To preface this review, I thoroughly enjoyed the first guitar hero game on the ps2 back in the day. Boston, David Bowie and Rob Zombie headed the superb playlist. I still listen to some of those songs and I loved the way everything was made. You actually felt like you were playing a guitar and helping out the band. Expert was hard, but it wasn't impossible. I would stay up till 4 in the morning so that I could unlock all the songs and get better. Yes, I was that guy when it came to guitar hero.
This one has changed everything about that. First of all, the playlist is horrible. Most of the songs I've never heard of, and I would have no wish to hear again. A lot of the songs are from bands that I knew or thought I did but they didn't have songs that I recognized. It seems like they took the hardest songs from a band that they could find. Should Tenacious D even be considered as a rock legend? Should Dragonforce?
This brings me to my next point. The joy of the first game was that the notes that you played actually made it sound like you were playing the song. If you missed a note then the whole song went awry. Now it feels like you're not even needed to play the song. Almost like the backup vocals. Or the tambourine player dude guy. Now the whole point of it is to react to the colors as they pass over the bar. There's no rhythm to the game anymore. I would do just as well without the sound as with.
I'll be in the middle of playing a song and suddenly a random note will pop up and you'll lose your 50 note streak. It's very frustrating. In fact the only song that felt like the old school was one I downloaded. It's the only song I'll continue playing on it and enjoy it. All the other songs are just meh. That one song is Top Gun's Theme song. And it actually feels like you're playing it. That is what GH3 should've been. Not some mish-mash of notes that you randomly have to play and hope you hit them. You should feel the rhythm and know when you need to strum.
~j
Friday, December 19, 2008
Friday, December 12, 2008
WARHAMMER Chronicles: Episode 11 - Cast bars and melee
Well, back from a 2 week hiatus I logged in on Friday night last week. Everything seemed a little drearier when I did but I'm gonna blame that on the fact that I was so doggone tired. Well, I logged in. Scenarios didn't pop for about 20 minutes. I'm not sure what the deal is here. I thought my server had a very high population and all that but for some reason or other no one wanted to play on Friday. It's probably WotLK from WoW destroying the WAR's playerbase.
Anyways, when I did finally get in to a scenario something strange happened. I couldn't heal anyone. Suddenly, even though I was back to mork specced I couldn't keep anyone up. I could barely keep myself up under attack from an IB that was wielding a 1 hander. If a BW decided to attack me I was a goner. I haven't experienced that since I first started playing a shaman and decided that INT + WP was better than wounds. I don't know why though. Tanks would die under my watch. A DoK was outhealing me. I couldn't do anything. That's when I figured it out:
My cast bar was bugged. Every single non-instant spell that I had took .5-2 seconds longer than it was supposed to. The cast bar would fill up. Then my character would sit there, wait for a few seconds, and then cast. It was the most frustrating thing as a healer I've ever experienced. No wonder other DoK's were better healers, all their heals are all instants. I got so fed up with it that I couldn't even enjoy Gork Sez Stop (I promise to write a post about the hilarity of this spell at some other time). I ended up rolling a black orc just to have a melee I could run around with.
I figured that since Melee had all instant attacks that they would have the advantage for the next few days. Well, I was right. What I was wrong about was that there were 20 million blackguards and KotBS running around and that meant there weren't any healers. So, I'm sitting there as a black orc and getting no heals and dying over and over again. It is a little frustrating at times.
All in all though, I really like the BO, I'll keep him along with my Marauder as fun little alts. I want to get my shaman to 40 though. At least they've fixed the cast bar by now.
~j
Anyways, when I did finally get in to a scenario something strange happened. I couldn't heal anyone. Suddenly, even though I was back to mork specced I couldn't keep anyone up. I could barely keep myself up under attack from an IB that was wielding a 1 hander. If a BW decided to attack me I was a goner. I haven't experienced that since I first started playing a shaman and decided that INT + WP was better than wounds. I don't know why though. Tanks would die under my watch. A DoK was outhealing me. I couldn't do anything. That's when I figured it out:
My cast bar was bugged. Every single non-instant spell that I had took .5-2 seconds longer than it was supposed to. The cast bar would fill up. Then my character would sit there, wait for a few seconds, and then cast. It was the most frustrating thing as a healer I've ever experienced. No wonder other DoK's were better healers, all their heals are all instants. I got so fed up with it that I couldn't even enjoy Gork Sez Stop (I promise to write a post about the hilarity of this spell at some other time). I ended up rolling a black orc just to have a melee I could run around with.
I figured that since Melee had all instant attacks that they would have the advantage for the next few days. Well, I was right. What I was wrong about was that there were 20 million blackguards and KotBS running around and that meant there weren't any healers. So, I'm sitting there as a black orc and getting no heals and dying over and over again. It is a little frustrating at times.
All in all though, I really like the BO, I'll keep him along with my Marauder as fun little alts. I want to get my shaman to 40 though. At least they've fixed the cast bar by now.
~j
Tuesday, December 2, 2008
Guest post by TD on Left 4 Dead
As I have discussed with anyone who would listen, the zombie apocalypse will not catch me unawares. I have marked such places that would make good supply stores, which places to avoid, what places would make good fortifications, and how many women we would need to maintain genetic diversity. I also have a carefully hand-picked group of friends with which I plan to survive Armageddon, each bringing a uniqueness to the table that increases our group dynamic (sort of like Final Fantasy but less gay) thus furthering our chances of repopulation. Since training for the final days of human society is rather difficult to simulate, we have turned to Valve’s morbid co-op masterpiece, Left 4 Dead.
Like surviving the brain-hungry horde (or just really pissed off sick people, depending on your movie), Left 4 Dead is best tackled as a team. The single player is good and has excellent AI. That is all I shall say about masturbation mode. In a group is where the fun begins. I took this to a friend’s house and we played some split screen, which means we still had two AI controlled team mates (although we could have opted to bring some people in over XBLive). Fueled by Irish Car Bombs and Scotch--we’re multicultural--we picked our projectiles (I’m an automatic shotgun and molotov cocktail guy myself) and took on The Director.
“The Director” is really just a clever naming of the game’s dynamic placement system. Based on your performance, the number and difficulty of zombies will ebb and flow. Don’t think that playing badly means you get an easy game, its more concerned with pacing than it is with you surviving. But by simply naming the system, we now have an evil force. Sure there are masses of undead, scattered boss zombies and obstacles, but the real nemesis is The Director. Like mice in a maze, he leads us down dark allies only to be vomited on by slyly placed boomers or strangled to death by smokers hidden on foggy rooftops. Everything might be going just fine but suddenly the music spikes and mosh pits of angry undead come screaming at you from all the city’s orifices. Why? The Director decided you weren’t moving fast enough.
Much like the discussions at the water cooler in my future compound, war stories abound from a single play session. Remember that time when I was at 1 health point, limping along at half pace, yet we all still managed to slam the safe house door on a Director controlled horde of angry undead? What about the time you shot at a lone zombie but hit the car behind him, thus setting of its alarm and summoning his five hundred buddies? Remember me telling you witches really “aren’t that bad” when we encountered one? All these events happened in a single night of play. What kind of mayhem could we be up to given a week’s time?
Whether or not you intend to survive the coming cataclysm or become my prey, Left 4 Dead exemplifies Valves obsessive drive to create superior products. Made by guys who obviously watched a lot of movies, the music, lighting, grain, and hundreds of undead model types would make George Romero proud. And considering the massive success of their previous games (ahem, Counter Strike and Team Fortress) is it really any surprise?
~TD
Like surviving the brain-hungry horde (or just really pissed off sick people, depending on your movie), Left 4 Dead is best tackled as a team. The single player is good and has excellent AI. That is all I shall say about masturbation mode. In a group is where the fun begins. I took this to a friend’s house and we played some split screen, which means we still had two AI controlled team mates (although we could have opted to bring some people in over XBLive). Fueled by Irish Car Bombs and Scotch--we’re multicultural--we picked our projectiles (I’m an automatic shotgun and molotov cocktail guy myself) and took on The Director.
“The Director” is really just a clever naming of the game’s dynamic placement system. Based on your performance, the number and difficulty of zombies will ebb and flow. Don’t think that playing badly means you get an easy game, its more concerned with pacing than it is with you surviving. But by simply naming the system, we now have an evil force. Sure there are masses of undead, scattered boss zombies and obstacles, but the real nemesis is The Director. Like mice in a maze, he leads us down dark allies only to be vomited on by slyly placed boomers or strangled to death by smokers hidden on foggy rooftops. Everything might be going just fine but suddenly the music spikes and mosh pits of angry undead come screaming at you from all the city’s orifices. Why? The Director decided you weren’t moving fast enough.
Much like the discussions at the water cooler in my future compound, war stories abound from a single play session. Remember that time when I was at 1 health point, limping along at half pace, yet we all still managed to slam the safe house door on a Director controlled horde of angry undead? What about the time you shot at a lone zombie but hit the car behind him, thus setting of its alarm and summoning his five hundred buddies? Remember me telling you witches really “aren’t that bad” when we encountered one? All these events happened in a single night of play. What kind of mayhem could we be up to given a week’s time?
Whether or not you intend to survive the coming cataclysm or become my prey, Left 4 Dead exemplifies Valves obsessive drive to create superior products. Made by guys who obviously watched a lot of movies, the music, lighting, grain, and hundreds of undead model types would make George Romero proud. And considering the massive success of their previous games (ahem, Counter Strike and Team Fortress) is it really any surprise?
~TD
Thursday, November 20, 2008
WARHAMMER Chronicles: Episode 10 - Whining and Buffs, Tanks and Thanksgiving
Friday night I logged in hoping to achieve another rank on my shaman. I ended up doing so mainly through scenarios (of which we lost only 1 or 2 all night) and PvE grinding for influence rewards. I got my ranged staff (woot bugs!) so now I run around with two staffs on my back. I like the look of the ranged one better so it always warms my heart when my shaman pulls that one out when he's casting.
