For completionists sake I'm answering the first two NBI Talkback questions today, because I like to think that I can be both early and late at the same time. :P
NBI Talkback #1: How did #GamerGate affect you?
While it changed Izzy for the better, let Mr Luvvaluvva find more gamers, made WolfDragon feel ashamed, scared Rambling Redshirt and Starshadow and made Belghast and Liore paranoid, I'm afraid I'm in the "it had no effect whatsoever" camp along with Randar, Isey, Partybusiness, Tyrannodorkus and Jeromai. Sure a lot of people posted stuff about it when it was in full swing, but having my entire feed of people talking about something I didn't quite understand? Basically I just ignored all of it as like Tobold says, it's just "feeding trolls".
Since it's actually an NBI topic this year I thought I'd actually try work out what its about though, and guess what?
I still have no clue because it's become so many things. Too many. Whatever identity it was supposed to have is now lost on me and I am pretty much back to not caring as, from my perspective, it just looks like internet arguing.
NBI Talkback #2: Early Access and Kickstarter - Do you support unfinished games?
While I don't pay for any computer games for myself (it's a self imposed rule) as I get plenty gifted to me and know that there are enough F2P titles out there to keep me entertained, I will never purchase an Early Access / Alpha / Beta / Kickstarter as a gift for any of my friends unless they have it on their wishlist.
I feel that ultimately it all comes down to a matter of personal preference and have no issues with Dev's selling said "products" or "ideas of products" if people are willing to pay for them.
The closest example I can think of is something like this: You can sell a car without wheels. Some people will pay you for that, as there are still many parts that are usable. However, just because of that I don't want to assume that all my friends want a car without wheels - no matter how shiny the paint job is or how new the model.
Showing posts with label Tobold. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Tobold. Show all posts
Saturday, 9 May 2015
Wednesday, 12 March 2014
MMOs: A Test of Morals
[Part of my MMO Design Folder]
Isn't playing a mass murderer is fun?
In your entire MMO career, how many pixelated creatures and people have you slain? Just think up a number. I'm guessing it's quite a big number that's come to mind, and that's not entirely your fault given the main focus of most games is combat. I'm guessing the number is higher still in your FPS or RTS careers if you avidly play those too.
Does the game usually give you a good enough reason to kill all these things? Vermin extermination is pretty low in my "heroic goals" list but that seems to frequently come up, as is the "oh no, help defend our village by killing x number of those monsters!" Really? I'll save your village by offing 10 pirates or 20 flaming iguanas... who then respawn in 5 minutes?
More disturbing are the guys that want body parts. Tanners and butchers I can let slide, but when people start asking for paws or ears or eyeballs do you ever stop and wonder what they do with it? Or do you just go at face value of, I need the eyeballs to break a magic spell excuse? Even more concerning is when you are tasked with collecting say... ears, and only pull ONE from a two eared target. MUAHAHAHAAHAHAH this way I get to kill TWICE your number!
I think Tobold said something like this before: that since a game usually focuses only on combat then the players (and by extension the developers) will explore all sorts of options that only deal with that mechanic. I've not yet seen a modern MMO where random NPCs will flee, or surrender, be taken to jail by players, or can be talked to and befriended, all outside set story pieces.
If all the bad guys are just painted as "black" (you racist!)... I mean "bad" and our only possible interaction with them is to kill them in various ways it's not surprising that no one really gives a second thought about mass murder. Hopefully this is something that will be changed in MMOs of the future, but for now as players I think it's best if we just don't think about it and enjoy the visceral hacking, slashing, and exploding of our opponents. That's what heroes are made out of right?
Isn't playing a mass murderer is fun?
In your entire MMO career, how many pixelated creatures and people have you slain? Just think up a number. I'm guessing it's quite a big number that's come to mind, and that's not entirely your fault given the main focus of most games is combat. I'm guessing the number is higher still in your FPS or RTS careers if you avidly play those too.
Does the game usually give you a good enough reason to kill all these things? Vermin extermination is pretty low in my "heroic goals" list but that seems to frequently come up, as is the "oh no, help defend our village by killing x number of those monsters!" Really? I'll save your village by offing 10 pirates or 20 flaming iguanas... who then respawn in 5 minutes?
