Monthly Archives: December 2013

Tops for 2013

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Sick + holidays = no posts.  Pretty sure the holidays are supposed to be a break but it seems like they are more hectic each year.  The saving grace is watching the kids have a blast, reminding me why we bother in the first place.

Making it just under the wire, I wanted to give a list of my favorite games of the year.  The vast majority of my games are PC.  Steam + big screen + controller = much better experience.  I look at the new consoles and while they look cool, other than exclusive games, my laptop is more powerful, has more space and thousands of more games.

On to the list!  Of note, these are only games I played.  Last of Us would likely be on it but I didn’t get a chance to play as EBGames ran out of copies.

Ni No Kuni

The only console game on my list but this is why consoles are sold.  A solid exclusive game, with amazing art (Studio Ghibli!), great RPG mechanics and a deep set story.  It seems more of a kid game, and perhaps for the first 45 minutes it is.  Then you hit the first Nightmare boss and realize, ok, this is for adults.  I put in nearly 50 hours and didn’t complete everything.  I’ve recently restarted a session, for when I’m sent to the basement.

Neverwinter

This is the way western F2P MMOs need to play.  More of an action game really, in the vein of DCUO, but with a fair amount more customization.  Leveling is smooth, talent trees make sense, limited active skills ensures people think before moving out, offline crafting, decent F2P mechanics, decent social tools and a dungeon crafting tool (Foundry) are just a few of the reasons everyone should give this game a try.

FF14

I’ve gone on enough about this game already.  It is the first true MMO game since Rift 3 years ago.  It’s also the only successful subscription MMO in a long time.  Classes have roles, there’s little overlap (since one character can level every class), crafting is complex, the market is well thought out and combat is extremely engaging and challenging.  It makes social interactions much more important.  The success of the game is contrasted by where the game came from, what with FF14 originally being the worst launched game in memory.  The game was on the up and up, then patch 2.1 hit for player housing and developers taking an odd stance on pricing.  Still, it’s a very solid game.

Marvel Heroes

While it launched missing a fair amount of content, by the end of the summer the game was complete.  It’s a rather amazingly addictive game, with the spirit of what Diablo 3 should have given us.  Crafting is wonky (it is in every game of this type) but the combat is solid and the powers interesting.  Customization, visually, is lacking if you don’t pony up the cash but since this IP is so restricted, it makes sense.  A solid F2P endeavor and hopefully makes room for others.

Path of Exile

When you look at the image above, does it not scream Diablo 2?  Path of Exile is an extremely complex action RPG like Diablo.  The skill tree alone has over 1000 choices.  The really neat part is the crafting/trading experience.  Gold farmers can’t make a dime since the entire game is around a system of bartering.  It makes trades much more important.  The crafting game is also super complex and fun, with random affixes and bonuses.  You can make a level 1 item better than a level 50 item, with the right rolls.  A great game to try out.  The game is finally out of beta, hence it’s on the list.

Bioshock Infinite

Ok, this game just rocks.  The first play through is a pile of fun, with some neat twists, especially at the end.  The best part is playing a second time and realizing that the entire story is thought out and integrated.  What seems like a simple scene to just start off the game is actually a deep examination of causation.  My only critique here is the dependence on combat/weapons rather than the exploratory experience of the first two games.  This is offset to a large amount by the writing and acting, and the feeling that Elizabeth and Booker have something together.

Tomb Raider

This list wouldn’t be complete with the resurgence of a dying franchise.  Tomb Raider brought back Lara, in a prequel no less.  It made bows cool again.  The entire game is an exercise in patience, planning and then running away.  There’s a solid pace, a decent storyline and great art.  I played this one a few times through, getting 100% on the first shot and something like 80% on the second.  It’s a solid game.

Honorable Mentions

  • Lego Marvel Super Heroes
  • Assassin’s Creed 4
  • Batman: Arkham Origins
  • Brothers – A tale of two sons
  • Ducktales – Remastered

 

That’s my list for 2013.  Pretty bad for MMOs (except FF14) but really strong on the RPG/story front.  If you add some more games that I didn’t have the chance to play, exclude GTA5 (which is ok but not great), there’s a lot of hope for gaming in the future. Developers are realizing that solid mechanics are important but personal experience even more today.  Looking forward to 2014!

