Here is a quick review of my impressions of the latest World of Warcraft expansion.
Talents
I find the talent trees to be fun to level - the alternating “talent-ability-talent” leveling path is fun and interesting, even though some classes feel more boring than others. Some talents are still mandatory. The initial level 10 ability makes classes more diverse and specialized early on. 4/5
Reshaped zones
Orgrimmar: Awesome. there are now more than one fully-featured zones, the city seems alive and is probably the most changed city. 5/5
Ashenvale: Cool zone on the Horde side, with lots of fighting going on, phasing, simili-cutscenes. I tried a bit on the Alliance side, nice change of pace there too. 4/5
Desolace: The northern part isn’t changed much, but a forest popped out in the middle and is vibrant. The unchanged part do feel out of place. 3.5/5
Feralas: I’ve only touched a bit of Feralas, but the added Alliance camps help a lot. 4/5 so far.
Durotar: A zone I found utterly boring just got better. The flooded parts are nice, my only gripe is the clearly visible difference between “old” and “new”. 4/5
Shadowfang Keep: An old favorite has slightly changed. It’ll remain a favorite, as it’s just as fun. 4/5
Deadmines: Completely changed enemies and bosses, and there are nice touches here and there. I had a lot of fun doing this instance. 5/5
Stormwind: Mostly cosmetic changes. The new Dwarven district is much better, some textures have been improved, and the cemetery area is really beautiful. 4/5
Flight in old Azeroth
This is clearly one of the best feature of the game. 5/5
New Zones
Hyjal: I haven’t been able to touch many new zones, but this one is fun! The only few frustrating quests give a great reward (cool pets and blues). The story is great, and you feel like you’re actually doing something thanks to phasing. 4.5/5
Vashjir: I won’t rate this zone, I can just say it’s beautiful. I’ll skip it for now, and my next level 80’ll go there for sure!
Gilneas (Worgen starting zone): The starting area is moody. I felt like I was playing Ravenloft Online (if such a game existed, don’t look for it!). The story is nice, too, with a cool cutscene; you gradually become a Worgen, which is a nice touch. The area feels a bit overly serious, and the few laughs you get thus feel “out of place”. A friend of mine found quests to be boring, but I believe if you take the time to read the texts, you’ll enjoy the story much more.
Still, it didn’t reach my expectations. 3.5/5
Goblin starting zone: Kezan and the Lost Isles are some of the most fun I had in WoW yet. It’s really funny. I mean, you get a car, a radio and idea-giving potions! Phasing is used efficiently as well. Best starting zone? Probably. Although the next one is a contender… 5/5
Echo Isles: Not really a new area, but finally Trolls have their own starting area! And it is cool too! You get some close-up time with Voljin (troll leader) and the story presents the Horde’s inner troubles. It is a nice introduction to Horde politics, and the area feels alive. It is shorter than the Goblin’s zone, is less funny, but it feels more epic and heroic. 5/5
Dungeons
So far, I haven’t been able to enter any Cataclysm dungeon. I found the entrance to the Throne of the Tides, only to face a 40 minutes wait. Oh well, I hope it changes soon!
PVP
While leveling, PVP is really hectic. In my experience, some classes have some trouble surviving in some brackets, even with 5-level brackets. The experience feels unbalanced; a rogue managed to kill my level 42 decently geared Priest while I had a shield on by simply stunning me, then killed me before I could recover. And that’s with a full, Disciline Power Shield, and a full health bar, and a HoT on, in a 1 vs 1 situation. Yup. I’m bitter about it! So until I see how PVP fares at level 85, I’ll give a 2/5 for balance issues, but a 4/5 for the wise decision to divide bracket and give more battleground choices at lower levels.
Loot
Most quest loot looks the same, though some of the new gear, even at low levels, looks nice. 2.5/5
12/15/2010
12/09/2010
Games of the decade
Halo
This game is undoubtedly one of the most influential games of the decade. It has single-handedly secured the original Xbox a place in gamers’ homes and has spawned multiple sequels of various quality. Most notably, this year’s Halo Reach is apparently a very good game, after the somewhat uninteresting Halo: OSTD. The game created a nice mythology involving the Covenant and the Flood, as well as making Master Chief one of today’s most well recognized video game character.
God of War
God of War is Sony’s successful franchise that rivals Halo in terms of popularity (somewhat) and quality. I for one was never a fan of the story, which is a shame, since the game is a quality brawler-adventure set in mythological times. No GoW on console so far has been badly reviewed, and it has inspired action games, some subtly (Darksiders), others not so subtly (Dante’s Inferno).
World of Warcraft
How can one even think that this is not one of the games of the decade? Each month, more than ten millions (now 12 millions) are paying 15 bucks to play a game that is six years old. Few games have ever had such lasting success. This game is the reason so many companies try to make an MMO, and also the reason why no subscription-based MMO has succeeded so far. With the revamp of Azeroth that came in Cataclysm, it is likely the game will still be live for a few years. At least.
GTA IV
Maybe other games in the series would be more deserving of the title (like San Andreas, perhaps?), but there is no doubt that this series has redefined “open world”. These action games are notoriously violent, which is a shame, since it obfuscates the fact that it has a great story, great characters and a lot of cinematic values.
Little Big Planet
While this one may not have the same impact as others on this list, LBP’s Sackboy has somewhat become the de facto mascot for Sony, a feat not achieved since… well, maybe Master Chief for the Xbox? Maybe? But it also showed that people LOVE to create. Try some of the user-created levels, and you’ll see how deep the game is! My personal favorite was a recreation of Gradius’ first level! Absolutely stunning.
Gears of War
Gears of War is to 3rd person shooters what Halo is to FPS. It has quality graphics and diverse combat, as well as a dynamic and cinematic cover system. Shooting stuff shouldn’t be this fun!
Call of Duty
One of the most successful franchise of recent memory. It is the more “realistic” of the shooters, as it is set in our own world. Pick your favorite: Modern Warfare, Modern Warfare 2 or Black Ops, all share a very addictive and popular multiplayer. It is highly refined, and while it is not my personal choice, the series’ quality and impact cannot be denied.
Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune
Uncharted is one of Sony’s series, one that has you playing a movie. Really, even the most cinematic games on this list are far behind this game! Forget the shooting and the platforming (which are great, to be honest), it’s the characters and the script that are king here.
Persona 3
The previous game had you play a movie. This one has you play an anime series! This game is so amazing, even the turn-based fights stand out. This game is more story than gameplay, you’ll immerse yourself in that cool world where you play a Japanese teen fighting shadows. Plot, characters, and more plot! Pick your version: the PS2 FES version, which introduces a whole new chapter, or the PSP version that allows you to play as a female character, complete with new dialogues and the like.
Street Fighter IV
Thank this game for the 2D fighter revival! Definitely a game that revived a whole genre, whereas developers seemed stuck in 3-D borefests like DOA and SoulCalibur (the latest entries of both series were really disappointing. Has DOA evolved since its Dreamcast days? I think not). Of course, I’m more a fan of BlazBlue, but that’s simply a matter of personal preferences.
Assassin’s Creed
This one is more touchy, as the first game was far from perfect. Yet it launched an amazing new series, and the second game has corrected most of the flaws of the first one. But even in the original, it has some of the most satisfying kills, and it boasts one of the most gorgeous open-world.
Other games that should be on this list:
Oblivion, Mass Effect, Metroid Prime, Mario Galaxy, Resident Evil 4, Guitar Hero. I’m sure I forgot a few other games that definitely should be here, I’ll add to that later!
11/30/2010
A review: Castlevania Lords of Shadows
After many attempts at making a 3D Castlevania, did Konami finally made one right?
When I tried the demo for the first time, I had no real idea what to expect. I had not been following it closely, to be honest. So when I started flailing around like a Gothic Kratos with hair, my first thoughts were “oh my Gods, this is GoW with vampires”. And apparently, given the many comments I read all over the Net, I am not alone to think that.
Except I didn’t see this as an inherently bad thing. I’m no God of War fan, but my concerns are not with the gameplay. So I decided to pick the game up.
You play as Gabriel Belmont as you undertake a quest that will eventually lead you to fight the titular Lords of Shadows in order to remake the God Mask and allow souls to, once more, reach heaven. Along the way, you will have to fight using whip, magic, daggers and holy water, along with a few new interesting weapons. But battle is not the only activity you’ll indulge in: you’ll have a fair share of platforming to do, you’ll ride many beasts such as trolls and giant spiders, and solve many puzzles, some of which are clever. If puzzles are not your thing, don’t worry, as you can always choose to grab the hint scroll at the cost of losing the experience bonus for the puzzle.
The game is linear, divided into chapters further divided into levels in a mostly arbitrary way (three chapters for the Vampire castle? was one not enough?). You can always go back, to find upgrades you couldn’t access previously, or you can plow forward, but the game is quite long, longer than most off today’s action adventure games.
What is great about the game is the diversity; the game experience during chapter 10 is not the same as the one in chapter 2. Sure, you still fight using mostly combos and magic, but the enemy variety, the tone of the game, the kind of puzzles and platforming you have to do make it seem always new. And the levels - the levels are absolutely gorgeous. The first part has you making you way through ancient ruins covered by forests, the second has you exploring this amazing Vampire castle and the third one… let’s just say it manages to top off the castle, which I thought couldn’t be done.
The story is more hit and miss; it feels simple, and sometimes the narration (done by Patrick Stewart) feels superfluous or badly written, but the backstory of it all is amazing. You feel like the journey is actually taking its toll on poor Gabriel. The voice acting is OK too, sometimes it feels like Patrick Stewart’s script is really poor, though, and it seems no one pronounces Marie’s name correctly (neither like Mary or like the French Marie…).
In my mind, this is one of the year’s finest. Aside from the script, the only flaw I can notice is the lack of camera control, which can sometimes lead to cheap hits. But Gabriel has good defensive moves, so even these can be easily avoided, and the problems are limited to a very few battles.
Sadly, the game will remain in memory for the incredible amount of hate it seems to create from some very vocal Castlevania fan. It has been accused of being a “cash hit” (supposedly the name Castlevania would have been added very late in the game’s development, which I doubt), of not being a true “Castlevania” (because you don’t fight Dracula) even though some other recent games, such as Portaits of Ruins on DS have distanced themselves even more from the core Castlevania experience (character fighting only with magic?).
Yet at its core, the game retains everything that makes a good Castlevania game: vampire hunting, lots of zombies, skeletons and other ghoulish freaks, amazing bosses, vampire-killing whips.
Finally, some people have complained about the lack of Castlevania-ity in the early game, as you fight trolls, goblins and the like. I don’t know why they forget so easily that a lot of Castlevania games involved monsters not typically associated with vampires, like Medusa, mermans, lizardmen, harpies, and so on. Frankly, people like to complain. Don’t listen to them. LoS is a great game, one that would have been hailed as an achievement had Kratos never used a whip-like weapon in the first place. Because no matter what, that’s the only thing both games have in common!
When I tried the demo for the first time, I had no real idea what to expect. I had not been following it closely, to be honest. So when I started flailing around like a Gothic Kratos with hair, my first thoughts were “oh my Gods, this is GoW with vampires”. And apparently, given the many comments I read all over the Net, I am not alone to think that.
Except I didn’t see this as an inherently bad thing. I’m no God of War fan, but my concerns are not with the gameplay. So I decided to pick the game up.
You play as Gabriel Belmont as you undertake a quest that will eventually lead you to fight the titular Lords of Shadows in order to remake the God Mask and allow souls to, once more, reach heaven. Along the way, you will have to fight using whip, magic, daggers and holy water, along with a few new interesting weapons. But battle is not the only activity you’ll indulge in: you’ll have a fair share of platforming to do, you’ll ride many beasts such as trolls and giant spiders, and solve many puzzles, some of which are clever. If puzzles are not your thing, don’t worry, as you can always choose to grab the hint scroll at the cost of losing the experience bonus for the puzzle.
The game is linear, divided into chapters further divided into levels in a mostly arbitrary way (three chapters for the Vampire castle? was one not enough?). You can always go back, to find upgrades you couldn’t access previously, or you can plow forward, but the game is quite long, longer than most off today’s action adventure games.
What is great about the game is the diversity; the game experience during chapter 10 is not the same as the one in chapter 2. Sure, you still fight using mostly combos and magic, but the enemy variety, the tone of the game, the kind of puzzles and platforming you have to do make it seem always new. And the levels - the levels are absolutely gorgeous. The first part has you making you way through ancient ruins covered by forests, the second has you exploring this amazing Vampire castle and the third one… let’s just say it manages to top off the castle, which I thought couldn’t be done.
The story is more hit and miss; it feels simple, and sometimes the narration (done by Patrick Stewart) feels superfluous or badly written, but the backstory of it all is amazing. You feel like the journey is actually taking its toll on poor Gabriel. The voice acting is OK too, sometimes it feels like Patrick Stewart’s script is really poor, though, and it seems no one pronounces Marie’s name correctly (neither like Mary or like the French Marie…).
In my mind, this is one of the year’s finest. Aside from the script, the only flaw I can notice is the lack of camera control, which can sometimes lead to cheap hits. But Gabriel has good defensive moves, so even these can be easily avoided, and the problems are limited to a very few battles.
Sadly, the game will remain in memory for the incredible amount of hate it seems to create from some very vocal Castlevania fan. It has been accused of being a “cash hit” (supposedly the name Castlevania would have been added very late in the game’s development, which I doubt), of not being a true “Castlevania” (because you don’t fight Dracula) even though some other recent games, such as Portaits of Ruins on DS have distanced themselves even more from the core Castlevania experience (character fighting only with magic?).
Yet at its core, the game retains everything that makes a good Castlevania game: vampire hunting, lots of zombies, skeletons and other ghoulish freaks, amazing bosses, vampire-killing whips.
Finally, some people have complained about the lack of Castlevania-ity in the early game, as you fight trolls, goblins and the like. I don’t know why they forget so easily that a lot of Castlevania games involved monsters not typically associated with vampires, like Medusa, mermans, lizardmen, harpies, and so on. Frankly, people like to complain. Don’t listen to them. LoS is a great game, one that would have been hailed as an achievement had Kratos never used a whip-like weapon in the first place. Because no matter what, that’s the only thing both games have in common!
11/04/2010
Games to look forward to and others
Call of Duty: Black Ops. The follow-up to the ultra-popular Modern Warfare 2, this is no doubt the game to get to satiate your frag thirst. If you’re tired of Halo: Reach already and can’t wait for Killzone 3, this one is not to miss.
(I actually found MW2 to be a bit underwhelming, yet there is no denying that the franchise’s popularity ensures you’ll get plenty of people to headshot!)
Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood. This is not AC3, and neither it is AC2. More like AC2.5. You play again as Enzio, the assassin from the previous entry, and this time, you build your own assassin’s guild! Plus, multiplayer!
Batman: Arkham City. Another sequel, this one follows up on the stellar stealth-action Arkham Asylum. Expect more classic Batman Villains, more Batman references that you can throw a batarang at, and more action/stealth in a really creepy Gotham.
Farther down the road…
Metal Gear Solid: Rising. This time, you play as cybernetics-enhanced Raiden instead of good ol’ Snake. Despite the game’s focus on a more action-oriented character, it has been confirmed that once again, it is possible to finish the game without killing anyone. Plus, the sword mechanic looks pretty sweet!
Marvel vs. Capcom 3. Huge cast of characters, cool graphics, simple but deep gameplay à la Street Fighter IV, insane super moves, what more can you ask for? Of course, everyone’s favorite is NOT going to be in the final roster, so expect a lot of trolling (or is it trollage?). Still, a cast so varied is rare in a fighter, and this one will no doubt eclipse my current favorite, BlazBlue Continuum Shift.
Disgaea 4. More weird humor, more insane leveling, more of everything in a sequel that may be Nippon Ichi Software's last... apparently, the Japanese developer's business is not going so well, despite the fact that the Disgaea franchise seems quite popular (for a niche game anyway!). Sprites are going to be HD this time around. Since we can expect NIS to put everything they got into this latest effort, this will assuredly be either an awesome swan song, or another entry in a great and continuing series.
Games to check out NOW!
Castlevania Lords of Shadow. Disclaimer: this game is NOT like, well, 95% of the other games in the series. It is much closer to the awesome Simon’s Quest, as you do more exploring in the “Vania” part than in the “Castle” (i.e. more outside trekking). The game’s not terribly original: look for ideas borrowed from God of War, Prince of Persia, Shadow of the Colossus, Zelda and Dante’s Inferno. Yet they are meshed together quite well, in one of the most visually appealing game of 2010.
Games to avoid NOW!
Fable 3. As anyone who read my other articles may have noticed, I am not a huge fan of Fable 1 and 2. Sadly, the game has been even more dumbed down. Instead of the awesome action-RPG series that it could have been, we get an action game in a world where you interact with people by farting and belching, and where killing hundreds of people has no more consequence than eradicating the whole Goomba population. Play only if you somehow fall into the ranks of the series’ fans or if you really liked the previous two entries’ sense of humor (which, at this point and in my humble opinion, remains the only redeeming quality to the series).
(I actually found MW2 to be a bit underwhelming, yet there is no denying that the franchise’s popularity ensures you’ll get plenty of people to headshot!)
Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood. This is not AC3, and neither it is AC2. More like AC2.5. You play again as Enzio, the assassin from the previous entry, and this time, you build your own assassin’s guild! Plus, multiplayer!
Batman: Arkham City. Another sequel, this one follows up on the stellar stealth-action Arkham Asylum. Expect more classic Batman Villains, more Batman references that you can throw a batarang at, and more action/stealth in a really creepy Gotham.
Farther down the road…
Metal Gear Solid: Rising. This time, you play as cybernetics-enhanced Raiden instead of good ol’ Snake. Despite the game’s focus on a more action-oriented character, it has been confirmed that once again, it is possible to finish the game without killing anyone. Plus, the sword mechanic looks pretty sweet!
