Top 3 Movies of 2010

It's the last day of the year once again, and all these lists of the best/worst things are popping up left and right. So here's mine - the top three movies I saw in year 2010. They're also the only three movies I gave four stars with my simple system; no five star movies this year.

Angel

Angel (spin-off series of Buffy the Vampire Slayer) started mediocre, then got bad until on its fifth season, the series suddenly became good. And then they cancelled it. Wow.

Some Seasonal Music

If you're looking for some xmas music, here's a few songs...

The Pyramid Claims Another Victim

...me. Or rather, my elf ranger. He made it all the way from level one to ten, until the going got too tough.

The Yogscast

I was watching World of Warcraft vids on Youtube and I found these two British guys, Simon and Lewis, doing WoW Classic dungeons in Cataclysm (beta?) to see if stuff had changed. And damn, rarely I find myself laughing so much at something on the Intertubes.

Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines

And here's yet another too hastily released game filled with bugs. Fortunately, there's yet again an unofficial patch made by ambitious fans. Thanks to the patch or no, I didn't suffer from any major bugs - apart from getting my character stuck inside a corpse/whatever couple times.

Star Trek Character Tiers

Now that I have seen all Star Trek: The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, and Voyager episodes, I decided to put their characters (main cast) into tiers; how I liked them.

Planar Instabilities

Another glorious day in the Pyramid of Shadows. This time we met some big guy in a room with planar issues and a vortex throwing us around.

Titan Quest Finished with a Haruspex

Haruspex (Hunting & Dream masteries) seemed more powerful than a conqueror until legendary and especially legendary Hades, where deaths started to pile up.

Angel Doesn't Dance

And the reason why he doesn't...

Icewind Dale Soloed

I finished the game without too much trouble. The rest of the original game nor the expansion offered nothing really challenging for my high-level character. Trials of the Luremaster - the free content patch for Heart of Winter - on the other hand, had many hard fights. It's the same with parties of six characters, though.

The Wheel of Time: The Eye of the World

I finished reading the first volume of The Wheel of Time series, The Eye of the World, and I'd say the almost 800 pages of tight-packed text hold a great story inside.

A Heron-mark Sword

I love people's reactions in The Wheel of Time series when they learn about/see Rand al'Thor's heron-mark sword (given to him by his father), which "are traditionally presented to those who have earned the title of "Blademaster"". I liked it when Rand didn't know what the heron meant but everyone else did, and I like it now when he knows but can't live up to the mark - not yet anyway.

The Wheel of Time Turns

"And Ages come and pass.
What was, what will be, and what is
May yet fall under the Shadow.
Let the Dragon ride again
on the winds of time."

Games You Should Not Play: Sacred

Diablo 2 was released in 2000, and its expansion, Lord of Destruction, in 2001. Sacred was released 2004, four years after D2. That's a long time to look and learn how a great action rpg is done. What did you do during that time, Ascaron? 'Cause Sacred surely ain't a good game.

Icewind Dale Solo Attempt

I decided give a try to Icewind Dale (and Heart of Winter/Trials of the Luremaster) solo run (i.e. one character only). So far everything has gone quite well with my elven fighter/mage/thief. I'm currently in Wyrm's Tooth, just about to take out the frost giants.

Dragons of the Hourglass Mage

"Krynn's future has been written. People think they know how the story ends. But one night and one fateful decision by Raistlin Majere may change it all."

Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords

Of what I understand, Obsidian was rushed to finish Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords, and thus, it was left incomplete, content cut etc. This lead the community making the Restoration Mod; to bring back stuff that was s'posed to be in the game. So before starting the game, I installed the mod to have a fuller experience right on my first playthrough.

First I Was Slowed Then I Was Immobilized

But at least I wasn't petrified.

Our D&D group returned from summer break to continue breaking out of the Pyramid of Shadows. We faced three encounters, and the last one didn't go so well.

The Ghost King

And so ends the Transitions trilogy with the 20th (?) Forgotten Realms novel featuring Drizzt Do'Urden as a major character. The Ghost King starts with Hephasteus (a red wyrm) transforming into a dracolich as the collapsing Weave touches him and the not-so-destroyed crystal shard, Crenshinibon. The mind of Yharaskrik, a deceased illithid (who I've forgotten), is also infused together with the new being, giving Drizzt Do'Urden & Co. a rather powerful villain to defeat.

How I Rank Movies

If you are reading this, you might have noticed the list of the last five movies I've seen on the right. Each movie has one to five stars after it, which represents how good I think it was. I have a quite simple system determining the amount of stars any movie is worth, although I didn't know exactly how it worked before writing this post...

Good Bedtime Readings Maybe

"Cespenar is a good servant, oh yes!"

Anyway, I finally got couple fantasy books to read for a change; The Ghost King by R.A. Salvatore and Dragons of the Hourglass Mage by Margaret Weis & Tracy Hickman. They've been out for quite some time now but as I buy my books in paperbacks, I usually have to wait for a while.

