Hugo and Me

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Transport

Driving is more than the act of sitting in a vehicle, it involves actual movement.  Living in Canada in the winter, the capital no less, means that there’s not much driving to be had, so I end up taking the bus to and from work.  I don’t particularly like the bus as I can spend 20 minutes waiting for the damn thing to arrive, only to be packed like sardines, but it is a greener option and less costly overall.  When things do end up just right, I get a seat and can get some reading done.

Reading Goals

Murf had mentioned this late last year, getting some heavy reading done with a particular focus on the Hugo Awards. That works out, since I have quite a liking to the sci-fi genre.  I used to read quite heavily on my e-reader, though over time I found it less and less practical compared to having a tablet.  So I’ve loaded up some software and started at it.

I will say this about sci-fi, and fantasy even, authors have a love for trilogies.  I don’t get what people are so fascinated about the number 3, but it seems like everything is linked to something else.  The downside to this is that you have trouble moving between series and feel some sort of obligation to finish it (if possible) or end up waiting years between the books to close some cliffhangers.  Robert Jordan and GRR Martin are notorious culprits in the length of writing, though quite nicely offset by the quality.

Back on track.  I wasn’t quite sure where to start with the Hugos, either the golden age or the new age.  Then I started looking at the titles and realized that I’ve already read a fair chunk of the older stuff.  Clark, Asimov, Dick, Heinlein, Niven, Card…heck, without realizing it I’ve probably read 20 of them on the list already.  So I’m going to move from the newest to the oldest, skipping those I’ve already done.  If all works out, I should have 20 novels done by the year, though that will likely include books in the series rather than just from the list.  Some of them will be long to get through, such as Robinson’s Mars series but other’s I’ve already done, like Herbert’s Dune series.

Ancillary Justice

While I know the Three Body Problem should be first, I noticed that the Ancillary series was already there twice, so I started with the first one, Ancillary Justice.

Set in space, with a very high tech empire bent on conquest and annexation, the story deals with a ship AI who’s been stranded in a single body and is looking for revenge.  Ancillaries are corpse soldiers, captured enemies who get implants that allows for the ship AI to take possession of their body.  Not a hive mind as much as a bunch of puppets.

The book is most notable for its parallels to the Romans.  Conquest, culture assimilation, language, citizens, emperor and quite a bit more come out from the background.  There’s actually quite a bit found here that’s already been explored in the Foundation series, though this one certainly has more action within the pages.  The second piece that makes this series stand out is that the main culture is gender neutral.  I speak French, and as with most latin-based tongues, it’s heavily focused on gender.  A ball is feminine, while a book is masculine.  English really only focuses on pronouns (he/she), so there’s certainly less of a gap to be had, but it’s still hard to read through a book where the word “she” is used for both males and females.  It makes is hard to visualize the character’s attributes, but otherwise has little impact on the story.

Truly good sci-fi has technology as a setting and not so much part of the plot, which for the majority of the book is the case.  It’s the people that matter and their decisions, and they are all generally relatable.  The hardest part to get your head around is the concept of many bodies but a single mind, and the impact that has on society.  I’ve been in sci-fi for a long time, so the hive-mind mentality isn’t too far-fetched but I’m sure for a lot of folks, it’s a hurdle.  It does bring some interesting ideas to the table, certainly near the mid-point and the plot twist (well, you can see most of it coming), which I think is why it won the Hugo.  It’s not a perfect 5/7, but it’s certainly a solid read.

Now onto Ancillary Sword, then Ancillary Mercy.

The Gamer In Each of Us

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I was having a chat with my better half the other night and verbally confirmed what I had been thinking for some time.  My penchant for board games has less to do with the actual game and more to do with the social aspect.

Back in the EQ days (heck, even the BB days) I played video games for the social aspect.  Sure, there were always options to play board games, and I certainly did, but video games provided a rather easy way to play without the need to move outside my house.  I played D&D back then, but it was nearbouts an hour there and back to play with the group.  That wasn’t really an issue online.

With a wife and 2 kids, they are mine to manoeuver to play boardgames.  What kid doesn’t like snakes and ladders, or trouble?  Those are staples that will be around for another 100 years.  The challenge is getting them to play more in-depth games.  And to that end, I think I’ve found some ground rules.

Gaming Rules for Kids

The most important rule is that there are only a handful of rules and that they are presented at all times.  When kids have to refer to some manual for a rule, then they are out of the game.  Their attention span and appreciation for nuance isn’t really developed.  Having my kid stay focused on say, Decent, is a massive challenge since the player involvement is rather minor.

