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A Minor Character Turns Into Major Writing

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Writing is something I’ve loved to do for as long as I can remember, but at times it makes the brain hurt and you have to step away and relax.  It’s been two months since I last posted something on the blog and it’s due to needing a break, so that is exactly what I did.  No writing…”Well Almost” No writing!  It’s really hard for a writer not to write at all and completely disconnect.

After a fantastic summer vacation with my family, and some much needed R&R I am finally back in the swing of things and I’m getting my writing schedule back. Coming back from this two month break of writing on my book, I decided to break things down in my handy little notebook and see what notes I had been keeping and little to do’s I had tucked away. One note really stood out as it said “Not all of your characters are created equal”.  Hmmm is really the sound that I made because I couldn’t remember why I had written the note.

Lucky for me as I’m writing I make notations on my pages in the book that point back to the note I just made in my handy little notebook, just for occasions like this!  Meaning I’m forgetful and I know it, so I have to do quirky little things to help myself remember where I left off at.

The Minor Character Role

Today is really a break down of what that note meant and hopefully some good tips when writing in minor characters in a story.

First and foremost these characters make up the heart of your story so it’s also important for the readers to grab a hold of who will be important and who will not.  Major characters are the store setters and people you want to follow along with in the story right?  Well as a writer sometimes it’s easy to get caught up in writing these “Minor” characters and forget they are just placeholders at times.

So where is the dividing line between major and minor characters? There isn’t one. The different levels blend into each other, and as you master those writing techniques, you’ll be able to create and better define each minor character for the importance it holds to the story.

There’s absolutely nothing wrong with a background character breaking stereotype and having a little light pointed their way.  When this happens, this character is no longer part of that background group and the readers have noticed them.  They are also going to expect this character to have some growing moments in the story.

The readers may not care much about this character as he isn’t expected to play a major role in the story. He might be involved in some of the action, but he also might disappear. Still, his individuality will set a mood, add humor, make the underlying story more interesting and complete. The way to make such characters instantly memorable without leading the audience to expect them to do more is to make them eccentric, exaggerated or obsessive.

As you play around with how these minor characters stand out in the story use the ideas of making them eccentric, or exaggerate their personality or even make them some crazy obsessive compulsive jerk. Don’t be shy when writing these characters in your story!  Make sure you are also keeping track of who and where these minor characters fall in place to the storyline.  Rank them per say from least important background, through the minor characters, major characters, all the way up to the protagonist of the story!

Look at the personalities of your characters, who are they, how do they interact, are they changing as the story grows, and who will end up being a minor and major character?

Have fun, enjoy the writing, and as for myself…. I have a lot of work to do on the minor characters in my book!

Best of luck to all the writers out there!

Until next time

Stepping out of the Bloggers Box

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Are you a new, or even a veteran Blogger?  It doesn’t matter how long you’ve blogged because at one point in time you’ve asked yourself this question.  How do I get more traffic to my blog? Are you at that place in your writing that you struggle with and feel like people don’t pay attention to anything you post?

I’ve been blogging for around seven years total now, but honestly the first couple years of that seemed like such a struggle, because I was so focused on how many hits I was getting on my posts.  I didn’t have a clear idea of how my first couple of blogs needed to work and what I was even doing really.  I say all this because last year I discovered this amazing community called The Newbie Blogger Initiative which is what kick started my passion again for blogging.  I had only just created the idea of my current site A Hobbits Journey, but it wasn’t until I got involved with NBI in 2014 that things seemed to kick off for me. It was such a breath of fresh air to be involved with other bloggers, sharing their tips, struggles, encouragement, and even challenging you to become more involved into the “Blogosphere” community.  So if you are stuck in that rut, and have been working or grinding those blog post out, and just don’t seem to be moving along like you want or feel that you keep running into a brick wall…..Go check the NBI out, get involved, start re-thinking the way you blog, and don’t be afraid to step out of the box.

So if this sounds familiar to you? You get the heart to write this piece of art work, and drop it to your blog. You made sure a creative headline was added, you shared your post to Twitter, Facebook, and even Google+. Then you wait in breathless anticipation for your share count to skyrocket.  But it just doesn’t get the hits like you wanted.  Does this mean you failed and shouldn’t blog?  The answer is NO WAY, keep posting, keep trying, pursue this adventure but don’t just write for anyone write for you and do it because you love to write, not because you want 1000 views on a blog post.  Do we blog to get views, sure, we want our stuff to be viewed but don’t let it get you down when a post isn’t getting the numbers you wanted.