More disturbing are the guys that want body parts. Tanners and butchers I can let slide, but when people start asking for paws or ears or eyeballs do you ever stop and wonder what they do with it? Or do you just go at face value of, I need the eyeballs to break a magic spell excuse? Even more concerning is when you are tasked with collecting say... ears, and only pull ONE from a two eared target. MUAHAHAHAAHAHAH this way I get to kill TWICE your number!
I think Tobold said something like this before: that since a game usually focuses only on combat then the players (and by extension the developers) will explore all sorts of options that only deal with that mechanic. I've not yet seen a modern MMO where random NPCs will flee, or surrender, be taken to jail by players, or can be talked to and befriended, all outside set story pieces.
If all the bad guys are just painted as "black" (you racist!)... I mean "bad" and our only possible interaction with them is to kill them in various ways it's not surprising that no one really gives a second thought about mass murder. Hopefully this is something that will be changed in MMOs of the future, but for now as players I think it's best if we just don't think about it and enjoy the visceral hacking, slashing, and exploding of our opponents. That's what heroes are made out of right?
Dexter agrees.
Saturday, 28 December 2013
Darklands: Graves of Vengeance
This is part of The Darklands story.
Through another horrible blizzard Tobold and Liore make it to their destination and are rewarded by the Medici for their trouble, using the coin to buy gear and to get new members "Lani Yammob", a 25 year old travelling merchant (and thief) and her companion "Grinmir Grudgely" (wrong spelling for Grimnir - apologies!), a hunter/soldier of 35 years. The Medici had also asked the team to take care of a robber knight in the area and they make that their first stop.
Tobold decides to try use the "Be invited in then kill the host" method he heard from the tales of the two that died at Hoxter, and it works on robber knight Hans Behaim. Alas, the "killing" of the robber knight does not go so smoothly without proper gear and Tobold receives a fatal blow before Grinmir and Lani can finish Hans off.
Enraged, Liore then leads the team back to the nearby hamlet of Hoxter (who were obviously in league with the robber knight), against her companions wishes and demanded vengeance for all the dead. She got her wish, eliminating the evil cultists with ease and then burning their village. They then went to the altar where Liore challenged the resident demon to combat.
The beast accepted, and swiftly tore Lani and Grinmir into pieces before Liore could cudgel it to death. With a scream of rage, Liore vowed to destroy all these unholy abominations and all those who worshiped them.
Through another horrible blizzard Tobold and Liore make it to their destination and are rewarded by the Medici for their trouble, using the coin to buy gear and to get new members "Lani Yammob", a 25 year old travelling merchant (and thief) and her companion "Grinmir Grudgely" (wrong spelling for Grimnir - apologies!), a hunter/soldier of 35 years. The Medici had also asked the team to take care of a robber knight in the area and they make that their first stop.
Tobold decides to try use the "Be invited in then kill the host" method he heard from the tales of the two that died at Hoxter, and it works on robber knight Hans Behaim. Alas, the "killing" of the robber knight does not go so smoothly without proper gear and Tobold receives a fatal blow before Grinmir and Lani can finish Hans off.
Enraged, Liore then leads the team back to the nearby hamlet of Hoxter (who were obviously in league with the robber knight), against her companions wishes and demanded vengeance for all the dead. She got her wish, eliminating the evil cultists with ease and then burning their village. They then went to the altar where Liore challenged the resident demon to combat.
Pretty close to "Get off my lawn!"
The beast accepted, and swiftly tore Lani and Grinmir into pieces before Liore could cudgel it to death. With a scream of rage, Liore vowed to destroy all these unholy abominations and all those who worshiped them.
Friday, 27 December 2013
Darklands: Running like Mad
This is part of The Darklands story.
While taking refuge Jewel and Vagabond are taken under the care of "Liore Herder" a 30 year old nun and her 40 year old mentor "Tobold the Stout", a soldier turned friar who was interested in studies of the occult witches and hence their interest in the pair that survived the High Sabbat. Upon learning of the prayer books wanted by the Medici he convinces the group to go adventuring once more, easily retrieving the items from a den of giant spiders which killed hermit Wipo by running like mad.
