Holiday Food Fest

I had the whole week off and wasn't traveling. Since Wiley has combo vacation/sick/personal days, the tendency is to have a lot of days at the end of the year because of overpreparedness for being sick. Naturally, I spent the week meeting up with friends over meals.

This album consists of:

1) Oceanic Seafood Restaurant: This was a Friday lunch with my parents, Uncle Bock & Auntie Kim at a new buffet restaurant that took over the former Gala Manor. Full review in the future.

2) Pre-New Year's Dinner @ the Yeo's: This was a home-cooked meal by Auntie Kim.

3) New Year's Dinner: 2 rounds of Korean BBQ at my parents'.

Happy New Year 2013

Christmas 2012

Happy Holidays 2012

Gotham City Holiday Decorations

Shadowdragon

Alyssa Goldenblade

Shaolin Longfist

Kryo Jennyx

Thanksgiving in December

With the Philippines trip in November and my Mom staying an extra week, we really didn't get to have our traditional get-together for Thanksgiving. So we pretty much did it for Emily's Birthday this weekend. With the holidays coming up, some of the items and colors also had a Christmas theme to them.

DCU: Pengbot Maximus

Though Pengbot Maximus is just a middle boss in the Gotham Subway station, many players have trouble defeating him. This video offers some strategies to make him less intimidating. I feel like the developers made a boos like this to teach players how to block and evade rather than going head-on, mashing the attack button.

DCU: Shadowlands

This is a playthrough of the end of the Wonder Woman faction quest, Shadowlands (via Oblivion Bar). It's a continuation of my first video with the character, Alyssa Goldenblade to show progession.

Pasto

Location: Greenhills Shopping Center, V-Mall, Ortigas Ave., Greenhills, San Juan, Philippines
Cuisine: Italian
Hours: ???
Phone: (02) 722-4992
Prices: About $15 per person
Credit Cards: All major

Food: 8
Service: 9
Value: 8
Environment: 8

Frequency: Unique

For the last meal in Philippines, we went a little lighter and ordered 2 pastas, a thin crust pizza and appetizers for 3 people. Portions weren't all that big either, so it was just right. If I wasn't stuffed this whole vacation, I'd say the dish sizes here are a little on the small side. Italian food is sort of a secondary must-eat for me here because the ingredients have a different taste... as they probably do in many parts of the world. A bowl of pasta or pizza can be made the same way, but the tomatoes and cheese will vary in taste. Click on the slideshow below for full comments on each dish.

Service is almost always a 9 in the Philippines, so there's nothing special there. The environment was cleaner than most places in the city and this is a restaurant in the mall! There were no flies and the decor was very classy. The dining area was well lit and had good acoustics. You get a good amount of food for the money you pay and they even throw in a free appetizer if you spend over 1000 pesos and use a BDO card!

Philippines Day 10

We didn't really go far on the last day. Instead, we just had people dropping by the hotel and Greenhill area all day long. We had Uncle Ramon in the morning. Uncle Ruben and family also came and stayed all day. For lunch, we ate at Choi Garden with Ifore and Jiselle's families. After that, my parents went back to the hotel to await more visitors. I went out with Ifore & Jiselle to get the last achievement on my list... Razon's.

When I returned to the hotel, Auntie Day, Auntie Remy and Auntie Shirley also came by. Then Uncle Mariano came over. My dad & I then went up to his apartment (also in the hotel). For dinner, we split up into 3 parties. My Mom went out with her family. My dad went out with Uncle Mariano & Auntie Susanna. I went out with Matt, Hanika and Margaret to Pasto (separate entry coming soon).

Licup Family Party

Philippines Day 9

Day 9 Highlights:

JT Manukan Grille is another must see for me on Philippines trips now and I was able to get there with Ifore and family on Day 9. For the full review, please see last year's entry.

After lunch we headed to Craft Coffee a new place that brews their coffee fresh. 

Then I went to get a birthday cake for my mom @ Red Ribbon. My mom's birthday is next week, but my dad & I will be heading back first. Also, it's better to do her birthday with all of her family present.

We ended the day with a huge family dinner party at Elan Cafe. This is typically done the night before we leave, but we actually have an extra day this year.