Maybe it’s a perspective change on what the vision of your blog is.  Why are you blogging, and have you branched out to try a few new ways to socialize your content?

Everyone is using Twitter, Facebook, and Google+ to get their content promoted.  These networks are very popular and rightly so, as they offer such ease of use and they are a great way to connect.  Here are some smaller and less well known networks I’ve found over the past few months.  These sites seem to have very active, focused audiences, and offer less competition for attention, so your content will stand out and be easier to find.

  • Tumblr – Which is a microblogging site.  The user base seems to lean more towards the younger generation, which makes it a great platform to reach a very niche-based group.
  • Empire Avenue – Which is part social network, part social media marketing tool.  It uses gamification to enable the users to broadcast content across all the other social networks.  This seems to be very popular with small businesses, social media pro’s and bloggers.
  • Quora – Which is a website founded by two former Facebook employees.  It’s a unique site as all the content is created, edited, and organized by its user community.

Step outside the box a bit and try something new on your next post, because just sharing a link in your post isn’t enough to make sure it gets read.  Why would users click on your post, do they have a good compelling reason?  Here’s some out of the box things to try!

  • Dubbler– This app is available for iOS and Android.  Spark interest in your blog post and record an audio message that communicates your excitement and passion about the content in a way that text or static images can’t. Add an image, enter your blog post URL in the description and you’ve got a ready-made sound bite that can be shared with the Dubbler community, as well as Facebook and Twitter.
  • Vine – I know this is a crazy idea, but a Vine video is a great way to give viewers a 6-second teaser about the blog post contents. Vine has an active and growing community to share with. Additionally, you can also share to Twitter and Facebook. Since Vine is owned by Twitter, your video will display automatically when you tweet it, as well as provide a link to the blog post and specific hashtags. There’s another benefit of using Vine. Tweets with Vine videos are four times more likely to be shared than standard video, according to research by Unruly.
  • Instagram – Has a constant updating feed of images viewed by millions of people. Sharing your main blog image, overlaid with the post title, is a great way to drive traffic to your blog. Here’s how I drop my blog post images to Instagram.
    • Save your blog image to Dropbox
    • Access Dropbox from your mobile device
    • Upload the image to Instagram
    • Add any relevant hashtags and the URL of your blog post to the caption, using Bitly to shorten and track click-throughs
    • Be sure to @ mention anyone you referred to in your post
    • Remember to share your Instagram image to any of the social networks, like Facebook, Twitter, etc..

I hope you don’t mind stepping out of the box while you blog, because sometimes that can make the journey all the worthwhile especially when your hooked into a community like NBI.  So, what are you waiting for, get to blogging and don’t be afraid to change things up a bit.

scr.ee tags:

#Social

The Journey of Writing a Fantasy Novel

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chapter 1Have you ever asked yourself what it’s like to write a novel, or how one goes about it?  So have I, and I’ve learned that each has to find there own way of bringing the inner creative writer to paper.

I’ve been working on a book series for several years now, almost four to be exact, but I haven’t spent the entire four years just writing.  I learned a long time ago planning goes a long way in being successful when plotting a story, or any thing you write.  For as long as I can remember, I’ve had a passion and love for writing, but it wasn’t until a few years ago I even thought about trying to get any of my material published.  Honestly, I can’t even take credit for the idea of seeking a publisher, as my wife is the one who has talked me into it.

Currently I am working on book one in a series that I started years ago and as I said before….it has been a lot of planning, character plotting, long nights of staring at a blank screen with nothing other then a hot cup of coffee, or twelve that gets accomplished.  One might ask, after so long do you ever feel like giving up or even quitting?  The honest answer is YES and NO….yes it’s hard to find time to write when you work in another full time job, have three children, a wife, and other responsibilities that come before a hobby.  At times it is frustrating when you hit a wall and have absolutely no words, direction, or even a faint hint of where you need to go next in the story you so passionately want to get finished.

