[Friday
| Saturday (Nox Event)]
Saturday
San Francisco
We left the hotel
around noon to go sight seeing around San Francisco. To drive
from San Jose to San Francisco, it took about an hour alone,
so we all knew we would have enough free time before the Nox
event that evening at 3pm. Nathan was our tour guide and did a
really great job.
 
 
One thing that seemed
new to me in San Francisco, is the electric cable buses. I
didn't notice it the last time I was up there. Pretty
interesting. Other places we visited was the Golden Gate
Bridge, viewed Alcatraz from a distance, and drove down
Lombard Street (also known as the crookedest street in the
world).
The last time I was up
in San Francisco, we ate in China Town but it was almost too
dark to really check it out. It was nice to walk up and down
and check out the shops this time. I enjoy collecting leopard
items so I was automatically eyeing anything that had the
pattern in the windows. Not on purpose, it is just things that
will catch my eye. I didn't ever find anything. :)
What's sort of
funny... I recall something Christina 'Pookie' Chan said last
year right after the PGL Finals. They all wanted to go to the
Stinking Rose Restaurant. Yes, it does sounds silly, but it is
a Garlic Restaurant with a lot of Italian dishes. They ended
up going to a really nice Chinese restaurant near China Town
that year.
Westwood
Studios
Entering Club-i
was much calmer than the PGL
finals. Don't get me wrong, it was exciting last year but
the building didn't have as many people crammed and
practically crawling on the walls. Less things to trip over
and etc. The first person I automatically recognized was Aaron
Cohen (the public relations director for Westwood Studios)
standing on the main platform, giving directions to one of the
Westwood guys. He had a haircut so I almost didn't walk up to
him. I thought it might of just been another guy that looked
like him but once I listened to his voice, I knew it had to be
him. :)
After I talked to
Aaron briefly, he directed me to go sign in with Chris Rubyor,
another Public Relations guy for Westwood Studios. Chris
caught my eye right off, he reminded me of some one but I
can't recall who it is. He has a very familiar face, so right
off, it just felt like I have known him for years. He seemed
like the type of guy a person can talk and talk to about a
game. Come to think of it, he seemed more like a guy a person
could talk to about anything, he puts interests in what other
people are talking about.
While I walked over to
the food and drinks area, I heard another familiar voice. As I
glanced over I saw my buddy John Hight. He is such a funny
guy. He is one guy that can easily make a person laugh right
on the spot. We talked about some of Nox's game features. I
later on introduced him to Nathan and my brother, Jacob.
Nox Game
Impressions
 After
waiting for a bit, I finally had the chance to play it after
five months. I last played it at the E3
in May of 1999. As I sat down to start my game with Nox, I
completely enjoyed it. There wasn't a thing I could say
against it right then. I wanted to learn how to improve on my
skills to get better and understand the game more.
While playing the
game, a person asked a question behind me, "How is
everything doing over here?" I looked around to see
if the question was directed to me, it was Chris Rubyor
smiling. I told him I didn't know what to actually do in a
multiplayer game, then asked why I wasn't able to pick up
certain weapons and armor laying on the ground through out the
map. I was able to pick up certain boots, armor, a bow (with
arrows) and a cape a few times. Chris told me I was playing as
the Conjurer Class, there are only certain weapons I was able
to pick up. The weapons I couldn't pick up are for the Wizard
and Warrior Classes. That made sense, but I wanted get myself
some type of weaponry to protect myself. I wondered off into
some woods and ran into some horrifying monsters. I think
Chris knew I didn't know what was up because those
creatures/monsters roaming around were someone's pets. Whoever
the person was, he summoned (created) them and they hunted any
other opponent that came in view.
Chris taught me how to
add creatures and other spells to my spell book. He gave me a
handful of creatures, one of his favorites was the Ember
Demon. I see why, it is like this strange red dwarf looking
guy that runs around swiftly. What is great about a Conjurer
is, you can have options of summoning creatures.
There are a lot really
interesting things you can make the creatures do. One of the
options is to ESCORT your player. They mainly just tag along,
like a chum, then they attack anything that comes near you.
Which can make a person feel they have some type of body
guards that are protecting them.
The other feature is
GUARD. Your creature will guard anything you tell it to. You
have to walk over to that area and then click on the Guard
feature for him to stay there. It reminded me of some type of
guard dog I was directing and telling sit! Some of the huge
bold creatures did it very well.
There are some more
features you can have your creature do but my favorite feature
of them all was HUNT. The creature will act like a blood hound
and find any other opponent to attack until they are defeated.
It racked up some really good points too.
Later on, after I was
glued to the PC, John Hight came uo and gave me some tips on
some of the weapons. I asked him what the Cherub creature did.
The Cherubs are these cute looking creatures with wings, they
fly around with these arrows. The only thing, they don't look
like innocent cherubs, they are a reddish/orange color.
Other creatures I
tried was the Ghosts and Shade. Shade was black creature with
a very sneaky look to it. It crawled like Spiderman on the
ground but it reminded me more of Nightcrawler in the X-Men
series. The Bear was another cool creature to control too.
