Category Archives: Frivolous Friday

Tunes of Magic III – Skyrim

While ZeniMax Media are eagerly blocking all Skyrim soundtrack clips on youtube, I got myself the official 4-CD OST collection of the game and I cannot recommend it enough. Skyrim’s music is STUNNING, kudos go to Jeremy Soule for creating such masterful tunes for a beautiful world!

Meanwhile, fans worldwide have been busy. Merely five weeks old, Skyrim music clips, movies, cartoons and comics are shooting from the ground like Mora Tapinella (c wut I did thar!). I always loved fan initiatives, the creativity and inspiration the best of games will unleash in their player base. WoW too, has certainly been a remarkable example of that.

In lieu of official tunes to present here, I’ve therefore decided to dedicate a small round-up of musical fan creations for Elder Scrolls V. As maybe more unofficial part of my Tunes of Magic series, this stands on its own as a testimony to player creativity and Skyrim’s most catchy themes – enjoy!

“The Dragonborn Comes” by Malukah

Directly inspired by the bard song ingame, this haunting fan interpretation is beautifully sung, capturing the mood of Skyrim’s cold lands with its clear vocals. It’s available for free download here – just a pity it’s only two minutes long!

“Skyrim Epic Rap” by Dan Bull

You don’t need to be particularly into rap to appreciate this cover for its funny lyrics. The majestic choir of Skyrim’s main theme fits oddly well with the performer’s rhythm. This too is available for free download. A real scream!

“Skyrim meets Metal” by Erock

This put a wide grin on my face – I would expect nothing less than a metal interpretation of Skyrim! The two are pretty much made for one another, a classy performance with a slight /headbang!

“Skyrim Remix” by Levi Doron

Uh-oh…dance techno, really? Of course, somebody had to do it – but then, for all its trashy Euromix flair, I couldn’t help but chuckle. Someone actually went through the trouble to adapt Skyrim for the dance floor – an acquired taste, yet somehow contagious?!

“Literal Skyrim Trailer” by Tobuscus

Literal trailers are almost always great fun and this is no exception. I always marvel at people’s breath on these, I could never keep up! Add to that, they’re actually attempting to sing it (well, kinda) – hilarious!

“Retro Skyrim Trailer” by RubberRoss

This collection of music genres would not be complete without an oldschool 8bit video game tune. I admit, it takes a lot of nostalgia to appreciate them, but both the clip and “song” made me chuckle – this is how all great games began!

Ah and in case you haven’t seen the Escapist’s Zero Punctuation take on Skyrim, I really suggest you do! A good weekend to all of you – be it called Christmas, Hanukkah or just a lazy day somewhere out in the snow (alternatively warm and fuzzy in a chair playing videogames)!

Skyrim fun links

It’s Friday everybody – my favorite day of the week! In lieu of any MMO to talk about, because Starwars does not enthuse, Guild Wars 2 is far away and WoW is becoming Pokémon, I decided to put together some Skyrim links for all those of you who are currently immersed and bedazzled in the vast world of Tamriel. Just a few bits’n bobs you might want to check out and have some fun with!

  • Skyrim easter eggs; like most games these days, Skyrim holds a few hidden movie and pop-culture references and quotes in store, even if somewhat more subtle and scarce in number (and a good thing too). I can’t say I noticed any of them myself ingame, but then I was busy wiping tears away over the beautiful vistas.
  • Skyrim kindle edition; the numerous books scattered over the lands of Skyrim are a wonderful feature of the game, so is the fact that you can read them all, collect and store them on your personal book shelves. Care to browse’m on your way to work? No problemo! Fan initiatives such as these never cease to amaze me. 
  • Skyrim arachnophobia mod; apparently arachnophobia is such a serious issue that it can considerably hinder the enjoyment of video games for people who are affected. The beauty of PC games is the community and interactivity; if the devs allow it, players can write their own mods and fixes for almost everything. In this case turn them nasty spiders into bears or crabs!
  • Legit console commands; while all console commands are “legit” of course, there are several that are more useful and feel less like “cheating”, considerably improving your gaming experience. I certainly find my game flow less disrupted by an improved carry weight or extended night-day cycles, but judge for yourself.
  • Skyrim detailed map; Someone actually went through the trouble of mapping entire Skyrim including all locations, early on after launch. Quite impressive, although I must say I love not having discovered everything just yet.
  • Skyrim sim power; clips such as these show the amazing authenticity of Skyrim’s gameplay, the technical finesse that brings life to this virtual world. Now if only I had such an aim!
  • Skyrim on Cracked; as usual, Cracked.com have their own cynical take on how playing Skyrim will affect your personality.
  • Skyrim on Penny Arcade; not surprisingly, Gabe of PA is an avid Skyrim player, battling with the same initial issues as everyone else. Especially the strip on obsessive looting behaviour made me chuckle – you can never have too many brooms imo!

