'Twas the night before Skyrim....

So here we are, less than 24 hours till Skyrim releases.  It's been a long couple weeks waiting for the game as I scoured the NeoGaf forums for info and resisting the temptation to watch leaked YouTube videos of the game in action.  Rest easy my friends it's almost here and while we wait check out my last reasons why I'm so excited for Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim.

4. The small stuff...

Skyrim unlike any game I've ever played promises detail in the utmost smallest form.  Your character can mix ingredients of all kinds to create potions, remedies, and other useful concoctions.  You can become a blacksmith and collect raw materials like deer skins and iron ore to create and enhance your own weapons and armor.  You can buy a house, go to jail, get a job, practically live another life in Skyrim. Kinda reminds me of Dwight in the Office and his new life in "Second Life". To say the least Skyrim is incredibly detailed and I can't wait to find out how far down the rabbit hole I can go just as long as I don't end up like Dwight.



3. Sean Connery would be proud...

When I think of dragons I can't help to think of the movie starring Sean Connery called "Dragonheart". It's really the only movie I can think of that brought dragons to life in a believable and wonderful way.

So with Skyrim it's obvious that dragons are the focal point of the story.  They're evil, hell bent on destroying the land of Tamriel.  What's exciting to me is the potential that Skyrim has dragons dialed in, much like the movie Dragonheart did years ago.  Dragons in Skyrim unlike Sean Connery's are mean, fierce and want nothing to do with being your friend.  These are like mini boss fights scattered at times randomly in the game. They are a huge risk reward proposition where you can choose to fight and claim the dragon's soul/power or run in the hopes to live another day.  I'm also looking forward to seeing how dragon's play into the main story and overall I'm intrigued by the lore of them and what will become of them at end of my adventure.  My only hope, which I have a feeling won't happen, is to be able to fly a dragon and if not Skyrim maybe the next Elder Scrolls game. 


2. & 1. Goodbye forever......

Because what I'm looking forward the most in Skyrim is so big it's taking the number 1 and 2 spots in my list.  What I'm looking forward to the most in Skyrim is how big this game is.  MMO's have always intrigued me because they're usually huge with lots to do and things to experience yet the quality in my opinion isn't there.  I want a game I can sink my teeth into and not be worried of being bored or that the experience will be all too short and come to a screeching halt.  Elder Scrolls games have a reputation of easily being 300 hour games and Skyrim looks to be no different.  The actual playable area of Skyrim is close to 16 square miles which entails 5 large cities, 150 unique dungeons, and dozens of towns and ruins.  I want to explore and see all that Skyrim has to offer which is quite a bit obviously. What I'm most excited about in the vastness of Skyrim is the unknown. What will I find out there? What kind of creatures will I see?  Who will become my friend and foe in Skyrim?  What happens when I do this or that?  What kind of hero will I become? I can't wait to answer these questions in time as I indulge my gaming wholeheartedly to Skyrim while savoring ever minute of it.  

Now sure I have my concerns that Skyrim will fall short of my expectations but that's the fun of hype. It makes a game feel epic, an event so to speak. So I'll be in line at Gamestop around 11:45pm tomorrow eveing waiting to get my mittens on a copy and before I go to bed I hope to create my Nord character and get started on this grand adventure.  What are you're plans for 11/11/11 if you have any, and what are you looking forward to the most in Skyrim?

Northern landscapes and she-orcs...

Okay so now the wait is getting close to unbearable.  5 more sleeps until Skyrim is released and so that means another blog describing reasons 5 and 6 why I'm so stoked for Skyrim.

6. There's no place like home...

This reason is most definitely unique to me.  I live in the Pacific Northwest, home of the Cascade mountain range, Olympic peninsula rain forest, and miles of Pacific ocean coastline. 

A picture I took while motorcycling through the North Cascades.

I love living in Washington and the first screens I saw of Skyrim looked as if it was in my own backyard.

