Every X amount of days or hours, a gigantic turtle named Lodizal would spawn in the zone called Iceclad, which was one of the then new zones in the Scars of Velious expansion. For its time, a few groups were needed to fell this mighty turtle. Once defeated, a piece of a map was dropped which, when combined with three other pieces found in three other ways, would combine into the Eyepatch of Plunder, a mildly useful piece of equipment to wear, but had a self click 20% haste which, for its time, was pretty godly when an enchanter or bard were not present within the group.

While camping Lodizal would be pretty daunting in of its self, it was the easiest part, as the person camping Lodizal in my guild wanted another item that dropped from him. The hard part was camping one particular spawn that would actually skip spawns, making the camp timing erratic. Coincidentally enough, everyone that I knew who camped this map piece, was able to get it without a hitch and with minimal wait. Of course when I have my opportunity to wait things out, I have to be the one that suffers.

Turtles fight with honor!

Stormfeather – the rare timed spawn that holds the final piece to the map I need for my Eyepatch of Plunder. Back when I was on a nocturnal sleep schedule, I had woken up at 7pm to begin my camp on a Friday night. There was no raid scheduled that night, so I thought that would play at an advantage for me. Unfortunately the EQ Gods had it out for me and wanted to make me suffer in ways I had never suffered before with a video game. I don’t remember the exact respawn timer on Stormfeather, but it was either every 12 hours, or every 18 hours. Hours slowly drifted away as I listened to a bunch of music on my computer while watching Saturday morning cartoons. Eventually I had reached the point in which Stormfeather was supposed to spawn, but to my dismay, he had not.

Hours more passed by as I ran around the small island area in which Stormfeather spawned, killing everything and anything, including the snow bunnies. Even with guild chat I had started to slip into a form of insanity that I rarely experienced before or after the fact. Add to that the fact that the whole zone I was in was a snowed over ice land of white, the blandness and brightness started to play tricks with my eyes. At some points I thought I saw some miniature red drakes flying around my room, waiting for me to fall asleep so they could peck my eyes out. I’m dead serious.

24 hours into this camp and I had started to grow bored and crazy. We had a raid that night but I was excused from attending so that I could continue camping Stormfeather. The amount of caffeine consumed during this camp had added up as well, making me antsy and wanting to go do other things aside from sit on my ass and stare as a canvas of white while my fellow guildies were off killing giants a few zones away. Sometime around the 24-28 hour mark, Lodizal had actually spawned nearby, with random people asking me to help them out and leave my camp. I chose not to, as I knew a few vultures would swoop in, steal my camp and most likely only wait 2 hours to get their rewards. But patience is a virtue, isn’t it?

34 hours into the camp, I had mentally lost it. I was giggling at nothing, smiling uncontrollably as I tried to stay awake, and had no one to talk to. I’m pretty sure I was singing the Ninja Rap from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2: The Secret of the Ooze while watching infomercials during the early Sunday morning hours. It was pretty sad. I barely remembered anything during the following two hours outside a guild leader appearing out of no where, sitting at the camp next to me and trying to chat with me, but the lack of sleep and repetition of scenery had driven me into a blank stare.

Finally at the 36 hour mark, my best friend had logged on. She told me to go to bed, but I said that it was about time for Stormfeather to spawn, and if it didn’t by then, I’d go to sleep. My guild leader had left, probably trying to call a loony bin in NYC to come pick me up, and Stormfeather had not spawned. 36 hours of being awake, losing my sanity, all for naught. I had conceded and told her that I was going to bed and if she wanted to log me in then go ahead. So I laid down for five seconds and passed out for about 15 hours.

When I woke up, I had my fourth map piece.

Apparently, Stormfeather spawned five minutes after I went to bed, which makes perfect sense since, as usual, I seem to always have the most piss poor luck with things in MMO’s. I guess I had mistimed when Stormfeather was supposed to spawn when I first started the camp, though the one or two skipped spawns didn’t help much. Needless to say the next person that camped him managed to get him to spawn within hours.

I really hate MMO’s, and I really hate the fact that I spent 36 straight hours awake, waiting for a video game minion.

