http://arstechnica.com/gaming/news/2009/11/diablo-for-loners-the-story-behind-indie-hit-torchlight.ars
and there's like this new game thats like diablo, did you ever play diablo? you said your brother set you up with it or something. its a computer game. so you know what it is. exactly so you said that you played it. anyway, there's this new game that came out that's like diablo. and it's like basically a fighting game. and it's supposed to be pretty good. like really good, there's alot of buzz on it. they're even trying to turn it into an MMO which's pretty unique. usually they dont turn a game into an MMO a week after they made it. but basically it was designed to be an MMO, they just made it first person. It looks pretty cool. like the graphics look pretty cool. But I think it'll probably be a boring game. Because when I played Diablo it wasn't even all that good. Like it was famous and it sold really well, but I mean it's just like not that fun of a game. All you do is click on shit continually. And it just gets kinda boring. Diablo is like a medieval game. It's like fantasy and you find a cave, and it leads to hell. Like deeper and deeper and deeper into the ground there are demons and other monsters. And it's actually pretty cool. Really bloody of course. And then they made a sequel. Where basically you had to go through different lands and stuff. It was actually a pretty fun game. Like people would get really into it. One of the main reasons was definately the way they made the graphics look. Because like... it was just really well done. Like if you just hear the story of the game it sounds really kinda stupid. But once you play it it's like not really about the story. It's more about fighting through different bad guys getting better armor and stuff. And you kill bigger and bigger bosses that're all really difficult. And then they use ancient names for the devil and his helpers and stuff. Like I guess you could say it's really biblically influenced. Which's kinda like being influenced on folklore and stuff. So of course there's always like a blacksmith. 'Cause in fantasy games there's always a blacksmith in your medieval town. They'd fix your gear. And then of course there was a merchant who you could sell stuff too. All pretty basic stuff. All stuff that'd been done before and has been repeated. But the reason why it was so cool was for alot of us, it was the first time we'd seen it. Like... it was, i guess you could say, a window into dungeons and dragons. Like that game has influenced so much of my life without ever playing it. Like with Everquest that game is based on Dungeons and Dragons and Lord of the Rings and Beowulf. And what's really cool is fantasy literature is really a young genre. Like when Tolkien when he put out The Hobbit started it. And then in the 70's, about 30 years later, they started Dungeons and Dragons. And then of course in the 80s they started making computer games. 'Cause thats when the computers were first powerful enough for them. And basically like, there was just this explosion of game making. They explored like every type of subject and game. And eventually the computer became complex enough for them to do dungeons and dragons stuff on the computer. And then thats when games like neverwinter nights and stuff like that started coming out. Nintendo of course had Zelda. And in 1999, right on the edge of the 2000s, Everquest came out. Basically in the years before that, the past 10 to 20 years, there was this genre of game called MUDs that was popular. And basically what they did was take the MUDs style, and give it graphics, because it was text based. And the thing is, they borrowed from two major things. The MUD. But also the Dungeons and Dragons setup for how you play games.