Well, Mythic has listened to its fanbase, or shall I say that Mythic listened to the healers. For the moment, I will get my reduced time big heal AND there will be no nerf to my HoT. This it amazing. I didn't think they would change it but I'm very happy they didn't. It provides a little more utility to my class with the instant casts. All I can say, if you want a buff, is go whine in the VN forums about how much your class sucks (Mark Jacobs will tell you to delete your character) and then they'll be looked into. Simple as that.
The biggest reason I did so well in scenarios was because tanks started popping out of the woodworks. I had close to 5 BO's in every single scenario. It was wonderful. I loved it and no one really died. The scenarios, if you queued quick enough were popping every 10 seconds. If you didn't queue quick enough you had to wait 20 minutes or so. There were times where I would walk into a scenario and Destruction would already be winning by 100 because no order had been able to show up. Ah, the good old days. I'll say it again, I love tanks.
Next week is Thanksgiving week, and I'll be out of town. I won't be able to play at all for a few weeks so any posts will have to wait.
~J
Well, Mythic has listened to its fanbase, or shall I say that Mythic listened to the healers. For the moment, I will get my reduced time big heal AND there will be no nerf to my HoT. This it amazing. I didn't think they would change it but I'm very happy they didn't. It provides a little more utility to my class with the instant casts. All I can say, if you want a buff, is go whine in the VN forums about how much your class sucks (Mark Jacobs will tell you to delete your character) and then they'll be looked into. Simple as that.
The biggest reason I did so well in scenarios was because tanks started popping out of the woodworks. I had close to 5 BO's in every single scenario. It was wonderful. I loved it and no one really died. The scenarios, if you queued quick enough were popping every 10 seconds. If you didn't queue quick enough you had to wait 20 minutes or so. There were times where I would walk into a scenario and Destruction would already be winning by 100 because no order had been able to show up. Ah, the good old days. I'll say it again, I love tanks.
Next week is Thanksgiving week, and I'll be out of town. I won't be able to play at all for a few weeks so any posts will have to wait.
~J
Thursday, November 13, 2008
WARHAMMER Chronicles: Episode 9 - Power Level service and BW vs. Marauders
Friday came and went, and I achieved what I set out to do. I gained 3 levels of Renown and two ranks. I am now 26 and well on my way to being the uber healer that shamans are required to be. How did I do this? Well here's the hint. Pick a level 31 sorceress friend. Preferably one that can actually do damage and kill people. Heal him out the wazzoo till he levels out of t3. Find another sorc friend and then repeat.
Me and two of my friends, a squig herder and that 31 sorceress, decided to group into scenarios. We won every single match we were in together and with the healing buff to renown again (thanks Mythic!) I was getting around 2k renown consistently. It was incredible, some of the most fun I've had in WAR since I started. I highly recommend actually playing with people. It makes the game more fun.
Well, after I had gotten to 26, with my sorc friend at 32 and playing his rank 13 WE, I decided to pick up my rank 7 marauder and just try him out for a little while. Now, I stopped playing him (if you recall) because there were so many snares going on without any ability to break them, that I was perpetually snared and couldn't do anything. But, I gave him another go and he, when used correctly, kicks butt. I had been playing a BW for a little while before this and found out what it means to have no survivability and huge damage. With the marauder, I got survivability by trading in the range damage with the big numbers. All I do now is look at which healer, runepriest or archmage, I want to kill and if I get within melee range of them and outlevel them at all (which at rank 10 isn't hard) I will kill them. Then it's the BWs turn and so on down the armor tree. I ended a T1 scenario with 24k damage. That's the most I've seen even with a well played SORC or BW. Luckily I had a bunch of healers and tanks to help out.
But why was it so much easier for my marauder than my BW? Well, I'm not gonna say it takes any more skill. Sure, I have to have position on my target, be within melee range and all that, but I have about 1k more health on my marauder than my BW. Also, and this is the biggest reason. The group makeup on destruction (no matter the server) is better than the order. Order plays 30-40% BW in almost any given scenario. Then they have 1 or 2 SW, 2 or 3 Engineers, 1 healer somtimes a low ranked one, a few witch hunters, and absolutely no tanks. Destruction, from my limited experience, has at least 1 usually 3 tanks, at least 3 healers, 2-6 sorcs/magus, 2 WE, 2, Marauders, and 2 DoK's. The balance is overwhelming. I get heals constantly on my marauder when I got none on my BW. Order is so much more about the big damage (another reason why they lose so often but have the most damage) that they don't care about winning.
It's not a difference in skill level, or maturity level (while the order do bitch and moan in scenario chat constantly while Destruction are either constructive or silent). It's entirely a mindset where the destruction want to have a balanced group, while the Order just want to have the best class. The heaviest played class is the BW, followed by the IB. Those are the two classes that grossly outclass their destruction counterparts or don't have a destruction counterpart. No one plays healers because people constantly claim that Order is inferior to destruction (check all the forums) so all the people wanting to play a healing class go destruction because the Order claim that their healers suck.
All in all, Order isn't any worse than destruction, they just don't work as a team together. That's pretty much the gist of it.
~J
Me and two of my friends, a squig herder and that 31 sorceress, decided to group into scenarios. We won every single match we were in together and with the healing buff to renown again (thanks Mythic!) I was getting around 2k renown consistently. It was incredible, some of the most fun I've had in WAR since I started. I highly recommend actually playing with people. It makes the game more fun.
Well, after I had gotten to 26, with my sorc friend at 32 and playing his rank 13 WE, I decided to pick up my rank 7 marauder and just try him out for a little while. Now, I stopped playing him (if you recall) because there were so many snares going on without any ability to break them, that I was perpetually snared and couldn't do anything. But, I gave him another go and he, when used correctly, kicks butt. I had been playing a BW for a little while before this and found out what it means to have no survivability and huge damage. With the marauder, I got survivability by trading in the range damage with the big numbers. All I do now is look at which healer, runepriest or archmage, I want to kill and if I get within melee range of them and outlevel them at all (which at rank 10 isn't hard) I will kill them. Then it's the BWs turn and so on down the armor tree. I ended a T1 scenario with 24k damage. That's the most I've seen even with a well played SORC or BW. Luckily I had a bunch of healers and tanks to help out.
But why was it so much easier for my marauder than my BW? Well, I'm not gonna say it takes any more skill. Sure, I have to have position on my target, be within melee range and all that, but I have about 1k more health on my marauder than my BW. Also, and this is the biggest reason. The group makeup on destruction (no matter the server) is better than the order. Order plays 30-40% BW in almost any given scenario. Then they have 1 or 2 SW, 2 or 3 Engineers, 1 healer somtimes a low ranked one, a few witch hunters, and absolutely no tanks. Destruction, from my limited experience, has at least 1 usually 3 tanks, at least 3 healers, 2-6 sorcs/magus, 2 WE, 2, Marauders, and 2 DoK's. The balance is overwhelming. I get heals constantly on my marauder when I got none on my BW. Order is so much more about the big damage (another reason why they lose so often but have the most damage) that they don't care about winning.
It's not a difference in skill level, or maturity level (while the order do bitch and moan in scenario chat constantly while Destruction are either constructive or silent). It's entirely a mindset where the destruction want to have a balanced group, while the Order just want to have the best class. The heaviest played class is the BW, followed by the IB. Those are the two classes that grossly outclass their destruction counterparts or don't have a destruction counterpart. No one plays healers because people constantly claim that Order is inferior to destruction (check all the forums) so all the people wanting to play a healing class go destruction because the Order claim that their healers suck.
All in all, Order isn't any worse than destruction, they just don't work as a team together. That's pretty much the gist of it.
~J
Friday, November 7, 2008
WARHAMMER Chronicles: Episode 8 - Patch 1.05, HoTs and Reroll thoughts
I know I know, I'm a day late, I was busy yesterday with school and the cold weather. Not an excuse but definitely a reason for being late.
Anyways, I heard/read some horrible news yesterday. Mythic has decided to make a few major changes with their characters. Put simply - They did a lot of good things. Playing with fire is majorly toned down on the BW, snares will now properly break, a few classes (SH, Magus, Eng, and maybe a few others got some much needed damage love), and they nerfed the grudge mechanic on IBs. This was a much needed fix because it was the equivalent of a warrior running around with full rage. Anyone who has played WoW will understand what I mean. Also, they buffed DoTs across the board for all classes making it scale better with INT.
But the bad news is that BWs got a buff (but no more than 10% damage increase on their DoTs). Do they even test BWs in the devs brains?! DoTs are the problem with BWs. Yeah the big nukes are scary but with the ability for DoTs to crit (which was a good idea imo) BW could effectively take anyone down but putting their insta cast DoTs on them and then running away. Now they get at least a 4% increase per tick (not including crits) to their DoTs. This is just ludicrous. But that's not the worst of it...
My shaman, who all I felt needed was another direct heal (even if I had to spend a few more points in the mastery tree), got nerfed. If we go by percentage points (and theory) this is how big the nerf is:
Before I had about 1000 HPs total for my 'Ey Quit Bleedin' HoT (my bread and butter spell) in 15 seconds of HoT time. I'm not sure when it actually ticks but I think it's every 3 seconds. So:
1000/5 (every 3 seconds it ticks) = 200 HPs per tick. About the equivalent of 2/5 non crit nuke from a 30 BW (btw, don't feel bad their crits can hit for 1500)
With the increase to HoT time:
1000/8 (every 3 seconds it ticks) = 125 HPs per tick, or the equivalent of less than 1/3 a 30 BW nuke.
