August 2019 Review

Wilhelm aka the Ancient Gaming Noob has an interesting Blaugust 2019 post about having review posts to better steer and refine his blog. Since I've already been doing a monthly "to do list" post routine I thought this would be a good time to add this data underneath and see how it goes. He does have way more experience at this than me after all! That also means I'll be doing these at the end of the months, rather than the beginning.

    End 2019 with less weight (0 kg from last month, running total: +5 kg)
    Make board game prototype (no progress)
    Complete web comic chapter 1 (worldbuilding planning)
    Clean out wardrobe (done)
    Clean the roof (no progress)

BACKLOG
Baldur's Gate 2 (done)
Witcher 3: The Wild Hunt
Enderal
Borderlands 2
Icewind Dale
Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice
Neverwinter Online: Uprising (0/2)

Board games:
Zombicide: Black Plague Campaign (10/11)
London Dread Campaign (1/4)
Waterdeep: Dungeon of the Mad Mage (0/13)

BLOG STATS

One Year Ago
I started the Masters of Eador story and participated in Blaugust where I gave some hints about myself.

Five Years Ago
I found a random knife in the garden and was watching some very violent and ultra gory movies. I was also upset at Wizardry Online closing and enjoying Mabinogi's G18 and Neverwinter Online's Tyranny of Dragons.

Most Viewed Posts last Month
The Cursed: Another Detour
The Cursed: Iron Shortage
Neverwinter Online: The New Workshop is STUPID

Top 3 Search Terms last Month
two female skyrim adventures go into...
d&d candlekeep part 17
charrus kitchens

Kinda wish I could see what the rest of that first one is... for scientific reasons, naturally. :P

Developer Appreciation: Wizardy Online Permadeath

Death is a slap on the wrist in many MMOs these days with even "corpse runs" becoming extinct as far as I can tell. Even Dark Souls "punishment" is only a mild inconvenience when you think about it. Well, one MMO decided to go the opposite way and for that reason alone I really liked it. Wizardry Online was a tough SOB. It had unfriendly instructions, controls and difficulty spikes which really made it less than appealing for casual players to get into.

Yep, this party is boned.

On top of all that, there was a permadeath system in place that really put you on edge when exploring a new zone or even traversing an old one. The idea that your next death could be your last really pushed you to ask yourself if you -really- wanted to try fight those three monsters for a treasure chest, or if you should keep delving deeper despite already being wounded. All that, and it wasn't even guaranteed perma death - just the threat of it is effective enough.

This is because when you die there you respawn as a ghost and have to run back to a shrine / safe spot to resurrect. Reviving is simply a dice roll, with a base success of 90%+. You can even guarantee your revive by sacrificing items to whatever force is reviving you. The kicker is, when you run back to the shrine as a ghost all you can see are other ghosts, and reapers: apparitions of death that patrol the halls who can outrun you (hope you practiced dodging). 

Should they reap your soul, you get put back to the spot your body is at and can try run back to the shrine again. You also get a -10% chance to revive !each! time they do this. Fortunately, other players can pick up your body and move it somewhere closer to a shrine or even take you back to the safety of town (you still need to roll though). I thought it was a great system.

Alas, the rest of the game wasn't quite up to scratch and Wizardry Online ended up suffering its own permadeath. Still, if there's one system I would hijack from this game it is that one. RIP Wizardy Online. RIP. For those who want to see what it was like, I suggest watching Dremlock's short video on youtube.

Today I Smiled: Reconnected

For those of you wondering why I missed a few days of posts, it was due to annoying internet issues. As of today though, that should (hopefully) all be fixed and I can get back into the swing of things! :)

My Dark Souls story is taking a break - but don't worry I'm sure there's more to come with that next DLC in March... haha. In the meantime here's some stuff to make you smile - like Russian Soldiers marching to Barbie Girl, or Ragnar (from Vikings) being naughty, how people can make "fake news" with a web cam, or perhaps my favorite of this lot made for John Wick fans... Dog Wick!