But anyway, we've got Dungeons and Dragons, which's like the 1970s. And then we've got MUDs in the 1980s. And finally, we get MMOs in the 90s. And this is the LATE 90s. Everquest. 1999. And when it first came out it changed the entire industry by creating an entirely new kind of game. See they weren't the first to do it and they weren't the last to do it. But they did it the best. And that's why even today Everquest is still popular even though the graphics are from 1999. Now World of Warcraft used the same model that Everquest invented. In fact there are so many things from Everquest that you really feel like you're playing an updated version of Everquest. But World of Warcraft did was, they took that early success from Diablo, and their Warcraft games. Those were at first single player and then multiplayer but only through the internet to about ten people. And so those were really popular games and actually another game from that company Starcraft is still popular today. Over in like Korea and stuff. So anyway they've got this massive group of fans from this old genre of game. And Everquest meanwhile is pioneering MMOs noone else is really doing it. And so, what Blizzard does, they're the company that owns Warcraft, is they decide to take their game and put it in this new genre that Everquest is doing really well in. It's like the equivolent of like, Lord of the Rings on film. You know how that was just rediculously popular. People already liked the story from the books. So film was invented and its a cool thing to do. And they took something that was popular before, and they put it into this. And they made a shitload of money. That's exactly what Blizzard did with Warcraft. While Everquest is good, the story behind it is weak. But Blizzard had a good story for Warcraft. Basically when put into the same arena as Everquest, Warcraft won. But here's the thing. There was about five years where Everquest dominated MMOs. They had the most subscribers, they made the most money every month. And that was because up until that point, they destroyed their competition. And there was this game called Age of Conan, which was way better graphics than everquest, and it completely failed. It was popular for a few months and then it died. And its interesting because MMOs only work if you have thousands of people playing it. The less people that play, the shittier the game becomes for everyone that plays it. So in that sense you could make the sweetest MMO ever, but if you can't hold your players, you're done. Your game will suck if not enough people play. So the question is how do you make sure you always have thousands of people on your game. Well as a general rule these games try to give you shitloads of things to do. Alot of people will talk about how playing an MMO is cheaper than going to a bar. And that's very true. Because all you're paying is 10 to 20 dollars a month. That's basically like one day at a bar. Or, if you play an MMO, you get 30 days, nonstop, of a game, where you actually come across more people, than if you were at that bar. So thats one of the reasons why that game was really popular. But there's alot of aspects to this whole thing. If people play games too much they can damage their eyes with the screens. If they play games too much they can destroy their work or social life. And more than one person has killed themself because their life was so shitty because of an MMO. So this is like one of the controversies of the genre today. It's really kindof a weird thing because people get married through these games. Some of these people move in with people they play games with. Some of these people only have friends through their game. In alot of ways, regular Dungeons and Dragons with pen and paper is alot healthier. Because you're not like straining the fuck out of your eyes. And you're not like talking to a computer instead of a person. So that keeps people in reality. But its very true that these games can definately suck people in. After all thats what the game makers want. If they dont have a couple thousand people always in the game, the whole thing becomes boring to everybody.
So it's kindof an interesting thing all of this. I played one of the MMOs for 8 years. So i know all about MMOs and all that stuff. To me its like a sub-culture. It's not even a regular gamer anymore. It's its own class of gamer because you're completely different. And it's probably pretty addicting to alot of people. It's probably like a drug. It's kindof like alcohol. It's not good for you but people like to drink it. Drink too much and it can destroy your liver. And with gaming, game too much and you destroy your eyes. Not to mention the effects on the rest of your body. Because you're not movnig when you're playing a game. So not only are your eyes being strained, but you're like losing muscle mass. You might be building clots in your arteries. There's lots of things that can happen to a body that isn't used in the ways its supposed to. That's where like, things like LARPing come in. Live action RPG. Or Renaissance festivals. There are people who make their money completely from renaissance festivals. Either juggling or sword fighting, horse riding. Some people make swords. Or armor. Some people make clothes, and jewelry. All of the medieval crafts are things that people can do to make money at a Renaissance fair. And there are people who actually buy these things on a regular basis too. All of this is part of the fantasy fan-base. There's entire jobs and communities of people who live with fantasy. And so for someone thats maybe played computer games that're fantasy based, maybe they weren't necessarily cut out for computer gaming, but they love the content of fantasy. That's how you get into stuff like folklore. The band Sigur Ros wouldn't have written a single song if they weren't into fantasy. The band Led Zeppelin wouldn't have written their best record if it wasn't for fantasy. And Peter Jackson would never have made that film trilogy if it wasn't for Tolkien. And of course after the movie came out then an MMO came out too. In a way computer games give people who have day jobs the chance to lead a double life. But they're not the best way to experience fantasy. Deviant Art is full of people who make pictures and things based on fantasy. Elfwood, is a website like Deviant Art that is dedicated entirely to fantasy. And these have thousands of new things every day, every day of the year. The communities are huge. Fantasy has even brought about new religions. The Neo-Pagans, definately have become more popular because of things like Lord of the Rings. And Neo-Pagans are just a broad category, of people of various different faiths, who are trying to ressurect dead religions. there's the Bardic religion, which in everquest they have a class called a bard and that's based on that religion. The religion came first and the class was made after. Also, druids, in Everquest, there are Neo-druids today, the people who used to live in England, before Christianity came. Nature-loving religions. Religions that have to do with many gods. That have to do with respecting the earth. These people lived in harmony with the planet for many thousands of years. It's only this Industrial Revolution which's been endorsed by Christianity which's destroyed so much. And it's interesting because Tolkien wrote about the industrial revolution. His whole point was: Industry can be bad as well as good. All of the modern conveniences we have today come from factories. Factories are ugly looking things that spit out polution. He didn't like that. And his views, that were put into his book, have had massive effect on the world today. It took a World War for him to realize how bad technology can be. It's just really cool that we have that whole movement of people today. You should check out this documentary called Darkon. It's all about the LARPing thing I was telling you about. It was pretty cool too.
