With Christopher Odd

Hey everyone, I had another little idea a while back about interviewing some of my favourite Let's Players and gamers, so naturally I went and emailed Mr. Odd as soon as I had things finalized in my head. And I was lucky enough that he responded and I was able to interview him on the weekend.

If you don't know who Christopher Odd is, he is a YouTube Let's Player with a love for games that give him the choices.He's been on YouTube for about a year now, and has 11k subscribers (but come on, he totally deserves more). He currently has Let's Plays going on of The Witcher 2, Amnesia, XCOM, and Saints Row 4, along with many others he's done in the past. If you're interested in checking out his channel, and I seriously think you should if you haven't already, he's probably one of the nicest YouTuber's out there, just click this link HERE.

So without any further ado, here's my interview with him. I hope you enjoy it!

Thanks for showing interest in the my channel! I hope I can answer all of your questions.

 I've been watching your YouTube videos for some time now (under a different account), though I'm one of those silent watchers who don't comment, I have always wondered how do you do it? It amazes me how many videos you put up not just in a day but all week, and you have a day job too right? And family? It's just incredible, so how do you manage to do it? Do you film everything all at once or is it very clever time management?

There is definitely some clever time management involved.  In addition to YouTube, I have a full time job and I'm married.   At first YouTube was just something I thought I would try out for fun.  Now that I've been able to see some success, it's developed into more than a hobby.  As such, I've had to put aside time to get the things done that I'd like to.  I'm recording almost every day, rendering over night, uploading before I go to work in the AM, responding to comments on my commute to and from work, etc etc.  That said, my wife is crazy supportive, and we make sure to spend time together each night doing things we both enjoy so everyone is happy.  I have a routine, it gets overwhelming at times, but I enjoy the whole process of making videos, so it doesn't feel like work at all.

I noticed that you put up an Amnesia video today, welcome to the club of scare your pants off. Are you planning on doing a Machine for Pigs Let's Play when it comes out?

Yes ma'am.

 And I know this is one of the more boring questions that I could ask but I'm going to ask it anyway :). Out of all the LP's you've done since the start of your channel which one do you think is your all time favourite? I love your Metro series. 

Tough one!  Up until a few weeks ago, I would have said Deus Ex Human Revolution.  That's still in my top 3 games of all time I'd say, but now, I'd have to lean towards The Witcher 2.  I love sitting down to play it every day, and I'm going to be really sad the day it ends!  Metro was really fun, but it felt a tad repetitive. Great atmosphere though!

It took me a while to decide on starting this blog because of some of the backlash you can get from reviewing games, though I have prior experience with reviewing books, but I know that Youtuber's suffer from the same thing. I have seen some awful comments on YouTube videos, though on yours I haven't noticed very many, but when you do it a bad comment how do you deal with that? Does it bother you? Or do you just brush it off?

 I feel extremely fortunate to have the viewers that I do.  I really feel proud of them.  It's like I've lucked out and attracted intelligent people with brains on YouTube! They do exist!  That said, I do get negative comments at times, and I'd be lying if I sad they don't bother me.  Funny thing right?  1000's of positive comments, and 1 or 2 negative ones really stand out.  Over the past year since I started, I've built up a thick skin.  If you can't deal with criticisms, you will fail.  It is important to note however, that criticisms and insults are two different things.  The way I handle this is as follows; I reflect on criticisms, I ignore insults.  If someone straight up insults me, they get ignored.  They don't come back.  If someone criticizes the way I play, I may respond and let them know what they can expect from my channel.  More often than not, they stay.

Alright, back to gaming, what would you say is your favourite genre of game? If you had to pick one.

I would say I enjoy the type of game that offers me meaningful choice.  I love being challenged to pick a lesser evil.  It pushes the narrative of games, and it's super engaging.  I know that's not really a "genre" so if I had to pick something general, I'd say stealth.  Any time I need to sneak around in a game, I get all kinds of excited.

What's your opinion on Ben Affleck as Batman? I'm not sure where I stand on the debate, personally. 

I feel that this is the most important question so far ;)  It's tough.  I'm not really able to picture him as Batman in my head. BUT, I couldn't picture Heath Ledger as Joker...and now I can't imagine anyone else doing it.  I'm excited to see how he pulls it off.  I'm mostly looking forward to seeing Matt Damon as Robin.

