That's me lately, preoccupied with lots of stuff for the holidays.
I haven't had too much time to focus on the blog, but since you guys are probably busy with your own holiday-related stuff, you probably haven't noticed!
But for now, an update on what I'm playing as of late:
Saints Row 3, which is just plain awesome fun.
Skyrim, of course.
And aside from those I've just been playing random flash games, which are always fun and free (usually).
Monday, December 19, 2011
Tuesday, December 13, 2011
My D3 Beta Review
So we got an invite to play the D3 Beta, and after beating it (many, many times) I am here to offer my review.
First of all let's get this out of the way: I was absolutely hooked on D2x. I had several 90+ characters, decked out in runeword items, had rush characters and MF characters and duel characters, etc. I was, for better or for worse, an addict.
One day, I somehow kicked the habit. And now I look forward to being addicted to Diablo 3, as I can tell from the beta that I probably will be.
Let me start off by saying the developers did an amazing job from what I've seen so far. The combat is fluid, the game play is polished, and the advancement system seems to work.
Now, the only thing at this point that I am unsure of, is the cash auction house. You heard me right, cash money auctions. Players will be able to sell their hard earned items for real cash. This is going to turn into either a blessing or a curse. But only time will tell which.
Other than that minute worry, I am very pleased with how this game is turning out.
Advancement
At first glance, I was shocked and appalled by the advancement system. I said what no doubt many others have said or will say, "They took away all the freedom!" But after leveling to the cap (level 13, at the time of writing) I walked away very satisfied. Even at such a low level the amount of unique builds for each class are plentiful.
Basically, each class earns the same skill set as they level up. But you only have a total of 7 skill slots to allot any of your 30 or so available skills. "Respecs" are free, and only require a trip into town. This creates a situation in which you gear up for your favorite build as you move into endgame. Ultimately I think this creates a decent amount of freedom, and switches the focus to your items, which for a Diablo game is paramount.
Items
Obviously, items are Diablo's trademark. The randomized stats meant there was almost always room for upgrading, and that may have been part of what gave D2x such longevity. They're back in the newest addition to the Diablo franchise, and so far as I can tell, they've done it right.
In fact, there's already a lot of decent rares on sale in the auction house!
Item customization is available, not just in terms of randomized stats, but also that you can socket them, or enchant them. Speaking of enchanting, did I mention crafting?! Yes, there's crafting, and so far I've got nothing negative to say about the system.
Gameplay (In other words: Combat)
As I said before, the game doesn't lack polish. It's fluid and its paced very well. I'm still not bored of slaughtering the same enemies I've already seen over and over, half for the off-chance that I find a rare item with my measly 40% magic find, and half just because playing my demon hunter feels bad ass.
I can't wait to experiment with runestones and different builds, and I definitely can't wait to try my hand at soloing Inferno difficulty.
Overall
All in all, this is shaping up to be the Diablo sequel I've been hoping for. Hurry up Blizzard! I'm getting the itch!
First of all let's get this out of the way: I was absolutely hooked on D2x. I had several 90+ characters, decked out in runeword items, had rush characters and MF characters and duel characters, etc. I was, for better or for worse, an addict.
One day, I somehow kicked the habit. And now I look forward to being addicted to Diablo 3, as I can tell from the beta that I probably will be.
Let me start off by saying the developers did an amazing job from what I've seen so far. The combat is fluid, the game play is polished, and the advancement system seems to work.
Now, the only thing at this point that I am unsure of, is the cash auction house. You heard me right, cash money auctions. Players will be able to sell their hard earned items for real cash. This is going to turn into either a blessing or a curse. But only time will tell which.
Other than that minute worry, I am very pleased with how this game is turning out.
Advancement
At first glance, I was shocked and appalled by the advancement system. I said what no doubt many others have said or will say, "They took away all the freedom!" But after leveling to the cap (level 13, at the time of writing) I walked away very satisfied. Even at such a low level the amount of unique builds for each class are plentiful.
Basically, each class earns the same skill set as they level up. But you only have a total of 7 skill slots to allot any of your 30 or so available skills. "Respecs" are free, and only require a trip into town. This creates a situation in which you gear up for your favorite build as you move into endgame. Ultimately I think this creates a decent amount of freedom, and switches the focus to your items, which for a Diablo game is paramount.
Items
Obviously, items are Diablo's trademark. The randomized stats meant there was almost always room for upgrading, and that may have been part of what gave D2x such longevity. They're back in the newest addition to the Diablo franchise, and so far as I can tell, they've done it right.
In fact, there's already a lot of decent rares on sale in the auction house!
