I’m Back & Yu-Gi-Oh! Online Going Down!

Hello all. Sorry if I had worried anyone but I’ve been relatively bombarded by in real life issues that demanded a great deal of my attention and then Hard Drive related issues which further set me back. I’ll get into detail with the Hard Drive issues at a later date but onto the news I have received that has me buzzed. This is quoted word-for-word from the main site.

"Dear fans of Yu-Gi-Oh! ONLINE,

Yu-Gi-Oh! ONLINE DUEL ACCELERATOR is an online game for PC which allows players from all over the world to compete in online duels following the rules of Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's OCG that thanks to all of you reached worldwide popularity.

Though the Yu-Gi-Oh! ONLINE adventure started in 2005 and it was enjoyed by so many worldwide, unfortunately this adventure must come to an end. Due to internal decisions Yu-Gi-Oh! ONLINE DUEL ACCELERATOR will go offline on 09/30/2012 17:00 Pacific Standard Time .

You may find a detailed schedule for the next 6 months and a basic FAQ at the bottom of the page.

Our heartfelt gratitude go out to all the dedicated and loyal duelists all over the world who have shared their passion with us, contributed to build this service and all those who have participated. We hope that you enjoyed your duels and trades and look forward to having you compete against friends worldwide with the next great Konami game.

We're commited to supporting service until the very last day.

Please excuse the inconveniences.

Your Yu-Gi-Oh! ONLINE team

03/30/2012 20:00 Pacific Standard Time: End all BOOSTERPASS sales.

09/30/2012 17:00 Pacific Standard Time: Close down all service.

Players can play the game until 09/30/2012 17:00 Pacific Standard Time .

Please use up all in-game items, such as BOOSTERPASS Cards, BOOSTERPASS Codes, Duel Passes, and BOOSTERPASS Points, by 09/30/2012 17:00 Pacific Standard Time .

BOOSTERPASS Cards, BOOSTERPASS Codes, Duel Passes, and BOOSTERPASS Points cannot be used after 09/30/2012 17:00 Pacific Standard Time ."

And from the closing FAQ:

"Can we use unused BOOSTERPASS Cards and BOOSTERPASS Points after the end of service?

Unused BOOSTERPASS Cards and BOOSTERPASS Points will become unusable after the service is closed.

Please use all BOOSTERPASS Cards and BOOSTERPASS Points by the end of the service.

If the player's country of registration is Canada, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Japan, Korea and Taiwan:

We will refund these players' unused BOOSTERPASS Cards and BOOSTERPASS Points after the end of the service.

Details will be announced on 10/01/2012 17:00 Pacific Standard Time.

* Players' countries of registration can not be changed.

Are there any changes to Duelist Premium?

If the expiration date of the Duelist Premium is 03/30/2012 17:00 Pacific Standard Time or later, it will be extended to 09/30/2012 17:00 Pacific Standard Time .

If players receive the Duelist Premium on 03/30/2012 17:00 Pacific Standard Time or later, expiration date will be extended to 09/30/2012 17:00 Pacific Standard Time .

What is the deadline for entering BOOSTERPASS Codes?

Users can enter BOOSTERPASS Codes till 09/30/2012 17:00 Pacific Standard Time .

What is the deadline to register as a new player?

Player registration will be available till 09/30/2012 17:00 Pacific Standard Time .

Can we use Cards and Avatar items after the end of service?

No, players cannot use Cards or Avatar items after the end of the service. "

Depending on how hardcore you were into the game this is a rather bitter pill to swallow. For me I’m not the least bit surprised and I’m going to tell you why:

-          Though I’m not sure exactly the number of regions that this was done to but there were several regions that, while having access to the game were unable to by Boosterpasses in their region killing lots of potential business.

-          Lack of steady new content. To this day there are two regions on the in game map that are still inaccessible to this day.

-          The trading system was user unfriendly. The cards (when you went to trade) that were untradeable (either because they were a giveaway, the starter cards you get for signing up or the structure deck cards) got mixed in with the tradeable ones (which were limited to only cards you got from the packs). Which leads me to the next issue.

