Closers: Online Open Beta Review

Summary

The world is in ruin because of aliens that appeared from another dimension. They are causing a havoc and the government is training special individuals who have the powers to battle against them. The player is required to fight against them and gain experience as an agent of the faction they represent. So far there only 2, the Black Lambs and the Wolf Dogs. Black Lambs are the normal recruits that have been determined to possess the powers to battle against the aliens. Wolf Dogs were a hidden project, kept away from the Black Lambs, they possess great strength yet also manage to cause massive destruction.

Characters/Class

Black Lambs:
- Seha Lee: the one-handed melee swordsman. Striker class.
- Sylvi Lee: the ranged magical damage dealer(similar to a mage). Caster class.
- Yuri Seo: the mid-ranged all around damage dealer. Ranger class.
- J: the melee brass-knuckled fighter. Fighter class.
- Misteltein: the mid-ranged charger who uses a spear. Lancer class.
Wolf Dogs:
- Levia: the ranged dark mage using the powers of phase force. Witch class.

Progress

I had initially played the closed beta earlier this year. They had many other characters that have yet to be released on the open beta servers in North America. The one character that I am hoping they release soon is Harpy. She is similar to Yuri in which they both are mid-range characters with amazing skills that work well with one another. Moving on to the open beta, I have mainly been playing the character, Yuri Seo, because of her similarity to Harpy. They are both very fun to use in the combat this game has to offer. They many dungeons that require fast movements and clear speeds of each block that require massive amounts of area of effect and crowd control skills. Yuri especially has repeated amounts of crowd control in the form of knock-ups and knockdowns. As you progress through the game, you have a chance at promotion. Starting as a trainee, then leading to novice agent after clearing the first sector, and most recently, this is the farthest I have gotten, regular agent. To achieve the rank of a regular agent, you have to finish two sectors in which you are given the mission for the second promotion. Each time you rank up a certain character, they will gain four new skills that the player can obtain at certain ranks. I have gotten all but one of Yuri’s skills for the rank of a regular agent, that being the finisher move: Yuri Quick Draw! Currently sitting at the Gangnam Evac Center where the special events happen. Some key things that I recommend to newer players is that the game will level up ur abilities for you after a certain point in the story in which you have to manually upgrade them based on your playstyle. I recommend maxing you empowered state(G), Special moves: 5-Point Strike(F), Blade Fury(R) asap because it helps clear bosses at the end of the level much quicker due to the reduction in their armor and constant crowd control chain from both special moves. The game will also give you gear which can be found while killing aliens in the dungeons, these are very useful items that will boost up your damage or increase your survivability within high level missions.

Thoughts

Ever since I played the closed beta, I have longed for this game to come into open beta. I will take my time to slowly reach the rank of special agent, especially with Harpy once she is released on the server. It is a fun and interactive game that can lead to hours of non-stop gameplay. However, the developers have done a great job at reminding the players that they should not be spending all of their time playing an online game by adding a fatigue feature. The fatigue feature stops the player from overexerting their time playing the game and helps them get back into the real life where they should be studying, working, etc. There are more characters, missions, and other features to be added to the open beta server from the closed beta server but it is without a doubt still a very fun game with a good combat system that allows the players to express their fantasy worlds and make the players feel strong.

Category: Protsahan, Sept 2017 | LEAVE A COMMENT

January 17

Polished Lit Exploration

Connections within self

Friendship. Brotherhood. Family. This is how an individual thinks of others in terms of connecting with them over a certain period of time. An individual is most influenced by the positive actions of others that share a bond with them in which helps guide their actions to become a lasting memory. In other words, when others share a positive experience with an individual in which builds a sense of connection between them, it helps the development of their relationship. In the excerpt, “I BEAT THE ODDS” by Michael Oher, the film, A River Runs Through It by Robert Redford, and a personal experience, it can be seen that an individual is influenced by the positive actions of others who share a sense of connection with each other in which provides a desire for the individual to remember others’ actions as a lasting memory.

When an individual is positively influenced by the actions of another individual, they will think of them as their role model, leaving a lasting memory of the message they were provided. In the excerpt, “I BEAT THE ODDS,” Michael Oher tells the reader of his experiences from elementary school. He tells us that his fourth-grade teacher, Ms. Verlene Logan “never made me feel as if there was anything negative” which shows that she is an optimistic person and that she cares about her students and does not judge them on their appearance or living condition. Michael Oher is positively influenced by the actions of Ms. Logan because “ she made me believe that I had a talent worth developing and the ability to see it through.” This means that Ms. Logan influenced Michael by telling him that he had talent and that he could pursue it by working hard and never giving up. This matters because, in our world, individuals of different races, appearances, and personality are often rejected by society. Overall, Michael Oher was taught a very important life lesson by Ms. Logan that he kept a lasting memory in which ended up helping him become a National Football League player.