Item customization is available, not just in terms of randomized stats, but also that you can socket them, or enchant them. Speaking of enchanting, did I mention crafting?! Yes, there's crafting, and so far I've got nothing negative to say about the system.
Gameplay (In other words: Combat)
As I said before, the game doesn't lack polish. It's fluid and its paced very well. I'm still not bored of slaughtering the same enemies I've already seen over and over, half for the off-chance that I find a rare item with my measly 40% magic find, and half just because playing my demon hunter feels bad ass.
I can't wait to experiment with runestones and different builds, and I definitely can't wait to try my hand at soloing Inferno difficulty.
Overall
All in all, this is shaping up to be the Diablo sequel I've been hoping for. Hurry up Blizzard! I'm getting the itch!
The Results of the Poll Are In! (Genre)
So according to the very small amount of people who answered the survey, it was a toss-up between sword and sorcery, and high fantasy.
Both are very similar, so we'll just assume that most people expect MMORPGs to be of the fantasy variety. And that's understandable - most of them are. Deviating from the norm can sometimes be successful, but in our perfect game I'll agree that, for the genre, let's stick to what we know.
Fantasy, for all intents and purposes, is a catch-all genre. We can, and will, do whatever we want or need to do. If we had a realistic MMORPG, it would be very difficult to explain instant travel, or the fact that we seem to have an endless supply of wolves and ogres to kill.
Anyway, for the next poll, what I want to ask you guys is how you feel about classes? I'm talking about character classes of course, and so the question I'm asking you is do you prefer classless advancement systems, or class systems?
If you prefer no classes, do you like advancement to be streamlined? Or do you like micromanagement?
If you prefer classes, do you prefer lots of class choices, or minimal classes?
This may sound funny, but after much thought on the subject, I personally prefer classes - and lots of them. Balancing is always an issue, no matter which direction you choose to go in. But with lots of classes, I'm almost guaranteed to feel unique in-game. That's just my opinion, though, and I'm really interested in your opinion! So the poll will be up on the right hand side soon, vote!
Both are very similar, so we'll just assume that most people expect MMORPGs to be of the fantasy variety. And that's understandable - most of them are. Deviating from the norm can sometimes be successful, but in our perfect game I'll agree that, for the genre, let's stick to what we know.
Fantasy, for all intents and purposes, is a catch-all genre. We can, and will, do whatever we want or need to do. If we had a realistic MMORPG, it would be very difficult to explain instant travel, or the fact that we seem to have an endless supply of wolves and ogres to kill.
Anyway, for the next poll, what I want to ask you guys is how you feel about classes? I'm talking about character classes of course, and so the question I'm asking you is do you prefer classless advancement systems, or class systems?
If you prefer no classes, do you like advancement to be streamlined? Or do you like micromanagement?
If you prefer classes, do you prefer lots of class choices, or minimal classes?
This may sound funny, but after much thought on the subject, I personally prefer classes - and lots of them. Balancing is always an issue, no matter which direction you choose to go in. But with lots of classes, I'm almost guaranteed to feel unique in-game. That's just my opinion, though, and I'm really interested in your opinion! So the poll will be up on the right hand side soon, vote!
Not Abandoned!
I swear I haven't abandoned the blog. It's the holidays and I've been absolutely swamped lately. I promise you more content soon! You can't get me to throw in the towel that easily :P
Thursday, November 10, 2011
So Many Good Games...
It's going to be hard to get me to write new articles for the next few days - what with Skyrim, Minecraft's official release, and MW3 to play. Not to mention my new found addiction in AoC:Unchained.
I don't think many people realize this, but Minecraft could teach the MMORPG industry a thing or two. The level of freedom it gives its players in unsurpassed in games today - and it's so open ended and flexible that it can be modded to create whole new games.
For example: currency (I'll do a longer post on this subject soon). I remember in D2 when gold became so abundant that it really didn't matter, people began using runes as currency. I enjoyed that! It may not have been a perfect economy, but the fact that the players invented it was interesting, and it kept things flowing. In Minecraft, there is no currency, so players must invent a system of currency that works for them.
Anyway, I'll try to keep writing during breaks from the aforementioned games. In the meantime, happy gaming!
I don't think many people realize this, but Minecraft could teach the MMORPG industry a thing or two. The level of freedom it gives its players in unsurpassed in games today - and it's so open ended and flexible that it can be modded to create whole new games.
For example: currency (I'll do a longer post on this subject soon). I remember in D2 when gold became so abundant that it really didn't matter, people began using runes as currency. I enjoyed that! It may not have been a perfect economy, but the fact that the players invented it was interesting, and it kept things flowing. In Minecraft, there is no currency, so players must invent a system of currency that works for them.