The biggest thing that helps keep me grounded in the perspective of writing, is my wife and three children!  My wife continually gives me feedback on my writing, both good and sometimes BAD, and these stories were originally birthed for my children as bedtime stories.  This idea kept in mind has pulled me through frustration, and the itch to quit at times and has allowed me to plot out the first five books in the series.  Having almost finished the first book I have noticed the light at the end of the tunnel syndrome…..and getting to see ones story come to life on the pages is quite overwhelming!

So, I write all this to say, if you are a writer of whatever genre then here are some writing tips I’ve learned along the way.  These have come from my own mistakes, my successes, and even mentors I’ve had over the years of how to put things in perspective and keep yourself on track!

Evaluate the Writing Style

If you have a love for writing, then you may find yourself slave to the writing itself. Remember you are the one doing the writing, and it is possible to create a schedule that doesn’t engulf your entire life around writing.  You do have a life, so go live it!  If writing is a job you wish to pursue and have as your job in life, then dedicate time to it, learn new ways of writing, evaluate how you come about writing.  Try writing in different areas away from the home.  A change in scenery can be a world changer for a writer as it helps open the creative flow.

Getting Ideas on Paper  

Do you have some good ideas or a potential story brewing in your head?  Sit down and make sure you write those ideas out on paper.  Typically you would have a character, or character in mind and a place in which these ideas would evolve over time.  They would be centered around some major events, like a war or even someones death.  Once you have the main ideas or plot of the story written out, start asking simple questions, like, “why?” “when did this happen?” “how?” and move onto more detailed questions like, “How did this affect the lands?” “Who is to take blame for this event?” etc…. Once you have these ideas sorted out, pass them onto a friend, fellow writer, etc to pick apart and ask them for a honest opinion.  In the end, this process can help you determine the the major plot lines of the story, where will the main focus of characters and development be, and even sub-plot lines.  All these things added together help you make the story become whole.

World and Places Come to Life

Where will your fantasy creations live? Is this a made up world that you’ve created, or is this some parallel universe with mystical creatures full of big tales to be told?  There are absolutely no limits on what the imagination can create.  Decide what places your story will be centered around and take into note the previous of letting another review your ideas. Go into detail when creating your world….the races, animals, plants, rivers, lakes, you name it and make sure you list it.

Keep a Notebook and Write it All Down

Never ever leave the house without your notebook.  You never know when you will have this amazing idea pop into your head for the fantasy novel to come.  Write it all down: Your main character, the major events, the kind of world it is, you name it, because all these ideas will come together and firm the story up.  Trust me it’s awful to have this fantastic idea pop into your head and find that you have absolutely nothing to write it down on.

Don’t Be Afraid to Change Things 

Always, Always, Always, take a look at the major underlying plot that everything centers around. Make sure that everything you’ve created centers around this plot because it’s easy to wonder off into a wild rabbit hole. Look at the major event or events and don’t be afraid to mold it, change it, as you have to make this event believable to the readers.  This is what your entire novel hinges on and if the plot line doesn’t make sense, or doesn’t hold the readers attention… well… I think we know what happens next.  Work on other characters who help build the plot line and your protagonist on his/her journey. Not every hero needs to be a loner and he/she could vary in anyway you want.  They may have a family, they may be cold at heart and emotionless until someone comes along they care about.  You name it! Don’t make your story revolve only around your character. Show the feelings of the people around your protagonist and how their decisions affect them. Don’t make a story of one person; make a story about the journey of one person.  Learn how to join sub plots and other events to the major plot line. These could be a birth of a child, or as in my book the birth of multiple children based around a prophecy.  These events will cause your story to have a sense of feeling, emotion, and building that brings the reader closer to the characters and story.  Make sure your characters grow over time in the stories, as the experiences should help mold and make them into who they are to become. After pulling things together, don’t be afraid to make changes (subtle or drastic) to your characters, and story. Make obstacles in your character’s life. Not everything will be easy for him/her. Make sure you’re writing a fantasy novel, not a walk in the park that becomes boring to read.

