Life STUFF
Life's been.. a little hectic, despite being out of class. Spring cleaning hit hard, so I've been running around trying to clean the house as quickly as I can. So that's one thing that's taken up a lot of my time... Also been recording for Youtube a LOT! New Let's Play will most likely launch tomorrow! Super excite for that!





Gaming STUFF
(Take my word with a grain of salt.. I haven't gotten *too* far into the game, but this is just my first impression of it as I played.)
So! I said I'd post up my thoughts for Ragnarok Online 2... Honestly, I like the game. It's not bad, and the world is REALLY dang nostalgic. (Porings everywhere!) The visuals are pleasant to look at, and everything just kind of has that really cutesy feeling that a lot of Korean MMOs tend to have... But that's just the thing. It's one of those Korean MMOs.

You might or might not know this, but I used to MMORPG-hop a LOT back in the day. Chances are, if you name one I've either already played it or have heard a lot of it at the very least.. A good chunk of those MMOs were standard Korean-MMO fare with standard quests and World of Warcraft-esque gameplay. RO2 just.. kind of fits right into that category. It's one of those games that is pleasant to play, but I can DEFINITELY feel that it was kind of slapped together with an engine that has already been done to death. Don't get me wrong, I find it incredibly pleasant to play and mess around with, but I've just seen so many MMOs like it that I have a hard time really taking it seriously. It lacks its own identity and borrows SO MUCH from other games, be it the world of RO1, the graphics of every other Korean MMO out there, or the gameplay of WoW.. It's just hard to take it at face value and play it for RO2 *itself*

RO1 had its own identity. It had 2D sprites on a 3D Isometric plane, interesting characters and unique skills that I haven't really seen in many other MMOs. Every class in that game could go for MULTIPLE branches, depending on what path you wanted to take. (For instance, Priests COULD go for PVP-Melee if they wanted.. Knights could be tanky or damage based.. Monks/Champions could throw balls at your face, melee combo you to death, or build themselves to be a 1-shot BUS TO THE FACE with Asura Strike).. It felt a lot more customizable in that way, and the skills felt like they required you to move around and actually *do* something with your movement while fighting.

I can't say it'll stay like this because RO2 is obviously a LOT newer, but it just seems to try to copy it, in a way that's less interactive. I feel myself just standing in place and spamming skills as quickly as I can, rather than being strategic about where I'm positioned, what skills I use in what order, etc.

Again, don't get me wrong. I DO like Ragnarok Online 2, but it's not a game that I think I'll be sticking with forever. As a game itself, I've played much better.. But the nostalgia factor alone is enough to keep me going back, just so I can see all those old RO1 monsters with 3D models.

(On another note-- BeastMaster in RO2 is totally just a rip of Druid in World of Warcraft.)

Edit: I should add, that I do have high hopes for the game! My complaint that it feels same-y with all the skills could very, VERY well be fixed in future patches, installments, etc. It's DEFINITELY worth a shot, so if you have time try it out! You got nothing to lose, and it's very enjoyable all-around!




Art STUFF
I've... been having an exceedingly hard time with LP #12's icon's background. So much that I'm deciding to just launch the LP before releasing the Let's Draw. So that... kind of sucks. The icon itself should be fine since I only need the chibi's face for that, which IS done.. Just that background, gah.

I haven't really had time to put together art tips, either, so I guess I'll just do those on weeks that I actually have time. Oh well.. Hopefully I can get artistically moving again soon!