This got me a temp ban. That’s cool.

Sorry guys, but this game absolutely sucks.  I uninstalled it shortly after exiting the nub area.  The game has no visual stimulation.  What I see is a designer who copied warhammer, except wanted to also make it prettier.  When I start a game, and I’m in the nub area I usually see high level NPCs with awesome armor and think, “damn, I want that!”.  In Rift, all I could think is “I hope that’s not waiting for me at the end game.”

The combat is ultra generic and completely mindless wow-standard button pressing.  Combat is tedious to say the least. slash slash, build up points, use special move. repeat.

The leveling system is a joke, and it prevents you from speccing all your points into one tree, instead it forces you to spend them in other roles else they just sit there.

The UI is a complete rip off of every other mideival game.  It looks just like WoW and even takes the pact system/combo points right from it.

The only semi- cool thing is that my dude looks decent by level 7 instead of looking like some peasant.

As you can see, this is a very detailed review, but this is nowhere near the rating it recieved.  There is nothing pulling me in, and especially due to the poor visual design.  I’m really glad this ally weekend happened, b/c now i wont need to worry about wether or not I want to play it.

Sorry OP, but this review absolutely sucks. I stopped reading it shortly after exiting the first sentence. The review has no mental stimulation. What I see is an armchair game-reviewer who copied the the last thread, except wanted to also make it personal. When I start a review, and I’m in the first paragraph I usually see high level analysis with awesome comparison and think, “Damn, I want to think that!”. In Rift Got a high rating, why?, all I could think is, “I hope that’s not waiting for me at the conclusion.”

The copypasta is ultra generic and completely mindless, wow-standard keyboard mashing. Comprehending is tedious to say the least. Stroke, stroke, build up ego, use special vocabulary. repeat.

The lettering system is a joke, and it prevents you from seeing all your points into one thought, instead it forces you to spend time in other realms else they sit there.

The organization is a complete rip off of every other rant about miedeval games. It looks just like crying about WoW and even takes the inane gibbering/talking points right from it.

The only semi- cool thing is that my ego looks decent by line 7 instead of looking like some scrub.

As you can see, this is a very detailed review, but this is nowhere near giving an actual numeric value for the review. There is nothing pulling me in, and especially due to the poor psuedo-intelectual yammering. I’m really glad this post weekend happened, b/c now i wont need to worry about wether or not I want to read it.

 

AmiWest 2010

I think I just had an event where everything I’ve done as a gamer has coalesced into a single, mind-melting moment. The Amiga Games competition hosted by Amigadave at AmiWest 2010. Don’t bother looking it up.

Remember a Kid in King Arthur’s Court from the days of early 90’s childcare? Yeah, I was the kid and I had a cd-player. I was that little bastard and it felt great.

Long story short, I won a game competition. Not a big one, five-people-big, but it was so one-sided that even my dad could acknowledge that it was like taking candy from a baby.

There were four games in the competition with an eMac as the grand prize. (It’s a vintage, but it actually works in the modern setting.) The heat was on for me, the kid who said that he would win this the day before the competition began. My reputation as a gamer was on the line. Not just for myself, but my dad actually expected me to win. My dad who, reasonably so, disliked how much I gamed throughout my youth. That and I kinda’ wanted that computer. Not so much that I would kill for it, but bodily harm was not out of the question. Everything was coming together for a fun thrill ride.

Check them out after the jump.

 

Looking for a decent group of people to play LOTRO- GOD AMNESIA ARGH.

Just as the title says, of course. I want to experience this game, but not alone. Alone, well, I have Amnesia: The Dark Descent, the perfect alone game.

It’s late, I’m chilled to the bone and scared to death. Need sleep, need safety. Need companionship.

My name is Daniel. . .

 

MOUSTACHE

You know how long it has taken me to figure out how to change my favicon? Herp.

But yeah, this guy is one of the reasons I adore FF14. Inexplicably funny for me.

 

Okay, I lied.

It turns out that in order for me to use DeviantArt without guilt, I need to produce art. I’ve been doing sketches, but not actually finishing anything so. . . Yeah.

I’m back to my favorite place!

In any case, I’m going to be doing a couple things here. First of all, I’m taking a break from the MMO world because Guild Wars 2 seems so damn good, it’s making me not want to play other MMOs on a serious level. Yeah, I’m a sucker for hype and I am a huge believer in Arena.Net, who is going to be rolling out a Dervish balance (AKA OMG EXPERIMENT TIME) somewhere in the future.