Creating Your Visual Fantasy World 

This is one of my favorite things to do in bringing a story to a visual understanding!  Grab a piece of paper and a pencil. It’s time to start drawing out what you see in your head. Do a ton of research on land, rivers, map creation etc… If you’re planning to build a world from root, start drawing simple lines. You can make seas, oceans, lakes, mountains, and other strange factors in your world. Draw the lines of kingdom’s lands and empires. Put post-its and other notes on your map to locate some events. Remember: your map doesn’t have to be well made. Be free to use any materials you like, and have fun!

Deep Rooted History 

Do you plan on having a deep history and timeline in your story? Plot out a chronology of your story as this could help aid the reader and bring them closer to the events going on. Plot out the events that appear in your book, or just stories of other events that will indirectly explain the ones in your plot. Don’t think it’s a waste of time to build a world which, for the most part, won’t appear in the book. It’s important for the reader to know that the writer knows what he’s talking about and isn’t putting random things on the pages of his/her book. Make your characters tell a legend or mention some event that you have carefully planned out. As the writer, you have to know something that the reader’s don’t….and always make sure you know what you’re talking about.

Character Development 

Make sure you know the main character or characters, don’t just make a place holder in the story with a random name laying on the pages.  Plan everything about your character. This is where you put some deep well thought out time and attention into the story. Does he/she have fears (death, darkness)? Where/when was he/she born? Under which circumstances? Do they have siblings? Do they have someone they love? Be free as this is your story!

Things About your World 

Remember that chronology planning you read about earlier?  Not it’s time to take it a step further…. Be as detailed as you possibly can with the imagination you have!  What kind of homes do people live in? Jobs? Types of clothing? Government systems? Do they have schools, or some type of training grounds soldiers are sent to? Family bloodlines that rule the kingdoms, is there magic in the land, or some dark evil threatening the lands?  Can women fight in war too, or is it only for men? Are there any fantasy creatures roaming the lands? Don’t leave anything out as this will probably be the biggest step in your story. The base will be here. Everything you’ll come up with needs to be here. Don’t worry if you’re taking too long writing everything out. A good story needs to have a solid foundation that covers every base you could think of.

Plotting and Planning

This is one of the most time consuming and sometimes frustrating step in the process. Making the chapters of your story, and tying everything into itself. Define what kind of writer you will be. What will be the length of your chapters and book or books? Will you write in third or first person or take on the challenge of both?  Will you describe your characters and surroundings to make the story more personal to the reader, will you not care and just want to make an epic legend? This is one of those steps you can’t be afraid to change and touch multiple times, and sometimes with a very critical eye!  Reverse the roles at times and look at it from a readers standpoint!  I think I have spent more time plotting my books out then writing the stories and honestly that is what makes for a deep and rich story.  I spent the first few moths plotting out a simple book chart that lists (Years, Major Plot, Minor Plot, Characters, Etc…)  It is my go to before I ever even think of writing at times. Remember don’t be afraid to create, change, and plan!

Let Others Review 

Don’t forget to reach out to others and let them read your work. Print out your finished product and hand out multiple copies to people who may enjoy reading your novel. It can be a few close friends at first, but once you start getting feedback and start building confidence, you might want to consider trying to publish.  Accept any criticisms, good and bad as they will make you a better writer in the future. Fix anything that your editor tells you. Believe that you can be published if you put your mind to it, but try not to hope too strongly for your book to be published, since you could end up very depressed if all doesn’t go to plan. If your work is rejected by one editor, edit the story or send it to a different publisher.  Remember what drives you to write, and don’t lose sight of why you love doing this.  It’s easy to see the light at the end of the tunnel and get caught up in the moment of a job, instead of a passion for writing!

A Years Journey With A Hobbit – 2014 Review

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Hail and Well Met Friends!

I just want to say thank you to everyone for a year full of community, gaming, making new friends and its been a huge pleasure connecting with you all! I wanted to share the journey and how you all helped keep things fun and exciting!  Can’t wait for what 2015 holds and the new connections awaiting to be made. Everyone have a fantastic New Years and I’ll see you in 2015.

The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2014 annual report for this blog.

Here’s an excerpt:

A New York City subway train holds 1,200 people. This blog was viewed about 7,100 times in 2014. If it were a NYC subway train, it would take about 6 trips to carry that many people.

