With the start of the new year, I will once again take a brief look at my ten most popular blogs of the past year (thanks to the cool tools available through Google Analytics. I’m really curious to see which old blogs are still getting activity, and which new ones were strong enough to make their way into the top ten. Before I get into that, I just want to spout out some statistical info:

• My site had 69,771 unique visitors over the past year
• 9,536 of these visitors liked my blog so much that they became repeat visitors
• 42,852 of these viewers found my blog off of a typical Google search, while 16,831 came across my site via StumbleUpon
• 42,969 visitors were from the United States, 6,282 were from Canada and 5,536 were rocking from the UK
• The average visitor spent 31 seconds looking at a particular post before leaving the site
•  31,240 visitors used Firefox, 20,858 used Chrome, 11,540 used Internet Explorer and 8,665 used Safari (I wonder if next year will be the year that Safari beats IE)

It took us almost two years, and 80+hours, but Steve and I finally got around to beating Sacred 2 together today. While it was probably my sixth time, it was his first time, and my first time in co-op. We spent a lot of time roaming, exploring, side questing, and grinding, and today it all paid off.

When we first started, he was a Shadow Warrior and I was a Inquisitor. As we got into the game, I realized that I did not like the Inquisitor too much. So on the side I began leveling up a High Elf, and once she was the same level as our previous characters, I began using her in co-op. So I spent about 20 hours of the game as an Inquisitor, and over 60 hours as the High Elf.

It took us such a long time due to a few reasons. The game wasn’t as fun to play on a SDTV, since it was hard to see. The online game was also very glitchy, and since he was the host, I was always freezing up, or our headsets would suddenly stop working, or the game would lag and I would die out of nowhere. A great example of this is that Steve’s game froze today during the ending cutscene, after we beat the final boss. Plus it was always hard to find a time when both of us could play.

So today ends our co-op quest for Sacred 2. Sadly, this is probably one of the last times I’ll touch the game, especially since I already got the Platinum for it. It was a really good multiplayer RPG, but had some technical flaws (and financial problems) that stopped it from being perfect. The next game on the agenda is Borderlands, which I’m looking forward to getting back into, and going through in co-op.

Last January, I checked out my top ten most viewed blog posts ranging from when the site started in April 2009 until January 2010. Today I was using Google Analytics to see how my site traffic has been the past week, and I decided to see how it was for all of 2010. While some of my posts continue to be popular, it seems that some new ones from the past year have swooped in and usurped some of my posts from 2009. So without further ado, here are my Top Ten Blogs of 2010 (in order of visits received):

1. Geocache Adventure #13: Return (again) to Schodack Town Park

Surprisingly, my last geocache adventure was not only the most popular of them all, but it also dragged in the most traffic to my site in 2010. To add to that craziness, I published that blog on September 22, 2010.

2. Sacred 2 Character Build Guide: Shadow Warrior

This is not a surprise, as it was ranked #3 on last year’s list. I’m glad to know that I can still draw in the Sacred 2 crowds.

3. Sacred 2 Character Build Guide: High Elf

This blog gained some popularity, as it was ranked #10 last year.

4. Geocache Adventure #1: East Greenbush Town Park

Ahhh, my first geocache adventure…the one that got me hooked on the hobby.

5. Explanation of Combat Arts/ Skills in Sacred 2

Yup, Sacred 2 sure draws a crowd on my site. This particular post took a big dive, since it was my top traffic gainer in 2009.

6. Captain Morgan’s Lime Bite

Can’t go wrong with Captain Morgan, and I’m really surprised this simple review of their new mixer is so popular

7. The Unfortunate Series Finale of My Name is Earl

I was really upset to find out that the show got canned without being able to receive a true final season. I’m still hoping that they will reunite and get one last season in. It’s not like Jason Lee has anything better to do…(cough) (cough) David Seville (cough)

8. King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters (or Losers)

As much as I hated that jerk Billy with his greasy hair, I did indeed enjoy the documentary. With this new contender entering the arena (I think he’s Korean), I would love to see a sequel.