My kids are also primarily French and the eldest is just starting to read, so long instructions don’t work either.  An intuitive game, one that mimics what’s on the board, is what works well.  This means that dice games, counted movement games and picture games work great. Math games quite a bit less.  A game where someone rolls damage, then calculates critical change, then rolls defense, then armor and has a trigger ability, then removes health… that’s just too much.

Games also shouldn’t last more than 30 minutes.  If it’s a dice game and it lasts more than 15, there’s a problem.  My kids would much rather play 2 games of 30 minutes than 1 game of 60.

Finally, games that require some strategy/long term choices are best played in a team.  This way, the kids get to talk it out together rather than self-reason.  It’s the exposure to other thoughts here that really counts and after a while, they start thinking macro instead of micro.

Gaming for Neophytes

Let’s get this out front – everyone is a gamer.  Young, old, breathing or sleeping, people are bred to game.  From playing crib with my great grandparents to kerplunk with my little one, everyone has fun with games.

Now that said, with thousands of games available, there’s one for every itch.  Finding your personal itch is important, but finding other people who share that itch is even more important.  My wife couldn’t be bothered with MMOs but I showed her Puzzle Quest and lost her for 2 months.  Plants vs Zombies had her for even longer. She’s a fan of Pandemic and Monopoly (my family has a history with Monopoly, rage and all).  So it would seem that she has a like for strategy games, though perhaps more appropriately she likes tactical games.  She also really likes randomization, which I’ve yet to figure out why.

Playing with her has shown that while she sees the long game in a discussion, she doesn’t necessarily see the links between the short and the long.  Many board games have a ripple effect from the first dice roll, though there’s probably more than simply rely on every decision made instead.  My guess is that a CCG game like Hearthstone would work, because of the immediacy and randomness of play.  A game like Dominion, or 7 Wonders would not because of the long view required.  I’d sure like to try them out with her though, I’m all for surprises!

I know my sister likes boardgames, though the few I play with her are trivia games.  My youngest brother is more into the strategy games, more in lines with Risk or miniatures.  We 3 used to play a lot when we were younger, even playing quite a few games with my dad.  Hero’s Quest in particular was a super fun time.  But we were exposed to a lot of games, of many different types.  From those years of games, we each developed an affinity to a particular style.

And I think that’s really the conclusion here.  To get someone into gaming, any type of gaming, you just have to keep trying different types of games.  Eventually they’ll find something that clicks.

Next Up

So I have my list of games I’d like to try with the family.  I just need to find the right price point to try some of them out.  I really don’t mind paying $50-$70 for something I know I will really like and then can play for quite a few years.  Finding something dedicated for the family and youngings, that has a certain immediacy.  And spending $40 on something none of the kids like… well I might as well head to the park instead.

First Post of the Year

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Half way through Jan and not a post to be seen.  I need to get on that.

The final stretch of the holidays was a blur, followed by the stomach flu, then more work than I expected.  Being able to write has been a challenge, one I need to actively make time for.  Still, some minor updates.

Grim Dawn

I’ve played a ton of this game.  The higher difficulties are quite challenging compared to normal mode, which is nice.  My lightning shaman is fun to play, though I’m looking at building a pure tank for the next run through.  While the maps themselves are not randomized, the enemies generally are, and the loot certainly is.  I rather enjoy that depth in the game, especially the ability to re-configure your skill layout.  That’s one of my pet peeves in Path of Exile, you’re stuck with a specific item set based on your locked-in skills.  Mind you, leveling in PoE is a lot faster than in Grim Dawn, so it sort of works out.

New Tablet

My youngest daughter took a couple tries but successfully broke my table in the fall – or at least the digitizer.  I’ve been unable to repair it, so I spent some time looking for a replacement.  I don’t generally like to buy equipment unless there’s a good deal to be had, and I’m not one for a $90 tablet either.  Things worked out when I found the Nvidia Shield Table K1 for $199.  Spec-wise, it’s comparable to tablets in the $400 range, and it has an optional controller (which works great).  I ordered it shortly after the holidays and I am quite impressed with it.  The only real downside is the lack of a charger.  Since it’s a tablet, it needs a solid 2ma plug, and cell phones are not often above 1.  I have 1 charger that’s making due but the other ones are darn slow to charge it up.

Games play and look amazing.  Spending some quality time with KOTOR now.  For a game that came out in 2003, it’s aged remarkable well.  The tablet controls are more than adequate, with the exception of swoop racing.  For that, I absolutely need a controller to get ace times.  Otherwise though, superb port and worth every penny.  Now if only I could get XCOM to work on it…I’m sure there’s an APK somewhere.