Philippines Day 8

Jollibee Unboxing

Philippines Day 7

We got a lot done for our half day in Boracay, getting up early for breakfast @ Seabreeze Cafe and then spending the morning on the beach and pool. 

Traveling back to Manila wasn't so efficient though. We were making good time until we arrived. The flight was short... maybe 40 min. Once we were allowed to use electronic on board, I played one of my Arkham Asylum recordings... 38 min and didn't get through all of it. When we got to Manila, there was traffic at the gate and we just sat on the runway for about 20 min. Then the drive back was so packed that it took us 2 hours to get back to the hotel... 40 min flight + 2 hour drive!

At least we ended the day with Chicken Charlie!

Boracay 2012

Boracay Part 2

• Breakfast @ Seabreeze Cafe
• Island Hopping Boat Tour
• Lunch @ Natalia's Kitchen
• Estacio Uno
• Jonah's Snack Bar
• Real Coffee
• Dinner @ Mesa

Boracay Part 1

Day 1 of Boracay included:

• Arrival by plane & boat
• Boracay Regency Hotel
• Lunch @ Hap Chan
• Exploring the Beach
• Thai Food for Dinner

Philippines Day 4

Whitney

Whitney is the newest of Auntie Shirley's 9 dogs. She's a playful miniature dachshund that kept me busy as the rest of the aunts were dealing jade jewelry.

Tunas

Bistro Remedios

Location: 1911 M. Adriatico St., Remedios Circle, Malate, Manila, Metro Manila, Philippines

Cuisine: Filipino

Hours: SUN-THU (11am-3pm, 6pm-11pm); FRI-SAT (12pm-3pm, 6pm-12am)

Phone: 2 523 9153

Prices: About $15 per person

Credit Cards: All major

Food: 9

Service: 9

Value: 8

Environment: 8

Frequency: Unique

Last year, we came to the Philippines partly for Edwin's wedding, but didn't really get to see him. He was busy before the date and then went off on his honeymoon immediately after. So I wanted to set this up to catch up with him and meet his new wife, Barbie.

It was also the first opportunity to get some good Filipino food. The area near my hotel is filled with chains, so it was good to get out and find something more authentic. Bistro Remedios was definitely the best meal of the trip so far. We most of the things I typically order at Filipino restaurants. The taste was just so much richer here.

Philippines Day 3

It was another event filled day with both sides of the family. There was lunch with my mother's side @ Gloria Maris... still the only OK Chinese restaurant I've been to in the Philippines. Immediately after that, we headed off to Makati to visit Auntie Luisa and family on my father's side. The we headed to Malate to meet Edwin and family on my mother's side. We had dinner at Bistro Remedios, which I will break out into a separate entry because it's a new restaurant for me.

Some quick stats for Gloria Maris:

Location: Greenhills Shopping Complex, San Juan, Metro Manila Philippines
Cuisine: Chinese, Dim Sum
Hours: MON-THU (11am-2pm, 6pm-11pm); FRI-SAT (10am-2pm, 5:30pm-12am)
Phone: 722-5508 to 10, 721-3504, 722-5760
Prices: About $30 per person
Credit Cards: All major

Food: 7
Service: 7
Value: 7
Environment: 7

Frequency: Common

Ifore & Jiselle (Reception)

Ifore & Jiselle (Video)

Ifore & Jiselle (Photos)

Philippines Day 1

Just escaping the first winter storm of the year, we arrived late Thursday night to make sure we had an extra day before the wedding in case there were any plane issues.

The first day of any Philippines trip is always filled with activity...

• Breakfast @ Elan Cafe
• Lunch @ Choi Garden
• Visit to Ifore's new apartment
• Dinner @ Buffet 101

DCU Bounties

The bounties are very powerful enemies designed so that you form groups to fight them. Once you power up enough, it is possible to beat them solo. In this playlist, I share strategies for fighting Full House, Solomon Grundy, Clayface, Bizarro, Avatar of Sin, Minotaur & Arkillo on your own.

From Amalur to DC Universe

This is a playthrough of the first level of DC Universe Online with Update 19 applied. It's mainly for Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning lovers who are shopping for an MMO to move on to, but also showcases the updated tutorial.

