Category Archives: Gaming

Nier Automata – How A Video Game Told Me A Lot About Myself

“And being alive is pretty much a constant stream of embarrassment.”

For the past two weeks, I’ve put about 60 hours into Nier Automata, and I want to sit down and immediately replay it, simply to digest the story once again. However, as great as it was, and as much as I loved it as is, it will probably never have the crazy impact that it did on the initial run.

This doesn’t mean it’s not a good game. It’s easily one of the best games I’ve ever played! But this game did something, and something I can’t talk about without warning.

There will be spoilers past this point! Please do not continue if you have not seen Ending E!

Continue reading Nier Automata – How A Video Game Told Me A Lot About Myself

New Equipment Type in Aion 5.1: Bracelets

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As usual, this post is translated from aion.mutukina.net, which is a Japanese translation of information from Korean.

A new type of equippable item has been introduced into the game- a Bracelet of Kaisinel/Marchutan. You can purchase the initial bracelet in Sanctum or Pandamonium, from the two NPCs:
* Holy Accessory Tuner Penna (Sanctum)
* Holy Accessory Tuner Feather (Pandamonium)

These bracelets will automatically have PVP defense stats on them. You can upgrade them using tempering solutions. Once they hit +6, they will start to gain PVP offensive stats, as well. The max enchantment for the bracelets is +10.

As you temper the bracelet, it will also gain manastone slots and change appearance.

(Left to right)
Image 1: Enchantment Level 0 ~ 4: no Manastone slots.
Image 2: Enchantment Level 5 ~ 6: 1 Manstone slot. / Enchantment Level 7 ~ 9: 2 Manastone slots.
Image 3: Enchantment Level 10: 3 Manastone slots.

If an attempt to temper the bracelet fails, it will lose all of its enchantments, and any manastones equipped will be destroyed. [Editor’s Note: But it sounds like the bracelet itself doesn’t break, unlike with plumes.]

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UI-wise, the slot on the profile page for the plume will be moved to be below the left power shard slot, and the bracelet will sit underneath the right power shard slot.

This update has been made live to both the Live Server and the Master Server.

[Twitter Memes] My Favorite Video Games

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So I posted this picture on twitter today. I got a lot of likes on it. 24, in fact. Thankfully, they stopped when I got around to writing this. But you’re asking for my 24 favorite games. I can’t keep myself to 140 characters each, so I’m going to put them all together in a single post. I figured that should give me a little more wriggle room and keep from really spamming your twitter feeds.

Let’s get started, but I want to stress that there is no particular order to these. Don’t ask me to do MORE work on this! lol

Continue reading [Twitter Memes] My Favorite Video Games

Aion – Old Screenshots from Below Sanctum

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For those who have started playing in the recent year or two of Aion, you may not realize that there was an unfinished city underneath Sanctum. Of course, in recent patches, there has been an ‘instant kill’ barrier if you tried to glide down to it, so people can’t wander off the map to try and look for it.

It took some effort. You had to glide to a mountain, rest up some flight time, and finish gliding down, because Sanctum is just that far up.

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There’s also a whole area of empty terrain underneath there. Mountains and hills and so forth!

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But eventually, Dreknok and I wandered our way to the ‘edge of the world’ so to speak. A place where the map was incomplete.

I’ll admit that I had a yolo moment. And jumped off the ledge. My whole screen went bonkers, as you can see below.

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The game crashed shortly after that screenshot was made, and even crashed a few times on attempting to load the character. Eventually, I was reset back to my bind point. Thank goodness.

I didn’t want to ask a GM to help me in that case. I’m pretty sure we weren’t supposed to be there. ;D

Aion – 1/7 Elyos Assassin PVC Figure

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It was recently revealed that figurine maker, Orchid Seed is releasing a 1/7 scale PVC figure of an Elyos Assassin from Aion, based on the artwork shown below.

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This figure is expected to release in 1/2017, but preorders are going to be open from now through 6/30/2016. If you preorder it, you will get an A3 sized poster of the design artwork that the figure is based on, as well as your selection from the ‘Majestic Armor’ options, shown below, for use on the Live Service. (In Japan, Live Service is the main two servers running 4.9.)

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The figure costs 13,800 yen (approx. $127) and stands 270mm tall. The figure design is by Yasuhiro Uchijima, also known as essence.

See the gallery below for more images of the figure.

EDIT – Added 4/18/2016
You can preorder the figure through Neowing, CD Japan, and Amazon.co.jp.

Aion 5.1 Information – New Instances and Gear

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I have to make my usual disclaimer before I begin:

I do not speak Korean. I do, however, read Japanese, and I follow a blog that translates information from the Korean servers to Japanese. So this is a ‘second stage’ translation. I’m translating a Japanese translation of something from Korean. As a result, there may be some issues with it from the source or trying to figure out what terminology is being referenced in places.