There is a spell
someone else did in the game that made me jump out of my seat,
the "Fist of Vengeance." It looked like it was
coming out at me out of the screen. I wasn't expecting to see
such a huge fist like thing hit the screen and make a noise
like that.
The Pixie Swarm was
really cool. It is a yellow sparkly color that glows and
swarms around the Conjurer (me). It will attack anything
around, but it does have to be energized by Manna posts (light
blue glowing posts that are easy will find around the map).
I would have to say my
favorite weapon as a Conjurer was the green wand. The only
thing that wasn't good about it was when I was in-doors. It is
a very powerful weapon so it reflects off the walls. I did
that quite a few times, destroyed an opponent and then forgot
that it would reflect against the wall straight back at me.
After a couple of times like that, I knew to start running
from my own blast.
I played Capture the
Flag for a while. I liked it but I am a deathmatch fan so I
would rather be fighting against other players than worrying
about a flag that is being taken from my base. I like playing
those types of games when I am wanting to relax more. I
tried to capture the flag quite a few times. By then some
people were putting their creatures right in the CTF bases to
guard and protect their flag so it got a little harder.
Nihilistic
Software
 One
thing that really caught me off guard that day was seeing two
of the Nihilistic guys. I was playing a game and noticed I
wasn't playing as my nick name. I asked John Hight how to
change my name. After I changed it to CaliGirl, I logged back
into one of the multiplayer games, I heard someone next to me
say, "CaliGirl?" I looked over and
said in a calm voice," yes." I didn't
recognize him at first, it was Steve 'Gateway' Tietze from
Nihilistic Software (creators of Vampire: The Masquerade -
Redemption game). The lighting in there made it harder for me
to recognize him right off. I talked to him and Ray
Gresko many times while I was at the E3
in May 1999.
I didn't know they
were going to attend the Nox Preview Party at all. There was a
guy sitting right next to him. Steve smiled and pointed at him
saying, "It's Rob". I looked blankly at him, I was
trying to think of the names off Level designers at Nihilistic
with Rob in them, I knew it couldn't be Rob Huebner. I never
had the chance to see Rob at the E3 so it was an honor to
finally meet him in person.
My first words to Rob
was, "Your so young! I expected to see a much older man
with dark brown hair." I really did, I pictured very tall
thin man in a very sophisticated manner with dark brown hair.
When I said that, Rob just had an expression of
"huh?" Then we all started laughing. I just told him
the truth, that was exactly how I pictured him looking like
this whole time.
Rob is a very nice
looking man in his mid 20s or early 30s with blondish colored
hair (almost a reddish highlights in it from the area of the
lighting in the room). I guess the name "Rob
Huebner" made me think he was older. Steve was his
regular adorable self, always showing off his smile. It was
nice to see them both show up at the event. :)
Nox Tournament
While I was still
glued to the Nox Game, Jacob and Nathan asked me if I wanted
to sign up for the Nox Tournament. They both already signed up
and were ready to play in the Tournament.
The Tournament consisted
of 20 people, there were six matches held,
which led to 6 contestants. Here are the 4 people who won the
last and final round of the Nox Preview Tournament:
1st
Place: Jacob Robinson
2nd Place: Daniel Tu
2rd Place: Donald Wong
4rth Place: Tod Milton
Movie Time
After leaving
Club-i, Nathan, Jacob and I went to go to see a movie. We
wanted to see "Three Kings" but they were sold out
so we all decided to see Fight Club. I thought the movie was
going to have a completely different storyline. There is an
interesting twist which was cool but there were some of the
parts in the movie that I didn't like. It's the type of movie
I wouldn't mind seeing on video so I could forward parts of
it. The actor, Edward Norton plays a really funny character in
the beginning. Then later on, it all unfolds everything, which
brings the twist I was talking about. I liked it to a point
but it is a mind boggling movie, I wouldn't recommend it to my
friends. Plus, Brad Pitt hasn't ever been one of my favorite
actors. The only movie I really enjoyed him in is
"Legends of the Fall" with Julia Ormond.
Conclusion
Overall, I had a
really nice time while I was up there. I enjoyed seeing people
I wasn't expecting to see, meeting new people who loved the
Nox game, and getting the chance to see a couple of the
Westwood guys again. I originally thought a couple of my
buddies from Gamers Extreme
and Firingsquad were
going to be able to a make it. Something came up so they didnt
get a chance to see this awesome game in action.
Besides meeting and
talking with a lot of really cool people there, I can say one
thing about the Nox game, I am really looking forward until
the next time I can play it again.
I noticed something I
did after we left Club-i that night, right after we watched
the Fight Club at the theatres, I felt I had to get home to
play some more Nox. I actually felt right at home while I was
playing it at Club-i. I couldn't believe how much my hands
were already itching to play the Nox Game again. All I could
think of is how much I wanted the game to be released so I
could go out and buy it.
I should be doing
another view on the Wizard and Warrior classes in the next
coming weeks, so please keep an eye out for it.
Back
to Articles - >
|