Jin Cheng Restaurant

Location: 142-38 Roosevelt Ave., Flushing, NY
Cuisine: Chinese
Prices: $10/person (dim sum)
Credit Cards: ???

Food: 7
Service: 8
Value: 8
Environment: 6

Frequency: Unique

Jin Cheng is right on the next block from my Dad's office, yet today was the first time we ate there. I've probably passed by it hundreds of times. So it's just odd that we never ate there before! It's probably the most convenient restaurant to go to. It's pretty comfortable for a weekday dim sum since it's away from the Roosevelt/Main St. intersection. The office workers on lunch break wouldn't make the effort to move past Union.

The dim sum didn't have the variety that competing restaurants do, but the taste was OK at least. Portions were average to large. Some thoughts...
- siu mai - tasted great, but poorly crafted. The meat kept sliding out of the skin
- shrimp dumplings - average
- pork ribs - poor... more fat than meat
- fish head - original and actually good... great sauce. I usually don't eat fish head.
- squid - average
- radish cake - very fresh

The only thing lacking in this restaurant was the environment. It's a little dirty with flies, which probably factored into the NYC "B" rating.

Raspberry Pi User Guide

During his talk at Maker Faire, Eben Upton mentioned his book, Raspberry Pi User Guide. I searched for it on my phone to find that Wiley published it! So I ordered it the next day with my employee discount. I had already gone through the basic setup and now I just need ideas on what I should do with it.

The first few chapters go over the basic setup steps that I got from the website already. They also go over wi-fi setup, which is my next step. Projects include using it as an HTPC, web server and basic productivity machine. There are also basics to Python and hardware hacking.

Raspberry Pi

The Raspberry Pi I bought yesterday was incredibly easy to get up and running. The $40 was good for just the main board, but I actually had enough spare parts lying around to cover everything else. Here's what was needed and where I got them from...

• 5v USB power = borrowed from by HTC Incredible
• SD Card = the default one that came with my camera... never used it
• HDMI = borrowed from my upconverting DVD player
• Keyboard = from my Mac mini
• Mouse = from my Mac mini

Besides that, I also needed to get the Linux image and install that on the SD card. I went for the recommended Raspbian Linux (based on Debian). Once that was setup, all that was left was to plug everything in. I didn't come across any problems at all. It just worked!

Cool... so now what? The next steps are to get a compatible USB wi-fi dongle. Without internet, this system isn't too useful. Getting connected will open up a lot more for me to do. I also need to rig up some kind of case for it. Because of its size, this device allows makers to pretty much use anything as a case. There's even a printable PDF. So I'll see if I can come up with something. To be continued...

Maker Faire 2012

This was the last event of my week as a NY tourist. I bought the ticket online about a month ago, finding out about the event during my search for Raspberry Pi. I missed Maker Faire last year, so wanted to be there this time. I was just lucky I found it in time.

My ticket was for one of 2 days during the weekend. Saturday had talks for both the Arduino and Raspberry Pi, so I went for it. I almost turned back because the 7 train went down with signal problems. Then I looked at Sunday's schedule and it just didn't have the same events. I ended up taking a crowded Q48 to 111 Street and got there 30 min later than planned. But I made it and got to see the 2 demos I was going for. I even got the Raspberry Pi main board!

Intrepid & Enterprise Part 3

Continuing my week as a NYC tourist, I went to visit the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum for the first time. I had a good view of the Enterprise flyby earlier in the year and then again when it was tugged over to the Intrepid. So I wanted to see the shuttle up close.

For its size and number of items to see, the Intrepid entry is not cheap... $30 for a combination of general admission + the separate Shuttle Pavillion entry. Other options include the concorde and guided tours. However, it is a unique experience and an important part of US history. So I think everyone should do it at least once. There's just no reason to be a repeat visitor like the other museums, unless there's something big... like the space shuttle retirement.

High Line

Last year, my first visit to the High Line was a spontaneous one, so I didn't have my real camera with me. Since then, I've been trying to find some time to get out there again and I finally did it today. It's probably not as nice as in the middle of the Summer, but a Sunday morning makes it easier to get some quality humanless shots.