Marvel vs. Capcom 3. Huge cast of characters, cool graphics, simple but deep gameplay à la Street Fighter IV, insane super moves, what more can you ask for? Of course, everyone’s favorite is NOT going to be in the final roster, so expect a lot of trolling (or is it trollage?). Still, a cast so varied is rare in a fighter, and this one will no doubt eclipse my current favorite, BlazBlue Continuum Shift.
Disgaea 4. More weird humor, more insane leveling, more of everything in a sequel that may be Nippon Ichi Software's last... apparently, the Japanese developer's business is not going so well, despite the fact that the Disgaea franchise seems quite popular (for a niche game anyway!). Sprites are going to be HD this time around. Since we can expect NIS to put everything they got into this latest effort, this will assuredly be either an awesome swan song, or another entry in a great and continuing series.
Games to check out NOW!
Castlevania Lords of Shadow. Disclaimer: this game is NOT like, well, 95% of the other games in the series. It is much closer to the awesome Simon’s Quest, as you do more exploring in the “Vania” part than in the “Castle” (i.e. more outside trekking). The game’s not terribly original: look for ideas borrowed from God of War, Prince of Persia, Shadow of the Colossus, Zelda and Dante’s Inferno. Yet they are meshed together quite well, in one of the most visually appealing game of 2010.
Games to avoid NOW!
Fable 3. As anyone who read my other articles may have noticed, I am not a huge fan of Fable 1 and 2. Sadly, the game has been even more dumbed down. Instead of the awesome action-RPG series that it could have been, we get an action game in a world where you interact with people by farting and belching, and where killing hundreds of people has no more consequence than eradicating the whole Goomba population. Play only if you somehow fall into the ranks of the series’ fans or if you really liked the previous two entries’ sense of humor (which, at this point and in my humble opinion, remains the only redeeming quality to the series).
10/13/2010
Patch 4.0.1 is LIVE!
Here it is, the patch introducing the whole new leveling and talent system is on the live servers. I sure am not the one who played the most with this patch, but here are my impressions so far:
- Talent trees are not equal! The Priest talent trees is one of the best designed so far, in my opinion at least, while the Elemental and Restoration Shamans are just ok. I tried a bit Fury Warrior, and let me tell you that I'm pretty sure it will liven up my level 30-something experience. Same goes for Paladin, my low-level paladin got a few new spells, meaning I won't have to make 1-button spams anymore!
- Instant battleground! I tried three battlegrounds, all first-tier, and got absolutely no wait. I think this is due to the fact that BGs may now be region-wide (instead of battelgroups-wide), or maybe just the influx of players eager to test their abilities.
- Soloing is now incredibly easy as a Discipline priest (you read that right!). I kill mobs in two spells, sometimes three. I have plenty of mana, and I got a few nice boosts overall.
- Low-level battlegrounds are completely unbalanced. I mean, off-the-charts unbalanced. Stealth is perfect, rogues can kill me in a matter of two or three seconds even with my PW: Shield on. Hunters are just as badass as before, maybe even a bit more. Druids rule the capture the flag to a whole new degree. But then, I played on Alliance side. Alliance has a bad rep when it comes to PVP…
- It’ll be harder than I expected to go back to my older characters! Really, with the number of alts I run, it’ll be a challenge to find a new rotation for everyone.
I had no issue during the installation, and I totally expected the increased downtime. People who complained either are new to this (more than I!) or are simply unrealistic; most patch days have long delays, and this was one hell of a patch!
- Talent trees are not equal! The Priest talent trees is one of the best designed so far, in my opinion at least, while the Elemental and Restoration Shamans are just ok. I tried a bit Fury Warrior, and let me tell you that I'm pretty sure it will liven up my level 30-something experience. Same goes for Paladin, my low-level paladin got a few new spells, meaning I won't have to make 1-button spams anymore!
- Instant battleground! I tried three battlegrounds, all first-tier, and got absolutely no wait. I think this is due to the fact that BGs may now be region-wide (instead of battelgroups-wide), or maybe just the influx of players eager to test their abilities.
- Soloing is now incredibly easy as a Discipline priest (you read that right!). I kill mobs in two spells, sometimes three. I have plenty of mana, and I got a few nice boosts overall.
- Low-level battlegrounds are completely unbalanced. I mean, off-the-charts unbalanced. Stealth is perfect, rogues can kill me in a matter of two or three seconds even with my PW: Shield on. Hunters are just as badass as before, maybe even a bit more. Druids rule the capture the flag to a whole new degree. But then, I played on Alliance side. Alliance has a bad rep when it comes to PVP…
- It’ll be harder than I expected to go back to my older characters! Really, with the number of alts I run, it’ll be a challenge to find a new rotation for everyone.
I had no issue during the installation, and I totally expected the increased downtime. People who complained either are new to this (more than I!) or are simply unrealistic; most patch days have long delays, and this was one hell of a patch!
10/08/2010
Patch 4.0.1 and what it brings
I went ahead and played on the Public Test Realms of WoW to test the upcoming patch, the one that’ll bring some of the cataclysmic changes to the game (pun intended).
With it comes changes to the interface: the map can track multiple things at the same time, which is convenient; your spellbook contains all of your class’s abilities, even those you have not learned; it indicates when you can get it. The talent overhaul has come, and it seems nice. My early fears seem far away now: the trees (at least those I saw) seem nice and, while I don’t think it’ll herald a new era of diversity, at least gives you something to really look for; most talents are at least useful or interesting. When you won’t gain a new talent, you’ll gain a new ability, so if you’re like me, and have a character in progress but still a good way before level 80, you’re likely to lose some of the spells or abilities you currently have, only to gain them back later.
While this may hurt some players who are unaware of the coming changes (and may log next week only to realize they’ve lost some spells), this will make a much nicer progression, since almost every level will bring something new, either a brand new spell (ranks have been done away with) or a talent point. The downside of this is that there are no “awesome levels”, with a cluster of abilities (like level 20 for most classes).
Otherwise, all Cataclysm changes are due, well, on Cataclysm release, December 7th. You won’t find the ability to fly in Azeroth, new dungeons, new quests or reshaped zones in 4.0.1, though you’ll experience the coming of the Cataclysm and of Deathwing, thanks to intermittent earthquakes. I’m disappointed I couldn’t try a Dwarf Shaman just for the fun of it, or a Troll Druid, but I’ll spend so much time tinkering my new talents for my 8+ alts that I probably won’t notice time flying away!
10/05/2010
My other blog
Hi,
Go to http://theoryoftheunknown.blogspot.com/
to see my new blog. It's about anything. Really: politics, religion, culture, entertainment, science, economics, the news, war (what is it good for?), peace, literature, and so on. Just no videogames (although posts about, say, a law targeting videogame, censorship, violence, etc., may be published in both blogs. Who knows?)
It’s a blog about my thoughts, mostly when I’m irritated by some people’s ignorance and close-mindedness, or when I read something worthwhile or that makes me think.
Go to http://theoryoftheunknown.blogspot.com/
to see my new blog. It's about anything. Really: politics, religion, culture, entertainment, science, economics, the news, war (what is it good for?), peace, literature, and so on. Just no videogames (although posts about, say, a law targeting videogame, censorship, violence, etc., may be published in both blogs. Who knows?)
It’s a blog about my thoughts, mostly when I’m irritated by some people’s ignorance and close-mindedness, or when I read something worthwhile or that makes me think.
I knew I had forgotten something…
When describing Cataclysm features, I knew I forgot a few things.
- Glyphs are now learned: Use a Glyph once, then access your glyph book to “equip” the glyphs you need. Pretty sweet, IMO.
- Skill revamp, continued: Some recipes will now grant more than one skill-up. So if you’re levelling say Blacksmithing and see that sweet Blue armor you want to create, but feel like it’s material cost does not justify what it’ll bring you for a mere +1 to your skill, you’ll no longer have to worry: such recipes will grant you more than +1.
- New flightpaths: There are new flightpaths everywhere so the zones are easier to travel for lowbie characters.
- New Heirlooms! Have a level 32 hunter with Shoulder, Armor, Trinket, Bow, and two Melee Weapons heirlooms and loving it? Now you can also have a sweet Helm and a Cloak to add to your arsenal of overpowered and experience-boosting gear. Plus, these will work up to level 85 (older heirlooms will work until level 80; you can keep them after that if you haven’t found anything to replace them with, but they won’t continue to scale and won’t grant naymore experience bonus after level 80).
- New Battlegrounds: Yup, not one but two! Plus a Wintergrasp-like battlefield and Rated battlegrounds!
- Updated loot system: Now more will you have to swap five kinds of Emblems to buy that special trinket. There will be only four currencies, called “points” (how original!). Two are for PVE, one lowbie earned by doing dungeons and heroics, the other for raiders. The other two are for PVP, one for regular PVP (the actual Honor points), the other for rated battlegrounds and arena only. After a new tier of gear lands, the higher tier of points is downgraded, as is the cost of actual equipment. The new tier then requires you to gather more of the high tier points. Pretty slick, if you ask me.Just announced: Guilds will be limited to 600 members. Yeah, I know, it sucks for the like 5 guilds concerned.
- Glyphs are now learned: Use a Glyph once, then access your glyph book to “equip” the glyphs you need. Pretty sweet, IMO.
- Skill revamp, continued: Some recipes will now grant more than one skill-up. So if you’re levelling say Blacksmithing and see that sweet Blue armor you want to create, but feel like it’s material cost does not justify what it’ll bring you for a mere +1 to your skill, you’ll no longer have to worry: such recipes will grant you more than +1.
- New flightpaths: There are new flightpaths everywhere so the zones are easier to travel for lowbie characters.
- New Heirlooms! Have a level 32 hunter with Shoulder, Armor, Trinket, Bow, and two Melee Weapons heirlooms and loving it? Now you can also have a sweet Helm and a Cloak to add to your arsenal of overpowered and experience-boosting gear. Plus, these will work up to level 85 (older heirlooms will work until level 80; you can keep them after that if you haven’t found anything to replace them with, but they won’t continue to scale and won’t grant naymore experience bonus after level 80).
- New Battlegrounds: Yup, not one but two! Plus a Wintergrasp-like battlefield and Rated battlegrounds!
- Updated loot system: Now more will you have to swap five kinds of Emblems to buy that special trinket. There will be only four currencies, called “points” (how original!). Two are for PVE, one lowbie earned by doing dungeons and heroics, the other for raiders. The other two are for PVP, one for regular PVP (the actual Honor points), the other for rated battlegrounds and arena only. After a new tier of gear lands, the higher tier of points is downgraded, as is the cost of actual equipment. The new tier then requires you to gather more of the high tier points. Pretty slick, if you ask me.Just announced: Guilds will be limited to 600 members. Yeah, I know, it sucks for the like 5 guilds concerned.
10/04/2010
It’s official! Dec. 7th!
It has been announced that World of Warcraft: Cataclysm, the third expansion, is set for release on Dec. 7th.
What is it?
I find that many players don’t even know what’s coming. So, here are some of the highlights:
- New races: Worgen (werewolves, if you prefer) join the Alliance, while Goblins (some Goblins, anyway) join the Horde.
- New level cap: It’s only five levels this time. Yet WoW is not about levels anymore; for many players, it's about the endgame. For most players who have a level 80 character, 5 or 10 does not matter; for the others, I guess it does not matter either, since they’re not even close!
- Talent overhaul: We actually lose talent points! In the sense that, at level 10, characters pick a specific Spec, and it gives them what they need to play said spec (good thing for some characters; Enhancement Shamans, for instance, could hardly play as their chosen spec before level 40…). We gain one talent every odd level after that, and one talent point represents more of a change than in the past. Apparently, every even level we get a trainable ability.
- New interface: Sleek new design for the interface, better functions (such as the ability to track multiple things on the map) and changes to every level of play, like the red “!” that allow you to pick up quests by killing monsters, instant-quest turning for some quests, and so on.
- Flight in Azeroth! Now we can all fly around Azeroth starting at level 60!
- The Cataclysm itself: Not only are new zones added to Azeroth, but the old ones are being torn apart! Monsters appear at different places, quest hubs have changed, quest lines have been replaced, even the geography is different now.
- Guild achievements: Your guild now has achievements and even levels with rewards depending on your own Guild Reputation.
- Archaeology: Ever wanted to play Indiana Jones? Now you can with this new secondary skill.
- Retuning: Healing will play differently now; healers will need to be more careful about their Mana. Threat generation for tanks work differently; DPS survival should no longer rest solely on the shoulders of the healer. Crowd Control makes a comeback. Heroic Dungeons will be much tougher.
- Raid changes: 10-man and 25-man give the same loot, only not in the same ratio, so player can enjoy the aspect they prefer rather than feel obligated to do both.
- Major class changes: Not that many, but Hunters now use Focus (like energy), and DK’s runes now function differently.
- New race-class combos: Play a Dwarf Shaman or a Troll Druid! You know you want to.
- New loot: Of course.
- New recipes and overhaul of professions, most notably inscription (three kind of Glyphs now). plus, apparently, picking up ore and herbs will now grant experience!
- Have I forgotten something?
All in all, this seems to be a pretty solid expansion. Another reason to get excited? Some of the above will end up being free, such as the revamped Azeroth, the interface and the overhaul: just about everything that should affect ALL players, in other words, will come first in the patch. The expansion itself offers you levels 81-85, the new accompanying zones, the Goblin and Worgen races, flight in the Old World and the like. I can’t wait to see what’ll happen to my numerous characters! Will I keep the same spec? Will I favor new characters? I'll give you news when the patch hits, about what has come and what can we expect from the expansion itself.
Final note: WoW:C will (if I understand correctly) be available as digital download from the start, which I think will be a good thing. Not surprising since they did this f
What is it?
I find that many players don’t even know what’s coming. So, here are some of the highlights:
- New races: Worgen (werewolves, if you prefer) join the Alliance, while Goblins (some Goblins, anyway) join the Horde.
- New level cap: It’s only five levels this time. Yet WoW is not about levels anymore; for many players, it's about the endgame. For most players who have a level 80 character, 5 or 10 does not matter; for the others, I guess it does not matter either, since they’re not even close!
- Talent overhaul: We actually lose talent points! In the sense that, at level 10, characters pick a specific Spec, and it gives them what they need to play said spec (good thing for some characters; Enhancement Shamans, for instance, could hardly play as their chosen spec before level 40…). We gain one talent every odd level after that, and one talent point represents more of a change than in the past. Apparently, every even level we get a trainable ability.
- New interface: Sleek new design for the interface, better functions (such as the ability to track multiple things on the map) and changes to every level of play, like the red “!” that allow you to pick up quests by killing monsters, instant-quest turning for some quests, and so on.
- Flight in Azeroth! Now we can all fly around Azeroth starting at level 60!
- The Cataclysm itself: Not only are new zones added to Azeroth, but the old ones are being torn apart! Monsters appear at different places, quest hubs have changed, quest lines have been replaced, even the geography is different now.
- Guild achievements: Your guild now has achievements and even levels with rewards depending on your own Guild Reputation.
- Archaeology: Ever wanted to play Indiana Jones? Now you can with this new secondary skill.
- Retuning: Healing will play differently now; healers will need to be more careful about their Mana. Threat generation for tanks work differently; DPS survival should no longer rest solely on the shoulders of the healer. Crowd Control makes a comeback. Heroic Dungeons will be much tougher.
- Raid changes: 10-man and 25-man give the same loot, only not in the same ratio, so player can enjoy the aspect they prefer rather than feel obligated to do both.
- Major class changes: Not that many, but Hunters now use Focus (like energy), and DK’s runes now function differently.
- New race-class combos: Play a Dwarf Shaman or a Troll Druid! You know you want to.
- New loot: Of course.
- New recipes and overhaul of professions, most notably inscription (three kind of Glyphs now). plus, apparently, picking up ore and herbs will now grant experience!
- Have I forgotten something?
All in all, this seems to be a pretty solid expansion. Another reason to get excited? Some of the above will end up being free, such as the revamped Azeroth, the interface and the overhaul: just about everything that should affect ALL players, in other words, will come first in the patch. The expansion itself offers you levels 81-85, the new accompanying zones, the Goblin and Worgen races, flight in the Old World and the like. I can’t wait to see what’ll happen to my numerous characters! Will I keep the same spec? Will I favor new characters? I'll give you news when the patch hits, about what has come and what can we expect from the expansion itself.
Final note: WoW:C will (if I understand correctly) be available as digital download from the start, which I think will be a good thing. Not surprising since they did this f
9/30/2010
The coming of yet another disappointment?
When the original Xbox was the hot thing in town, there was a game. It was supposed to be awesome: a vast world to explore, a progression system based on your actions, deep choices and the ability to play hero or villain. Your adventure was supposed to take your character from childhood to old age, your model was supposed to change depending on many factors, including your weapon choices and your food.
What did we get? The original Fable. A game with limited exploration possibilities, stupid progression system that made your character age artificially, a boring story with only a few choices that had real consequences, a story unchanged by whether or not you were hero or villain. A disappointment to all who had been following the game’s development and Peter Molyneux’s, its director, wild promises. When you first can leave the tutorial area, your mentor asks you to meet him in the inn of a nearby town. However, I went for a little exploration and leveled up a bit. When I went out of the Guild, with my new spells and such, I had changed artificially. Instead of seeing my character grow while using a sword, I saw him grow by clicking on a button to increase my strength.
However, my astonishment went one step further: my character had aged! His training had taken 6 years of his life (yeah, I leveled quite a bit while exploring). No mention of time had been given, yet my status clearly recorded him as being 24 years old! Going to the town, the mentor was still there, waiting for me, as if he asked me to join him the day before.
