Friday, April 30, 2010

5 Years And Counting

It's been a long time.  5 years ago, a new online RPG game was released to the world.  And people got a taste of how the game Guild Wars worked.  Breaking away from typical and traditional MMOs, Guild Wars don't rely on using worlds where others can meet mid-way through.  Instead, parties are formed first and they enter in an instance of their own world, with no outsiders or anyone else to disturb them.  While at first the notion of such a thing is a welcome change due to the possibility of a rogue player wrecking havoc, it also introduces the element of not being able to meet a party that is already in a session.  Not being able to join mid-way through is part of the compromise of having an instanced world where all the loot and gold are shared amongst those in that party.  For the time being, this was a good thing.

Saturday, April 24, 2010

Fraudulent Procedures

*sigh* Idiots...

About a week ago, ArenaNet posted a tweet offering up 3 free access key codes on a first-come, first-serve basis.  This was an interesting opportunity to score a costume if I was quick about it.  With time to spare, I went to fire up Guild Wars in order to get the game up to date and be prepared for it.  However, just after entering the password, which I am sure was correct, I get hit with a Code=045 error.  The dialog box describes it as "payment fraud."  For whatever reason, all four of the Guild Wars accounts are locked.  I cannot log on to any one of them and found out that the NCsoft Master Account is also locked.

Tuesday, April 13, 2010

Bad Company 2: The Online Experience

It's been a month since the game's released.  And I have promised that I would be writing this review to properly ensure that I have virtually viewed every aspect of the game on the multiplayer front.  As one might have guessed, this is to make sure that I have played it and know just how the weapons feel and work while playing online.  While other reviewers may have put in only certain amount of hours just to review the online experience, I clocked in over 120 hours just to make sure that I leave no stone unturned.

Saturday, April 10, 2010

Astray Red Frame: Session 13+

It is done.  Because of bad preparation, I was unable to complete the entire thing on session 13.  This was due in part of the decision to paint a few items which have special colors and odd color blending from the plastic mix.  This was rectified with the early purchase of a couple of special color markers.

The weapons have a few pieces which are colored gold but the plastic mix that went in to making the mold gave an odd result.  The color wasn't consistent and there is some residue of the plastic not mixing well to keep the colors consistent.  Or perhaps it was due to the manufacturing process that gave such an odd effect.  Either case, the effect was bothersome enough to warrant using the markers for painting purpose.  Although the markers aren't perfect for general painting, it's decent enough to use for painting small pieces.

Thursday, April 08, 2010

Astray Red Frame: Session 12

The Tactical Arms II-L is nearly completed.  According to the manual, it's missing 6 pieces.  By session 13, everything should be done.  But so far, the giant equipment looks quite good and interesting despite being incomplete by so few pieces.

Wednesday, April 07, 2010

Astray Red Frame: Session 11

Starting on the weapons and equipment, I look over what needs to be cut and what needs to be inked.  Some of the pieces were fairly easy to see as far as what is there to ink.  But there are a few parts where the angles made it difficult to make a straight line.  However, I hope that after passing that portion I won't have to deal with that kind of issues again.

Tuesday, April 06, 2010

Astray Red Frame: Session 10

My endurance could not hold out to start on the next step.  As a result, the only component I was able to finish was the waist and with it, the main body is completed.  The components connected and snap into place and I can finally see the fruit of my labor.  The time and effort poured into this now show decent results.  The additional time to ink the panel lines on the pieces proved to be worth it as the model itself now looks more detailed than I had hoped for.

While taking a few pictures, the camera picked up on whatever minor imperfections and blemishes due to the ink smears of wiping and cleaning.  But for the most part, the details are showing and I am fairly satisfied with what I have so far.  Some of the parts could have been inked as well but that may have to wait until another time.

Monday, April 05, 2010

Astray Red Frame: Session 9

So I'm now on the 9th session and the goal is to finish the other leg.  Fortunately, what I have done in the first leg has helped me prepare in getting some of the pieces ready.  And since I already have a leg done, I can use that as a reference point when looking up panel lines for inking.

Sunday, April 04, 2010

Astray Red Frame: Session 8

This may go down as the component that took me the longest to ever finish.  Resuming where I left off, I aimed to finish off one single leg and perhaps start on the other leg.  Well, I only managed to finish a leg.  But starting on the next leg cannot happen as I opted to stop there for the time being.

Saturday, April 03, 2010

Astray Red Frame: Session 7 & etc

Due to weather, I could not resume assembling the model for 3 straight days.  To pass the time, I turned to my Sword Impulse Gundam and started inking the panel lines.  It has already made some progress but it was very minor at best.  Piecing together the Astray Red Frame require my full attention and that was just not possible at the time.