I wish you all a very good weekend and mighty adventures! I know where to look for mine.

(Quite possibly the greatest quest of all times.)

Vanilla raiding – A Trip down Memory Lane

Klepsacovic keeps posting articles on evul vanilla, so this is entirely his fault.
What can I say, I get all fuzzy inside hearing about things like linear raids, negative stat modifiers or resistance gear – guess I’m just a glutton for punishment. But we really understand the relationship between the hard shit and feelings of accomplishment slash memories by now, don’t we?

I can’t help but think back on the days of 40man raiding ever so often, when everything in WoW was so brand new and unexplored, when servers seemed like such a small place and everyone would sport their epic tiers at Ironforge square (yeah Ogri for you trolls). I know I’m not the only one with such deep stages of nostalgia and it doesn’t matter one bit how much better or worse vanilla truly was. Truly is only what we know.

So, the following little write-up is for all of you who hardly remember how different raiding was back in the days, or those who can find curious entertainment in veteran tales maybe. It’s a time travel back to 2005/2006 when I was a healing coordinator for my second raidguild, sometime halfway through BWL. To my amazement they’ve actually maintained the guild page up to this day and our (incomplete) list of first kill screenshots still exists. I was one of the founders of that guild after having already raided with a different guild before, and I never missed a single firstkill in MC, BWL or Naxx, so Syl is on all the pictures, with a really bad haircut (and the proof that I was the first with a Benediction, lalala!).

A completely average pre-raid day in a busy and entirely too obsessed officer’s life, in WoW 1.0. (All names have been changed to protect the guilty). Feels like it was only yesterday. ~

***Guild notes, January 5th, 2006. Current raid progress: MC 10/10, BWL 6/8***
syl_vanilla

“After too many wipes at Vaelastraz (that sucker!) last raidweek, we’re back to BWL tonight, hopefully making it past the three drakes fast. I spent half of this afternoon doing the potion quests in Blasted Lands. If I see another basilisk brain or vulture gizzard any time soon, I’m gonna cry.

The officers agreed to start with the LBRS buff again tonight because “every little extra helps”. I don’t mind the whole mind-controlling procedure, but I really think we’re wasting our time. If Razul suggests doing Onyxia for the head buff as well, I’m gonna hit the roof. There’s such a thing as being TOO prepared! Reminds me, I need to go gather Dreamfoil in Azshara and pay Duke Hydraxis a visit before we start. Just in case we decide to switch to MC.

We’re still farming cores and leather there, at least the tanks and healers are done with their fire-res sets now.  Our three new trialists are dropping like flies during the molten packs lol, I don’t wanna know how we’ll even get them past Raggy…. If that new druid is still not attuned tonight, I will personally kick him out. I really wish we didn’t need the restos to help out with tanking adds at Domo so much, but the mages can’t be trusted to stay alive and sheep at the same time. I wonder if they actually use that raidframes mod we asked everyone to install (yes, DPS too).

I promised Metrolock to help him with shards later; he was all out in ZG yesterday and keeps complaining how long it takes restoring them solo, so I’ll let him chainpull some packs and heal. The mages have been getting sloppy too; last raid they started making water at friggin’ raidstart, so we lost 15 minutes standing in line to trade. We already crafted these big bags for them for extra space, is it asked too much to conjure enough water in time? 

Official raid start is still a big issue in general. People aren’t showing up 30mins early so we can’t do rollouts without a rush. On top of that, the rogues keep complaining that Megadeath counts as a melee now; frankly, I don’t understand myself what it is with these new warriors refusing to tank? To make matters worse, Haley keeps insisting to play shadow in our raids – who the hell wants a shadowpriest DPS?? I can just see the drama once she starts bidding on caster trinkets, exactly what we need! What’s next…. – paladins asking to tank??