When an individual develops a strong sense of connection with others, they will show the individual the value of different lifestyles. In the film, A River Runs Through It by Robert Redford, Norman is shown to be an optimistic and observant individual and is influenced by the actions of his brother Paul, and his father, Reverend Maclean. Reverend Maclean is a Presbyterian working in the church of Montana and is also the father of Paul and Norman. At youth ages, Reverend Maclean taught the boys about the Church and fly-fishing, both of which are highly valued by the three men throughout the film. Norman was influenced by his father’s different lifestyles, he valued both lifestyles and felt a responsibility as the older brother to be accountable for the actions of his brother and acceptable by his father. In the film, Paul is shown off as a rebellious individual, he is strong and will stand up for himself by any means. Norman was influenced by this side of Paul: Norman never said “no” to Paul, even during the Rowboat scene. Paul called on the other boys to go shoot the chutes, however, none of them accepted until he asked Norman who knew it was a bad idea but went along with Paul because of his sense of brotherhood towards Paul. This means that Norman is influenced by the connections he has with Paul and Reverend Maclean; he learned to be faithful, have a sense of hope, be responsible and accountable, and to help the people who need it the most. This matters because, in our world, some individuals do not have the opportunity to learn certain traits and skills in order grow as a strong individual. Overall, Norman grew up to become a faithful individual who valued others and had a sense of responsibility towards his family.

When individuals are often shown the path towards ignorance, they cannot find the guidance that they need until they desperately search for their role model/figure. In a personal experience, I was taught to only follow and do the things that my parents had planned for me. I thought by being loyal to my parents I would gain my own authority when I was an adult, but I soon realized that I had been following a path of ignorance by not following my own dreams, and not taking the initiative to plan out my future. My parents had a great role in my life as my role model until I realized that I had different wants and needs than them. I left the path of ignorance and searched for a role model in which I found within a professor at the MIT. He eventually stopped teaching at the university, but he gives students help online through social media, which I find helpful towards achieving my own dreams. This matters because, in the real world, there are many young individuals who are often lead towards a certain goal by others and do not realize that they are being led towards ignorance until they realize the differences in their desires.

In conclusion, from the excerpt, “I BEAT THE ODDS” by Michael Oher, the film, A River Runs Through It by Robert Redford, and a personal experience, it can be seen that an individual is influenced by the positive actions of others who share a sense of connection with each other which provides a desire for the individual to remember others’ actions as a lasting memory. Michael Oher learned to never give up and through his hard work, he can see through his talent. Norman learned to be faithful, responsible and accountable because of the experiences of his brother, Paul, and his father, Reverend Maclean. Finally, I learned that I was being led towards a path of ignorance by letting others choose my decisions for me instead of having the acknowledgment to set my own goals and a long-term goal which I discovered at a youthful age and was guided by a former proffesor from MIT.

Category: Protsahan, Uncategorized | LEAVE A COMMENT

November 9

Warframe Review: Mesa

Mesa…The vanguard. The outcast.

Overview

Released on November 27th, 2014, she has become one of the most popular frames in the game. Frame refers to a certain character in the game of Warframe, instead of labeling them under a class, the community of Warframe decided to call them ‘Frames’. As with other frames in the game, you have to acquire parts for Mesa and build them in the foundry in order to be able to play her. Every frame has 4 parts to them: the blueprint, the neuroptics, the chassis, and the systems. In order to get each of them, you have to defeat certain bosses, and hope that luck is on your side because the drop rates for each of them are significantly lower than the other rewards, such as mods, blueprints for primary/secondary weapons, and the natural resources required to build in the game like gallium, oxium, orokin cells, etc.

Getting Mesa

Mesa comes with her own set of parts, her own blueprint, neuroptics, chassis, and systems. In order to get each of them, you need to fight a certain boss which requires a key to activate the mission. In order to get the key, players must finish the Patient Zero Quest found in the Codex. After completing the quest, players are rewarded with a blueprint for the “Mutalist Alad V Assassinate Key,” In order to build the key, players need to gather 3 NavCoordinates#Mutalist Coordinates, 6 Nav Coordinates, 2500 Nano Spores, 750 Ferrite, 20000 Credits. By achieving this key, a mission will be available on your “Navigation,” leading to Eris called ‘Mutalist Alad V Assassination.’ The player is taken to an infested ship hoarded with infested enemies. The player is to find Mutalist Alad V on the ship and assassinate him, upon his death, he will drop one of 3 Mesa’s parts, each with a low drop rate: 38.72% for Neuroptics, 38.72% for Chassis, 22.56% for Systems. After acquiring all 3 parts, they must build the parts in the foundry by collecting all the respective resources. To build the neuroptics, the player needs 1500 alloy plates, 2 neural sensors, 350 polymer bundle, and 500 plastids. For the chassis, 1 morphics, 50 oxium, 300 plastids, and 1000 nano spores. The systems require 1 argon crystal, 1600 nano spores, 300 polymer bundles, and 500 circuits.Once the player has built all 3 parts, they must head to the warframe market to buy Mesa’s blueprint for 30,00 credits(in-game currency). All that’s left now is build Mesa’s blueprint which will unlock her as a playable frame. In order to build Mesa’s blueprint, it requires the 3 built parts and an Orokin cell. This process will take 108 hours, which is 4 days 12 hours. Side Note: The player is allowed to speed up the process in the foundry using platinum(another form of in-game currency) or they can just buy Mesa in their arsenal for 325 platinum.