I stayed awake 36 straight hours to kill this creature, only to go to sleep and have my best friend log me in and kill him five minutes after the fact. *facepalm*

By now, everyone has heard of World of Warcraft. An MMO built upon capturing what was good about the best of the best MMO’s out there, taking out what was bad, and adding in and refining aspects where needed. The one main game that WoW wanted to emulate the successes of, but not the shortcomings, was Everquest. Arguably the most important MMO to have ever been released, Everquest tuned a genre that had just began its true growth with its release. Not only was Everquest a true benchmark and a genre defining behemoth, but it helped introduce team cooperation on a larger scale. It’s apparent that the footprints that Everquest have been important steps in the world of gaming.

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This won’t be a full on review, so much as a retrospective on my time and experiences with Everquest, during my off and on play time between early 2000 right up to this very day.

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The biggest problem with reviewing an MMORPG (massive multiplayer online role playing game) and part of the reason why I will not at this time, is having to understand each dynamic. There’s a a number of core play styles when it comes to an EQ player, as well as a ton of sub categories. You have raiders, groupers, casuals, hardcores, explorers, clique player, and so many more. There’s hardcore raiders, clique casual players, and other mixes. Understanding each style is something that cannot be done within a month, a year, or sometimes even a few years. It’s easier to experience the humbling beginnings of an MMORPG and review whether or not there’s enough interest to venture forth (Final Fantasy XIV for example). Here’s my brief take on the world of Everquest, from hardcore raiding, to casual grouping, to exploring, to many other styles I’ve played as throughout the majority of the last ten years (off and on), as well as the changes that came along the way.

Back in 2000, the game was simple. Stand alone Everquest with its zones, and an expansion called The Ruins of Kunark. There’s enough content there to last a long time in its self. You pick your class (Warrior, Monk, Paladin, Shadowknight, Ranger, Rogue, Shaman, Druid, Cleric, Wizard, Magician, Enchanter or Necromancer) as well as your race (Half Elf, Human, High Elf, Wood Elf, Dark Elf, Barbarian, Troll, Ogre, Erudite, Gnome, Halfling and the Kunark added Iksar race). Depending on your combination of character choices, you have a designated starting city laid out for you, or sometimes a choice. You also have stats you can raise with some attribute points, which back in the days, was a vital bonus if you applied them properly.

You start out with just about no armor and a rusty weapon, with nothing but rats, bats and other wimpy mobs to fight. It’s a rough going for a long while if you were brand new to the game and knew no one. Eventually, you level high enough to be able to venture out and away from the early zones. This is when the experience start to pick up for most players.

Depending on what continent you are on, and what race you chose, you had a few different options. Crushbone was one of the choices if you were on the Felwithe continent. A mix of outdoor twists and turns, sparsely laid out frees, and a castle in the middle of it, Crushbone introduced, or tried to introduce many gamers to the aspect of teaming up. Seek out others playing different, or even similar classes, and team up in your battle to level, and gain yourselves some armor or weapons. Other zones in the very early leveling stages that encouraged grouping up included Blackburrow, Befallen and Oasis, among other places.

Through these early grouping experiences, you help get a better grasp at what your class is, its capabilities, and what you should be doing while playing as that class. Throughout most of my time in Everquest, I had played a warrior. In most any single player or MMO game that features a tanking class, I bee-line directly for that particular class. I’ve played just about every other class at raiding levels throughout the years, but the Warrior has always been my calling. Many have played a few different classes, or got bored with theirs, but for the majority of it all, I stayed with one for nearly all of my time within Norrath. Last year I had started a Monk on a server with a special rule set, and played him for six months before ultimately quitting once more. Upon recent server transfer allowances, I moved my Monk to the same server as my Warrior, and have begun to once again spend some time playing this game, although it’s not as welcoming these days, with so few friends and acquaintances left playing.

That one hook has broken off. Almost completely.

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I don’t think anyone could properly rate Everquest. There’s so many different variables when it comes to the game that it’s hard to rate it. There’s the solo game, the two/three boxing game, grouping game, small raiding game and large scale raiding game. Then you have to consider the hardcore players, who play 50+ hours a week, and the casual gamers, who play every so often. You’d have to have been immersed in every possible to understand it all as a whole. If you’ve played as a casual grouper for years and never experienced a high end raiding situation, you’re missing out on a major portion of the game. You could only rate what you played, and considering that I’ve done just about each of the variables, I don’t think I could rate the game still. Something like Final Fantasy XIV could be more easily reviewed, as the game slaps you in the face at every corner, pushing the player to forever put it aside with the likes of Champions Online, Star Trek Online and Vanguard. With Everquest, while the early game had its punishing side, the experience turned into a vibrant one once you got the hang of the plethora of additions, elements and after meeting a few new acquaintances.