Force Awakens

I was able to see this with my family at a VIP cinema.  It’s one of those that you sit in leather recliners, they serve food and beer and overall a much better experience.  I’ll be honest, I had shivers watching it.  It’s not the best movie ever made, far from it, but it hits every single note required for a solid boost of nostalgia and “newness” to make it work.  It was enough to convert my wife to Star Wars fan and my kids are certainly interested as well.

I won’t post any spoilers but it’s fair to say that’s it’s eerily similar to Ep4 in the paces.  There’s only minor merchandising in the movie (BB8 notably, and he’s a great R2 surrogate), the acting is pretty solid, and the visuals are impressive.  I look forward to the next installment.

Board Games

This is in 2 parts actually.  Over the holidays my kids got some board games and I wanted some as well.  Junior Monopoly is pretty good at teaching counting and the games are fairly quick.  Junior Catan is about trading gains today for gains tomorrow, which is interesting to see a kid figure out (even adults).  The staples of Uno, Trouble, Perfection, Kerplunk and Rebound are also additions to the pile.

For myself, I picked up an expansion to Imperial Assault, Twin Shadows.  That came with 2 heroes, 2 villains and some extra baddies (Wampas!).  There was a pretty big sale on acrylic paints at the craft shop over the holidays, so I’m making my way through all the miniatures now.  I’d say I’m about ¾ of the way through now, in terms of actual miniatures, but only half of the way through painting, as what’s left is individual models.  Painting 9 Storm Troopers is slightly more work than painting a single hero.

It’s remarkable how much skill progress I’ve had these past weeks though.  Looking at what I started doing, compared to what I’m doing now… it’s neat.  I can paint twice as fast and it looks a whole lot better.  I’ll post a picture of my Nexu (the cat from Ep2) soon to show an example.  To finish them off, I need to restock on some flock and rocks to fill out the bases.

The next post up should deal with 2016 predictions.

End of Year Gaming Review

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I’ve already done the predictions review, but this is more of an all around year review.

MMOs

I think the general consensus is that this was a ho-hum year at best, if not a negative one overall.  WoW lost over 50% of the player base, ESO and Wildstar both went free to play (or buy to play I guess), SOE turned into Daybreak and didn’t launch anything but “classic servers” of 10 year+ old games.

There are highlights I suppose.  FF14’s expansion is top-quality but also clearly shows the failings of a themepark MMO in today’s space.  (side note, I did reach max our my White Mage enough to raid but gave up at that point.)  GW2 launched its expansion, moving into the horizontal progression even further, with some appeal.  SWTOR just threw out any MMO conception at all and relaunched as KOTOR3, just in time for the new Star Wars movie.

I’ll have a predictions post in the new year but I’m not convinced that 2016 is going to be much better.

Mobile Games

If you were to look at the app store on iOS or Android, the top games today are nearly the same as they were last year, or the year before.  You think MMOs lack innovation?  How many CoC clones or Candy Crush clones can there be?

Monument Valley is the only standout I can think of.  Fallout Shelter hit a nerve in the gaming clans but that faded rather quickly.  Telltale games are good, and one of the few series where it seems a worthwhile investment.  Overall though, I think it’s fair to say the mobile scape is saturated and the bottom is being scraped.

On the flipside, everyone seems to be playing some mobile game and this has turned into a baseline of sorts.  Meaning, all games need to be bite-sized and easily consumable.  It’s great that CoC has strategy at TH8+ but the game doesn’t keep getting downloads because people want to invest 2 years to get there.

MMO-izing Games

This is certainly the new wave of games, where from mobile we have large games made up of small chunks.  While you certainly can sit down for a couple hours, instead of doing 1 thing, you’re able to do 20.  Simplified FPS and MOBAs (HotS this year) are popping up all over the place.  Fallout 4, for all it’s amazingness, is really exemplified by the small discoveries made along the way.  We’ve gone full circle back to the days of Civilization and “just one more turn”.

Sure, there are people who are willing to invest piles of time in a game to do a small thing but they are such a small (dedicated) minority that most game companies simply ignore them.  This has created a niche market (again), which allows people to try out new ideas.

Being Social Sucks

If people have learned anything, it’s that being social blows chunks.  You get the same bang for your buck by treating other players like NPCs as if you did invest any quality time with them.  Odds are, you’re never going to see them again anyways – at least in a large MMO game.  Why risk getting yelled out when you can just enjoy the ride instead?

And that’s really quite sad.  It only takes 1 asshole to ruin 50 people’s game and until devs properly figure out how to treat these folks, they are going to be forced to recycle content and launch expansions at a faster pace.  And I’m not talking about a Hello Kitty friendly environment, I’m just talking about people typing out words they wouldn’t have an issue saying  in front of real live people.