Tuesday, November 3, 2009
Monday, October 26, 2009
EQ2sday
So EQ2sday's on. I miss this show hah. It's a great one. I met the guy who runs it, he's a good guy. Just general all around good samaritan in the community. And their show is always pretty interesting to listen through. Generally the guys joke about stuff in a generally positive way, and it's really engaging and stuff.
And then lately there's this thing I've got going where I like to go in reverse order. So whilst there's many shows I haveyet to listen to, as I've been busy with one thing or another, I'm starting with the most recent podcast this time, to go from the latest back. And it's great. What more do you need to convince you this things great, than the fact that I listen to a Game podcast without playing the game at hand? In fact listening to this podcast literally makes me want to game.
Plus, Dellmon is an old EQ player, so there's this general shared knowledge deal that I completely get, and keeps the show interesting to me as a non-EQ2 player. Now like I said, I've played EQ2, but it's never stuck. I've tried it alone, and I've tried it with Anita. But even with PVP research, as well as regular server playing, I just haven't been hooked on the game like I ever was on EQ1.
Another thing Dellmon likes to talk about is Allakhazam.com. That's a website that I have used for years, with my guilds in EQ1 I would get myself involved with raids and there is much information on those on the site. Plus when I was working on my Epic with my Paladin, Allakhazam.com was again a great resource for information regarding that quest. Allakhazam.com is generally my favorite website with everquest information, and it is probably the best EQ1 website out there.
But the thing is, quite honestly, there are few things as great as curling up and setting up to listen to an episode of EQ2sday. This is generally some serious entertainment for me. So I am very pleased right now.
And then lately there's this thing I've got going where I like to go in reverse order. So whilst there's many shows I haveyet to listen to, as I've been busy with one thing or another, I'm starting with the most recent podcast this time, to go from the latest back. And it's great. What more do you need to convince you this things great, than the fact that I listen to a Game podcast without playing the game at hand? In fact listening to this podcast literally makes me want to game.
Plus, Dellmon is an old EQ player, so there's this general shared knowledge deal that I completely get, and keeps the show interesting to me as a non-EQ2 player. Now like I said, I've played EQ2, but it's never stuck. I've tried it alone, and I've tried it with Anita. But even with PVP research, as well as regular server playing, I just haven't been hooked on the game like I ever was on EQ1.
Another thing Dellmon likes to talk about is Allakhazam.com. That's a website that I have used for years, with my guilds in EQ1 I would get myself involved with raids and there is much information on those on the site. Plus when I was working on my Epic with my Paladin, Allakhazam.com was again a great resource for information regarding that quest. Allakhazam.com is generally my favorite website with everquest information, and it is probably the best EQ1 website out there.
But the thing is, quite honestly, there are few things as great as curling up and setting up to listen to an episode of EQ2sday. This is generally some serious entertainment for me. So I am very pleased right now.