I’ve barely touched the tip of the iceberg with my recollections of this massive multiplayer experience. The people I’ve met, the raids I’ve participated in, as well as led, the wild near death situations I’ve faced with my warrior, and so on. These are once in a lifetime gaming moments that, unless recorded, will forever live in the minds and hearts of those who’ve participated, though they make for some great lazy Sunday afternoon storytelling….

Just to name a few of the truly memorable gaming experiences had:

 - Tanking Vulak`Aerr, the end boss of The Temple of Veeshan (from the Scars of Velious expansion) for nearly a half hour straight without dying….a week before devs changed the way he was accessed.
 - Tanking another one of The Temple of Veeshan’s denizens, Dozekar The Cursed, with no pants on. To explain this one would lessen the impact, as well as the joke of it.
 - Obtaining the Ring of Dain Frostweaver IV, which at the time, was one of the most difficult items to obtain, and remains my all-time favorite item gained in an MMORPG.
 - Being a part of a then smallest raid (21) to fell Ventani the Warder in Sleeper’s Tomb.

My experience will never be close to your experience, or his experience, or her experience. That’s the most intriguing aspect of Everquest — the experience you shape and mold, is one that will never be replicated, never to be duplicated. For some, it was a silly little game that made no impact. For others, including myself, not only did it leave a lasting mark in my gaming life, but introduced me to people that I still keep in contact with, have spent time with outside the game, went to Mets baseball games with, and a few that are close friends of mine. Sometimes I’m thrown aback when I think about how I’ve known several individuals through some silly game for most of my adult life, and in some cases, their whole adult life. The game was a ton of fun, when we all worked together and spent the time learning the fights. But honestly, I didn’t play to have a server first, to finish my epic 2.0 or anything like that. I played the game to spend time with friends and have a good time doing whatever it was we decided to do.

That’s the magic about Everquest….everyone has a different reason as to why they played the game. I so happened to have picked the most enriching.

Perhaps one day soon I’ll divulge in some of my travels throughout Norrath a bit more than I have today; recall the stories that turned mere mortals in the real world into the fiery knights and saviors in the fantasy realm. Perhaps I should write a book on the subject matter….

Rating:  N/A

….and with that, the 365//365 video game review project has come to an end….

http://www.twitter.com/Jas0nVelez

Jason V.

phire

Chocolate Lemon

Since I’m soo awesome. I’ll answer questions you may have about E3 while I’m there Via tweets and Facebook. Honestly, I don’t know what to expect from the West Coast.  My only experience with Cali come from rap videos from the 90′s .

But for E3, oh man I am pretty excited. There’s going to be live music, Methodman and Redman are preforming. They aren’t Megaman villains but they might as well be. There’s going to be some Lucha Libre going down. I want to interfere in the match and cost someone the belt and then oil up.

Gamewise I’m excited for Rockband 3.  The team and I will be getting a hands on-session, with that expect lots of video. Fist of the Northstar will be there. I don’t know how Cali will handle all that manliness. Sega is going to be on hand with a few goodies such as Phantasy Star Portable 2 and a new Sonic game. Capcom is up to its usual hi-jinks if there’s some MVC3 you’ll know. The list is extensive of all the stuff that’s going to be there.We’ll do our best to cover all the booths for you guys. I mean with booth babes I don’t know how much is going to get done but we’ll try to git’er done.

But with that said.
I am proud to say check in with Chocolate Lemon for its E3 coverage. Let’s rock!

