I've been playing that thar Age of Conan game quite a bit lately.

Well at least trying to. Turns out I was having a bit of a problem with crashing due to an "Out of Memory" error. I did a little research and found out I was not the only one getting this error and it is somewhat widespread. The game causes some kind of memory leak that eventually kicks me to the desktop, I assume after it uses all the possible RAM that it can. I don't think the problem is entirely on my end as I have the maximum 3.3 gigs of RAM alloted to my 32bit version of Vista and seeing that no other games have yet to give me this problem.

My method of troubleshooting has been to kick everything back to low and then gradually increase the settings to find out what is actually causing the leak. My guess was either the textures or the pixel shader. Currently I have my textures back to "high" and am working on moving everything else back as well. I am guessing that Pixel Shader 3.0 is the culprit (right now I'm back at good ol' 2.0), but I'm not entirely sure yet. We'll see what happens later tonight.

But I did get to play a bunch last night without crashing and I am loving it again. In fact, it's safe to say I am hooked--and to be honest I was expecting to. One of my main reasons for never playing an MMO was because I knew that I would probably get into it, hardcore, and in turn miss out on other games that I want to play. I already have enough problem as it is being able to play all the games I'm interested in.

Well at the moment, I'm OK with crackin' out on AoC for a bit, because to be honest, it is quite enjoyable. Like really fun. I just hit 25 last night and was able to claim my Amazon Bow that I got for buying the game from Amazon.com. Clever isn't it? The bow actually isn't bad at all and is one of my more high end items at the moment.

Well, there you have it folks. Basically, I just spent the last three blog posts to let you know I like the game.

Yesterday was just a blast. Again I hooked up with Tyler and Slunks, but also met up with my good buddy Bort as well. We all got on Skype and decided to tackle some of the Underhalls and White Sands quests in Tortage. Now, this was my first time being in an open PVP area, so I was rather nervous -- in fact I was downright hysterical. I was afriad that there was some jerk in every corner just ready to jump out and get me! It turns out the Underhalls were pretty packed with folks, some of them indifferent to our presence, but others extremely hostile!

I didn't mind it too much though. I died a couple of times but did manage to get the killing blow on a higher level jerk who was camping a door. as he realized how much trouble he was in when the four of us show up he decided to book it. I however bust out my bleeding shot combo and murder him just as he nearly manages to break away.

At White Sands it was much less of a bloodbath. We were able to get most of our stuff done without any major confrontations except for a mage who decided to attack us for whatever reason. Not a good idea. At this point we were a higher level and ran across several lone level 7s and such. We decided to mess with one and did an all out charge on him. He immediately turned the other direction and jumped into the water. He was a good sport and laughed it off. I found this a much more satisfying encounter than ganking him like the other nerds in the Underhalls were doing.

I think I'd much rather take out the jerks killing the low levels than the lower levels themselves and I hope to follow that PVP model when Syreth gets to be a bit of awesome.

Overall I think I was exposed to what makes MMOs so appealing today and that's just getting in a group and killing stuff. I have to admit, that it was extremely satsifying and one of my most memorable multiplayer experiences to date.

I'm still on my way to being a high enough level to play with the rest of the Blood Pact clan, so I know there is a gazillion more things to look forward to.

I finally had a chance to install and play Age of Conan Yesterday. I created a Cimmerian Ranger named Syreth. It took a bit to take everything in at first, and to be honest, I'm still feeling incredibly overwhelmed. I think over time things will come together, though.

I went through the little single player tutorial bit and reached Tortage to find Slunks and Tyler dancing and waiting for me on the bridge. What dopes. Thankfully, Tyler fell into the lava river.

I then proceeded to run madly around the city picking up quests, buying items and looking like a moron. Soon after running some errands for the locals and reaching level 10, Talor, Mike, Art and even Steve (I haven't played anything with him since the real Hyborian Age. Get it?!) showed up and I got added to their nerdy little guild. Radical. Didn't get a chance to run around with them yet though.

At this time I looked at the clock and realized several hours had passed without my knowledge and it was now time for bed. Bummer.

I never thought I'd say this about one of those cursed MMORPGs, but I am enjoying it. I may be new to playing these types of games but I've been around them plenty and was never really interested. I think the more engaging combat of AoC is giving me the tolerance I need to actually enjoy the game, because I'm all about the RPG asepects of leveling up a character and getting sweet gear and especially playing games with friends. I can't wait to get back and spend some time with the game this weekend.

A bit on the lengthy side, plus it was a little rushed and this is actually not the episode I originally planned and posted about a while ago.

I sure had a lot of fun with this one though.

Sorry, Stan.

(Apologies again for the horrible still image quality)

I finished her up early this mornin' after 83 hours of gametime. Had a blast every minute -- definitely one of my all-time favourites now.

Now if only the Social Club site would update everything I'd be good to go for my Key to the City! Currently, it has me at 83% completion so who knows what will happen. Nate and I both planned to go for this one, and I'm glad we did -- it was a blast. He just finished up tonight, so hopefully he'll be good to go too!

Next up, I have to get back to my darling Suikoden II. I played some today and as soon as I heard the music I fell in love all over again. It's a bummer how we (or at least I) get sidetracked while playing certain games. It's also fascinating how I was instantly transported back just by the music. I love game music. A lot. There is so much nostalgic impact when listening to it, it's great. I really wish soundtracks were more readily available because it really is a bummer to spend an arm and a leg to import 'em. It's worth it to me though, and I need to get more. I think the Mario Galaxy soundtrack will be next on my hitlist.

Also on the plate is to play through some of Metal Gear Solid before June 12th, aaaand finish up Episode 10 of the ol' video blog. Thank goodness for Summer, eh?

Turns out I missed two somehow. I'll have to go back and snag 'em soooon.

EDIT - Found one of 'em. Only one lone, diseased pigeon left.

EDIT #2 - Found the last bugger. Whew.

Still have some jumps to do, but I'm almost there.