200/1000 = 20% of my total healing per tick previously
125/1000 = 12.5% of my total healing per tick after 1.05
That's a total 7.5% decrease per tick after 1.05. This is true of all healers btw, not just shamans. So, in effect all damage got increased by 5%-10% and the main spell cast by healers got nerfed at least 7.5% at my level. That's a 15% turn around meaning 15% more people will die. Meaning 15% less likely I will help change the tide of battle as a healer.
Yes, I know that I'm being irrational about this (not illogical) but imagine if your main ability took 60% longer to take effect. Instead of every 3 seconds a big nuke it's 5 seconds. Doesn't make sense to me personally, but it does make me want to reroll to either a BW, back to my Marauder, or a SH or Magus. This patch hasn't taken effect necessarily though, so it's entirely possible that this change will not pass. If you have any heart, go on the PTR (public test realms) and in the feedback, tell Mythic that you dislike the healing changes because you die 15% faster now.
~J
**edited for math's sake, thanks to Josiah for pointing that out.
========================UPDATE================================
The Devs are changing our big 3 second long heal to a 2.5 second cast and it doesn't get knocked back as easily. Nice work mythic, this makes more sense than what I thought you were trying to do.
Anyways, I heard/read some horrible news yesterday. Mythic has decided to make a few major changes with their characters. Put simply - They did a lot of good things. Playing with fire is majorly toned down on the BW, snares will now properly break, a few classes (SH, Magus, Eng, and maybe a few others got some much needed damage love), and they nerfed the grudge mechanic on IBs. This was a much needed fix because it was the equivalent of a warrior running around with full rage. Anyone who has played WoW will understand what I mean. Also, they buffed DoTs across the board for all classes making it scale better with INT.
But the bad news is that BWs got a buff (but no more than 10% damage increase on their DoTs). Do they even test BWs in the devs brains?! DoTs are the problem with BWs. Yeah the big nukes are scary but with the ability for DoTs to crit (which was a good idea imo) BW could effectively take anyone down but putting their insta cast DoTs on them and then running away. Now they get at least a 4% increase per tick (not including crits) to their DoTs. This is just ludicrous. But that's not the worst of it...
My shaman, who all I felt needed was another direct heal (even if I had to spend a few more points in the mastery tree), got nerfed. If we go by percentage points (and theory) this is how big the nerf is:
Before I had about 1000 HPs total for my 'Ey Quit Bleedin' HoT (my bread and butter spell) in 15 seconds of HoT time. I'm not sure when it actually ticks but I think it's every 3 seconds. So:
1000/5 (every 3 seconds it ticks) = 200 HPs per tick. About the equivalent of 2/5 non crit nuke from a 30 BW (btw, don't feel bad their crits can hit for 1500)
With the increase to HoT time:
1000/8 (every 3 seconds it ticks) = 125 HPs per tick, or the equivalent of less than 1/3 a 30 BW nuke.
200/1000 = 20% of my total healing per tick previously
125/1000 = 12.5% of my total healing per tick after 1.05
That's a total 7.5% decrease per tick after 1.05. This is true of all healers btw, not just shamans. So, in effect all damage got increased by 5%-10% and the main spell cast by healers got nerfed at least 7.5% at my level. That's a 15% turn around meaning 15% more people will die. Meaning 15% less likely I will help change the tide of battle as a healer.
Yes, I know that I'm being irrational about this (not illogical) but imagine if your main ability took 60% longer to take effect. Instead of every 3 seconds a big nuke it's 5 seconds. Doesn't make sense to me personally, but it does make me want to reroll to either a BW, back to my Marauder, or a SH or Magus. This patch hasn't taken effect necessarily though, so it's entirely possible that this change will not pass. If you have any heart, go on the PTR (public test realms) and in the feedback, tell Mythic that you dislike the healing changes because you die 15% faster now.
~J
**edited for math's sake, thanks to Josiah for pointing that out.
========================UPDATE================================
The Devs are changing our big 3 second long heal to a 2.5 second cast and it doesn't get knocked back as easily. Nice work mythic, this makes more sense than what I thought you were trying to do.
Thursday, October 30, 2008
WARHAMMER Chronicles: Episode 7 - White Lions, Bright Wizards and the horror of being a healer without a tank
I don't know what the problem is. I probably don't have enough wounds or something, but when I head into a Scenario and there is a white lion 5 levels above me. He can waltz through my entire team, kill me in about 10 seconds, kill someone else, and end with getting the third guy down to 50% health. The other two guys were DoK's which means that we had decent DPS with heals, and STILL he came in WITHOUT heals and killed almost all of us. Don't complain to me about white lion DPS.
Well, that did it. My sorceress friend and I decided to roll some order to see what the other side of the fence is like. I rolled a bright wizard and he rolled a white lion. Within 3 levels I had gotten an achievement that it took 20 levels on my shaman to get. I killed 100 players in RvR before I hit level 7. Sure, I die a lot but I have no less survivability against a WE than my shaman does against a WL.
Differences between Order and Destruction though:
1. The first scenario I went in, people were bitching at each other before the game even started. That has never happened to me in Destruction.
2. People complained in chat about the level of the people playing.
3. 2 BoE blues dropped, so not only are the devs giving Order more XP, but they're also giving them better drops.
4. Order doesn't play with tanks or healers.
5. A DoK is extremely hard to kill at low levels.
6. WE's are not so bad as long as they don't out level you by 5 levels (to all those order bitching about WE's, why don't you level to an equivalent level first).
Bright Wizards, as far as I've seen, are one of the most complete classes in the game and a lot of fun to play. But I wouldn't give up my shaman for the world though especially with him being on destruction.
~J
Well, that did it. My sorceress friend and I decided to roll some order to see what the other side of the fence is like. I rolled a bright wizard and he rolled a white lion. Within 3 levels I had gotten an achievement that it took 20 levels on my shaman to get. I killed 100 players in RvR before I hit level 7. Sure, I die a lot but I have no less survivability against a WE than my shaman does against a WL.
Differences between Order and Destruction though:
1. The first scenario I went in, people were bitching at each other before the game even started. That has never happened to me in Destruction.
2. People complained in chat about the level of the people playing.
3. 2 BoE blues dropped, so not only are the devs giving Order more XP, but they're also giving them better drops.
4. Order doesn't play with tanks or healers.
5. A DoK is extremely hard to kill at low levels.
6. WE's are not so bad as long as they don't out level you by 5 levels (to all those order bitching about WE's, why don't you level to an equivalent level first).
Bright Wizards, as far as I've seen, are one of the most complete classes in the game and a lot of fun to play. But I wouldn't give up my shaman for the world though especially with him being on destruction.
~J
Thursday, October 23, 2008
WARHAMMER Chronicles: Episode 6 - Tor Anroc, Healer Spec, and BW OPness
All I've heard of in the past week is how overpowered bright wizards are (hereafter referred to as BW). They have an AoE snare which makes it so you can't move (also seems to last about 3 times as long as it should). This snare also has a bug attached to it causing the snare not to break on damage at all. They have one of the highest single target DPS in the game to go along with their AoE. But the most irritating spell of all (that directly relates to me) is called playing with fire. PWF hits a target, it decreases the healing done to that target by 50% AND puts a dot on any healer that throws a HoT on the person under the spell, it can't be purged and does some pretty hefty damage. Yeah, that's irritating. It wouldn't be so bad except every scenario I've been in in t3 has had about 4 or 5 BW's in it. The percentage is about this. 33% - BW, 25% - IB, 20% - RP, 15% WH and 7% misc., and Order still seem to get rolled and I think I've figured out why.
While BW is the most complete class Order has to choose from in terms of DPS, every MMO needs balance. You can't just get 100 of the best class and expect to win against a balanced attack that works together. 100 Kobe Bryant's playing individual basketball cannot win a championship. You need role players and balance. So, I think that the best solo class in the game is the BW because of all the utility it has from range, you cannot win without healers, tanks, and melee DPS to do the dirty work.
~J
While BW is the most complete class Order has to choose from in terms of DPS, every MMO needs balance. You can't just get 100 of the best class and expect to win against a balanced attack that works together. 100 Kobe Bryant's playing individual basketball cannot win a championship. You need role players and balance. So, I think that the best solo class in the game is the BW because of all the utility it has from range, you cannot win without healers, tanks, and melee DPS to do the dirty work.
~J
Wednesday, October 15, 2008
WARHAMMER Chronicles: Episode 5 - No Quests but finally a mount
Well, I logged in yesterday with the sole purpose of getting to level 20, and the best idea that I could think of was then to run up into tier 3 and quest up there. The biggest reason for thinking this is that I had no further quests to do in tier 2. Maybe I did and I just missed some, but I went through all the quests in the greenskins and chaos area and a few in the dark elf and I just kinda ran out. Maybe I should pvp more, but I'm still stuck in that area where I'm the highest level and everyone on my team is below 15 and everyone on the other team is above 18. We lost that one 500-12 or something like that. Hoorah for retards.
So, I went into the tier 3 greenskin area for quests. I joined up with Buf's sexy alter-ego a sorceress named Alyth. We tromped merrily through many quests until we got to the chapter 11 greenskin pq where I then was kicked from the group and had to finish the pq solo while Alyth played with her new friends. Luckily I still got a bag.
That left me with 15% to get to 20. That's about 10k experience I think... I could be wrong though. I had to get it so I could get my mount. It was imperative. I decided to pvp and I ended up hitting 20 in the middle of a scenario. Flew to the inevitable city for the first time, which by the way is epic and I can't wait for 40 to attack the order cities, and got my wolf, which as someone so nicely put it, "He doesn't run as cutely as your little man." But, I'm excited now, I can officially travel. Time to start questing again. Hopefully hit 23 by the end of the week.
~J
So, I went into the tier 3 greenskin area for quests. I joined up with Buf's sexy alter-ego a sorceress named Alyth. We tromped merrily through many quests until we got to the chapter 11 greenskin pq where I then was kicked from the group and had to finish the pq solo while Alyth played with her new friends. Luckily I still got a bag.