As usual I also have some music links for you - starting with Brian Mcknight's Back at One (Piano and Voice only), the entire Wizardry Online BGM Piano Suite, and a Castlevania Medley guitar duet (played -very- cleanly)! There's also a Castlevania 3 Medley by the same duo if you liked that.

That's it for now - I'll leave you with a question, and that is - why would a burger joint need an Ad that hits you in the feels? No idea. But I sure would like some Jollibee right now. :P

MMO Design: How not to Sunset a Game

[Part of my MMO Design folder.]

Massively recently drew my attention to Psychochild's blog post of "How to Sunset a Game", wherein he talks about the Business vs Player issues about such an undertaking. My only real experience with a game closing down on me is Wizardry Online, which has led to my utter hate of all things SOE / Daybreak. Sure I've had Ultima Online shards shut down on me too, but all the free ones we played on were with the express knowledge of "this is just some guy/gal running the server, quite likely in their basement, and it can (and will) end at any moment."

But Wizardry Online was run by a "big" company so I was a bit surprised when news of its demise was announced. Obviously the market for it is dying since even the Japan released is being shuttered. How SOE went about this though is really turd level scum. They pulled all support / event runners from the game, while continuing to have a cash shop selling in game items. In fact I think all focus (of the last guy on the project) went to the store, trying to milk players for whatever money they could, knowing full well said items would be useless soon.

How I would have gone about it? Make all those cash shop items free. The zones that are level locked? Open them up to all players! If that's too hard to do coding wise per area, then put an NPC who just hands out XP. Players would have been encouraged to have one last hurrah. As a bonus, since they actually run -other- MMOs, maybe give each player who registered from "x" date a bonus "thank you" package they can redeem in one of their other titles. You know, to encourage your customers to stick around?

Instead they treated the player base like dying lepers, basically ignoring their last, simple, requests while simultaneously trying to milk the remaining whales like desperate leeches. If that sounded wrong, that's because it is. I'm never playing another SOE / Daybreak run MMO again because of that experience, and strongly advise everyone else to keep away from this terrible company too.

Today I Smiled: Green Olympics!

I know I'm just over a week late but happy Green Olympics everyone! Sure there might be some holes that people are falling into, but it's nothing that can't be fixed with a little duct tape! They've got some skilled camera operators too, but that hasn't stopped some competitors from... not competing? You know those guys are good when they still didn't come last place. 

Too sporty for you? Maybe you can look forward to the bionic olympics instead! Or you know, just play computer games...

That moment when NWO turns into A Tale in the Desert.

I've not been on Neverwinter Online for awhile now though I suspect soon arriving "Storm King's Thunder" module will probably draw me back in a few days. In case you were wondering, no I've not been afflicted with pokemania, though I think it would be a good idea if some cops played a variation of it at awkward hours. Criminal Go: Gotta catch em all?

Instead I've been totally sucked into Dark Souls, which I am going to write about too because... that's what I do. :P It reminds me so much of Wizardry Online - just a way better version of it. Speaking of Wizardry Online, apparently Cthulhu is there now.

That's it for now, be safe/prepared if you are at or going to Rio. I'll leave you with this really cool Rubix Cube magic clip, and if you've already seen that - a family's reaction when a brown bear gets into their camp. Spoiler: Bear Hugs involved!

Riva: Railroaded

[Part of the Darklands of Arkania Story.]

Whoa!

After slaying a large wolf pack in the woods, the team found themselves back at the Riva marketplace to sell all the loot they had gathered from the mines, and to cure Allison's numb skull illness. While doing so, an agent of "the Guild" - saying their leader wanted a meeting in an abandoned warehouse at midnight. She also promised they wouldn't be killed.

"Well, surely with that guarantee we will be fine," announced Braxwolf Storm, so the party went to the meeting and promptly got hit by sleeping gas. Only when they awoke as bound captives did "the Trademaster", the leader of the guild, show up... and then he basically forces them to join, because there's no option given for doing anything else. Railroaded much?

