Random Shots: No Surprises

• It has been a long, weird day today. It's the first day of a sort-of vacation (I was told to take the time off or I would lose it). So I've got four days to see if I can't get a few things done and not just play my Xbox all day.


• I was greeted this morning to the news that Champions Online has gone with a tiered pay model. Normally I would consider CO my beat, but what more is there to say that hasn't been covered by so many already? If you are interested check out the posts from Ardwulf, MMOGamerChick, Blue Kae, and Green Armadillo.


• Before I got started on errands, I spent a couple hours playing through the second act of Double Fine Productions' Costume Quest. Damn this game is cute. And fun. I'm trying not to burn through it all at once, but it hard to put down at times. I actually played an hour longer this morning than I intended.


• One of the errands I wanted to run this morning was to pick up Greg Rucka's new book, The Last Run. I have been a huge fan of his Queen & Country, both in comic and novel form, and I was excited to get a new addition to the series. Only neither of the big book bookstores in town got the novel in today. I remember having similar trouble tracking down the prior book, Private Wars. At least, I remember now that I'm going through it all over again. The silver lining to all this is that Rucka is stopping by the Mystery Bookstore in Westwood on November 6 as part of his mini book tour. I suppose I can hold out until then to pick up the novel. Anyway, I still have to finish Mogworld before I worry about another book.


• I've been spending a lot of time lately, though not today (yet), with Borderlands. I had enjoyed it previously on the PC, but my current backup graphics card just won't let me play the game acceptably. So when the GOTY edition was announced, I picked up a copy for 360. I've already, in the few days I've had it, gotten much farther than I ever did in the PC version. I'm looking forward to seeing the end of the game and playing through all the DLC. And shooting dudes. I'm looking forward to shooting a lot of dudes. Hopefully in the face.

Played Lately: Dead Rising 2: Case 0

• I've held a weird soft spot in my gamer's heart for Dead Rising ever since it came out in 2006. There was something unique and maddening about the experience that got under my skin. I never got very far in it. And then I loaned it to my brother and I haven't seen the disk in years. So when Dead Rising 2 was announced, I was interested to see where the massive zombie game would go four years later.


• Better yet there was Dead Rising 2: Case 0, a small preview game that tells a prequel story to the main game. Set in its own town with its own feel and character, it's a full fledged downloadable game. Slaughtering zombies feels just as fun as before, this time with the opportunity to build your own weapon arsenal.


• However it plays very much like the first game, only with the rough edges filed down. Not off, just down. The survivors handle themselves much better. You get bonus points by killing zombies with combo weapons instead of taking pictures of them. And quest indicators help keep you from getting lost too bad.


• On my first play through, I felt like I was doing pretty well, at least up until the point where I ran out of time and didn't get the Zombrex to Katie before she expired. Oops. So I did what DR2 expects you to do: I restarted with my higher level and tried again. And sure enough, I was able to cruise through the game, save all the survivors, and escape from town with just enough time to spare. It was a lot of fun and I liked the story. Only I think that was enough to sate my appetite for zombie killing. I don't feel the need to rush out and buy the full game. At least, not yet.


• If you haven't played a Dead Rising game before and are curious, Case 0 is a steal for five dollars. And if you're concerned that Capcom is making you pay for a demo, I understand. But I feel that this is a small scale, but full featured game and it is well worth the price.

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© 2010 Marty Runyon. All rights reserved.

Unexplored Worlds: The Blade of Veracity

• The Blade of Veracity is an unadorned steel short sword with a curved cross guard and leather-bound grip. The pommel is a clean steel cube with rounded edges with the only markings being two sets of initials stamped into the bottom of the cube. The weapon fells lighter than a comparable short sword although any scale would show they are of matched weights. The edge feels slightly dull and will not easily cut one's skin.


• The sword gets its name because of its intended purpose. When the blade is held against exposed skin, the target is forced to answer any question posed to him or her by the wielder. The target has a difficult chance to resist this compulsion, though the chance goes up to highly difficult if the blade is held again the target's throat. If the wielder stabs the target and holds the blade inside the victim's body, it is impossible for the target to resist questioning.


• Nearly four hundred years old, the blade was forged by a pair of brothers, one a master smith, the other a powerful wizard. The two had a strained relationship at that point. The wizard has grown in power over time and made many enemies. The smith, having grown disillusioned with his brother's battles, had gone in seclusion to perfect his craft. After several years, the wizard tracked his brother down and asked for one final boon, that he craft this one final weapon. The smith agreed and the two worked together to craft the sword. Neither spoke the entire time. When the sword was completed, the two parted ways never saw one another again.