That left me with 15% to get to 20. That's about 10k experience I think... I could be wrong though. I had to get it so I could get my mount. It was imperative. I decided to pvp and I ended up hitting 20 in the middle of a scenario. Flew to the inevitable city for the first time, which by the way is epic and I can't wait for 40 to attack the order cities, and got my wolf, which as someone so nicely put it, "He doesn't run as cutely as your little man." But, I'm excited now, I can officially travel. Time to start questing again. Hopefully hit 23 by the end of the week.
~J
Monday, October 13, 2008
WARHAMMER Chronicles: Episode 4 - Stuck in Between Bubbles
Well I hit rank 19 on Sunday morning right before church. It was nice, I finally got to finish a PQ for the first time since chapter 5 when I did it with my BLORC friend, Buf. We soloed that one. That was cool. Anyways, I went into the next tier with a few of my guildies and we completed the Greenskin chapter 10 pq till I was highest level of influence. That was a lot of fun, even though I was low level. But I figured out one thing. I'm in between the bubbles.
The first bubble consists of the hardcore players who preordered the game and play it every night and don't go to school and work. They are the ones that play the game well and play it often. Then there are the casuals or the ones that don't play as often. This is usually the Order. They don't play very often. Sure, they play well but they can only log in on weekends or started late, or something like that. Now, I lie in between the two bubbles. This means that there are only 2 people doing a pq at any time. This means that there is 1 tank in a scenario who is level 13 and can't do crap so all the DPS dies. Now, I'm just a tad too low to get into the next tier where all the good destruction people are. But I'm too high to level with all the other destruction people are. So now I'm stuck being a good healer and decent DPS in a crappy pool of mud that you couldn't see the bottom with the hubble telescope.
I did get a few achievements this week though. I got the title 'The Showoff' for doing a bunch of things naked. I tried a scenario completely naked and did pretty good except that it didn't get me an achievement. But, all in all, I'm happy with it if I could just level a little faster. This week should see me around rank 23 near the end. Maybe I should hire a leveling service? Then again... maybe not...
~J
The first bubble consists of the hardcore players who preordered the game and play it every night and don't go to school and work. They are the ones that play the game well and play it often. Then there are the casuals or the ones that don't play as often. This is usually the Order. They don't play very often. Sure, they play well but they can only log in on weekends or started late, or something like that. Now, I lie in between the two bubbles. This means that there are only 2 people doing a pq at any time. This means that there is 1 tank in a scenario who is level 13 and can't do crap so all the DPS dies. Now, I'm just a tad too low to get into the next tier where all the good destruction people are. But I'm too high to level with all the other destruction people are. So now I'm stuck being a good healer and decent DPS in a crappy pool of mud that you couldn't see the bottom with the hubble telescope.
I did get a few achievements this week though. I got the title 'The Showoff' for doing a bunch of things naked. I tried a scenario completely naked and did pretty good except that it didn't get me an achievement. But, all in all, I'm happy with it if I could just level a little faster. This week should see me around rank 23 near the end. Maybe I should hire a leveling service? Then again... maybe not...
~J
Thursday, October 9, 2008
WARHAMMER Chronicles: Episode 3 - Stupid Guildies, Friends, and Finals
Friday night rolls around and I get off work with no homework till Saturday night. Inviting friends over and getting some alcohol means that it's time to log into WAR again. I was only rank 10 when I logged in and decided to pvp with my chosen friend. Well the scenario didn't pop until I was Rank 11 and almost rank 12. I won the scenario very handily and bumped up to rank 12. And that's when the fun began.
There are always those people who disgust you. Unfortunately, I have had the poor luck of having 2 of the worst in guilds with me. Crimsonownz was the worst. I didn't think I'd ever have the bad luck of finding someone as bad as him. But that was before I met Bluenote. (sidenote - if you ever make a guild the absolute worst thing you can do is promote a 14 year old to be an officer). Here's the list of things I found out about Bluenote in the order I found them out:
1. He's 14
2. He thinks he's the boss of everyone because he's the officer in a guild that invites everyone and their 10 alts to the guild to make it seem like they have a better guild.
3. He's a virgin and is unhappy about it and is trying to find some prostitute willing to perform statuatory rape on him.
4. He's a total dick.
Now, me and my chosen friend start making fun of him, and he can't handle that very well. But, as much as we're irritated at him, we all join a group to take over a keep in the Ostland. This was a TON of fun, and 10 times better than anything WoW ever gave me. I'll post a video of it tonight. I ended the weekend as Rank 14, with a good many quests to turn in. And the best part about the whole thing was the Bluenote left the guild when he realized he couldn't order us to wear pink and purple and bend over so he can finally lose his virginity.
But finals week called me and now all my friends have caught up and passed me in a single weekend because I had not time to play. It sucks because now I'm gonna get the brunt of all their "you're so lame cause I started later but I'm higher level than you" jokes. Well, at least my last final is today and next week is break week and she's working all week. Oh, I might have to up the post ante for next week so I don't forget. I'll keep videos posted when I make them too. Hopefully, we can get a kickass PvP video going with a whole group... I have a few ideas.
~J
There are always those people who disgust you. Unfortunately, I have had the poor luck of having 2 of the worst in guilds with me. Crimsonownz was the worst. I didn't think I'd ever have the bad luck of finding someone as bad as him. But that was before I met Bluenote. (sidenote - if you ever make a guild the absolute worst thing you can do is promote a 14 year old to be an officer). Here's the list of things I found out about Bluenote in the order I found them out:
1. He's 14
2. He thinks he's the boss of everyone because he's the officer in a guild that invites everyone and their 10 alts to the guild to make it seem like they have a better guild.
3. He's a virgin and is unhappy about it and is trying to find some prostitute willing to perform statuatory rape on him.
4. He's a total dick.
Now, me and my chosen friend start making fun of him, and he can't handle that very well. But, as much as we're irritated at him, we all join a group to take over a keep in the Ostland. This was a TON of fun, and 10 times better than anything WoW ever gave me. I'll post a video of it tonight. I ended the weekend as Rank 14, with a good many quests to turn in. And the best part about the whole thing was the Bluenote left the guild when he realized he couldn't order us to wear pink and purple and bend over so he can finally lose his virginity.
But finals week called me and now all my friends have caught up and passed me in a single weekend because I had not time to play. It sucks because now I'm gonna get the brunt of all their "you're so lame cause I started later but I'm higher level than you" jokes. Well, at least my last final is today and next week is break week and she's working all week. Oh, I might have to up the post ante for next week so I don't forget. I'll keep videos posted when I make them too. Hopefully, we can get a kickass PvP video going with a whole group... I have a few ideas.
~J
Thursday, October 2, 2008
WARHAMMER Chronicles: Episode 2 - Ahh, the joy and pain of being a healer.
As I stated last week, I am playing a shaman. It is a healer damage hybrid caster who does a decent amount of both. Perfect for a guy like me who is looking for a little more utility in both PVE and PVP. Well, I first joined a scenario with my good friend, the Black Orc named Bif, and we rocked. I had the most fun I've had in a instanced battle since I had an organized group for ABing in WoW. It had a lot to do with the fact that I was one of two healers and everyone else was a tank. We won 500-100 and the world was happy.
But behind every happy face, there is a sad face beating it's head in with a baseball bat. I decided to try out PvP on my own over the weekend, and it killed me. The class of the week is no longer tanks, but casters. But not just any casters, those casters who refuse to heal, but instead shoot out green lazer beams of death (hereon called GRBOD). The GRBOD wielding shamans would watch both tanks and fellows healers die just so they could squirt out that extra 5 points of damage before the adversaries took them down. This led to no one playing tanks anymore, which lead to no one protecting me anymore, which in the end led to me swearing so loudly at my computer my roommate came in and complained. Since then, I have to have a tank with me at all times in order to survive, and with just two of us working together, the sides are much more even. But, where have all the rank 10 tanks gone? All I see are rank 1 tanks, rank 5 shaman who think it is their sole duty to top every damage meter from now till doomsday with one spell, or rank 8 squig herders who are great, but don't really help in a pinch.
I had to turn off my computer for the week as this is the week right before finals and I need to study and get all my presentations in order. But next week is the last week of the term and that means all break is gonna be spent perfecting my way of playing. At least I'll perfect not dieing. I can't tell which side I hate more right now. My enemies (the Order) or my friends the stupid pieces of #!$# that can't seem to do anything right... But maybe it's me screwing everything up.
~J
But behind every happy face, there is a sad face beating it's head in with a baseball bat. I decided to try out PvP on my own over the weekend, and it killed me. The class of the week is no longer tanks, but casters. But not just any casters, those casters who refuse to heal, but instead shoot out green lazer beams of death (hereon called GRBOD). The GRBOD wielding shamans would watch both tanks and fellows healers die just so they could squirt out that extra 5 points of damage before the adversaries took them down. This led to no one playing tanks anymore, which lead to no one protecting me anymore, which in the end led to me swearing so loudly at my computer my roommate came in and complained. Since then, I have to have a tank with me at all times in order to survive, and with just two of us working together, the sides are much more even. But, where have all the rank 10 tanks gone? All I see are rank 1 tanks, rank 5 shaman who think it is their sole duty to top every damage meter from now till doomsday with one spell, or rank 8 squig herders who are great, but don't really help in a pinch.
I had to turn off my computer for the week as this is the week right before finals and I need to study and get all my presentations in order. But next week is the last week of the term and that means all break is gonna be spent perfecting my way of playing. At least I'll perfect not dieing. I can't tell which side I hate more right now. My enemies (the Order) or my friends the stupid pieces of #!$# that can't seem to do anything right... But maybe it's me screwing everything up.
~J
Thursday, September 25, 2008
WARHAMMER Chronicles: Episode 1 - Which class?!?!?
