Top 10 Villains I want in Batman: Arkham Origins

The Batman Arkham series has been credited as the best Batman game series ever made. Rocksteady studios did what no one thought was possible: create a good 3D Batman game. The Batman series has been filled with mediocre entries like Batman Begins and atrocious games like Batman: Dark Tomorrow. After numerous games, it seemed like all hope was lost for the Dark Knight, until 2009 when Rocksteady released Batman: Arkham Asylum. For the first time in a game, you felt like Batman. Players had access to all of Batman's arsenal like batarangs and the grappler hook. Batman could stalk enemies and take down entire rooms in a matter of minutes. Rocksteady did a fantastic job, they even went as far as to get Mark Hamill and Kevin Conroy who played the Joker and Batman in Batman: The Animated Series respectively.

In 2011 Rocksteady topped itself with the release of my favorite entry in the series: Batman: Arkham City. Now with Batman: Arkham Origins coming out, I thought that I would list the top ten villains I want to see. Most of the good Batman baddies have already been features in the previous games so this list won't contain any really famous villains. These are criminals I believe did not get enough spotlight in the series.

10. Anarky

 A troubled young teen by the name of Lonnie Machin. He's not a major villain and rarely a nuisance which is why he's so low on the list. However,  I've always loved his character. He's an arrogant, self-righteous crusader who is willing to commit terrorism to save the earth. Perhaps his largest crusade is to rid the world of pollution.

Global warming is a big issue right now so this would be the perfect opportunity for Anarky to make his appearance.


9. Doodle Bug

 If you read Arkham Asylum: Living Hell you will know who this man is. He is an artist who has killed people, carved symbols into their body, and used their blood to graffiti the city walls of Gotham.

This would be a great mission for the game, tracking down Doodlebug by finding his "paintings." In the comics he dies a horrible death but he's not the first villain to make a comeback from the dead.



8. Jane Doe

Another character from Arkham Asylum: Living Hell. I am aware that I am taking a few villains from the comic but keep in mind that the games were largely inspired by this graphic novel. Jane Doe is a young woman who kills people and takes their identity.

In the comic, she steals the identity of Arkham psychiatrist Anne Carver but instead of escaping Arkham, she stays to treat the inmates. In Jane Doe's mind, she becomes her victim.

 This would be another great side quest. Batman could interact with someone he trusts for days before Jane reveals herself.










7. Calendar Man
Although he has been featured in both Arkham games, a' la Silence of the Lambs style, Batman has yet to trade blows with him. In each game he sits behind bars recounting different holidays.

One has to wonder what this holiday-obsessed madman did before he was captured by Batman.














6. Man-Bat

 While technically not a villain, at least not intentionally, Dr. Kirk Langstrom can turn into a monstrous man-sized bat.

Dr. Langstrom himself is a friend of Batman which would make an interesting storyline for Batman to have to eventually take down one of his few allies.












5. Firebug

 Pyromaniac Garfield Lynns is practically the polar opposite of Mr. Freeze. While Dr. Victor Fries is cold and calculating, Lynns is an impulsive hothead. One of the best boss battles in Arkham City is the Mr. Freeze fight.

Batman would constantly have to use guerilla tactics to win against the master of cryogenics. A boss reminiscent of that battle would be a fantastic addition.

 4. Killer Moth

 My interest for this villain comes from the fact that he is a complete loser. He is one of the worst villains to ever cross paths with the Dark Knight. A polar opposite of Batman, Cameron van Cleer uses gadgetry and vehicles similar to Batman's arsenal to "help" his fellow criminals. I can see several missions where Batman has to take time out of his schedule to beat up Killer Moth. This goes on several times until Killer Moth, in his desperation, gets ahold of something extremely deadly like a bomb which Batman has to disarm.



3. Lady Shiva

Seriously, how has this woman not made an appearance yet? In a game where people are out to kill Batman, Lady Shiva would be a perfect fit. She is a master assassin who has mastered various forms of combat. Even Batman is unsure if he could beat her in a fight.

Her beauty mixed in with her deadliness makes her an amazing villain. She would be a great foe that Batman has to avoid rather than confront.












2. Prometheus

 Another polar opposite of Batman, this nameless young man was the son of two criminals. After witnessing his parents gunned down by police, Prometheus started his personal war on justice, killing police and other representatives of the law.

Prometheus would be a fantastic edition to Arkham Origins lineup. He's been mentioned before in the previous games but has yet to make a true appearance.