Then I wanted to explore; but most of the world is in fact blocked to you. Until you’ve accepted a quest, and performed it, you cannot progress. So you have to ultimately do quests that in no way have a link to the overall story, like bringing stuff to a merchant beyond a forest, or some other crap, to make the story progress. The promise that quests could be done on two sides – for instance, if a farmer wanted protection from bandits, you could protect his farm or help the bandits! – was also a lie; very few quests in the game allowed you to do that. Most were basic, honorable, heroic stuff. Plus, the promise that the “epic" story was going to take a few years of my character’s life was technically true: discounting the leveling-up aging process, the story could take place in as few as a few DAYS, but clever storyteller force us to be captured at some point and leave us to be in jail for a few years. So technically true; but it was a cheap way to make a story seem to take a long time instead of a few days to be resolved.
When Fable II was announced, I tried not to hear much. However, the game did not do much better; side quests necessary to advance the plot, same enemies, same progression, linear path; a chapter where you are captured to make the story artificially longer; the arena also mandatory instead of being a side quest (grats for recycling your boring story elements, BTW); plus, at the end, it was really unclear I was fighting the final boss! Spoilers ahead: You just found the third hero that’ll help you defeat the bad guy, when the city is attacked. You run through some subterranean corridors, trying to escape, when you are met, on the outside, by a giant version of the flying, triangle UFOs. I beat it without even breaking a sweat. Then, we are transported to the huge evil tower, and we confront the bad guy… and there’s not even a fight. The final boss WAS the triangle UFO. Talk about un-epic.
Not to mention that without even stopping to level up and not doing all the side-quests, I ended up with just about every skill you could want! I think I had two or three missing, and I think I may have had a few XP potions left. Too easy.
Oh, but, but the game allowed me to buy houses. Great! Now I can play monopoly and make money to buy garbage! Color me bored.
So now the third Fable is about to be released. First we had a game that broke countless promises and turned out to be a bland action game with lite-RPG elements; then we had a souped-up version of the same game, with the ability to buy houses and a dog. Now… we can touch people? Is that the great gimmick in this game? That’s all they could come up with? Touch people to make them react to you? Wow. This feel like the most tacked-on feature I’ve seen in a game! You can hug virtual characters! Yippee! Why don’t you concentrate on making a quality game instead of adding useless stuff?
This may seem like a rant, but every Fable has incredible potential. Fable 1 was probably too ambitious, but Fable 2 does not have that problem. Fable 2’s problem was that they focused on unimportant elements and recycled some of what had been done before: the arena being mandatory in both games and the MC getting captured for years are inexcusable repeat of something that had been poorly done before. I’m not expecting Fable 3 to be that much better. And it’s too bad, because the series has its charm, I want to love it… it just left me disappointed and bitter two times too many.
9/21/2010
Demo roundup on the PSN
The PSN store has been updated last night, due to a maintenance scheduled for today. However, BlazBlue’s latest addition to the fighter roster, gentleman werewolf Valkenhayn (and actually one of the Six Heroes and Rachel Alucard’s very own butler!), was not added, despite the availability of the patch and the fact that the Japanese PSN apparently got it already. Oh well, it left me enough time to try Blade Kitten and Enslaved demos.
Blade Kitten is an action platformer pitting you as a cute catgirl fighting with a flying sword. The game is straightforward. You simply jump, crawl and climb your way around in 2D (in a 3D environment, with 3D models) and slice enemies on your way, avoiding traps and collecting points. Despite a charming look, the game’s cutscenes so far have proven uninteresting and will likely prove way too girly for macho Halo veterans who prefer bald, stout and muscular heroes. I skipped those, as the voice acting made me cringe. The controls feel a bit off, as the character seems slippery, but the mechanics are otherwise fun; peering through the How to Play guide allowed me to glimpse that the game may have some interesting depth, as there were a lot of things covered, from unlockables (costumes and weapons) to mounts. It seems mostly like an enjoyable game, nothing more.
Enslaved is an action platformer, but this one is more reminiscent of Prince of Persia: climb along poles, jump from platform to platform, hang in there, and fight mobs with style. The graphics are great, there is a nice use of color (when you get to see the blue sky for the first time, it’s amazing, despite being, you know, a simple blue sky – the color use is that good) that set it apart from gray and brown games like Killzone and Gears of War. The story seem uninteresting, you play an escaped slave… who escapes five minutes after being captured.
My biggest gripe with the game is that when I saw the first enemy, a wicked looking mech, I thought "this game is going to be awesome, I'll probably have to avoid that guy", thinking it would meld some stealth in there, but once I got my hands on my weapon, I realized that was not going to be the case: I quickly and easily dispatched the mob. Despite the lack of danger, the combat was satisfying. I noticed pieces of the robots were hanging in mid-air for no reason, a slight bug that made me cringe as it was detracting from the otherwise great art.
All in all, definitely try both these demos, they're free after all. I was not interested in Enslaved before that, but now I might see how it turns out. As for Blade Kitten, maybe if I want a cute and retro 2D platformer I'll pick this one.
Blade Kitten is an action platformer pitting you as a cute catgirl fighting with a flying sword. The game is straightforward. You simply jump, crawl and climb your way around in 2D (in a 3D environment, with 3D models) and slice enemies on your way, avoiding traps and collecting points. Despite a charming look, the game’s cutscenes so far have proven uninteresting and will likely prove way too girly for macho Halo veterans who prefer bald, stout and muscular heroes. I skipped those, as the voice acting made me cringe. The controls feel a bit off, as the character seems slippery, but the mechanics are otherwise fun; peering through the How to Play guide allowed me to glimpse that the game may have some interesting depth, as there were a lot of things covered, from unlockables (costumes and weapons) to mounts. It seems mostly like an enjoyable game, nothing more.
Enslaved is an action platformer, but this one is more reminiscent of Prince of Persia: climb along poles, jump from platform to platform, hang in there, and fight mobs with style. The graphics are great, there is a nice use of color (when you get to see the blue sky for the first time, it’s amazing, despite being, you know, a simple blue sky – the color use is that good) that set it apart from gray and brown games like Killzone and Gears of War. The story seem uninteresting, you play an escaped slave… who escapes five minutes after being captured.
My biggest gripe with the game is that when I saw the first enemy, a wicked looking mech, I thought "this game is going to be awesome, I'll probably have to avoid that guy", thinking it would meld some stealth in there, but once I got my hands on my weapon, I realized that was not going to be the case: I quickly and easily dispatched the mob. Despite the lack of danger, the combat was satisfying. I noticed pieces of the robots were hanging in mid-air for no reason, a slight bug that made me cringe as it was detracting from the otherwise great art.
All in all, definitely try both these demos, they're free after all. I was not interested in Enslaved before that, but now I might see how it turns out. As for Blade Kitten, maybe if I want a cute and retro 2D platformer I'll pick this one.
9/17/2010
Useless rage
If you’ve been following TGS (Tokyo Game Show), you might have noticed a few announcements that have made the boards on the Internet rage, or rather fill with trolls. It seems to me that this kind of behavior is that of spoiled children, but whatever…
Devil May Cry is rebooted as DMC
A new trailer shows off the new entry in the popular Devil May Cry series by Capcom. This is clearly a rebooting, as the Dante we know is younger, skinnier and sports dark hair. The setting seems more futuristic, too, as evidenced by the massive structures in the city. The trailer is classic Devil May Cry action, with Dante kicking the butts of various monstrosities.
Yet despite this, people are trolling. And I mean SERIOUSLY trolling. Whining about his dark hair or the fact that he is skinnier shows how superficial some gamers are. The Dante of the trailer is royally kicking the asses of various demons, showing off his gun skills with style, and with attitude (flattening his cigarette in the face of a demon as he is holding it nonchalantly by the neck). No matter, people scream (in CAPS please!) that “this is not Dante” or that “the series is ruined”.
I can’t guarantee the game’ll be great. But I can say I’m glad they’re rebooting the series (and apparently, people who are complaining about lack of continuity in the character or setting are ignorant of the very meaning of “rebooting”!) because the franchise had grown stale. People can not like the new Dante look; but the amount of trollage it gets is annoying, and as far as we know, changes are more cosmetic. The outrage at changing Cole’s appearance in Infamous 2 was understandable, as the game was a proper sequel; this is not.
Marvel vs. Capcom 3
If you’ve played Street Fighter IV (or its “expansion” Super SFIV) and liked it, you will surely like MvC3. Capcom (I see a pattern here…) is giving the same treatment to another franchise, Marvel vs. Capcom which, as you may have guessed, pits classic Marvel characters against Capcom’s, so you can finally know who, between Ryu and Spiderman, is the strongest!
The game is going to have more than 30 characters (I heard it may have as much as 40, but those are so far unconfirmed rumors…). About 20 have been announced, and the other trollage coming out of TGS is about the latest reveals…
Capcom’s latest revealed fighter is Tron Bonne, a minor character in the Mega Man series. She got a bit of trollage of her own, but nothing compares to X-23.
Who’s that you say? She’s one of Marvel’s addition, and she is a mutant who have powers similar to Wolverine, meaning she has claws and the like. Now without having played the game, people are up in arms, screaming “Wolverine clone!” and “Why insert such a boring – unimportant – unknown – insert any other adjective imaginable - character instead of X”! I understand she may not be the best known character of the Marvelverse, but people have to understand… she’ll be one of 30 characters. THIRTY! I for one am glad that they pick new, lesser known characters. This is the third game in the franchise, after all, and I’m glad they take risks by not doing it “all stars”. Videos of her and Tron Bonne show the characters have much potential to be fun (especially the latter, IMO, who gets hilarious moves), and whoever they announce as the remaining characters, this is one game I’m looking for. I’ll decide who’s my pick only after, you know, I actually PLAY the game? What about you trolls? Nothing better to do? Why not pick MvC2 online (on PSN or Xbox live), if you're SOOOOOO disappointed they didn't include X character yet?
Devil May Cry is rebooted as DMC
A new trailer shows off the new entry in the popular Devil May Cry series by Capcom. This is clearly a rebooting, as the Dante we know is younger, skinnier and sports dark hair. The setting seems more futuristic, too, as evidenced by the massive structures in the city. The trailer is classic Devil May Cry action, with Dante kicking the butts of various monstrosities.
Yet despite this, people are trolling. And I mean SERIOUSLY trolling. Whining about his dark hair or the fact that he is skinnier shows how superficial some gamers are. The Dante of the trailer is royally kicking the asses of various demons, showing off his gun skills with style, and with attitude (flattening his cigarette in the face of a demon as he is holding it nonchalantly by the neck). No matter, people scream (in CAPS please!) that “this is not Dante” or that “the series is ruined”.
I can’t guarantee the game’ll be great. But I can say I’m glad they’re rebooting the series (and apparently, people who are complaining about lack of continuity in the character or setting are ignorant of the very meaning of “rebooting”!) because the franchise had grown stale. People can not like the new Dante look; but the amount of trollage it gets is annoying, and as far as we know, changes are more cosmetic. The outrage at changing Cole’s appearance in Infamous 2 was understandable, as the game was a proper sequel; this is not.
Marvel vs. Capcom 3
If you’ve played Street Fighter IV (or its “expansion” Super SFIV) and liked it, you will surely like MvC3. Capcom (I see a pattern here…) is giving the same treatment to another franchise, Marvel vs. Capcom which, as you may have guessed, pits classic Marvel characters against Capcom’s, so you can finally know who, between Ryu and Spiderman, is the strongest!
The game is going to have more than 30 characters (I heard it may have as much as 40, but those are so far unconfirmed rumors…). About 20 have been announced, and the other trollage coming out of TGS is about the latest reveals…
Capcom’s latest revealed fighter is Tron Bonne, a minor character in the Mega Man series. She got a bit of trollage of her own, but nothing compares to X-23.
Who’s that you say? She’s one of Marvel’s addition, and she is a mutant who have powers similar to Wolverine, meaning she has claws and the like. Now without having played the game, people are up in arms, screaming “Wolverine clone!” and “Why insert such a boring – unimportant – unknown – insert any other adjective imaginable - character instead of X”! I understand she may not be the best known character of the Marvelverse, but people have to understand… she’ll be one of 30 characters. THIRTY! I for one am glad that they pick new, lesser known characters. This is the third game in the franchise, after all, and I’m glad they take risks by not doing it “all stars”. Videos of her and Tron Bonne show the characters have much potential to be fun (especially the latter, IMO, who gets hilarious moves), and whoever they announce as the remaining characters, this is one game I’m looking for. I’ll decide who’s my pick only after, you know, I actually PLAY the game? What about you trolls? Nothing better to do? Why not pick MvC2 online (on PSN or Xbox live), if you're SOOOOOO disappointed they didn't include X character yet?
9/14/2010
Gathering professions to grant XP in WoW
This week, we learned something that surprised me: apparently, gathering professions based on nodes, namely Mining and Herbalism, are going to grant experience. That’s right: you’ll gain level as you gather up ore and herbs! I think this is a good idea, because leveling while gathering is tedious; presently, you can’t do one effectively without gimping the other, since they are not compatible.
Savvy WoW-ers will notice that neither Enchanting nor Skinning are included in this; Enchanting being both a gathering and a craft, such a boost was likely unnecessary. Skinners may feel left behind, but you already skin by killing enemies, thus gaining experience… even with Herbalism and Mining getting this XP boost, skinning will likely remain the best to combine leveling AND gathering, especially since so many quests involve you killing mobs that are skinnable, allowing you to do three things at once (which obviously is nothing new).
The downside to this is that gathered materials are probably going to be much more common on the AH, which means less profit for gatherers. On the flipside, it might become easier to simply buy materials to level your crafts!
On that note, on the verge of the release (PTR are soon to be live, which probably means a really close release! Rumors have stated a November 2 release date… which would make sense), I don’t play much, and I’m not alone. I wanted to level my Death Knight's (Darkevangel, Norgannon-US, Horde) Mining and Blacksmithing, but BS is hard! Especially since I don’t use any of the lower level stuff, I don’t have much motivation. Besides, Blizzard stated that they want crafting skills to be less of a chore, so maybe I better wait.
Scrap that. Once Cataclysm hit, I’m making three new characters, no less (filling my slots on Norgannon): a Worgen Priest (either Discipline or Shadow), a Goblin Mage and a Troll Druid.
Final words: Operation Gnomeregan and Echo Isles events are live! I haven’t done all of it yet (I'm currently playing another MMO, Florensia, probably more on that later), but the beginnings of Operation Gnomeregan is really funny.
Savvy WoW-ers will notice that neither Enchanting nor Skinning are included in this; Enchanting being both a gathering and a craft, such a boost was likely unnecessary. Skinners may feel left behind, but you already skin by killing enemies, thus gaining experience… even with Herbalism and Mining getting this XP boost, skinning will likely remain the best to combine leveling AND gathering, especially since so many quests involve you killing mobs that are skinnable, allowing you to do three things at once (which obviously is nothing new).
The downside to this is that gathered materials are probably going to be much more common on the AH, which means less profit for gatherers. On the flipside, it might become easier to simply buy materials to level your crafts!
On that note, on the verge of the release (PTR are soon to be live, which probably means a really close release! Rumors have stated a November 2 release date… which would make sense), I don’t play much, and I’m not alone. I wanted to level my Death Knight's (Darkevangel, Norgannon-US, Horde) Mining and Blacksmithing, but BS is hard! Especially since I don’t use any of the lower level stuff, I don’t have much motivation. Besides, Blizzard stated that they want crafting skills to be less of a chore, so maybe I better wait.
Scrap that. Once Cataclysm hit, I’m making three new characters, no less (filling my slots on Norgannon): a Worgen Priest (either Discipline or Shadow), a Goblin Mage and a Troll Druid.
Final words: Operation Gnomeregan and Echo Isles events are live! I haven’t done all of it yet (I'm currently playing another MMO, Florensia, probably more on that later), but the beginnings of Operation Gnomeregan is really funny.
9/10/2010
Games I look forward to
Catherine
Yes, this is a game title. I guess Halo and CoD fans are not the target audience of this game. Maybe I am, I don’t know yet how the game is played. Is this an action game, an RPG, a platformer, a puzzle game or what? I have no clue.
Why do I look forward to it then? First because this is Atlus, makers of the awesome Persona series, game in HD, for this generation of consoles. People hoped for Persona 5, instead they gave us this. Apparently you become a sheep in your nightmares, and there are hands seeking to kill you, presumably to eat you. Oh, and you climb an endless staircase in your underwear, too.
Does any of that make sense? Did I mention you slept with a girl presumably named Catherine? And that there are hordes of talking sheep and a murder mystery? Yeah, that’s my kind of game.
Seriously, though, the game looks like it’s going to be pretty unique, so I figured I’d put it in my blog. Rumors say that it is an action adventure game, where you investigate in a city and live your nightmares, trying to unravel the mysteries. Wilder rumors put the game in the Persona universe, due to the fact that Vincent, the main character, appears in Persona 3 Portable. Here’s the trailer: www.youtube.com/watch?v=SAQmLbHyyK8
Yes, this is a game title. I guess Halo and CoD fans are not the target audience of this game. Maybe I am, I don’t know yet how the game is played. Is this an action game, an RPG, a platformer, a puzzle game or what? I have no clue.
Why do I look forward to it then? First because this is Atlus, makers of the awesome Persona series, game in HD, for this generation of consoles. People hoped for Persona 5, instead they gave us this. Apparently you become a sheep in your nightmares, and there are hands seeking to kill you, presumably to eat you. Oh, and you climb an endless staircase in your underwear, too.
Does any of that make sense? Did I mention you slept with a girl presumably named Catherine? And that there are hordes of talking sheep and a murder mystery? Yeah, that’s my kind of game.
Seriously, though, the game looks like it’s going to be pretty unique, so I figured I’d put it in my blog. Rumors say that it is an action adventure game, where you investigate in a city and live your nightmares, trying to unravel the mysteries. Wilder rumors put the game in the Persona universe, due to the fact that Vincent, the main character, appears in Persona 3 Portable. Here’s the trailer: www.youtube.com/watch?v=SAQmLbHyyK8
Decide for yourself.
The worst trends…
Today I’ll post a rant about one of the worst trends in videogames right now.
