- Many, many things have been happening and I don't have enough time to write about them all. So pretend you're playing a modern third person shooter and duck behind cover. The bullet points are flying now.
- The Summer Update for Champions Online came out and there are some things I like. First thing I did was explore the redesigned Renaissance Center and visit the tailor. I really like the new look and I love my new costume. I didn't change it much, but Arcfire deserved a more modern costume. Check the sidebar for my latest creation.
- Heck, I'm not even going to write that much about Everquest 2 Extended. Go read Yeebo's post for which my response is "Ditto." SOE doesn't get free-to-play at all. Just like with Free Realms, they seem to think this is an extended trial with the goal of getting people to subscribe. But then they've screwed that up my making the subscription a worse deal than in the main game. Such a wasted opportunity. Nonetheless, I'm going to play at the Bronze level as long as I continue to enjoy soloing. Maybe, just maybe, I'll upgrade to Silver just to unlock some bag slots, but I'll have to be really into the game to bother.
- ArenaNet has released their announcement webpage for the Necromancer. My reaction was a decided "Meh." I never liked necros in Guild Wars and I'm not eager to play one now. However if you are interested in the black arts, head over to Hunter's blog where he has a great breakdown of the profession.
- Finally, I can't let the "Used Games = Piracy" controversy go without comment. From a purely rhetorical perspective, I understand where Tycho was coming from: a lost sale is a lost sale from the developer's perspective. But while everyone is blowing up, it's important to remember the context from which the observation was made. Players of used and pirated games can access many online features without paying the developers and publishers a cent, and that is idiotic from a business point of view. People should have the option to do what they choose with their possessions, including sell or transfer them. But game companies should not required to support the secondhand market for free.
- At the same time, though, the level of rhetoric really should be moderated. Accusing people who buy used games of moral equivalency with pirates does not help the conversation. Yes, we need to support the developers who make the games we love. But at the same time, you are not a bad person just because you do your shopping at GameStop.
© 2010 Marty Runyon. All rights reserved.
- My school days are long lost to haze of memory now, but there are certain things that are just as vivid now as the day I lived them. One such memory occurred back in 1989. I was hanging out in the band director's office with a couple friends, Jason and Josh, before school started. Although we spent a lot of time talking about video games, this particular morning we we sharing our adventures with the new Nintendo game everyone was excited about, Dragon Warrior. That game was like a bolt out of the blue to me. All of the CRPG I played were archaic in their systems and ugly with their four color palette. DW was bright and beautiful and a lot of fun. It was everything I wanted in a CRPG in an easy to play format. Fast forward a couple decades to where I eagerly awaited the launch of Dragon Quest IX. The wait has been worth it.
- What I like about the series, and this game especially, is its positive outlook. It is the polar opposite of the grim and gritty fantasy from Dragon Age. The people are cheerful, even against great adversity, the enemies are colorful and playful, and the world is a joy to explore. This is not generic fantasy; it is a world of optimism and hope. It is such a relief to get away from the heavy handed pessimism of mature games sometimes. DQIX might be best described as JRPG comfort food.
- After telling you how fluffy the game is, I now have to admit how well the title cinematic hit me. I'm not talking about the demo movie that runs over the start menu. This is the film that follows the tutorial sequence and leads into the main title. It was a wonderful cutscene that did a great job of setting up the major conflict in the game. One thing it did that I haven't seen before (probably because I don't look very hard) was the way it used both DS screens to show two different angles on the action when it was appropriate. Even though the game is one of those forever things, I still would be interested in starting over to see it again.
- One of the stand out parts of the game is the eccentric characterizations on display. In particular, Stella, the faerie pilot of the Starflight Express, is an absolute hoot. The way they mangle her lines makes her come across as earnest instead of an idiot, as she would be played in any other game. You can tell the translators had a lot of fun coming up with all of the hilarious lines. Some people might be put off with how silly some of it is, but it fits the world they have built so well. Bravo to the translation team.
- Another of the great aspect of this game is that there is so much to do. There is a huge world to explore, plenty of adventures to find in an almost episodic manner, any number of quests, mini-medals to collect, equipment to upgrade, new classes to try, alchemy to perform, and on and on. I've heard some people complain that these types of games almost require you to buy the strategy guide to find everything in the game. So far, I have not found that to be the case. The game unfolds at its own pace, introducing new things a bit at a time. I've have never felt overwhelmed or lost. What I have felt is the urge to dig deeper into Dragon Quest and see everything that I can. For instance, my main character has leveled four different classes to twenty just so that I can see what is available, as well as earn extra skill points. If I wanted to, I think DQIX would let me play forever. And I just might.
© 2010 Marty Runyon. All rights reserved.