Speaking of the palis, the entire group needs a kick in the butt. Buffing was plain abysmal last raid, I was missing BoS and BoK at least half of the time. There’s five of them, surely they can track their buffs better! To be fair, they improved lots on getting DS up in time for wipe recoveries. All the corpserunning from Thorium Point is getting a bit much lately.

In general, the healing team is doing pretty well. The healing rotation at Firemaw went smoothly last time, although I suspect some still aren’t using mana conserve in CTRA. I noticed Kestrel and Lum going OOM much faster than the others. Finn is still being a dork during trash, dying from premature heals. I told the others to stop saving his trigger-happy ass, so he’ll learn to respect tank aggro one way or another.

Note to self: remember to move the priests around critical groups mid-combat, should we get unfortunate on bombs at Vael again tonight. Last time it hit three healers in a row, so it helps spreading some PoH love around. Also, I seriously need to re-write that Chromaggus healing macro – I used up four macros’ worth of space now, nobody can read that much text. If only we had some sort of colored markers to make things clearer. Already looking forward to assigning 15 healers for Nefarian – not.

The tanks finally got the hang out of the taunt rotation business which is kinda crucial in BWL. We’re still missing the Ony cloak for Thor though, I hope we get luckier with skinning this week. Pick-ups have gotten much more coordinated, although the two hunters’ communication is worrying me big time. Those hunter pulls need to happen a lot more proactively if we’re supposed to save time during trash. I think they’ve been on bad terms ever since Vintas got the leaf from Domo’s chest first..

If nothing improves in that department, we’ll simply have to keep recruiting. The Nordic Legion has been pretty aggressive in trying to poach raiders everywhere of late (they even asked our GM lol), so maybe we should return the favor sometime and knock on their door. I hear they got a pretty lousy loot policy and have weird rules in general (rumor has it they don’t ask raiders to level first aid, clearly gaga). Speaking of loot, blues have been piling up of late, I fear I’ll have to create a third guild mule soon.

Time for those Dreamfoils now; need to get new flasks in BWL later. I really hope we get up to Firemaw at least, so I can use the lab – otherwise it’s back to basilisk brains tomorrow, bleh! “

nostalgia_log
 A good weekend to all of you out there – ye jolly newbs and wistful veterans.

Playstation…what?

So, Sony announced their next generation handheld and PSP successor not too long ago – not exactly news I paid any particular attention to. While I have an old Nintendo DS (somewhere…) which is great in terms of software, retro games and RPGs especially, I’m no part of the current “generation gadget” out there. The latest fancy iPod, the omg-smartphone that can talk and turn your TV on (I’m sure it prints money, too), the E-book reader where pages smell of nothing and make no sound as I turn them – not for me. As long as these things can’t do my dirty dishes and laundry too, that money stays safely in my pockets.

I learned it the hard way, too: you don’t ever want to buy anything “first generation” with an apple or big N on it, trust me, not even v2.0. if you can help it. The third edition is already on its way, and it’s thinner with extra colors and better sound and graphics than initially expected!!!

*cough*….See that finger I’m holding up, Apple? It ain’t my pinky.

…but who am I to talk about money wasted? It’s yours to waste, that’s not the point of this post. Back to Sony and their next big hit! Only yesterday, when browsing Gamescom discussions on a console gaming board, I actually came (or should I say I stumbled and fell flat on my face) across the name of that puppy: Playstation Vita.

Playstation…V-i-t-a? 
As in seeeriously Vita???

LOL…what exactly is it you’re trying to sell us here, Sony? A portable entertainment system – or an organic whole-wheat breakfast cereal? Revitalizing, energizing mineral water fresh from the mountain source? I can just see the commercials!