Second, I’m going to try to beat Wild Arms XF. You know, that PSP game that was given low scores because it was so damn hard? Yeah, that game. I had a save file that I lost so I dropped it for a couple of years. Now, well, it seems like a good challenge. I think it’s due to being in love with turn-based all of a sudden while simultaneously being turned off by Atlantica, which is a good F2P in its own right. (Just not my cup of tea)

Third, I’m going to TRY (OPERATIVE WORD) to work on some basic ideas for a webcomic. I don’t know how I’m going to do it nor do I have any real experience in working that angle. However, if I can get away with it, it’ll be fun. My first subject, since I am outside of a MMO, will be my perceptions of people that will never return to a game because their experience in beta sucked.

 

My new MMO – ART.

Art isn’t an acronym. Art is what you think it is.

I slowly came to the realization that learning how to draw is essentially the same as a MMO. No, I’m not pulling your leg.

The goal in most MMOs is to deck yourself out. Learning how to draw is practically the same thing, except its infinitely harder.There is no set path and the manuals are huge. You know, how MMOs work in pipe dreams.

I find myself grinding poses, effectively leveling up a skill. The problem, of course, is inconsistency. MMOs offer some level of respite from risk-reward when it comes to character progression, Aion’s nightmare crafting exempt.

MMOs have a community and so does drawing. Basically, every time I look at DeviantArt, I feel like I leveled above the average fodder, but I’m still undergeared when it comes to people with significant talent and/or more XP. It is literally the same feeling of satisfaction. I don’t know why it is that way, but it’s nice.

At the moment, there’s no MMO that is better than learning how to draw, but that’s because MMOs require the same amount of effort it takes to mull through excercises and return a similar amount of satisfaction.

Not to say I’m toasted on MMOs. Guild Wars 2, Black Prophecy, hell, even FF14 are grabbing my attention.

With that being said, I am consolidating my identity and will likely be haunting my DA account. Once I find another MMO, I’ll come back to PP and start anew. Heck, I might have the basic skills covered so I can start a webcomic.

 

:8

I’ve been quiet. Why? NDA’s. Ever since my last post, I’ve been playing NDA protected betas, and even though I had MMO experiences, it was too easy to color them with little breaches here and there.

Bad news? More NDA protected betas. I’m really digging into closed betas for no good reason. Really, there’s no good reason. I have a very keen understanding that most games in beta are not release-worthy, but I’m attracted to them for whatever reason.

Okay, so I know the reason. It’s because I don’t know the end-game. There’s something magical about ignorance in relation to in-game experiences. I know how Aion turns out end-game, and although I want it, the whole change in my gaming schedule has drilled my dreams of being an amazing gladiator into rubble. On a humorous stroke, I forgot my password to my old guild vent, which was a password I CREATED and subsequently DESTROYED.

Anyway, I’m here to talk about how you can instantly kill a boner for a MMO. Just go to their forums and read them. Chances are, the community is going to make the game look like such a steaming pile of ****, your desire to play it will be instantly cured. Guess what game I needed leeching from? Rise of the Godslayer.

I could go on and on about how I like AoC, but that’s because I really enjoy pulp, erotica and vile magic. Probably explains why I enjoyed Dragon Age, given that game ran along the same lines.

So, yes, this was a status update. At the moment, I am not playing Aion until 1.9 since it depresses me otherwise. I am, however, open to some Guild Wars content or some best-friending in some vagrant MMO.

/echo

I know, nobody actually reads this blog.

 

Passive Gaming Double Header – Uru Live and Entropia Online.

I’ve been patiently sucking down my line so I could try out something engaging.

Uru Live is Myst. That in itself is good. The problem is, the control scheme will drive you batty and the game, due to unbelievable server strain, hiccups with monstrous frequency. At the moment, it simply is not fun because of those two factors. Once those are fixed, then the game will be wholly reviewable by yours truly.

Entropia, on the other hand, is pretty interesting. The use of the CryEngine2 has made the game substantially more impressive than Second Life, it’s closest cousin. I spent a couple hours meandering around, marveling at the scenery. Beyond that, you have the world’s hardest and most unrewarding grind ever (If you’re not willing to fork out some cash.)

