February 23rd, 2015 by Calvero

As I mentioned in my last post, I started my own gaming channel, Calvero Plays.  And I chose to start with my favorite series, Assassin’s Creed.

From the very beginning.

I should say that the game is violent, though not in the way that there is horror or a lot of slashing(okay, a good amount of slashing).  You only can kill who your target is (along with the target’s henchmen).  There’s penalties when you kill innocent people (one of the reasons why I like this series better than Grand Theft Auto).

Below is the first part:

(My microphone level is low,  I’m working on adjusting it.)

There also is a good dose of history throughout the series, which is one of the reasons why I love the series so much.  This first installment of the series takes place during the Third Crusade in 1191 in such places as Damascus, Acre, and Jerusalem.  The music is great (improves IMHO in AC II and Brotherhood), graphics are beautiful, and the game play is fairly good (there have been complaints about it being to repetitive, which is is, but it doesn’t bother me as much).

And this is  combination “Let’s Play” and “Walkthrough” since I have played this before and show where things like flags are, easter eggs, and how to defeat people. It’s not thorough though.  I never have found all the flags, and I’m sure there’s easter eggs that I do not know about, but there’s a bunch that I share.

How I got interested in the series

I do not fit the typical demographic for playing a game like this.  I’m female, in my 40s, and a mom.  So how did it happen?

First thing is the historical aspect.  As I say in the video, I love history.  Any era, it doesn’t matter.  I may not understand Wall Street or wrap my head around various scientific theories, but I love learning about the history of anything. Always have (I have a BA degree in it). And when I was first reading an article about the game in a gaming magazine back in ’07, I thought “Wow! That’s amazing!”  The pictures were great.  I loved that is took place in a different era that was rarely tackled by game developers.

But I was put off by the title. *Assassin’s* Creed. That sounded…well…. violent.  Too violent.

But then Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood came out. And one of my favorite vloggers, Hank Green (one half of the vlogbrothers, and of Crash Course, Sci Show, and interviewing President Obama fame), started playing it:

Then I got drawn into it.  Both the historical part, and the mystery of “The Ones Who Came Before”, the First Civilization, which added a scifi element (where is Ubisoft taking that story anyway?  Do they even know?) drew me in.

The first AC game I actually got to play (since Ubisoft didn’t make any AC games for the Nintendo Wii and it was before I got a XBox 360) was Altair’s Chronicles.  It was a great game, though a side-scroller  which is a different set-up than the 3D-ish POV of AC console games.  The ending was a bit of a let down….

And so now I have completed the first installment through III (AC, AC II, AC Brotherhood, AC Revellations, and AC III, total of 5 console games. Yeah, Ubisoft numbered them weird), didn;t finish IV Black Flag.  Have yet to start Rogue.  At some point I’ll be getting a XBox One and play Unity.  But for right now I’m replaying the first one again, this time recording it.

Come along, won’t you?  See some beautiful cities, meet some historical figures, watch for glitches (for there are bound to be some)!

 

Posted in Assassin's Creed, gaming, Hank Green, historical fiction, History, let's play, video game commentary, video games, YouTube Tagged with: , , , , , , ,

July 22nd, 2014 by Calvero

So it was about this day 7 years ago that I was visiting one of my favorite sites, YouTube, and on their front page were featured videos, for that day and the few previous days.  And I saw one that had a young guy with glasses on and the video was titled: “July 18: Accio Deathly Hallows (no spoilers)

Now, I wasn’t a huge Harry Potter fan. I did like the movies, and a I had a few of the books and (I think) began reading “Sorcerer’s Stone”, but not much beyond that. But the video title intrigued me and so I clicked on it….

…. little knowing what kind of magic door I was about to step through

I had landed in NerdFighteria!

Hank Green’s video is now legendary in the land of Nerdfghtearia, and it’s hard to say how many ripples it has cast.

I don’t remember if I watched any of their other videos that night, but the first one of his brother John’s I first watched–

July 25: Brotherhood 2.0’s Youtube Comments Are Answered!

or
July 27: How Nerdfighters Drop Insults

Not sure. If I knew where my TARDIS is, I would take a step back in time, but I don’t have one handy :/ But it turned out to be a very helpful, and in some ways therapeutic, discovery. A couple days after I first watched Accio, I discovered that my then-husband was having an affair. John’s Shakespearean insults was a humorous way of my dealing with my intense anger and bitterness I had at that time (“carcass fit for hounds” (Julius Caesar Act 2, Scene 1)…. bwahaha!).

Back then I was working a late shift, ending at midnight, and what I would look forward to was watching Hank or John’s video from that day (Back then, they did one every weekday, alternating days). And that was a great help, one of several during that time in my life. I have always liked how they balanced their subjects of their videos varying from humrous vlogs, to educating their audience about world events/issues, sharing their traveling adeventures, whatever came up was well worth watching for me.

Since then I have met John, participated in some way in the Project for Awesome charity fundraising every year (here’s some highlights from last year. I have yet to make a video for that!), enjoyed their Crash Course (fun educational videos), playing video games ( I blame Hank for becoming addicted to Assassin’s Creed), love watching John and his once camera shy wife Sarah (nicknamed the Yeti) in The Art Assignment, bought stuff from their store (a rock group playing songs about Doctor Who? What is this madness?) and of course their regular channel.

Oh, and I’ve read John’s books 😉

Here’s to (at least) 7 more awesome years! DFTBA!

Posted in John Green, NerdFighters, YouTube Tagged with: , , , , , , ,