Actually there was a lot of running... from bandits, wolves, boars, the wild hunt. It's very hard to put up a defense without basic adventuring gear - the cons of being poor. It is for this reason that they attempted to get the books back to the person that asked for them so that they could get some coin for their trouble.
Their mistake was trying to spend the night in the hamlet of Hoxter while trying to avoid a blizzard. The satanists there attacked the party in their sleep, and their schulz killed both Vagabond and Jewel while capturing the other two. He and his men left them to hang on a nearby tree but fortunately Liore managed to pull herself up and slip her ropes while they were distracted, saving herself and Tobold from an aspyxiating death.
While taking refuge Jewel and Vagabond are taken under the care of "Liore Herder" a 30 year old nun and her 40 year old mentor "Tobold the Stout", a soldier turned friar who was interested in studies of the occult witches and hence their interest in the pair that survived the High Sabbat. Upon learning of the prayer books wanted by the Medici he convinces the group to go adventuring once more, easily retrieving the items from a den of giant spiders which killed hermit Wipo by running like mad.
Actually there was a lot of running... from bandits, wolves, boars, the wild hunt. It's very hard to put up a defense without basic adventuring gear - the cons of being poor. It is for this reason that they attempted to get the books back to the person that asked for them so that they could get some coin for their trouble.
Their mistake was trying to spend the night in the hamlet of Hoxter while trying to avoid a blizzard. The satanists there attacked the party in their sleep, and their schulz killed both Vagabond and Jewel while capturing the other two. He and his men left them to hang on a nearby tree but fortunately Liore managed to pull herself up and slip her ropes while they were distracted, saving herself and Tobold from an aspyxiating death.
Turns out evil chanting is handy after all.
Thursday, 15 August 2013
Disquiet Week
Been pretty silent on the blog this week (mainly for one reason below) so I thought I'd post about a few other games I've come across on my travels.
Ultima Forever
Being a big UO fan I was keeping my hopes up for this one, despite the changes to the realm and the simplification of the game. Now it is finally out and guess what? I can't play it. Yep, they decided to not release it for PC instead going for mobile devices. That's nice, except I don't play games on anything BUT PC. Guess I'm the minority now. Oh well - I suppose it was just not meant to be.
Age of Wushu
After my previous write up (featuring castration!) I decided to give the game the benefit of the doubt and downloaded it via a painfully slow link on their website. What's up with that? It's like they don't want people to play. Age of Conan was a bigger download but finished faster? Anyway the first few screens leave a truck load to be desired. Mabinogi has a better login screen, seriously (Mabinogi also recently got guns... and vespas! o_O). On to the game itself and the graphics and animations seem to be pretty good if you can get past all the people flying around (age of wire-fu). The skill system which is much like Mabi where you train them individually would probably work well too.
However I just couldn't get into it. Maybe because the screen is cluttered with names, clunky controls, or maybe because everything is so reading intensive - even skill names and stances are almost small sentences like "Swallow the Whale". It didn't help that latency is an issue as well. One of the tutorial quests is to learn blocking. Basically you tell an NPC you are ready and press right mouse to block. He punched me three times in the face before it registered that yes, I was -actually- blocking already. I'll try it out a bit more sometime to see if it improves but my first impressions aren't good.
Age of Conan
I've occasionally been posting about this and it seems I've run into the forseen lack of content (solo content anyway) to do at higher levels. Not really a bad thing since it IS an MMORPG after all, but being a loner on a free pvp world does make it a bit more challenging to do group content. They don't joke around about group content either. One of the early ones past Tortage is to defeat a Cock Handler (as in chickens and roosters you gutter minded people). He's only around the mid level 20's. I still can't beat him with my level 51, which is where I think I'll leave my "test"(?) character for now. Should be interesting to see if I get a free level 50 in a few months.