• The Blade of Veracity confers a ten percent bonus to attack rolls, though not to damage. Instead, if the blade strikes a supernatural foe who's nature is to deceive or spread falsehoods, it causes double damage on a successful attack. If the creature is aware of the blade's powers, it may cower or flee at the sight of its antithesis.


• Unexplored Worlds is my attempt to design an RPG campaign in the open. Since I have not rolled a d20 in anger in many years, this is my way to keep playing without actually playing. All posts are written to be system-agnostic, so please use whatever keeps your interest in your own games. Just let me know how it goes!

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© 2010 Marty Runyon. All rights reserved.

Played Lately: Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light

• There are too many news posts on the blog right now, so let's get back to some game talk. Back during Xbox Live's Summer of Arcade, there were three games I was looking forward to: Limbo, Castlevania: Harmony of Despair, and Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light. I bought, played, and enjoyed the first two as planned. But by the time the third rolled out, I had turned off my console and gone back to PC gaming. Just recently, there have been a number of new Live Arcade games released or announced that reminded me that I had skipped the Lara Croft game. That turns out to have been a mistake.


• At first, I wondered if it would work, but Lara Croft is a very interesting interpretation of the Tomb Raider games that plays like Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance. All the adventuring tricks are still there: the climbing and jumping, the grappling hook, the puzzle solving. It feels like a Tomb Raider with action-RPG combat and they mix together a lot better than I expected.


• One of the more intriguing things about the game is how they encourage replayability. There are any number of unlocks available, although many are based on conflicting goals. The first time you play, you'll want to find your way through and enjoy the story. But then you see that you missed the speed run option, or maybe you didn't find all of the hidden artifacts. And you have to go for the high score options. But you won't be able to do that on a speed run and keeping your score multiplier up while you're exploring would be difficult. I'm going to end up playing these levels three or four times and I'm actually looking forward to it.


• And there is so much to collect. Each level gives you a list of objectives and shows which upgrades you have found and how many you've missed. Using various artifacts as stat boosters is a nice, thematic way to gear up your character, although the statistical element is relatively light. But I still want to find every last upgrade available. And the costumes! I have to get all the costumes.


• I'm really glad I got back to my console. In the future, I'm looking forward to playing and writing about Dead Rising: Case Zero and Costume Quest. With all these great Live Arcade games out, I won't have a reason play any games off a disk for a long while.

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© 2010 Marty Runyon. All rights reserved.

Random Shots: Too Busy To Blog

• Many apologizes for not blogging lately. I have a lot on my mind, but catching a cold this weekend did not help any. So I'm dispatching this quick post to get the blogging engine primed.


• The most amusing new of the day has been the blog post from a self-identified soon-to-be Ex-Mythic employee calling himself EA Louse wherein he outlines, in an old school rant, exactly how he perceives the failure of Warhammer Online. There is not a lot to say about it since there is no way to check its veracity. But either way, it's a heck of an amusing read.


• I spotted the news on Giant Bomb today that Valve will be releasing Dota 2, yet another sequel to Defense of the Ancients. Um, okay, I guess. Oh, and someone from Valve is following in EA Louse's footsteps, blowing the whistle on Icefrog and his involvement with development. What a strange world we live in.


• I don't watch much anime anymore, but every once in a while, something catches my attention. This year, I discovered Macross Frontier. All I really know about the show is what I got out of Robotech (which I still love, but was not the real thing) and the masterful Macross Plus. Of course, you can't buy it legally in the US so I've had to resort to other means to watch the show. I'm nine episodes in, watching on my PSP when I have free time at work. Loving it so far. I enjoy the nods to the prior shows littered throughout. And the story has some great highs and lows without going to the extremes that some gonzo anime can reach.


• Last night after dinner, I ended up playing way too much World of Warcraft. I did not expect to. I just wanted to see what the patch did to my characters. When I got to my paladin though, I had to see if I would still be able to solo the Outland instances. So I ran off to The Blood Furnace and only made it up through the first hall and up the stairs before I got murdered. Everything was going way too slow and I feared that the mechanical changes were going to stymie my plans. But then I remember that I hadn't trained any skills so I flew to Shattrath and then to Silvermoon to see what I was missing. Evidently, I had been stripped of the Parry skill. As well, I need to train in Plate Specialization for a small strentgh bonus and the new heal, Word of Glory. It was that last that made everything come together. It fills the niche that the Art of War-powered Flash of Light met before the patch. When I headed back, I made it all the way through the instance with only one more death during the gauntlet before Broggok. I enjoy the new play style a lot now that I understand it. Templar's Verdict seems underwhelming and AoE has been severely nerfed, but Holy Power mechanic and new Art of War have given the paladin a very different, very measured tempo that I appreciate.


• This is just the wrap up, but I promise to get a post up soon about Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light as well as a couple more things that have been on the back burner while I've been lazy. Happy gaming!