- It's that time of the month again. And like the cycles of the moon, Champions Online has waxed in full, ready to show us this month's State of the Game. This month's update covers a number of topics, including a few new bits of info.
- First, the Summer Update will be coming August 24. Now that the Pet Update has been stripped out, there isn't much else for them to worry over. The Summer Update page is available, giving a nice breakdown of the patch. Most of it is quality of life upgrades, like supergroup updates, new emotes, and new flyovers for the cutscenes. But they also have updated the Renaissance Center for better functionality. Plus it looks really nice. Funny enough, the thing I'm most looking forward to is the new costume options. Looks like Arcfire will be getting a daring new look.
- Next, Cryptic reminds us that the games first anniversary is on the horizon. They mention various prizes they will be giving away, but also hint at more events to come. I just hope they have a good lore reason for dropping a huge cake in the middle of Ren Center. (Speaking of which, Guild Wars always has the best themed holidays, doesn't it?)
- Third comes the reminder that The Demonflame adventure pack is on the horizon, set to launch at the end of September or beginning of October. There isn't a lot more info. Poz does explain that they've designed this pack based on feedback from The Serpent Lantern. But the big info is that Cryptic is also updating the Nemesis options with the pack. New nemesis powers and new henchmen options will help give even more variety. I'm looking forward to this pack since my main hero has a demonic backstory. (So yeah, I'm excited for RP reasons. Crazy.) I'm also impressed with the timeline on this. If they can keep rolling out patches and adventure packs quarterly, I'll be pretty happy.
- Poz does take the time to rundown what's happening with the pet update again. It would be a nice addition to the adventure pack if they can get it down. He also sneaks in a mention that there will be some limited cosmetic options for pets available, something that wasn't even mentioned before the update got delayed. So a nice little treat for keeping us waiting.
- Finally, they give us some longer term plans for the game. They want to update the Millennium City Westside zone so that it flows better and is more consistent. And they want to update Lemuria so that it's easier to adventure there. They also mention expanding the use of the difficult slider and instance scaling, which would be great. Not that I think it will happen, but I will do a little dance if instance scaling extends to lairs.
- All in all, a great SotG from Cryptic. It's always great to see more Champions Online news. I'm excited for the future.
© 2010 Marty Runyon. All rights reserved.
- Over on the Champions Online forums, executive producer Shannon Posniewski announced that they are holding back the update for pet-based powers because they are not happy with how it is going so far. In his own words:
So, rather than push something that you and we aren't particularly happy with, we've decided to wait. Without a deadline looming, we can go back and take another look at the problem and possibly come up with another approach to it.
- That means that the pet powers will remain as they are on the live server, though still receiving the UI updates. But the bulk of the power pass will be held over until the Demonflame adventure pack launches.
- It would be easy to complain that Cryptic is not following through on a promise, but I think that would be shortsighted. Even the forum community agrees (and when does that ever happen) that postponing the pet pass is better than holding the Summer Update hostage until pets work or pushing an update that no one is happy with. Cryptic has my support for making a brave decision. I'd rather they do it right eventually than wrong now and fix it later.
© 2010 Marty Runyon. All rights reserved.
- Game fiction has a bad reputation that is well and truly earned. For the most part, the books are written without any pretense of art. They are just advertising copy without the benefit of Photoshopped screenshots. There is a reason that they are usually shelved between the D&D and Star Wars books. That was the mindset I had when I walked into my local chain bookstore and picked up a copy of Ghosts of Ascalon by Matt Forbeck and Jeff Grubb.
- It wasn't bad. I expected it to be bad because that's what I expect from everything nowadays and it wasn't. I actually quite enjoyed the story. I liked many of the characters. The authors did a good job of giving everyone a personal motivation. And the story ended at just the right point without dragging on endlessly.
- The biggest surprise for me was that, by the end of the book, I actually liked the charr character. Ever since I started the first game (now called Prophesies), I have hated the charr. I hated what they did to Ascalon, I hated that I had to help the idiots in Eye of the North, and I hated that we never got the opportunity to reclaim the kingdom where most of my characters where born. I was even hoping there would be a Charr Hater background option in GW2 so that I can carry on my charr hating ways. But in the last three pages of the book, Ember Doomforge did something (no spoilers here) that won me over. If the game is that good, I'll be happy to play with the charr. Strange, huh?
- For nitpicking purposed, "dragon-haunted times" bugged me the third time the phrase came up. Thankfully, I think that was the last time. And some of the comparative storytelling got a little fan-wanky. But I shouldn't complain much. I flew through the book a lot faster than I expected. If you are interesting in Guild Wars lore, Ghosts of Ascalon would be a good choice.
- For more analysis on the book, go check out Hunter's review. Because dude loves to analyze. I may start calling him The Analyzer.
© 2010 Marty Runyon. All rights reserved.