Leveling monsters
I was exposed to this heinous trend for the first time in Oblivion (of the Elder Scrolls series). Leveling monsters mean that your enemies grow up in power as you do; gain a level, and they grow a bit stronger. In theory, that's a good idea. It means the player should always be challenged, and never too much, by the enemies he (or she) encounters.
The problem with that is that it shows up in RPG, where often, part of the fun is to level up your character, and in some case part of the strategy too. It effectively renders pointless the idea of leveling, since you’ll never be able to truly dominate enemies, and when stuck against an enemy you have trouble fighting, say a boss, leveling will do you no good.
This trend can be found in generally open-ended games, like Mass Effect, Fable and Dragon Age, and this is understandable, as the developers have no clue where the player will be headed first.
Still, it feels like learning a new spell or reaching a new height in strength is not as satisfying, since you know the next enemies you’ll encounter will have magically leveled up…
The worst offender I played was Oblivion, which is an otherwise stellar game. During my first playthrough, I didn’t know how I’d level up my character. I had played Morrowind, but had not decided what I wanted to play. So I ended up leveling a few characteristics and making a diverse character. At first, I had no problem; goblins fell to my swords and spells, and I quickly leveled. At some point, however, enemy types started changing. No more goblins in sight in any dungeon: they were replaced by the much tougher Minotaurs, who were then replaced by the annoying Will-o-wisps. At that point, I had not realized that enemies were leveling with me, so I leveled up. And once I was strong enough to easily take down will-o-wisps, I had to fight other creatures (my next character, a pure fighter, had a terrible time during those few levels where you fight Will-o-wisps, because of their resistance to weapon damage, yet somehow the later levels seemed incredibly easier!)! The points I had spent in non combat-related abilities really brought my character down.
In a game where it is possible to level a character with out-of-combat capabilities, this system shows even greater problems: how to balance for both? Plus, I always thought it was lazy on the part of the developers. Instead of giving exact stats to a wide number of creatures, they simply scale them up.
Solution: Either return to the old-fashioned system, where some areas where tougher than others and other easier, or make sure the difference between levels is not substantial enough to make low level monsters too easy for characters of higher level. In such a scheme, a level one character would be challenged by fighting one or two goblins at a time; a level 20 character with good gear would beat those goblins, and then some, with relative ease, but not to the point of making the encounter trivial.
Regenerating health
When Halo came out, I loved the regeneration function. It was cool, it was new to me (as before that I didn’t play much shooters, aside from Turok and Perfect Dark) and it fit well with the character and universe. For those who don’t know or don’t remember, Master Chief had then a shield bar that regenerated if you could stay out of the fire for a while, as well as health points that you lost when your shield was depleted. Your health could be recovered by taking health packs.
However, it was good then because it made sense. Master Chief wears that shiny green armor, and it has a shield protecting him from harm. However, the regenerating health has spread to the point where you can’t seem to find a shooter that does not use it. Gears of War, Call of Duty, Killzone, you name it, the characters in all of these games have a magic regeneration power that is never explained. Let’s say it makes sense in sci-fi games (nanobot regen or shield or whatever – I can live with that, but at least say it during the cutscenes!) but in CoD games, not so much.
Solution: Explain why a character can be healed! Or use the old system, if you can’t find an explanation. Better yet: why not add a Medic mechanic? Your character is hurt, you shout medic, and an NPC comes to heal you. You need to be out of the fire or the medic risks being killed too. For instance, in Gears of War, one of your buddies might carry a first aid kit. It would definitely make sense in CoD and it could also be used to great effect in multiplayer matches!
Leveling monsters
I was exposed to this heinous trend for the first time in Oblivion (of the Elder Scrolls series). Leveling monsters mean that your enemies grow up in power as you do; gain a level, and they grow a bit stronger. In theory, that's a good idea. It means the player should always be challenged, and never too much, by the enemies he (or she) encounters.
The problem with that is that it shows up in RPG, where often, part of the fun is to level up your character, and in some case part of the strategy too. It effectively renders pointless the idea of leveling, since you’ll never be able to truly dominate enemies, and when stuck against an enemy you have trouble fighting, say a boss, leveling will do you no good.
This trend can be found in generally open-ended games, like Mass Effect, Fable and Dragon Age, and this is understandable, as the developers have no clue where the player will be headed first.
Still, it feels like learning a new spell or reaching a new height in strength is not as satisfying, since you know the next enemies you’ll encounter will have magically leveled up…
The worst offender I played was Oblivion, which is an otherwise stellar game. During my first playthrough, I didn’t know how I’d level up my character. I had played Morrowind, but had not decided what I wanted to play. So I ended up leveling a few characteristics and making a diverse character. At first, I had no problem; goblins fell to my swords and spells, and I quickly leveled. At some point, however, enemy types started changing. No more goblins in sight in any dungeon: they were replaced by the much tougher Minotaurs, who were then replaced by the annoying Will-o-wisps. At that point, I had not realized that enemies were leveling with me, so I leveled up. And once I was strong enough to easily take down will-o-wisps, I had to fight other creatures (my next character, a pure fighter, had a terrible time during those few levels where you fight Will-o-wisps, because of their resistance to weapon damage, yet somehow the later levels seemed incredibly easier!)! The points I had spent in non combat-related abilities really brought my character down.
In a game where it is possible to level a character with out-of-combat capabilities, this system shows even greater problems: how to balance for both? Plus, I always thought it was lazy on the part of the developers. Instead of giving exact stats to a wide number of creatures, they simply scale them up.
Solution: Either return to the old-fashioned system, where some areas where tougher than others and other easier, or make sure the difference between levels is not substantial enough to make low level monsters too easy for characters of higher level. In such a scheme, a level one character would be challenged by fighting one or two goblins at a time; a level 20 character with good gear would beat those goblins, and then some, with relative ease, but not to the point of making the encounter trivial.
Regenerating health
When Halo came out, I loved the regeneration function. It was cool, it was new to me (as before that I didn’t play much shooters, aside from Turok and Perfect Dark) and it fit well with the character and universe. For those who don’t know or don’t remember, Master Chief had then a shield bar that regenerated if you could stay out of the fire for a while, as well as health points that you lost when your shield was depleted. Your health could be recovered by taking health packs.
However, it was good then because it made sense. Master Chief wears that shiny green armor, and it has a shield protecting him from harm. However, the regenerating health has spread to the point where you can’t seem to find a shooter that does not use it. Gears of War, Call of Duty, Killzone, you name it, the characters in all of these games have a magic regeneration power that is never explained. Let’s say it makes sense in sci-fi games (nanobot regen or shield or whatever – I can live with that, but at least say it during the cutscenes!) but in CoD games, not so much.
Solution: Explain why a character can be healed! Or use the old system, if you can’t find an explanation. Better yet: why not add a Medic mechanic? Your character is hurt, you shout medic, and an NPC comes to heal you. You need to be out of the fire or the medic risks being killed too. For instance, in Gears of War, one of your buddies might carry a first aid kit. It would definitely make sense in CoD and it could also be used to great effect in multiplayer matches!
9/03/2010
Leveling as a Healer
(This deals exclusively with WoW)
I have seen a few articles around on the subject, most notably on wow.com. I thought I might join in the fun, since this is how I leveled my own main, and to this day, only 80. Her name (the female model of draeneis is just so much better than the beefy male model, especially for a healer!) is Elekaylla (Norgannon-A, US). Although I started as a healer, I prefer DPSing for now, although the new tools we will get in Cataclysm will undoubtedly make me at least try healing again.
Now if you have 10 level 80 characters and are looking for the latest in raid strategy, go elsewhere, this is strictly about leveling!
I started this character after one of my friend started playing a Hunter. I wanted to try healing, and so I did. As soon as I could, I started queueing in the Dungeon Finder. For a healer, this tool is a blessing. It allows us to practice our trade, while leveling quite fast and racking up good items.
I know for some people, the Dungeon Finder is less efficient than questing for leveling. I guess your mileage may vary on that, but as I picked quests, I had usually a few good xp-boosters each time I set foot into a new dungeon. Of course, if you plan to level as a healer, you’ll probably quest a bit too.
This is the reason I picked a shaman. First, the priest is more fragile, so questing is more often interrupted by healing and drinking. The Water Shield and Mana totems of the shaman means less downtime, and as a shaman, I can bolt things up to oblivion or smash them with a big club. While leveling, I usually set my totems (Earthskin, Searing and Mana) and then cast lightning bolt, immediately followed by a Flame shock. Why not the Shock first? Simply because the time for the lightning bolt to travel is not instantaneous. Thus, when the enemy would start running toward me, it would get hit by the first bolt, and then I would either cast more bolts or start hitting hit, depending on mana.
Against tougher enemies, I’d use Frost Shock, then run back, lightning bolt, flame shock, and then either spam LB or attack. This tactic would avoid me a few hits when I knew enemies could hit me hard.
Eventually, I caught up to my friend’s Hunter and would even reach the final levels before him. Now, to be fair, eh spent a lot more time chatting than I did, but I still managed to level to 80 before him in about half the time! When I say the Dungeon Finder is a boon, I mean it!
What does this story tells us? First, healing and leveling is totally possible. Sure, things fall faster as DPS, but until level 40-50, the difference is not as great, which is why I bought Elemental spec at level 64. Second, the Dungeon Finder is infinitely useful for healers. The same leveling strategy would undoubtedly work for tanks too, and I might try it sometime (maybe a Paladin), but I already have too many alts!
I am also leveling a Blood-Elf hunter (Artémis, Norgannon-H, US; notice the “é” on the “e”), and I am doing so mostly through PVP, which is harder due to longer queues, but once I get into the battlegrounds, boy do I level fast! Last weekend was Arathi Basin Call to Arms, and in three BGs, I gained three levels, moving from level 31 to 34 in about two hours and a half of play time, including a long time spent at the auction and flying on taxis! Try it as well, it might means longer queues for me!
I have seen a few articles around on the subject, most notably on wow.com. I thought I might join in the fun, since this is how I leveled my own main, and to this day, only 80. Her name (the female model of draeneis is just so much better than the beefy male model, especially for a healer!) is Elekaylla (Norgannon-A, US). Although I started as a healer, I prefer DPSing for now, although the new tools we will get in Cataclysm will undoubtedly make me at least try healing again.
Now if you have 10 level 80 characters and are looking for the latest in raid strategy, go elsewhere, this is strictly about leveling!
I started this character after one of my friend started playing a Hunter. I wanted to try healing, and so I did. As soon as I could, I started queueing in the Dungeon Finder. For a healer, this tool is a blessing. It allows us to practice our trade, while leveling quite fast and racking up good items.
I know for some people, the Dungeon Finder is less efficient than questing for leveling. I guess your mileage may vary on that, but as I picked quests, I had usually a few good xp-boosters each time I set foot into a new dungeon. Of course, if you plan to level as a healer, you’ll probably quest a bit too.
This is the reason I picked a shaman. First, the priest is more fragile, so questing is more often interrupted by healing and drinking. The Water Shield and Mana totems of the shaman means less downtime, and as a shaman, I can bolt things up to oblivion or smash them with a big club. While leveling, I usually set my totems (Earthskin, Searing and Mana) and then cast lightning bolt, immediately followed by a Flame shock. Why not the Shock first? Simply because the time for the lightning bolt to travel is not instantaneous. Thus, when the enemy would start running toward me, it would get hit by the first bolt, and then I would either cast more bolts or start hitting hit, depending on mana.
Against tougher enemies, I’d use Frost Shock, then run back, lightning bolt, flame shock, and then either spam LB or attack. This tactic would avoid me a few hits when I knew enemies could hit me hard.
Eventually, I caught up to my friend’s Hunter and would even reach the final levels before him. Now, to be fair, eh spent a lot more time chatting than I did, but I still managed to level to 80 before him in about half the time! When I say the Dungeon Finder is a boon, I mean it!
What does this story tells us? First, healing and leveling is totally possible. Sure, things fall faster as DPS, but until level 40-50, the difference is not as great, which is why I bought Elemental spec at level 64. Second, the Dungeon Finder is infinitely useful for healers. The same leveling strategy would undoubtedly work for tanks too, and I might try it sometime (maybe a Paladin), but I already have too many alts!
I am also leveling a Blood-Elf hunter (Artémis, Norgannon-H, US; notice the “é” on the “e”), and I am doing so mostly through PVP, which is harder due to longer queues, but once I get into the battlegrounds, boy do I level fast! Last weekend was Arathi Basin Call to Arms, and in three BGs, I gained three levels, moving from level 31 to 34 in about two hours and a half of play time, including a long time spent at the auction and flying on taxis! Try it as well, it might means longer queues for me!
My favorite games, part 4
My next in this “favorite games” series is a fighter: BlazBlue. This is a relatively new title, and a newcomer in the crowded genre. Its first installment, Calamity Trigger, was released last year, with a perfect timing: Street Fighter IV (also a great game) had just officially relaunched the 2D-fighter games.
BlazBlue will feel familiar to fans of the Guilty Gear series. Both sport stylized anime looks, weird characters, a completely insane story and deep gameplay. The number of fighters in the first BlazBlue (BB for short), 12, was not exactly stellar. However, you have to keep in mind that this was a whole new franchise: none of the characters existed prior Calamity Trigger. You also need to know that unlike SFIV and other games in the same vein, BB's characters each has a totally different fighting style.
Whereas SFIV’s fighters share some characteristics (how many characters are based off Ryu?), BB’s combatants each has his or her own flair. This is achieved by one of the main “attack” button, the Drive (or D). Since each character has his or her Drive, they are inherently unlike each other. For instance, Ragna, the main character, has a drive that allow him to steal life from his opponent. For him, it is essentially a real, fourth attack button that drains life. On the other hand, Hakumen’s drive is an energy ring that allows the fighter to reverse attacks, while Rachel's D button summons a gust of wind that affect her moves.
Even the main character’s strategies, outside of their drive, distinguishes them from the others. Arakune’s moves allow him to teleport and disappear, Tager can magnetize enemies to draw them toward him (which allows the player to pull insane throws), and Nu/Lambda opens gates that slow enemies down. Add the fact that when playing Carl, you control his sister/doll, that Rachel and Mu place “traps” on the battlefield, that Jin can freeze his opponent, and you might understand what is meant by “diverse”.
Otherwise, the game is just as deep, if not deeper, than other 2D fighters. Combos need real skill, unlike button-mashing fests, and expect spending a lot of time in the air as you’ll jump, double jump, jump-dash and jump-throw around.
The game’s story is out of this world. It involves energy (seithr) from some place (the Boundary) accessed through the Cauldron, robotic clones, vampires, time loops, alternate dimensions, destiny and much more. Don’t try to make sense of it now, take what info is given to you as you play and, beyond the technical mumbo jumbo (Murakumo units, Nox Nyctores, Ars Magus), you’ll see just how deep the story is.
The new game, Continuum Shift, has just been released. Pick this one instead of the other, as you’ll get more modes, more characters for less money, that is, unless you plan on playing Nu-13 (she is replaced by Lambda and plays the same, but is not the same character. To be fair, she IS available, only as Unlimited Character, so usable only in a few modes) or Rachel (who has been nerfed to death).
BlazBlue will feel familiar to fans of the Guilty Gear series. Both sport stylized anime looks, weird characters, a completely insane story and deep gameplay. The number of fighters in the first BlazBlue (BB for short), 12, was not exactly stellar. However, you have to keep in mind that this was a whole new franchise: none of the characters existed prior Calamity Trigger. You also need to know that unlike SFIV and other games in the same vein, BB's characters each has a totally different fighting style.
Whereas SFIV’s fighters share some characteristics (how many characters are based off Ryu?), BB’s combatants each has his or her own flair. This is achieved by one of the main “attack” button, the Drive (or D). Since each character has his or her Drive, they are inherently unlike each other. For instance, Ragna, the main character, has a drive that allow him to steal life from his opponent. For him, it is essentially a real, fourth attack button that drains life. On the other hand, Hakumen’s drive is an energy ring that allows the fighter to reverse attacks, while Rachel's D button summons a gust of wind that affect her moves.
Even the main character’s strategies, outside of their drive, distinguishes them from the others. Arakune’s moves allow him to teleport and disappear, Tager can magnetize enemies to draw them toward him (which allows the player to pull insane throws), and Nu/Lambda opens gates that slow enemies down. Add the fact that when playing Carl, you control his sister/doll, that Rachel and Mu place “traps” on the battlefield, that Jin can freeze his opponent, and you might understand what is meant by “diverse”.
Otherwise, the game is just as deep, if not deeper, than other 2D fighters. Combos need real skill, unlike button-mashing fests, and expect spending a lot of time in the air as you’ll jump, double jump, jump-dash and jump-throw around.
The game’s story is out of this world. It involves energy (seithr) from some place (the Boundary) accessed through the Cauldron, robotic clones, vampires, time loops, alternate dimensions, destiny and much more. Don’t try to make sense of it now, take what info is given to you as you play and, beyond the technical mumbo jumbo (Murakumo units, Nox Nyctores, Ars Magus), you’ll see just how deep the story is.
The new game, Continuum Shift, has just been released. Pick this one instead of the other, as you’ll get more modes, more characters for less money, that is, unless you plan on playing Nu-13 (she is replaced by Lambda and plays the same, but is not the same character. To be fair, she IS available, only as Unlimited Character, so usable only in a few modes) or Rachel (who has been nerfed to death).
8/19/2010
Trying some Free to Play
Aside from my various adventures in WoW, I also tried a few of the many Free to Play MMORPGs out there. Here are my impressions.