I first started as a marauder. I figured that since I loved playing a fury warrior in WoW I would love the similarities between them. Well, I was wrong. The marauder is decently fun to play. I enjoyed it a lot, but all the glaring innefficiencies that fury warriors had, the marauder exaggerates tenfold. A 3 second snare doesn't do anything when it's on a 10 second cooldown. No ability to break a snare means that the range classes can effectively kite me without me laying a hit on them. And with wearing the equivalent of leather armor makes me more into a rogue that cannot stealth. I plan on picking him up again later, but for now, I'm gonna try a different class.
But which one? I wanted to play Destruction with Toby, but nothing else really had my fancy. I decided to try out a shaman. Almost immediately, I was having fun again. The starting zone and graphics are much more appealing to me than the Chaos. The idea that doing more damage increases my heal effectiveness and that doing more healing increases my damage is a very appealing structure to a class. I am thoroughly enjoying it.
I did a PQ (party quest) with Toby as a black orc and I think this toon will be my main. Yeah, I've heard they get harder to play later, but for now I'll stick with him and see what's up. I haven't played a healer yet so that'll be a great new aspect. I'll keep you posted, as this will be the first in many series of episodes from WAR. Look forward to having Josiah, Pat, Micah, JCrap and Ryan playing with us all and getting a guild going.
~J
But which one? I wanted to play Destruction with Toby, but nothing else really had my fancy. I decided to try out a shaman. Almost immediately, I was having fun again. The starting zone and graphics are much more appealing to me than the Chaos. The idea that doing more damage increases my heal effectiveness and that doing more healing increases my damage is a very appealing structure to a class. I am thoroughly enjoying it.
I did a PQ (party quest) with Toby as a black orc and I think this toon will be my main. Yeah, I've heard they get harder to play later, but for now I'll stick with him and see what's up. I haven't played a healer yet so that'll be a great new aspect. I'll keep you posted, as this will be the first in many series of episodes from WAR. Look forward to having Josiah, Pat, Micah, JCrap and Ryan playing with us all and getting a guild going.
~J
Monday, September 8, 2008
Fusion Frenzy 2
I played this over the weekend some. While I thoroughly enjoyed the first one, this one has something very obviously lacking in it and I can't explain it. Most of the problem stems from feeling like you're pushing buttons in water. All the controls are sluggish and are hard to maneuver.
The characters are much the same, some of the minigames are the same. They added a few fun ones as well. But all in all I can't say I enjoyed this game. Definitely not as much as the first one where I had hours of fun. Maybe if would help if my roommates actually played with me instead of no longer playing as soon as I get decent. I don't want to be THAT guy, but you guys can't expect me to not beat you if you suck at video games to begin with.
I'll give this a 6.3 or so. Completely arbitrary. It was not good enough to rent or buy, maybe not even borrow. In fact, unless you played the first one, don't play this one. And if you did play the first on then go play the first one some more. It was a better game. Play this one for novelty. Then go play something else.
~J
The characters are much the same, some of the minigames are the same. They added a few fun ones as well. But all in all I can't say I enjoyed this game. Definitely not as much as the first one where I had hours of fun. Maybe if would help if my roommates actually played with me instead of no longer playing as soon as I get decent. I don't want to be THAT guy, but you guys can't expect me to not beat you if you suck at video games to begin with.
I'll give this a 6.3 or so. Completely arbitrary. It was not good enough to rent or buy, maybe not even borrow. In fact, unless you played the first one, don't play this one. And if you did play the first on then go play the first one some more. It was a better game. Play this one for novelty. Then go play something else.
~J
Monday, August 25, 2008
Sega Superstars Tennis
What with school starting and all that, I am going to have to limit my gamefly intake. I just don't have that much time to play anymore. I guess I should probably cancel it till next summer. Anyways, Sega Superstars Tennis came in the mail. I wanted Fusion Frenzy 2, but they decided not to send that out.
When I first played this, I hated it. This game was stupid. Took too long to learn how to play, and when you did it became ridiculously easy. I chose to play Tails. Mainly because I like Tails, and partially because I played Mario Tennis and Boo was the best guy to be because he could do wicked crazy spin. And spin beats all in regular games (maybe I should take a lesson and learn how to spin the ball in table tennis).
I was going to rate this at 3.5 or so. In case you haven't been paying attention, that rating means that all copies should be burned immediately lest anyone get infected. But, after playing a little bit with some friends, I will have to raise it to 5.2. It's not a good game, it's worse than a bad game. But it had it's moments during multiplayer to warrant no burning.
Again, the game has to be really good to warrant me keeping it longer than a week, especially with school beckoning. So, I am going to give this the worst rating yet. It feels like Sega took a page out of George Lucas' book and can't resist the opportunity to profit off a previous good game.
When I first played this, I hated it. This game was stupid. Took too long to learn how to play, and when you did it became ridiculously easy. I chose to play Tails. Mainly because I like Tails, and partially because I played Mario Tennis and Boo was the best guy to be because he could do wicked crazy spin. And spin beats all in regular games (maybe I should take a lesson and learn how to spin the ball in table tennis).
I was going to rate this at 3.5 or so. In case you haven't been paying attention, that rating means that all copies should be burned immediately lest anyone get infected. But, after playing a little bit with some friends, I will have to raise it to 5.2. It's not a good game, it's worse than a bad game. But it had it's moments during multiplayer to warrant no burning.
Again, the game has to be really good to warrant me keeping it longer than a week, especially with school beckoning. So, I am going to give this the worst rating yet. It feels like Sega took a page out of George Lucas' book and can't resist the opportunity to profit off a previous good game.
Thursday, August 14, 2008
Army of Two
Starting off, the premise to this game was really cool. I like the idea of playing a mercenary. It makes more sense of why you're going up against horrible odds. Halo explained it well, you being the last true soldier alive, and a few other games have too. But something like Bad Company just said you were in a special part of the army. No extra training, just being in the army.
I've heard this game compared to Gears of War, I've never played Gears of War unfortunately, but if it's like this game, I don't want to play it. I am getting this off my chest right now, so there's no confusion later. Third person shooters DO NOT WORK. They never have and they never will. 3Rd person is for RPG's or action. But spinning around in an attempt to shoot the guy who runs screaming behind you causes you to have fits trying to focus your cross hairs on the guy. I wish they had made this a first person shooter, but with what they wanted to accomplish it was impossible. You can't really have cover and a first person shooter.
In what it attempted it did a semi decent job, I wasn't very impressed with the dialogue. The frat boy who calls everyone bro, and the disgruntled huge conspiracy theorist. You have an emo chic with weird tattoos as your playcaller, kind of like Cortana, who wants you to stop the bad guy before he does terrible things (they must be terrible cause she says that about 10 times in the last 30 minutes). The big "twist" at the end could be seen 10 miles away. The game was short. I beat it in maybe 7 hours total. Shorter than Halo 2 which is saying a lot. At least Halo 2 was a first person shooter...
The requirement for one member of the squad to have "aggro" by shooting just wastes bullets, of which there really aren't enough to go around. Also, explaining aggro at the beginning felt so retarded. I know, I know, it was needed cause not everyone plays multiplayer RPGs, but aggro has been a staple term of mine since 2005 that I forget not everyone knows what this is.
The back to back was cool, but pointless. It wasn't there near enough and didn't last very long. The death scenes were kinda lame, there was no wa to judge how close a friend was to dieing. The game itself was really buggy. There were several times I had to shut off my 360 and then turn it back on in order to load the game properly.
All in all, I was less than impressed with this. The best part of this game being the fact that you can pimp out your guns. I would rent this game, nice for the experience and a good idea for what NOT to do when making third person shooters. I hate those cameras.
~J
I've heard this game compared to Gears of War, I've never played Gears of War unfortunately, but if it's like this game, I don't want to play it. I am getting this off my chest right now, so there's no confusion later. Third person shooters DO NOT WORK. They never have and they never will. 3Rd person is for RPG's or action. But spinning around in an attempt to shoot the guy who runs screaming behind you causes you to have fits trying to focus your cross hairs on the guy. I wish they had made this a first person shooter, but with what they wanted to accomplish it was impossible. You can't really have cover and a first person shooter.
In what it attempted it did a semi decent job, I wasn't very impressed with the dialogue. The frat boy who calls everyone bro, and the disgruntled huge conspiracy theorist. You have an emo chic with weird tattoos as your playcaller, kind of like Cortana, who wants you to stop the bad guy before he does terrible things (they must be terrible cause she says that about 10 times in the last 30 minutes). The big "twist" at the end could be seen 10 miles away. The game was short. I beat it in maybe 7 hours total. Shorter than Halo 2 which is saying a lot. At least Halo 2 was a first person shooter...
The requirement for one member of the squad to have "aggro" by shooting just wastes bullets, of which there really aren't enough to go around. Also, explaining aggro at the beginning felt so retarded. I know, I know, it was needed cause not everyone plays multiplayer RPGs, but aggro has been a staple term of mine since 2005 that I forget not everyone knows what this is.
The back to back was cool, but pointless. It wasn't there near enough and didn't last very long. The death scenes were kinda lame, there was no wa to judge how close a friend was to dieing. The game itself was really buggy. There were several times I had to shut off my 360 and then turn it back on in order to load the game properly.
All in all, I was less than impressed with this. The best part of this game being the fact that you can pimp out your guns. I would rent this game, nice for the experience and a good idea for what NOT to do when making third person shooters. I hate those cameras.
~J
Tuesday, August 12, 2008
Unreal Tournament 3
The last UT I played was Unreal Championship (thanks Micah) in 2003. I enjoyed it. It was no Halo, but it was enjoyable and the guns were pretty good. I didn't play online that much but that's cause Microsoft likes to charge to do that. I understand this is a multiplayer game. The story line doesn't allow for anything except multiplayer. You have to play against bots or other players.