Terminology that I’m using, also, may not end up being what is used in the translation when it is released to the North American servers.

The Japanese article I’m translating comes from here. It is a Japanese translation of this article in Korean.

Another note before I begin, “For use by High Daevas” comes up a lot here. This terms is basically for any Daeva that is level 66 and higher and following the high daeva system introduced in 5.0.

Continue reading Aion 5.1 Information – New Instances and Gear

Aion “Wind of Destiny” Update Information Part 2 – Test Server Details

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This next article is about the Wind of Destiny update showing up on the test servers in Korea on 11/12/2014, and is based on a blog post from here made on that date.

As there have been updates to the server that I’ve yet to really look into, this info may be out of date already. I apologize for it taking so long, since I’ve been working on other translation projects.

One more thing to note, as with the previous article. I can’t read Korean, but I can read Japanese. This blog translates from Korean to Japanese. I’m simply translating the Japanese. If there are any errors from the original Korean, let me know.

The details can be found behind the cut.

Continue reading Aion “Wind of Destiny” Update Information Part 2 – Test Server Details

Aion “Wind of Destiny” Update Information Part 1

Opening note: This is a translation of a translation. I’m translating a blog post (sources will be at the bottom of the post) that was in Japanese, which was a translation of several articles in Korean. I am not familiar with all of the cross-terms from Aion in Japan to Aion in North America. I will also note that I am not 100% familiar with the classes outside of mine, so any corrections to mistranslations of skills and so forth would be wonderful! Thank you. :D

This is the first of three posts I’ve seen on the Japanese blog regarding these updates.

I will be breaking them up over multiple posts, since they’ll all be very very long, and it’ll be easier to read them in small batches.

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Multiple blog posts will make up this article on Aion’s new update. Originally, people had called it 5.0 and I’ve also seen 4.8, but I’ve since learned that they’re no longer assigning numbers to the expansions.

This particular expansion I’m seeing is called the ‘Wind of Destiny’ and is a massive, sweeping change over the entire game as a whole.

The first part of the Wind of Destiny will happen on the Korean servers in December. This update will contain a skillset reorganization, new ‘grown’ [ed: not quite sure the exact meaning on this], new regions, new contents, the fourth dragon lord, Beritra and the arrival of Triniel.

A key part of this update will be introducing new members to the Aion development team- a new lead director and new assistant design director will be involved in this project.

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They held a question and answer session regarding ‘Rhapsody 1’ of the Wind of Destiny update at the development offices.

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The first question from the reporters was to find out what will be happening with the Wind of Destiny update and to get information from it. They were told that the focus for this update will be to simplify the system and contents for the userbase. Everything from user interface, item setting, quests, skills, will be streamlined for optimization and convenience. With these changes will also come in higher level contents. However, character levels will not increase. Instead, they will be introducing a new growth system.

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They will be offering objectives to both new and veteran players to Aion, but they wish to bring about a new ‘romance’ to the game. This will serve as a major turning point to both Elyos and Asmodians alike.

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The update title is Wind of Destiny, and this this particular update, called Rhapsody 1: The New World’ are planned to go live on test servers on November 12. There are future plans for Rhapsody 2 and Rhapsody 3, the later updates.

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The biggest change of this update will be the ‘Unification of Balaurea.’ Along with this, the arrival of the two new regions, Heavenly Sigunia [Maybe Cygnia?] and Hellish Enshar, and a city will rise from under the sea.

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Not only this, but the rifting battle system will be revived as well. Legions will be able to utilize 72 man rifts, alliances can use 24 man rifts, and leagues can use 144 man rifts. Users will be able to gain many PVP points through these rifts, and they will all join together into camps on the other side. You can be labeled an ‘Attacker’ if you come to the enemy side via a rift and succeed, or you can become a ‘Guardian’ if you push back the enemy coming to your location via the rift.

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When asked about the new regions, they have explained that there are plans to merge the existing Balaurea regions into one, with Sarpan at the center. This will include Inggison, Gelkmaros, and Tiamaranta.

While the terrain is being changed, some of the instances that exist in Balaurea will be updated and some will be completely removed.

This update will reveal Beritra’s plot, and it will also introduce Triniel to the stage and he will be taking part in the plans to capture Beritra.

Beritra’s actions will cause the arrival of new instances, whereas some of the existing dungeons in Balaurea will be updated.

Regarding the rifting updates, many players found enjoyment in the rifting system. With the recent updates to the growth systems, newer players have drifted away from the rifting while older users still wished to participate in it. As such the new rifting system is being added in.