Runes of Magic: I guess, if someone would want to play WoW without playing, I’d tell that person to play Runes of Magic. This is an RPG that plays a LOT like Blizzard's hit. Graphically, it is about on the same level; there are some nice effects and models, but the game suffer from a general lack of polish. While the character models from Warcraft are outdated, they have much more polish. Playing Rune of Magic, it is plainly obvious you are playing some free game. Not a terrible game, but if you play any subscription-based RPG, you probably don’t need to even bother with it. 3/5
Mabinogi: I heard a lot of good things about this game, and I would like to like it, but even if the fighting mechanics are interesting and the many side activities appealing, the interface is clunky and there is a serious lack of customization in it – or if there is, I have not managed to find a way to create a properly functioning interface. Some example: quests appear in your field of view, but for some reasons, I sometimes had trouble seeing it, as if somehow the pointers had disappeared… only to reappear later. I will probably retry the game one day, simply because of its charming appeal and its original concept, and maybe you won’t mind the interface as much as I. Since it’s free, you might as well try it.3.5/5
DDO: Dungeons and Dragons Online is a good game, the best of the free games I tried. It has good graphics, a nice interface and a very interesting skill system, compared to other MMORPGs. I don’t play it as much as I should, simply because I’m really into WoW and console games right now, but this is definitely a game that’ll stay on my computer. 4/5
Dofus: Note that I am not sure if there exists an English version of Dofus (I play it in French). The game is flash-based, meaning it has charming but very simple graphics. It has original classes, and stay away from the traditional tank-healer-DPS template so many games embrace. The game is also, interestingly, turn-based. However, it is not entirely free. Your time in Dofus will be limited unless you want to pay. Unless you really dig the French-Manga style and find some friends with whom to explore dungeons, you’ll be stuck in the beginners area, and the game does not, in my opinion, warrant a subscription. The graphical engine is too simple, and it suffers from a problem common to most Free games: spam-bots. Although, given the limited time I had with Dofus, the problem might have been punctual. 3/5 (it’d be more if the free to play zone would be bigger; as it stands, it is a glorified demo…)
Runes of Magic: I guess, if someone would want to play WoW without playing, I’d tell that person to play Runes of Magic. This is an RPG that plays a LOT like Blizzard's hit. Graphically, it is about on the same level; there are some nice effects and models, but the game suffer from a general lack of polish. While the character models from Warcraft are outdated, they have much more polish. Playing Rune of Magic, it is plainly obvious you are playing some free game. Not a terrible game, but if you play any subscription-based RPG, you probably don’t need to even bother with it. 3/5
Mabinogi: I heard a lot of good things about this game, and I would like to like it, but even if the fighting mechanics are interesting and the many side activities appealing, the interface is clunky and there is a serious lack of customization in it – or if there is, I have not managed to find a way to create a properly functioning interface. Some example: quests appear in your field of view, but for some reasons, I sometimes had trouble seeing it, as if somehow the pointers had disappeared… only to reappear later. I will probably retry the game one day, simply because of its charming appeal and its original concept, and maybe you won’t mind the interface as much as I. Since it’s free, you might as well try it.3.5/5
DDO: Dungeons and Dragons Online is a good game, the best of the free games I tried. It has good graphics, a nice interface and a very interesting skill system, compared to other MMORPGs. I don’t play it as much as I should, simply because I’m really into WoW and console games right now, but this is definitely a game that’ll stay on my computer. 4/5
Dofus: Note that I am not sure if there exists an English version of Dofus (I play it in French). The game is flash-based, meaning it has charming but very simple graphics. It has original classes, and stay away from the traditional tank-healer-DPS template so many games embrace. The game is also, interestingly, turn-based. However, it is not entirely free. Your time in Dofus will be limited unless you want to pay. Unless you really dig the French-Manga style and find some friends with whom to explore dungeons, you’ll be stuck in the beginners area, and the game does not, in my opinion, warrant a subscription. The graphical engine is too simple, and it suffers from a problem common to most Free games: spam-bots. Although, given the limited time I had with Dofus, the problem might have been punctual. 3/5 (it’d be more if the free to play zone would be bigger; as it stands, it is a glorified demo…)
8/17/2010
My favorite games, part 3
Welcome to the latest addition to My Favorite Games. Today, let’s dive into the horror (and into the past!) with Eternal Darkness: Sanity’s Requiem and Killer7 for GameCube
Yeah, I know, GameCube is out (has it really ever been “in”?), but there is no denying that both these games are truly exceptional. Eternal Darkness is a survival horror game in which you play Alexandra Roivas, a young woman investigating her grandfather's tragic death by decapitation. Soon into your investigation, you’ll find the Tome of Eternal Darkness, the game’s equivalent to the Necronomicon, and by reading its pages, you “live” the adventures of past characters who have been confronted with the evil of the Elder Gods.
Each chapter puts you in the shoes of one of these characters, among them a Roman centurion, a priest in Medieval Europe, Alexandra’s own ancestor, and a Canadian firefighter. There are twelve of those in all (including Alexandra). After each story, you continue Alexandra’s investigation, now with new knowledge which allow you to use some of the items in the mansion, or new magic which allow you to unlock new areas.
Not only is the game’s story interestingly presented, through the pages of the book and multiple stories, but the game presents you with multiple fun and original gameplay mechanics: the magic system and the insanity system. To cast spell, you need multiple “components”, runes scattered through the game’s levels. By combining these, you can learn to cast spells, including a handy reparation spell (that also allow you to enchant your weapons), a shield spell and a dispel magic. Spells can each have different “alignments”, one per Elder God, and they interact with each other in a “rock-paper-scissors” way.
The insanity system is what really makes the game shines, as fighting the horrors spawned by the Gods will drain your sanity. When it drops too low, the game is going to play tricks on you: you’ll start having hallucinations, hearing sounds like voices and screams, and even the camera angle will start shifting subtly. Some of these are even breaking the fourth wall: the first time you'll see the TV lowering the volume by itself is a pretty unique experience in videogames...
My only complaints is that the game is too easy, and when you become experienced, you won’t lose much sanity. Sadly, back then developers couldn’t release patches, because an additional difficulty level would have been welcome!
Killer7 is another weird game. It is not for everyone: the game is strictly on rails, meaning you can only move in two directions, except at some defined intersections. that may be the reason why many gamers avoided the title. However, the game is one of the most unique experience you’ll get on any system.
You play as the seven personalities of the Smith syndicate. You can switch personality, and thus appearance, clothes and weapons, at any time. The game’s convoluted and cryptic story (there is a very lengthy FAQ on Gamespot, it is almost a literary essay!) will make you fight the Smiles, weird zombies that are invisible (until you use your vision ring) and whose attacks include only running toward you and detonating themselves. That may sound simple in theory, but once you start encountering the weirder mutants, like to ones that look like a rolling ball, or those whose only weak spot is the face on their back, you’ll understand how varied the experience can be despite simple control schemes.
Aside from the aforementioned cryptic story, the increasingly weirder enemies and settings and the totally out-of-this-world atmosphere, the game gives you some of the most violent cutscenes in recent memory. The game was even targeted by Jack Thompson (the lawyer who tries to get every videogame more violent than Pacman banned) despite its low profile, but ironically, it is not the violent scene I mentioned that he was stuck on, rather it was the short and totally un-explicit “sex” scene (to be honest, it is so un-explicit that no skin is showed and while I have a good idea what the characters were doing, you cannot be sure… how is that pornographic, I have no clue.)
The game keeps pitting weird things at you one after the other, some are simply crazy (you’ll fight some sort of Power Rangers…), some completely disturbing (simply picking a new chapter is enough to make you jump!).
Yeah, I know, GameCube is out (has it really ever been “in”?), but there is no denying that both these games are truly exceptional. Eternal Darkness is a survival horror game in which you play Alexandra Roivas, a young woman investigating her grandfather's tragic death by decapitation. Soon into your investigation, you’ll find the Tome of Eternal Darkness, the game’s equivalent to the Necronomicon, and by reading its pages, you “live” the adventures of past characters who have been confronted with the evil of the Elder Gods.
Each chapter puts you in the shoes of one of these characters, among them a Roman centurion, a priest in Medieval Europe, Alexandra’s own ancestor, and a Canadian firefighter. There are twelve of those in all (including Alexandra). After each story, you continue Alexandra’s investigation, now with new knowledge which allow you to use some of the items in the mansion, or new magic which allow you to unlock new areas.
Not only is the game’s story interestingly presented, through the pages of the book and multiple stories, but the game presents you with multiple fun and original gameplay mechanics: the magic system and the insanity system. To cast spell, you need multiple “components”, runes scattered through the game’s levels. By combining these, you can learn to cast spells, including a handy reparation spell (that also allow you to enchant your weapons), a shield spell and a dispel magic. Spells can each have different “alignments”, one per Elder God, and they interact with each other in a “rock-paper-scissors” way.
The insanity system is what really makes the game shines, as fighting the horrors spawned by the Gods will drain your sanity. When it drops too low, the game is going to play tricks on you: you’ll start having hallucinations, hearing sounds like voices and screams, and even the camera angle will start shifting subtly. Some of these are even breaking the fourth wall: the first time you'll see the TV lowering the volume by itself is a pretty unique experience in videogames...
My only complaints is that the game is too easy, and when you become experienced, you won’t lose much sanity. Sadly, back then developers couldn’t release patches, because an additional difficulty level would have been welcome!
Killer7 is another weird game. It is not for everyone: the game is strictly on rails, meaning you can only move in two directions, except at some defined intersections. that may be the reason why many gamers avoided the title. However, the game is one of the most unique experience you’ll get on any system.
You play as the seven personalities of the Smith syndicate. You can switch personality, and thus appearance, clothes and weapons, at any time. The game’s convoluted and cryptic story (there is a very lengthy FAQ on Gamespot, it is almost a literary essay!) will make you fight the Smiles, weird zombies that are invisible (until you use your vision ring) and whose attacks include only running toward you and detonating themselves. That may sound simple in theory, but once you start encountering the weirder mutants, like to ones that look like a rolling ball, or those whose only weak spot is the face on their back, you’ll understand how varied the experience can be despite simple control schemes.
Aside from the aforementioned cryptic story, the increasingly weirder enemies and settings and the totally out-of-this-world atmosphere, the game gives you some of the most violent cutscenes in recent memory. The game was even targeted by Jack Thompson (the lawyer who tries to get every videogame more violent than Pacman banned) despite its low profile, but ironically, it is not the violent scene I mentioned that he was stuck on, rather it was the short and totally un-explicit “sex” scene (to be honest, it is so un-explicit that no skin is showed and while I have a good idea what the characters were doing, you cannot be sure… how is that pornographic, I have no clue.)
The game keeps pitting weird things at you one after the other, some are simply crazy (you’ll fight some sort of Power Rangers…), some completely disturbing (simply picking a new chapter is enough to make you jump!).
8/13/2010
My favorite games, part 2
Time for another one of these. Today: The World Ends with You.
The World Ends With You
This game with such a unique title is a Nintendo DS RPG. however, forget everything you know about RPGs. Coming from the company that buries one of my favorite series a bit more with each release (Final Fantasy - more on that another time) and who publishes generally sub-par RPGs of other franchises, along with a few gems (Dragon Quest), this was surprising, as it abandons all trappings of regular games.
You play as Neku. When you wake up, having forgotten part of your past, you realize you are still in Shibuya – the hip area of Tokyo – except you are like a ghost. People can’t see or hear you. You are then attacked by monsters and find a partner. Apparently, you are in some kind of “game”, the winner of which will be revived. that’s the initial set up, anyway.
To fight, you must use Pins. These are real pins, little round items. Each Pin carries an ability that you can use. You can equip multiple pins, as well as prepare multiple sets of pins, and each of these levels up separately. In combat, you control two characters at the same time: one on the upper screen, which is controlled by either the buttons (A, B, X and Y) or the D-Pad. The main character, Neku, is on the bottom, and controlled with the stylus exclusively.
To activate your powers, you need to use the stylus in particular ways. Some Pins only require you to press on the enemy to jolt them with electricity; others require you to draw lines to create walls of flames, yet others require you to hold the stylus in one place to generate an explosion at said place. So in addition to varying powers, to need to make sure some pins don’t have the same activation method (although there exists a way for such Pins to coexist).
Battles are thus frantic as you try to control both characters at the same time, avoiding attacks in the process. The good news is that your character can gain level as well as equipment. Every piece of clothing and Pin is associated with a "style" that has bonuses and penalties depending on the area you fight in. You can also upgrade your stats by eating. Eating diverse foods will fill a meter. When your character has finished digesting his food, he will gain bonuses in some stats. This allows you to customize your chars even more.
Each Pin can level individually, and even evolve into other Pins. The way you make Pins evolve involve the multiple types of experience a Pin can earn: rest xp is gained through not playing for a while, and battle xp is gained from winning. Some xp can be earned through a mini-game. To evolve, you require some xp of each kind (for instance, Pin A could require 100 rest xp and 200 mini-game xp to evolve into Pin B, or 300 xp of any kind to evolve into Pin C). Some pins are very rare, and you can adjust difficulty on the fly to increase your chances of finding a rare Pin.
The game is thus very much unique. The setting and the gameplay are one of a kind, but it is the story that is the piece de resistance. The story is appropriately convoluted, and features many interesting characters. If you own a DS, you have to try this game, there is no way around it.
I was supposed to mention other favorite games, notably BlazBlue, Killer7 and others. However, it seems long enough. It will be for another time.
---
Sidenote: I mentioned the Scott Pilgrim movie the other day. You can also try the Scott Pilgrim game, on sale on the PSN, and soon on XBox Live. It is reminiscent of Double Dragon and River City Ransom, with a modern touch and references to many classic videogames. Definitely worth a try!
The World Ends With You
This game with such a unique title is a Nintendo DS RPG. however, forget everything you know about RPGs. Coming from the company that buries one of my favorite series a bit more with each release (Final Fantasy - more on that another time) and who publishes generally sub-par RPGs of other franchises, along with a few gems (Dragon Quest), this was surprising, as it abandons all trappings of regular games.
You play as Neku. When you wake up, having forgotten part of your past, you realize you are still in Shibuya – the hip area of Tokyo – except you are like a ghost. People can’t see or hear you. You are then attacked by monsters and find a partner. Apparently, you are in some kind of “game”, the winner of which will be revived. that’s the initial set up, anyway.
To fight, you must use Pins. These are real pins, little round items. Each Pin carries an ability that you can use. You can equip multiple pins, as well as prepare multiple sets of pins, and each of these levels up separately. In combat, you control two characters at the same time: one on the upper screen, which is controlled by either the buttons (A, B, X and Y) or the D-Pad. The main character, Neku, is on the bottom, and controlled with the stylus exclusively.
To activate your powers, you need to use the stylus in particular ways. Some Pins only require you to press on the enemy to jolt them with electricity; others require you to draw lines to create walls of flames, yet others require you to hold the stylus in one place to generate an explosion at said place. So in addition to varying powers, to need to make sure some pins don’t have the same activation method (although there exists a way for such Pins to coexist).
Battles are thus frantic as you try to control both characters at the same time, avoiding attacks in the process. The good news is that your character can gain level as well as equipment. Every piece of clothing and Pin is associated with a "style" that has bonuses and penalties depending on the area you fight in. You can also upgrade your stats by eating. Eating diverse foods will fill a meter. When your character has finished digesting his food, he will gain bonuses in some stats. This allows you to customize your chars even more.
Each Pin can level individually, and even evolve into other Pins. The way you make Pins evolve involve the multiple types of experience a Pin can earn: rest xp is gained through not playing for a while, and battle xp is gained from winning. Some xp can be earned through a mini-game. To evolve, you require some xp of each kind (for instance, Pin A could require 100 rest xp and 200 mini-game xp to evolve into Pin B, or 300 xp of any kind to evolve into Pin C). Some pins are very rare, and you can adjust difficulty on the fly to increase your chances of finding a rare Pin.
The game is thus very much unique. The setting and the gameplay are one of a kind, but it is the story that is the piece de resistance. The story is appropriately convoluted, and features many interesting characters. If you own a DS, you have to try this game, there is no way around it.
I was supposed to mention other favorite games, notably BlazBlue, Killer7 and others. However, it seems long enough. It will be for another time.
---
Sidenote: I mentioned the Scott Pilgrim movie the other day. You can also try the Scott Pilgrim game, on sale on the PSN, and soon on XBox Live. It is reminiscent of Double Dragon and River City Ransom, with a modern touch and references to many classic videogames. Definitely worth a try!
8/09/2010
The future is DLC?
If you’ve been around the videogame world these past months, you’ve probably seen those three letters come around a lot. DLC. DownLoadable Content. For good or ill, the videogame industry has entered a new era, that of additional content via Internet.
What DLC means to you?
DLC This isn’t an easy question to answer, as DLC varies a lot. Some DLC are expansions – GTA4 is notable for having a few DLC expansions, like Ballad of Gay Tony (gotta love the name!). Dragon Age Origins also has its share of expansions. Other DLC are of lesser importance: they range from actual cheats (Trinity Universe, for instance, allows you to download items, some for free, some for a few bucks; Dante’s Inferno does the same) to costumes and characters.
Bad DLC: Maps, Cheats
I labeled cheats as bad DLC because they feel like an easy way to make cash out of lazy gamers. Not only that, but in my mind, they water down the game experience. I have nothing against unlockable cheats, but paying to get a few free potions in game in a game you already paid for is loserish. Unless the game has extreme difficulty (in which case, it seems like a scam: make the game so hard people have to pay for extra items in order to survive!), it is absolutely useless. I mentioned Trinity Universe before, which is an RPG, and whose DLC offers rare items. OK, I get the idea, still feels bad.
Wait… what? Extra maps are a bad DLC? Why? The reason is simple, really. Say you’ve got a game like Modern Warfare 2. You play online, snipe some guys and having a generally good time. Next comes the new DLC batch: 5 new maps! Unless it’s free, I think this is one of the worse kind of DLC. Even though it offers good value (more maps means more multiplayer fun!), this DLC becomes almost mandatory. Players who don’t pay for these maps cannot play against players who do. It effectively divides the player base. I’m not saying you should never buy map packs, because when you like a FPS, you don’t wanna frag your friends and foes on the same maps forever. In a game as popular as MW2, a divided player base isn’t much of a problem. When it comes to older games or games whose multiplayer component is less popular, it becomes a true issue. I’ve noticed it on Metal Gear Solid Online (AKA MGS4’s online component). So your choice as a player is either pay up, or be limited to play with other players who didn’t pay.