Great Games

Actually, this list is kind of crap compared to other years.  Let’s just look at some nominees:

  • Fallout 4
  • Pillars of Eternity
  • Witcher 3
  • Ori and the Blind Forest
  • MSG 5
  • Mario Maker
  • Bloodborne

Since I don’t own a current gen console, I only played the top 4.  And of all of them, only Ori is a new IP – and a damn good one at that.  Everything else is either a remake or a sequel.

Steam certainly had some interesting games come out this year: Grim Dawn, Darkest Dungeon, Hard West, Satellite Reign, Undertale, Ark, and Victor Vran among others.  You’ll notice that most of those are RPGs of sorts, some with action bits, others with strategic bits.  All of them playable in small chunks.

Media & Culture

I really should take the time to mention that Joystiq went away, along with all its sister sites (WoW Insider and Massively).  While there’s certainly a market for that type of content, it’s rather clear the market was full of it and that it wasn’t viewed as being terribly “market favorable”.  It’s great that Blizzard Watch and MassivelyOP were able to crowd fund to restart.  Even better that they are still going on today.

It should be rather clear that the gaming boom is over though.  Most bloggers have seen traffic drop, and while Pewdiepie still makes money, it’s Twitch that’s running the show.  Live gaming content means that gaming as a whole has passed that “only geeks do that” to the “this is near on level with sports”.  It’s almost easier to assume someone plays games rather than doesn’t.  Who’d of thought that 10 years ago?

Overall

I think 2015 was a bridge year.  One where not a lot of big things happened but where we really started to see a shift in gaming overall.  We’re 2 years into the new console age, so devs know what they are doing.  Steam, GMG and GoG have a solid footing on games, sales and pushing products. It would seem that games are mainstream enough now that it’s less about th rare snowflake and more about finding that needle in the haystack.

 

Other folks

Here are some links to other blogs looking back at the year.  There are certainly more, but I’m bad at links.

Grim Dawn

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I’m on holiday break now.  Finally finished the shopping today, and it’s an odd one this year.  There’s no snow anywhere near here, and I think we’re about 20 years back from the last time that happened.  Heck, last year there was a solid 4 feet at this time.  Kinda strange being outside in a fall  jacket…

In the bit of gaming news, I’ve hung up my hat for Devilian.  I hit the mid 40s, and it was enough for me to see that it’s not the game for me.  After having played Path of Exile, and enjoying it, seeing a dumbed down game (farther than D3) was too much.  It’s more likely that I simply had enough of it on my tablet, as the game isn’t bad.  It’s just not good enough.

In my search for an alternative, I came across…

Grim Dawn

I think the simplest way to describe it is that it’s a more accessible version of Path of Exile.  You have a ton of liberty in character building, selecting 2 “sub classes” and inserting skill points to unlock various abilities (like Diablo 2 as well).  The art is pretty solid, based on a tweaked Titan Quest engine.  There’s a visceral aspect to it all.

Build 29 just released today, which means that it’s feature complete (it was in early access previously).  It’s also part of the Steam winter sale, so go at ‘er.

Stats mean something, and I mean all stats.   Some enemies are just simply immune to certain damage, DoTs can kill you, area effects are frequent, big enemies hit hard, there’s a whole pile of enemy types, tons of item types and qualities.   There’s even a crafting system, which is pretty neat.  One that shows that rare items, with good enough rolls, are better than uniques.

There’s a rather interesting lore behind it all, with demi gods and demons.  There are factions to be had, bounty quests to help stretch out the tail and now it has 2 rogue-like dungeons too.  Those factions, when capped, start unlocking super bosses, so there’s always something to knock out.  It feels more like D3 without training wheels, which is a great thing.  It also plays offline, for those who need it.

I really like Path of Exile.  My gripes are in the art style and difficulty to see things.  That’s part of the engine and I can’t really do much about it.  Grim Dawn’s engine is more pleasing to the eyes.

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For the price point, it’d be hard to argue a better value for money.  There’s a fair amount of content to be had here.  Enough complexity for those who want it, enough accessibility for those who just want to pick up and play.

ARPGs – My Kind of Bag

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There’s something about action RPGs that really floats my boat.  Sure, the loot piñatas are fun but I think it has more to do with the pace of gameplay.  While I certainly enjoy the more tranquil RPGs, say Pillars of Eternity or even Fallout 4 as examples, it’s the swish-swish-swish that really seems to keep me going.  Well, that combined and the slower portions of character development.  That difficulty treadmill is quite a lot of fun.

