Allods online, a new world!

I take it upon myself to write this post, as every time Kate tried to she'd log on to get a nice screenshot and realize there was a quest or two nearby she wanted to do, and five or six quests later just shrug and forget about the blog post.

The TL:DR version; play the game already, geez.

So, here we are. To give you an idea of how the game looks, here are a few screenshots.

The top picture is of the Empire Capital, the character in the foreground is an Arisen Savant. Cyborg undead. Coolest. Thing. Ever. When you use the /sleep emote on an Arisen character, they get a pneumatic, powered coffin that closes around them. Everybody else just lays down. I have provided a picture of Isyris, Kate's Arisen Heretic, inside her coffin, down below.

It's a Russian game, here is a picture of some of the Russian that appears, as it's still in closed beta they probably haven't translated everything perfectly over yet.


This picture here is of the League starting area, an island you are transported to after a demonic attack on the magic tower where you start the game. It's quite idyllic, actually, except for the shipwrecks of mutineers and necromancers.


This shot is as you are being transported off the island, rescued from marooning, really, the elf in the picture is Kate's Elven Priest, by the name of Rue. And below Rue are my three little Gibberling Seers (from bottom to top) Viskar, Suzie and Hobbes, shaking their stuff with a /flex emote.

So, the pictures are to capture some interest in the game visually, now I'll discuss how it plays. Quite well, actually. It's easy to transition from WoW to this game as there are similarities in the interface; many emotes are the same, key bindings, menu layouts are similar in many ways.

The gameplay is smooth and less fast-paced and intense than WoW; there are some bugs in the system, but once again, a game that's in closed beta is that way for a reason.

Kate and I both like it because it integrates things we like in World of Warcraft, namely ease of communication with fellow characters, and an emphasis on party and group dynamics while still allowing a character alone to accomplish things, but it also has some things in it that WoW lacks, like a more relaxed battle system and more customizability in characters (the creation options are much more varied than WoW).

We recommend this game for people who are looking to get into online gaming, as it's got a nice solo introduction into the game but leaves you feeling like you are accomplishing something with every quest. In WoW, the quest to kill 10 boars in the beginning is basically "because there's too many of them," while in Allods the quest to kill 10 rats for the Empire is so that you can test the effect of the stress that battle has to find out why you weren't ripped to shreds by a teleporter.

Oh yes, did I forget to mention that? The storytelling in allods is actually quite impeccable, they put emotion and feeling into the quests by giving each non-player character (NPC) personality and interesting dialogue. A quest that comes easily to mind is a quest in which an innkeeper's husband has died and she asks you to talk to potential suitors to see if they are interested. Instead of going the grieving widow route, the game takes the route of "okay, who can I get hitched to that'll be good for the inn." She's looking for a sugar daddy, and many of the "potential suitors" respond in ways ranging from mild disgust to amusement.

So in conclusion, download the game and play it if you can, for heaven's sakes, and if you wanna find out how to download it, ask Kate or I, the thing's gonna be free to play anyway.
Here's a link to the website to get a beta key: Allods Online w/the Zam Network

The Proud Family Tradition Continues!

The moment of truth arrived today, in a cold dark room in the Salem Hospital. An old Finnish woman waved her magic scepter about, and wondrous pictures appeared on a screen.

The picture up above is the one that shows us what gender the baby is. For those of you who do not know how to read Ultrasounds or know what to look for, It's a Girl! That's right, the Guppy's now going to be Gerda Rose (but you can all call her Rosie). Here's another good picture, this one showing the head at the right, and a good view of the ribcage and torso.

We're very much looking forward to our new baby, Kate and I.

Happy Halloween (from the three of us!)

Our WoW-time hasn't been so much busy as boring lately--we haven't even been playing much, though we at least got the in-game Halloween stuff done. That Troll of mine is level 80 and re-named (finally!), Jon's been working on leveling a Troll Shaman (hmm, I sense a theme here), and we've been missing most of the guild's raids in order to spend more time together and with family in real life.

After all, real life is where the real excitement is right now: I felt the baby move for the first time yesterday!

I was lying on my back after taking a nap, I woke up with a funny feeling in my belly and wondered if I would be able to feel the baby (I'd been trying for a couple weeks, but the little one was still, well, little) so I put my hands down there for a minute, and tried to get a feel for anything that wasn't just my own pulse. I held very still, and I did feel something, a gentle little bump against my hand and a light fluttery feeling on the inside! I felt the same thing a couple other times, and a few times without my hand over the exact spot, but I still wasn't totally convinced. After all, I'd been wanting to feel the baby move for a while now, I could be just imagining it. I texted Jon at work that I thought I'd felt the baby move, then called my mom for her advice. (She'd never felt the baby as early as 16 weeks, though, so that just made me more confused. :P)

This afternoon, though, I felt the bumping again...and I guess the baby was getting a little antsy and feeling like I was ignoring him/her, because it was even stronger and there was definitely no mistaking it this time! I already knew I had a wiggly little guy in there, I guess now he/she is letting me know that they want to play soccer when they get a little older? ;)

And speaking of he-or-she, only a little while now until we know for sure...hopefully. We've got an ultrasound scheduled for Monday morning, and either Jon or I will be posting the new pictures and letting you guys know when we know for sure--so if you want to make a prediction, now's the time!

I know Katie thinks it's a boy from the craving I've had for steak, and Jon's mom thinks so too (though I can't remember what her reason was). Naajaku from our guild asked about spicy foods (Thai yes, Mexican no) and then proclaimed it to be a boy as well.

No one's predicted a girl yet, but there's evidence on that side, too--I was apparently just as squirmy when my mom was pregnant with me (though I certainly didn't kick so hard), and not only are the oldest kids in Jon and my families female, all of his siblings that have had kids so far had girls first.

What do you think it will be? Vote in the poll on the right if you want to guess, and let me know why you think so in the comments! :D