Friday, October 23, 2009
talking about EQ
EQ needs better levels. And less boring Classes. Paladins are too boring to play. Like, their only point is heals. Which gets old. Very old.
maybe part of it is how i kinda used to play it to kkinda ignore alot of the problems in my life at the time, which in a way made me grow to hate the game.
and then there's the whole catch-up deal you've got to put up with when you play. like if you're got for a long time, you have to churn out some levels, some aa's, and other crap.
the fact that this new expansion is like, to do with my character's background and all that is kinda cool. like it makes me want to check it out and shit. and the screenshots make it look like they've made better looking levels again which is kinda cool.
then there's the whole matter of guilds. every time you come back there's the issue of whether or not you should join one, then there's the whole like... issue with basically how much time you spend and then all of a sudden it turns into a job again. i guess thats the thing, being able to tell a mile away whether or not its something fun, or hard work that just kinda has not one iota of fun.
and then there's always the latest class of the current xpac, whoever's benefitted most from their abilities. currently seems to be wizards, who im hearing double rogues and zerkers hah.
maybe part of it is how i kinda used to play it to kkinda ignore alot of the problems in my life at the time, which in a way made me grow to hate the game.
and then there's the whole catch-up deal you've got to put up with when you play. like if you're got for a long time, you have to churn out some levels, some aa's, and other crap.
the fact that this new expansion is like, to do with my character's background and all that is kinda cool. like it makes me want to check it out and shit. and the screenshots make it look like they've made better looking levels again which is kinda cool.
then there's the whole matter of guilds. every time you come back there's the issue of whether or not you should join one, then there's the whole like... issue with basically how much time you spend and then all of a sudden it turns into a job again. i guess thats the thing, being able to tell a mile away whether or not its something fun, or hard work that just kinda has not one iota of fun.
and then there's always the latest class of the current xpac, whoever's benefitted most from their abilities. currently seems to be wizards, who im hearing double rogues and zerkers hah.
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
so im online again. 51 50 server, reykholt the drakkin necromancer, level 51. yep, since creation he's gained nary a level. but... at the same time i've still enjoyed my time on him. in a way it makes sense to play a character that has a lot of areas in which to advance. given the fact that o di like the social aspect of the game, there will come time that friends will want to adventure, and i'd better be a class that can join in, instead of standing back and moaning for lack of aa's or interest for that matter. so whilst the 51 50 population is kinda small, its nice to have a class that i haven't done much with to use, rather than the same old paladin. part of it is hte habit of loading the old paladin, something i kept up for nearly a decade. thats a long time, and like i said, old habits die hard. but the other part is the persona that character's developed. he's known for certain things, he's known amongst various circles of the game. any other character, anonymous without resorting to admitting defeat and namechecking the old main
so im off to the guild lobby, figure i might check out the guilds on the board. maybe they've got a newb low req guild i can fit into. i guess i must like guilds, huh? immediately my eyes fall to a guild named inasnity... best avoid that one eh? im looking for a cool name... Council of Marr... that sounds kinda neat. Lost Souls... cool. The Malazan Empire... hah ambitious.
im considering just making the warrior. might as well right? since i took the time to come up with the name. and it's the newest addition to the hoard of alts i've got eh? heh. alright. well the names taken and im pretty sure i took it on the other account. so instead of logging out deleting and logging back in... i think ill try out one of the guys pre-made on this account on 51 50. there's in addition to the necromancer a beastlord, cleric, and magician. i picked Helsenhorn, a drakkin cleric of the black drake. level 51, haven't messed with him much yet. the idea is, while he is low, that most folks can typically use healer aid, so if i can ingratiate myself to a higher level melee whose LFG, maybe i can score some xp. otherwise... its off to go solo, which i hate to do.
well i went to gorukar mesa, alone, and began the drakkin quests there. kill wolves, snakes bears, etc. xp wasnt bad, but the kill rate was slow. clerics arent really equipped to solo. theyve got one spell, cast it over and over. its a bit dull. the general chat of course began its chirping, the immature kids online ranting about cocain and shit. they got reported, alot. then it died down. i managed to toss a guy a tip about power sources when asked. otherwise, its dead quiet. i was inches away from disconnecting from the chat, but kept myself from it. its after all the social aspects that make EQ more fun than say a single player.
it seems like the beastlord will be more in-depth than the cleric as far as solo play goes. however ive never successfully played a beastlord for more than a couple of minutes, so we'll see. it might be that the melee-centric nature of the beastlord just keeps me from enjoying it, given my time put in on the paladin in the past. it's an ogre, Glaubenberg the massive ogre beastlord with bear pet in tow.