Upon accepting they are each given a super secret wristband that lets guild members recognize each other. These are even color coded so you know what role/rank each member holds. Seriously? The guards in Riva must be stupid.

Armbands? You expect us to see that through our helmets!?

They do learn something useful though: that there are old sewers far beneath the city which are accessible from each temple (yep, all the priests have wristbands)! Unlike the regular sewers, the old sewers skewer with space/time and serve as a method of fast travel. Thank god they aren't annoying as the Old Sewers in Wizardry Online though.

Star Trail: Freedom

[Part of the Darklands of Arkania Story.]

It turns out the cell block isn't very well guarded so the party is free to open all the other cells freeing the other captives: a human guard captain named Praiodan Von Tann and an orc of a different tribe named Thurazz who both join the team. Alas it's not long before Praiodan reveals his true form while shaking Paeroka's hand, draining her nearly to death before transforming into a bat and flying away. If he could do that why the heck was he a prisoner? Just to mess with people?

Or was he a scout from elsewhere!? :P

On a brighter note the bodies of the mages who stole the Salamander Stone are also piled in a nearby cell. It seems they didn't fare any better against the orc forces. Shintar wastes no time in searching their corpses for loot.

It also smells of plot device!

While the cell block was pretty easy to traverse, the rest of the place is pretty annoying with all the high level locked doors. Fortunately Thalen's magical knowledge extends to magically unlocking ones Wolfy (currently the strongest of the team) is unable to bash down. Finding the kitchen with a fresh well, food, beer and knives a plenty helps a lot as the orc guards they do run into somehow don't have any items.

It takes many hours of slow progress, avoiding the larger orc groups, and defeating an ogre who nearly beat Zubon to death before the team finally found a ramp leading back out into sunlight and freedom. At this point Thurazz leaves the party to do his own thing - possibly to start up his own orc army and conquer a different region. Alas, for the rest of the team, this turned out to be the easy part of the escape.

Taking it Slow

Sorry for the picture madness as of late. You can blame Chestnut at Gamer Girl Confessions for running IntPiPoMo2015, the more visual cousin of Nanowrimo where the goal is to post 50 screenshots in the month of November. The best way to describe my attempt is via another screenshot from Wizardry Online. :P

Anyway, after what feels like a year of -almost- daily posts I think I'm going to cut down a bit again on the frequency of my posting. Yes, it is draining but more importantly there are other things I want to do too. One of which might ironically be starting up another blog-type site! :P Not sure yet how that is going to pan out if I actually go that route but don't worry, this workshop will still be going - just a little more quietly like it used to be before.

Apparently I'm not the only one either, if this chart is to be believed. This is the number of "active" blogs I've had links to, and my definition of "active" is having at least one post every three weeks. That first 150 is also not accurate, I just noted "150+" in the past so I don't have the actual figure - in reality I think it was more 175-200.

Gone up again to 90ish from IntPiPoMo though!

Speaking of charts, things look pretty glum for most of the games I play on the steamcharts too, which I know doesn't represent the entire player base but still:

Neverwinter Online
Mabinogi
Vindictus
Warframe - the exception, seems to be thriving!
Elder Scrolls: Skyrim -Funny to compare the numbers of a single player game to the MMOs

Anywho, to perk up your spirits again I've got youtube links to something called Skill Con which involves a whole slew of random abilities people have and most are pretty cool to watch: Everything from Cardistry to Juggling!

Today I Smiled: Over the Limit

I've been having internet slowness of late and I am glad to learn that the reason for it is simply because for the first time ever, I've exceeded my monthly allowed download. This is partially thanks to all the downloading of Christmas present games but more so this pretty impressive app I was introduced to called XBMC. I suggest you google it up to see if what it does interests you.

My guild has also decided to give external voice chat programs a try, since many of the coop games just don't offer it nor do we really want someone hosting a voice server that will impair their performance. We did try Teamspeak first but since setting up a server was too messy we went with Mumble instead and that has been performing admirably so far. The text to voice chat does sound like a funny robot though. Not as cool as Arnie as a robot in the upcoming Terminator reboot though.