1. The Red Hood

 If you don't know already, the Red Hood was Joker's identity before he became the Clowned Prince of Crime. I am aware that the Joker is in Arkham Origins but that doesn't mean we don't get to see his back story.
His story is a tragic tale of a desperate man trying to take care of his family. Needing money, he joins a heist on a chemical factory, donning a red hood and cape. After being knocked into a vat of chemicals by Batman and losing his wife and unborn child to the mob, the nameless man losses his grip on sanity and becomes Batman's most infamous and dangerous villain of all time.

RTF: The Center of the World

I think a lot of writers and artists have a core, and from that core all their work is connected. In the same way, RTF connects everything that I work on. It kind of reminds me of how Stephen King has all these stories and most of them are connected to the Dark Tower series. That's what I want, when it comes down to it, I want my stories to all be connected to RTF. Maybe it's an ego thing. Maybe I want the world to watch me, despite being so introverted. When it comes down to it, I want all my stories to drawl you back to RTF. In fact I was thinking up a scene where the main character breaks the forth wall and even messes with the writing since he is the core of the story. If he dies, the world ends. The World Ends with You I suppose (I love that game).

Farewell Grand Theft Auto

Yesterday, or...today...on Sunday I took back GTA4. After playing through boring levels and an uninteresting city, I traded the game in for Saints Row the Third, which is only a little better. I'll be posting my thoughts on Saints Row soon but until then, I have got to work on my level for the game I'm writing. Good night.

GTA 4: Going back

If you've read some of my previous entries, I've expressed my frustration with the highly-rated Grand Theft Auto 4. I'm going to list the sources of my frustrations and, most likely, the reasons for my returning of the game tomorrow.

1. The world is too big and boring- I've been given a large playground to play in, too bad there isn't much to do. Besides shooting pigeons and buying ammo and clothes, I haven't found anything to really hold my interest. Why can't I collect cars and store them in a garage? To be honest, I don't find any of the cars really appealing. To me, a car's a car.

 Another problem comes from the city itself, or it's lack of personality. I can walk for miles and not find one secret or something of interest for me to do. If you're going to make a big city, fill it with secrets, collectables, hidden goals. I want to find hidden stories and jobs, that's what makes an experience unique to each player. Some will find the secrets, some won't, that's the fun.

2. Theft is boring- If I were steal someone's car in real life, not that I would have the guts to do so, what do you think is in the car? For starters, they will have a spare tire, I can sell that. There's probably a GPS in the car and a radio. Both good items to hock on the street. Sunglasses, maps, pills, groceries, cell phones, and all sorts of personal effects. I want to go through people's stuff! The car could be full of junk or full of treasure, either way is fine. I want my theft to be more in-depth.

If I were to take someone's wallet, what do you think I would find? Besides cash, I would have different cards: credit cards, debit cards, club memberships, coupons, maybe a social security number, all kinds of stuff! The same can be said for a cellphone, there's numbers of all sorts of different people and places. That's what I want, the ability to play around with people's lives. Maybe mug someone and take their credit card. Then use it in a shopping spree until the card gets canceled. Or maybe if I keep the spending low enough, they won't notice twenty dollars going out of their pockets every few days. How about their cell phone? Maybe I look up the girlfriend while her boyfriend's in the hospital (see Stewie's lemonade stand from Family Guy). Maybe I call up the guy's number to the yacht club and get myself a membership to the club.
The point is: I do this BECAUSE I CAN. I do this because I have the ability to do so and giving players freedom to do even pointless things can be fun. Not everything has to be about money.

3. The characters are boring- In the twenty or so hours I've played GTA 4, I've only met criminals. Criminals that are self-destructive, stupid, selfish, or have delusions of grandeur. This is all good and fun but does everyone in this town have to be a jerk? I'm not saying that I want to work with a saint, I DO want to interact with someone who has more of a personality beyond coke addict. And for God's sake, does everyone in this city do blow? I've been taking jobs from five different people, at least three of them can be heard or seen sniffing something, obviously coke, during cutscenes. I understand that coke is edgy, but as with any edgy or cool concept: when everyone does it, it's no longer cool. And I swear, one of those people I work with is on steroids or something. Not everyone in the lower class is on some kind of drug Rockstar.