What is it with these pretentious, pathetic marketing names nowadays? Worst of all, their idiotic marketing consultants probably got paid a lot of money to come up with this absurdity! But wait, it gets better – Sony’s official statement:

“Vita”, which means “Life” in Latin, was chosen as the most appropriate  name for the next generation portable entertainment system as it enables  a revolutionary combination of rich gaming and social connectivity within a real world context.
SCE is aiming to transform every aspect of  user’s daily life into an entertainment experience. PS Vita incorporates a beautiful 5-inch multi-touch (WAIT FOR IT) organic light emitting diode (OLED)[…]

We’re not just buying blatantly overpriced, luxury amenities these days – no, we’re buying a lifestyle! Using blingbling-gadgets is communicating a positive approach to life! All the while, Coltan is being shipped out of the Congo, cursed gold of one of the poorest countries in the world. And I wonder: are these people trying to bullshit me on purpose? Then I realize it doesn’t matter, because I’m stuck in there knee-deep, wading through it one way or another. I am trapped. Why, oh why can I not just take the blue pill.

Next UP ! Gamescom headlines for 2012:

  • Microsoft reveal their smashing multi-platform hit – XBOX Allegra!
  • Shigeru Miyamoto reveals insider details on the Wii successor – Nintendo Sana Balance! 
  • Apple discuss the upcoming 48th edition of their shiny mini-iPod, Crystal Gaia!

Who wants to pay me to come up with dazzling nomenclature, already? I do commissions!

Enjoy your weekend folks – and grab a book sometime, in good old paper fashion.

Friday reads for the community

It’s funny how a thought or idea can deeply occupy you at times and after you’ve finally brought it to paper and pushed that publish button, you find it echoing back at you wherever you go. It’s probably partly a mental mechanism; like back when you were thinking about buying that white Volvo – lo and behold, you started seeing white Swedish cars everywhere you went. A subconscious, biased shift of focus.

That’s only half of the truth though, because sometimes a topic just “lies in the air” like that – it’s weighing ever so heavily on the minds of a certain group of people, a social or cultural circle. It’s there waiting for you already, biding its time in subtle hints and signs, quietly dripping into our collective consciousness. It takes one well-articulated thought, one clear voice stepping forward for things to break lose. Or one conflict too many.

I’ve felt as if we are truly approaching a turning point in the blogosphere lately, which is only a mirror for a greater one approaching in the MMO industry, of course. It’s almost tangible now, although we cannot put our fingers on it just yet – it’s pretty clear though that WoW holds a significant part therein. There’s been talk of the (symbolic) death of WoW everywhere and there are exciting times ahead in terms of new and big title launches and promising new concepts. There are those who can’t wait and those who are still skeptical.

Most of all though, I feel that there’s a great fatigue around: people are tired. Tired of the black&white thinking still around in this “community”, fed up of fighting petty battles over who should get more attention from (future) developers. Fed up over having to justify what constitutes their personal enjoyment. Will our discord never end?

Frankly, I am tired of it too. I don’t get why one side needs to actively belittle the fun of the other, just because they feel that their own enjoyment has been ruined. For the record: I don’t play WoW anymore, no I’m not happy about how things have gone there, so I unsubscribed. Still, I keep reading and enjoying WoW blogs and I don’t blame the remaining players so much for my loss as I blame certain mindsets and developer choices that disadvantaged me when I am not convinced it needs to be “all or nothing”. I can disagree and will keep disagreeing on things like short-term thinking among players or how devs like Blizzard handle the current market – but my wishes are my wishes. If developers for some reason (money – surprise, surprise!) prioritize other playstyles over my own and can keep “enough” players happy with that, well then I’m out of luck! And oh, I hope things will change in my favour someday. I don’t blame other players for what is ultimately their preference though. No matter our differences, in the end it’s about priorities, implementation and catering to variety or not. I happen to be on the wrong side, for the moment. Personally, I don’t think Blizzard’s “trend” will continue forever though and the signs are already there.

So, what can I do? I can dwell in the past and lament the negative changes I perceive in the genre – but then, I’m not one for opposing reality much. I’ve written about the things that bother me plenty of times and by all means, we should keep criticizing as long as we discuss mindsets or design aspects, not people. Big difference here, obviously it’s about how you do things. Personally, right now I’d like to hear about solutions rather than finger-pointing or arguments over subjective matters. I’d like us to accept reality and focus forward. I want to consider objectively and constructively, how the mixed crowd that MMO players are today (and they are here to stay) can still be united under one big roof – without anyone’s individual enjoyment “suffering” from it. I don’t know about you, but that would be my ideal MMO future, anyway… It shouldn’t be that we consider other people a nuisance in a massively multiplayer game. What is this genre about if not about playing with different people? I am not actually interested to live in a “playstyle monoculture”: how many times have I discovered content in an MMO thanks to friends with different approaches and motivations?