-          GREED MURDERED THIS GAME! Accessories in game cost about as much or even more so than a booster pack. Booster packs had their issues too and you paid too much for too little in terms of cards and God help you if you didn’t get anything you could at least TRADE for something you want and don’t get me started on Duelist Premium! Actually, I WILL get started with “Duelist Premium”.

-          Duelist Premium (for those who had never played Yu-Gi-Oh! Online) was a service offered to anyone who entered Boosterpass codes for Duelist Points (DP for short and will be referred to as such for the rest of the post) that for 30 days allowed you access to exclusive things(a gripe about Duelist Premium I’ve had was that regardless of how many passes you entered the highest amount of days for the service would ALWAYS be 30). Those things being able to battle against more NPC’s that came from the Anime Series and to partake in tournaments hosted by Konami which offered prizes for their victor.

The second part seemed pretty cool, until you realize that by fighting in events like Duelist Trial & Gunslinger you didn’t “win” any prize cards. You “won” the right to purchase these cards for a limited time! That’s right ladies and gents. Even though you spent money to get the DP to buy unrelated stuff you need to spend more DP to get access to the cards you “won”! WHAT A FUCKING RIP! Konami, this was bad and you should feel bad!

As I’ve seen in some places, we got people who believe this is a prank since it was so close to April first. I don’t think any company would pull such a stunt as a prank. The backlash would be devastating.

I spent a bit of money on this game. Am I sad to see it go? Not really? Am I surprised? Only that it took so long to happen. Do I have fond memories of it? HELL NO! That game gave me nothing but stress and grief! I couldn’t EVER get anything to trade with or anyone to trade with me for what I wanted and the place was littered with kids and huge spenders who stomped on people like me like bugs. In other words it was too much like the offline version.

I haven’t played the game in awhile but I plan on going back in for as long as it remains up and antagonize the kiddies with more money than sense, laughing like a madman that their investments ultimately amounted to absolute zero.

In the end, those like me get the last laugh, so I hope we all get to yuck it up. Let’s all dance around the bonfire and take a big, long piss on this dying game and the rich kiddies that made life difficult on it. While you’re at it, take a dump on it too.

First Look: Glory Destiny Online

WOW it has been awhile since I done one of these. Anyone remember my review on Eden Eternal? Well the same company (X-Legends) who made that (and made the fatal mistake of giving publishing rights to the asshats at Aeria Games) have created a game that as I type this is in a Global Open Beat with a similar art style taken into a Chibi-er direction called Glory Destiny Online. WHY companies insist on placing “online” at the end of any MMORPG that didn’t already have some kind of OFFLINE component I’ll never know. For those of you who are new  a First Look is in no way a complete review it’s a recount of my first 24 hours of a game. It is also my policy to never give real review of a game until it has transitioned into full release.

Starting off you have 3 races to choose from. Each race has 2 classes so you got 6 classes that are bound by race (strike one, X-Legends I would like these classes to be available to ALL races but this is just a personal gripe but not enough to keep me from the game). They are Fighters, Shaman, Archer, Warrior, Assassins & Sorcerers. Fighters & Warriors are the tank classes. They could also be built to be more about damage than tanking. Shamans & Sorcerers are either Magic DPS or Support class depending on how you build them (though I must tell you that the Sorcerers have Resurrection and the Shaman doesn’t in case something like that will influence your choice) and the Assassins & Archers are DPS. I’m not going to lie. Using Eden Eternal as a yard stick having to choose ONE CLASS without being able to switch over on the fly feels ass backwards for this company so come balancing day and IF the way I play is considered broken as all hell I’ll have to roll up another character. NOT LOOKING FORWARD TO THAT!

 

The first thing you’ll notice is that this plays like pretty much any other MMORPG. Right click to move and WASD movement. The second thing you’ll notice it the Auto Router but there is a critical difference. In order to use any skills you’ll first have to press the number key and then click the right mouse button to fire off said skill. It’s certainly different I’ll say that much but I don’t see it making a lot of sense. One has to wonder what the PvP is like and if this makes things better or worse. You could also hotkey a skill to the left button instead of relying on the standard attack if you desire. It feels odd like that time I was caught making a Spam with salsa and gravy mix and having to answer why I was doing it then eating it and finding out it was a terrible taste combo. Maybe I just need to play more to get used to it.