so im off to the guild lobby, figure i might check out the guilds on the board. maybe they've got a newb low req guild i can fit into. i guess i must like guilds, huh? immediately my eyes fall to a guild named inasnity... best avoid that one eh? im looking for a cool name... Council of Marr... that sounds kinda neat. Lost Souls... cool. The Malazan Empire... hah ambitious.
im considering just making the warrior. might as well right? since i took the time to come up with the name. and it's the newest addition to the hoard of alts i've got eh? heh. alright. well the names taken and im pretty sure i took it on the other account. so instead of logging out deleting and logging back in... i think ill try out one of the guys pre-made on this account on 51 50. there's in addition to the necromancer a beastlord, cleric, and magician. i picked Helsenhorn, a drakkin cleric of the black drake. level 51, haven't messed with him much yet. the idea is, while he is low, that most folks can typically use healer aid, so if i can ingratiate myself to a higher level melee whose LFG, maybe i can score some xp. otherwise... its off to go solo, which i hate to do.
well i went to gorukar mesa, alone, and began the drakkin quests there. kill wolves, snakes bears, etc. xp wasnt bad, but the kill rate was slow. clerics arent really equipped to solo. theyve got one spell, cast it over and over. its a bit dull. the general chat of course began its chirping, the immature kids online ranting about cocain and shit. they got reported, alot. then it died down. i managed to toss a guy a tip about power sources when asked. otherwise, its dead quiet. i was inches away from disconnecting from the chat, but kept myself from it. its after all the social aspects that make EQ more fun than say a single player.
it seems like the beastlord will be more in-depth than the cleric as far as solo play goes. however ive never successfully played a beastlord for more than a couple of minutes, so we'll see. it might be that the melee-centric nature of the beastlord just keeps me from enjoying it, given my time put in on the paladin in the past. it's an ogre, Glaubenberg the massive ogre beastlord with bear pet in tow.
Monday, September 7, 2009
everquest journal
i think im going to try a warrior. im reactivating for one month, the usual i do if i decide to pick the game back up typically.
its having my confirm my credit card. look at all the expired ones from years past hah.
now you might be wondering why warrior. well, the thinking goes, i played a tank for so long, and honestly, thats the role i know best, and am most comfortable with. my impulses are tank-aligned with EQ. then you might say, "then why not use the paladin?" and my answer is... well, i just don't enjoy the class any longer. I've spent a good long while with it, and don't get me wrong, i've had fun with it, but paladins just aren't what I expected the day i rolled one back in the summer of 2000. theyve evolved, changed, grown, and while theyve come a long way, i just dont like the point theyve arrived at. so then the question is, "what else is there?" a hell of alot really.
but if youre not interested in rolling a healer, which rules out many, or a caster, which gets rid of alot more, then youre staring the same tank role in the eye again, and the best of those is the warrior, hands down. when you play one, you feel like youre playing the game the way its meant to be done. paladins... unfortunately... are just a throw-in that just aren't really meant to be used in the EQ of today. not for casual use anyway, and never truely accepted in the parameters of the game, be it group or raid, or even solo.
ive got the updater running, its at 1:05. always some new patch heh. just like old times. I've decided to go with my old main account, i've got about 3 to choose from, 4 if i factor in the all-but-unusuable communal account of the shaman. 0:46. how slow it can seem. and lovely, its stuck on that time.
1Bruckenauer + sounds pretty strong +
looks weird
Frutigen + i just see fruit
Gmund + might be an idiot knight
Golling -
2Wandelbaer + reminds me of grendel +
looks like wonderbear
3Thuringer + sounds like thunder +
looks like "the ringer"
4Vacha + reminds me of sigur ros +
Vogar -
Barglistock -
5Helsenhorn + seems cool -
Rotstock -
Kasten + reminds me of casper the ghost
Ratikon + sounds like a transformer
Glarus + sounds roman
Gurk -
6Stoss + pretty strong +
so i went with stoss. barbarian warrior, agnostic, crescent reach, in the tutorial. long brown hair, mutton chops.