There are 4 that I’m tracking right now – Diablo 3, Marvel Heroes, Path of Exile and Devilian.   I think I’ve spoken at length about the first 3.  D3 and PoE have certainly seen the most hours from me.  Both are good games but the long-tail portion is in seasons/ladders.  Season 5 is starting on Jan 15 for D3, though the features listed don’t seem particularly interesting to me just yet.  I don’t understand the appeal of restarting an old character at level 1 in a new season… it’s the same as deleting them and starting a new one with the same name.  PoE is at the start of a talisman season, which is a neat feature.  I’m certainly enjoying that portion and looking forward to the latter parts (random maps).  While the passive tree is certainly intimidating, it’s the skill gem linking that’s the most interesting.  Being able to have 4-5 effects work together is great.  The gambling on gear sockets is less fun though.  One of the best parts is that the art on the gear in my bag is the same when I equip it.  I know it sounds stupid but it really reduces the guessing about what something will look like in a set.

Marvel Heroes has a new hero every month or thereabouts.  I’ve maxed my crafters and 5 characters, so there really isn’t much incentive to get back in it for me.  The “raid” structure doesn’t appeal to me.  I’ve put a ton of hours into it mind you, as it really is a good game.  The sheer variety of characters, loot, alternate advancements and the absolute best alt support is great.  Just doesn’t have a hook for me today.

Devilian, I think I’ve soured on it already.  I’m stuck with the same skills for another 30 levels (I think that’s about 4-5 hours) and generally the same look on the character.  I’m going to fight humans, dogs, ogres, skeletons and mages.  I’m going to run down a single corridor, then get to a big boss.  Then I’m going to gamble on cards.  I’ve played this to death on my tablet.

I’ve been keeping an eye on Grim Dawn for a while now.  To be honest, I mostly forgot about it until I read a recent article.  Made by some folks who developed Titan Quest (which was very good), it’s in Early Access right now with the final polish in the next couple months.  They need to round out the final act and then implement the end-game.  It’s more in-line with Torchlight 2 (I put a whack of hours here) in terms of design, with an off-line mode available as well.  It’s far enough now I think for me to pick up on Steam.  Well either that, or I put some coins into PoE.

I don’t exactly see myself bristling with free time, but there are certainly spots where I can scratch that itch.

Cookie For You, Cookie For Me

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I baked some toffee/butterscotch cookies with the kids last night.

Long story short, I really enjoy baking.  Short story long, baking forces you to pay attention, be patient and meticulous, while providing an end result that either lasts for days, or makes everyone in a room smile.

It’s been about 6 years now that my wife and I have baked cookies for the holidays.  We usually hand out tins to our friends but this year’s schedule has been a bit tougher to work around.  I was missing the fun of spending a solid weekend just making treats and decided to get something made for the work pot luck.  Ended up with the above toffee cookies and some peanut-butter maple ones as well.  Baking on a weeknight isn’t as much fun as a weekend, since it’s hard to get on a roll, but it’s still quite satisfying.  Especially when your kids and your wife are stealing cookies when you’re not looking.

While I certainly enjoy my current career, a 2nd one in baking has always had allure.  Downsides are the hours (you need to get baking near 4am) and the salary. I guess I can take some classes though…

Devilian

I completed the 3rd zone, made it to level 24.  The leveling speed has fallen, which means that my skill progress has slowed.  The character growth I saw in the first few sessions has sort of petered out.  My inventory is filling up quite a bit faster, so I’m obligated to salvage a lot of stuff.  I’ll need to craft some talisman cards with all those materials.

The last dungeon run was different, in that there was more to do than just kill bad guys.  Well, we needed to kill towers and it had 7 general steps to complete before the boss.  The boss itself wasn’t anything special.  I blew some cooldowns, transformed into Devilian mode for a DPS boost, then just pew-pewed until he dropped.  I did end up with a lot of gear at the end, though truth be told it’s hard to figure out what’s actually useful.

You’d think that Intelligence would be a super stat for a caster, but it gives something like 0.1 damage.  Other stats scale that way as well, so there really doesn’t appear to be any tangible difference at that level.  Which begs the question why bother with various stats at all until you reach higher levels.

An interesting factoid, I haven’t died yet.  I haven’t come close.  I haven’t seen anyone die either.  The dungeon we ran had the warrior pull every spawn towards the gate (15-20 enemies) and we just plowed through them.  It’s a bit of dynasty warriors here, or playing Diablo 3 on super easy mode.  The concept of risk just doesn’t seem to exist yet.

As I mentioned last time, this is reminding more and more of a mobile dungeon crawler.  That’s more of a neutral statement than a judgment.  I really like that style since it’s a pick-up-and-play attitude but the long term gameplay is questionable.  We’ll see as time moves on.