Hearthstone – Other Comments

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The beauty of running a blog is that you can maintain a particular writing style consistently on a single source.  If I were to run around commenting on 100 posts, then it would be hard to get the subtleties of the message.  We’ve all heard the addage that most communication is non-verbal, so if you don’t get to see a LOT of writing from a person, then it’s hard to get the exact idea.  Wilhelm is one of my favorites for writing style.  If you only ever read one, then you’d miss half the content.

That big paragraph to say that I think that I suffer from the same fate.  Nearly all of my posts are based on a foundation of history of design and I tend to over/under-state quite a few details because the wheels have already turned in my head.  The comments from my Hearthstone impressions are quite evident of that.

So I opted to look for a bit more content from the interwebs and see what other people are saying.

  • Azuriel succinctly covers my main gripe with the meta
  • Tobold has a more optimistic approach to the same problem
  • WoW Insider’s Olivia Grace has an overview of some gaps (some that have been fixed since)
  • HearthPwn is the Curse-hosted gaming resource.  I think the top 100 ladder information speaks volumes about the game but that’s a separate post.
  • And the official forums are very positive (which is a first for a Blizzard game methinks)

This isn’t an exclusive list but simply some of the larger resources for taking a look at the state of the game.

My overall point with this is, and has been, that designing a well-balanced CCG is hard work.  It’s much more than the individual cards.  MTG has been doing it for 20 years.  The actual physical Blizzard CCG did it for about 5 before closing the doors, with varying levels of success.  One of my problems is that the system is not closed and balancing an open system is next to impossible.  Blizzard, as a company, strives to take complex ideas to the common masses.  Easy to learn, hard to master and all that.  They did it with StarCraft 2.  They missed the boat on Diablo 3.  The jury is still out on Hearthstone but once it hits open beta (next month), the game for all intents and purposes is considered launched.

FF14 – Quasi-Review

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Right off the bat, my subscription expired and due to the lack of free time for the next while I won’t be re-subscribing until the new year. This is the first game in a very long time that I have not level capped a character in the first 30 days, which is honestly a great feeling.

The idea of this post came up when I was talking to a friend about gaming and he wanted info on FF14. Like it or not, you have to compare to other games to get an understanding. Wow being the baseline in nearly all cases. So here we go, feature wise and in no particular order.

Character Diversity
there really isn’t much here unless you’re a tiny guy/gal or big hulk. Everyone looks the same in armor but only within a class line. There are 9 classes (not counting crafting) so 9 overall looks. Wow has race and class distinction, which is a plus. GW2 is the one that does this best I guess.

Class Diversity
This is odd. There are 9 base classes and combinations of these give advanced jobs totalling 9 as well. It seems complex but in reality somewhat straightforward. There is no skill bloat, so you have 5-7 skills you will use for the given class – great. Better implementation than GW2 and less confusing that WoW/RIFT. The downside is that there is only 1 healer class and they are super in demand. The good side is that any character can be any class – just swap weapons. No need for alts. In fact, alts are a hindrance.

Social tools
This is probably the best part. There are guild tools and levels (5) that provide minor benefits. There’s a guild board and ranks. Guilds work great! There’s and LFD/LFRish tool as well and that is super. No game should launch without. There are random FATE events similar to open world events in WAR/RIFT/GW2. They are the prime way to level. There are many and diverse enough. Crafting is dependent on other crafts as well. Everything seems integrated and there’s a lot of benefit for grouping. There is no solo work at max level.

Dungeons
Since I haven’t raided in large groups this’ll stick to Dungeons. They are well designed and challenging. CC is required in most fights and Leeroy’s are extremely bad news. Bosses can and will kill you in 2 hits but you have a warning and the ability to avoid most of it. The Esper battles are a super example and occur every 10 levels or so. You have a boss with abilities but 1 particular one that will wipe you if not addressed. One downside to this difficulty is that it has little forgiveness for bad play and the general MMO tourist won’t hit 40 because of it. Also, you have to do Dungeons to level up in the main quest. So social is baked in.

Character progression
This is fairly smooth but has some “hell levels” in the 40s. Rested experience is needed and FATE grinds are required. That’s not the end of the world. Gear upgrades are odd in that they are either crafted, come from a quest or drop from a boss. At level 43 my best item is +8, which is nice compared to games with +953 as a stat. Skills are well spread out and make sense. Character battle flow is good. You can level a 2nd (or 9th) class on the same character but at a faster pace. All great stuff.