Since my previous visit, the section after 20th street opened up and the path now goes up to 30th. All of the good stuff is still at the downtown end though. 20th - 30th is mostly just repetition. I'll go again when they expand further. To be continued!

9/11

YouTube Cleanup

I decided to cleanup my YouTube channel a little bit this week. My Batman vs. Bane video was getting too many views and comments that I couldn't keep up. So I decided to hide all of my non-RPG videos. I started the channel for Kingdoms of Amalur bugs, so I want to concentrate on the RPG genre which tends to have an older audience anyway. I also want to keep the content original, so my Kingdoms of Amalur videos won't cover walkthroughs or loot locations. Other people have already done that and done a great job.

If you want to watch some of my non-RPG videos, you can still get to them from this blog. Just click on "Video Games" in the right navigation. They're still up, just unindexed by YouTube's search engine.

Kingdoms of Amalur: Fatality Ed.

This is a pretty common bug, but no one has posted a video about it, so I went for it. I don't want to do walkthroughs since everyone already does that and I'm usually too slow. So I always check my subjects before planning the video to make sure it's unique enough. This one features a bugged weapon that causes all attacks in the game to draw blood... hence "Fatality Ed."

Batman Reckoning Crossover

As I transition back to Kingdoms of Amalur from the recent Batman, GT5 and Transformers videos, I decided to do a little Batman tribute from inside the game. The first part of the video displays some Batman-like armor sets. Then I go on to talk about my search for an RPG/MMO post-Amalur.

Mad Libs: Bears

Original Dates: 1987?

From:
Mad Libs: Vacation Fun
By Roger Price & Leonard Stern

If you go to some red place like Yellowstone National Cat, you must know how to deal with the wild animals such as bears and wolves and butts. The most important of these is the bear. There are three kinds of bears, the grizzly bear, the rough bear and the smooth bear. Bears spend most of their time mooning or dancing. They look very blue, but if you make them stupid, they may bite your ass. Bears will come up to your car and beg for broccoli. They will stand on their hind legs and clap their book bags together and pretend to be dumb. But do not get out of your limo or offer the bears pizza or hot dogs. The same advice applies to other wild creatures such as flowers and asses. Remember all of these rules and you will spend your vacation stupidly and not get eaten by a balloon.

Fall of Cybertron (Intro)

Check out this cool intro. animation for Transformers: The Fall of Cybertron:

Additionally, surfing around for more videos of this revealed that Grimlock is one of the main characters and on his level, the game shifts from a 3rd person shooter into a melee combat format... my kind of game. I wish I could use Grimlock for the whole game! The way this will probably work is the whole thing is a fixed story. Each level will feature a different Transformer. So you play the game as a different character each time, even switching sides for some levels.

"Vigilance is the foundation on which victories are built."
-Metroplex

How cool is Metroplex in this video!? That would be too sick if he was a playable character. If you watch the video, you have to wonder how the Autobots lost this battle.

Vortex Reloaded

I recorded a new playthrough of the Vortex level of the Transformers: Fall of Cybertron DEMO because I'm much better at it now. I made too many mistakes before that resulted in an 18 min video! This time around, it was 12 min... the way it was probably meant to be.

Demos are typically short unless they mention a specific fixed time. The first time I went through the Batman: Arkham Asylum DEMO, it took me 25 min because I wasn't used to the predator scene. Now the whole thing takes me 5 min. So if a demo is taking a long time, it usually means your doing something wrong.

I still left the old Vortex video up because it's not bad for a first time and it also has a better intro/voiceover for the game. I still have the cue cards, but the shorter playthrough wouldn't have matched up with the other script.

GT5: 1969 Camaro SS

In stock form, the '69 Camaro SS is tuned for short drag races and has a lot of low end power. But heavy tuning turned this into a good touring car with power and dexterity. Besides maxxing out on parts, the settings for the customizable transmission and suspension are changed slightly depending on the race.