9. Book Review: Resistance: Gathering Storm

Not the best book I ever read, but it did breathe some new life into the world of Resistance. I’m glad to see it continues to be popular on my blog, as it was ranked #6 in 2009. I would have liked to have seen more books, and hopefully another one will be written soon with Resistance 3 on the way this year.

10. PS3 Review: Aliens vs. Predator

Of all my game reviews, I’m surprised that this one made it out on top…and I’m glad that one of my game reviews did make it to the Top Ten.

So those are my Top Ten Posts of 2010. Some have been staples since the beginning, such as my Sacred 2 posts, and others came as complete surprises, particularly my blog about the Captain’s Lime Bite. I’m also glad to see that geocaching has been getting me some traffic, as I enjoy writing up those stories. I’ll be curious to see what happens this year, and how this list will look when I post The Top Ten Posts of 2011.

After a several month hiatus, crazysteve and I finally got our gaming time down together and returned to Sacred 2. Earlier today we were trying to figure out how far we had left to go in the main quest…I thought we were in the jungle area and he thought we were in the underground lava area. We were both wrong, as I loaded up my character (level 54 High Elf; Steve has a level 57 Shadow Warrior) to find that we were 89.9% through the main quest, and were actually on the elf island, which is the area right before the final area.

I was a bit rusty, as I had all my combat arts mapped up as combos, and it took me some time and experimentation to figure out what did what, but eventually I was casting fireballs and snowstorms around like it was nobody’s business. Man I love this game, and it’s a shame that it received such poor support after its release. The consoles really need another good hack and slash/dungeon crawler like this, and I’m hoping that either Dungeon Siege III lives up to this, or that Diablo III finds its way to consoles. Otherwise, I’ll probably just keep crawling back to Sacred 2.

Ive had the site since April, and I was curious to see what my top ten blogs were. So I went into my Google Analytics records and checked it out. I love using Google Analytics, and its so much easier than trying to read the reports from Blue Host. I knew two of the posts would be up there, but others were quite a surprise.

1.Explanation of Combat Arts in Sacred 2

This came as no surprise. I knew from looking at other reports that this was my most popular post. I think I did a search to see why, and there is some combination you could put in about Sacred 2 and combat arts that landed me on page one on google.

2. Whale Wars Sucks

This also was not a big surprise, and was the post that had the most random comments. If you google the term whale wars sucks, I come up at number four, which is awesome. Man, I hate that show…

3. My Shadow Warrior Character Build Guide

Another post I knew was very popular. I had made a build guide for the Shadow Warrior in Sacred 2, who seems to be the most popular character to play as. Thus, this was a pretty big hit on my blog.

4. My Announcement of Future Character Builds in Sacred 2

For some reason, a post about what I intended to do in the future made it to my number four most popular post. It doesnt really do much but say “hey, pretty soon I will start making some character build guides.”

5. Axis & Allies 50th Anniversary Edition

This one was a surprise. I didnt even play the game…I just commented on how cool it looks and how much I would love to play it. Man, I need to get some nerd friends up here to play a game of A&A…

6. Resistance: Gathering Storm Book Review

This one was also a surprise. I dont know how it got on here, but my little review of a fairly unpopular book (as far as I can tell) made it to #6 on my blog. Bravo Resistance. Bravo.

7. My Guess At an NHL Announcement

This post makes me laugh. In July the NHL announced that it would make a major announcement at Fenway Park. Common sense told me that that would be the location of the 2010 Winter Classic, and I indeed was correct in my guess. The best part is that this post did not get popular until December, when the Winter Classic was approaching.

8. Batman: Arkham Asylum Demo Review

This only cracks me up because my review of the demo is more popular than my first impressions of the full game… Hmmm, I just realized that I never wrote up a full review of the game…

9.  Wolverine Game Review

This came as a complete surprise. I didnt notice that my review of the Wolverine game was this high up on my blog.

10. My High Elf Character Build Guide

I thought this one was going to be more popular. Its my build guide for the High Elf in Sacred 2.

So there you have it, my top 10 most popular posts. Thanks for looking, and I look forward to seeing how it changes in the coming months.