Also good to learn some interest exists to revive the old Wizardry Online. Not so good to hear of Elder Scrolls Online's performance though, but hey - if it goes free to play then I can finally play it again (I did run about in the Beta). As usual I also have some tunes for you, the first is one suggested by guildmate Carbon called AMV Psycho Pop. If that is too psycho or pop for your liking then maybe you'll instead enjoy the piano soloist, Jon Schmidt and his song, All of Me.

Lastly almost everyone has been dishing out the hate on early access zombie game H1Z1, yet in the sea of Steam reviews saying "Not Recommended", this one made me laugh:

That's it for now! Hope you all have a wonderful day! :)

Attack Force

[Post #28 of the Blaugust Challenge!]

I'm pretty sure I've spoken about this before but as I've not yet done a proper review of it, I didn't want any of you to miss my thoughts on this outstanding film. Outstandingly bad that is. The story is that a drug dealer who has their hands on addictive yet DNA altering drugs is creating murderous and crazy people for ... SCIENCE!? One test subject kills a bunch of soldiers and thus Steven Seagal gets involved to hunt them down. Just as well too because said drug dealer is about to release the DNA altering drug into the water supply! Oh noes!

I made it sound pretty decent huh? Unfortunately the extent of "DNA alteration" just relates to giving people funky eyes, and for an action film the main hero remains in a sitting position for around half the movie. Also, some of his usually soft southern drawl lines were dubbed over by someone with a grindy and angry voice who sounds nothing like Steven Seagal. This is because the original plot involved aliens but they got changed post production into druggies. Yeah, they're pretty similar... cough.

Standard procedure for all druggies I suppose.

To top it off it felt like the director used ALL the footage he had for some shots. There are just so many that would have worked better if he cut some parts out. For example, there's a section where the military guys have a convoy on the move. We see car A enter the gate from a forward shot, then we see car A going through from a rear shot. Then forward shot of car B. Rear shot of car B. Again with car C. Then a long shot of the entire convoy slowly going down a road. There's literally five minutes of watching cars move at this point, with no voice overs.

I also suspect that towards the end there, even the director lost the plot as at least one pretty major plot point was forgotten and unresolved. It also makes it funnier. :P You will enjoy this more if you treat it as a comedy, but I should warn you properly by giving this film only half a bullet out of five.

Blaugust Bonus: Going straight for another of Belghast's writing prompts today - "Has there ever been a game encounter you were afraid of? For example I am spooked of tanking Garuda hard… has there ever been a fight or encounter you dreaded?". The grim reapers (aka walkers) of Wizardry Online quickly come to mind.

You can only encounter them when you are in the spirit world and thus cannot fight them so your only hope is to either sneak past behind their backs or sprint and zig zag like mad to a priest or revival fountain, often an interesting task since they enjoy patrolling narrow corridors. While they are quite slow when unalerted, they can easily boost faster than you and each time they catch you not only do they put you back at your corpse, meaning you have to try get past them again, but they also reduce your revival rate by 10%. Ten captures in a row and your character is instantly lost to permadeath. In the later dungeons there would be groups of these wandering together. Easiest solution to avoid them? Don't die. :P

Flatlining Heartbeat: Wizardry Online

[My second Blaugust post!]

I didn't quite make it on at the appointed hour but I did manage to login early. There were no large "goodbye" parties (on the Bareaux Bareaux Server anyway) that I saw. No special events, no GM spawning stuff for one final hurrah. Just a rather quiet global chat where one or two people were giving their final goodbyes to their peers who I think, with lack of anything else to do, were still camping the Loitering Armor to up whatever final score or level they were keeping track of.

Myself, I decided to see how far I could run into the Azarm Trial grounds, a level 50 zone that people avoided for good reason. I do mean run in the literal sense too as everything there could one shot me, and dying meant evading the many reapers wandering the halls. Not that it really mattered though. After coming back from the shops I was greeted with this.

And that was the end of Wizardry Online.