what starting area do i want to go to... picked up a warrior merc for the extra dps. wont need the healer until say level ten. well i think ill go to rivervale with the hobbits, aka halflings.
well it might be hobbits but the graphics suck. i think i might hobble off to the drakkin hometown and work up some tradeskills for free.
well i got to level four, but decided, to hell with it, and im going to remake Stoss the warrior on the new 51 50 server, where i'll start a few levels ahead heh.
well... i decided to activate the 2nd account, where all my 51 50 chars are stored. i know... why activate two accounts right? but i was an idiot and activated the wrong one hah. i was thinking i'd take advantage of The Nameless's main char bank account for some twinking... but i underestimated how much i didn't want to level up again. hah. well... there i go i suppose, eh? ;p. i cancelled it to make sure it only runs one month. in this case, i know exactly which character i'll run. the necromancer. cancelled dinds one as well. i cant believe i activated what ended up being the wrong account. ah well. old habits die hard, i flock to that account every time i decide to reactivate. it'll take awhile i guess to get through my thick skull that it's pierce's account i'm messing with nowadays.
to be continued...
its having my confirm my credit card. look at all the expired ones from years past hah.
now you might be wondering why warrior. well, the thinking goes, i played a tank for so long, and honestly, thats the role i know best, and am most comfortable with. my impulses are tank-aligned with EQ. then you might say, "then why not use the paladin?" and my answer is... well, i just don't enjoy the class any longer. I've spent a good long while with it, and don't get me wrong, i've had fun with it, but paladins just aren't what I expected the day i rolled one back in the summer of 2000. theyve evolved, changed, grown, and while theyve come a long way, i just dont like the point theyve arrived at. so then the question is, "what else is there?" a hell of alot really.
but if youre not interested in rolling a healer, which rules out many, or a caster, which gets rid of alot more, then youre staring the same tank role in the eye again, and the best of those is the warrior, hands down. when you play one, you feel like youre playing the game the way its meant to be done. paladins... unfortunately... are just a throw-in that just aren't really meant to be used in the EQ of today. not for casual use anyway, and never truely accepted in the parameters of the game, be it group or raid, or even solo.
ive got the updater running, its at 1:05. always some new patch heh. just like old times. I've decided to go with my old main account, i've got about 3 to choose from, 4 if i factor in the all-but-unusuable communal account of the shaman. 0:46. how slow it can seem. and lovely, its stuck on that time.
1Bruckenauer + sounds pretty strong +
looks weird
Frutigen + i just see fruit
Gmund + might be an idiot knight
Golling -
2Wandelbaer + reminds me of grendel +
looks like wonderbear
3Thuringer + sounds like thunder +
looks like "the ringer"
4Vacha + reminds me of sigur ros +
Vogar -
Barglistock -
5Helsenhorn + seems cool -
Rotstock -
Kasten + reminds me of casper the ghost
Ratikon + sounds like a transformer
Glarus + sounds roman
Gurk -
6Stoss + pretty strong +
so i went with stoss. barbarian warrior, agnostic, crescent reach, in the tutorial. long brown hair, mutton chops.
what starting area do i want to go to... picked up a warrior merc for the extra dps. wont need the healer until say level ten. well i think ill go to rivervale with the hobbits, aka halflings.
well it might be hobbits but the graphics suck. i think i might hobble off to the drakkin hometown and work up some tradeskills for free.
well i got to level four, but decided, to hell with it, and im going to remake Stoss the warrior on the new 51 50 server, where i'll start a few levels ahead heh.
well... i decided to activate the 2nd account, where all my 51 50 chars are stored. i know... why activate two accounts right? but i was an idiot and activated the wrong one hah. i was thinking i'd take advantage of The Nameless's main char bank account for some twinking... but i underestimated how much i didn't want to level up again. hah. well... there i go i suppose, eh? ;p. i cancelled it to make sure it only runs one month. in this case, i know exactly which character i'll run. the necromancer. cancelled dinds one as well. i cant believe i activated what ended up being the wrong account. ah well. old habits die hard, i flock to that account every time i decide to reactivate. it'll take awhile i guess to get through my thick skull that it's pierce's account i'm messing with nowadays.
to be continued...