Mr. Odd how did you get your start on Youtube? What made you decide to start making Let's Plays and Let's Discuss videos? Where did your love of gaming come from?

I started in August of 2012.   I originally found out about Let's Plays approximately six months before that.  I started watching videos of people playing Civilization V and I was genuinely engaged in their approach.  I found it fascinating that I could watch and listen to someone play a video game.  I decided that I wanted to try it.  I looked at it as a way to encourage me to finish more games.  If I knew people were watching, I'd be more inclined to finish games.  Prior to my start on YouTube, I can count the number of games I've completed on one hand.  Maybe even just three fingers.  The idea for Let's Discuss came from the fact that I wasn't satisfied with the way that games just ended. I needed more resolution.  I realized that people were having very intelligent and well thought out discussions on the last video of each series, and I thought, "What better way to end a series than to get viewers involved and chat about it?"  I don't know of anyone else doing that on YouTube, and it's something I want to continue doing.  I've ALWAYS loved video games.  Super Mario, NHL 94, Final Fantasy VII, GoldenEye 007.  Those are the games I remember most from growing up.  Problem was, as I got older, I needed something more.  I needed a good story.  I'd find myself losing interest though.  Games couldn't keep my attention.  When I started making LP's, I realized that if I was sharing my thoughts out loud, it not only encouraged me to articulate them clearly, it helped me to retain more of the story happening around me.

Are there any other Let's Plays that we can look forward to in the near future?

I usually like to keep pretty tight lipped about LP's that I have planned because I don't want to let people down if my plans change.  That said, you can expect, at SOME point in the future to see the Mass Effect series, the Metal Gear Solid Series, and the Thief Series.  As of writing this, I have The Witcher 2, Amnesia, Saints Row IV, The Bureau XCOM Declassified, and my weekly XCOM Enemy Unknown video.  That's a lot of gaming! 

And that about sums it up. Thank you very much again, for taking the time to answer my questions and taking my emails. I hope I get to speak with you again, and maybe I'll stop by and leave a comment now and then and stop being so quiet :). Happy gaming!

Not a problem at all. I had a great time doing this, and I hope it's what you were looking for.  Thanks for writing me.

Thank you once again to Mr. Odd for taking some time away from his busy schedule to chat with me, and I hope the viewers on the blog liked this feature too.

Just Plain Geekery: The Decal Edition!

I'm back again with some more fine geekery to share with you. I know last time I did this, I left off with number five being a decal of Ironman. And that started me looking at decals all.over.again. I love decals, do I currently have any on my laptop? Nope. Styx is looking pretty bare, which I suppose is why I started looking for something shiny and new to stick on her.

Without any further delay, I present to you my 5 JPG: The Decal Edition!

#1

 Aw, for your inner Pokemon trainer, a Pikachu decal. Also as a side note, this shop has some other awesome decals too.

PikaNOM apple Laptop Decal
DraconicDesigns
http://www.etsy.com/ca/shop/DraconicDesigns?ref=l2-shopheader-name

#2

 I am a total fan of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, so when I saw this I just couldn't help it. I swear, if I could I'd have decals for every day of the year and change them daily.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer "B" Vinyl Decal
Austin Sticker company
http://www.etsy.com/ca/shop/AustinStickerCompany?ref=l2-shopheader-name

#3

And of course, for the geeky and proud, announce it on your laptop with this simple and elegant decal.

Geek Macbook Decal
AmazingMacDecal
http://www.etsy.com/ca/shop/AmazingMacDecal?ref=l2-shopheader-name

#4

 Alright, alright, so Firefly is honestly one of my favourite shows ever. I'm talking to the point where I had every line of every episode memorized and could recite them on command. Unfortunately, not so much anymore. Guess, I should rewatch the series again. Nothing wrong with that? Nope, nothing at all.

Firefly Inspired "Browncoat" Vinyl decal
Perfectly Aligned
http://www.etsy.com/ca/shop/PerfectlyAligned?ref=l2-shopheader-name

#5

This one speaks to my inner band geek, which by the way I was. Flute and Piccolo. *waits for band camp jokes* are ya done? Good. Anyway, this decal is just plain pretty.

Music Notes laptop Decal
EvyalDecal
http://www.etsy.com/ca/shop/EyvalDecal?ref=l2-shopheader-name

Annnd that's all I've got for you today for JPG. Next time, I'll get back to regular geekery for your perusing pleasure.