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Reporters also asked about the skill reorganization that had been mentioned before and wanted to know what the developers meant by that. They responded that the skills will be changing through a ‘skill growth system.’ With the desire to create more convenience and efficiency, they intend to integrate currently existing skills, as well as upgrades and adjustments. The new Skill Strengthening system will prepare players for the Stigma Evolution as well.

[Note: there are more details on this in a later blog post that I will also be translating.]

A question that many players will probably be interested in is knowing about what kind of new skills will be available for the various classes.

Gladiators will see Rupturing Spirit Blade, a single powerful attack to strike enemies at a distance, and Pulverizing Whirlwind, a whirlwind attack to target multiple enemies in within its range.

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With Templars, there will be Punishing Reflection, giving the templar the ability to reflect a skill back on their enemy, and Vampiric Discipline, a skill to allow a templar to regain health based on the amount of damage they deal.

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Assassins will see Glimmering Sphere, which will cause enemies within range to lose targeting, and Lightning Ambush, a charging back attack on enemies at a distance.

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For the Rangers, there will be Piercing Arrow, which causes both enemy damage and stun, as well as Shadow Hide, which will allow the ranger to go into hide while in combat.

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Some new skills for Sorcerers include Life’s Breeze, which will put an area of enemies to sleep, and Grace of Flames, which will amplify magical power, while reducing MP consumption.

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New skills for Spiritmasters include Spirit Union, where the spiritmaster will unify with the spirit to increase their movement speed, casting speed, and magical power, and Wide Area Absorption, which damage enemies around the spiritmaster and regen HP.

Clerics will now have Reinforcing Splendor, which will restore all [ed: maybe?] HP, and Judgement Seal which will weaken enemy resistances.

For the Chanters, there is Powerful Gust, a single attack that will strike all enemies around the chanter, and Spell Seal which will weaken the concentration of their enemies.

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Gunners will have Multi-Bombardment, where they fire multiple cannonballs at distant enemies, and Wild Magic Bullet Fire [ed: sorta? Trying ot make this sound good doesn’t work. Lit. ‘Blindly Firing Magical Bullets’] where they send a number of hits to any approaching enemies.

The Songweavers will have Illusionary Variation, a powerful single attack, and Purification Nocturne, which will have a purification effect on all party members.

…and last, but not least, the Aethertechs will see Photoelectric Wave, which is an AOE whip attack to stun multiple enemies, and Idium Detonation, which is a massive explosion attack from the bastion.

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Other questions that were asked during the event were related to the ‘Aion Master Server,’ which is specifically based on the local servers in Korea. This server will limit the character levels, and classes. AP can be accumulated through PVP but items being equipped or transactions related to them will be restricted. More details on this server will be available on 11/21 when it opens. They plan for the master server to have a high value on kinah and to see about making changes to the server economy.

[ed note: I don’t know on this all for sure, since I don’t play on the Korean servers. I don’t know much about their organization or how they function, so there are likely to be errors in the above translation.]

They were also asked about what they thought about the glory point system after having it implemented over the past year. The developers have stated that they have heard the criticisms regarding the current methods of acquiring GP through sieges and arena battles, which are set at fixed times. They intend to make changes to the system to give players more options for acquiring glory points in the future.

The final question brought up was to ask about the contents and timeframes of Rhapsody 2 and 3 for the Wind of Destiny update. Currently, the only one with any solid information at this time is Rhapsody 1. 2 and 3 are still in the development process at this point in time. Rhapsody 2 is expected to focus on item contents and intends to introduced ‘unparalleled’ items to the game.

Rhapsody 3 will be focusing on the troubles between the races, as they plan to look further into the confrontational natures of the Elyos and Asmodians. More details on these updates will be in the future. For now, the test server will see Wind of Destiny arrive on 11/12, and the developers hope that the players will enjoy the update.

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Source 1: [ Mutakina (Japanese) ]
Source 2: [ Game Chosun (Korean) ]
Source 3: [ Inven (Korean) ]

Aion Fashion Show – What Characters Do I Play?

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I make it no secret that I have a ton of characters on Aion. I also make it no secret that most (not all!) are named after characters from other sources. I shamelessly show my love for the Kiseki series with a bunch of characters designed and named after them, but a couple of other loves in other areas.

I’m really only showing off my characters that have had some major amounts of play. Some are just… there and I’ve not done anything with really. But there are characters that I have shown some interest in pushing forward with, even if they’re only level 20 or so. They will be included in this. I also have a LOT of characters, due to have multiple accounts. It’s free to play, so why not, right?

There will be lots of images, so the rest of this post will be behind a cut.

Continue reading Aion Fashion Show – What Characters Do I Play?