All's Well That Ends Well

So, I'm done with Battlestar Galactica at last. And damn, I almost hate to say this, but the series finale was a good one. And if something ends well, it can't be entirely bad. It would have been so easy for me to judge this show as one of the worst after the torturing four seasons, but now I just can't do it, not after a finale like this.

If You Ever Find Yourself

...in a need for very good trance music, I can strongly recommend you In Trance We Trust 004, mixed by DJ Johan Gielen. I have had the CD since its release year, 2000, and now in 2010 it's still damn awesome compilation of some truly amazing trance. It haven't lost its freshness a bit in ten years, and probably never will.

Thief: Deadly Shadows

For quite some time, I have had trouble starting a new game, or rather getting anywhere in it. I get this weird feeling I can't continue, because I don't know enough of what will happen next, and thus can't prepare for it properly. And I'd rather play a game I'm familiar with. But somehow, I managed to finish Thief: Deadly Shadows.

And Another Thing...

About a month ago, my sister handed me this book to read; Douglas Adams's Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Part Six of Three: And Another Thing... It is a post-mortem impersonation, and is written by Eion Colfer, the author of the Artemis Fowl series.

Titan Quest: Immortal Throne Finished

Finally, after 3 days, 6 hours, 40 minutes, 28 deaths, and 56347 monsters, I finished Titan Quest: Immortal Throne on legendary difficulty for the first time. My character was a conqueror (defense and warfare professions) using a shield-weapon combination.

The Guild

If you are or used to be an MMORPG player, and for some reason haven't heard of The Guild yet, I recommend checking it out. It's an online sitcom about the life of an online guild "The Knights of Good". The episodes are short, about 5 mins, and the show is surprisingly funny, plus Codex (Felicia Day) is really really cute. So go, watch it!

Battlestar Galactica

I picked up this series because of a friend's recommendation, and also because some site (apparently boston.com) had ranked it the best sci-fi television show of all time. Right... I'm not quite convinced.

The Sword Never Sleeps

I recently finished reading The Sword Never Sleeps by Ed Greenwood. It is the third book of The Knights of Myth Drannor. It is about "the continuing adventures of some of his (Greenwood's) most celebrated characters".

Blog Resurrected

Surprisingly long Google keeps deleted blogs before completely removing them...

Archer Progress Update

So, Daeron the archer ranger managed to beat Sarevok in Baldur's Gate. It was my first time without wand of monster summoning spam, I might add. Although, I haven't tried anything else since the first playthrough ever - it's just too easy to fill the room with monsters and shoot Sarevok down.

I Think This Post's Mostly Filler

"I've always been amazed with how Buffy fought, but in a way, I feel like we took her punning for granted." -Xander

Archer Fun

I made an archer to Baldur's Gate (Tutu) to see how powerful they are. And yup, that is what they are, powerful. Although, not overly so - if something gets into melee with the archer, his power is all but gone. But as long as there is someone tanking the mobs, archer can dish out some serious damage.

Playlist: Female Fronted Symphonic Metal

I finally managed pull together some kind of playlist, under the title 'female fronted symphonic metal'. I started this little project some time ago (quite awhile actually), intending to make a playlist that subscribers at Last.fm can listen to. However, Last.fm's collection is more than lacking, and even putting together 45 good songs under the title proved to be quite challenging. So, no listening to it, at least not at Last.fm.

Dungeons & Dragons 4th Edition: Thoughts

It's been now over a year since our gaming group started the ongoing D&D campaign. I think it's fair to finally place opinions on the current edition of Dungeons and Dragons.

Annoying Features in Roguelikes

No, I don't mean permadeath - even if it is frustrating to get your promising character killed. With 'annoying features' I mean things that cripple your character or your items to a point you no longer want to continue playing.

Changing the Nature of a Man

I finally managed to finish my journey in Planescape: Torment. Luckily, much had been forgotten since my first playthrough, which was maybe 7 years ago, and things were new for the most part. I could still recall the main plot, though, which is bit of a pity in a story-focused game like this. However, I had fun, and that is the most important thing.

The Parched Land

Another short story from Planescape: Torment.

Just Tell a Story, Morte

"Fine, fine..."

Mage Duels

Like dual wielding, mage duels are, as well, something I consider quite neat. Especially in literature, I find spellcaster fights very exciting. Although, this was not the case with the Harry Potter books, lol. I guess it was the pathetic magic wands they used to cast their spells or something.

World of Warcraft Revisited

On Thursday, I reinstalled World of Warcraft to do my annual Tour de Azeroth, which involves riding (on 100% speed land mount) through both Kalimdor and Eastern Kingdoms (Silvermoon (Eastern Plaguelands before TBC) -> Booty Bay, Silithus -> Moon Glade). And as WoW knows no 1 day subscriptions, I would also get to play the game for 1 month - paying 13€ only for my little tradition would be kinda stupid.