Blaugust Bonus: Much like MMO developers keep an eye on player numbers, I've been keeping a rough count of how my blogroll on the right there is going. As I said near the beginning of the Newbie Bloggers Initiative, I would be constantly culling any blogs that failed to at least put up one post every four weeks. Now before I add the other Blaugust participants I don't yet have, I just wanted to ask if this is too aggressive? Why do I ask? During the NBI I had around 145 links over there as I added everyone and then some. I also had to shrink the list to only show the latest 25 (by default) since it was quite ludicrous to scroll down. As of this post only 77 remain. Is there a lot of silence out there or am I just not waiting long enough to listen?

Wizardry Online: Ghost Town

[Part of the journals from Wizardry Online!]

Apart from the Succubus, giant suits of loitering armor, oversized tarantulas, demon imps and ambient classical music in a minor scale it was a band of overly strong werewolves that ultimately prevented us from getting past the magical barriers within the House of Savage Lust. We did reach the library though, and from it we learned the location of some sort of experimental zone built by a mad dwarf named Azarm. Thanam decided to continue to try find a way past the magic barriers in the estate while I returned to Port Illfalo to resupply.

The town was even emptier than when we left it, with all the adventurers having evacuated due to the Armageddon threat. Even the Lost Souls board had a record of zero souls lost for the month, a number I had never seen before since our arrival. Being one of the few remaining people the arcane minister Zermu Terlu was quick to issue out a Dimento medal to assist with supplies in exchange for trying to stop the rumored "end". I also stopped by one of the still functioning guild agencies and found a note from Quark - that he and a handful of the remaining Porkul Pickers and their allies like Raven Daydream, Maco Meng, and Helga had packed up to try their luck on distant shores. They must have packed in a hurry since there was still equipment in the guild armory, some of which I decided to take for myself.

One of the priests at the local temple urged me to find his wand as he seemed to think it would help in our overall goal so I found myself heading back to the dreaded Temple of Oblivion and after poking around in places no sane man should I gained access to a secret lair inhabited by gargoyles! Fortunately I got the drop on them and managed to take them on one at a time, recovering with Dimento camps when needed. After the difficult combat I managed to retrieve and return the wand to the priest... alas all it seemed to do was cure his own speech impediment. Time is running out and I am unsure of what to do, but I know I cannot simply abandon these people to whatever horrible fate is about to pass.

I take heart knowing that if it is an end by gargoyles, I can take a few of them with me.

 

-Caanon

Neverwinter Online: Curse of Icewind Dale

The new content is big, beautiful, and awesomely dangerous.

Indeed, prior to Module 3's release last week I maybe only died a couple of dozen times through the whole game (only a few epic dungeons included). I've since died just as many times out in the new zones thanks to the common veteran and elite level Black Ice corrupted beasties and "Heroic Encounters" (which work a lot like GW2 open world events) that can really put you in your place if you drop the ball (or are silly enough to try solo something that suggests 4+ players). A number of people have been complaining about the required 10k+ Gearscore and three boons from one of the previous campaigns which serve as a barrier to entry - well my main is on 11K+ GS and has all the boons and I'm still getting thrown around like a ragdoll sometimes.

The other thing some are complaining about is the 20 silver fee for injury kits when they die in to the not-so-open PvP present there. Basically there are large red zones on the map and stepping one foot into them flags you as a PvP participant. Stepping out doesn't turn it off - you have to reach distant campfires (or die) to do that. The black ice nodes present in the said PvP zones act as a lure for many who then often find either vastly being outnumbered or vastly curb stomping the opposite team. I have to laugh at that since the 20 silver is a pittance - I wonder how these folk would fare in games you could lose all your gear (UO) or potentially get perma killed (WO). Doesn't bother me though as the PvP areas are easy to avoid and the PvE quests never take you into them. There is a PvP quest line and campaign too, but obviously I don't bother picking it up.

He can get you some artifacts, if you have two IWD-ready characters.