Well, the graphics are decent. I finally was able to have fun playing a first person shooter again. There are very few third person shooters that work. Mass Effect did a good job with it, but it could barely be qualified as a shooter. But I got off the beaten track. Unreal Tournament 3 was kinda crappy and stupid.
Everything moved very very well, but this is a game made for 13-16 year old guys. The main characters are disproportional, if you play the game on single player, your bots are too stupid to do anything so you have to capture every flag, but if you leave the base, the other team goes in and grabs your flag no problem. It's infuriating. You have to do EVERYTHING on your own, by yourself. Yeah, this makes you the biggest badass on the planet, but it gets very very lonely out there all by yourself.
The only girl in the whole story is your sister, so that's a nogo. Your name is Reaper, your sister's name is Jester (who named these kids), your sniper's name is Bishop and recites Psalm 23 while he shoots people (original right?), and the token black guy, in a stroke of genius, is named Othello (who in the only truly enjoyable part of this game yet, quotes Shakespeare's Othello).
I'm sure this would be more fun if I played with other people, but I also realize that this game is about dieing and killing fast. Literally, you could be alive and then die within 10 seconds of gameplay. Not really my idea of fun. Also the load screens after a match are the most retarded design in the history of gaming. All you can do is sit there while the game doesn't do anything for about 2 minutes. Then it loads, and doesn't give you the chance to look around at the scores.
This game was not very good at all. If you're a UT fan, you'll enjoy it, but otherwise get something else more enjoyable.
~J
----------------------------EDIT-------------------------------------
This is a game that does not work on a console. Me and my roommate got in a huge discussion which ended with both of us realizing the difference between console gamers and PC gamers. So, with that easter egg, that's where I'm coming from.
Well, the graphics are decent. I finally was able to have fun playing a first person shooter again. There are very few third person shooters that work. Mass Effect did a good job with it, but it could barely be qualified as a shooter. But I got off the beaten track. Unreal Tournament 3 was kinda crappy and stupid.
Everything moved very very well, but this is a game made for 13-16 year old guys. The main characters are disproportional, if you play the game on single player, your bots are too stupid to do anything so you have to capture every flag, but if you leave the base, the other team goes in and grabs your flag no problem. It's infuriating. You have to do EVERYTHING on your own, by yourself. Yeah, this makes you the biggest badass on the planet, but it gets very very lonely out there all by yourself.
The only girl in the whole story is your sister, so that's a nogo. Your name is Reaper, your sister's name is Jester (who named these kids), your sniper's name is Bishop and recites Psalm 23 while he shoots people (original right?), and the token black guy, in a stroke of genius, is named Othello (who in the only truly enjoyable part of this game yet, quotes Shakespeare's Othello).
I'm sure this would be more fun if I played with other people, but I also realize that this game is about dieing and killing fast. Literally, you could be alive and then die within 10 seconds of gameplay. Not really my idea of fun. Also the load screens after a match are the most retarded design in the history of gaming. All you can do is sit there while the game doesn't do anything for about 2 minutes. Then it loads, and doesn't give you the chance to look around at the scores.
This game was not very good at all. If you're a UT fan, you'll enjoy it, but otherwise get something else more enjoyable.
~J
----------------------------EDIT-------------------------------------
This is a game that does not work on a console. Me and my roommate got in a huge discussion which ended with both of us realizing the difference between console gamers and PC gamers. So, with that easter egg, that's where I'm coming from.
Tuesday, August 5, 2008
Gran Turismo 5: Prologue
First of all, I'll get the good things about it out of they way. The graphics are amazing. Obviously they spent time getting all the cars that they have just right. The game has a good feel for a racing game. And... that's pretty much it.
Yeah a great feel for a RACING game. If we only had racing games to play this game would be the best one. But who in their right mind wants to play racing games? If there isn't anything better, yeah I'll play a racing game. But I'll never buy it, nor will I ever rent it. It costs $40 to buy the prologue. That doesn't cut away from the price later. You have to pay $100 for a stupid racing game that has a horrible soundtrack. Seriously, play something I enjoy listening to for once. Not some cacophonic techno remix of a techno remix of cats wailing while playing the violin.
The graphics are amazing... Well the car graphics are amazing. The crowd is pasted onto some bleachers. They don't even move really. I had better crowds in NBA live '99. You spend so much time getting the cars perfect you might as well get everything else perfect too. Maybe you're supposed to look beyond the crowds, though. Well all the "scenery" is the same damn mountain floating in the background. Looking like you're driving in front of a backdrop.
But again, maybe I'm looking at it in the wrong way. Maybe, just maybe, I need to just enjoy the experience of driving a car. Well, I drove it. It was fun. For the first race. Then I started getting bored, and decided to dink around. You know what? You can't even flip your damn car. It doesn't explode, doesn't take any damage, and worst of all, you can't crash at all. All you do is skid out and end up looking the opposite way.
I even tried to crash, but the AI is so smart that it's able to drive around you when you are going back and forth on the track, but not so smart as to move out of the way when you're driving straight at it. The replayability is stupid, and I wouldn't buy this game at all. I'll put it on the same par of Halo 2.
Granted, this is just the prologue.
~J
Yeah a great feel for a RACING game. If we only had racing games to play this game would be the best one. But who in their right mind wants to play racing games? If there isn't anything better, yeah I'll play a racing game. But I'll never buy it, nor will I ever rent it. It costs $40 to buy the prologue. That doesn't cut away from the price later. You have to pay $100 for a stupid racing game that has a horrible soundtrack. Seriously, play something I enjoy listening to for once. Not some cacophonic techno remix of a techno remix of cats wailing while playing the violin.
The graphics are amazing... Well the car graphics are amazing. The crowd is pasted onto some bleachers. They don't even move really. I had better crowds in NBA live '99. You spend so much time getting the cars perfect you might as well get everything else perfect too. Maybe you're supposed to look beyond the crowds, though. Well all the "scenery" is the same damn mountain floating in the background. Looking like you're driving in front of a backdrop.
But again, maybe I'm looking at it in the wrong way. Maybe, just maybe, I need to just enjoy the experience of driving a car. Well, I drove it. It was fun. For the first race. Then I started getting bored, and decided to dink around. You know what? You can't even flip your damn car. It doesn't explode, doesn't take any damage, and worst of all, you can't crash at all. All you do is skid out and end up looking the opposite way.
I even tried to crash, but the AI is so smart that it's able to drive around you when you are going back and forth on the track, but not so smart as to move out of the way when you're driving straight at it. The replayability is stupid, and I wouldn't buy this game at all. I'll put it on the same par of Halo 2.
Granted, this is just the prologue.
~J
Thursday, July 31, 2008
The Simpsons Game
Alright, I will have to say I enjoyed this game. The cut scenes were funny ala the Simpsons tv show. And the jokes didn't get too old. The differing abilities for each member of the Simpson family makes for a enjoyable experience. Homer turning into a giant ball of blubber, Marge telling mobs of children and dogs what to do, Bart being akin to Batman, and Lisa doing her zen sax thing, are all very wonderful experiences that anyone who enjoys the tv show, should definitely experience.
All in all though, I'm going to give this game my worst rating yet. This is mainly because the camera angles were the absolute worst out of any game I've ever played. People think Ninja Gaiden is bad? Try this game, if you go too close to the wall you cannot move the camera because the developer didn't allow for that to happen.
The puzzles are irritatingly hard. I hated doing them because of all the repetition involved in it. All in all it reminded me of a crappy version of Conker. Conker was much more fun and the developers spent a lot more time on it. This one felt as if Matt Groening just pasted the Simpsons onto a video game to make a few extra bucks.
Though if you like movie references/parodies and enjoy the Simpson's game, I would recommend it. It only took about 5 hours of gameplay.
A high 7.5 for this one. Rent it, actually... borrow it, but don't buy it.
~J
All in all though, I'm going to give this game my worst rating yet. This is mainly because the camera angles were the absolute worst out of any game I've ever played. People think Ninja Gaiden is bad? Try this game, if you go too close to the wall you cannot move the camera because the developer didn't allow for that to happen.
The puzzles are irritatingly hard. I hated doing them because of all the repetition involved in it. All in all it reminded me of a crappy version of Conker. Conker was much more fun and the developers spent a lot more time on it. This one felt as if Matt Groening just pasted the Simpsons onto a video game to make a few extra bucks.
Though if you like movie references/parodies and enjoy the Simpson's game, I would recommend it. It only took about 5 hours of gameplay.
A high 7.5 for this one. Rent it, actually... borrow it, but don't buy it.
~J
Friday, July 25, 2008
Assassin's Creed
Alright, I've delayed this one long enough. For the first three hits I really enjoyed this game. It was fun. A new concept and it allowed you to scale almost any building in the game. You help the poor and kill their oppressors and the fighting was pretty good for a third person action that doesn't have you flying around all the time ala Ninja Gaiden.
But it gets extremely repetitive. You have 9 guys to kill in 3 cities. Not that big a deal except in order to kill them you have to glean information off the inhabitants of the town. Now that wouldn't be that big a deal except the towns are pretty big and you have to climb a tower close enough to the info-atm in order to start it. There are about 20 towers in each city (like this one:
so you spend 1 hour trying to find the guy that you have to listen to talk for 20 minutes about some minute detail.
There's not so much the "silent assassin" as I would've liked. You essentially jump down into the middle of 10 guards and kill them all. It's pretty easy as long as you don't accidently press the L1 button.
The plot is really good as far as I've gotten into it. (I'm gonna let my roommate finish up the game because he's much farther along than I am and he wanted to.) I really want to know what happens. Reminds me of how I felt about Bioshock. The only problem is that it's so damn repetitive that I want to gouge my eyes out from seeing the same city over and over again. But maybe that's just me.