Abilities

Ballistic Battery: Activating this ability will store damage done through guns. Recasting this ability will release the stored damage on the next gunshot.

Shooting Gallery: When activated, Mesa throws out a lasso that binds to allies giving them more damage and jamming the guns of nearby enemies. The lasso will shift between allies every 1.5 seconds.

Shatter Shield: Mesa envelopes herself inside an energy shield that reduces the damage of the incoming projectiles and reflects them.

Peacemaker: Upon activation, Mesa stands guard, opening massive fire upon all targets inside her focus. When Mesa shoots during Peacemaker, her focus ring decreases per shot which in return gives her more fire rate and weapon damage.

Weapons

Primary:

Soma Prime – One of the greatest primaries in the game for low levels, it has a well-rounded magazine with a decent fire rate and reload speed.

Secondary:

Dual Toxocyst – The best part of this weapon is its passive ability, after getting a headshot on an enemy, it temporarily gains increased fire rate, additional toxin damage, reduced recoil, and unlimited ammo.

Melee:

Nikana Prime – This weapon has one of the highest base damage for one-handed weapons. It has high critical and status chance making it good for clearing waves of enemies.

Mods

Mesa:

Soma Prime:

Dual Toxocyst:

Nikana Prime:

Resource Drops

Alloy Plate: Venus, Jupiter, Sedna, Ceres, Phobos, and Pluto

Argon Crystal: Orokin Void, Assassination quests

Circuits: Venus, Ceres

Credits: Completing missions

Morphics: Mercury, Mars, Europa, and Pluto

Nano Spores: Saturn, Neptune, Eris, and Orokin Derelict

Neural Sensors: Alad V in Jupiter

Oxium: Alert Rewards

Orokin Cells: Saturn, Ceres, and Orokin Derelict

Plastids: Saturn, Uranus, Phobos, Pluto, and Eris

Polymer Bundle: Mercury, Venus, and Uranus

My Playstyle

For me, Mesa is a defensive frame. She is great at defending objectives from waves of enemies. I take her on excavation, defense, mobile defense, survival, and interception missions. The great advantage of bringing Mesa is her Peacemaker. The order of abilities I most often use is Shooting gallery > Shatter Shield, getting a headshot on an enemy with Dual Toxocysts which activates its passive, then opening Peacemaker. With the mods above, she can clear enemies less than or equal to level 80 in less than 4 seconds. 4 seconds!!! This is what makes Mesa one the greatest frames in the game, in my opinion, her combination with Dual Toxocysts, her ability to clear waves of enemies with little to less effort than it takes with other frames, she can boost the damage of herself and her allies, gain a shield that blocks, reduces, and then reflects it back towards the enemies. The only struggle with Mesa is getting her, the rng(random number generator) factor in speed-running games such as Warframe is very reluctant in one’s patience. You either get the parts, or you don’t. For me, it took a well over the entire winter break in 2016 to gather all the parts, getting the Dual Toxocysts and leveling all of them up to 30. I still have a few things to finish off, like maxing out damage and elemental mods which will most likely help with endgame missions.

References

Mods:

Screenshots from me and my friend’s arsenal.

Resource Drops:

https://coub.com/tags/warframe%20starchart%203.0%20guide

Category: Protsahan, Sept 2017 | LEAVE A COMMENT

October 2

I need a moment…

After examining the given photograph, it is evident that the police officer is committed to his duties by patrolling the neighborhood, and happened to come across kids playing a game of soccer. Poor countries don’t have a properly developed government meaning that the individuals living in those countries have to be constantly aware of the dangers around them, such as thievery, murder, etc. This shows us that individuals living in harsh conditions due to the given state if their country will not have similar experiences as others and have to be precarious about the things happening in their surroundings.