(Side note: it is still possible to play with players who have the maps, but then it’s the players who have paid for who feel stolen; to take back my MGS example, after paying for a map pack, I realized a lot of other players had stopped playing these maps and were more likely to be found killing each other joyously on the regular maps or on maps from a more recent pack)
Good DLC
Good DLC would be expansions. Of course, “good” is relative, as an expansion can still suck. Even great games can be cursed with bad expansions, and sometimes the price tag will be too heavy.
In between
What about costumes? Extra costumes in a fighting game, for instance. Are new costumes worth a few bucks? How about a few tools for LittleBig Planet? The truth is, most DLC’s quality will depend on what you find fun and useful. I like having multiple costumes in fighting games, but I found that SFIV's costumes, for the price, were not worth it. How about songs for music games? 2$ apiece might be a lot, but it can make you play the game a bit longer (a lot longer if you download a particularly tough one, or if you suck!).
Controversy
Lately, I’ve been lurking around BlazBlue forums, in hope of getting real information on a balance patch (please increase Rachel’s damage! Please!). There has been some controversy about the latest DLC: a new character.
Is a new character in a fighting game good or bad DLC? Some players complained, since Makoto (said DLC fighter) is sold for 8$ and can't be played in all modes. There has been some conspiracy theories about whether or not she was on the disc, about the morality of charging for her since her data was downloaded through a patch anyway, and so on.
On the disc?
SFIV’s extra costumes were on the disk – fact. Capcom admitted to it, explaining otherwise players wouldn’t be able to fight each other, because one who would not have paid for it wouldn’t be able to “see” entirely new costumes, a bit like the maps in FPS (see above). As a rule of thumb, DLC that is on the disc is a RIP OFF! This is a company stealing cash from you.
In BB’s case, however, only some data was available on the disc (as evidenced by gamers who have uncovered the next DLC characters through data mining). However, data was incomplete. The whole data was added to the game through a patch. Is this more morally defensible than data on the disc?
In my opinion, it is. The developers, Arc System Works, wanted to add content to their game without releasing a third game in the series. However, they did not want to force players to buy a character only to be able to play with players who did. So you can choose between buying or not, your call.
In a way, you still pay for data you have (through patch). But it is complementary to the whole game, something that was added later. The whole game is on the disc; they decided to add some more characters after the game was complete.
In my opinion, this system works because, unlike maps, it does not divided the player base; it is not charging for something that is already in the disc in its complete form; it is like a fighting game’s equivalent of expansion.
What does the controversy tells us? That some players are greedy and want everything for free; that some companies are greedy and charge you for something that is on the disc; and that point of views on DLC vary a lot. It is, after all, a relatively new concept in console gaming. However, my feeling is that it is here to stay. I for one love DLC. As long as I get a full game at retail and that DLC's quality match that of the game, I think it is an excellent way to add replay value to a game, and for companies a good way of making honest money.
The golden rule of DLC: Inform yourself about what you’re getting, then ask yourself if it is worth it!
Best DLC:
“Iron Maiden” album pack for Rock Band 2;
“Metal Gear Solid” for LittleBig Planet
Makoto Nanaya for BlazBlue: Continuum Shift
Worst DLC:
Street Fighter IV Costumes
Metal Gear Solid Online map packs (on account that I bought them after they were relevant to the online community…)
What DLC means to you?
DLC This isn’t an easy question to answer, as DLC varies a lot. Some DLC are expansions – GTA4 is notable for having a few DLC expansions, like Ballad of Gay Tony (gotta love the name!). Dragon Age Origins also has its share of expansions. Other DLC are of lesser importance: they range from actual cheats (Trinity Universe, for instance, allows you to download items, some for free, some for a few bucks; Dante’s Inferno does the same) to costumes and characters.
Bad DLC: Maps, Cheats
I labeled cheats as bad DLC because they feel like an easy way to make cash out of lazy gamers. Not only that, but in my mind, they water down the game experience. I have nothing against unlockable cheats, but paying to get a few free potions in game in a game you already paid for is loserish. Unless the game has extreme difficulty (in which case, it seems like a scam: make the game so hard people have to pay for extra items in order to survive!), it is absolutely useless. I mentioned Trinity Universe before, which is an RPG, and whose DLC offers rare items. OK, I get the idea, still feels bad.
Wait… what? Extra maps are a bad DLC? Why? The reason is simple, really. Say you’ve got a game like Modern Warfare 2. You play online, snipe some guys and having a generally good time. Next comes the new DLC batch: 5 new maps! Unless it’s free, I think this is one of the worse kind of DLC. Even though it offers good value (more maps means more multiplayer fun!), this DLC becomes almost mandatory. Players who don’t pay for these maps cannot play against players who do. It effectively divides the player base. I’m not saying you should never buy map packs, because when you like a FPS, you don’t wanna frag your friends and foes on the same maps forever. In a game as popular as MW2, a divided player base isn’t much of a problem. When it comes to older games or games whose multiplayer component is less popular, it becomes a true issue. I’ve noticed it on Metal Gear Solid Online (AKA MGS4’s online component). So your choice as a player is either pay up, or be limited to play with other players who didn’t pay.
(Side note: it is still possible to play with players who have the maps, but then it’s the players who have paid for who feel stolen; to take back my MGS example, after paying for a map pack, I realized a lot of other players had stopped playing these maps and were more likely to be found killing each other joyously on the regular maps or on maps from a more recent pack)
Good DLC
Good DLC would be expansions. Of course, “good” is relative, as an expansion can still suck. Even great games can be cursed with bad expansions, and sometimes the price tag will be too heavy.
In between
What about costumes? Extra costumes in a fighting game, for instance. Are new costumes worth a few bucks? How about a few tools for LittleBig Planet? The truth is, most DLC’s quality will depend on what you find fun and useful. I like having multiple costumes in fighting games, but I found that SFIV's costumes, for the price, were not worth it. How about songs for music games? 2$ apiece might be a lot, but it can make you play the game a bit longer (a lot longer if you download a particularly tough one, or if you suck!).
Controversy
Lately, I’ve been lurking around BlazBlue forums, in hope of getting real information on a balance patch (please increase Rachel’s damage! Please!). There has been some controversy about the latest DLC: a new character.
Is a new character in a fighting game good or bad DLC? Some players complained, since Makoto (said DLC fighter) is sold for 8$ and can't be played in all modes. There has been some conspiracy theories about whether or not she was on the disc, about the morality of charging for her since her data was downloaded through a patch anyway, and so on.
On the disc?
SFIV’s extra costumes were on the disk – fact. Capcom admitted to it, explaining otherwise players wouldn’t be able to fight each other, because one who would not have paid for it wouldn’t be able to “see” entirely new costumes, a bit like the maps in FPS (see above). As a rule of thumb, DLC that is on the disc is a RIP OFF! This is a company stealing cash from you.
In BB’s case, however, only some data was available on the disc (as evidenced by gamers who have uncovered the next DLC characters through data mining). However, data was incomplete. The whole data was added to the game through a patch. Is this more morally defensible than data on the disc?
In my opinion, it is. The developers, Arc System Works, wanted to add content to their game without releasing a third game in the series. However, they did not want to force players to buy a character only to be able to play with players who did. So you can choose between buying or not, your call.
In a way, you still pay for data you have (through patch). But it is complementary to the whole game, something that was added later. The whole game is on the disc; they decided to add some more characters after the game was complete.
In my opinion, this system works because, unlike maps, it does not divided the player base; it is not charging for something that is already in the disc in its complete form; it is like a fighting game’s equivalent of expansion.
What does the controversy tells us? That some players are greedy and want everything for free; that some companies are greedy and charge you for something that is on the disc; and that point of views on DLC vary a lot. It is, after all, a relatively new concept in console gaming. However, my feeling is that it is here to stay. I for one love DLC. As long as I get a full game at retail and that DLC's quality match that of the game, I think it is an excellent way to add replay value to a game, and for companies a good way of making honest money.
The golden rule of DLC: Inform yourself about what you’re getting, then ask yourself if it is worth it!
Best DLC:
“Iron Maiden” album pack for Rock Band 2;
“Metal Gear Solid” for LittleBig Planet
Makoto Nanaya for BlazBlue: Continuum Shift
Worst DLC:
Street Fighter IV Costumes
Metal Gear Solid Online map packs (on account that I bought them after they were relevant to the online community…)
8/04/2010
Healing anxiety
No, I’m not speaking of ways to heal anxiety. Rather, I’m speaking of anxiety to heal. An article the other day on http://www.wow.com/ was interesting. It was about tanking anxiety.
I rarely tank, if ever, but I did heal. My main was a Restoration Shaman, now Elemental. I healed from level 16 to level 80, then stopped a bit. When I picked up healing again, I had trouble.
See, after a few deaths, and maybe one or two wipes as well in Forge of Souls, I started suffering from healer anxiety. I looked at what went wrong. Somehow, facing the second FoS boss, the tank found a way to be two-shot faster than it takes to say “Riptide”! Not my fault, right? Then, my bad, I stood in the fire. Then DPS stood in the fire. OK, three wipes. Two of those were not my fault: if the tank dies too fast for me to insta-heal, I can't be blamed, can't I? If the tank does not pickup adds while DPS take damage from the literal fire, I can’t do everything. Yet, somehow, I felt responsible. During the whole run, I saved people by the skin of the teeth, and made mistakes.
So now it’s been weeks, and I don’t want to heal. Not that healing heroics was really fun. During the levelling process, people are usually more casual. Once they hit level 80, it seems they assume you overgear the content. When you do, it’s a breeze. But it does not take much for things to go awry, and the healer and the tanks are often the ones blamed.
In my experience as healer, I found that the non-heroic instances are, because of this, more fun. Not because they’re easier, rather because players don’t rush. They don’t do the instance hoping to get their precious emblems of frost ASAP, they’re either enjoying the contents, or they’re happy to get the XP and to take the time to, you know, loot the corpses!
However, I found that the RDF (that’s Random Dungeon Finder) is very helpful to level as a healer (and probably tank). If I heal other heroics, maybe I’ll go with a premade instead.
Two sidenotes:
Leveling as a healer is viable and even quicker than you might expect! I levelled as a Shaman Resto because 1) I wanted to try healing and 2) because other healers seemed fragile (my low-level experience as a Druid make me think this class is underpowered in PVE before long, and I never levelled priests very far, usually dying to goblins of some sort). As a Resto shaman, you can kill mobs rather quickly for a healer, with Searing totem and shocks and lightning bolts. Plus, when you queue up for a dungeon, you have a shorter wait time, and dungeon experience is good, especially with some instance quests. I ended up levelling faster than my friend, a Hunter! Admittedly, he was chatting a lot, but I also wasted time trying different professions… So try it, you’re in for a different experience!
Second sidenote: Even though I said I didn't like as much healing heroics than regular dungeons, I still feel as a healer. I always check changes made to Resto first, and plan on levelling a Discipline priest. I’ll just have to get over the healer anxiety, and start doing Culling of Stratholme again (my favorite instance, yay!).
So there it is, healing anxiety and tanking anxiety. Is there DPS anxiety too?
I rarely tank, if ever, but I did heal. My main was a Restoration Shaman, now Elemental. I healed from level 16 to level 80, then stopped a bit. When I picked up healing again, I had trouble.
See, after a few deaths, and maybe one or two wipes as well in Forge of Souls, I started suffering from healer anxiety. I looked at what went wrong. Somehow, facing the second FoS boss, the tank found a way to be two-shot faster than it takes to say “Riptide”! Not my fault, right? Then, my bad, I stood in the fire. Then DPS stood in the fire. OK, three wipes. Two of those were not my fault: if the tank dies too fast for me to insta-heal, I can't be blamed, can't I? If the tank does not pickup adds while DPS take damage from the literal fire, I can’t do everything. Yet, somehow, I felt responsible. During the whole run, I saved people by the skin of the teeth, and made mistakes.
So now it’s been weeks, and I don’t want to heal. Not that healing heroics was really fun. During the levelling process, people are usually more casual. Once they hit level 80, it seems they assume you overgear the content. When you do, it’s a breeze. But it does not take much for things to go awry, and the healer and the tanks are often the ones blamed.
In my experience as healer, I found that the non-heroic instances are, because of this, more fun. Not because they’re easier, rather because players don’t rush. They don’t do the instance hoping to get their precious emblems of frost ASAP, they’re either enjoying the contents, or they’re happy to get the XP and to take the time to, you know, loot the corpses!
However, I found that the RDF (that’s Random Dungeon Finder) is very helpful to level as a healer (and probably tank). If I heal other heroics, maybe I’ll go with a premade instead.
Two sidenotes:
Leveling as a healer is viable and even quicker than you might expect! I levelled as a Shaman Resto because 1) I wanted to try healing and 2) because other healers seemed fragile (my low-level experience as a Druid make me think this class is underpowered in PVE before long, and I never levelled priests very far, usually dying to goblins of some sort). As a Resto shaman, you can kill mobs rather quickly for a healer, with Searing totem and shocks and lightning bolts. Plus, when you queue up for a dungeon, you have a shorter wait time, and dungeon experience is good, especially with some instance quests. I ended up levelling faster than my friend, a Hunter! Admittedly, he was chatting a lot, but I also wasted time trying different professions… So try it, you’re in for a different experience!
Second sidenote: Even though I said I didn't like as much healing heroics than regular dungeons, I still feel as a healer. I always check changes made to Resto first, and plan on levelling a Discipline priest. I’ll just have to get over the healer anxiety, and start doing Culling of Stratholme again (my favorite instance, yay!).
So there it is, healing anxiety and tanking anxiety. Is there DPS anxiety too?
Not totally related to videogames, but what the heck
I saw Scott Pilgrim vs. The World the other night at Montreal’s Fantasia festival. Gamers will likely enjoy it, as there are many nods to videogames and comic books. Really fun movie, but it’s not for everyone. You gotta like absurd humour to appreciate, though, but the whole cast is fun, and the action is WAY over the top.
Reviewing things
This has been bugging me for a while. People can’t review things! They literally cannot. I can’t count the number of times I read a terrible review. Not terrible because I disagreed with it (though when I do, it’s even more obvious), but terrible because:
a) the review does not match the score. This is a frequent problem. The reviewer tells you how amazing a product is and gives it a 7/10. So, is it OK or is it awesome? Or they insist on the negative sides of a game (or movie, or book), then gives it a good notes. You could get through reading the review that it was not so bad, but you wonder why 90% of the text focus on the bad things. People, when reviewing something, make sure your score is consistent with your review! “Amazing”, “Superb”, “the Best” are not words you use when you give an average score.
b) the score is an extreme. Go to www.imdb.com. Look at the ratings for a movie, then look at the breakdowns. More often than not, you’ll see that most notes are 1 or 10, with a lot of 9 and 2 sprinkled for good measure. It’s a fact that people will too often give one of the extremes and not for good reasons. Think about it, 1/10 means there can’t be worse! In a movie, that’s a crap beyond crap, something Uwe Boll shat while drunk and blindfolded. Even (not all of) Uwe Boll movies probably do not deserve entirely such a bad note. In a game, it’s probably a bug-filled game, barely playable (such games do exist, sadly). It is clear to me that even movies I hated do not deserve such a note, on an objective perspective. Likewise, 10/10 means the absolute best. Rare are the games and movies and books that would deserve such an honor. However, I feel 10/10 is more understandable, since I guess a good part of giving a 1/10 is pure trolling. Liked a game or a movie? Put your score into perspective! You cannot thrust ratings such as Imdb’s or IGN’s Reader Average if the only notes are 10/10 and 1/10.
c) Give a score for the good reasons! If you give 0/10 for StarCraft2 on account there is no LAN play, or only the Terran campaign, don’t be surprised if you are called a troll, as they are but minor gripes that might reduce a score slightly, but not to the bottom! If you want people actually think twice about buying SC2 because you were disappointed in said points, give a reasonable score; a 5/10 or 4/10 is less likely to be seen as mere trolling. I have enough of reading comments like “I loved the movie, but I feel it’s overall rating is too high, so I’m giving it a 1/10”. True story: some dumb person did this to the LoTR movie because at the time, it’s average rating on Imdb was higher than The Godfather, and the user thought it was not appropriate.
Objectively, 1/10 scores should be rare. I understand there is a part of subjectivity in every review, and that 10/10 scores are unavoidable, just like 1/10. But people will take you more seriously and average ratings will be more representative if you limit yourself to 1 or 2 points of subjectivity.
Then there is the matter of disappointment. If you had expectations, but it did not live up to it (as I think many players feel with SC2, for instance), take the time to think I through. Don’t review until you’ve slept on it. In my experience, going in with too much expectations can be bad, and time can put everything in perspective. When I came out of the theatre from seeing Van Helsing, I had a good time. Upon thinking about it, however, I realized I remembered mostly things that annoyed me, and now I don’t wanna see the movie ever again.
a) the review does not match the score. This is a frequent problem. The reviewer tells you how amazing a product is and gives it a 7/10. So, is it OK or is it awesome? Or they insist on the negative sides of a game (or movie, or book), then gives it a good notes. You could get through reading the review that it was not so bad, but you wonder why 90% of the text focus on the bad things. People, when reviewing something, make sure your score is consistent with your review! “Amazing”, “Superb”, “the Best” are not words you use when you give an average score.
b) the score is an extreme. Go to www.imdb.com. Look at the ratings for a movie, then look at the breakdowns. More often than not, you’ll see that most notes are 1 or 10, with a lot of 9 and 2 sprinkled for good measure. It’s a fact that people will too often give one of the extremes and not for good reasons. Think about it, 1/10 means there can’t be worse! In a movie, that’s a crap beyond crap, something Uwe Boll shat while drunk and blindfolded. Even (not all of) Uwe Boll movies probably do not deserve entirely such a bad note. In a game, it’s probably a bug-filled game, barely playable (such games do exist, sadly). It is clear to me that even movies I hated do not deserve such a note, on an objective perspective. Likewise, 10/10 means the absolute best. Rare are the games and movies and books that would deserve such an honor. However, I feel 10/10 is more understandable, since I guess a good part of giving a 1/10 is pure trolling. Liked a game or a movie? Put your score into perspective! You cannot thrust ratings such as Imdb’s or IGN’s Reader Average if the only notes are 10/10 and 1/10.
c) Give a score for the good reasons! If you give 0/10 for StarCraft2 on account there is no LAN play, or only the Terran campaign, don’t be surprised if you are called a troll, as they are but minor gripes that might reduce a score slightly, but not to the bottom! If you want people actually think twice about buying SC2 because you were disappointed in said points, give a reasonable score; a 5/10 or 4/10 is less likely to be seen as mere trolling. I have enough of reading comments like “I loved the movie, but I feel it’s overall rating is too high, so I’m giving it a 1/10”. True story: some dumb person did this to the LoTR movie because at the time, it’s average rating on Imdb was higher than The Godfather, and the user thought it was not appropriate.