Combat
There’s a 2.5 second global cooldown. This is more than twice what most games have. It is therefore not action oriented but strategic, like real FF games. You have time to think. This does mean attacks deal more damage when they connect but odds are you had time to avoid/mitigate before hand. Boss strategies have stages and complexity without gimmicks. Tank and spank just doesn’t work. It’s good, it’s smart and it’s fun.

End Game

This is where I am missing data.  There are dungeons, hard modes and some raids.  There’s a gear gear portion, similar to other themeparks.  That said, once you’re at max level you have two options.  Grind for gear (token based) or level an alternate class for he same character. Housing is coming soon.  If you want more than dungeons, then this game is likely to disappoint.

Crafting
Complex and level based. You can be a level 50 crafter and never have to kill a thing. There’s a crafting mini-game or sorts that affects quality and experience from the act, even partial quality. Plenty of skills used so you can increase durability with one or hasten with another. Super smart. It is however daunting for the average player.

Conclusion
Which brings me to the point I’ve mentioned a few times now. FF14 has a learning curve and asks more from a player than just showing up. This is a rather large shift from the past 5 years where most groups were only 75% efficient. Here, if you’re not paying attention, everyone dies. This elevated skill level means that people with level 50 characters are good players because the difficulty has weeded out the bad ones.  Sort of like what WoW had in Vanilla/BC and the exact opposite of today.  Since you have to invest, the value is higher and the quality too.

It is worth the price of admission, no questions asked.  Whether you want to stick around at max level is a talk to have in a few months.

Just Waiting

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While I played some amazing games this year, there are still a few left that I’d like to try out.  Assassin’s Creed 4, the new Batman game, the XCOM expansion to name a few.  Why aren’t I playing them now you ask?  Because we’re 2 weeks away from the big day!

The big day of course being the start of the annual holiday Steam sale.  I am extremely conscious of the price I play for games and the perceived value I get from them. I will pay top dollar for a solid IP product.  Tomb Raider, Ni No Kuni, Last of Us.  They fit the bill of a top dollar purchase to have something different.  The games I listed in the start of this post are sequels and honestly much less deserving (in my eyes) of a full price ticket.

So here I am, waiting with wallet open.  People will make money, I’ll get some great games.  Everyone is happy?

Hearthstone the Third

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So, this is going to be my last post on Hearthstone.  I’ve uninstalled the game, which REALLY says something about it when I still have Rift on my desktop and I haven’t played that in 6 months.

Raptr says I have 10 hours put in.  I’ve completed games in less time and normally I have a solid feel after 2.  I had rather high expectations from this game and the previous 2 posts sort of alluded to that.  I won’t lie to you, the game isn’t so much a disappointment as much as my expectations.

There appears to be two games within Hearthstone.  The first, the free to play version.  Similar to the older facebook games, where you had a limited amount of energy before you had to stop, this game is really only good in small bites.  Once you’ve completed your daily quests, there is absolutely no reason to keep playing.  This game lasts for as long as it takes for you to get your first legendary card (or epic/rares to compete).  This can take a month or more in the F2P game or….

The second game is the one supported by real world cash.  This gets you WELL ahead of the curve and also dictates the class you’re going to play.  These cards are so powerful that they completely shift the rest of the game.  I don’t mean a little bit either.  The difference between a basic set and having just a few rares is the difference between losing in the 3rd round and winning in the 2nd.  In fact, I am of the opinion now that most games are set by the 4th round and the rest is just finishing stuff up, with a few stragglers taking longer.  If you’re still playing at 10 mana, something is likely gone wrong.

Now, this might seems like it’s a bad thing and that’s not really the point. The goal of these posts is to give people some idea of what Hearthstone actually is, and to help set expectations.  I read a fair bit about the game before but I didn’t really grasp the whole card acquisition portion.  Without dumping a significant amount of money, there’s just no game.

The type of F2P game that I enjoy is one where the money buys you fluff or cosmetics.  I typically spend $30-50 dollars on those games (Neverwinter, Marvel Heroes, Rift, etc…) and it makes the game more fun.  Hearthstone has zero fluff.  Every penny you put in has a direct impact on your power.  That is not a business model that I enjoy or one I want to put more time into.

