StarMars Online » Gaming

Mass Effect 2 Video Trailers

StarMars — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 18:31:23 +0000

Mass Effect 2 released today! Big news for Bioware fans like me. Even though I didn’t play the original Mass Effect, I know that it is of excellent quality. Bioware is after all the master of PC RPGs.

My only complaint is that they didn’t space out the release dates of these two high-quality RPGs. Dragon Age: Origins is barely 3 months old and yet they released another excellent game of the same genre. I’m pretty sure players haven’t fully recovered from the mass Dragon Age effect yet.

Maybe Electronic Arts is to blame for this, being the greedy money-hoarding publisher that they are. Even now you can see dollar signs on their eyes because some time in March the expansion to Dragon Age: Origins, Awakening will be released. Slow down please!

Mass Effect 2 Cinematic Trailer

Mass Effect 2 Launch Trailer

Mass Effect 2 E3 Trailer

Mass Effect 2 XBox 360 Achievements

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Dragon Age Forums

StarMars — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 05:34:37 +0000

I love Dragon Age Origins and I am active member of its official forums. I will list here the interesting threads I find there. Posts get buried and forgotten quite easily so it’s good to have them all in one place for everyone to see.

Some of them are useful sources of information. The posts with good discussions on specific topics are a good read too. And there are those topics that are entirely funny. I will add more as I find them.

Gameplay/Plot-related

Resources

Discussions

Funny

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Download Free Dragon Age DLC items

StarMars — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 00:54:54 +0000

While some of the Dragon Age: Origins downloadable content (DLC) items require authorization, many of them are available for free. Some require you to do some tasks to get them in-game but following the instructions below will save you the trouble of doing so. They exist as files which can be downloaded directly from Bioware and added to your game via an update tool provided with the release of Dragon Age.

Download the DAZIP files below.
Find and run DAUpdater.exe in your game installation under the bin_ship folder.
Load the DAZIP files by pressing Select DAZIP.
Install them by pressing Install Selected.
Run Dragon Age: Origins and check your DLC.

The files below were provided by Bioware to help in the manual installation of registered items for those who have issues downloading them in-game. The fact that some of them were not encrypted means they’re available for free to everyone. Source

The DLC items and how to get them officially:

Free Dragon Age DLC items

The first 3 free items can be obtained by playing and completing quests and achievements in Dragon Age: Journeys.

Embri’s Many Pockets – DAO_PRC_PROMO_EMB.dazip: To earn Embri’s Many Pockets in Dragon Age: Origins, save the Grey Warden Martine by completing The Missing Warden quest in Dragon Age Journeys.
Helm of the Deep – DAO_PRC_PROMO_HOD.dazip: To earn the Helm of the Deep in Dragon Age: Origins, you must earn all five achievements in Dragon Age Journeys: The Deep Roads.
Amulet of the War Mage – DAO_PRC_PROMO_WAR.dazip: To earn the Amulet of the War Mage in Dragon Age: Origins, simply sign in to your EA account in Dragon Age Journeys.
The Edge – DAO_PRC_PROMO_EDG.dazip: Available to players who bought and registered the game on the Bioware Social Site on or before Nov 30, 2009.
The Lucky Stone – DAO_PRC_PROMO_LKS.dazip: Upload a character made with the Character Creator to your Bioware social account to get this item.
The Lion’s Paw – DAO_PRC_PROMO_LNP.dazip: Pre-order bonus from Amazon
Mark of Vigilance – DAO_PRC_PROMO_VGL.dazip: Free if you buy a Dragon Age t-shirt from Hot Topic.
The Wicked Oath – DAO_PRC_PROMO_WKD.dazip: Pre-order bonus from Steam.

UPDATE: 6/8/10

Bulwark of the True King (Origins) – DAO_PRC_PROMO_BTK_1.0.dazip: Give-away from Alienware. For those who have the Origins game only.
Bulwark of the True King (Awakening) – DAO_EP1_PROMO_BTK_1.0.dazip: Give-away from Alienware. For those who have the Awakening expansion.
Pearl of the Anointed (Origins) – DAO_PRC_PROMO_PAN_1.0.dazip: Pre-order bonus for Awakening from amazon.de and play.com. For those who have the Origins game only.
Pearl of the Anointed (Awakening) – DAO_EP1_PROMO_PAN_1.0.dazip: Pre-order bonus for Awakening from amazon.de and play.com. For those who have the Awakening expansion.
Bregan’s Bow (Origins) – DAO_PRC_PROMO_GBK_1.0.dazip: Pre-order bonus for Awakening from gamestop.de and game.co.uk. For those who have the Origins game only.
Bregan’s Bow (Awakening) – DAO_EP1_PROMO_GBK_1.0.dazip: Pre-order bonus for Awakening from gamestop.de and game.co.uk. For those who have the Awakening expansion.
Blightblood (Origins) – DAO_PRC_DRK_DAO_1.0.dazip: Reward for completing the Darkspawn Chronicles DLC. For those who have the Origins game only.
Blightblood (Awakening) – DAO_PRC_DRK_EP1_1.0.dazip: Reward for completing the Darkspawn Chronicles DLC. For those who have the Awakening expansion.