Objectively, 1/10 scores should be rare. I understand there is a part of subjectivity in every review, and that 10/10 scores are unavoidable, just like 1/10. But people will take you more seriously and average ratings will be more representative if you limit yourself to 1 or 2 points of subjectivity.
Then there is the matter of disappointment. If you had expectations, but it did not live up to it (as I think many players feel with SC2, for instance), take the time to think I through. Don’t review until you’ve slept on it. In my experience, going in with too much expectations can be bad, and time can put everything in perspective. When I came out of the theatre from seeing Van Helsing, I had a good time. Upon thinking about it, however, I realized I remembered mostly things that annoyed me, and now I don’t wanna see the movie ever again.
Starcraft 2 impressions
I’m not going to do a full review of SC2 anytime soon, since I’m now in an overload of games to play (damn you, BlazBlue!!!), but my friend gave me a guest pass, so I could try it.
After a long download (my poor bandwidth suffered), I was happy to see I could play the game with medium graphic settings, eve after a warning about my video card. And I hopped in. I did not start the campaign. Rather, I went back to my old love: skirmish mode and Protoss.
As all reviews will tell you, and from the few hours I spent the game with tell me, Starcraft 2 isn’t a huge step from its predecessor. However, the game is still nice. The production is over the top, the graphics are great, and the controls and the interface are streamlined. You will find familiar units, but that was to be expected, along with a few new ones, and refinements all over the place, from new abilities to new mechanics (climbing hills, obstacles, line of sight, and so on).
This is exactly what I expected. From what I hear, the single player campaign is vastly different, allowing you to buy upgrades and stuff in between missions, and I like the idea of a trilogy. For those complaining about the lack of a proper Zerg or Protoss campaign, the game will ultimately deliver not three short campaigns, but three full fledged ones. I’m convinced it’s a good idea, from both a player standpoint (more stuff, better production all the way, a story that feels more epic – at least that’s my guess), and from a marketing one (yeah yeah, Blizzard’s a company, get over it dammit!).
Given the production value and the number of missions and modes and all that, you can’t seriously claim this is not a full game. So far I’m enjoying my time with SC2 and have no doubt that it’s going to be a game people will still play in many years.
After a long download (my poor bandwidth suffered), I was happy to see I could play the game with medium graphic settings, eve after a warning about my video card. And I hopped in. I did not start the campaign. Rather, I went back to my old love: skirmish mode and Protoss.
As all reviews will tell you, and from the few hours I spent the game with tell me, Starcraft 2 isn’t a huge step from its predecessor. However, the game is still nice. The production is over the top, the graphics are great, and the controls and the interface are streamlined. You will find familiar units, but that was to be expected, along with a few new ones, and refinements all over the place, from new abilities to new mechanics (climbing hills, obstacles, line of sight, and so on).
This is exactly what I expected. From what I hear, the single player campaign is vastly different, allowing you to buy upgrades and stuff in between missions, and I like the idea of a trilogy. For those complaining about the lack of a proper Zerg or Protoss campaign, the game will ultimately deliver not three short campaigns, but three full fledged ones. I’m convinced it’s a good idea, from both a player standpoint (more stuff, better production all the way, a story that feels more epic – at least that’s my guess), and from a marketing one (yeah yeah, Blizzard’s a company, get over it dammit!).
Given the production value and the number of missions and modes and all that, you can’t seriously claim this is not a full game. So far I’m enjoying my time with SC2 and have no doubt that it’s going to be a game people will still play in many years.
7/27/2010
Heavy Rain pits you in the shoes of multiple characters who search for the Origami Killer: Ethan, a father who lost one of his kid in an accident, and whose second son is kidnapped by the killer; Norman, an FBI agent; Madison, a journalist; and Scott, a private investigator.
The game is linear, but the way events resolve is all but linear.–The multiple endings and all the possibilities coming out of your actions, inactions, successes and failures mean the game is more like an interactive movie, which is great: it completely merges a videogame experience with a movie watching one.
The story is the meat of the game here, as opposed to many other games, and the gameplay is minimalist. Action scenes are mostly quick-time events, the rest of the game playing a bit like an old point-and-click adventure, only there is no pointing nor clicking – only the concept is the same. You search for clues and for ways to escape traps and the like.
If you don’t want to have some plot points spoiled, just know that I loved the game and STOP READING! From that point on, there are SPOILERS.
After playing through the game, there is no doubt that there are many resolved issues. Ethan waking up from his blackouts with origami in hands, characters breaking the fourth wall, and so on. I think most of these are non-issue. The experience is still stellar and Heavy Rain is an oddity in a sea of FPS, action RPGs and easy thrills.
I have come up with explanations for some of the plot holes: Ethan waking up from the blackouts with the origami is a tricky one. However, when I started playing, as Ethan, I picked up a newspaper speaking of the Origami killer. There is no doubt from Ethan’s reaction that this has a strong influence on him. In my opinion, he might be having subconsciously affected by this, and thus be making origami figures and dreaming of drowning children.
As for Scott Shelby exclaiming “Oh my God, he’s dead” when he sees what we learn later is his OWN victim, he still is not far from Lauren. He plays the act for her sake. That's what I thought. Were I a murderer, I’d kill in a similar situation, I’d play the act 100%, in case Lauren or another hypothetical witness could see and hear.
Some people (on forums and such) have an issue with Shelby not being able to fit in the pipes to put glasses for Ethan. That’s not an issue, since he could have asked someone else.
During the fight with Norman and the masked killer, who turn out to be Shelby, it is evident the killer isn’t exactly slim. While he might be thinner than Scott, thus creating an issue (a side-by-side comparison would be useful), there are ways to hide temporarily one’s girth.
Overall, I’m not entirely satisfied with the Ethan-origami-blackouts issues. Some people have commented that the psychiatrist might be in cahoots with Scott Shelby and be using drugs or hypnosis or other means of manipulation on Ethan, but I feel this is too far-fetched, and there is nothing to support this. Who knows, maybe Ethan is thinking he IS the killer because of the newspapers and his blackouts, and his subconscious tell him to do origami?
Even with such loose ends, they did an admirable job of creating a narrative that supported so many different possibilities, which is much harder than a simple, linear narrative. By the way, there is, in my opinion, two big hints as to the identity of the killer: we don’t know for whom or why does Scott investigates the Origami Killer case, and when playing the flashback with the kids, we can hear young Scottie having trouble breathing. Also, we know he is an ancient cop, and Norman can guess the killer is a cop shortly before the reveal, which adds yet another clue.
Too bad it wasn’t Blake, I’d liked to have killed that unbalanced psychopathic asshole!
The game is linear, but the way events resolve is all but linear.–The multiple endings and all the possibilities coming out of your actions, inactions, successes and failures mean the game is more like an interactive movie, which is great: it completely merges a videogame experience with a movie watching one.
The story is the meat of the game here, as opposed to many other games, and the gameplay is minimalist. Action scenes are mostly quick-time events, the rest of the game playing a bit like an old point-and-click adventure, only there is no pointing nor clicking – only the concept is the same. You search for clues and for ways to escape traps and the like.
If you don’t want to have some plot points spoiled, just know that I loved the game and STOP READING! From that point on, there are SPOILERS.
After playing through the game, there is no doubt that there are many resolved issues. Ethan waking up from his blackouts with origami in hands, characters breaking the fourth wall, and so on. I think most of these are non-issue. The experience is still stellar and Heavy Rain is an oddity in a sea of FPS, action RPGs and easy thrills.
I have come up with explanations for some of the plot holes: Ethan waking up from the blackouts with the origami is a tricky one. However, when I started playing, as Ethan, I picked up a newspaper speaking of the Origami killer. There is no doubt from Ethan’s reaction that this has a strong influence on him. In my opinion, he might be having subconsciously affected by this, and thus be making origami figures and dreaming of drowning children.
As for Scott Shelby exclaiming “Oh my God, he’s dead” when he sees what we learn later is his OWN victim, he still is not far from Lauren. He plays the act for her sake. That's what I thought. Were I a murderer, I’d kill in a similar situation, I’d play the act 100%, in case Lauren or another hypothetical witness could see and hear.
Some people (on forums and such) have an issue with Shelby not being able to fit in the pipes to put glasses for Ethan. That’s not an issue, since he could have asked someone else.
During the fight with Norman and the masked killer, who turn out to be Shelby, it is evident the killer isn’t exactly slim. While he might be thinner than Scott, thus creating an issue (a side-by-side comparison would be useful), there are ways to hide temporarily one’s girth.
Overall, I’m not entirely satisfied with the Ethan-origami-blackouts issues. Some people have commented that the psychiatrist might be in cahoots with Scott Shelby and be using drugs or hypnosis or other means of manipulation on Ethan, but I feel this is too far-fetched, and there is nothing to support this. Who knows, maybe Ethan is thinking he IS the killer because of the newspapers and his blackouts, and his subconscious tell him to do origami?
Even with such loose ends, they did an admirable job of creating a narrative that supported so many different possibilities, which is much harder than a simple, linear narrative. By the way, there is, in my opinion, two big hints as to the identity of the killer: we don’t know for whom or why does Scott investigates the Origami Killer case, and when playing the flashback with the kids, we can hear young Scottie having trouble breathing. Also, we know he is an ancient cop, and Norman can guess the killer is a cop shortly before the reveal, which adds yet another clue.
Too bad it wasn’t Blake, I’d liked to have killed that unbalanced psychopathic asshole!
7/23/2010
My favorite games, part 1: Demon's Souls
I will periodically make a post about one of my favorite games. Today, I'll write about a game I haven't even finished yet. Demon's Souls (PS3).
Demon’s Souls is an action-RPG. You start by creating your character, choosing from among 12 classes. Your choice only matters at the beginning of the game, because none of the classes has exclusive abilities. Your choice will simply determine your starting level, equipment and attributes. For instance, the Royalty class starts with a weak attack spell, weak attributes, and a magic ring that allows to recover mana, while the Barbarian starts with great attributes, but almost no equipment. However, depending on how you level your character, your Royalty can become a tough fighter or your Barbarian can learn to cast spells or miracles.
After a short introduction, you are killed. You wake up a the game’s hub, the Nexus, where you are guided to the first level of the first world, Boletaria Castle. At this point, you cannot upgrade your character, and you cannot choose any other path. Boletaria Castle is, or rather was, a gorgeous place. The design feels very medieval Europe, and the place is surrounded by flying dragons, and swarming with zombies. Each time you kill a monster, you drain its soul, and those souls are your precious resource which you will use to upgrade weapons, level your attributes, repair your equipment, buy potions, and so on. It serves as both currency and experience.
Should you die, however, you will lose ALL your souls. You have only one chance to return to where you died - all monsters have respawned in the meantime! - and find back your souls. Fail to make it, and they are lost forever.
The game is not forgiving: a single mistake can cost your life. Bosses deal massive damage when they hit, and there are traps everywhere. To avoid trap, you use the clever online mode. You see, the world of Demon’s Souls is shattered, and you can see “ghosts” from other worlds – other players - from time to time. These ghosts can leave you message to warn (or trick) you. But just as useful are the blood stains.
Whenever a player dies while online, a blood stain appears somewhere near in the world of all other online players. So when you approach such a blood stain, you can see how the player died. For instance, in my first play through Boletaria, I came upon a narrow ledge. On the other side was a room with barrels. I touched the blood stain of another player and saw his ghost move carelessly along the ledge, only to die midway. I knew then that the barrels were a trap. Indeed, when I was walking along, I saw a zombie ready a fire arrow, but I was ready and jumped back, avoiding the explosion set off by the barrels.
The game may be unforgiving, but it is fair. Enemies are not cheap, and there are many tricks you can learn to make your way through. This difficulty and the constant fear you’ll feel when going into the unknown make succeeding very satisfying.
While the game might be action-oriented, it plays like a true RPG in some ways. For instance, my first character was a Temple Knight. I felt I was doing well, but when I started my second character, knowing how to level my attributes and how to equip adequately, it made a huge difference. Plus, once you finish your first level, you have more freedom: world are divided by levels, and there are five worlds. The game contains much more, I could go on and write about world and character tendency, item upgrades, death and rebirth, the story and the cool cinematics, but I’ll some it up in two words. Try it.
Demon’s Souls is an action-RPG. You start by creating your character, choosing from among 12 classes. Your choice only matters at the beginning of the game, because none of the classes has exclusive abilities. Your choice will simply determine your starting level, equipment and attributes. For instance, the Royalty class starts with a weak attack spell, weak attributes, and a magic ring that allows to recover mana, while the Barbarian starts with great attributes, but almost no equipment. However, depending on how you level your character, your Royalty can become a tough fighter or your Barbarian can learn to cast spells or miracles.
After a short introduction, you are killed. You wake up a the game’s hub, the Nexus, where you are guided to the first level of the first world, Boletaria Castle. At this point, you cannot upgrade your character, and you cannot choose any other path. Boletaria Castle is, or rather was, a gorgeous place. The design feels very medieval Europe, and the place is surrounded by flying dragons, and swarming with zombies. Each time you kill a monster, you drain its soul, and those souls are your precious resource which you will use to upgrade weapons, level your attributes, repair your equipment, buy potions, and so on. It serves as both currency and experience.
Should you die, however, you will lose ALL your souls. You have only one chance to return to where you died - all monsters have respawned in the meantime! - and find back your souls. Fail to make it, and they are lost forever.
The game is not forgiving: a single mistake can cost your life. Bosses deal massive damage when they hit, and there are traps everywhere. To avoid trap, you use the clever online mode. You see, the world of Demon’s Souls is shattered, and you can see “ghosts” from other worlds – other players - from time to time. These ghosts can leave you message to warn (or trick) you. But just as useful are the blood stains.
Whenever a player dies while online, a blood stain appears somewhere near in the world of all other online players. So when you approach such a blood stain, you can see how the player died. For instance, in my first play through Boletaria, I came upon a narrow ledge. On the other side was a room with barrels. I touched the blood stain of another player and saw his ghost move carelessly along the ledge, only to die midway. I knew then that the barrels were a trap. Indeed, when I was walking along, I saw a zombie ready a fire arrow, but I was ready and jumped back, avoiding the explosion set off by the barrels.
The game may be unforgiving, but it is fair. Enemies are not cheap, and there are many tricks you can learn to make your way through. This difficulty and the constant fear you’ll feel when going into the unknown make succeeding very satisfying.
While the game might be action-oriented, it plays like a true RPG in some ways. For instance, my first character was a Temple Knight. I felt I was doing well, but when I started my second character, knowing how to level my attributes and how to equip adequately, it made a huge difference. Plus, once you finish your first level, you have more freedom: world are divided by levels, and there are five worlds. The game contains much more, I could go on and write about world and character tendency, item upgrades, death and rebirth, the story and the cool cinematics, but I’ll some it up in two words. Try it.
7/22/2010
Further concerns about talent trees
It struck me. I’m leveling many characters, notably a Human Warrior. I stand now at level 28, and am eager to reach level 60 to get Titan’s Grip. Mostly because I think it’s cool.
However, I doubt I can reach that milestone before Cataclysm, since I also level a Balance Druid, a Blood Elf Hunter and an Undead Death Knight, in addition to playing my Shaman. So unless I pick up the pace or Cataclysm comes out later than expected (I guess it’ll arrive sometime this fall, but this is only my guess, I really have no clue), it is more than likely that I'll be short of my goal when Azeroth and talents change.
That’s when it struck me. Once Cataclysm comes, I’ll need to reach level 70 instead of 60 to have Titan’s Grip!
That’s a huge nerf. Not in the sense that end-game characters are going to be less powerful, no, but in the sense that a lot of classes are going to miss on some abilities for their whole Outland trek. OK, so Elemental Shamans are missing on Earthquake (apparently the new end-of-tree talent, since Thunderstom is baseline at level 10). I’m sure some classes can do without their final talented ability. But in the case of some specs in particular, it seems like it’ll make a huge difference. Resto shamans will wait 10 more levels to use their precious Riptide! No Riptide for the Outlands, I don’t know what I’d have done.
More problematic is the Warrior’s Titan’s Grip. It’s not the end of the world, but Warriors in between level 60 and 69 will not only lose their talents, but their equipment is gonna be screwed.
10 more levels to get that ability make me feel down. My poor warrior was trailing behind my other numerous alts, and now I feel my resolve failing. I chose to play a warrior specifically for this ability, after seeing a badass-looking Fury warrior dual-wielding level 70 raid epic weapons. 10 more level, so the whole Outlands! I think what Blizzard should do is let (current) level 60 still be learnable at level 60 come the next expansion, and give us something new for the last few points. I feel otherwise, they’re going to have to work hard to balance the whole Outlands…
Next time, I’ll try to give a more positive outlook on Cataclysm, or maybe I’ll address another game (now playing: Heavy Rain, Demon’s Souls, Dante’s Inferno, Trinity Universe, and yes, I DO have a life!).