Anyway, I'll try to keep writing during breaks from the aforementioned games. In the meantime, happy gaming!
Wednesday, November 9, 2011
The Paradox of Choice
In this TEDtalks video, Barry Schwartz tells us how the abundance of choice can cause indecisiveness, and a feeling that something you've chosen is not quite as good as another option.
This is relevant to MMORPGs in a couple of ways, the first being that there is a growing number of games to choose from. Each time we play a new MMORPG, we may not be able to help feeling like there might be something better out there. This can hurt our ability to sit and actually enjoy a game for what it is. As this game market grows, we become more analytical of our selections (given that we have more to compare them to).
The second is related to in-game freedom. As Mr. Shwartz points out early in the video, freedom is the equivalent to more choices. When we play a theme park game, we are more likely to feel like we made the right decision, because there are so few choices available. But in a sandbox game, with so many choices, people may find it difficult to choose at all.
Watch the video and tell me what you think. Keep in mind that he is not saying that more choices is a completely negative thing, but that there are some negatives involved with giving people more choices.
Tuesday, November 8, 2011
Trying out a number of MMOs
Lately, I've gotten the itch to play something new. The current list of PC games that I play includes no MMORPGs; I had just been burnt out on the disappointments of whats available.
But this blog has made me want to jump back into the fray. Here's a quick rundown of what I've tried out in the last week:
Lineage 2 - This one was pretty awesome, until I used a scroll that's usage wasn't clearly outlined and ended up far from my level-appropriate zone. The roads back were guarded by monsters who were obviously more powerful than my character, so on the run back I was killed so many times that I just decided to put L2 away for now. I'm not saying L2 is a bad game - it seemed like it would be excellent, I'm just taking a break due to frustration.
Vindictus - The first thing that bothered me about this title was that you are confined to a single town. Nevertheless, I spent a long time playing this one. The combat system and destructible environments were enough to keep me interested for a little while. However, I feel that this game doesn't have much else to offer; but I'll keep playing on and off to be sure.
Eden Eternal - I couldn't get this one to patch properly, so I never actually got to play it. It seems promising, but I won't know until the devs fix the patcher.
Mortal Online - This one has potential. But my foray into the MO world was a horrible experience, and I won't be returning to it for a long while. Reading through reviews and their website had me thinking this could be the sandbox experience I was hoping for. But the game is glitchy, and combat was very clunky. I'm keeping this game on my watch-list however, and I may return to it in the future - especially if they convert to F2P.
The last one I checked out is Age of Conan: Unchained. This one was pretty satisfying, though its the exact opposite of sandbox. But so far its a decent game, and worth checking out especially since its gone F2P. My absolute favorite thing about it is the polished environments; everything is very detailed.
So that's it so far, but I'm still on the lookout for good games to try (especially ones with a trial, or F2P option). If you have any recommendations, let me know!
On my to-try list: Wurm Online, Ryzom.
But this blog has made me want to jump back into the fray. Here's a quick rundown of what I've tried out in the last week:
Lineage 2 - This one was pretty awesome, until I used a scroll that's usage wasn't clearly outlined and ended up far from my level-appropriate zone. The roads back were guarded by monsters who were obviously more powerful than my character, so on the run back I was killed so many times that I just decided to put L2 away for now. I'm not saying L2 is a bad game - it seemed like it would be excellent, I'm just taking a break due to frustration.
Vindictus - The first thing that bothered me about this title was that you are confined to a single town. Nevertheless, I spent a long time playing this one. The combat system and destructible environments were enough to keep me interested for a little while. However, I feel that this game doesn't have much else to offer; but I'll keep playing on and off to be sure.
Eden Eternal - I couldn't get this one to patch properly, so I never actually got to play it. It seems promising, but I won't know until the devs fix the patcher.
Mortal Online - This one has potential. But my foray into the MO world was a horrible experience, and I won't be returning to it for a long while. Reading through reviews and their website had me thinking this could be the sandbox experience I was hoping for. But the game is glitchy, and combat was very clunky. I'm keeping this game on my watch-list however, and I may return to it in the future - especially if they convert to F2P.
The last one I checked out is Age of Conan: Unchained. This one was pretty satisfying, though its the exact opposite of sandbox. But so far its a decent game, and worth checking out especially since its gone F2P. My absolute favorite thing about it is the polished environments; everything is very detailed.
So that's it so far, but I'm still on the lookout for good games to try (especially ones with a trial, or F2P option). If you have any recommendations, let me know!
On my to-try list: Wurm Online, Ryzom.
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