Not possible you say? Well then, maybe you need to think bigger. There’s nothing to suggest that this genre has not lots of room for growth still, technically and in general approach. This book has a long way to go; there are still plenty of chapters to be written. And I’m still hopeful; hopeful that the difficult will be attempted and achieved. And if not, well what’s the worst that could happen? That our differences were so great to overcome that we’ll see a lot more niche products in the future. For better or worse.

In the words of the wise Oogway:

Quit, don’t quit? Noodles, don’t noodles? You are too concerned about what was and what will be. There is a saying: yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, but today is a gift. That is why it is called the “present.” 

Today, I am sending a /wave to all of you living in the present. Those challenging past values and inflexible minds and those who manage to find the butterfly no matter where and when they are – that biggest of all talents. A special weekend mention goes to –

  • The Big Bear Butt; for still enjoying WoW and being sick and tired of those trying to ruin it for him and everyone else. For demanding you to open your eyes or unsubscribe already.
  • Gazimoff; for asking what MMO players really want and highlighting the importance of playing with friends. That little detail powerful enough to over-throw any no matter how otherwise perfectly balanced game.
  • Shintar; for pointing out that content is constituted by enough players enjoying and spending their time on something. You don’t always have to like it too.
  • Tesh; for having visited the topic of playstyle diversity and allowing for more player flexibility within the same genre/game many times on his blog (and generally being wise like that).
  • Scrusi; for being a Vork and embracing critical debates as long as we don’t condescend to each other. In essence we all want the same, namely have fun (together).
  • Issy; for “…as long as I’m not hurting anyone else, I will play how I fucking well like, and enjoy it.” – Sometimes one line is worth more than a thousand words.

Nobody is saying you have to like all change, but change is upon you, whether you like it or not. So, the only question remaining is: how are YOU gonna handle it?

And with that, I wish an enjoyable and challenging weekend to all of you – no matter where you’ll find it.

Oh noes, I used the item shop!

In my last post I mentioned that I have picked up Age of Conan again to test the new PVP server – there’s not an awful lot to play for me at the moment, and I must admit that Hyboria’s setting holds a special place in my heart. Already, the horribly flawed UI, quest or AH functionality frustrate me again (how hard is it to fix these?), but the world in general has that feeling of “home” that I’d otherwise only get in Azeroth.

PVP starts early on and I’m having a great laugh with it; I soloed quests in the starter dungeons and got my ass kicked around every corner until I finally learned how to make proper use of my hiding skill, questing in sneaky mode, what a thrill! Once you’ve lost enough items to some rogue lurking in the shadows (I promptly lost my first blue item that way too), you begin to play a lot differently, making use of walls and corners, always minding the nearest exit. The look of the outside towns and quest hubs is hilarious too: entirely deserted, not a soul around. You think! In fact, they’re all around you, as you realize when a player suddenly drops out of stealth next to you or two start dueling in the middle of town, with more and more players popping out of nowhere and joining the battle. I love it!

That’s not the only novelty in AoC for me though – there is now the item store and yes, the vanity window. Sigh. A fatal combination for somebody such as myself! I had to do it of course, I had to browse what social armor is up for sale. To my defense, the standard armor in the game is very lackluster and looks hardly ever change until you reach max level and go for instances. Who wants to wear an orange plate mail and cow-hide skirt forever?? Just give me one nice set that I can keep wearing the next weeks and months, mkay.

Now, the item shop is pretty sneaky and I blame Funcom for everything that happened from there. I meant to buy ONE set with real money and maybe a bag for more item storage. But of course, the armor is displayed so badly in the shop (and there’s no wardrobe feature) that you basically need to buy in order to check what it really looks like. I didn’t do that of course, I was smart (muaha!) and browsed the net for previews. After 10 minutes I had still found zero screenshots and that was when I really lost my temper. “10 Euros, who cares?? Let’s do it!”

