City of Heroes - This Game is Freakin' Awesome!

Synopsis: The Story so far

For me, what makes this game so great, is its versatility. I'm not talking about how fully customizable the heroes you create are, from height, build, skin tone, hair style, hair color, costume, powers, etc. What I mean is you can play solo, doing missions given to you by contacts (police detectives, reporters, snitches, etc.), patrol the zones looking for criminals (muggers, arsonist, vandals, etc.), or simply collect badges. Or, you can join / form a team to take on harder missions ie higher level villains. The missions themselves vary, from timed, rescue, defeat all the baddies, prevent an escape, to locating items, etc. There are tunnels, caves, warehouses, secret labs, sewers, etc. The different zones of the game are easily navigable and offer their own unique look, back story, and resident villains.

Another fantastic reason to play this game is that NCSoft could have stopped there, as they already had a winner. Thankfully they didn't. They continue to update the game, offering more zones, costume and power options, and most recently "Veteran Rewards" which are in-game rewards based on how long you have subscribed to the game. About a year ago, they introduced City of Villains for those who would rather cause the mayhem. You can play both games for the single subscription price of just one, in addition to unlocking additional features such as accessing your secret base if you've joined a super-group.

NCSoft's developers also work hard to bring seasonal events to Paragon City. This past Christmas, for a couple of weeks, for instance offered gifts scattered throughout the zones. If you were naughty you were rewarded with a couple of snow-beasts to fight, occasionally getting the Winter Lord himself (think 50 foot tall snowman that requires many people to take out). If you were nice you were rewarded with temporary powers such as jet-packs for flight, debt protection for when you fell in combat, and mystery inspirations (temporary boosts for health, accuracy, endurance (mana), etc.)

They also offer various contests from time to time. The most recent being a halloween contest where players were encouraged to dress as one of their created heroes or villains and submit in-game screenshots of their character in addition to photos of themselves out in public in their costume. The selected winner got a pile of prizes including:

• One (1) BFG AGEIA PhysX 128MB GDDR3 PCI Physics Accelerator Card by AGEIA Technologies, Inc. (Retail Value: $299.99)
• One (1) Sound Blaster X-Fi XtremeMusic Sound Card by Creative Labs, Inc. (Retail Value: $129.99)

And, since this is a super-hero game after all, there's a monthly comic-book by Top Cow (Image) too. This used to be mailed to your home monthly, but is now offered online for free. You can still have the comic mailed to you for a $1.99 an issue fee. The story-line frequently corresponds with new game features or features coming.

A Newcomer's Guide To Final Fantasy XI

Final Fantasy XI is an excellent game and has a variety of strengths. It is a wonderful title because even if you are new to this series it is simple to play and understand. The game contains an enormous world and yet it is easy to become familiar with it and learn how everything works. A newcomer should find it a delight.

Final Fantasy XI is a massively multi-player online role-playing game [MMORPG]. It functions as an online world. Players can access this world by buying the game and paying a subscription of $12.95 a month. The game is a cross-platform title, which means that players on both PCs and consoles can interact with each other in the same game environment. This makes it a truly unique experience.

The PC version of Final Fantasy XI comes on five disks that you must install to set up the game. The first disk installs the PlayOnline client, a piece of software required for access to the game, while the other disks install the game itself. The PlayStation 2 version requires a special Hard Disk Drive and network adapter, the first of which is usually sold with the title. Once the game and the PlayOnline software have been set up, you will need to download any updates, and then it will be ready to play.

The first thing that you will do in Final Fantasy XI is create your character. There are five races to choose from, all of which possess their own abilities and skills. There are the Hume, who are human and are useful in most areas of the game; the Elvaan, who are Elves and are strong in combat; the Galka, who are enormous beast creatures; the Mithra, who resemble cats; and the Taru Taru, who are small individuals and are talented at magic. They are all great characters and they excel in different ways.

Final Fantasy XI allows you great range in customizing your character. You are able to choose your character's body size, face and appearance, and select a particular look and style that will suit them. You will also choose a career for your character, and this will affect your progress in the game. The various careers include positions like mages, monks, thieves and warriors. The characters suit certain careers better than others and you must choose one that will fit your character perfectly.