Devilian – First Impressions

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Spurred by Syp and Rohan, I gave Devilian a go; enough to reach level 19 and run 2 dungeons, which exposed a decent chunk of content.  Fusing, enchanting and end-game experience gains for AA points isn’t in the bag yet.  Neato, you can get it from Steam. So-so, you use Glyph, Trion’s all-in-one game manager.

So I guess some quick notes.  Devilian feels like a PC port of Arcane Legends, with a slightly more integrated overworld.  In fact, similar to Rohan, I’d compare the overworld to Marvel Heroes, where there are more than 3 people around you.  The rest of the game is taking the tropes from mobile dungeon crawlers and tweaking the UI.

The art style is Asian, so my evoker has a stupidly bouncy chest and runs around in heels.  The actual combat art is good, with telegraphs in place to make you move around.  The sound is pretty neat as well, though I have yet to notice any actual music.  Characters and pets are well animated, though the graphics themselves are pretty shoddy unless you max everything out.  I also find that the camera is a bit too close.  All personal taste really.

I am disappointed in the armor designs though, or lack thereof.  It’s the same issue I have with Diablo to be frank, where everyone just looks the same while leveling up.  My evoker is wearing a nightgown and one stocking.  Why?  When you create a character you can see what their gear looks like later on, and the 3 options all looked like I was going clubbing.  It’s off-putting.

Character development is very straightforward, with a minimal set of stats.  After level 10 you get to specialize in 1 of 3 trees, given 1 point per level to invest.  The trees have names and intent (like a control tree) but the skills within have little/nothing to do with the names. For example, the Burst tree has a healing skill.  Each skill has 2 or 3 additional nodes allowing you to customize a bit, say less cooldown or extra mana per hit.  You need to invest X points in order to unlock more skills in the tree.  There are passive skills available per tree as well, but you need to invest all the way to the end to get them.  You can cross between trees as well, though limited by available points.  You can reset points at any time and you can save 2 point configurations as well (more if you’re a patron).  So there’s some flexibility here, certainly.

The story/lore/quests are skipped through due to poor writing and structure.  I like reading about the lore but this stuff isn’t interesting in the least.  Not a bit deal in the grand scheme of things though.

There’s threat, knockdown, slow, and stun/frozen as core combat mechanics.  Every skill has an AE component and a maximum number of targets.  It makes for big, hectic fights most of the time.  Bosses are single target affairs, usually some giant creature that’s a damage sponge.  Dungeons are straight lines, with 7-15 fights each.  There’s a built-in LFG tool, so you can solo or go in with 3 random people to clear it.  It is near identical to any mobile group dungeon crawler you’ve played before – seriously, it’s a giant flashback to Dungeon Hunter 5.

The requisite “gambling” is here as well, in the Talisman section.  Think trading cards, with 1-5 star quality that you unlock from boxes.  You can buy the boxes, or create them for gold.  Merging, fusing and all that stuff.  It gives the game a long tail I guess.  They have a big enough impact on statistics that you shouldn’t ignore them later on, but they are pretty meaningless while leveling.

There’s an auction house too, but the UI is quite poor.  If you don’t know the exact name you’re looking for and want to find say, all the weapons available, you need to select the level range, the class and the quality before running the search.  If you want to use the same criteria for a helmet, you need to re-enter all that data again.  I guess this is in place to save on SQL queries and server memory.

No gold spam yet.  I think that’s related to the chat channels being ranked based on your behavior.  Which in itself is the most interesting feature the game has shown me so far.  That is, if what I think is happening, actually is happening.  The store itself doesn’t seem to sell any power related items directly.  So from a F2P perspective, it’s good.  There’s a daily login counter, with benefits that route… but that’s expected nowdays I guess.

I’m far from the end game; that seems to take around 10-12 hours based on what I’ve read.  The first impressions are that the combat is engaging, and there’s smoothness to the gameplay.  It’s certainly engaging, which is good.  It’s free to play and there aren’t any restrictions that I can see.  The characters have enough skills to be diverse, the art is ok and it feels like you can get things done in a small amount of time.  It’s certainly worth the pickup to try it out.

Once I reach the end-game, I’ll add some more thoughts to the long-term viability of the game.

2015 Prediction Review

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Time for the end of year report card prediction adjustment.  Wilhelm’s is up.

Blog Resolutions

  • Post more media in the blog. Pictures & video.  I think it would add more to the context.

 

I certainly blogged more, but not that many more pictures.  I ended up with nearly twice as many posts this year as last and more than doubled the hit count.  So win?

 

  • Try out a diary format for a few posts. While I tend to focus on analysis, I think the recounting of adventures always fun to read.