Click here to see the complete report.

scr.ee tags:

#2014 #ayearinreview

The Walking Dead – The Game – Episode 2 Starved for Help Review

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walkingdead_episode2_group-600x400The second of my five episode review, Starved for Help picks up three months after the zombie apocalypse erupted.  You are still playing as Lee trying to protect Clementine, and now dealing with a group of survivors and trying to make the best of a dump motel you’ve tried turning into a secured fort.  This is where the game has gotten really interesting because the choices you make help build relationships and can also destroy relationships. Every choice you make caries over into a new episode of the game you play, so all those choices you made in episode one you now have to live with in Starved for Help.

This game doesn’t give you a second chance or to take back your choices to someone, so when your dialogue windows pop up it gives you just a few seconds to choose, and those choices could bring you closer to a friend or even create a new enemy in a later episode.

download (7)This episode is the first time you get to see the choices you made in the previous episodes. Everything from your relationship with Clementine, to the new found friendship with Kenny.  This also means that you have some remembering to do… did you tell any lies in the previous episode, were you truthful, who did you be-friend and who did you make an enemy out of.  All of these choices set Lee and his group up for a very suspenseful and action packed 2nd episode.

download (6)Starved for Help opens with the most gruesome scene to date in the game in my opinion, but besides the blood and guts it is becoming a really big challenge to keep your cool and look out for the group.  You have become a leader in the group and you have to make the tough decisions at times, and you get thrown right into the middle of your group’s nearly out of food, so it’s up to you to decide who gets to eat and who doesn’t.  Will you pick your friends, will you take the high ground and do whats best for the group, what will you do? That draw back you might have going with the emotion thing really comes into picture when a new group of survivors from the St. John’s Dairy Farm show up and invite your group to come over and trade gas for food. The family asks Lee all sorts of questions about the group, but something isn’t quite right with them.  Do you take the chance and go with these strangers who say they have food, or do you chance it and stay at the motel and hope you all can survive.

images (26)Episode 2 is full of cliffhanger moments, sketchy choices you have to make, new chances to redeem yourself, and even be-friend some new people.  It’s suspensful, emotional, full of blood and guts, and it even has some WTF moments in it that really make you turn your head and ask yourself what the heck just happened….but I’m not going to spoil those moments for you as you will just have to check the game our for yourself.

scr.ee tags:

#thewalkingdead #seasonone #episodetwo

 

Have you Thought of Guest Blogging Before?

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I have explored the option of guest blogging in past and have even done a bit of it myself, and over coffee yesterday with a fellow writer he asked if one should ever consider blogging/writing for others? – Great Question, as I’ve heard both sides of the story and some say yes, but others say no.  Personally I think it’s a great way to branch out in the blogging community if you know how to manage your time that is.  It’s fairly easy to write blog posts and most blogs have themes they are shooting for so it’s easy to come up with ideas.

Blogging is a hobby of mine and I have a family of five (myself, my wife, and six year old triplets) plus a full time job, so I have to do some heavy schedule adjusting at times to keep up with my hobby.  Guest blogging is no different as most of the times it probably cuts into an already busy schedule you have and that is a down side honestly, because your time is precious and being paid for that precious time is always a plus, but guest blogging or hobby blogging doesn’t bring much if any on the financial side.  What it does bring in my past experience is exposure, and if you are a new blogger exposure is always a good thing because you not only have the chance to learn, but possibly even write in areas you aren’t familiar with so it gives you a chance to expand.

Here are some ways in past I’ve used for guest blogging so if you are considering to take a gander down this path I hope these help you.

1. Think about signing up to receive newsletters that list blogs looking for writers.

  • Like the following – Blogger Link Up. (http://BloggerLinkUp.com/).  This site is one that i’ve used in past and has worked great for me.

2.  Setup a time to browse through the blogging newsletters you sign up for regularly.

  • You can spend just a few minutes browsing through the newsletters to see if anything catches your eye. These newsletters can be lifesavers if you are looking for places to write and want to save precious time and frustration being wasted on searching the web, just to find nothing.

3. Look for blogs that interest you and have a reader base you want to try and reach.

  • Whether you write articles for gaming, sports, photography, it doesn’t matter, you have to try and target the audience…as they will be the ones to take hold of what you write most.