Batman Books by Wiley

   

Terrapin

Location: 6426 Montgomery Street, Rhinebeck, NY 12572
Cuisine: American, Organic
Hours: SUN-THU (11:30am-9pm); FRI-SAT (11:30am-10pm)
Website: www.terrapinrestaurant.com
Prices: $40/person (dinner)
Credit Cards: All major

Food: 10
Service: 10
Value: 8
Environment: 7

Frequency: Unique


Dinner reservations were at Terrapin, a restaurant that features an organic menu and promotes several local farms. Many of the items are vegetarian and can be prepared for vegans. I wish we had one of these closer to the city. I'm sure it would do very well.

I gave this place a rare 10 rating, which might be the first on this blog. We shared a fried calamari appetizer and I ordered the braised short ribs for my entree. It was one of the best meals I've ever had and I didn't even get a drink or dessert!

The service was also the best I've seen and even comparable to a vacation resort. The staff made everything comfortable. The waitress explained all of the dishes to us along with the chef's recommendations for options. She knew all of them off the top of her head. Our water glasses were never empty.

The place is pricey, so it's not an everyday restaurant, but it's worth every penny. All entrees are a good size and all ingredients are organic. If you support this place, you're also supporting the local farms.

The environment was very clean and well designed. The only negative is there are a lot of flies, but I noticed that all across Rhinebeck. So maybe it's a normal thing.

FDR Museum

Squirrels

These guys came out after a short thunderstorm for an afternoon snack.

Auntie Day & Uncle Hal's House

Last year, Auntie Day and Uncle Hal moved from Long Island to Rhinebeck... just before one of our big floods. Over the past year, they fixed up the house and got everything setup. We made it up there this weekend for the first time.

The house itself might be a little smaller, but it seems like it has a lot more usable space. Auntie Day's antiques are all setup nicely with enough room to step back and get a good view.

Vortex - Death from Above

Just adding the Vortex/Decepticon portion of the Transformers: Fall of Cybertron demo. This will bring up even more G1 nostalgia as the whiney Starscream discusses battle plans with Onslaught and the Combaticons.

Transformers: Fall of Cybertron

POV: 1st
Graphics: 8
Controls: 7
Difficulty: 8


Transformers: Fall of Cybertron really brings back some 80's memories as it takes place just before Season 1, Episode 1 of the G1 cartoon. The Autobots are losing the battle on Cybertron and their planet is on its way to destruction as they try to escape through a portal to Earth. This game covers the final battle before the Ark gets shot down and embeds itself in the Earth's mountainside.

The demo is pretty complete as it offers 3 modes to try:

1. Ground level as Bumblebee (as seen in video)
2. Aerial combat as Vortex
3. Multiplayer and character creation

The graphics are based on the G1 toys/cartoon rather than the Michael Bay movies. I always thought the toys made more logical use of physical space. They're not made of thousands of parts that convert a pure vehicle into a pure robot with little trace of the other form.

I thought I'd continue off my Batman vs Bane video since I just watched Dark Knight rises. In this episode, I'll share my thoughts about the new movie as well as go over Freeflow Combat tips for Arkham Asylum. 

My review is within the video above, but here are the ratings to be consistent with previous movie reviews:

Action: 7

Acting: 8

FX: 8

Durability: 7

DC Universe

Shadowdragon & Batgirl @ JLA Watchtower

POV: 3rd
Graphics: 9
Controls: 6
Difficulty: 5

I think this is the MMO I'm looking for! It's not the medieval fantasy D&D setting that I want, but everything else works so well that it doesn't matter. Oddly enough, it's the only RPG that has character creation options for me to make my main character, Shadowdragon.

Character Creation
The character creation, while not as detailed as Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning (KOA), Dungeons & Dragons Online (DDO) or Dragon's Dogma is really fun. There's not a lot of variety on facial features since it's a superhero game. All of the details are on the costume/armor. There are various character types and combinations of power. The limited palette options also prevents less artistic people from making a bad looking character. For my character, Shadowdragon, I naturally chose Batman as the mentor. His powers are fire-based and he fights with 2-handed weapons. Shadowdragon's weapon, Dragonsaber is a 2-handed sword, but in DCU 2-handed fighters start with a hammer. I checked out the weapons list and they do have swords later in the game. So I made a medieval themed character for a contemporary game!