 

Also it seems that despite this being an open beta that the Item Mall is open for business. I’m not quite sure what the conversion rates are for the Premium Game Currency but when I find out it will be noted in my full review (some donations for that would be nice if anyone could spare anything *points to donation button*). Right now its major difference from any other MMORPG on the market (correct me if I missed something that predates this) is that its super cute. So if you really like super cute things why not sign up for the game? It’s at least keeping me busy till I find something with a bit more meat on the bone.

Support = Thankless Role

Hey. Just a little rant here in place of a review. Only reason I’m doing this instead is because the game I was reviewing has moved its full release back a month and some change so this will give me more time to write a more full review on it. Also I need to bitch about this or its going to drive me insane.

Why do I bother? WHY do I bother? I now know why there are so few supports in games like League of Legends or any other games that have them. It’s thankless work. So much insults, it’s ALWAYS your fault even when the Carry is really to blame. I tried a Ranked game last night and let me tell you it was an absolute nightmare. It was the first time in a League of Legends game where I had to place everyone on an ignore list (my team and the entire enemy team) AND the first time I had to report my entire team.

I was playing as Soraka and went down in Bottom lane with Graves who seemed like a decent person (then again ALL sociopaths mimic human behavior well). He wanted to start by getting these double Golem so I was to leash for him (hit the enemy to start things off then run). It didn’t go too well according to him so we went into lane. He was farming and the enemy was harassing. Like the “good support” is supposed to I purchased Wards to place in the brush to give him more harassing power and to take away any surprise attacks the enemy could make He was farming and I decided to take whatever he couldn’t possibly get to. Then he starts yelling at me for taking his farm and called me a noob for it. Now first of all I was aiming at stuff you couldn’t get at in time, also Wards cost Gold so the more Gold I get the more Wards I can keep on me to keep you safe. He told me I was ruining HIS lane. This is what got me. This as I was lead to believe is supposed to be a TEAM GAME so that would make Bottom Lane OUR lane, not HIS lane.

Of course by this point I got sick of him and said “you can solo lane you know.” As a threat of sorts, perhaps something to make him realize that I’m important too. Of course as I have learned anyone who plays a Carry is a selfish prick who blames everyone but themselves for any failings and see everyone else (especially the Support) as trash they have to put up with or meat shields to let die so they can get away. The insults kept flying and I demanded some decency and an apology. He said “not going to get it”. He goes into fight the 2 enemies in Bot. I was trying to type out something in response to his crass behavior and then he gets killed because I had the chat window open trying to defend myself from his verbal abuse. Then he insults me more. Yeah, I got steamed and made his mortality rate absolute zero, that was my fault entirely but I’ll be honest I SMILED when he died (usually I’m remorseful and broken up if a team mate dies ESPECIALLY if I’m playing a Support because I feel I could have done more to save them even if I really couldn’t have).

I’m not going to try to protect someone who treats me like garbage. The MOMENT you flip out on me and refuse to take it back I don’t care what happens to you. I refuse to enable terrible behavior especially if enabling leads to a win then the jackass will think that you can treat people like crap and still produce a positive result for yourself. Well I’M NOT A DOORMAT! I have self-respect and if you treat me like garbage then you will not receive my help. I’ll lose with my self-respect intact before I secure a win by forfeiting my integrity. Anyway things went further downhill and everyone else on my team starting with our Gangplank (ANOTHER character that is a Carry, which in turn was also an ass…I’m starting to see a pattern I have yet to meet a Carry I DIDN’T want to beat senseless). It got so bad that after I called them out for being Sociopaths I ignored all of them and asked then enemy team if they’d be willing to report my “team” for Verbal Abuse especially since they threatened to report me. I did this repeatedly and I finally got a reply. They said they wouldn’t do it. I tried to play out the game but my heart wasn’t into it. Why should I TRY for those “people”? After a futile struggle we lost and the nail in the coffin…? The enemy team said “Sorry you had to deal with that annoying Soraka.” What little faith I had in Solo Queue Ranked died the moment it was typed.