Some individuals are not fully aware of the dangers that a simple object may pose a threat towards others. It is can be interpreted that the police officer holding a gun arrives in the midst of kids playing soccer which shows that it can impose a different meaning to the parents of the children than what was intended by the officer. Police officers are known to carry a weapon(most likely in the form of a gun) along with them on their job because of the role assigned to them. However, the rules following the usage of the guns are much different in smaller countries than in major countries such as Canada and the United States. The rules of the US and Canada states that guns are open to fire upon the command of an individual of the highest rank, but in smaller countries, they are open to fire upon the individual’s circumstances, in order to accomplish their job. The officer may impose that they should not have to worry because they are there for the protection of the citizens. However, the parents might not trust the officer around their children because of the how dangerous the conditions of the country are and the feeling of the many possibilities of dangers. Living in smaller countries with a poor government can tell others that the individuals have experiences things unlike them, such as civil war, abuse of power/authority, etc.

In conclusion, the conditions of a country can determine the roles of the individuals and their experiences. The gun is a symbol of violence, however, can also be a symbol of protection from the reasoning behind the usage. To the individuals of the smaller countries, the condition may seem normal to them because of the things experienced throughout the years. In my opinion, this photograph does a good job of demonstrating how much suburban countries differ than major countries. In my own life, I’ve lived in Nepal for over 10 years of my childhood; ever since the early years, I was always told not to let go of my parent’s hands while outside so that I wouldn’t get lost in the crowds of people outside. I was told that there were high chances of getting lost or kidnapped so it was a must for me to always be beside my guardians. Crime in rural areas of the cities is very often heard of while living in third world countries which high raises the people’s attention towards the safety of themselves, their loved ones and their belongings. When playing with friends, I was told never to go too far away from the house and to make sure not to talk to strangers, especially the ones that like giving away free candy.

Category: Protsahan, Sept 2017 | 3 Comments

September 21

Road to Quirkiness

Life Philosophy #1 – Do the things that you enjoy doing while staying on the positive side of the spectrum of life.

Everyone has something that they love doing, it can be their hobby or interest, they just have fun doing it. People play sports, listen and create music, draw, read and write stories, and etc. However, there are things that cause them to feel unmotivated, like stress from work and family issues. When others feel jealous or unsafe towards you, they are more likely to make you sad or feel threatened.

Life Philosophy #2 – Work through things that keep you down.

Image result for https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fQjDE8BNoZc

As we grow up, we encounter many obstacles in our path that we must be able to work through in order to achieve our dreams. Many people are going to come into our lives, and they are going to try to bring you down because they might follow similar beliefs. They might not want you succeed because of your past actions in which you have to work to fix those actions by working on the present and not the past. If others are very persistent in bringing you down then its better to ignore those other people and find people who are willing to support you for your beliefs.

Life Philosophy #3 – Always be respectful towards others with more life achievements than you.

Learning from the people who have been through the same experiences as you, will help you grow. No one is perfect, and everyone is effected from helping one another to become better. It is not shameful to learn from the people younger than you if they can help you to grow as a person. Older people have been through many things that you might be going through yourself, they have seen and adapted to the world, and know how to overcome certain obstacles which is why the advice of elders should have high importance.

Life Philosophy #4 – There is a shining star inside the void of your mind.

cosmos in skull, pineal gland, third eye

Everyone has thoughts inside their heads. However, not everyone can find their shining star inside their minds. People think they are useless because they may not be able to provide anything and others may call out on them for that. However, that does not mean that they cannot learn from their mistakes and find their shining star. The value of other’s opinions at an early stage in life is very important because of the effect it can have on the person’s mentality, how they behave and how they will see others.

Life Philosophy #5 – Take efficient breaks.

Tunnel of Love in Ukraine

Breaks are must if you work constantly at the things that you need to do in order to achieve your success. Breaks can be long or short, from a minute to catch your breath – a hour nap. If you want to work at your best performance, you need to learn to take EFFICIENT BREAKS. By taking efficient breaks, you are focused on the things that matter the most while considering your own health and the proper management of your time.

Narrative: During the second semester of grade 10, I focused heavily on school and the grades I was achieving instead of my own health. Before I even realized that I was deteriorating my health, I didn’t realize that I was stressed out. Finals were a couple weeks away, we were about to present out class acts, and I wasn’t sleeping properly. And then it happened, the Sunday before my class act performance, I got hospitalized at the Peter Lougheed Hospital in the emergency center. I had to stay there for 2 days! 2!! I was practically asleep for 13 hours and when I woke up, the first thing I thought of was the performance, I asked my parents to let me contact Orchard as soon as possible. Thankfully, it got through and I was able to reschedule the performance for a later date which my group members agreed with.

References

Image 1: https://www.tumblr.com/search/funny%20cat%20pictures%20with%20caption

Image 2: www.youtube.com/watch?v=fQjDE8BNoZc

Image 3: https://taicarmen.wordpress.com/2016/01/15/the-minds-eye/

Image 4: https://www.mnn.com/lifestyle/eco-tourism/stories/too-beautiful-to-be-real-16-surreal-landscapes-found-on-earth

Image 5: http://wall.alphacoders.com/tags.php?tid=57505