This is a game I'd recommend playing. It is a refreshing change from all the 20th century WWII style games. Crusades!!!! There's ingenuity. I don't know if I would buy it, but I'll definately give this a 8.4. Better than Bad Company and very fun to play, but not the best game out there. When compared to other stealth type games, this one isn't close to Splinter Cell. The first one at least.
But it gets extremely repetitive. You have 9 guys to kill in 3 cities. Not that big a deal except in order to kill them you have to glean information off the inhabitants of the town. Now that wouldn't be that big a deal except the towns are pretty big and you have to climb a tower close enough to the info-atm in order to start it. There are about 20 towers in each city (like this one:
so you spend 1 hour trying to find the guy that you have to listen to talk for 20 minutes about some minute detail.
There's not so much the "silent assassin" as I would've liked. You essentially jump down into the middle of 10 guards and kill them all. It's pretty easy as long as you don't accidently press the L1 button.
The plot is really good as far as I've gotten into it. (I'm gonna let my roommate finish up the game because he's much farther along than I am and he wanted to.) I really want to know what happens. Reminds me of how I felt about Bioshock. The only problem is that it's so damn repetitive that I want to gouge my eyes out from seeing the same city over and over again. But maybe that's just me.
This is a game I'd recommend playing. It is a refreshing change from all the 20th century WWII style games. Crusades!!!! There's ingenuity. I don't know if I would buy it, but I'll definately give this a 8.4. Better than Bad Company and very fun to play, but not the best game out there. When compared to other stealth type games, this one isn't close to Splinter Cell. The first one at least.
Tuesday, July 22, 2008
Battlefield: Bad Company
Please... Will someone please tell Developers to stop making WWII games. Or at least war games period. The whole purpose of this is what exactly? Starting with Wolfenstein 3d. Maybe earlier, I wasn't born then so I don't know, but please just stop it. You make a game built in the 20th century and then put futuristic guns in there? What the hell?!?! It's not supposed to be futuristic.
Anyways, all ranting aside, this was a typical shooter. Definately not something I would buy. Reminds me of Bard's Tale. A renter that is enjoyable (the jokes got old fast) and the game play is so typical. I want to see something new and original. At least something that will keep my attention for more than just a few hours. Maybe I've been spoiled by the good games out there.
I'll give it an 8.2. The graphics were good. The gameplay was decent and the banter between the company was fun, but I can't make myself like the game at all. So 8.2 it is. And sent back to the store after one night of playing it. Maybe I'm too picky...
Anyways, all ranting aside, this was a typical shooter. Definately not something I would buy. Reminds me of Bard's Tale. A renter that is enjoyable (the jokes got old fast) and the game play is so typical. I want to see something new and original. At least something that will keep my attention for more than just a few hours. Maybe I've been spoiled by the good games out there.
I'll give it an 8.2. The graphics were good. The gameplay was decent and the banter between the company was fun, but I can't make myself like the game at all. So 8.2 it is. And sent back to the store after one night of playing it. Maybe I'm too picky...
Monday, July 21, 2008
Bioware Star Wars MMO
This has such great potential. Bioware is probably my favorite game designer and it hasn't disappointed me yet. Best known for it's Knight's of the Old Republic Games, it epitomizes the Star Wars culture without being irritating like George Lucas is with his newest 3 episodes.
What I'd love to see:
1. A storyline. An MMO hasn't pulled off a legitimate storyline ever. I dunno if they can do it in this one, I don't even know if it's possible for an MMO to have a legitimate storyline, but if it pulls it off as well as it's other games, this game is golden.
2. Keep the combat simple. I haven't played AoC, but WoW's combat was very simple, especially when compared to something like Galaxies.
3. Of course the force has to be powerful, but don't make it so everyone wants to be a Jedi. We need some sort of balance, otherwise you'll have too many jedi and not enough ewoks to take down the boss.
4. Did I mention a storyline? It could be so good. Playing with your friends through a story. Think about it!!!
Bioware has the reputation for me to attempt this game based on just that, but if they screw this up I won't play it for long.
Tentatively scheduled for 2009. Here's to the real WoW Killer.
What I'd love to see:
1. A storyline. An MMO hasn't pulled off a legitimate storyline ever. I dunno if they can do it in this one, I don't even know if it's possible for an MMO to have a legitimate storyline, but if it pulls it off as well as it's other games, this game is golden.
2. Keep the combat simple. I haven't played AoC, but WoW's combat was very simple, especially when compared to something like Galaxies.
3. Of course the force has to be powerful, but don't make it so everyone wants to be a Jedi. We need some sort of balance, otherwise you'll have too many jedi and not enough ewoks to take down the boss.
4. Did I mention a storyline? It could be so good. Playing with your friends through a story. Think about it!!!
Bioware has the reputation for me to attempt this game based on just that, but if they screw this up I won't play it for long.
Tentatively scheduled for 2009. Here's to the real WoW Killer.
Saturday, July 12, 2008
On the Rain-Slick Precipice
Demo version:
Well, I played the demo of this. It took about an hour. I didn't expect anything more. It left me wanting to play the rest of it so I'll give it that too. If you enjoy Penny Arcade comics then definately give this game a try.
You have to create a character in the beginning whose house gets smashed by a giant Fruit ****er. Gabe and Tycho come out of nowhere chasing after it. It plays like a final fantasy game with a turn based combat (Sorry Gabe, you shoulda convinced them to do like Xbox's fight night) and displays an array of decent attacks/items you can you use in combat. All in all, I will score it pretty low because it lends itself only to a few of the many gamers out there. If I hadn't been reading the Penny Arcade comics I wouldn't have gotten about 75% of the jokes, though to be honest I wouldn't have downloaded the game at all if I hadn't seen the advertisement on their web page... so I guess they did a good enough job.
If you enjoy the comics at all, at least try the demo. $20 for a game isn't worth the game imo but then again, it's a long plane ride home and I might need something to preoccupy myself.
Well, I played the demo of this. It took about an hour. I didn't expect anything more. It left me wanting to play the rest of it so I'll give it that too. If you enjoy Penny Arcade comics then definately give this game a try.
You have to create a character in the beginning whose house gets smashed by a giant Fruit ****er. Gabe and Tycho come out of nowhere chasing after it. It plays like a final fantasy game with a turn based combat (Sorry Gabe, you shoulda convinced them to do like Xbox's fight night) and displays an array of decent attacks/items you can you use in combat. All in all, I will score it pretty low because it lends itself only to a few of the many gamers out there. If I hadn't been reading the Penny Arcade comics I wouldn't have gotten about 75% of the jokes, though to be honest I wouldn't have downloaded the game at all if I hadn't seen the advertisement on their web page... so I guess they did a good enough job.
If you enjoy the comics at all, at least try the demo. $20 for a game isn't worth the game imo but then again, it's a long plane ride home and I might need something to preoccupy myself.
Wednesday, July 9, 2008
My Brilliant Idea
This idea won't ever work... But it's a nice thought anyways. I want the PS3 and the 360 to allow cross platform online gaming. Sports games on both consoles would be a good start.
Like I said, it won't ever work because Microsoft and Sony are money whores who don't understand that the best way for peace on earth is to allow everyone to video game together. I blame those two power houses for the rise in capitalism and why the world is going to hell nowadays.
Maybe if we all sign a petition?
Like I said, it won't ever work because Microsoft and Sony are money whores who don't understand that the best way for peace on earth is to allow everyone to video game together. I blame those two power houses for the rise in capitalism and why the world is going to hell nowadays.
Maybe if we all sign a petition?
Tuesday, July 8, 2008
Been a while
Yes, I know... it's been a long time since I last posted. However, I have a good excuse. My 360 received the Red ROD. And refused to play any games. So, I used my warranty, and now it's back. I also got a 50 inch plasma HDTV courtesy of that top salesman, so now I officially feel like I'm a legitimate gamer. At least, until she comes back in August.
Ninja Gaiden 2 - The "wow" factor has decreased quite a bit, while the bosses are so much easier than the first one. I have no idea what the plot is, so I just run around killing as many monsters as I can on my way to the boss. If this keeps up, I doubt I'll finish it. I'm going to have to drop Ninja Gaiden 2 down to a 8.3. Good enough to have fun with, but not a great game by any stretch of the imagination.
Metal Gear Solid 4 - My brother just got a ps3 especially for this game. Dubbed "The best game yet" by it's creators, I'm still wondering what they were smoking. Even with an HDMI cable, the graphics are just ok. Yeah it's realistic, but you can't jump, you move like a tank, and the gameplay requires you to go so slow that I got bored in the first level. The plot is decent. Maybe it's one of those "you have to play the rest of them" type of games. If this is the best PS3 has to offer, than I'll be a Xbox guy for life.
FIFA '08 - I got this last night, and the first thing that comes to mind is that defense is so easy in this game. This is good because now you actually have to work for goals. None of this super shots from half field. It also gives you more to celebrate when you actually do score.
That's about all I've been doing for the past few weeks. I'll keep you posted on any new games coming out.
Ninja Gaiden 2 - The "wow" factor has decreased quite a bit, while the bosses are so much easier than the first one. I have no idea what the plot is, so I just run around killing as many monsters as I can on my way to the boss. If this keeps up, I doubt I'll finish it. I'm going to have to drop Ninja Gaiden 2 down to a 8.3. Good enough to have fun with, but not a great game by any stretch of the imagination.
Metal Gear Solid 4 - My brother just got a ps3 especially for this game. Dubbed "The best game yet" by it's creators, I'm still wondering what they were smoking. Even with an HDMI cable, the graphics are just ok. Yeah it's realistic, but you can't jump, you move like a tank, and the gameplay requires you to go so slow that I got bored in the first level. The plot is decent. Maybe it's one of those "you have to play the rest of them" type of games. If this is the best PS3 has to offer, than I'll be a Xbox guy for life.
