SAY HELLO TO TWITTER

I'm always late to everything, so let's get right to the point:

I'VE GOT A TWITTER ACCOUNT!


Thought it was about time I made one of my own, and of course I feel totally out of place there - damn, you know you're getting old when it takes a while to get used to new IT.

Anyway, I know many of you guys/gals have a Twitter account as well, so if you want to follow me and share some tweets in the future, I'd love that:

[link]



Cheers,
~Kaana

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BUSY, BUSY, BUSY


Sorry for not being more active lately, but between wrapping up my old job and preparing all different kinds of stuff for the new one, time seems to be in short supply… and I'll admit that playing Dragon Age 2 hasn't actually helped with that.

So I want to use this opportunity to say "Hello!" to all my new watchers and thank you all for the s and comments on my recent DA2 artworks – I was so happy to see them both well received, and I'm slowly working my way through the comments to thank you all in person!

Times are exciting right now – I'm right in the middle of planning my new professional website and company logo, setting up my new home office and celebrating my new 64bit render PC… not to mention that I'm all excited about the new features Zbrush 4R2 is offering to modellers.

There are still a lot of things to plan and to consider to make sure my new life as an artist goes smoothly come 2012, but I'm getting there… and that's a great feeling!

The website should be finished some time later this year, and I'll post the link once everything is set up and ready!


2012 WILL BE A GREAT YEAR FOR GAMER GALS


Honestly, I'm so excited right now. New cinematic trailers for Diablo III and Starcraft II – Heart of the Swarm, video streams from the DIII beta all over the internet and Mass Effect III hitting the stores in March 2012… looks like it's going to be an epic new year for gamers like me!

They even announced the content of the DIII Collector's Edition a short time ago – looks like the game *will* get published some time in 2012… which would be so awesome!

I cannot wait to try out the new classes like the Demon Hunter or the Monk… they looked pretty cool in the beta already. I literally wasted years of my life playing DII together with my husband, so I'm looking forward to a few more years spend in co-op monster slaying mode!


DA2 - MARK OF THE ASSASSIN and REDEMPTION


I just started playing Dragon Age 2 a few weeks ago. I have to admit that I shied away from it for a long time because I wasn't sure if I'd like the changes they made compared to the gameplay of DAO… but now I stand corrected.

I have an insane amount of fun playing the game, and that caught me totally by surprise. Sure, there are some things that I really hope Bioware will never do in any of their games ever again (recycled dungeon maps, anyone? ), but it didn't put a damper on the gaming experience at all. I think it's all the companions fault – they are such a great bunch that I'm willing to forgive the game a lot of its short-comings just because the group banter and quests are so amusing.

But no matter how much I like the game, I was a bit concerned when I saw the first trailers for the new DLC Mark of the Assassin. The new character, Tallis, smelled awfully like a hyped Mary Sue to me, and so I went into playing it with lots of mixed feelings.

I have to admit, though, that MotA was worth every single point I paid to get it. The story had it all – nice new locations, a huge amount of great new party banter and interaction, interesting quests and stuffy Orlesian chevaliers… unlike Legacy (that I really don't need to play again any time soon), I'll love to replay MotA with all different kinds of party combinations just to see the various banter, and I was very much surprised that Tallis as a companion wasn't half as bad, either, and not nearly as Sue-ish as I had feared.

So I was very surprised to see all my worst fears about what her character could actually be like coming true for the life-acting video series "DA – Redemption" that started a few weeks ago and stars Tallis as the female lead character. Tallis is played and created by actress Felicia Day (who also voiced the digital version of her character in MotA), and after watching the first two episodes on youtube… I cringed. The Tallis in Redemption looks like the smart-mouthed, sexy SuperSue no story actually needs, and has so little in common with the Tallis I met in MotA that I'm wondering if this series is actually taking place in some kind of mirror universe…

But it's not only her character that bothers me. Up to now, we've met with Qunari, templars and Dalish elves, and none of these groups behave the way I would have expected after playing the Dragon Age games and reading a lot of background lore on the world of Thedas… but maybe that's just me?

What do you all think? I know there are a lot of fellow DA players here on dA, so I'd really like to hear your opinions on this matter!



Well, I'll stop waffling now. Take good care everyone, and let me know how you're doing!

~Kaana

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