It took me over two hundred hours of play time across many months, but as of today I have FINALLY received the platinum trophy for Sacred 2, making it my third platinum.

In case you forgot, I was stuck at 93% complete, only missing the Legendary Toughness trophy, which is the trophy acquired for beating the game on Platinum difficulty and starting a new game on Niobium difficulty. I had gotten to the final boss battle on Platinum, but was too weak to defeat the four bosses, and my level 75 Shadow Warrior was dying in one to two hits. Thus, I knew I couldnt do it on my own.

I will admit I cheated a bit. From time to time, I would pop on Sacred 2 to see if anyone within my level range was online playing Niobium difficulty. If that was the case, I would be able to join that game and get the last trophy. For the longest time I have been unable to find anyone. Then today, Steve and I decided to resume our game with our level 50 characters (mine is a High Elf in that game). I decided to check out the servers first before starting up with Steve, and to my pleasure I found that there was in deed someone playing Niobium difficulty within my level. So I jumped into his game, and got the trophies. Badabing, badaboom. It was awesome.

I feel so accomplished, even though I cheated a bit. That 93% complete was killing me, and I felt that I put more than enough time into that game to warrant the platinum trophy. Like I said, that makes three for me now, which is awesome. I have no idea what my next one will be…

Teachers have got it made. Im out of school by 2:30, I have the entire summer off, I get paid to be a nerd…and I get to take off for Jewish holidays! This Monday is Yom Kippur, and both the high school and the college are closed. SCORE!!!\

How do I plan on celebrating this oh most holy day? I do actually have a plan.

• Finish up a paper from one of my summer classes
• Platinum out Sacred 2
• Get a bunch of trophies in MUA2
• Read 1/2 the book I need to read for my history class
• Start watching the Ken Burns Civil War special

Wow…I got a busy day planned. I dont know how much I’ll actually get done, but the only two I know I definitely am going to hit up are the first two. That paper should have been done in June, but when the professor told me I had until November to do it, well how could I resist? Im such a procrastinator. And as far as Sacred 2 goes, Im on the last part of the game. All I gotta do is climb up the mountain to the Windswept Fortress, take down the Inquisitor, and then defeat the Nameless Guardian four times. Then BAM! I get my platinum. Good stuff indeed.

Yup, this morning not only did I find Amantin’s Legplates (giving me the entire set), but I also finished my gold campaign, and started the platinum difficulty campaign (my Shadow Warrior is currently level 71). So now all I have to do is rock through platinum, complete it, and then start a niobium difficulty campaign, and I will have myself my second Platinum trophy.

Man, Im such a trophy whore…

One of the toughest bronze trophies is the City Guide. You really have to explore the whole map to find them all, and the confusing thing is that its hard to tell whats considered a town and whats not. I originally had a list of over 70 possibilities, but was able to whittle it down. So below I have a list of each region, followed by all the towns that count towards it. You can use this map from the Sacred wiki to find where each town is located.

If you read my other post, then you know of the hardship I endured attempting to get the “Survival” trophy for Sacred 2. Well, I got it last night. I think my problem the last time was that I concentrated too much on combat art regen. This time, I took the hit for slower regen, in exchange for better defensive armor. Also, when facing the four Guardians, I fought them one at a time after drawing them into the hallway, and they fell pretty easily.

Anywho, Im pretty close to snagging the Platinum trophy in the game. Just a few more trophies I have to get. The three annoying ones will be the ones in which I have to visit all the towns, visit all the Temples of the Gods, and acquire a complete armor set. So far Im pretty close, only missing one piece for Armitin, and two of each for Denderan and Lucretia.

After that, the only two left are to start a game on platinum difficulty, and then finally to start a game on Niobium. I think Im going to chill in gold difficulty right now and attempt to find all the towns and temples. I think I found most, but I definitly missed some in the Lizard area, which I still have to reach (Im in the underground section of Seraphin Island right now.) Hopefully by then I will also have found a complete set, and I’ll be golden.

Once I get those three trophies, I will breeze through and finish gold, and then start and finish platinum. Then I will be set, and will snag my second Platinum trophy.