4. Make sure the blog host allows link backs with your post.

  • If the readers can’t simply click on a link to find out more about you then you’ve accomplished nothing. You want to make yourself as easy to find as possible.

5. Follow up on the blogs where you have posted.

  • Make sure the site host actually posted your blog when they said they were going to. If they are dependable you can always choose to guest post once again. If they are not dependable, don’t bother with them anymore.

 

6. Thank the blog host for allowing you to write for them.

  • Maybe that blog host will one day write a review and post it for you.  Use social media when they post back to your blog to let others know about it.  Help grow that relationship and mutually work for one another in growing each others site.

 

Blogging with a Schedule

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Hey all you fellow bloggers and writers!  If you all are like me you have a crazy busy schedule and probably struggle finding time to post.  Though I’ve been blogging for six or so years now…time is the one thing I just can’t get more of.  It took me quite a long time to get a system down of when I wanted to post, what content I wanted to do, and that system isn’t perfect by any means but it sure does help.  I’m hoping my little system might help you as well.

It takes a lot of hard work to develop something creative that you love doing, even if it’s just a hobby, you wouldn’t be doing it if you didn’t love it…or I wouldn’t at least.  I have enjoyed writing since childhood and that same passion and love continues today.  Though i’m not a published author, that is a goal I’m currently working towards so for now bogging is a way for me to creatively express the crazy floating around in my head.  I don’t see that I would ever stop blogging as it’s just plain fun and a great challenge to come up with the next “Best Thing” that someone will find entertaining.

Hopefully this post will help you outline some ways to condense the long hard efforts you put into your blog and make them easier.

#1 What Content and How much.

First up is figuring out exactly how much content you want to produce in a specific amount of of time…if you have an idea of what that will be that is. Say you are a daily poster and you have multiple topics.  That is a lot of content to be creating…say the “Month” you are supposed to post.   Preset yourself a bit and plan out what you want the previous month so you give yourself a lead time to get that material together. This way you aren’t being overloaded and playing catch up everyday.  I’m a weekly poster just because that is all my schedule will allow right now, so plan accordingly for yourself and you will have a lot more fun doing this.

 

#2 Categories, Categories.

Now that you know how many posts you need to write, come up with some working categories so you have a good idea of what ideas you are going to be working with.  Pinpoint what you want to write about and keep those categories current so that multiple topics can be posted to one category.  If you only have a certain amount of posts you can publish in one month, you have to be selective with what you spend your time on. That means some ideas go to the chopping block or get put away for another time.

I try to keep a log of topics that I want to write about…which this helps me know how often I need to write and when I need to publish to meet that weekly timeline I’ve set for myself.

#3: Challenge The Organization Skills.

Now that you have your ideas formed and categories made, you may be wondering how on earth am I going to get all this organized and finished like I want.

Organization, Organization, Organization.

Instead of just handing out blog posts like they are candy, you might want to take inventory and see if you’ve got to much at one time for the timeline you can effectively meet.  Couple of things to think about when you take inventory is…

  • Research: How much time do I need for researching my topic of choice?  Will it take a considerable amount of time, or is this something I’ve already got jotted down on my paper and it’s prepped. This step can save you a ton of time and frustration if you will ask yourself.
  • Content and Format: Some posts are more difficult to write than others. This can be a huge frustration if not planned out well as you can spend hours getting things formatted, planned, and ready.  Check to see the order of topics you are writing about cause if you have some really heavy research articles all in a row, it can be challenging to meet that posting schedule.

 

#4 Don’t forget to Review and Schedule.

Once you’ve completed your day or days of writing, don’t forget to review them and schedule them out. It’s always nice to have things pre-planned and scheduled on your blog.  You put a lot of hard work into writing this content and now that your brain is taking a rest make sure the posts get a good scrubbing review, then get them scheduled for when you want, rinse, and then repeat all four steps for next time as well.

Destined for Destiny

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Destiny, Schmestiny…. what’s all this hype about anyways?

I was one of the lucky 4.8 million gamer’s that were able to play the Destiny beta. I felt special…as I don’t usually get to participate in beta testing cause I miss the mark.  Gamers alike though were able to wonder across Old Russia, tackled hoards of bad guys and even Devil Walkers, we fought other Guardians in the Crucible, and had a glimpse of weaponry and armor at the Tower. Still, there are some things that brought questions and uncertainty to my mind.  Exploration was buggy at times, their were enemies that just laughed at all the bullets I shot towards them; multiplayer pacing seemed a little of as well. This all stemmed the ultimate question……what will the full game actually be like?