So, I did it. And again, and again. The first set was shockingly bad and then I bought a wrong one by mistake (it was called Transcendence, what can I say). So I bought one more that I finally liked. And since I have 2 characters I play on different servers, I bought another for my high-level priest, too. This is my story on how I spent 40 Euros on virtual wardrobe until I was out of cash to even buy that bag. Had I not read Syncaine’s story on his micro-transactions bill for League of Legends just this morning, I would still feel a little guilty…..but, I don’t! Not really. Lalalala…!

Real-money transfer is coming, friends. Like to learning how to manage an allowance, it takes some self-discipline at first, yet I’m really starting to endorse all the pros of this business model. The times of paying for a pig in a poke are over; here’s your chance to play MMOs first before agreeing on just how much you actually intend to spend on them long-term.

…if you can handle it, that is. Honestly though, can you really blame me?

How I spent 40 Euros in Age of Conan

A good weekend to all of you, the well-dressed and those still running around in cow-hide!

Transmogrifail

Dear Blizzard. Thanks for implementing a feature we have asked for for over 5 years, now that more and more of us are giving up on playing your game. Others dumped their tiers and specials rewards some years ago because of bank space, since you never bothered to create some extra armor storage for all our BoPs. You finally got it now, didn’t you – but that doesn’t mean you’ll make it easy of course, just adding appearance slots, way too last season for you.

I used to be a passionate gear collector. My armor sets, my staves, my rare drops – all still in my bank ever since vanilla WoW. Yes, really. So, I just want to say I HATE YOU and no, I won’t activate that unused, leftover gamecard still lying on my desk. You won’t get me so easily, but thanks for trying! Yes, I am nostalgic sometime, that’s what happens when you’ve played a game for that long. The answer is still no because I know what’s going to happen 10 minutes after logging back in, when every friend on my friendlist will show offline for months and I feel like an alien in a guild I helped creating. So, there’s no coming back – not even to wear that amazing T5 robe again, my priestly wings or staff of immaculate win. No matter how great that would be….Read my lips: No waii!

I’m sure you understand. I’m sure that in due time I will have managed to convince myself, too. Besides, transmogrification really is meant for turning oneself into a baby tiger – everybody knows that.

A good weekend to all of you – the transmogrified, the unchanged and all you little tigers!

Back in a bit

Another busy week of blogging is coming to an end, although I started off thinking that this would be my week of slack. But then the damn rain never stopped, hasn’t stopped for 3 weeks now, while I keep hearing friends in England and the US complaining about the heat wave of the century. It’s friggin’ July – and it rains down here and roasts up there…the world is going to the dogs, mark my words.

Anyway, today’s gonna be a short post (*cough*). A note really to let you know that I’m off, off to green shores, rocky beaches and ivy-clad castles, wahey! During that time Raging Monkey’s will remain silent while the squirells give things here a good cleaning and dusting. Business will continue as usual by the third week of August.

Timing probably couldn’t be better; I’ve been wondering a little about the blogosphere lately, how quiet and melancholic it’s been in places, until somebody actually reminded me that it’s SUMMER and that’s what happens usually during this time of the year y’know, the activity curve plunges inside and outside our virtual homes. That made me laugh – shows just how much I’m not in the loop right now, out of guild and server life, raid and progress agendas. And a good thing, too.

I also really blame the pitiful weather of course. Which is why I am off now, friends, off to pack my bags and get away – Ireland here I come!

…You can stop laughing now.
Yes, I have packed that rain coat and umbrella. (Wish me luck)
A fantastic summer break to everyone, those staying at home or hitting the road! Be seeing you! =)

Tunes of Magic – I

For months and months I’ve wanted to publish an article on MMO soundtrack, pretty much ever since opening this blog. Somehow, this has proven to be a most difficult endeavor: whenever chancing on another blogger dedicating time to this beloved subject, I was reminded of that painfully pending topic in my inbox that I just couldn’t seem to finish. The truth is, I am such a huge sucker for themes and game OSTs that making a final choice of the countless songs I have cherished in my life just proves too great a challenge. I fail.