Chocolate (phire) :  has joined the ranks. With more free time he has been to a few events with New York-Tokyo. The most recent events were the Tekken 6 tournament at the White Rabbit and Emily Cook snowboarding event. There was the second Street Fighter Fight Club that was attended.  What has he been playing? Demon Souls, DJ Hero, the last few days of the Mag Beta, Tekken 6, and some Dragon Age.
Lemon (jwong) was in an issue of  Gamepro along with his rival  Daigo.  He also attended the SFFC, you can read his thoughts on it here. He fought in Seasons Beatings and lost only to Daigo for second place. What has he been playing?  The usual; Street Figher, Tekken, and some Dungeon Fighter Online.
Galarian: Due to all his retro reviews is currently caught in a time warp and is working on a way to get back to the present.
Megumi: is lost somewhere in the Alaskan wilderness, was injured during a game of MAG.
Krismas: Is currently dressed up as Snake and behind you.
Wally: Is still in shock about reciving his first set of press passes for NYAF along with a reviewer’s copy of FairyTale Fights. He will be working with Jessness to cover that game.
Jessness: Avoiding her mob of fans and doing the school thing. Also maintaing high levels of Jessness. Working on the review for FTF.
Allowei: currently time travelling but still making time to write. Is working with Mircosoft to make sure you’re playing good games.
Beast: has been dealing with deleting data on his hard drive.
Expert Penguin: is in hiding due to the fact he made the switch from pad to stick after being so set in his pad player ways.
Everyone else has been off doing err something or the other in filler episodes obviously. That brings us up to date and that is (wait for it) the story thus far.

Up top (hopefully) is one of my favorite MJ tracks done live, called You Are Not Alone.

Michael Jackson (8/29/58 – 6/25/09)

The Angry Video Game Nerd

James Rolfe started this addicting, and hilarious phenomenon, as a joke. He was encouraged to do another ‘episode’ and it just started to spread. Over 50 reviews later, James has created a quite a following, with his reviews of the horrible games of the past, dropping f-bombs and other crude words and references, consumption of Rolling Rock, and some memorable guests during some episodes. Although there may be a few questionable titles he disliked (I thought TMNT on the NES was fun  as hell), there were quite a few ghastly titles that he dared to play and review (Batman Forever on the SNES, Zelda CD-i games).

James also does other things outside AVGN reviews, such as movie reviews at Spiketv.com, Top 10 compilations (Jackie Chan stunts, movie bad guys, etc) and other projects that he’s constant working on. Kyle Justin, who performs the awesome AVGN theme song as well as some other episode specific songs, is a talented musician in his own right. His first album, Live at the Tin Angel, is quite the piece of work, although not everyone’s cup of tea.

Recommended Nerd episodes — Fester’s Quest, Silver Surfer, Spider-Man, Bugs Bunny’s Birthday Blowout, The Wizard of Oz and The Wizard & Super Mario Bros 3.

My other favorite non CLGamer internet show is something I discovered while bored with job searching one late night. Bored as hell I started sifting through Youtube for the hell of it. I saw something about an i-Dog, and that got my attention. I had once worked at Toys R Us in Times Square, and i-Dogs were sold there and tried to be pushed as the next big phenomenon riding of the coattails of anything with “i” at the beginning. To spare any further unnecessary details, this i-Dog had something done to it that I never thought anyone would do….and now I present to you –

Is It A Good Idea To Microwave This?

The whole premise of the show is to microwave various things in each 3-6+ min episode, and see what happens.  It sounds stupid, but the weirdo inside me got hooked and enjoys watching this. Throughout the series (160+ episodes) they have microwaved many different things, ranging from a Nintendo Gamecube, to firecrackers, to a laserdisc, to even Pikachu. Some things have no real reactions, and some things look pretty killer (CD, John McCain and Barack Obama….yes you read that right) It’s not a bunch of kids randomly throwing stuff into their microwaves. It’s college kids putting a microwave outdoors about 10-15′ away from the door, with masks, gloves, goggles and a tin foil shield. It’s to protect their nuts, because nobody likes roasted nuts (you’ll get that if you watch it).

Look up “Is it a good idea to microwave this” on Youtube and you should have a lot of options open to you. The 6th season just got underway on April 1st with the gang microwaving an XBox 360 and original XBox controller. New episodes will air every Monday and Friday evening until sometime in July. I’m sure there’s one episode that everyone would get a kick out of.

My recommended microwave episodes — Is it a good idea to microwave…. a Gamecube, Furbys, Ping Pong Balls, Fireworks, Giant Mercury Light Bulb, Pikachu.

I would have mentioned Chad Vader: Day Shift Manager, but this long awaited new season started off in such a boring way, I stopped watching it so I could save it for a really long dragged out day. Anyone else watch anything good out there on the web?