FIFA '08 - I got this last night, and the first thing that comes to mind is that defense is so easy in this game. This is good because now you actually have to work for goals. None of this super shots from half field. It also gives you more to celebrate when you actually do score.
That's about all I've been doing for the past few weeks. I'll keep you posted on any new games coming out.
Friday, June 13, 2008
Nostalgia in the form of Civ 3
Wow, for nostalgia's sake only, this game rocks. I spent countless hours in Civ 2. I never made it all the way up to playing deity, but this game was the best game I played age 9-11. I spent so much time on it in England that I could tell you what technology led to which unit and what was the best way to get to where you needed to go.
Now, it's been close to 10 years since I last played it. I installed Civ 3 onto my computer last night and immediately all the nostalgia came back. It was almost like coming home. I've experienced this with games before. But I think this is one of the strongest. I now understand why Mario is so much fun to those SNES junkies. They vaguely remember so much of it that it's better than playing it for the first time.
Games don't do that anymore. 10 years down the road, I doubt I'll ever get into WoW (besides the fact that I'll be 31). Civ 3 or whatever is out, I think I might. The nostalgia holds strong. The game play is almost exactly the same. Everything is familiar enough to understand what is going on, but vague enough there's still a learning curve. I laughed the entire time I was playing it from sheer delight.
I haven't had this much fun playing a computer game since I first started KOTOR back in 2005. For nostalgia's sake I'll give it a 8.5, mainly cause I haven't played it all the way through yet. It's very confusing and I need to figure out everything once more. There are twice as many terrains and commands. But, if you enjoyed the first one, definately play this one.
Now, it's been close to 10 years since I last played it. I installed Civ 3 onto my computer last night and immediately all the nostalgia came back. It was almost like coming home. I've experienced this with games before. But I think this is one of the strongest. I now understand why Mario is so much fun to those SNES junkies. They vaguely remember so much of it that it's better than playing it for the first time.
Games don't do that anymore. 10 years down the road, I doubt I'll ever get into WoW (besides the fact that I'll be 31). Civ 3 or whatever is out, I think I might. The nostalgia holds strong. The game play is almost exactly the same. Everything is familiar enough to understand what is going on, but vague enough there's still a learning curve. I laughed the entire time I was playing it from sheer delight.
I haven't had this much fun playing a computer game since I first started KOTOR back in 2005. For nostalgia's sake I'll give it a 8.5, mainly cause I haven't played it all the way through yet. It's very confusing and I need to figure out everything once more. There are twice as many terrains and commands. But, if you enjoyed the first one, definately play this one.
Friday, June 6, 2008
The Death of WoW
I started playing this game back in fall of 2005. I'm still intermittently playing it after 2.5 years, but it's more of a "there's nothing better to do". School is out, a lot of friends are home for the summer, you know... that sort of thing. I got back into WoW this time to play with some of my good friends over the summer. I enjoy it but WoW is dying and I think I know what it is.
The casual vs. obsessive debate rages throughout WoW. "Elite" players hate it when Blizzard gives the casual some epic for doing essentially nothing, while the casuals can't really enjoy the game without gear. Those are two opposite sides of the spectrum and 90% of the players fall somewhere in the middle. However, with the release of The Burning Crusade something in WoW changed. Blizzard started giving away epics.
It started with PvP. Well, first let's look at the history of PvP in WoW. Grand Marshal/High Warlord gear was some of the best in the game. It took months to get though. PvP was based off a ladder system of sorts and when you reached rank 12 or 13, where you placed the next week was in direct correlation to how much honor you got vs. how much honor everyone else received. The gear was amazing and rightfully so. It took nearly 6 months of 24/7 PvP to achieve it on some servers.
With the expansion Blizzard decided to allow you to save up Honor points. Now it doesn't matter when you do it as long as you get the honor. Someone could take a year playing a few hours a week and get better gear than those who spent the 6 months of solid PvP. Now, I don't have a problem with this. The problem is that back in the old days, someone could PvP and get gear enough to be effective in a 40 man raid dpsing, or someone could do PvE (player vs. environment) and get gear good enough to be effective in PvP.
With the addition of a single new stat, Blizzard has effectively destroyed the fun of pvp or pve. They claimed to not want to pidgeon hole you into doing one thing, but they have done precisely that. In a PvE gear, I can't kill anyone in PvP because my crits don't land as hard as they should, and because I don't crit as often. In PvP gear, I am in the lower half of the raid DPSing because the gear is more about mitigating PvP damage rather than outputing as much damage as possible.
All this to say that WoW has become to most of its clientele a "nothing better" game. As soon as a decent MMO comes out, and I'm not talking about Vanguard or Age of Conan. When a good MMO comes out, expect WoW to die mainly cause it pidgeon holes you into one thing, just like all the MMO's before it.
~J
The casual vs. obsessive debate rages throughout WoW. "Elite" players hate it when Blizzard gives the casual some epic for doing essentially nothing, while the casuals can't really enjoy the game without gear. Those are two opposite sides of the spectrum and 90% of the players fall somewhere in the middle. However, with the release of The Burning Crusade something in WoW changed. Blizzard started giving away epics.
It started with PvP. Well, first let's look at the history of PvP in WoW. Grand Marshal/High Warlord gear was some of the best in the game. It took months to get though. PvP was based off a ladder system of sorts and when you reached rank 12 or 13, where you placed the next week was in direct correlation to how much honor you got vs. how much honor everyone else received. The gear was amazing and rightfully so. It took nearly 6 months of 24/7 PvP to achieve it on some servers.
With the expansion Blizzard decided to allow you to save up Honor points. Now it doesn't matter when you do it as long as you get the honor. Someone could take a year playing a few hours a week and get better gear than those who spent the 6 months of solid PvP. Now, I don't have a problem with this. The problem is that back in the old days, someone could PvP and get gear enough to be effective in a 40 man raid dpsing, or someone could do PvE (player vs. environment) and get gear good enough to be effective in PvP.
With the addition of a single new stat, Blizzard has effectively destroyed the fun of pvp or pve. They claimed to not want to pidgeon hole you into doing one thing, but they have done precisely that. In a PvE gear, I can't kill anyone in PvP because my crits don't land as hard as they should, and because I don't crit as often. In PvP gear, I am in the lower half of the raid DPSing because the gear is more about mitigating PvP damage rather than outputing as much damage as possible.
All this to say that WoW has become to most of its clientele a "nothing better" game. As soon as a decent MMO comes out, and I'm not talking about Vanguard or Age of Conan. When a good MMO comes out, expect WoW to die mainly cause it pidgeon holes you into one thing, just like all the MMO's before it.
~J
Wednesday, June 4, 2008
Ninja Gaiden 2
Well, I was able to play the sequel to this Xbox hit for about 10 minutes last night. And my first impression was "wow". The fluidity of the fighting is unmatched in my limited experience and the blood/gore factor is huge. The controls are tricky at first if you haven't played the first one, and at times the attack button didn't seem to respond well to my button mashing, but that may be because my controller needs some oiling.
I've heard a lot of complaints about the camera. Again, if you haven't played the first one, the unconventional third person camera swings can feel very nauseous and unnerving at first. After you get used to it though, you won't want to go back to the still camera 15 feet above your character.
The fighting is what drives this game. It is amazing. As of right now I only have the dragon sword you start with but the additions they made to the fight were needed. You can now chop off limbs as well as decapitating enemies, like in the first one. However, enemies with just one limb off are much more dangerous and can still attack you (finish these off quickly). The game allows you a few finishing moves with a few different camera angles by merely pushing 'Y' near an injured enemy.
Another excellent addition to the gameplay is adding wounds to your health. In the first one, the reason it was so hard was because you had to use all your potions on the regular enemies and not the boss at the end of the level. This one will regenerate your health up to the most it can be after the fight is over. However, extra hard hits, or grappels, cause you to gain wounds which cannot be gained back without the use of a 'healing herb' or a save point (which also grants health now). Your health will regenerate to the max allowed minus the wounds received.
The best change that Team Ninja made was changing the action button from 'X' to the right bumper button. This makes fighting around doors infinitely better. And a welcome adjustment.
If I were to give it a score then it would have to be 8.8-8.9 right now. Slightly below the first one because of originality and it seems to rely on highflying gameplay rather than plot line. It seems that I will thoroughly enjoy the game but as of the first 10 minutes of gameplay that is my assessment. I'll keep you posted.
~J
I've heard a lot of complaints about the camera. Again, if you haven't played the first one, the unconventional third person camera swings can feel very nauseous and unnerving at first. After you get used to it though, you won't want to go back to the still camera 15 feet above your character.
The fighting is what drives this game. It is amazing. As of right now I only have the dragon sword you start with but the additions they made to the fight were needed. You can now chop off limbs as well as decapitating enemies, like in the first one. However, enemies with just one limb off are much more dangerous and can still attack you (finish these off quickly). The game allows you a few finishing moves with a few different camera angles by merely pushing 'Y' near an injured enemy.
Another excellent addition to the gameplay is adding wounds to your health. In the first one, the reason it was so hard was because you had to use all your potions on the regular enemies and not the boss at the end of the level. This one will regenerate your health up to the most it can be after the fight is over. However, extra hard hits, or grappels, cause you to gain wounds which cannot be gained back without the use of a 'healing herb' or a save point (which also grants health now). Your health will regenerate to the max allowed minus the wounds received.
The best change that Team Ninja made was changing the action button from 'X' to the right bumper button. This makes fighting around doors infinitely better. And a welcome adjustment.
If I were to give it a score then it would have to be 8.8-8.9 right now. Slightly below the first one because of originality and it seems to rely on highflying gameplay rather than plot line. It seems that I will thoroughly enjoy the game but as of the first 10 minutes of gameplay that is my assessment. I'll keep you posted.
~J
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