Sunday, September 6, 2009
considering reactivating
well, i've finally got some real downtime, and i'm considering reactivating an account, either of everquest one, or everquest two. of the two, i haven't yet decided which will be the one i attempt. however the thought of trying to do a necromancer in perhaps something like the firiona vie server, seems like it could be cool. the ability to buy all sorts of junk and all being the draw. necromancer for the soloist ability, that and the distance from melee fighting. having read the necro class is the only one that's really been repeatedly tuned for solo play, it seems the best choice. especially given the light population of the servers today. of course... i could just say to hell with it, and try something else. perhaps a little more oblivion. who knows. perhaps there's something better out there. whilst anita does play alot of the wii, i do have my oppertunities to get some playtime in. perhaps i'd try out zelda. but otherwise... yeah. there just isnt much out there for pc gamers. warhammer was OK, but it got old. AoC was just all but unplayable. WoW is just horribly easy, and ive already played through it a number of times. that inevitably is EQ's problem too, ive just done too much of it.
perhaps i'll go in the direction of an Oblivion round. however, the thing with that is i don't really like it all that much... heh. i did the side quests first and then attempted the main, found it exceedingly difficult, which ended up cranking up the fun. only that character was deleted by mistake, and the replacement ran through teh story much earlier, and found it to be significantly easier. rediculously so, and honestly just not nearly as fun. i just dont know of any remotely fun games on the PC. to me, its about people, moreso than the games themselves, because those long drawn out single player games, well, im more or less burned out on those. in fact, im not sure why i bought so many single player games for the wii, except perhaps just sheer habit of buying the things i'd been using to buying as a child. i had a sega after all in probably the year 1990. and yeah, perhaps i should know better, but perhaps this is me learning a lesson, and eventually i'll look back and realize it's the multiplayer games im after, so when it comes to MMOs its about the player base and when it comes to console games its about the multiplayer option. otherwise... its just another thing to sit in front of for long hours, boring, time wasting, and just generally dull.
the thing is, given the fact that i do have some spare time, usually i'd be all about trying to get the EQ account active, but i've got a couple decent reasons not to bother. firstly, the class of the main i used to run the most often has just declined into something no longer fun to play. a marriage of playing it too long, and just general stagnation and eroding of certain aspects of fun within the class have left it boring and berefit of any spark. second, the player organization with which i most recently was affiliated has booted my digital self, and it doesnt seem like i'd be able to get the tag back with any reasonable ease. While there are many familiar faces still on the server, it just doesnt seem like a functional place to enjoy some time off. I'd probably be best served just getting drunk, or writing a song, or watching some television, or at worst, some console, but not any PC im afraid. there's just not any new games to pull me away from the old stagnating ones that used to rock but no longer do. its like these coders like to pull the rug out from under you and leave you hanging. but that seems to be the current trend. either way, i still might find myself onto EQ2 within the next few hours or so, we shall see. or even EQ1. all depends.
perhaps i'll go in the direction of an Oblivion round. however, the thing with that is i don't really like it all that much... heh. i did the side quests first and then attempted the main, found it exceedingly difficult, which ended up cranking up the fun. only that character was deleted by mistake, and the replacement ran through teh story much earlier, and found it to be significantly easier. rediculously so, and honestly just not nearly as fun. i just dont know of any remotely fun games on the PC. to me, its about people, moreso than the games themselves, because those long drawn out single player games, well, im more or less burned out on those. in fact, im not sure why i bought so many single player games for the wii, except perhaps just sheer habit of buying the things i'd been using to buying as a child. i had a sega after all in probably the year 1990. and yeah, perhaps i should know better, but perhaps this is me learning a lesson, and eventually i'll look back and realize it's the multiplayer games im after, so when it comes to MMOs its about the player base and when it comes to console games its about the multiplayer option. otherwise... its just another thing to sit in front of for long hours, boring, time wasting, and just generally dull.