Not Free Dragon Age DLC items

The Stone Prisoner – DAO_PRC_CP_2.dazip: Free with every new purchase of Dragon Age: Origins. My promo card expires on April 30, 2010.
Warden’s Keep – DAO_PRC_NRX_1.dazip: Comes free with the Collector’s Edition and several Digital Deluxe Editions.
3 Collector’s Edition items – DAO_PRC_PROMO_C2.dazip: Free items that came with the Collector’s Edition of the game. Grimoire of the Frozen Wastes is available at start. Bergen’s Honor and Final Reason must be purchased from Bodahn in the camp.
Blood Dragon Armor Set – DAO_PRC_PROMO_ME.dazip: Free with every new purchase of Dragon Age: Origins. My promo card expires on April 30, 2010. The plate armor is available at start, the rest must be purchased from Bodahn.
Blood Dragon Armor Set Version 1.1 – DAO_PRC_PROMO_ME_1.1.dazip: The 1.1 version of Blood Dragon Armor is heavily nerfed but it fixes the bug caused by Female Elf characters wearing the armor.
Memory Band, Formari Tome – DAO_PRC_PROMO_1.dazip: Pre-order bonus from any retailer.
Feral Wolf Charm – DAO_PRC_PROMO_2.dazip: Pre-order bonus from GameStop.
Guildmaster’s Belt – DAO_PRC_PROMO_3.dazip: Pre-order bonus from Gamecrazy or Mighty Ape.
Band of Fire – DAO_PRC_PROMO_4.dazip: Pre-order bonus from EA Store.
Dalish Promise Ring – DAO_PRC_PROMO_5.dazip: Pre-order bonus from Direct2Drive or GAME.

UPDATE: 6/8/10

Return to Ostagar – DAO_PRC_CP_1_1.1.dazip: Downloadable Content available for $5.
Feastday Gifts – DAO_PRC_CP_3_1.0.dazip: A collection of mostly humorous gift items that will significantly increase your followers’ affections for you. Buy them from Bodahn.
Feastday Pranks – DAO_PRC_CP_7_1.0.dazip: Ten unique feastday pranks that your party members will love to hate. Buy them from Bodahn.
Darkspawn Chronicles – DAO_PRC_DRK_1.0.dazip: Downloadable Content available for $5.

Keep in mind that you are supposed to have only one or a few of these items at the start of the game. Having all of them at once can make the game significantly easier.

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Christmas in Free Realms

StarMars — Thu, 24 Dec 2009 14:26:09 +0000

Christmas in Free Realms taken in SnowHill just a few hours ago using the built-in video capture.

The center of the celebration is a giant Christmas tree in SnowHill. There’s a new character named Candy Ivy that lets you take a gift from the tree (quest). From time to time, several abominable snowmen come to take the gifts from the tree and you can fend them off by throwing snowballs at them. They don’t fight back.They die when you hit them once and when you do, you receive one or two snow coal items. After several waves of these monsters, a large Abominable SnowMan appears that’s a lot tougher and bigger. Killing this beast gives you some random Christmas-themed items.

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Dragon Age: Origins

StarMars — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 08:37:53 +0000

I’ve been following Dragon Age: Origins since its release on November 3. All the reviews, screenshots and gameplay videos, etc. point to an excellent game.

Opening theme: Dragon Age Origins

I bought Dragon Age: Origins for P1395(~$30) on Nov 30, 2009 in Datablitz, Shangri-la Mall. It’s cheaper than the retail price I usually see online (~50). Of course, it didn’t come with a box – just a gray-colored plastic DVD case. Inside are the DVD, a 41-page black-and-white game manual, a product catalogue for upcoming EA games and 2 promo cards for Warhammer Online and Dragon Age: Origins (Shale and Blood Dragon Armor). The cd-key is located at the back of the manual. I would have preferred the Collector’s Edition if they still had them.

Ending Theme: I am the One

Official Links:

Oracle of Delphi in Titan Quest

StarMars — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 13:06:09 +0000

Here is the Oracle of Delphi as portrayed in the game Titan Quest.

The Prophecy

Welcome, seeker. You have come for a prophecy. I shall channel Apollo’s prophecy if he wills it.

Wait! Wait! I, the Oracle of great Apollo, am having a vision:

The Ancient Ones

Emerge and run

In Chaos’ full eruption.

An evil band

in every land

Delighting in destruction.

What seems shapeless

Formless and faceless

Their Great One is releasing.

So to enslave

Both god and knave

Their sorrows thus increasing.

Who is man

To stay the hand

Of those the gods can’t better?

And a hero yet

Takes the bet

To break the evil’s fetter

Three lights of hope

To help you cope

One south, in sand and wonder

One to the east

Defeat the beast

And tear their plan asunder.

The final light

Will mark the fight

Where you must face your fear.

A door ajar

You travel far

And yet you find it near.