This has me excited.  Since Skyrim is based in the north of Tamriel I'm expecting it to be a lot like the places I love in my state. I know some may want to go to some place exotic and no doubt Skyrim will be that but I'm looking forward to it being a fantastical version of my own backyard.  I look up at the mountains surrounding my valley and many I have never been to but with Skyrim everything is accessible and have reason to be explored. So far in Skyrim previews I've seen sea ports, mountain castles, wooded villages, lakes, and rivers all looking gorgeous and I can't wait to discover and explore these locales in the familiar land of Skyrim much like I've done here where I live in real life.



 5. Pick a race, any race

  
Before ever venturing out in the land the first thing you do when you start Skyrim is create a character.  There's over 10 races that you can choose ranging from elves and orcs to highly civilized humans and the native people of Skyrim the Nords.  I know I'm going to mull at this for awhile as I decide who I want to be and how I want to look like.  In the Mass effect series I choose the default look just because I felt like I was playing Shepard's story more so than my own.  Yet for Skyrim I feel it'll be different as the main protagonist is pretty much a blank slate when you start.

 So here's my plan which may or may not change once Friday rolls around. I'm going to be a Nord which I feel is fitting since I'm a quarter Norwegian.  I want to specialize in one handed swords, archery and dabble some with magic. With every decision, action, and conversation I face I'm going at it just how I would in real life.  I'm pumped to forge a character in the first hours to the end of the game that will be a reflection of me of some sorts and I appreciate the constant luxury of choice that Bethesda has put in the game.

So who do plan to be in Skyrim?  Do you like to play games that have a familiar feel or do you like the exotic and foreign?  Let me know and remember just a few days till this puppy is out there.

'Twas the seventh day till Skyrim

Only 7 more days until The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim will be in my hand!! I can only recall my excitement for a video game being like this just a few times in my life.  The first time was when I was 12 years old and waiting for Christmas day as I knew I had a Nintendo 64 under the Christmas tree just wanting to be opened. The next was waiting for Halo 3.  I spent the months up to the release squeezing out every little detail I could about the game.  The most recent game was Mass Effect 2, and rightfully so cause that game was incredible.

So for this year I've had my sights on a game series I've never played, the Elder Scrolls.  I've never even touched Oblivion and I only dabbled in Fallout 3 for a few hours yet something about Skyrim has captured my excitement and imagination.  Skyrim comes out 11/11/11 and no doubt I'll be picking it up at the midnight release but until then I'll spending the next 7 days explaining to you 7 reasons why Skyrim is my most anticipated game and what I look forward to.

7. Barbarian Choirs

Ever since the announcement trailer, the music for Skyrim has been unique. Music in a video game can easily make it or break it for me.  I can still hum to myself some of the memorable scores from the Halo and Mass Effect games. Even my son knows some of the Super Mario Galaxy tunes now.  So with Skyrim the music is crucial to build the atmosphere and drive me to continue through the story.  Take a listen to the main theme of Skyrim in the youtube video on the right.  It's a barbarian anthem that riles me up to bring out my inner Norwegian viking.  I love it and I can't wait to see how the other Skyrim songs make me feel.

Skyrim is filled with over 3 hours of composed music and I feel it's greatest challenge is to make the huge world of Skyrim enjoyable and livable while playing potentially 300 hours of the game. The track in the video on the left is background music while you traverse and explore the land of Skyrim.  To me this song is the epitome of fantasy.  It's whimsical, mysterious, and moving. I hope years from now I'll be humming to myself some of the memorable songs of Skyrim.  7 more days!!



P.S. If you have no clue what kind of game Skyrim is and would like some details be sure to check out this great summary on NeoGaf.

Never too late...

I mentioned last week about how it's never too late to follow your dreams and to have a life full of purpose.  I want to share a story of a lady my wife and I met in the Philippines back in the summer of 2000.
 