The PvE campaign which sees you gaining influence and investing in Caer-Konig's businesses comes with a 35+ day grind (of completing 1 HE and collecting 300 Black ICe) which puts it in the middle I think in terms of length between the pretty speedy Dread Ring arc (especially if you only do the daily lair quest) and the grindingly slow Sharandar one (where at points you'll need to do up to 10 quests a day). The black ice you harvest can also be turned into a new tier of equipment - potentially the strongest for addicts. Why? Because the base black ice gear won't beat the already available highest tiered stuff. You have to keep plugging in more black ice to power up your suit and weapons for it to surpass them, and I mean indefinitely. That "charge" drains constantly but I suppose won't be a problem for those who can forever keep powered up.

Anywho I am certainly enjoying the exciting times in Icewind Dale - why don't you come and join me? If you start now, you'll probably be fully geared up for the next module, Tyranny of Dragons, planned for release in August. ;)

NBI: Do PVP and PVE Mix?

This is actually a topic I suggested for this year's NBI, and a number of other NBI bloggers have posted recently about it:

Arcadian has a good write up on the topic of how these two can co-exist. Mainly if the PVP aspect isn't mandatory and doesn't block the PVE guys from any content.
Doctor Hannah doesn't mind "Responsible" PvP which is difficult given the douche-baggery that comes with the territory.
Doone has a piece on open PVP and fairness which has a great line: " Players will always find ways to avoid it if they really hate it, which might include not playing their game."
Looking for Playtime actually grew to like PvP, as the PvE element gets boring having done the same quests in different games.

My answer, after having experienced both consensual and non-consensual PvP (oh so dirty), is never.

Having open PvP all the time in PvE zones like in the old days of Ultima Online or in Wizardry Online (open PvP with chance of permadeath) really added to one's adrenaline as random encounters against Player Killers (PKs) were just that, very random. Unlike in say, a First Person Shooter deathmatch where you -know- you will be fighting other people, in MMOs it's a matter of some decision making and a lot of luck. Some days you might not run into anyone, let alone PKs. Other days you may have the misfortune of being hunted by a whole slew of them - usually for no reason other than "they were bored".

Doone's piece on fairness also rings true here: often a newbie in a FPS is still capable of serious trouble against a veteran, and usually the teams auto balance each side to keep the numbers even. In MMO's a low level and low geared character has almost no chance against multiple max levelled and epic tiered opponents. Not all PvPers are douchebags though (and not all PvEers are not). I've had highly wanted criminal characters and soldiers of an enemy faction be very civil and helpful to me (or at the very least ignored me seeing my low level) but they were few and far between the more common, PK thug type.

I agree with Arcadian that when developers mix PvE and PvP it's because they are lazy and hoping to get free content by feeding PvEers to PvPers who serve as a luck-gate to whatever PvE objective they were after. However this doesn't change the fact that it is still up to the individual player on how to behave. Do you really leave your morals and decision making when you log into your MMORPG? Do you get joy from ruining someone else's day? If you grief someone enough in game (because you were bored or just because the game wanted you to kill x people this week) that they commit suicide in real life, do you think that's on you? Of course it is. That there are people who think otherwise is part of the reason why these two game styles should never be found together.

Let the killers go kill each other in their own little room(s) while everyone else enjoys the actual game. Otherwise, just advertise your whole game as PvP focused so the rest of us know not to bother playing it.

NBI: Talkback Mixed Bag 2014

While Doone seeds the proper topics I thought I'd try my hand at answering some the suggestions that weren't picked up, rolling most of them into this post! He did invite people to just go ahead and post about them anyway so I invite you all to do the same! :)

What pen-&-paper RPG (D&D and the like) deserves to be adapted into an MMORPG, why, and by which development house?

Vampire the Masquerade and the rest of its cousins, all rolled into one (or if that's too hard, just the Masquerade). I think it has the best chance to succeed over my other choices here (the others being Gamma World and Lovecraft based stuff) as there are enough fans and enough lore to work with in terms of plot, factions, abilities and the like there already. CCP Games had the same idea and tried this with World of Darkness but had to cancel development. I think I'd like to see Cryptic take a shot at it because I like their model (f2p), and that they'd probably have a foundry (mission creator), and because while they don't really have standout games the ones I've tried are rather enjoyable.