4. Not enough weapons- When I play in a sandbox game what do you think I want to do? I want to cause chaos, and I can't do that until I unlock all the weapons. Yes, I know there are cheats (Really? Who uses cheats in games anymore?) but that takes away one of the achievements (trophy in game for accomplishing certain tasks) in the game. I can't have a lot of fun with a pistol, a Molotov cocktail (which is really expensive, what the heck?), a sniper rifle, and a submachine gun. Also, there's only two variants for each type of weapon. Now GTA is not Call of Duty where each weapon is unique in someway or another, but I still want a whole bunch of weapons to have fun with. Even if there are similarities, I want to carry a whole bag of weapons around with me. I want a whole variety of armaments.

5. Controls are bad- I had a heck of a time trying to figure out the cover mechanic (this game was clearly made for the Xbox) the cars slide around like their on ice, and the climbing is just a travesty to watch.

6. Graphics are bad- Just like the title says, the graphics are just bad. I know this is an older game, and a lot of my complaints have already been addressed but these are things that should have been fixed long before the game was released. Rockstar had better bring their game with GTA 5 because I'm not sure if I will even consider getting the game. Maybe the Saint's Row series will have more of what I want.

GTA flop

I'm bored with GTA, it's not the fun game I thought it was. For starters, the current number of weapons is limited. For a game that challenges you to beat the main story UNDER thirty minutes is asking a lot out of me to only use a few weapons in the game. Another problem stems from the lack of things to do in the city. Take Jak 2 for example, yes the city was small in comparison to GTA but there was something to do in every area, even if that meant a simple fetch quest or race. A third problem comes from the slow pacing. I want to get to the good stuff, the car races, the extra activities, the fun stuff. Right now I'm still doing odd jobs for people for bout a thousand dollars, It's a step up from when I did stuff for one hundred dollars but I'm still not rich. Where's my mansion? Where's my collection of cars? Where the stuff I can purchase besides ammo and clothes? I want to collect stuff and decorate my house! Are you telling me that I can't do that stuff in a game that received universal acclaim?!? Another problem for me comes from the city itself, I feel dirty just walking around. When I play Sleeping Dogs, I feel immersed in Hong Kong, not crummy. And yet another problem is the graphics. Why does everything look like crap? My final problem is with the story. What do I care about Nico our intrepid hero? Why do I HAVE to be a bad guy, can't I do something nice too? It may sound weird but balance is what makes an open world game fun for me.
I'll give this game one last chance Sunday, after that, I'm going for Saints Row.

Numb

I just haven't felt the passion I've had for videogames since I beat Skyrim. Maybe I'm just getting older or maybe I'm bored. Either way, it better end soon or I'm going to the doctor.

The Unseen Nightmare

This is a short story by an ally, that's what he would call our relationship, and fellow writer Jay Squared. I thought I would post it for fun.

Jim gathered his thoughts as he waited for the doctor. His mind drifted back to Lashkar Ga. Back to Afghanistan. He thought of Bravo team. Jim had been in Afghanistan for one tour already and had signed up for another one. He wasn't in the Marines for the fame or the "job training" that military ads promoted. He wasn't qualified as an engineer even after his final tour. At least this is what was printed on his papers. Jim was in the Marines for money, plain and simple. College was unaffordable and his G.P.A wasn't up to par. So the Marines seemed like a decent choice. Jim had always been unable to make discerning choices. What school should he attend? Which girl should he date? Where was he going in life-that was the big one. But Jim left those decisions to his parents, to the girls, to his job coach. Jim's life never felt like his own, he was simply in for the ride. Like a man in the front seat of the roller coaster, he couldn't control his life, so he would enjoy the ride. And if a problem came up, there were plenty of rails to keep him on track. That's what made the Marines appealing, follow your orders and you'll live for a few more hours. But that didn't help Bravo team. Didn't protect them from the that suicide bomber disguised in one of their uniforms. But those rails saved him though, only him. Yes those regulations they drilled into Jim until he began to weep protected him, but not his eyes. In an instant, Jim went from a 20/20 to a 20/200 in three seconds. His regiment got the worst of the blast. In a way, and this is what knotted his stomach, Jim was glad he was behind his team during the blast. Thankful that the shrapnel that had ripped through his teammates had only punctured his eyes so he was spared from witnessing blood and chunks of flesh flying at him. He could feel the blast though. Oh yes, he still drifted back to being thrown against the Humvee and his uniform coated with blood. His camouflage mixing with the blood, dying his uniform to a disgusting reddish orange. The smell of smoke mixed with wet iron. He drifted back to Lashkar Ga every night for the last month and a half. He filled his days in the hospital with multiple showers to wash off that imaginary gore. Some nights he would wake in a cold sweat and bolt out of bed. He would stumble his way to the shower in his room. If he fell, he would crawl as he bruised his hands and knees trying to find the threshold to the bathroom. Jim would spend the rest of the night with the shower on, sometimes with his clothes, sometimes without. The nurse would find him soaked in a fetal position the next day in a fetal position. His clothes transparent and hugging his skin as the ice-cold water pelted his body. The nurse would attempt to rouse him from his slumber which would cause him to jolt awake screaming. Sometimes he would lash out at the personnel and have to be restrained but the conclusion was always the same. He would carried by orderlies if he was aggressive, to the bed as he bawled his eyes like a lost child. A lost child. That was what he felt like for the past six weeks. Lost in a world of darkness. But his mind was a different case. That last screen of his friends disappearing into a fire ball the size of an SUV engrained into his eyes before they went dark. On some really bad nights, he could see their faces. Some of them had enough time to allow shock to spread on their faces, some caught between fright and confusion. But the worst were the dreams when they were smiling at him as the fireball grew in leaps and bounds. Bravo team had become Jim's family, his brotherhood. They were the fraternity he had always dreamed of joining when he went to college. That was the plan for Jim. Learn what he could, enjoy the friendship, and enjoy the friendship he missed out in Columbus High. In an instant, that hope was taken from him by a man with C-4 strapped to his groin. And that loss was burnt into his eyes.
Jim was shaken from his musings by the doctor's baritone voice.
"How are you feeling today private?"
"Fine." Jim answered.
It was a lie and they both knew it. Jim heard a sigh that accompanied Dr. Wendell whenever he was frustrated. The two of them had played this game since Jim had been admitted into Dr. Wendell's hospital.