Card Hunter
Tobold has been championing this browser based, tactical game of nostalgia for awhile now. Sorry to say it's not really my cup of tea, but hey it works and it's free. Just don't expect XCOM quality stuff from it, nor any meaningful story to tie all your battles together.
Meanwhile, back at the Queen's Gauntlet in Guildwars 2... "DAMN YOU LIADRI!!!!!" >.<
Ultima Forever
Being a big UO fan I was keeping my hopes up for this one, despite the changes to the realm and the simplification of the game. Now it is finally out and guess what? I can't play it. Yep, they decided to not release it for PC instead going for mobile devices. That's nice, except I don't play games on anything BUT PC. Guess I'm the minority now. Oh well - I suppose it was just not meant to be.
Age of Wushu
After my previous write up (featuring castration!) I decided to give the game the benefit of the doubt and downloaded it via a painfully slow link on their website. What's up with that? It's like they don't want people to play. Age of Conan was a bigger download but finished faster? Anyway the first few screens leave a truck load to be desired. Mabinogi has a better login screen, seriously (Mabinogi also recently got guns... and vespas! o_O). On to the game itself and the graphics and animations seem to be pretty good if you can get past all the people flying around (age of wire-fu). The skill system which is much like Mabi where you train them individually would probably work well too.
However I just couldn't get into it. Maybe because the screen is cluttered with names, clunky controls, or maybe because everything is so reading intensive - even skill names and stances are almost small sentences like "Swallow the Whale". It didn't help that latency is an issue as well. One of the tutorial quests is to learn blocking. Basically you tell an NPC you are ready and press right mouse to block. He punched me three times in the face before it registered that yes, I was -actually- blocking already. I'll try it out a bit more sometime to see if it improves but my first impressions aren't good.
Age of Conan
I've occasionally been posting about this and it seems I've run into the forseen lack of content (solo content anyway) to do at higher levels. Not really a bad thing since it IS an MMORPG after all, but being a loner on a free pvp world does make it a bit more challenging to do group content. They don't joke around about group content either. One of the early ones past Tortage is to defeat a Cock Handler (as in chickens and roosters you gutter minded people). He's only around the mid level 20's. I still can't beat him with my level 51, which is where I think I'll leave my "test"(?) character for now. Should be interesting to see if I get a free level 50 in a few months.
Card Hunter
Tobold has been championing this browser based, tactical game of nostalgia for awhile now. Sorry to say it's not really my cup of tea, but hey it works and it's free. Just don't expect XCOM quality stuff from it, nor any meaningful story to tie all your battles together.
Oh no. A 2 dimensional dragon.
Sunday, 28 April 2013
Devils in the Torchlight
Been going through Diablo 3 and Torchlight 2 (pretty much a Diablo clone) on and off with my guildies and I've gotta say these two similar games so I thought I'd write up a quick comparison review.
Style and Story:
While both have the mostly unchangable eagle-eye camera view during gameplay, Torchlight 2 takes the more cartoony approach to its graphics and very rare (and flash like) cutscene(s). I prefer the sharp grittiness of Diablo 3, and the cool story and uber awesome cutscenes that go with it. Blizzard has pretty much perfected that part. :P
Places to See, Things to Do:
D3 has a mostly procedurally generated map. It and the baddies repopulate each time you start a session it seems. This is cool in that you can run into some interesting traps and people you haven't met before. However given it's nature, there is no real point (other than farming) to enter non-main story related instances. Even if you do it's not like it will matter because that dungeon you cleared may not even exist in the next session anyway.
T2 has a set map, even for its dungeons I think which means you can memorize paths and where secret rooms are etc. The baddies actually do respawn (not sure on the timer, possibly 1hr or some other trigger) within a single session, but the difference is that every dungeon actually has a purpose, a quest, or quest item that you need/probably want. Sure the monsters can respawn after and you can go back to farm but once you're done with a dungeon there's that sense of accomplishment that you don't need to go back in there again. For me T2 wins this section.
Party and Levels:
In D3 it allows for a party of 4 to face the demons of hell, give or take some NPCs depending on your current quest. Also, XP gain is scaled so that a lev 20 party killing low level scum will get minimal XP. Unfortunately if you have a lev 1 joining the lev 20 it means the lev 1 character will also get minimal XP, which actually encourages people to play solo instead of co-op.