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Baldur’s Gate II – the Gibberlings 3 Mod

StarMars — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 01:12:52 +0000

The Gibberlings Three (G3) is a very active modding community for the Infinity Engine, which powers games such as Baldur’s Gate, Baldur’s Gate II, Icewind Dale, Icewind Dale II and Planescape: Torment.

I’m really amazed at the amount of work these guys put into games as old as 11. Reading its forums, I can say that it’s still active today and they still release mods and updates. Great work guys; after all, it’s Baldur’s Gate – the franchise that revived the role-playing genre during its time. This post is about the mods I chose to install from their BG2 Fixpack and BG2 TweakPack and some notes.

This list is copied from the WeiDU.log file created by the installer.

BG2 Fixpack

BG2 Fixpack – Core Fixes
BG2 Fixpack – Game Text Update
Super Happy Fun Lucky Modder Pack: For modders only though it doesn’t hurt to have this installed as other mods may require it.
BETA Core Fixes (please check the readme!)
Improved Spell Animations
Cromwell’s Forging Actually Takes a Day
Mixed-Use Dagger Fixes: Weapons that can be used as a melee or ranged weapon before (e.g Stonefire Axe) have their melee components removed i.e. they can’t be used in a dual-wield. It grants the extra attack for the ranged component. This one is better left unused as I like dual-wielders but I have it installed anyway.
Ghreyfain’s Holy Symbol Fixes
Giants Receive Penalties When Attacking Halflings, Dwarves, and Gnomes
Remove Dual-Classing Restriction from Archers and Stalkers: Inconsistency in SoA and ToB versions of dual-classing Archers and Stalkers.
Remove Second Attribute Bonus for Evil Path in Wrath Hell Trial: The bonus is +1 to the main attribute of the main character, in addition to the +2 STR bonus from the Tear of Bhaal.
Corrected Summoned Demon Behavior
Additional Script Fixes
Bard Song Fixes
Wizard Slayers Cause Miscast Magic on Ranged Attacks
Additional Alignment Fixes

BG2 Tweak Pack

Weapon Animation Tweaks
Icon Improvements: Changes the icons of items on the ground making them easily recognizable among similar items. Check the screenshots.
Force All Dialogue to Pause Game: Spell durations should pause too when you’re in a dialogue.
Alter HP Triggers for NPC Wounded Dialogues: Low-health banters can now be seen easily.
Improved Multi-Player Kick-out Dialogues: This is important if you created more than 1 character in your party (multiplayer save file moved to single player).
Add Bags of Holding: This saves a lot of time as I do a lot of item sorting.
Bonus Merchants: Joluv and Deidre have some of the best items in the game.
Female Edwina
Higher HP on Level Up -> Maximum: I’ll just save the game and reload if I don’t get the max HP anyway so it’s better to have it maxed.
Easy Spell Learning -> 100% Learn Spells: Cuts saving/loading whenever I fail to copy a spell.
Make Bags of Holding Bottomless: I no longer need to amass gem bags, scroll cases, etc…
Unlimited Ammo Stacking: For convenience.
Unlimited Potion Stacking: For convenience.
Unlimited Scroll Stacking: For convenience.
Neutral Characters Make Happy Comments at Mid-Range Reputation (Luiz): Must install this to see the Neutral characters’ “Happy” dialogues.

Extra

BGII Alternate Soundtrack: Alternate soundtrack for some areas. More info and Readme.

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My main Warcraft III account sold

StarMars — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 17:15:05 +0000

Yes, that’s right. I’ve sold my main Warcraft III account KingOfNewbs, which I’ve been using since the release of Frozen Throne.

Account statistics:

	Wins	Losses	Win %
Human	350	263	57.1
Orc	536	307	63.6
Undead	393	269	59.4
Night Elf	986	573	63.2
Random	776	564	57.9
Total	3041	1976	60.6
Tournament	521	114	82.0

For all those and games – 5017 in total, excluding tournament games – I got $50. My friend told me I should have asked for at least $100. But it’s ok. I have many other accounts.

How I found the buyer

It started when I met the account Box.StilltheEnd in a ladder 2v2 game. That account was stolen from my friend by a loser. Then the loser was able to sell it to the current owner of the account. Anyway, I knew it was stolen so I told him “You bought a stolen account”. It turned out that he didn’t know that. He was sorry for not knowing it but said that he can’t do anything now because he had already paid. Fine with me; I was just informing him.

Nada… nada… nada… so we talked and talked and I told him my other accounts. He liked KingOfNewbs because it has 22 icons including the Archimonde which requires 500 tournament wins. We exchanged contact information so he could send me the payment through Western Union. Two days later I received the money, officially ending my ownership of the account. Goodbye my dear account; though I am happy that it went to another pinoy.Read More:

Spot the Difference game, Youtube-style

StarMars — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 11:05:50 +0000

With the addition of user-defined annotations to Youtube, watching videos has become an interactive experience. Take this video for example, which is the start of a 30-level Spot the Difference game in light of the upcoming Oscar Awards.

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