Her name is Lois Secrist and what makes her unique is that she started an orphanage in the Philippines named King's Garden at 87 years old.  I'd like to stop you right here and direct you to this article regarding her whole life story at Christianity.com. Please give it read, it's truly an amazing story. Here's the link. http://www.christianity.com/christian%20living/features/11622375/

Above is the front entrance of the King's Garden orphanage and the fruit of one woman's obedience to God.

While in the Philippines our missions team spent a day at the King's Garden orphanage and there we got to meet Lois and the children they have taken in.  The orphanage was huge and they also had a school attached to it where we were blessed to students singing the worship song "Shout to the Lord" to us.  It was a day that we all will never forget.  Every child had hope in their eyes as they were loved by Lois, her staff, and ultimately by their creator.

As I reflect on my life I often see myself develop impatience towards some of my life goals.  I get overwhelmed at the what I need to, in my mind, accomplish and achieve.  Yet I look at Lois's last years of her life and through God's help she made more of an impact for the kingdom of God then what most do for their entire lives.  Lois's life challenges me to keep dreams alive and to stick with it no matter what the circumstances.  Keep dreaming big and believing that nothing is impossible with God!

Me, Myself, and Mission Aviation

Ever since I was young I wanted to fly.  One of my favorite childhood movies was Hook with Robin Williams.  Peter Pan captured my imagination by always leading me to ask the question what if I could fly?

I remember even in elementary school jumping off a swing yelling "Bangarang!!" and wishing that I would just continue upwards into the sky. As I grew up into middle school I planned on becoming a bush pilot flying in the Alaskan wilderness.
I loved fly fishing and my dream job was to be a fishing guide while flying in and out of remote lakes. Then in my sophomore year of high school something life changing happened.

I surrendered all of my life and my will to Jesus Christ. See I've been a Christian ever since I could remember yet I had never fully committed my life to Jesus.  I always had my plans and had held on to a part of me that I never gave to God.  I recommitted myself at a summer camp when I was 15 years old and soon started regularly going to my local church and youth group.

In those quick few years of high school I went to the Philippines and Panama on missions trips and I myself felt personally led to serve God in the mission field.  My plans of flying quickly went out the window as I was preparing myself to be a missionary overseas. But in my senior year as I was at a local missions conference I noticed a booth with a video of airplanes flying in the bush.

Upon closer inspection it was a booth showing off Mission Aviation Fellowship www.maf.org and how they use airplanes to advance the gospel and support in humanitarian aid.  I was convinced.  God gave me a passion to fly and a call to serve in the mission field, it was a perfect fit.

So fast forward ten years and here I am in Wenatchee working on copiers for a living and no where near my goal. What happened? Where did I go wrong? Where do I go from here?

 The best way I could put it is "life happened". I fell in love with a beautiful woman, had two amazing  kids, settled back in my hometown, built airplanes for 4 years, was a pastoral intern for 3 years and the list keeps growing. One thing my wife and I quickly learned early in our marriage is that you can make plans for your life but ultimately God is in control and His plan not always line up with your own. And that's a good thing.

"Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will." Romans 12:2

So now at 27 years old I wanna get back to flying and once again I'm serious about mission aviation. I do have a private pilots license and some aviation maintenance experience and yet I have a long ways to go to be ready and available to serve in mission aviation. A school that has helped me in the early parts of my flight training is MATA (Mission Aviation Training Academy) www.mata-usa.org and I plan on flying with them to receive the rest of my training. So as I progress through my training I'm going to post blogs with updates, things I've learned, and stories I'd like to share. Keep me and my family in your prayers as we start continue on in this adventure and thanks for reading.

P.S.
Is there a dream of yours that has been delayed, crushed, or even forgotten?  Remember it's never too late to follow your dreams and for God to use you to do great things.  My next post will be about a orphanage my wife and I helped in the Philippines which was started by a 87 year old American great grandmother so look forward to that soon.  

From here on out...