Therein lies the primary issue with Entropia: Money. People call it a scam, but they’re stupid for thinking a game will make them a substantial profit. I don’t care who tells you that you will make money off of Entropia, because you won’t. You are likely a lazy slob who thinks that you have the tenacity, intelligence and sharkiness to deal with a RMT virtual economy.

But if you’re like me and are looking to enjoy and submerge into a realm that is engaging, Entropia will disagree with you. The fact is, the game revolves around the pursuit of money, and although I disagree vehemently with my analysis of the economic hopeful, the economy is set up to ensure you won’t make money. Money runs everything in Entropia. Your armor repairs, your gun, your psychic implants, etc. Basically, you need to make money to have fun, but making money in itself is a horribly arduous task unless you pay.

The exchange rate is a monster. I can tolerate Second life because money isn’t as necessary as it is in Entropia, but when you have a visceral $1 for 10 in-game currency rate, it’s not worth it, given that 10 credits doesn’t really get you anywhere. When I wandered around a wiki, I saw a recommended starting deposit was fifty dollars. Yeah, no. That’s not just ridiculous, it’s irresponsible, because it is very, very likely you will not be able to keep up with your costs if you hunt and shoot aplenty.

Okay, scratch that. The fact is, Entropia is a challenge that really tests your understanding of basic economics. To some degree, you choose your own adventure and investment and, hopefully, you’ll not run into real-life debt because you suck at Entropia. Take advantage of the fact that everybody and their brother knows how UNBELIEVABLY difficult the game is at start up and scour the forums for tutorials and whatnot. I am going to give this game a try on the principle that 1) I can handle this grind. 2)It’s a game that people often puss out of. 3) It has obscene amounts of roleplay potential.

That being said, screw those Entropia forums for not taking gmail accounts. That’s retarded beyond belief.

 

Mini-games.

I don’t know how long this’ll last, but Droplitz is 2 dollars.

Two dollars for a puzzle game that is well worth five times that is an amazing deal. How does an individual endure the long wait for Aion? With games completely unrelated and cheap, obviously.

Droplitz is good because there’s a lot of right and wrong approaches. Like Tetris, it is a survival puzzle game, but unlike it, there’s that peggle explosiveness to it that first appears random, but can ultimately be understood and harnessed for your own advantage.

Granted, practically every puzzle game combines a rather basic form of pressure with a solution that varies in effectiveness, but first exposes its exceptional potential at random intervals.

If you do get this game, here’s a few basic tricks to developing more chances of explosive discovery.

• ^ and v are useless – These shapes produce nothing favorable. Switch them around.
• Reduce your variables – When your create a path, make sure the falling spheres are oriented with a pathway towards the endpoint. Conversely, ensure that your entry nodes have open passageways. You can reduce the number of initial decisions you have to face by orienting things correctly.
• Rotations make a difference – Once paths are established, they cannot be altered. Given that, get used to using both rotations since there is a high possibility that combos may be stifled by the direction you rotate.

 

Aion – Waiting, because of the dragons.

I should be making a review about Aion. I know this, but like most people, I get caught up in the storm of positive feelings and wild hope. Impressions are fleeting. When it comes down to it, I want to play Aion because its new, not because I honestly believe it is the best game ever.

Also, the game will live and die based on who I maintain friendships with. No exceptions to that rule in a MMO. To some degree, it seems as if I maintain an external locus of control, relying on others to support my own existence. There’s too many variables clouded by simple hype and excitement to make a solid judgment.

That being said, Aion has passed the first test of being solid and worthy of exploration. The engine runs well on modest hardware while maintaining gorgeous appeal, the writing is worth watching and the game builds itself upon a legacy formula, forged from both success and failure in the massive multiplayer genre. If a game can give players a chance, then I’ll dip a month or so into it.

Guild Wars 2 is competing VERY harshly with Aion for me. The trailer they released has captured something I haven’t experienced in a long while. Everything seems nostalgic, meaningful and potent. If I didn’t already pre-order Aion, I would not have given it a chance given how many good emotions are associated with Guild Wars, the game whose updates often redefine the experience, where being a spectator is an exciting endeavor, where deep inside, I wish I had the tenacity and the time to get into a good guild, but fall short because I’m burnt out on the world.

I’m a big fan of emotion, and shit, when a movie makes me cry, it’s obviously a good movie. The GW2 trailer completely kicked my ass.