So, I’ve given up trying. I will never be able to link all the goodies or even my “ultimate cream of the crop” to you – things would get out of hand and the heavy wall of links would ultimately wear you down, undermining my entire intention (you know, candy overkill). Instead, I will consider this the first post of more to come, allowing me to return to the topic whenever that particular mood strikes. Wahey.

How I came to love game soundtrack

A while ago, I explained how I consider video games works of art. Where some just see playable content and entertainment, I see fantastic, inspiring settings and compositions for the finer senses; the design and aesthetic, the artwork and music that breathe life into our virtual worlds. Almost 2 years before WoW launched, I was among those obsessing over every little snippet of new concept art and sneak peek, things just looked that fantastic. And had they not – had Blizzard not always been so outstanding when it came to design, trailers and the full package, I might never have played WoW in the first place. Art is not everything to an MMO’s success; but I’m not the kind of player that can overlook plain ugly. If it’s offending to the eye or if the soundtrack is a careless, loveless excuse for music (or worse: missing) a game is off to a very rocky start with me. I want everything that way.

I’ve collected concept and artbooks, along with game (and some movie) OSTs for many years. I think my first tracks were SNES midis from this place and if Chrono Trigger or Castlevania mean anything to you, you know the kind of music I was particularly interested in. Long ago, Squaresoft was on console what Blizzard in many ways became on PC for me: a benchmark. An incredible smithy of musical and visual goodness (besides delivering awesome stories and near spotless technical realisation). My private RPG sound library ranges up to around 1998. After that, I gradually left the scene and got hooked to PC RPGs and online games.

Taking a pick

In order to acquire new MMO soundtrack, I usually keep my eyes open for collector’s editions. Youtube has also become a great source for me to discover music I might otherwise never come to know, because I clearly can’t play or even try out every MMO in existence. I am still also collecting tunes from the odd console RPG (there ain’t that many these days) or classic PC game which is why I have included one in my list of picks for you, too.

I have thought about breaking things down into typological sub-sections, like “battle themes”, “ambiance”, “sad themes” and so forth, but then I decided to pick 6 random favorites for a start that I currently listen to and that might not been so well-known as others. Were you to ask me about my personal preferences in general, I’d have to say that my tastes are quite diverse, but there’s definitely a red thread for what delights me the most:

  • When I’m in the right mood, I enjoy very epic, bombastic tunes of grandeur and a bit of pathos. Not too much pathos mind, and certainly not all the time. If it sounds like another Hans Zimmer spin-off, it’s not for me.
  • I love pretty much any spooky, creepy or fairy tale-esque tune you can think of. Needles to say Danny Elfman is my hero here.
  • I love sad, melancholic and quiet tunes that usually blend into the background. The sort of song that fits your mood perfectly some days, but is too painful to listen to on others.
  • I love merry, bouncy tunes that make me want to grab a walking stick in Bilbo Baggins fashion. It’s a rare kind of music that makes you feel like sailing out to distant adventure.

For any type of music, I appreciate tracks that change often and are more like the arrangements you find in classic music or opera, rather than repetitive “verse and chorus”-patterns. I like songs to tell an evolving story (which is also why Bohemian Rhapsody will always remain the greatest “pop song” ever written!). Basil Poledouris was hands down the greatest (fantasy) film composer of all times for this reason.

If you ever come across a great tune fitting any of these descriptions, think of me and send me a note! I would LOVE to hear about it! And now finally, I will shut up and hope you enjoy my picks! =)

Allods Online – Main Theme
My first choice is brought to you by Allods Online which I still consider the most underrated MMO presently out there. So much potential, such bad timing. This track will greet you right at the menu screen and is what I consider a grand, yet interesting and evolving piece. After 0:50 secs latest, you will know what I mean. God, I love this song!

Age of Conan – Memories of Cimmeria
The reason why I spent most of my time in AoC in Cimmeria, that rough and snowy landscape of the north. Riding down Conall’s Valley for the very first time as the sun was just about to set over the mountains, this song crept up on me like a clear, fine rain. The Norwegian singer could not have been cast better with her voice of crystal bells.

World of Warcraft – the Shaping of the World
I could easily dedicate an entire article on the music of WoW, so taking just the one pick is hard. Yet, people always seem to know about “A Call to Arms” or “Legends of Azeroth” for the classic era, not necessarily about this track here which is my personal favorite of the first album. This is goosebump material and encompasses everything WoW ever was for me.

