Avatar Tutorial - The Joker

So I quickly got bored of my standard avatar and I don't fancy shelling out for Microsoft Points to purchase additional outfits and accessories because if I really wanted to waste my money that much I would simply throw it in the bin. Therefore, I opted to model my avatar on an easily-recognisable icon and began looking around for inspiration.

My first port of call was my games collection and I found what I was looking for straight away - Batman Arkham Asylum. I'm a big fan of the Batman series (and the DC Universe in general) and so it seemed a perfect idea to me to create someone from the Batman world.

After looking around on the internet I came across the perfect one; a video tutorial showing you how to create The Joker. You can check out the video on YouTube here. If you have a YouTube account I recommend you sign up to that channel, they put out some good videos.

Anyway, I give all credit for this to SomeFamousProduction, I did NOT make this avatar myself. However, I have put it on here because some people prefer a simple text tutorial that is easy to follow, and that is what I will provide here.

First of all you need to unlock green hair, but this is really easy. When in the Avatar Creation screen, select "My Features". You will see that "Hairstyles" is the option highlighted and will have a green square around it. Now you need to rotate the Right Analogue Stick for 60 seconds. You will see your avatar getting dizzy. After the full minute, that green square will rotate itself a full 360 degrees. This means that the additional colours and hairstyles have been unlocked.

Right, so these are the settings you will need to use to create the Joker. It isn't fantastic, but personally I don't think it could be beaten. It's obvious who your avatar is supposed to be and the Joker is a really cool character anyway.

Hair - Slicked (green)

Eyes - Eagle (black)

Eyebrows - Bendy (black)

Ears - Shaped

Nose - Sharp

Facial Hair - Twin Moustache (red)

Chin - Sharp

Mouth - Puzzled (it hides under the moustache)

Make him tall and thin, and give him pure white skin.

Tops - Sports Jacket

Bottoms - Pinstripe Pants

Shoes - Black Formal Shoes

Gloves - White

Updates

So in the last couple of days I have made a few cosmetic changes to the blog and added in some new features, so I thought I may as well draw some attention to them so that people aren't confused or missing out.

First of all I have added some RSS subscription links at the bottom of the page so that you can be instantly alerted every time something new is posted or a comment is made to an existing post.

Just under the title bar you can find some static pages that I have added just for basic information about myself, the blog and some contact details. I put these here rather than clutter up the sidebar or create posts that would quickly get buried under other things and go unnoticed.

Speaking of the sidebar, you can now find my GamerTag on there, as well as my GamerScore Goals for 2010 and the games I am currently willing to boost on (only Gears 2 at the moment). Also, I am using the "Link List" gadget to keep things a little more organised. I really am fussy about presentation, and I'm also fussy about people being able to see things I consider useful (in my mind one of the biggest problems with blogs - useful posts get lost under other information), so I decided to tie the two together. Every time I create a post I deem to be useful, I will create a link for it on the right of the page in the appropriate category. So far we have "My Paths to 100% Completion" and "Miscellaneous". You can expect "Reviews" to be there soon as well.

In regards to my GS Goals for this year, the one I am working hardest towards is 100,000 before Christmas. This is going to be tough, but I'm convinced it can be done. From the time I created this GamerTag to December 25 there are 308 days. 100,000 / 308 = 324.675325, which I'll round up to 350, which is my daily point goal. Multiply that by 7 and we have my weekly goal of 2,450, which I will round up to 2,500. Finally, 2,500 X 4 = 10,000, my monthly target. By March 20, I should have 10,000 points. Following this, I should hit my target on December 20, leaving me with 5 days to account for any mistakes I might make.

Wish me luck.

Disney's Bolt "Watch Your Step" Glitch Fix

I played through Disney's Bolt recently and I found (like most people did) that the Watch Your Step achievement is pretty severely glitched.

The description for the achievement is "Send 25 Calico henchmen through windows or over cliffs", which most people will get naturally through the game - especially if you are spamming the Ground Pound move for Dog Pound. However, the achievement didn't pop for me when it was supposed to, and from browsing the forums it doesn't seem like it did for anyone else either.

There are numerous solutions on the forums at x360a, and by combining the methods there I've found a fairly simple fix. It worked on my current account, and it also worked on a backup profile that I tried it on, so I think it's safe to say it's reliable.

This is what I did. When I got to the "Pound for Pound" stage (the one with all the SUVs) I allowed myself to get run over by each SUV. I only did this when the SUV first appeared (I didn't sit there letting it kill me over and over like some people did) but I did it for each different one. When I got to the flea market area (the one with all the stalls on the waterfront) and that big fat enemy appeared from the alley, I just stood there and let the SUV that comes around the corner hit me and the achievement unlocked.

This worked twice, so I think it's a safe bet to assume that this is a legitimate fix. I just thought that might save people a bit of time who happen to play through this game.

Also, expect a review of this game coming pretty soon.

My Path to 100% Completion in - Prince of Persia (retail)

Ok, so I just got through with the original 1000/1000 in Prince of Persia, and didn't find it to be the walk in the park x360a seemed to think I should. With that in mind, I thought I would make my first post a useful one and give a little guidance about how best to play through the game based on my own experience, so without further ado ...