No luck

So far no luck in finding a game to hold me over until the Elder Scrolls Online. I tried GTA4 and was bored out of my mind. Honestly, I felt dirty. Like I was wading in a pool of stagnate water. I'll give the game one more chance tomorrow or it's going bye bye. Impress me Rockstar, you have yet to do that with your gamecube graphics.

Dream project: RTF

I'm finally working on the project I've been thinking about for nearly...oh about 5 years. I've had this project on my mind since college first started. RTF, I'm not going to tell you the title so you can steal it, has been a cornerstone in my life. What's great about the paper I'm writing is that it helps to really nail down some key parts like character names, locations, and what I really want out of a game like this. I want this to be my masterpiece, my Lord of the Rings, my Dark Tower, my Discworld, my Cthulhu Mythos! The problem is that I don't know if I'm mature enough or ready to make the story. How should I put this? I realize that there is merit in being experienced enough to write something at the magnitude that I want but I also know that the...inexperience of a writer can be a benefit as well. I look at how Stephen King's work, which I still enjoy, has degraded to a point. Maybe "degraded" isn't the right word. Stephen King seems to be leaning away from the supernatural rawness that I enjoyed in his earlier works like "Pet Semetary" and it doesn't strike the usual terror in me. I think he may be so used to the process that he may have lost some of his mojo, so to speak. That's not to say that he's totally lost it, "N." was a fantastic short story. I've heard that every writer has only one story but they tell it several different ways. I can see that to a certain extent, at least I can see the connections between their stories. I want my story to wow people, to offer a new (or just my own, I'm sure someone has already said what I have to say in some format) point of perspective. I hope to figure this out soon. Actually, this is why the story I made for the game is actually a prequel. The story that's been with me is not the story in my game. But I think that I can use this as practice, and as a training level/flash back episode. I can make a game out of this or a story, kind of reminds me of how the Halo universe has games and books. And games based off of books!

Dialogue

I'm just sitting here, listening to Capital Cities, and I'm trying to figure out how to write dialogue. I think back to what Stephen King said about one of my favorite authors H. P. Lovecraft. King wrote that while Lovecraft was a master of the macabre, he was a terrible dialogue writer. It probably didn't help that Lovecraft was a total shut in...at least from what I remember. I haven't read about him for years. Actually, the last thing I remember reading about him was that his mother ended up in an asylum and something about how he read books on Greek gods and...offered...sacrifice...to them...I hope I read that wrong. I remember being only mildly interested. But back to my point, I'm going to make an effort to learn about dialogue for the next few months or so and see where that gets me. When I write dialogue I feel like someone who has nail the nails into the roof but only brought wrenches. I have a general idea of what to do, I just don't have the right tools. I'm going to attempt to remedy this as soon as possible. Wish me luck!