 

Well, I started putting in more personal items, so it did end up more like a diary in a sense.  But not from a gameplay perspective.  No wins.

 

  • More cross-posts. There are many, many bloggers out there.  I should do more to cross-post/link/comment.

 

Marginally more cross-posts is still more cross-posts.  It’s really quite ironic since I read so many good blogs out there. I need to force myself to do this apparently.  No wins.

 

  • End the year with 200 posts. That’s about 4 per week, which should be manageable.

 

WordPress is really quite bad at reporting this data.  Some months were better than others, though March and August were off months as I was away from a computer for a long stretch.  No wins but it’s still a solid goal.

 

  • Try more games! I won’t invest in a console, so I’m out about a dozen options per year.  But my tablet and Steam can keep me more than busy.

 

I did this.  Boy did I do this.  I must’ve played 50 games on the tablet and dabbled in tons of PC games over the year.  Super wins.

Personal Resolutions

  • Actively work on an exit-plan for current project at work.

 

Haha, this is pretty sad and accurate.  Things went for a loop during the summer and I’m doing that just now.  No wins.

 

  • Focus more on the family and what makes them happy.

 

The spring wasn’t so good for this but summer and fall have been great.  I’m a lucky guy.  Win.

 

  • Take time to breathe and time to sleep.

 

Time to breathe is better, time to sleep not so much.  I’ve taken some steps to better manage stress and anxiety and it’s certainly improved since last year.  Miles better.  I’ll call this a win.

 

  • Read at least a dozen books.

 

The fails.  I think I only ended up with 6 this year.  Murf’s idea to get through Hugo award winners is going to be a goal next year.

 

  • Introduce my 4yr old and wife to tabletop/board games. My daughter received a Connect 4 and Trouble for Christmas and we played a fair amount.  She hates losing and wants to learn how to win. There are tons of games out there to try.

 

I’ll call a win on this.  My eldest has played nearly every board game in the house so far, including Imperial Assault, Galaxy Defenders and Shadows of Brimstone.  She has a kick for it. Going to try and get a few more next year, like Ticket to Ride for starters.  My youngest is now 3 and a bit, so time for her to join in the fun as well.

 

Predictions

  • SOE won’t launch a single product in 2015. Specifically, the order of eventual launch is Landmark, H1Z1 (cancelled before launch) and EQ Next.

 

Ok, partial win here.  Nothing launched, but H1Z1 wasn’t cancelled.  Yet.

 

  • EvE will increase their patch cadence a bit, to allow for more time between and draw out the ideas. Their subscription numbers will drop due to the stance on multi-boxing and bots.

 

I think I’m on the money for this one.

 

  • Wildstar goes B2P by late spring. It either drops raiding as a focus or closes shop.

 

F2P, in the fall but did expand a lot of stuff on the “things to do at max level” list.  I’ll call this a miss.

 

  • ESO will launch on consoles in the summer and go F2P at the same time. Still no auction house or viable crafting container.

 

I missed the B2P call but the rest of the items are accurate.

 

  • WoW will drop back to 7m subscribers. Their PLEX-derivative won’t work due to the way the economy works (you don’t actually need gold to play WoW in WoD).

 

I was off on this one.  WoW dropped to 5m and their PLEX-like junk is still going.  Tobold is going to be playing for infinity for free due to it.

 

  • WoD end-game will be Burning Legion tie-in.

 

Nailed it.  Sadly.

  • WoW patches will continue to take an eternity to go out, with no expansion news this year.

 

We got expansion news alright.  On the shortest expansion in history and what’s expected to be the 2nd longest content drought in history.  Blizz is feeling more like that drunk uncle everyone has.  You’re really not sure what’s going on over there but somehow he shows up to parties.

 

  • Heroes of the Storm will “launch” in the fall, even though Closed Beta is taking your money in about 2 weeks. Pricing will change once the gates open.

 

Yessiree on the launch.  Pricing is certainly different than last winter.  Wins.

 

  • Overwatch won’t show in 2015.

 

A closed beta is going on now but it’s been down for 3 weeks(?), so I’m going to count this a as a win.

 

  • SWTOR will have 3 content patches, with new raids and planets. GSF will be forgotten.

 

I got this wrong.  Instead of patches there was an expansion.  No new raids or dungeons.  No one cares about GSF though, so that’s neat.

  • Steam and Riot will get hacked, which will likely change the way PC gamers identify with hackers. They’ve only targeted consoles so far.

 

Neither happened, though Steam is reporting that ~70,000 accounts are compromised daily.

 

  • 2015 will have a bunch of kickstarters finally launch. Pillars of Eternity, Star Citizen, Tides of Numenera and so on.