 

My Path to 100% 

Completion 

 in

Prince of Persia

So I finished the game about ten minutes ago, with about 15 hours of playtime and three different save files. Personally, I didn't find this game to be anywhere near as simple as I was apparently supposed to, so I reasoned it might be a good idea to share some of my strategies for getting through it in the easiest possible way.

I will divide this up into the three save files I had, so there will be three main sections to the post. I'll say which achievements are covered in which, so if you happen to be stuck with something specific then just skip to the relevant section.

First off, these are the saves you need to have.

1) Your main playthrough save.

2) A save at your first encounter with the Concubine.

3) A save just before you enter the Temple after healing all the lands.

Make sure to save at these points and you will have a much easier time going back and cleaning up the miscellaneous achievements. Doing this also limits you to one playthrough, so you don't have to waste another ten hours going back through the game.

Note: This contains spoilers.

Save File 1 - Main Playthrough

When I was playing through the game, I didn't worry about anything other than getting through it and grabbing the missable achievements. I suggest you do the same. I only collected the amount of Light Seeds necessary to progress, so as to make sure I cut down my play time for the Speed Demon achievement. (Note: I didn't do anything specific for Speed Demon, no shortcuts or anything like that, I just played normally and it unlocked as I took the final Light Seed outside to revive Elika.)

As for Be Gentle With Her, I used the save/load strategy detailed in the guide over at x360a rather than gamble a possible 10-hour playthrough on the glitch - I have bad experience with similar glitches in the past. Basically, I saved on every piece of solid ground and reloaded every time I died. I took me a lot longer but it guaranteed me the achievement, so I suppose it was worth it. This achievement also unlocked when I took the final Light Seed out to Elika.

To get the talking-related achievements (Where's That Temple?, Getting to Know You and Good Company) just hit LT to talk to Elika at every opportunity and keep doing it until she has nothing else to say, then move on a bit and when the talk icon appears in the bottom left do it again. I'm pretty sure I got this before the first encounter with the Hunter, but I can't be sure. Either way, I got it really early.

For all the Boss X Special achievements I did them all in my first encounter with each boss because at this point they deflect less and it's just generally easier. Most of them would probably come naturally anyway, but just be aware of them. Also, be sure to make an additional save file when you first encounter the Concubine.

For Speed Kill and Throw Master, there are more than enough enemies in the game to comfortably get both. I did Throw Master first, because after I had got this out of the way I killed almost every enemy before they spawned anyway because they're a fucking nuisance. Be aware that the description in the guide is a little off - when you have them near the edge and you attack, it DOESN'T bring up a button-pressing minigame. Rather, it just shows a little cutscene of the Prince kicking them off the edge. Don't panic like I did when the button prompt doesn't appear, because you will still get the achievement.

Pretty much everything else you will get during the course of the game, that includes In Harmony  and the combat achievements Block Master and Deflect Master. You can miss Improvisor, although it's pretty difficult. I tried for ten minutes to purposely get it, then got it by accident.

After you have healed all the lands and go back to the Temple, don't forget to make an additional save file. We will call this one the "pre-Temple" save.

After you have defeated Elika's father and sealed Ahriman back in his prison, there will be a cutscene in which Elika sacrifices herself to perform the final healing. DO NOT TOUCH YOUR CONTROLLER. After the scene, the Prince will have Elika in his arms. Stay still for a full minute to unlock Precious Time. I missed this because I took a couple of steps after I gained control and had to reload my autosave, so be aware of it.

After cutting down the five trees and heading back outside, I unlocked To Be Continued... during the closing cutscene. Now load up your Concubine save.

Save File 2 - The Concubine (first encounter)

I went for the Sword Master achievement here, for performing a 14-hit combo. It is easiest here because there is nothing to disrupt the combo and the Concubine doesn't really block or deflect your attacks. I stood right at the edge and waited for her to attack, then deflected and started the combo. This is the one I used:

X X X   Y X Y A   Y X Y B  then  A Y X

It should look like this. 

Save File 3 - Pre-Temple

This is the time-consuming part. With this save, I went back and collected all of the Light Seeds, found the two viewpoints (Assassin's View and Titanic View) and the lowest part of the world (Sinking to New Depths!), and did all of the Runner achievements. I found the Runner achievements to be really easy because there were no enemies left and no Corruption, so I just started at one of the locations, set a waypoint for the other and casually made my way over. I had no trouble with any of them.

Collecting the Light Seeds took the most time, but it was made a little less painful by this thread and YouTube. If you are stuck and can't find any help in the linked thread, then go on YouTube and type in "Prince of Persia *insert relevant location* Light Seeds" and it should yield a result. It did for me, anyway.

After you have collected every Light Seed from every area, you should have 1000. The final seed is the one you get from cutting down the fifth tree in the Temple, so you're going to have to do the final scenes again. When I got to Elika's father, I did the Combo Master achievement, for discovering every combo in the game. This took a little time and I probably didn't need to do all of them, but I did just to be safe. I used the list in this thread, pasted it into a Word document and then did them all, marking them off everytime I did one successfully. If the wall or the edge interrupted the combo and brought up the button-pressing minigame, I re-did that combo just to be safe. It took me about half an hour.

I received the final Light Seed when I cut down the fifth tree, and this unlocked my final achievement (Light Seeds Master).

So yeah, 1000/1000 in about 15 hours with some tricky sections and some tiresome collecting, but all in all a good game and a proud completion. I hope this helped some people out.