Prefered Profession

I think I have an idea of what could be an...interesting way to make a living. I would ask people to give me a general idea that they have for a story but don't have the time to write it. I'll write, they pay me and we split he profits. I wonder if it's already a job. I'd obviously have to know a lot of people and have a great reputation.

Elder Scrolls: Oblivion: A Glitched Game

I just finished a half hour of Oblivion, a game I haven't touched in years and for good reason. I hate Oblivion! I hate hate hate hate it. Why? Let me go back and tell you a tale.
About a year before Skyrim came out, I was talking with a Gamestop employee down in Easton. He asked me if I would like to preorder Skyrim. I said I didn't know anything about the Elder Scrolls, I was more interested in the developer's, Bethesda, other works: Fallout 3. He told me the Elder Scrolls were similar to the Fallout games. He claimed that the Elder Scroll games boasted large worlds filled with treasure, enemies and adventure. I was immediately excited by his statement. Another world like Fallout? I had to get my hands on Skyrim. The next day I preordered Skyrim at a local Gamestop and started my search for the previous entries in the series. I have a policy, I don't play the newest game unless I get my hands on the older games. This only applies if I can get my hands on the previous ones, obviously I didn't get the previous Fallout games. In any case, after weeks of searching, I finally found a copy of Oblivion for the PS3. I paid $40 and headed home to start a new series.
The first thing I noticed about Oblivion was that the graphics were subpar compared to Fallout 3, but I had expected this. Oblivion was several years older, this was the case with all the older games I had bought. The second thing I noticed was that Oblivion was a hack and slash game. Swords and bows replaced guns and grenades. The third thing was the landscape. A lush land filled with forests and ruins replaced a barren, radiated wasteland.
Unfortunately, that is where the niceties end, now I'm going to rip into this game. The first time I created a stealth character, to my ire, I am more of a brawling character. So making a stealth character when I dive head-first into a fight isn't a good idea. Today I'm have a bit more strategy but back then I sucked. I started the game over and created a fighting character. Everything was going smoothly until I got bitten by a vampire. Guess what happens when you get bitten by a vampire. All of a sudden, people started to avoid me or scream at me. I couldn't walk in daylight which cut down on my travel ability. Thankfully, a quest appeared that would let me cure my disease. I headed to an old lady's house and she told me how to cure my disease. She told me I needed the ashes of a powerful vampire, garlic which took me forever to find (I didn't know houses had garlic), blood grass which only grows in dangerous areas, and my "favorite," nightshade, a plant that haunts me to this day.
I spent hours trying to find this plant, I had no clue where it grew or what it looked like. After hours of exploration, I threw up my hands and looked up the location of the elusive flower. At last, I found the flower...in the exact opposite direction I was going. Now I knew where the flower was but I was still a vampire. I had to hide in caves until the sun went away. Even when I found the plant I had frustrations. The game randomly selects whether or not you will succeed or fail in harvesting the plant. After a frustrating experience in finding the flower, I headed back to the old lady's home for the next ingredient only to be greeted with a glitch. The stupid game wouldn't let me continue my quest. I looked up the quest online and found that this was a common glitch found in the game. I decided to call Bethesda and see if they could help me. They said there was nothing they could do.
Now that really grinds my gears, why release a game with such a horrible glitch in it??? I could only do one thing, I deleted my character. Hours of work gone in seconds. And since then I have never touched Oblivion until today. I still bought Skyrim and was extremely pleased with it. I recently finished the game. I'm actually filled with a bit of melancholy. I don't know what to play next, I think I want to play another long game, like Grand Theft Auto or something. Something rich in story and gameplay.