Long story short I really am starting to hate people. I see why God allowed us to make weapons because let’s face it, some people are so stubborn/evil/uncaring that the only way I could see to correct the problem would be to just pull out your weapon of choice to murder them if all reasoning fails. Why have that stuff going through the gene pool to possibly harass my children and my children’s children? If I am to climb rank I must from now on play with people I know and trust. Not just one person a FULL TEAM because if I leave it to chance odds are I’ll get the remaining spots filled with maladjusted people who should be on my plate instead of being allowed to live and breed. WHEN ARE WE GOING TO GET SOILENT GREEN APPROVED!?

Really, really sick...

As it says. Sadly, I have fallen very ill and was unable to complete the article in a timely manner. I'll make up for it as soon as I get better.

Short Review: Nintendo 3DS

Hello. So, how are all of you doing? I’m alright. Christmas was okay. I ended up getting some nice stuff under the Christmas tree. One of which I will do a quick review on right now.

Yep…I never had a 3DS till now. This is my impression of it. I will only be covering functions I have actually gotten to use so far.

The Feel: I’m not sure if all Nintendo 3DS’s are like this, but mine feels pretty slick. As in slippery. I wonder if some people haven’t already dropped this thing at least once due to sweaty palms. The control pad feels odd, but using the stick feels oooooh so right. Not sure why though.

The 3D Effects: I received four games for the system. Those are Sonic Generations, Super Mario 3D land, Mario Kart 7 and Dead or Alive: Dimensions. In Mario 3D and Sonic Generations the 3D effect was more burden than fun feature. You probably won’t have an issue with it, but it was a big enough to convince me to not use 3D in those games if I’m actually trying to win. It’s like trying to shoot an armor piercing arrow at an apple on an infant’s head while drunk off your ass and sand is in your eye. I’m sure there’s games where it won’t ruin things for you.

Backwards Compatibility: If you have not already tossed out your Nintendo DSi you better not let it go if you still like your DS games. When I inserted a standard DS title it was fuzzy and saturated. How the fuck can this thing render 3D and NOT make original DS titles show clearly? This is also true for games that are older than DS that are repackaged for the 3DS through Nintendo’s App store. I got Zelda Four Sword Adventure (which is free till February 22 if I’m not mistaken so if you don’t have it NOW, get it soon). It doesn’t detract from the gameplay (unlike the D-Pad which feels VERY awkward) but it is an eyesore for me. I can see part of the reason why the CEO of Nintendo took a severe pay cut for. Should have been forced to commit seppuku for that. I kid, but really Nintendo couldn’t you have taken some more time with this system?

Motion Controls: Not going to lie, these feel funny. I would not play any games that require the motion controls in public in fear of accidently hitting someone. I’m sure something will come along to make the most of it but right now it feels silly in a public place and would be annoying to explain that you’re playing a game to people who think you’re going nuts.

Play Coins: A new, and interesting feature. There are some things you can unlock in some titles with Play Coins. These are obtained by walking with the 3DS on you while closed (not sure if it works when open) or when the system is in standby mode. Each 100 steps gives you 1 Play Coin and I heard that the amount is capped at 300 for some reason. Here’s hoping a firmware update expands this by…a lot.

Judgment: Not too many titles worth playing right now, but I’m sure that will change. If you get the 3DS get it for 3DS games. You might get annoyed by the washed way original DS games look on this. Here’s hoping an upgraded version fixes this issue.

Finally Got A Schedule & Musing

Well, I’ve finally gotten off of Holiday mode and am now back in class and finally got a time table to post new content. It’s not set in stone as an ever constant because every semester my days of attending class shift, as too must my weekly time table, but I will announce the change ups as they come so it won’t come as a shock. Of course just because I’m now on a post-a-week regiment doesn’t mean I’ll only be posting once a week.  I’ll get in other stuff as my schedule allows. This change comes into play as of this post.

Now for my musing. I’ve made it a quest to find a game that has the most of everything I’m seeking. Recently I tried to pop in on Aeria Games to see what was up for the hell of it only to find that my account was banned (they probably found this post I made about them and decided to be petty little shits and ban me for blaming them as I did). With Aeria no longer on the list I suddenly realized that it cut some things out of my pool of options to play. To expand it I’ve decided to give Nexon another chance if only so I could get something meaty to add.

