Destiny: Is this the future of gaming?

Destiny is a game recently released across various consoles and places the first person shooter genre into the role playing and MMO genres.

As much as I believe that as time goes by, we will see almost all genres adopt into an MMO-like standpoint, Destiny seems to do this in a rather shabby fashion. I detail some of the reasons below:

Question 1: Do you get rewarded?

Yes you do, with new gear and guns, however the amount of time you need to invest to get the greater gear can be considerable.

Question 2: How is the grind?

There is no question that the grind is certianly apparent in this game. Especially when trying to accrue vanguard marks (as opposed to crucibal marks). Vanguard marks mainly require you to play strikes, which are like dungeons in regular MMOs. However, because there are only a very short supply of strikes, this results in excruciatingly repetitive gameplay. On the  other hand, if you like competitive multiplayer, I would find the crucibal marks a lot easier to accrue.

Question 3: Is this truly next-gen?

Yes, it looks pretty, however with its repetitive gameplay, lack of different things to do, and rather long loading screens (even on the PS4 and Xbox One), this is not what is expected these days.

Overall, I have spent over thirty hours playing and have reached level 26 currently. So as much as I feel the gameplay is repetitive, ofcourse it is still rather addictive.

Downloading LOTRO. Which MMO is truly the best?

So I find myself downloading LOTRO. I think I’m bored. This must be the only reason as I have dabbled in LOTRO many years ago and since have delved into a wealth of MMOs of different types over the years, but have never stuck it out on any one specifically for an exceptionally long length of time.

Maybe I’m not the kind of guy for MMOs. Perhaps my attention span warrants a car racing game or a quick-fire shoot-em up. My craving however, that niggling feeling at the back of my mind always maintains. The craving for an MMO, any MMO. Just get me levelling up!

What are your thoughts and do you have any preference over MMOs? I note that all MMOs tend to follow the same basic structure, however they all have their unique selling points (most, at least).

Hello Again.

Hi. It's me..

I appear to of lost my inspiration for writing in this blog. Which makes me raise a questionable point, consistency.

When it comes to anything in life, consistency is always the best plan of action. Whether this be in your job role, your hobby or perhaps in a skill, such as writing. If you are not consistent, then where is your end game? Will you even reach the end game or will it always be an endless struggle.

Consistency will also make you better. Maybe only to become the best of the worst, but still better.

I'm a hypocrite yes, but I'm fully aware of my failings. Food for thought, or my mere ramblings. Either way, its something!

Writing A Novel

Writing a novel is one of those tasks where it is very easy to say the words, but it is an altogether different matter entirely to write the words in a structured and understandable format.

To many, writing a novel at face value would appear to be as easy as riding a bike or learning to swim (I can’t swim..), but it isn’t until you try it for yourself that you find out what a technical and time-consuming task it actually is.

For instance, writing a novel includes the below:

- Plotting
- Character arcs
- A fully developed story with believable characters and environments
- Correct knowledge of punctuation, grammar and spelling
- Understanding points of view
- Coffee. Lots of coffee.

This is a tiny part of what is a much larger range of aspects to consider when writing a novel and it is something that I have come to understand on my own journey. For all writers that is what writing is, a journey we go on, and for the true writers, a journey that never stops.

I encourage everybody to start this craft or at least give it a go. Just don’t go into this craft with the idea of getting published and/or making money, the greatest reward in writing is managing your own time, your patience and your imagination to the ultimate completion of your project. You may also learn a few things about yourself in the process..

Do you write in first person or third person?

There are varying ways to write fiction. You can either delve deep into the mind of the main character and perceive the entirety of the book from their perspective, or take a more indirect approach and look at the scenes from a more third person perspective; but which is better?

First person - When writing in first person, you as the writer have one major advantage. Your writing is not your own narrated language but rather that of the character themselves. This can make it much easier to understand and develop your characters conflicts and motivations more precisely but also provide them with their own individual voice.

This can quickly become a problem however because as the creator of the story, we usually have a wider perspective on how the story is going to pan out and to a lesser extent, the characters and environments our character is going to be flung upon. With this knowledge, it can be very tempting during the writing process to deviate from the first person rule. We may want to give other characters more depth for instance or tell the story in part from others perspective. This ofcourse being impossible under a first person persona.

Writing in first person has its advantages but it also has its restrictions.

Third person - The more commonly used writing style, third person writing gives the writer the freedom to write the story from multiple viewpoints and therefore this gives scope for branching story lines and more developed character profiles.

Whatever your choice, its important to choose a writing style and stick to it, no matter how tempting it may seem to deviate. Breaking this rule only opens the story up to confused, disjointed writing which can be hard to follow. Personally, i feel a writer chooses very early on what kind of writing they are better suited for and sticks to that for the majority. For me, it is third person, but ofcourse, it purely depends on the type of book you are writing.

What Is Happiness?

A rather simplistic question when you first hear it isn't it. What is happiness? This clearly isn't as clear a question as first thought, as surely the true key to happiness holds different reasoning to each and every one of us, no?

Modern society certainly gives the insinuation that happiness is defined by two things; power and money.

If you have power and money, you have success, and surely then you have everything you need in life. We all know this isn't true however, one mans riches can be another mans burden.

I believe true happiness can only be obtained from deep within your own mind. You have to experience life's ups and downs, both its perks and its pitfalls, in order to be truly happy. How do you know what true happiness is, if you have never experienced true despair?

Of all the materialistic obsessions the modern life brings. Happiness does not need all of this fancy gadgetry, it merely is within us all, ready to be accepted once we are truly comfortable in our own minds.

Hidden Gaming Gems

You know the ones. The games that we stumble across by accident that actually turn out to be some of the best experiences we have in gaming. A hidden gaming gem that we will play completely to the end several times (maybe on different platforms) just for the fun of it. Or maybe perhaps we find the multiplayer aspect of a game too good to put down? Whether it be from years ago or maybe more recently, there are games out there that grab us and don't let us go. Some that come to mind are:

- Burnout Revenge: The multiplayer in this game as truly immense and it was the first ever game I went online to play multiplayer. It's a real shame this game is nearly impossible to play now due to how log ago it was released. Bring it back! Burnout Paradise was nothing in comparison to this arcade racer.

- Broken Sword: A childhood memory for me and one that will likely stay with me for the rest of my life. I've re-played this game on the DS, the IPhone, Ipad and PC (originally on the PS). A truly all time classic point and click adventure.

- Call of Duty: I agree with some that this franchise is becoming nothing more than a money grabbing  tyrant where they justify a full retail price for the next reincarnation which may not be so different to the latter. This said, they certainly do get the last laugh as the multiplayer is compellingly addictive and buying the next in the series feels a lot like getting the next Apple product.

- Discworld: I'm not sure how popular this game was, but along similar lines as Broken Sword, this point and click adventure is just as addictive. The difference? This game lends more humour but also in a much more fictitious environment and plot. Worth a download!

This is just a small selection of the games that come to mind first but there are many more. I remember the days of playing 'Zelda: The Ocarina Of Time', 'Super Mario All Stars' and to perhaps a lesser extend 'GTA: San Andreas'. What are yours?