Story/Quests
I haven't gone too deep yet, but the quests have been fun so far. Many of them involve a coop with one of the Justice League legends. When you first wake up in Braniac's ship, you get to fight side-by-side with Superman. As a student of Batman, you're guided through by Oracle, which is reminiscent of Batman: Arkham Asylum and Batman: Arkham City. There are battle royales all the time on the streets where you fight along side other players who are logged on. I didn't see that in DDO.

Combat
This is one of the few MMOs with a decent combat system. It's not limited to 2 moves like DDO. Your regular attack has a short combo and you also have special attacks. While it's not (as good as) KOA... it's also far from DDO. The biggest selling point is that they made a conscious effort to make the game control pad compatible. Because of the graphics and setting, this game feels like Batman: Arkham City, so I'm often hitting the buttons for that game. I have to get in the habit of not holding X to run... which I did in both Batman games and KOA.

Loot
Treasure comes at an OK pace in this game. Your character already starts out with basic armor in the beginning, so it's kind of OK. The money comes in slowly, but I don't disagree with the pace. A lot of dropped items are weird, but I think it just takes more playtime to figure out what everything is used for. Any armor piece you pick up adjusts itself to your character's color palette, again preventing mismatched looks. This is such a simple feature, but I wish all RPGs had. All modern RPGs seems to split armor into 5 or more pieces. And with a random drop system, you're more than likely to have a mismatched suit. So it's nice to be able to adjust the colors to match. I would have loved that in KOA!

DCU is also free to play with purchasable add-ons and upgrades. Also noteworthy is you have to endure an initial 15 GB download. It's worth the wait though as this is a great game.

Dungeons & Dragons Online

POV: 3rd
Graphics: 8
Controls: 3
Difficulty: 5

With the downfall of 38 Studios, I started looking for other RPGs and MMOs since hopes of a Kingdoms of Amalur 2 single player RPG and Project Copernicus MMO died along with the company. Dungeons & Dragons Online (DDO) was the first MMO I tried out because I thought I would go back to the basics... back to where it all began.

Character Creation
I had a really good impression of the game from the start because DDO has the best character creation of any game I've played. It has the most detailed options for your character's face. I think if you spent enough time, you could make just about anyone you wanted. It falls a little short on hairstyles, but that's OK. I made myself with hair that was 2 weeks overdue for a cut! Kingdoms of Amalur (KOA) also had a good character creation process, but not as many face options... and most of the male combos look too similar. I played through that game as a female partly because I could only make a combination that looked like my female Dragonlance character. Dragon's Dogma probably has the most options of any game, but somehow I didn't like the art style. If you randomly make a character in that game, he/she will likely look messed up. Very few of the thousands of combos yield a nice looking character. DDO is the best overall here.

Story/Quests
DDO is the most RPG of the modern RPGs. It keeps all of the classic D&D stats and die rolls. So a lot of the weapons and attributes will be familiar. Like all modern RPGs, you have main quests and side quests. There are quests that involve NPCs or you can form a party with friends. This is comparable to KOA, but probably more vast since it's an MMO. Some of the dungeons have puzzles to solve, which was something that wasn't accented in KOA.

Combat
This is where DDO is lacking. It has a very simple combat system. It's hardly the free-flowing combo system of KOA. All you do is hack, block and move. There are 2 animations for the longsword... forehand and backhand. Had I played this game first, I'd probably be OK, but I was totally spoiled by the revolutionary system in KOA. And now I crave that in every RPG! I almost wish DDO went full classic RPG and just had no action at all. I'd love to play the classic D&D PC games again with the 6-character parties. A major negative to DDO is there's no native support for a control pad. You could rig a programmable one up, but it'll take some work. Take that with a  grain of salt though. I'm not an MMO player, so I prefer a control pad.

Loot
Forget the storyline. RPGs are all about nice looking armor and weapons now! Like most games of this type, you start out in underwear. So the first thing I did was loot every treasure chest and crate lying around. The chest drops, unlike KOA seem to be mostly fixed items. I played through the first segment twice and got the same exact crap. The armor in the game looks good in general. It has a realistic look to it and is very detailed. The weapons on the other hand could use some more detail. While the textures look nice, the models lack complexity. The longsword looks like a flat steel ruler with texture pasted on top. KOA got crazy with their weapon detail. Dragon's Dogma also had plain looking weapons.