T2 on the other hand seems to adjust XP gain based on an individual level (instead of a party level like D3), meaning it's easier to level up a low level buddy as they are getting full XP for each critter kill. It also allows up to 6 people to party up. This doesn't really affect single player people but for us where we like being in a team (and levelling up our allies to our level) this method obviously works better.
Difficulty:
As a group neither game is actually overly difficult. Had more deaths in T2 simply because it lets us go straight to the "elite" mode that we enjoy. D3 however forces people to play through "normal" mode first, and upon each completion of the game unlocks a harder tier. Tobold put up a post on Unlockable Difficulty and I pretty much agree with him in that it's a stupid idea. Once I've finished the plot line, what's the point in playing it again? Grinding numbers?
The D3 developers were either very lazy, or very arrogant in thinking theirs is the only game in town in this regard. With so many other games to play, I've seen no reason yet to replay this one. T2 definitely wins this category.
Bonus Stuff:
D3 has the Auction House which is pretty nifty though self defeating in my opinion. After looking at the wares available I've concluded that crafting, buying stuff from NPCs and grinding through all the random, non essential dungeons is a waste of time. Why would you bother when you can deck yourself out in full unique gear for an ultimately paltry sum of gold? Still, I like it since it saves time and puts all those coins to work.
T2 has no auction house or crafting meaning all those loot drops are slightly more important because you WILL need to find better gear (encouraging you to venture into all those dungeons). However what it does have are PETS. Everyone starts with a cute pet NPC who helps carry stuff, fight, and most importantly can go back to town on their own to SELL AND BUY stuff. This is frigging fantastic since it means the flow of combat doesn't need to be broken by merchanting runs back to town.
So, in the end while both games are pretty cool and both fun, in the end I think Torchlight II is simply better designed overall, which is kinda wierd when you think about it.
Style and Story:
While both have the mostly unchangable eagle-eye camera view during gameplay, Torchlight 2 takes the more cartoony approach to its graphics and very rare (and flash like) cutscene(s). I prefer the sharp grittiness of Diablo 3, and the cool story and uber awesome cutscenes that go with it. Blizzard has pretty much perfected that part. :P
Places to See, Things to Do:
D3 has a mostly procedurally generated map. It and the baddies repopulate each time you start a session it seems. This is cool in that you can run into some interesting traps and people you haven't met before. However given it's nature, there is no real point (other than farming) to enter non-main story related instances. Even if you do it's not like it will matter because that dungeon you cleared may not even exist in the next session anyway.
T2 has a set map, even for its dungeons I think which means you can memorize paths and where secret rooms are etc. The baddies actually do respawn (not sure on the timer, possibly 1hr or some other trigger) within a single session, but the difference is that every dungeon actually has a purpose, a quest, or quest item that you need/probably want. Sure the monsters can respawn after and you can go back to farm but once you're done with a dungeon there's that sense of accomplishment that you don't need to go back in there again. For me T2 wins this section.
Party and Levels:
In D3 it allows for a party of 4 to face the demons of hell, give or take some NPCs depending on your current quest. Also, XP gain is scaled so that a lev 20 party killing low level scum will get minimal XP. Unfortunately if you have a lev 1 joining the lev 20 it means the lev 1 character will also get minimal XP, which actually encourages people to play solo instead of co-op.
T2 on the other hand seems to adjust XP gain based on an individual level (instead of a party level like D3), meaning it's easier to level up a low level buddy as they are getting full XP for each critter kill. It also allows up to 6 people to party up. This doesn't really affect single player people but for us where we like being in a team (and levelling up our allies to our level) this method obviously works better.
Difficulty:
As a group neither game is actually overly difficult. Had more deaths in T2 simply because it lets us go straight to the "elite" mode that we enjoy. D3 however forces people to play through "normal" mode first, and upon each completion of the game unlocks a harder tier. Tobold put up a post on Unlockable Difficulty and I pretty much agree with him in that it's a stupid idea. Once I've finished the plot line, what's the point in playing it again? Grinding numbers?