Final Fantasy XI is set in the world of Vana'diel. Vana'diel is a fantastic world that is home to a number of civilizations. The game takes place in the aftermath of the Crystal War, a battle where the five main races fought with the Beastmen, a collection of hostile creatures who wanted to destroy them. The story of the game sees the Beastmen return and stir up further conflict. It is up to your character to face them and defeat them.

Vana'diel consists of two main continents, Mindartia and Quon. It is further divided into a number of regions, all with their own climate and features. There are cities, towns, forests, ports and wasteland areas. Final Fantasy XI allows you to choose from one of three places as your starting point. You can be a citizen of the nations Bastok, San d'Oria or Windurst. Each nation is unique and has its own history and population. In the course of the game you are able to visit other nations and explore them.

Final Fantasy XI contains a great deal to do and is a very engaging game. The world of Vana'diel is immense and there is much to explore and see. There are missions and quests to go on and there are a number of storylines running through the game. There is also an element of teamwork. It is often necessary to join a group of players and work together to defeat enemies and opponents. In general the gameplay is multi-layered and enthralling.

Final Fantasy XI has a well-designed control system that works as a perfect complement to the game. It is best experienced with a keyboard, which allows you to chat with other players. The game controls are logical and it does not take long to grasp the various functions and commands. The game camera works nicely and is easy to handle, allowing you to view the world of Vana'diel as you please. The entire system is great and really strengthens the whole experience.

Final Fantasy XI is a joy to play. A newcomer to the game will be pleased with it and will have no difficulty getting set up and started. It is ideal for anyone who is looking for an interesting and rewarding game.

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Hunter Crowell is a researcher and creator of Buy World of Warcraft Gold. A site showing players the best place to buy gold and more.

Publishers Note:
Get the Final Fantasy XI walkthrough here.

World of Warcraft Leveling 1-20 Alliance

By: Donny Fonseca | Posted: 11-12-2006

I have been in beta since june, so this might help some people. Im not going to cover night elf land though. This should get you to level 20 in 2-3 days 95% solo.

When you start off as a level 1 in any area that you are in make sure that you do every single quest possible in your "newb area".

If you pick human you will start in northshire abby. Talk to all the people with the yellow question mark above thier head. The newb mobs you will kill are behind your starting area. After you finish those head to goldshire it should be on the map. Now the idea of getting every single quest that you can at the time, is that some are collection quests wich you do while you are on the main quests. If you get a delivery to storm wind dont do it untill you finish the others. The lost guard quest and the elite trogg Hogger is where you should hit around level 8-10 or so.. This should be about the end of quests for this area. Keep reading for the rest.

Dwarf or Gnome you start in the same area. Basic run down pick up all the quests you can the newb mobs are back to the SouthWest just follow the road do everysingle one of these untill the only ones you have left are the delivery quests. Then go up to khranos and do those ones. When you finish Khranos head up the road to Steelgrill depot your quest log will give you directions. There is also Brewnwall village wich you should do. Do everysingle one of these quests. You will need at least a 3 man group for the wendigos, frostmane hold, vegash.

Now if you were a human and you finished Elyyn Forest, you need to travel to Iron Forge. Take the gryphon to out of Stormwind city to there. Start on the quests in khranos.

If you started dwarf or gnome go to iron forge and take the gryphon to stormwind. Now do the quests in elwyyn..

Basically your leveling in the other races starting lands now the mobs your killing should be a little lower level than you so that you can cut right through them.

After you have done both of these. You will head to westfall or Loch modan. Do the lower level quests in these, DO NOT attempt the high level ones yet. As your trying to do quests that are around 1-3 levels below you right now for increased xp gain.

After you finish the tunnel rat ears and some trogs in Loch Modan go to West Fall and do some defias from sentinal hill. Also when you kill the harvest watchers there keep 5 flasks of oil, 5hops, and 5 okra as these are for other quests that you will get to later on.

Once the quests start getting hard in the loch go to westfall untill they get hard and then go back the loch when the westfall ones get hard vice/versa depending on where you are at the time.

If you do go to redrige you can do a couple there at level 16-18 or so. Dragon whelps after you do a delivery to goldshire. Also kill some trogs there. The delivery quests make sure that you do these as 90% of the time they lead to other quests.

Well I hope this can help some people.

If you are night elf and want to get to the human or dwarf lands take a boat from darkshore to menethial harbor and you arrive in the wetlands. Make sure you stay on the road, and nothing should kill you. Run up to loch modan through the dun algaz gates.

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