This blog has been somewhat of an experiment for me. I really didn't know what to think or do with it until recently. This will be a public journal of my life.  It's really more for me to reflect, get pumped, or for just some therapy through writing.

I  wanna share my experiences, what's on my mind and what I love. So expect me to chronicle my journey to become a missionary pilot, as well as talking about video games, my favorite sports team the Green Bay Packers and anything else that I feel is worth sharing.

So look out for tweets/Facebook updates on any new posts in the coming months.
Hasta Luego

Dungeon Crawling 101

I just finished Torchlight a few nights ago and the 12 hours of gameplay I sunk into it has been some of the finest I've found on XBLA.  Torchlight is my first venture into the dungeon crawler genre and the game eased me in gently letting make mistakes along the way.  It may be a more casual take on the genre but I found lots of depth to the skill tree and the loot I acquired. The game oozes charm through the art style.  Bright colors, creative creature and character design all invite me into the town and mines of Torchlight.

I think the biggest thing that sells this game for me is the controls. I'm not one who likes to spend a lot of time in menus tinkering with stats and such, so I found the console port to be easy to pick up and navigate.  Combat flows smoothly as each button is assigned a task whether it be a spell or potion.  My favorite aspect is the analog sticks giving me freedom to move about while casting or using an attack.  I feel more in control and engaged in the game than my brief time with Torchlight on the PC.

A recent patch solved most of my main grip with the game, and that's performance.  Slowdown is frequent and many times there's a slight pause before going back to normal.  Though annoying I learned to deal with it and now I hardly notice it.

If you've been interested in games like Diablo or you're a hardcore dungeon crawler I think there's something here for everyone.  For $15 this little game has delivered for me more than most blockbuster games.  Buy it and enjoy the heck out, you can thank me later.

Details:  I spent close to 12 hours to finish the campaign though there's endless content even after you beat the main story.  I chose the Alchemist class, played on Hard difficulty and received all but one achievement for a grand total of 170 gs. 

Look out for Torchlight 2 which comes out to PC later this fall which includes co-op and lets all hope it'll be ported to XBLA as well.

I'm back and worse than ever

Hey select few who look at my blog out of boredom I'M BACK!! The baby is born and I'm back to gaming so look out for some game reviews, my thoughts on my spiritual journey with Jesus, and other stuff that's piques my interest.

(Old School) Halo 3 Clip of Da Week

Back in the day when kids didn't have cell phones and minimum wage was $5.75 there was a little game called Halo 3.  Gabe McFann and I ripped up the Halo scene with our mad skills and coordinated teamwork and a great example of this is us winning the last checkpoint of a game in Rocket Race with unconventional technique.

See ya on the race track...

Why Breach blows chunks

A little less then a year ago at a video game expo on the east coast a video game appeared that wowed those in attendance and internet browsers who were following the news coming from the event.  The game was called Breach and it boasted fully destructible environments and a cover system rare to the FPS genre.  I was intrigued and so were a lot of friends of mine.

Here's a video preview from PAX East 2010

Fast forward to present day and after a myriad of set-backs, delays, and possible bankruptcy Atomic Games releases Breach into the wild on Xbox Live Arcade and PC.  I've been following this game ever since I was initially impressed almost a year ago but now after I've purchased and played the game for quite a few hours I can say I am utterly disappointed.

So why am I writing this blog post?  It's to hopefully prevent you from buying this game and having Breach blow chunks in your face.  So here's the low down on why you shouldn't spend your hard earned $15....

• A face only a mother could love.  The YouTube videos you'll find of the game are obviously the PC version of game, looking nice and gorgeous, but with the Xbox 360 version the game feels like a throwback to the original Xbox.  There's terrible animations, muddy effects from explosions and dust, and extremely plain environments.  If you like nothing on your bagel this might be right up your alley.