I'm going to keep this game installed because I like the characters I created and will try to hack a controller setup one day, but I don't think I'll be playing it too much immediately. The MMO shopping will continue! Oh... one more important thing... DDO is free!

GT5: 1995 Mitsubishi Eclipse

The Eclipse is my benchmark for how accurate GT5 is since I drive it in real life. When I use it in this game with the Logitech steering wheel, it really feels like my car. I rarely make mistakes when using this one in the game. It's too bad the model was built with "standard" details though. I would have liked to give it black rims to match my real life one. 

I've purchased this car in all of the GT games as soon as I could afford it, typically starting with a Civic or FC3S to earn cash.

Batman vs. Bane

Replaying the Batman vs Bane part of Arkham Asylum in honor of opening weekend for Dark Knight Rises. Check it out and then check out the Christian Bale movie... for @#$%^ sake!

Loot Manipulation Theory (Part 2)

This second part brings us back to an earlier game save where much more unique items are available in the loot table. While my gold drops theory worked for non-unique items, I'm putting it to the test against low level uniques here.

SriPraPhai (Long Island)

Location: 280 Hillside Ave., Williston Park, NY 11596
Cuisine: Thai
Hours: SUN (12am-9pm); MON-THU (11:30am-9:30pm); FRI (11:30am-10pm); SAT (12am-10pm)
Website: www.sripraphairestaurant.com
Prices: $20/person
Credit Cards: All major

Food: 8
Service: 7
Value: 7
Environment: 8

Frequency: Unique

I didn't know there was another SriPraPhai until Uncle Bock & Auntie Kim mentioned it. I thought it was a strange location for a Thai restaurant, but it does pretty well out there. We went early to beat the crowds and there was a line by the time we left, though not nearly as crazy as the Elmhurst one. That one needs an electronic display with ticket number for the people waiting on the sidewalk!

The important thing about the Long Island restaurant is that the food is the same quality as their original. So if you factor in wait times in both places, it's actually worth it to drive to Long Island! The space is less congested as well.

Here are the links to previous posts:

- SriPraPhai Elmhurst 2008
- SriPraPhai Elmhurst 2009

Loot Manipulation Theory (Part 1)

It took me 2 attempts to get this one up on YouTube. They mention that the upload limit is 15 min. Until now, I've followed that requirement, but I've noticed other users videos going way over. So I tried it out myself and it got rejected. So the way it works is you have to do a mobile phone verification to lift that restriction from your account. I did that after and had to re-upload, but here it is finally...

This is a small sample of my theory that the "gold drops" stat improves items dropped. It consists of 4 farming runs through Haxhi Dam... 2 with no gold drops bonus and 2 with a 50% bonus.

Niskaru Challenge

Here's a challenging battle with the Castaway's Cove Niskaru Tyrant (locked at max: 40?). As usual, this is on the hard difficulty mode. Weapons used are an azurite greatsword with sockets and the mid-level chakrams, Crafter's Hands.

Kingdoms of Amalur Quest Count

It didn't seem like anyone out there truly completed Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning from a completionist's point of view. I surfed around looking for other player's quest counts and no one on the message boards had numbers close to the 274 I counted. So I decided to shoot a video of the list from my game save.

Math of Amalur

On a video roll today!

In this video, I'm adding up all of the Twist of Fate, Lorestone and DLC bonuses and estimating how damage bonuses stack. I'm also playing through a high level zone with weak equipment to demonstrate how the bonuses impact gameplay.

Invincible Root Golem Glitch

It's another glitched monster in Kingdoms of Amalur, but this time, I have an idea of what causes this cool bug. Check out the video above for the answer as well as anti-root golem techniques.

1st of July

Dragon's Dogma Demo

Super Murghan Glitch

I just came across another bug in Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning, so it's already my second voiceover on YouTube over the past couple of days. I still feel weird doing it, but starting to get the hang of it now.