I know I promised a few reviews on some games, but I decided against it since they bored me to tears in one way or another. I won’t touch on Mabinogi since that game frustrated me so much I couldn’t be bothered to write a review on it (ain’t that a kick?) because every time I thought about the game I got a killer migraine. So I’m seeking around for stuff that does interest me be it for good or bad reasons. At this time however I find myself growing weary with the whole MMO scene. Too much of the same and not anything which remotely sticks out. Stagnation is the word of the day and we need it to be gone in a heartbeat.

The more I try to find something to satisfy all my desires in a game the more disappointed I became. Perhaps it’s time to just give up on finding the next big thing and just park and wait for it to come to me. I watch sites such as MMOHut and MMOBomb looking for something to dig into. Here’s hoping 2012 gets more promising. Yeah, I liked Shadow Era but I hate how damn long they’re taking to finish set 1 and how they seemed to have abandoned Phantom Sprit Battle Academy since we were supposed to have testing during the SUMMER/FALL OF LAST YEAR and have heard nothing in relation to change of plans. They’re already printing physical copies of the Shadow Era cards AND WE DON’T EVEN HAVE A FINSHED SET YET! WHAT THE FUCK WULVEN STUDIOS!? Sorry about that I’m just so disappointed in them right now, and it’s going to take a bit for me to look at them in a better light and this is before the nerfs/buffs/reworks that took place which I’m not even going to touch on.

At the rate things are going I might as well settle with a little something until I find something with substance. I might just try to get further in Crystal Saga despite its non-existent character customization but seemly deep character customization. Oh well, back to my studies. Who knows, I might just try Urban Rivals one more time.

Rant: More Like League of Sociopaths

As the title states I think this game attracts a lot of these people. Well, “people” being used in the loosest sense of the word. I’ve ran into at least one jerk a game today. It’s bad enough all my games today have been losses but it’s made even worse by “people” who think it’s okay to blame others for their failings or to tear into someone who is already having a terrible game. None of them EVER take it back, they ALWAYS believe they’re right and I’m beginning to think if they showed any sign of being a decent human being they’d die on the spot.

At first I saw the biggest concentration of these “people” on at the late night hours. It wasn’t even like I was in a RANKED GAME. This was NORMAL GAME! What is it about this kind of game that makes people think that being a decent human being is an awful thing and acting like an ass is a virtue? Is there a full moon? Something in the global water supply? Or are these “people’s” parents so God damn awful that they never got around to teaching their little dick/cunt IT’S NOT OKAY TO BE AN ASS TO OTHER PEOPLE!?

In every game I’ve played today I was hard pressed on not having someone to report. Of course all the hostility made my already bleak performance even worse. Apparently seeing myself die a lot doesn’t seem to be enough of an indicator that I suck today. NOOOOOO, they got to rub sulfur in the wound with cut glass and acid. I pause momentarily wondering how fucking awful their real life must be if they feel they have to be validated by tearing someone down behind a computer screen, and how these people don’t see that their verbal abuse and refusal to even attempt to make amends has an impact on others.

The more I play, the more I wonder if League of Legends is a game and not some kind of cyber zoo for these “people” to act out on their destructive tendencies without getting themselves killed. Being better than me should never warrant being an ass about it. Being worse than me should not allow you to blame me for your failings. Having a terrible game shouldn’t mean you get to beat on me with your tongue. The bans can’t come fast enough in League of Legends. Account banning isn’t good enough. They’ll just make ANOTHER account and treat lower level people like garbage. Riot…your bans must come sooner. It would be nice if the person/people who reported the person would get an E-Mail stating that the jerk was banned (so we could have some closure). You need to look into harsher ways of punishing these people. Like an I.P. Ban (they’d just use a new IP, but you could make it impossible to connect via proxy servers) or a MAC ban.

As much as I’d like to believe that this is a game for people to play, I feel the only people who can get any enjoyment out of this game are the collection of misfits that like to tear into people who would more than likely get hospitalized or killed for their atrocious behavior.