Warning: Games may not appear like in screenshots

• Destructible environments are just a gimmick.  In the matches I've played there's little blowing up and it's more like a standard shooter.  In fact there are very few buildings that really matter to blow up.  Even when you do want to blaze a new trail the gameplay tends to make it a more a chore than fun. Even though the new Battlefield series has limited destructibility compared to Breach; it's used more effectively and actually the changes game drastically where in Breach it's just not the case.

• The gun play is sub-par, hit detection is wonky, there's input lag, and it feels more like luck than skill to get a kill.  The gameplay really could've saved the game but it sticks out like a sore thumb.

Peek a boo I see you, now if I could only shoot you...

• Network noobs.  It's obvious Atomic didn't do too much homework while working on the network code.  Here's an example of the antiquated network design, when a host quits the game the match ends and your kicked to the main lobby all the while losing all your experience and stats you accumulated during the match.  Also there's noticeable lag whenever the player count exceeds 6 total players.  In the modern day shooter genre good network code is a must and Breach falls way short.

Lets wrap this up all with this thought; given time Breach can be patched and ironed out into a good game, but why wait when you could pick up a used copy of Battlefield Bad Company 2 which does everything Breach does but better for $5 more.

Yep, it's better

Let me know what you think and whether or not Breach blew chunks in your face

Halo Reach Clip of Da Week

Marshawn Lynch went beast mode on the New Orleans Saints during Wild Card weekend and here's me trying my best to imitate his beastiness.

And in case you missed Lynch's run for the win a couple weeks ago check it out..

How can the Green Bay Packers win the Super Bowl?

The Green Bay Packers (my team since I was 9 years old) is coming off a huge high from Saturday's blowout win against the Atlanta Falcons 48-21 and now face the Chicago Bears for the NFC championship.  So how do the Packers keep winning all the way to the Super Bowl?

Here's my five top things the Packers need to keep doing in order to win it all in February.

• Keep running no matter what the outcome is.  This helps establish the play action pass and with rookie running back James Starks, big plays are just hole away.

• Keep blitzing especially throwing the cornerback Woodson into the mix.  With the Jets upset over the Patriots last Sunday and Tom Brady getting sacked 5 times, we saw what happens when even the best of quarterbacks feels pressure.

• Strong coverage in the secondary.  With all the pressure up front it's easy for a receiver to be wide open.  Rookie corners Shields and Williams have been breaking up plays and getting interceptions all this post season and this needs to continue for the blitz to be successful and not as risky.

• Stop dropping balls.  It baffles me that receivers especially the Packers have been dropping easy passes.  Jones dropped a perfect pass that could've easily sealed the deal against the Eagles in the Wildcard game and there's been plenty of blown opportunities due to lack of concentration.  It was encouraging to see very few dropped balls against the Falcons, so keep it up.

• Let Aaron Rodgers run the show.  The blowout upset against the Falcons can mostly be credited to the near perfect performance by Aaron Rodgers.  He is extremely accurate and powerful, a quick thinker and right now he's playing the best football of his life.  Give him protection and he'll win the game for you.

The Packers have a tough road ahead of them, but they have momentum, talented players, smart coaching staff, and nothing to lose so GO PACK GO!!!

Welcome

Whats happening?  My name is Brandon Rodstol I live in Wenatchee, WA, I'm a Christian, and I'm 27 years old. I'm an avid gamer, husband, and father of two who thinks he can write a blog. Well, we'll see how that goes.

Okay so if you've gotten this far reading you're probably a friend, someone I met online, or just a curious stranger; whatever it may be thanks for stopping by and let my tell you what I'm going to be sharing on this blog.

• Video game reviews, insight, opinions, and news from a Christian perspective
• Youtube clip of the week from my exploits in Halo: Reach just to keep it fresh

• Thoughts on Jesus, what he's done in my life, and where He's taking me and my family
• Other things I like such as motorcycling, the outdoors, and my infatuation with the NFL

So if you like video games, the NFL, or what I have to say I think you should stick around. 

-Later