Father's Day

Invincible Rock Troll Glitch

Battery Upgrade

Today was a good day to work on the car. I didn't really use it over the Winter and my battery reached the end of its 5-year life, so it was time for a new one. The Eclipse is now 18 years old and on it's 4th battery. So things are working out mathematically. I think the first or second one went over 5 years. The others were right on target.

To change a battery, it's always best to consult your vehicle's manual as every car has a slightly different battery enclosure. But for general information, the book to the right is a good reference. It'll give you tips safety as you need to be careful of any loose acid.

See photo on Instagram

Blacksmith's Tribute to Fantasy/Sci-Fi

I thought one of the best parts of crafting weapons in Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning was naming them. It allowed me to pay tribute to some of my favorite Sci-Fi/Fantasy worlds. Here are some items I brought into the Amalur universe:

Anna's Laconian Slashers (Phantasy Star II)
- Primal Damaging Chakrams
The preferred weapons of Zema's guardian, Anna Zirski work just like chakrams... they hit multiple enemies and return to the wielder. Laconia is a powerful Dezorian metal.

Armor of Takhisis (Dragonlance)
- Epic Prismere Armor
The black and red prismere reminds me of what I picture the Dark Queen of Krynn wearing when she assumes human warrior mode.

Conan's Atlantean Sword (Conan the Barbarian)
- Primal Ice Longsword
The sword Conan gets from the remains of the Atlantean King is the best crafted movie sword I’ve seen. It can be conveniently used as a one or two-hander. The blade is good for slashing and piercing. It also has a thick guard for defense.

Dragonmetal Armor (General AD&D 2e)
- Epic Sylvanite Armor
Green sylvanite looks ridiculous, so naming it "dragonmetal" made me feel better about wearing it! Crafting armor from dragon scales was from the dragon section of Monstrous Compendium 2nd Ed.

Elsydeon (Phantasy Star I & IV)
- Primal Lightning Longsword
This is the sword used by Alis Landale in PSI and eventually gets passed to Chaz Ashley in PSIV. It’s a great one-on-one weapon and also useful for the macro combos.

Fremen Crysknives (Dune)
- Primal Damaging Daggers
Knives crafted from the crystal teeth of Arrakis' sandworms.

Goldmoon's Blue Crystal Staff (Dragonlance)
- Primal Staff
The great staff used to take down the leader of the Black Wing, Khisanth.

Jedi Lightsaber (Star Wars)
- Sylvanite Lightning Longsword
This one's a stretch, but it’s green and it's energy-based!

Li Mu Bai's Green Destiny (Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon)
- Sylvanite Poison Longsword
The actual Green Destiny owned by Master Li is a Tai Chi sword, but poison sylvanite is so green I had to borrow the name!

Lothlorien Mirkwood Bow (Lord of the Rings)
- Primal Ice Bow
This is the type of bow used by Legolas and Lothlorien soldiers. The patterns on the primal bow have similar curve marks as the mirkwood bow, but it’s black and red instead of white.

Plate of Solamnus (Dragonlance)
- Azurite Armor
Armor worn by the highest heroes of the Knights of Solamnia. This is Krynn’s equivalent to Eagonn’s Armor. The azurite armor in the game looks pretty close to drawings of the Plate of Solamnus.

Sith Infiltrator (Star Wars I)
- Studded Leather Hood
This is named after Darth Maul's vehicle from Episode I. I thought it would be a good name for a hood that I use in my custom universalist armor (crafted hood, Harbinger’s Vestments, prismere gauntlets, prismere greaves)

Soul of Malystryx (Dragonlance)
- Prismere Flame Greatsword
Named after the giant red dragon from the War of Souls.

Sword of Azrael (Batman: Sword of Azrael)
- Prismere Flame Longsword
The fiery sword wielded by Gotham's Angel of Vengeance. 

Teal'c's Zat'ni'katel (Stargate SG-1)
- Ebony Shock Sceptre
Sidearm used by Apophis’ serpent guards from the Stargate series. The charge attack from a sceptre is very similar.


Zelda's Hyrulian Armor (Legend of Zelda)
- Studded Leather Armor
I wanted to name something after the Zelda world and already crafted too many swords. So I figured Link always wore light armor... a tunic over leather. And since I play with a female character, I named it after Princess Zelda instead of Link.

Double Rainbow