 

PoE launched (great game), Star Citizen is in 2nd alpha (whatever that means) and Tides doesn’t have a date yet.  This is a miss.

 

  • Microsoft will use the Minecraft source for a new game that’s used in schools. Makes a mint.

 

Microsoft hasn’t done squat with Minecraft.  Which is a win for gamers I guess.

 

  • This is the year of the indie game standards. $15 dollar games will be held to similar standards as $60 games in terms of quality, less so content. Ori and the Blind Forest and Rocket League are good examples.

 

I’m calling this a win.  The ability for indies to make a buck has changed dramatically.  Games need to be amazing to even try to turn a profit.

 

  • A new review system will be established detailing whether a game is playable at release or if you should wait for a kitchen sink patch.

 

Well, more sites have started a review in progress, or a second review after a couple months.  I wouldn’t say it’s everywhere mind you.  IGN and Kotaku mostly.  Ehh.

 

  • Evolve, No Man’s Sky and Repopulation will do better than expected.

 

Nope, where is it?, and nope.

 

  • 2015 will be the year of the RPG! (Witcher 3 for sure)

Well, we got Witcher 3, Fallout 4 and Pillars of Eternity.  I call this a win, though the trend seems to be going towards RPG/Sandbox games.

 

I hit the 50% mark in the Blog/Personal stuff, so that’s not too bad.  50% on the predictions as well, though some were safe bets.  It was an off year for gaming, with expectations set pretty low overall.  A year in review post will cover that stuff later on.  I didn’t expect to hit 50%, so yay?

 

Better Combat – Path of Exile

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Following the high of Fallout 4’s world building and the low of Witcher 3’s combat, I needed to get something moving again.  I like action RPGs, where numbers mean something, tactics have an application and character progress means choices.  I’m somewhat saturated on Diablo 3 since the most recent season (with 2 GR60 geared players and a few in the wings), and Marvel Heroes suffering from too many superheroes, I’m back to Path of Exile.

PoE had an expansion this summer which added a new act, which is about 25% more content.  It tweaked a lot of the underlying numbers for balance, added some new items (jewels and trading cards), added some skills and just put a huge amount of polish overall.  PoE takes D3’s seasons and puts it on steroids.  It’s like every month there’s a new ladder going on, and each with an interesting twist.  The ladder that started on the weekend is a talisman ladder.

Random enemies (1 or 2 per map it seems) will have a talisman that boosts some of their stats.  I think there’s 9 base versions of it, and they roll just like any other amulet (normal, magic, rare).  There are stone circles found in every 4th map or so, and if you put in 5 different talismans of the same rank, you fight a boss with a random talisman of the next rank.  The quality of that talisman is randomly selected from those you sacrifice.  Only rank 1 talismans drop in the world, so you need to use the stone circles to upgrade.  There are 4 ranks available.  To get that last one will take 125 rank 1 talisman.  My Witch is level 37 and is just shy of her first Rank 3 talisman.  So there’s certainly a long game for this league.

I’ve gone over the Path of Exile mechanics a fair bit in the past.  I find that the balance today is better than ever, in that there are no crystal clear OP builds.  It’s also harder to gimp yourself as scaling has been improved, and skill gem drops seem higher.  All in all, it’s a smoother curve.

There are only 3 drawbacks I see to the game, currently.

  • You nearly always require the overhead map to be active. You can change the opacity (press “O”) but it’s still an eyesore
  • The zones themselves are quite dark and large, making navigation difficult at times. It is very much like Diablo2, and a big split from Diablo3 and Marvel Heroes.
  • Loot progression is slow. If you’re used to upgrading gear 2-3 times per zone, this game is not for you.  Gear is meaningful, and crap loot is plentiful.  It’s comparable to D3’s legendary upgrade pace, pre-season 4 (without Kunai’s cube).  Your mileage will vary.

But again, there are huge positives.

  • Choices matter in the passive skill tree, as you can’t “reset” your choices past a certain point.
  • There’s a ton of replay value through maps and gem upgrades
  • Skill synergies can be customized. Want a fireball that chains, summons a zombie and weakens the group?  You can build that.
  • The barter system, and item customization is the best in the business. You can take a crap item and turn it into an amazing rare item with perfect stats and gem slots, if RNGsus loves you.
  • The combat and equipment art is amazing. Every character looks unique.
  • The cash stop (since this is a F2P game) is entirely cosmetic. Has been since the start.  It’s probably Syp’s dream come true.

I’ll be leveling up the Witch a bit more, finishing up Act 4 tonight and then posting a bit on the character progression in future posts.  I’m enjoying using my brain for combat again, both in strategy (what skills to build/select) and in tactics (when to use them).