That being said, Zynga made bajillions on this business model and I don’t see why Blizzard can’t do the same.

Hearthstone Part Deux

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So I decided to take a second, more in-depth look this time.  I read up on HearthPwn for a few tips on the Mage and Shaman as well.  The downside to this is that after your initial 2-3 quests, you have no money and therefore no new cards.  You get 10 gold for winning 3 matches (which is at best 50/50 when all your cards are crap) and it takes 100 gold to get a new pack of 5 cards.  It’s one of those inverted power curves.

Regardless of the progress mechanics, I figured I’d give it my best shot.  While I think the mage has a ton of strategy, my cards were giving me next to no chance of winning.  There was just not enough synergy to be found.  I decided to try my hand with the Shaman, who oddly enough, is one of my stable of characters in WoW.

The concept of a Shaman in Hearthstone is more or less the Shaman from Burning Crusade.  Your job is to build a team of as many minions as possible, buff them to the gills, then cast Bloodlust.  See, that card gives +3 to all attacks for each card.  Enemy heroes have 30 hit points, and the weakest of your cards has 1 attack (well zero for shaman totems), so you’re looking at a crap-ton of damage if you’re able to get 4 minions out.  And with a Murloc deck, this is someone simple.

Here’s the flow.  Get a deck of summon cards, that are cheap, ideally Murlocs.  There’s one that boosts ALL murlocs by 1 as well, which is part of the fun.  They are super cheap (1-2 mana) and your job is to stall until 5-6 mana with whatever other cards you can get.  Turn 5 comes around, you send out every minion you can and wait til the next turn.  By that time, you should hopefully have enough boost cards (Flametongue, Rockbiter or Windfury) to get some serious damage going.  If by chance you can get your hands on a Bloodlust (always have 2 in the deck), then the enemy is pretty much dead.

I was down 3-30 on a mage tonight, pulled out the above card drop and killed her in 1 round.   I don’t want to know how that feels on the other side.

The disadvantage to this deck and strategy is two-fold.  First, you have a fair amount of weak cards and boosts, which are not useful if the enemy can AE you or tank.  Second, you’re pretty much useless until turn 6.  If an enemy can get 3 minions out by then, you’re pretty much toast.

So it’s either I win in 1-2 rounds, late game, or I get my butt wiped on the floor.  If I can play Bloodlust, it’s a win, if I don’t get the card, there’s a 90% chance I’m dead.  An all-or-nothing approach isn’t super strategic.

The fact remains that I’ve only seen a small portion of all cards and that building a deck right now is extremely limited.   The only way to find more is to gamble on other cards.  I despise gambling.  I hate lockboxes as they are the plague on the game.  I understand that games of chance are important and RNG is important but the entire game is based on a foundation of lottery chances at specific cards that practically guarantee success.  It isn’t directly buy-to-win, but damn if it isn’t close.

Blizzard is going to make a pile of cash.

Hearthstone – First Impressions

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Lucky me.  Free night with no overtime and no kids with a sick wife and I get an invite to Hearthstone beta.  Things are looking up!

I played some minor Magic way back when.  Even some of the Pokemon cards too.  I remember having fun but I don’t remember why I stopped playing.  I think after tonight’s session, I know why.

I live for spreadsheets.  I analyze everything, to the smallest detail.  I used to take great pleasure of making decks for different purposes.  Mathematically they were super sound.  Sure, you’d end up against someone who spent 2K on their deck and get wiped off the floor but by and large, things went well. Until.

You hit that streak of 4-5 games where absolutely nothing came out right.  And I mean nothing.  Where typical card games have a complex mana system, Hearthstone simply gives you 1 more every round until a cap of 10.  So round 1, you get 1.  Round 2 you get 2 and so on.   This greatly simplifies one of the more frustrating parts of other games where you have the cards but no mana.  Hearthstone somehow made the focus against smart play (since you spread mana around) and focused on luck of the draw.

I got a mage up until 12, a shaman up til 6 and played some warrior and priest.  On the whole, I did fairly well, even in the PvP matches.  The kicker was that it took 1-2 card pulls to make or break a game.  I get polymorph on his giant and I win.  He gets 3 “draw on heal” plus a lucky healing totem and he wins.  The game has been so simplified that skill has next to nothing to do with it.