Destiny-s-Enemies-Are-Way-More-Varied-Than-Halo-s-Covenant-2Level Balancing and Enemy OP’d?

One of the things I noticed while battling the higher level enemies is they took clip after clip to take down.  From what I played, the stronger the enemies get, the more ammo I needed to carry as they just soaked it up.  The best example of this that I experienced and I’m sure most everyone else as well, was the Devil’s Lair Strike Mission, which is recommended for Guardians level 6 or higher. You begin by fighting through rooms full of enemies, some of which have ranks well above the beta’s level 8 cap. You then come across a wide field with a Devil Walker spider tank in it.  The name should tell you just how hard it is to kill.  Of course, there are weaker enemies, but the tank is the main focus. It wields a rocket launcher and what appears to be a rail gun that will rock your face off.  Oh, and if that wasn’t enough it was armored like you wouldn’t believe.

Even when I was hitting its weak spot, the Devil Walker required hundreds of bullets, and that was with a teammate of mine hitting this thing as well.  So either it’s just crazy OP’d or we were just awful at the game.  I’m shooting for the overpowered statement.

Devil-WalkerThe Devil Walker barely moves. It slides a few feet side to side, but that’s it. For the most part, it sits in one place and shoots the Guardians that are attacking it. And it takes a very long time to make a dent in its armor.  Myself and a teammate unloaded on it with heavy weapons, special weapons, special abilities, and countless clips of regular ammo, and it still took about 10-15 minutes to kill. What I wonder, then, is if the full game will rely on simply increasing the health of enemies. Hopefully, as you increase in rank, there will be more and different creatures to fight, all with different fighting styles. In the beta, you can see some differences between the individualized, shoot-and-take-cover Fallen and the group-minded Hive who rush into battle. But the full game needs to show that increasing rank won’t just mean running across more bullet sponges, but rather that the creatures’ behavior will also evolve with the Guardian’s increasing strength.

500px-Destiny_Crucible_Trailer_-_Gamescom_2014The Crucible

Destiny looks like it’s heavily focused on cooperative modes. The majority of the game revolves around the story and strike missions, but there is still competitive multiplayer.  It’s a Bungie game ya’ll, it felt and played a lot like Halo, especially with the vehicles and map design.  Guardians don’t look like Spartans, nor do they play the same, they can’t sprint, but the Guardians have an impressive double and even triple jump that can be traited. Though the jumping is much less super human like and the movement is slower you come across enemies less frequently.  The pacing of the game felt off to me, as it seemed to take forever to get around the maps. I think with only having a 12 player cap on the matches it really felt off from other games.  Their were only a couple of maps that you could play as well, and the maps were quite large and seemed to have a lot of unused area.  I’m curious to see what the other maps will play like and see if you can achieve the pace expected from a shooter like this game.

Will Destiny be able to pull out an epic story line like Halo did? Destiny, is huge….Each world is open to exploration….There are story missions, explore missions, Strike missions, and the Crucible.  Will the story portion of this game feel disconnected?   So far, it seems like Bungie has the foundation to potentially pull this story off. The struggle between the Traveler and the Darkness, the rise of Guardians gifted with the Traveler’s powers, and the fight to protect Earth are all great points to a story that could be extremely epic…but will it flow well?

destinyguardiansMMO classes or not?

Well, Bungie did say that the Guardian classes aren’t related to the MMO genre classes one may be used to.  Their isn’t a healer class, or a tank class, but the Guardians are still meant to be specific and have differences between them.  The Titan class was a brute basically, he wields big armor and has some impressive special abilities that dealt big damage.  The Hunter specialized in stealth and accuracy with the sniper based weapons.  The Warlock was a mix as it dealt big damage, but it also had magic powers it wielded.  All the classes to me played very similar with minor differences, and the weapons and armor seem to be very close with some minor differences and cosmetic looks.   It looks like the classes only differ by stat advantages in certain areas so that begs the question….Will the actual release of the game show us these classes have meaningfully differences?