The Video Game Revue

New Year's Resolutions 2007

I don't really believe in resolutions for the new year. At least, I don't believe in the usual "get in shape" or "lose weight" type. :P What I can stomach are resolutions to get more gaming done, at least.

My primary resolution for the new year is to get Xzi to level 60. He just hit 45 last night, and I did finally get that mount that I was saving up for (a few levels back, even.) Most recently I was questing in Tanaris, running Zul'Farrak, and doing more questing in Feralas. There will be plenty more quests opening up for me in the next few levels--not to mention running Maraudon and The Sunken Temple--and I can hardly wait to hit the Plaguelands once I'm past 50. Hoo-ah.

Just for fun, I've rolled myself a new character: Zulji, the Troll Shaman. It's been a long time since I rolled a new char, because I started Xzi back in October 2004 (I remember because it was the Halloween season in-game), quickly got him to about level 14 and abandoned him for pretty much a full year before getting back into the game. So even though I've only really been playing Xzi for the last four months or so, it's really been well over a year since I've rolled a new char and I'd forgotten much of what the experience is like. I'm eager to try some different WoW character classes and learn more about the game in general, but my focus is still very much on getting Xzi to 60 and beyond.

Speaking of alts, Sunny got her Paladin alt to 60 several weeks ago and now she's playing a Hunter Night Elf. Shortly after getting her Pally to 60, she swore that she was going to stop playing at least until The Burning Crusade comes out (Jan 16th), but that resolution did not last long at all. I actually wouldn't be entirely surprised if this new alt hit 60 before Xzi does (although it would make me a little bit sad.)

I've been playing Guitar Hero II, of course, and damn that game is hard. There is an important feature of it that I neglected to mention in my last post, and that is the Practice mode. In practice mode (much like in the GameCube version of Ikaruga), you can play specific sections of songs at regular speed or in slow-motion to help you really nail those riffs. I've reached the 7th tier on Hard difficulty, and I've now basically hit my skill limit, which comes as a surprise given that I'd basically expected to whip the game off without any massive obstacles on Hard before moving on to Expert. Now I find that playing Guitar Hero II on Hard may very well be a greater challenge than the original Guitar Hero on Expert, but this new Practice mode feature gives me strong hopes for continuing to progress through the game. I will probably also start a career on Expert without finishing Hard first, and if I get really stuck I may even have to start a career on Medium just to unlock the final tier of songs.

There hasn't been a whole lot of Wii playing lately, but I am still keeping Zelda and Trauma Center in mind. I'm tantalizingly close to the end of Zelda and it would be nice to just finally finish it off. Trauma Center is one of those games that I'll likely revisit time and again at any rate.

And then there's Tetris DS. I took a good long break from it, and now I've back. The thrill of 4-Player Standard ladder play is as strong as ever, and just today I managed to trounce a 7300+ rated player. I still haven't reached 7000 yet, but I flirt with it from time to time and I'm often in the 6700-6850 range.

More resolutions:
- play TOAW3, Company of Heroes, and CS with Matt
- play the Shadow of War expansion set for WoW: The Board Game
- finish Shin Megami Tensei: Digital Devil Saga?
- play more Nippon Ichi tactical RPGs
- apply for a job at a game company like BioWare or Blizzard

Here's hoping that 2007 is an awesome year.

Update: Ace-High sent me an awesome link:

http://www.gamerevolution.com/goodie/movies/guild_wars_vs_wow

posted by Parappa @ 7:33 PM