So I tried something.  I played left to right, whichever card I had mana for.  I had no strategy, just left to right, see what happens.  You know what?  There’s no difference for the majority of the games.  There are a few where 1-2 cards played at the right time make a huge difference (minions, then minion boost, then bloodlust) and you need to pay attention but those are every 10 games or so. I mean, Windfury is great but not if all you have to play it on is Murlocs for 4 games straight.

PvE you get to pick the type of opponent, so you have an idea of their overall deck.  Priest is big on tanks, warrior on outright damage and so on.  That makes sense.  You can build a deck against that.  PvP however, it’s a random match.  A typical mage deck is going to get squashed by a hunter.  It would be nice to have some level of control on that or instead, just have random cards selected.  It just seems to remove the strategy, since each card is worth more.

Is Hearthstone good to look at?  For sure.  Is it fun to play?  If your cards come out half decent, why not.  Is it a keeper?  Unlikely.  I am in the skill portion where the cards are just not good enough to be competitive.  All my minions have 2-3 hit points and 2-3 attack.  The big guys come out and get killed in 1 round because the enemy has tanked their taunts.  My skill only comes into play once every 5-10 games and honestly, that has no semblance of fun for me.

If I can’t find a way to improve and it’s simply a battle against RNG, then I’m on to something else.  Going to have to take a much deeper dive…

Sexism in Games

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First, apologies for the lack of posts.  Work is requiring an abnormal amount of time and it leaves just enough for family and not much else.  Now onto the topic!

I’ve written about it before, I’ve commented before, the message is often lost in time.  Jewel has a new topic on it, similar to Tipa’s of yore.  If you read the comment I posted, it summarizes my point but may not do it justice.  In summary

  • Tobold and Syncaine are “professional” bloggers, on two different sides of the spectrum but who use the same toolset to instigate discussion.  A logical opinion doesn’t get much activity, but one that’s offensive/unrealistic does.  I think both do a great job at it and the bloggers as a whole gain from it.
  • Sexism in games is less and less prevalent.  Game of the Year candidates are rarely victimized by this title.  XCOM, Ni No Kuni, Last of Us, Fez, FTL, Grimrock, etc…
  • Tomb Raider has done a 180, with a strong heroine.  GTA5 is such an effective parody that sometimes you forget that it’s making fun of the genre.
  • There are outliers (Dragon’s Crown) but more often than not, it’s a conscious decision similar to point #1
  • FPS games are not so much sexist in design (racist is an another topic) but the actual targeted demographic (16 year old males) is, which means the game suffers for it.
  • MOBAs are a combination MMO and FPS.  Same demographic as the latter, same design as the former, which is an interesting problem.
  • MMOs… they are a different beast altogether.

MMOs, or as a by-product, MOBAs, suffer from the “High Fantasy” curse.  Comic books and Conan really exemplify this issue.  The demo was in the 50s and it really exploded in the late 70s early 80s with women’s lib, freedom of expression and all that jazz.  If you’re a designer today, there are extremely high odds that you were a kid from that period (e.g., Metzen, Samwise, Brad McQuaid and co…).  They were raised with a particular art style, a single art style really, and incorporated it into every game.  As game development matures and new blood is brought into the fold, art has shifted dramatically.  The independent game movement exemplifies this.  New IPs as well (Mirror’s Edge) purposefully break the mold.  Eastern games have not evolved as it is still core to their culture (manga in particular).

The target demo for MMOs is the 18-24 year old, by and large.  There are very few studies on female gamers within that demo and the majority of marketing is focused on the “serial hooker” item line. My term.  Women from pre-teen to adult are presented with a hyper sexualized media onslaught and games are simply following suit to meet the dollars.  The Blizzard MOBA fiasco is proof enough that there is a simple level of ignorance on the topic.

So if you combine developer historics, target demographics, marketing budgets and simple general media messaging, it’s clear that there’s an uphill battle for equality in such massive games.  If you’re going to spend $100 million +, your marketing team is going to push you a certain way.  Gaming as a whole is changing at the indie level and mid-market game level.  Once the big guys realize that super AAA games are cost negative because they are alienating a core demographic with money to spare, it’ll be an avalanche of change.