Granado Espada – Main Theme
Also known as “Sword of the New World”, GE is a remarkably unique MMO in many ways, with its Baroque European setting and unorthodox battle system. In terms of music, there is a very unhappy, grotesque mix of beautiful classic piano and horrid techno trance going on. Yet there are several gems to be found here for those who still look for them.

Final Fantasy XI – The Rebublic of Bastok
Tunes like this one are so much what Square games have been about for decades – merry, playful, adventurous and exotic. The uplifting theme of Bastok holds a special place in my heart, having finally arrived in that city with my companions after a long and tedious travel by foot, after countless corpseruns and great laughs on the way. Long live our noob days!

Fable II – Oakvale
As promised, my non-MMO pick. There is nothing I can possibly say about this song that would make it any better. Danny Elfman is not from this world.
I can see Winona Ryder dancing in the snow while listening to this – can you hear it too?

I did it! I chose 6 tracks only!!! *exhale*

And with this, a very happy, bombastic, spooky, ponderous and merry weekend to you all!

Friday link love

It’s Friday, w00t! Hardly ever does stating the obvious make me this happy. It’s been a very interesting week for me blogging-wise, so I wanna thank all of you who added their own takes on the alt debate. I feel I gained many insights and once again the confirmation that with WoW being the “genre freak” that it is, with a much wider audience than just the classic MMORPG audience, questions like these become generally more complex. Even on smaller scale, there are already differences between a very raid-centric focus or other just as valid playstyles. I still think alts are a problematic feature; at the end of the day though, I hope you enjoy whatever you do because that’s what really matters.

I haven’t allowed myself to ramble freely in a while, although that is not to say I’m always coherent with my thoughts (I hear coherence is overrated, anyway). So, in the light of the upcoming weekend, I’ll be blissfully incoherent and throw random links at you for no specific purpose.

This week the US decided that violent video games are good for kids, or good enough anyway, and everyone in Europe is talking about it now too – what does it mean for us, what should we do, oh noes we’re all going to die, et cetera. Games don’t create violence. Here’s the proof.

Besides that, my literary God met up with my late-night God this last Sunday, so imagine my excitement. If you have no idea who these two people are, you should really get your act together. Fast. While we’re talking youtube: do you actually recognize Peter Jackson in this video? I had to check twice, scary! And I really can’t wait for the Hobbit.

Ah yeah, WoW launched a new content patch. I almost forgot. Hurry up and do your dailies grind so you can unlock your reward NPCs asap! Hurry hurry, you don’t wanna be left behind now, do you? Harder, better, faster, stronger. And what then? Who knows. Comme on fait son lit on se couche. I hope those hoops come in different colors, at least.

New bloggers on the block

I’d like to mention a few relatively new bloggers that I’ve only recently come across in the blogosphere. A few have been around longer than others which shows that some link love is overdue. In the spirit of oldschool MMO cooperation, remember your first blogging days and weeks and pay them a visit sometime –

  • Vudu, the “blog-less blogger”, writes commentaries on other MMO blog articles over at MMO Syndicate. He has fixed his comment box now, so you can start visiting. That’s Final Fantasy’s Zak in the header, by the way.
  • Straw Fellow is a relatively new blogger who has joined the circle of general MMO critics and analysts in the blogosphere. I have a weakness for scarecrows, so he’s off to a good start.
  • The Game Preacher has set out with an intriguing blog focus. He is “…here to help you develop your team. Whether you call it a clan, guild, or electronic sports team”. True to his name, his articles are comprehensive and substantial, so you want to take your time reading them through.
  • Telwyn from Gamingsf is an MMO player of variety who writes about MMOs in general as much as his adventures in Azeroth, the Planes of Telara, Norrath and more. I really like his blog template.
  • Max is a frequent commenter on MMO design blogs and has recently set up a place of his own under a most original name. To use his words, a blog about “MMO design snippets from the safety of an armchair”. With that, he joins our ever-increasing corner of critics and also, second language writers which is something to encourage.

/Wave to all of you and happy blogging. And of course, a fantastic weekend to everybody!