Moved

This blog didn't die, exactly. It just moved to my new website, The Texas Star.

Video Game Review: RIFT

Before I get started let me state some caveats. I haven't been playing RIFT very long. I'm writing this review because a friend asked me what I thought of the game. My highest level character is only level 15. I haven't even done any instances yet much let seen the endgame content. So keep that in mind while reading my review.

For those who don't want to read the full review I will say that overall I like the game and recommend giving it a try. However, it hasn't been out for very long and there are still some problems that need to be addressed.

Overview

RIFT is a fantasy MMO set on the world of Telara located at a nexus of elemental planes. It is under near constant attack by the dragon gods of the Blood Storm, led by the dragon Regulos. These attacks generally take the form of invasions from the elemental planes of air, earth, fire, water, life, and death.

Opposing the Blood Storm are the Guardians and the Defiant. The Guardians are faithful servants of the gods of the Vigil. The Defiant are heretics who have broken with the Vigil and instead use technology to fight the dragons.

Player characters are known as the Ascended, brought back either by the Vigil or the machines of the Defiant. They are able to call upon legendary souls from Telara's past to give them the power to fight against the Blood Storm.

The Mockingbird Sings

As Bob Dylan wrote, "The times they are a-changin'." Now I reckon I don't mean it quite the way Dylan did but it's still an appropriate theme to this post.

A few years back a friend talked me into signing up for Facebook and shortly after that I was getting in touch with old college friends I hadn't heard from in close to 20 years. Though not exactly the most extroverted of people I've somehow managed to accumulate 100+ friends and most of them are people I actually consider friends, not random strangers that I've "friended" because I need more neighbors in Farmville. (I no longer play Farmville or any other Facebook games so don't bother sending me a neighbor request.) Now if I want to let people know what I'm up to it's just a matter of dropping a note on Facebook. Quite a change from the old days of surface mail or even just trying to keep in touch via e-mail.

It's a good change. With mail I always felt like I had to write a lengthy note detailing all I'd been up to since the last time I'd written. The thing is after a while you just don't want to take the time to write all that. Which is what's so good about Facebook as it lets you update people as important and not-so-important events happen in bite-sized chunks. The thing is I occasionally find myself wanting to indulge my tendency towards verboseness. Perhaps I want to review a movie I just saw or get into my thoughts on a particular video game I'm playing at the moment. So I figured I might as well start a blog. That way I've got a few more tools to work with than a Facebook note.

So why a mockingbird?

Naming something like a blog is always a challenge for me because all the obvious names are already taken. I wanted something that reflects my interests and my personality. I'm a native born Houstonian and I've always had a love for the Lone Star State. Of course the same goes for a lot of other people. As the saying goes, "Never ask a man if he's from Texas. If he is he'll tell you soon enough and if he isn't then there's no call to embarrass him."

In 1927 the Texas legislature adopted the Northern Mockingbird as the state bird. Reportedly the legislature said of the mockingbird:

"...is found in all parts of the State, in winter and in summer, in the city and in the country, on the prairie and in the woods and hills...is a singer of distinctive type, a fighter for the protection of his home, falling, if need be, in its defense, like any true Texan..."

Well that sounded about right to me and so the Texas Mockingbird blog was born.