Will any MMORPG ever overtake WoW as the leader of the genre? If so, what game will it be, and why?

That's a pretty open ended question. "Ever" as in - till the end of time? Then yes. Something will definitely overtake WoW. The "Why" is easy: new technologies and new IPs will emerge. Will your great, great grandkids be playing WoW? Maybe. But more likely they'll be playing something else... WoW 2, or maybe Starcraft Online? I'm sticking to Blizzard themed IPs since they have  the best resources at the moment (funding and players) to make a game to rival WoW. It would be much harder for a small unknown company to oust them but hey... maybe an Attack on Titan MMO would bleed the WoW base enough to take over. Who knows?

What 'failed' video game deserves to be remade or brought back under new management?

Wizardry Online. SOE failed big time there, leading me and many other disgruntled Wizardry players to avoid any further SOE games. It should also be remade to be more violent, with a higher risk of character permadeath balanced off by slightly easier content. As it is you literally had to suicide your spirit against reapers if you wanted to lose your character or be extremely unlucky/unprepared in dice rolls. Even then, the "Soul" system that your characters shared meant that losing one guy didn't remove all your work anyway, just giving you a minor-moderate set back.

Click the image too see the consistency of SOE!

What game series would you like to see remade (updated graphics, but stays to the original story/gameplay) or rebooted (completely re-imagined with familiar bits)?

I'd like to see id-software's Doom series remade into an MMO. Maybe a survival MMO.

If the NBI formed a guild, would you join it? Where would you want the guild to play?

Unlikely, and if I did it would probably not as a regular member. A number of the NBI folk are people who are always sitting on the cutting edge games, new releases, betas and the like. Another bunch enjoy games that have a pay wall. I prefer sticking to free games that I can enjoy whenever I feel like. I'm also not sure how many of you are in my time zone to play with anyway! ;P

Is the 'holy trinity' really holy? (Coming from the removal of a healer in GW2)

I've spoken about this before but I don't mind repeating the important part: To me, the MMO Holy Trinity is a piece of shit. If you can't do everything yourself, you aren't much of a hero to begin with. I don't mind playing with other people or grouping to do content out of choice. It's when grouping becomes a necessity that I take issue, because it means the game is not letting my character evolve the way I want him to. Especially in games which tout "be whatever you want to be", or "the world depends on you" I generally lose interest when I realize it actually means "be what we catered for" and "the world depends on you... and all those other guys because individually you all just suck. Now check out this cool, unfair, boss whom you cannot solo!".

When you're deciding if you like a game or not, which aspect weighs the heaviest and why? 

Fun! That's a no brainer. There is no point in spending time doing things you don't like. If a game is fun right off the bat or I can see will be fun when I get better at it I'll stick with it. If it's just tedious or of a genre I dislike I'll leave it alone.

Question Time: How would you end an MMO?

Most of the time we read about how MMO's are going and what stuff they can do better. Well, what about shutting down? Alas that is a function that happens sooner or later to many of our online games. If you were in charge of one such game, an MMORPG in this instance, what would you do? Would you add more events or celebrations leading up to the final hour? Spawn enemies in safe zones as the time draws to an end? Unlock all the zones for people to visit (if your game has that sort of thing)?

Perhaps let loose a big blue demon to eat everyone?

Or would you simply switch off the box at the alloted time and think nothing more of it? I thought that this was the path SOE was going to take with its four sunset games, but, in Wizardry Online at least, thanks to player and GM cooperation they still manage to pull off some pretty cool events: another example of good user generated "content". I'm interested in hearing your thoughts on the matter, and how you would go about as a player and/or an owner of an MMO during its end days.

Wizardry Online: Lost Souls

[Part of the journals from Wizardry Online!]