Stephen King's Needful Things

I just finished another LONG book in Stephen King's collection of works. Needful Things is quite an interesting read and was going to be on the next large post on my blog. I was going to compare it to another of Stephen King's work called The Tommyknockers  and compare the two works and their similarities but I'll being putting that off for a little while. My favorite parts are when the people of Castle Rock have a showdown with their supposed enemy. If you don't know the story, the townsfolk are told to play a prank on someone they barely know in exchange for receiving the object of their desire whether it be a special game, a rare card, or something of value. The pranks cause the victims to suspect the culprit is someone that they are currently...at ends with. As the story progresses, the people begin to fight and even kill each other in anger over these seemingly harmless pranks.
I enjoyed reading Stephen King's final tale about the enigmatic town of Castle Rock. It will most likely remain the final story since half the town is either dead or blown up. When Stephen King wants to end the story about a place, he doesn't mess around.
Anyway, in comparison to the Fraser Heston movie, the book has quite a few differences. There's more storylines that intertwine, the main villain is more menacing and the people actually die. I mean when a kid puts a gun up to his head and pulls the trigger, he doesn't end up in the hospital, he ends up in the morgue. And I know I sound morbid but that's what makes Stephen King's works so haunting, even a kid isn't safe.
Clearly Needful Things should've been a TV show instead of a movie, and with big shows like Game of Thrones and The Walking Dead, and with Stephen King's other works being remade, like Carrie, now is definitely the time.

Nothing

Not much to say today, didn't even start my next paper. I just hung out, and played Super Monkey Ball 2 for the Gamecube, I'm not entirely proud of that last fact...

Pikmin review

150 views? Fantastic! Anyway, today I finished Pikmin for the Nintendo Gamecube and let me tell you, it's a fantastic game! You play Olimar, an astronaut from another planet the size of a quarter who lands on, what I assume to be earth, a distant planet. He discovers Pikmin, plant like creatures that can defend him from enemies and carry his broken ship parts back to the ship. Olimar has 30 days to find all 30 of his ship's parts before he dies from the planet's oxygen.

Everyday, Olimar must collect Pikmin by plucking them from the ground or gathering solid nectar or dead enemies to the onion to make more Pikmin. The onion, which looks nothing like an onion to me, is where the Pikmin are stored throughout the night. Pikmin die very easily, only by ganging up on bigger enemies can the Pikmin be effective. Olimar has to toss them at enemies. It's fun to watch the Pikmin wail on an enemy in large groups. Watching an enemy fall with dozens of Pikmin crawling all over him is very satisfying.

The gameplay is simple, all I have to do is toss the Pikmin at an item or an enemy and they do the rest. It's fascinating the watch the Pikmin carry an item or a dead enemy. It's like watching ants carry away the carcass of a larger creature. The land is beautiful, the enemies are cute and innovative, and the puzzles are a little tricky but once you figure them out you have that "aha!" moment.

There are some flaws I should mentions. One of my initial problems was the day and night sequence. I hate timers, I hate the pressure. Each day you have to collect items, ship parts, and new Pikmin before the sun goes down. If you don't, anything left out at night will disappear. The game makes a point of this by showing what happens to Pikmin you leave behind. Watching the Pikmin you leave behind actually makes you feel sad for them despite a lack of a story or personal interaction with the Pikmin is a statement to the game's power. It's both sad and understandable, nature is cruel. At first I was upset with the time limit but once I realized how easy the game was I quickly realized I had plenty of time. I actually finished the game with three days left, not bad for my first time.

The biggest problem I had with Pikmin is the Pikmin that get left behind easily. The game has some sharp corners that can trap Pikmin. In fact, that's the reason I saw the Pikmin get eaten at night, I lost track of them.

My last problem is with the music at the end. There's this great song that's supposed to be played but I didn't get to hear it. I don't know if its because I got the good ending, I know there are supposed to be several endings but the song really meant a lot to me and it would've been nice if I could have heard it.

Here's link if you want to hear it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SL2ePovKMtg

All and all, I thoroughly enjoyed  this game despite how short it was. I may be behind in the series a bit, the third one is to come out in the summer, but I will definitely keep an eye on this series.

More of what's wrong with Skyrim

- I hate the upgradable weapons system. The only time you can actually see a difference in a weapon when you upgrade them is when you put an enchantment on it. Basically there are certain powers you can put on your weapons in Skyrim like add fire damage so when you hit an enemy they will burn or absorb health so that you get some energy when you hit an enemy. But all you see is a red, green, or blue outline around the weapon. And when you sharpen the weapon or make the armor stronger it doesn't change at all. Yeah my armor is now better but it should at least look cooler or something. When I go to the menu to look at my weapon I see the word "fine" or "epic" next to the item, indicating that it's been improved. It doesn't look any different. Oh, and I don't do the improvements myself, I just push a button and "bam" its improved. I feel like I accomplished so much...

- I hate the quick time kills. When you weaken an enemy enough or perform a sneak attack you get to see your character enact a special move to finish the enemy like a beheading or a thrust into the gut. But there's like five events and they get old really fast. It doesn't help when glitches right through my ally whose also attacking the enemy when I finish them.