The D3 developers were either very lazy, or very arrogant in thinking theirs is the only game in town in this regard. With so many other games to play, I've seen no reason yet to replay this one. T2 definitely wins this category.
Bonus Stuff:
D3 has the Auction House which is pretty nifty though self defeating in my opinion. After looking at the wares available I've concluded that crafting, buying stuff from NPCs and grinding through all the random, non essential dungeons is a waste of time. Why would you bother when you can deck yourself out in full unique gear for an ultimately paltry sum of gold? Still, I like it since it saves time and puts all those coins to work.
T2 has no auction house or crafting meaning all those loot drops are slightly more important because you WILL need to find better gear (encouraging you to venture into all those dungeons). However what it does have are PETS. Everyone starts with a cute pet NPC who helps carry stuff, fight, and most importantly can go back to town on their own to SELL AND BUY stuff. This is frigging fantastic since it means the flow of combat doesn't need to be broken by merchanting runs back to town.
So, in the end while both games are pretty cool and both fun, in the end I think Torchlight II is simply better designed overall, which is kinda wierd when you think about it.
Thursday, 28 February 2013
A Touch of Wizardry
After hearing about this free MMO on Tobold's blog, I figured I'd try it out for myself to find just how "bad" it can really be. This was obviously a mistake because after hearing the fantastic login music I was hooked, and what was meant to be a short experiment is kinda growing into something I have to make a journal for. As usual possible spoilers ahead! :P
Without further ado: Wizardry Online.
I've also decided to start up a Cartography Project for the dungeons in the game. Please follow this link to get to the maps!
Prologue:
Having received reports of mana being drained in another far off continent, I suspected the possibility of another elder dragon awakening. Due to the guild still needing me here though I sent three of my trusted allies to investigate on my behalf, bearing the old Shiercoin banner (Shircoin due to game limit) I once used a long time ago. These were Caanon, a giant of a man proficient in close combat, Thanam a quiet elven thief, and my apprentice Selenka - who I hear has once again been lax in her sword play and instead is pursuing the arts of magic once more. Wish she'd make up her mind. Anyway, I've instructed them to keep me up to date with any and all events there incase I need to intervene personally.
Chapters:
1. Arriving at a New Adventure: Port Illfalo
2. Bounty Hunting in the Caligrase Sewers
3. Deadly Streets: Kaoka Parrej Ruins
4. Wizards of Deltis Keep
5. Trials at the Golden Dragon Ruins
6. Haunting Chikor Castle
7. Entrance to the Aria Reservoir
8. Aria Reservoir: the Core of Evil
9. Training to face Oblivion
10. Watching the Wall of Death
11. Dangerous Assistance
12. Old Sewers: New Trials
13. Lost Souls
14. Ghost Town
Without further ado: Wizardry Online.
I've also decided to start up a Cartography Project for the dungeons in the game. Please follow this link to get to the maps!
Prologue:
Having received reports of mana being drained in another far off continent, I suspected the possibility of another elder dragon awakening. Due to the guild still needing me here though I sent three of my trusted allies to investigate on my behalf, bearing the old Shiercoin banner (Shircoin due to game limit) I once used a long time ago. These were Caanon, a giant of a man proficient in close combat, Thanam a quiet elven thief, and my apprentice Selenka - who I hear has once again been lax in her sword play and instead is pursuing the arts of magic once more. Wish she'd make up her mind. Anyway, I've instructed them to keep me up to date with any and all events there incase I need to intervene personally.
Chapters:
1. Arriving at a New Adventure: Port Illfalo
2. Bounty Hunting in the Caligrase Sewers
3. Deadly Streets: Kaoka Parrej Ruins
4. Wizards of Deltis Keep
5. Trials at the Golden Dragon Ruins
6. Haunting Chikor Castle
7. Entrance to the Aria Reservoir
8. Aria Reservoir: the Core of Evil
9. Training to face Oblivion
10. Watching the Wall of Death
11. Dangerous Assistance
12. Old Sewers: New Trials
13. Lost Souls
14. Ghost Town
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