However, I doubt I can reach that milestone before Cataclysm, since I also level a Balance Druid, a Blood Elf Hunter and an Undead Death Knight, in addition to playing my Shaman. So unless I pick up the pace or Cataclysm comes out later than expected (I guess it’ll arrive sometime this fall, but this is only my guess, I really have no clue), it is more than likely that I'll be short of my goal when Azeroth and talents change.
That’s when it struck me. Once Cataclysm comes, I’ll need to reach level 70 instead of 60 to have Titan’s Grip!
That’s a huge nerf. Not in the sense that end-game characters are going to be less powerful, no, but in the sense that a lot of classes are going to miss on some abilities for their whole Outland trek. OK, so Elemental Shamans are missing on Earthquake (apparently the new end-of-tree talent, since Thunderstom is baseline at level 10). I’m sure some classes can do without their final talented ability. But in the case of some specs in particular, it seems like it’ll make a huge difference. Resto shamans will wait 10 more levels to use their precious Riptide! No Riptide for the Outlands, I don’t know what I’d have done.
More problematic is the Warrior’s Titan’s Grip. It’s not the end of the world, but Warriors in between level 60 and 69 will not only lose their talents, but their equipment is gonna be screwed.
10 more levels to get that ability make me feel down. My poor warrior was trailing behind my other numerous alts, and now I feel my resolve failing. I chose to play a warrior specifically for this ability, after seeing a badass-looking Fury warrior dual-wielding level 70 raid epic weapons. 10 more level, so the whole Outlands! I think what Blizzard should do is let (current) level 60 still be learnable at level 60 come the next expansion, and give us something new for the last few points. I feel otherwise, they’re going to have to work hard to balance the whole Outlands…
Next time, I’ll try to give a more positive outlook on Cataclysm, or maybe I’ll address another game (now playing: Heavy Rain, Demon’s Souls, Dante’s Inferno, Trinity Universe, and yes, I DO have a life!).
7/21/2010
They promised us a pony, they’re giving us a hamster.
We had a dog – a good one, maybe a golden retriever. He was not perfect, he would bark sometimes at night. This is the actual, soon-to-be gone talent trees. However, after the Cataclysm, our dog will die. That’s OK, Blizzard said. We’ll replace him with a pony. This was the 41-pts talent trees. It is supposed to trim the fat and leave only fun talents, to allow better choice, to allow players to spend points on “fun things” rather than “+1% to damage” talents. I thought it was a pretty good idea. However, the current beta trees make me think that instead of a pony, they’re replacing our pet with a hamster. Or maybe a goldfish.
My main, and only 80-level character, is a Shaman. I started out as Restoration, then dual-specced Elemental. After a while, I spent too many time in Elemental and lost my “healing mojo”. However, my first love is still Resto. But seeing the cataclysmic changes, I think I'll stick with Elemental.
I can’t help and look at the talent tree and see only things we lost. Gone is Tidal Force, and so is Improved Reincarnation. Cleansing Totem is gone, too. We’re losing a few other talents, without much consequence. What do we gain? Pre-level 81, nothing except Greater Healing Wave which will obviously used almost only with Nature Swiftness. Some talents are gutted as they are.
It took me about 30 seconds to fill my talent tree. I know what spec I’ll use if I decide to go on with Resto. No fun talent there, really. I’ll cast a few shocks and lightning bolts here and there, thanks to the two only interesting talents, but that’s only if things don’t go crazy, and they often do.
OK, so the talents are not finished. Still, I think they fixed something that was not broken. It seems Blizzard forgot three things that make people stick with the game: uniqueness, carrot on a stick and min-maxing.
Uniqueness: Unless you’re a raider who thinks (maybe rightly) that a given spec, down to the very last point, is the only way to go, one of the thing that interests players in MMORPGs is the uniqueness of their character. WOW does not have many character customization possibilities compared to more recent games, or even some console games. However, talent points were one of these things that set some characters apart. I’m proud to say I use Improved Reincarnation, which is useful when you string multiple battlegrounds or tougher heroics and expect to die. Plus, my last few points in the current tree would not drastically improve my healing, so I like my choice…
Carrot on a stick: This is the staple of every good MMO: what makes you stay. In WOW, it’s the next ability or, when there is none, the next talent point. Blizzard said they wanted to give 1 talent point every two levels, and one ability for the levels where we wouldn’t get talent points. Unless I’m mistaken, this will either still leave a lot of levels empty, thus removing the carrot on a stick for some levels and making those level plain and unexciting, or make it so some abilities are learned really later in the game. I don’t think there is enough abilities to make sure each level has its own ability or talent – there will inevitably be empty levels. As uninteresting as spending one point to gain 1% sound like, I think it’s even less interesting to have nothing to go with a level.
Min-Maxing: The raider I spoke about in Uniqueness is here. He tries every spec, every talent to make sure he has the absolute best. OF course, experience and simple reading skills allow him to eliminate outright some talents, but he seeks to gain the most of his few last points. With much less points and much less talents, the possibilities are lesser. Plus, some guilds already refuse entry to players who spent a few of their 71 points in a “wrong” way. With talents a more precious resource, this attitude will only go up. Cookie-cutter specs will be the only way to enter raiding guilds, even more so than today.
Now let me make an analogy: I used to play Magic: The Gathering. For those who don’t know (really?), it’s a collectible card games. There exists literally thousands of different cards. Some are really good, some are truly, truly terrible. When asked why there was bad cards in the game, one developer answered: So that players can learn which cards are bad, and which are good, and progress. So I’m asking this to Blizzard: Give us bad talents!
By “bad”, I mean talents that are not necessarily “optimal”. There will still be only a few viable raiding specs, no matter what you do there will always be people who will calculate and test specs to determine the very best in a given role. But by adding flavorful talents, players will be able to actually learn to play, and it will allow them to customize, as far from all players are interested in having the “absolute” best. Even if we end up with a lot of players sharing the same spec in the raiding scene, the illusion of choice is sometimes better than realizing you have no choice at all. And that’s where the latest trees are headed.
I thought that with less talent points, there’d be more choices. As it stands, we have less choice and the carrot on the proverbial stick is getting thinner. Then, what was the purpose of this change? I have no clue, really. I’m guessing leveling a new Shaman will be more fun because of the level 10 bonus: Restoration gain Earthshield, which is absolutely awesome, and in my opinion, this is an awesome change. But my existing shaman will be nerfed.
I thought that, since each talent points would have had an impact on our character, it’d be possible to grant each healer talents that would allow them to dispel more effects than what is currently implemented – you’d have to choose between adding a little “oomph” to this ability and the possibility to add another dispel to your repertoire. However, the way things stand now, it is impossible, as it would be an evident choice – there isn’t enough variety and truly useful talents to actually make this a choice.
And finally, my last concern about the change: what next? What after Cataclysm? new levels, new talent points, right? Taking useless talents isn’t going to be any fun, and adding, say, 3 talent points to the trees feels... boring. Useless.
I truly hope Blizzard can pull a rabbit out of its hat so our hamster is actually a pony (does that make sense?). In fact, concerns for the talent tress aside, I’m truly looking forward for the expansion…
Goofy specs
The new implementation of talents means there cannot be anymore “goofy” specs. Such specs, for instance Shadow/Holy, Frost/Fire or any other weird and unoptimal combinations, might not be valuable in raids. In fact, they’re probably very much undesirable. However, they should exist for many reasons:
Fun. Some players find those specs fun. Simple as that.
Variety. With 11,5 million players, its important to have a distinctive feel for our character. Such specs might be the way to go.
Role-play. What if a player on an RP realm plays a schizophrenic Holy-Shadow priest? The implementation means such a character might not exist anymore.
In favor of goofy specs! /silly and /cheer
What can Blizzard do?
What can Blizzard do to make sure every spec is kept interesting while leveling and at levels 80-85? I think it’s too late to go back to 51-trees. I’m going to go on with Restoshammy.
A quick calculation tells me that the old tree holds 76 talent points, and that at level 80, having 71 TPs, I can fill 93% of the tree. With the addition of the now-gone 5 extra TPs, I could have filled the whole tree, had there been no additions.
With the new system in place, at level 85, I can fill 41 of the 42 talent points, so 97 % of the three. That’s a plus, no? Wrong.
We’re losing the Improved Healing Wave, Improved Reincarnation, Tidal Force, Healing Focus (apparently integrated into baseline class abilities…), Healing Grace, Tidal Mastery, Healing Way, Focused Mind, Purification (also into baseline class bonus), and Improved Earth Shield (integrated into the base ability). Not counting abilities integrated into the baseline class bonuses or the base EarthShield, that’s a loss of seven talents. Some were clearly PVP-oriented, others are simply flat increase.
Instead, we get Ancestral Resolve (reduce damage while casting), Focused Insight (Shocks reduce healing mana cost and improve effectiveness), and Telluric Currents (Lightning Bolts restore mana). We lose seven different talents to gain three. So even if we effectively have a greater ratio of talent points per talents to "buy", we use most of these points to “fill” the same talents. The proportion used above to fill 100 % meant we used 76 points to fill 26 different talents, now we use 41 points to fill to 97 % of 19 different talents. In my opinion, it’s a great loss.
So what can Blizzard do?
I think they could add more talents. That’s the obvious answer, and given that trees are not final, it’s probably going to happen.
I also thought that given the current system or the newer one, there is really few choices we have to make as long as we got the points. So I thought they should implement exclusive talents – two talents linked together, you can pick one but not the other. What it would mean is that no matter how many talent points we got, we’d have to make a choice.
Imagine if you had to choose between two talents: one alleviating mana problems, one increasing healing or damage output. Would be interesting, to say the least. I wonder if they pondered that idea, and what would be the players' reaction? Would it really help?
What can WE do?
Simple enough, we can wait till the game is released and try it. Blizzard have a pretty good resume: Diablo, Diablo 2, Warcraft I, II and III, Starcraft… I say we should give them the benefit of the doubt. Also, let’s not forget that we still gain a few new abilities: Healing Rain, among other things. We are not at a complete loss (in fact, the three new Shaman abilities are all in theory useful for Restoration, which is not the case for either Elemental nor Enhancement.
In the meantime, I promise my next post will be a shorter wall of text! /cheer
My main, and only 80-level character, is a Shaman. I started out as Restoration, then dual-specced Elemental. After a while, I spent too many time in Elemental and lost my “healing mojo”. However, my first love is still Resto. But seeing the cataclysmic changes, I think I'll stick with Elemental.
I can’t help and look at the talent tree and see only things we lost. Gone is Tidal Force, and so is Improved Reincarnation. Cleansing Totem is gone, too. We’re losing a few other talents, without much consequence. What do we gain? Pre-level 81, nothing except Greater Healing Wave which will obviously used almost only with Nature Swiftness. Some talents are gutted as they are.
It took me about 30 seconds to fill my talent tree. I know what spec I’ll use if I decide to go on with Resto. No fun talent there, really. I’ll cast a few shocks and lightning bolts here and there, thanks to the two only interesting talents, but that’s only if things don’t go crazy, and they often do.
OK, so the talents are not finished. Still, I think they fixed something that was not broken. It seems Blizzard forgot three things that make people stick with the game: uniqueness, carrot on a stick and min-maxing.
Uniqueness: Unless you’re a raider who thinks (maybe rightly) that a given spec, down to the very last point, is the only way to go, one of the thing that interests players in MMORPGs is the uniqueness of their character. WOW does not have many character customization possibilities compared to more recent games, or even some console games. However, talent points were one of these things that set some characters apart. I’m proud to say I use Improved Reincarnation, which is useful when you string multiple battlegrounds or tougher heroics and expect to die. Plus, my last few points in the current tree would not drastically improve my healing, so I like my choice…
Carrot on a stick: This is the staple of every good MMO: what makes you stay. In WOW, it’s the next ability or, when there is none, the next talent point. Blizzard said they wanted to give 1 talent point every two levels, and one ability for the levels where we wouldn’t get talent points. Unless I’m mistaken, this will either still leave a lot of levels empty, thus removing the carrot on a stick for some levels and making those level plain and unexciting, or make it so some abilities are learned really later in the game. I don’t think there is enough abilities to make sure each level has its own ability or talent – there will inevitably be empty levels. As uninteresting as spending one point to gain 1% sound like, I think it’s even less interesting to have nothing to go with a level.
Min-Maxing: The raider I spoke about in Uniqueness is here. He tries every spec, every talent to make sure he has the absolute best. OF course, experience and simple reading skills allow him to eliminate outright some talents, but he seeks to gain the most of his few last points. With much less points and much less talents, the possibilities are lesser. Plus, some guilds already refuse entry to players who spent a few of their 71 points in a “wrong” way. With talents a more precious resource, this attitude will only go up. Cookie-cutter specs will be the only way to enter raiding guilds, even more so than today.
Now let me make an analogy: I used to play Magic: The Gathering. For those who don’t know (really?), it’s a collectible card games. There exists literally thousands of different cards. Some are really good, some are truly, truly terrible. When asked why there was bad cards in the game, one developer answered: So that players can learn which cards are bad, and which are good, and progress. So I’m asking this to Blizzard: Give us bad talents!
By “bad”, I mean talents that are not necessarily “optimal”. There will still be only a few viable raiding specs, no matter what you do there will always be people who will calculate and test specs to determine the very best in a given role. But by adding flavorful talents, players will be able to actually learn to play, and it will allow them to customize, as far from all players are interested in having the “absolute” best. Even if we end up with a lot of players sharing the same spec in the raiding scene, the illusion of choice is sometimes better than realizing you have no choice at all. And that’s where the latest trees are headed.
I thought that with less talent points, there’d be more choices. As it stands, we have less choice and the carrot on the proverbial stick is getting thinner. Then, what was the purpose of this change? I have no clue, really. I’m guessing leveling a new Shaman will be more fun because of the level 10 bonus: Restoration gain Earthshield, which is absolutely awesome, and in my opinion, this is an awesome change. But my existing shaman will be nerfed.
I thought that, since each talent points would have had an impact on our character, it’d be possible to grant each healer talents that would allow them to dispel more effects than what is currently implemented – you’d have to choose between adding a little “oomph” to this ability and the possibility to add another dispel to your repertoire. However, the way things stand now, it is impossible, as it would be an evident choice – there isn’t enough variety and truly useful talents to actually make this a choice.
And finally, my last concern about the change: what next? What after Cataclysm? new levels, new talent points, right? Taking useless talents isn’t going to be any fun, and adding, say, 3 talent points to the trees feels... boring. Useless.
I truly hope Blizzard can pull a rabbit out of its hat so our hamster is actually a pony (does that make sense?). In fact, concerns for the talent tress aside, I’m truly looking forward for the expansion…
Goofy specs
The new implementation of talents means there cannot be anymore “goofy” specs. Such specs, for instance Shadow/Holy, Frost/Fire or any other weird and unoptimal combinations, might not be valuable in raids. In fact, they’re probably very much undesirable. However, they should exist for many reasons:
Fun. Some players find those specs fun. Simple as that.
Variety. With 11,5 million players, its important to have a distinctive feel for our character. Such specs might be the way to go.
Role-play. What if a player on an RP realm plays a schizophrenic Holy-Shadow priest? The implementation means such a character might not exist anymore.
In favor of goofy specs! /silly and /cheer
What can Blizzard do?
What can Blizzard do to make sure every spec is kept interesting while leveling and at levels 80-85? I think it’s too late to go back to 51-trees. I’m going to go on with Restoshammy.
A quick calculation tells me that the old tree holds 76 talent points, and that at level 80, having 71 TPs, I can fill 93% of the tree. With the addition of the now-gone 5 extra TPs, I could have filled the whole tree, had there been no additions.
With the new system in place, at level 85, I can fill 41 of the 42 talent points, so 97 % of the three. That’s a plus, no? Wrong.
We’re losing the Improved Healing Wave, Improved Reincarnation, Tidal Force, Healing Focus (apparently integrated into baseline class abilities…), Healing Grace, Tidal Mastery, Healing Way, Focused Mind, Purification (also into baseline class bonus), and Improved Earth Shield (integrated into the base ability). Not counting abilities integrated into the baseline class bonuses or the base EarthShield, that’s a loss of seven talents. Some were clearly PVP-oriented, others are simply flat increase.
Instead, we get Ancestral Resolve (reduce damage while casting), Focused Insight (Shocks reduce healing mana cost and improve effectiveness), and Telluric Currents (Lightning Bolts restore mana). We lose seven different talents to gain three. So even if we effectively have a greater ratio of talent points per talents to "buy", we use most of these points to “fill” the same talents. The proportion used above to fill 100 % meant we used 76 points to fill 26 different talents, now we use 41 points to fill to 97 % of 19 different talents. In my opinion, it’s a great loss.
So what can Blizzard do?
I think they could add more talents. That’s the obvious answer, and given that trees are not final, it’s probably going to happen.
I also thought that given the current system or the newer one, there is really few choices we have to make as long as we got the points. So I thought they should implement exclusive talents – two talents linked together, you can pick one but not the other. What it would mean is that no matter how many talent points we got, we’d have to make a choice.
Imagine if you had to choose between two talents: one alleviating mana problems, one increasing healing or damage output. Would be interesting, to say the least. I wonder if they pondered that idea, and what would be the players' reaction? Would it really help?
What can WE do?
Simple enough, we can wait till the game is released and try it. Blizzard have a pretty good resume: Diablo, Diablo 2, Warcraft I, II and III, Starcraft… I say we should give them the benefit of the doubt. Also, let’s not forget that we still gain a few new abilities: Healing Rain, among other things. We are not at a complete loss (in fact, the three new Shaman abilities are all in theory useful for Restoration, which is not the case for either Elemental nor Enhancement.
In the meantime, I promise my next post will be a shorter wall of text! /cheer
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