Soon after sending our last report a strange wizard appeared in town offering people to strengthen their spirit via the Trials of Isic, an otherworldly realm heavily focused on combat. Thanam and I went in and though we could only defeat the first tier of challenges upon our exit we found that we had been gone for months! The once bustling streets are now very empty, and Quark no longer runs the Porkul Union for reasons unknown. There is also talk of some upcoming cataclysm in the Ministry of Magic but we have other things to worry about first.

Selenka is one of the missing and her cartography project hasn't progressed much at all. While the Adventurer's Guild as well as Zermu Terlu don't know of her whereabouts, the knave Arahawi suggested that she might have gone into the House of Savage Lust deeper in the mainland. From the rumours it is exactly as it sounds, being inhabited by Succubi (among other things). With no other leads the elf and I are going to investigate.

Maybe they'll make a movie about it! :P

-Caanon

December Difficulties

Hello all. Due to my father having a stroke recently the updates to this blog will be fluctuating somewhat,  as real life always takes precedence over my virtual one(s). This will probably mean December will see less activity than usual but I thought I'd still put up a list of the things that I'd like to try get done game or blog wise. Some items have carried over from the last list and as usual if it's on there hen there's a good chance I'll blog about it, though I doubt I'll get through all of it this month.

My to do list for December (no particular order):

• Reach Mastery Rank 7 in Warframe (currently rank 5). (dropped)
• Finish that second quest in the Neverwinter Online Foundry.
• Write the first part of my guild's history. Zero progress on that so far.
• Put up mapping aides for Wizardry Online. (done)
• Review State of Decay. (done)
• Review indie game Papers, Please. (done)
• Continue adventures in the Darklands. (on-going)
• Put up another Today I Smiled post (done).

Today I Smiled: Wizardry and talking Dogs

Okay, this is my first attempt at my Today I Smiled Challenge so hopefully you all like it!

There are those times when your game of choice simply frustrates you into table flipping moments. You aren't alone. I know most of my readers don't play (or have even heard of) Wizardry Online, but here's a nice (oldish) clip by Dremlock to cheer you up.

It just puts a smile on my face everytime I watch it... until I remember I have to get past that dungeon too. As a bonus, here's a funny Japanese Ad by Softbank (they have a whole series) that also gave me the giggles.

Hope you enjoyed those. Just one last note: It's going to be a bit quiet on this site for the next few days so savour the sillyness, and if you want more extra reading material (by me) please browse the Library links in the top right hand corner for organized links or scroll down as per usual to find stuff chronologically.

NBI 2013 - Aftermath Eternal

With the dawn that ends Halloween, so ends the Newbie Blogger Initiative this year... or does it? It has the structure to continue going despite the end of its term but I guess that's more a decision for the organizers. I'm pretty glad I joined in, as it spawned a few of the blog posts I had this past month.

It also got this site a number of links, boosted those graphs and numbers I'm not meant to be looking at, learned a few things, and given me a whole bunch of new blogs to follow and comment on myself (you can see from the extensive "paths I travel" on the right. If I missed yours or you just want to be added - let me know)!

Lastly, if you are or know of a newbie blogger then I strongly suggest visiting the site, regardless if it's on-going or not. Lots of tips to be learned and easily built bridges to be made.

What the picture doesn't show is the wealth of information and community that dragon is sitting on.

Also I thought that for a change I should put down what things you might see appearing on this blog during the upcoming month. Can't make any guarantees but if it's in the game plan, there's a good chance I'll blog about it!

My to do list for November (no particular order):

• See the Tower of Nightmares for myself in Guildwars 2. (can't log in)
• Investigate the werewolf attack on Conarch Village in Age of Conan. (done)
• Complete all missions on Warframe (only around 50% done).
• Finish that second quest in the Neverwinter Online Foundry.
• Write the first part of my guild's history, it's NanoWrimo afterall.
• Check out Path of Exile as suggested by Doone. (done)
• Check out Atlantica Online as suggested by SynCaine. (done)
• Finish mapping the Aria Reservoir in Wizardry Online.