the thing is, given the fact that i do have some spare time, usually i'd be all about trying to get the EQ account active, but i've got a couple decent reasons not to bother. firstly, the class of the main i used to run the most often has just declined into something no longer fun to play. a marriage of playing it too long, and just general stagnation and eroding of certain aspects of fun within the class have left it boring and berefit of any spark. second, the player organization with which i most recently was affiliated has booted my digital self, and it doesnt seem like i'd be able to get the tag back with any reasonable ease. While there are many familiar faces still on the server, it just doesnt seem like a functional place to enjoy some time off. I'd probably be best served just getting drunk, or writing a song, or watching some television, or at worst, some console, but not any PC im afraid. there's just not any new games to pull me away from the old stagnating ones that used to rock but no longer do. its like these coders like to pull the rug out from under you and leave you hanging. but that seems to be the current trend. either way, i still might find myself onto EQ2 within the next few hours or so, we shall see. or even EQ1. all depends.
Saturday, September 5, 2009
the wii
so we picked up a wii. there's a few games too, mario kart, mario galaxy, mario smash, zelda, it came with sports, and we recently picked up chocobo's dungeon, a final fantasy-esque game. now ive played little of the wii myself, but my girlfriend has done the lion's share of the gaming. she loves it. she's pretty huge about making mii's, she had me make one, then she had us do the fitness thing on wii sports. apparently it rates your would-be age given your performance in a few given tasks. it seems interesting. i rated 77, and then 80. she did about the same heh. an interesting thing about it is you can only run the wii fitness thing like once a day. the mii thing is semi interesting too. you can give it a name, and can configure its face and the like. not the most customizable character creation ever but its interesting. at the screen where you can watch over all the mii's, you can watch them roaming around and perhaps interacting with each other. that bit of it is neat. my favorite games are smash brothers and mario kart respectively. they were of course my favorites when i was younger, and these versions are basically more or less the same engines, no major overhauls, and same gameplay too.
in some ways im disappointed, because of the fact so little about the wii really is new. now the controller is neat, i havent yet gotten used to it truth be told, but i mean... the games. mario for instance, the mario galaxy game... it seems just like super mario for the n64. i mean yeah it looks cool, just like that 64 mario looked great too... but i never really played that game more than a few minutes. it just wasnt fun. and neither does this seem it either. mario karts great, but its entirely about the multiplayer experience. and with two controllers, and a girlfriend who hates to be against you, or die really, then its a matter of some hardcore team action against an incompetant npc team. so that kills some of the fun there. but beyond that, zelda seems nice. i mean of the games ive seen so far, zelda seems nice... only it seems like the graphics were aged, and when i looked it up i noticed it had the year 2006 stamped on it. i mean... come on now, how advanced is this wii really. i have yet to see something that shocks me in how good it looks. the xbox for instance with halo and the like kinda had me more glued to my seat than what im seeing from this wii. but then im starting to read things like the wii just isnt the best graphic system out there as a known fact. so that might move me to buy an xbox.
but thus far, we have many games, most of which havent been played with much. and i guess thats a good thing, in that basically we're not addicted, we're not glued. i used to play games as a kid, over in england, before and after we moved, so as early as '90 and '91. so, the year being '09, it's been awhile. not only that, i've spent alot of time away from consoles altogether, sticking almost entirely with PC's, and a singular PC game, everquest. sure, i picked up oblivion, only it never stuck, and honestly i'd still be playing everquest if the coders weren't mucking it up. slashing the support crew, slackening the pace of expansions, destroying what greatness the game originally held. its a shame to see something so great as EQ go down the tube, but the coders who made this game great i fear i never had the chance to know, and those that run it now, well, they do a decent job on some visible things, but on others... its just appalling. for instance, zone design. at some point, EQ fell hard. Kunark style zones were exchanged for veritable boxes, zones with raised edges and no notable features save a wall perhaps a hundred feet in front of you. depressing. that and the scaling back of diversity of implimented mobs. the models are recycled in a very obvious way. there just is no focus on looks.
another folly of EQ is that the men behind the scenes tend to shuffle people out of EQ and into EQ2, either that or newer games that are yet to be released. EQ gets such a low priority that it gets the fresh blood, those who have little to no clue, and unfortunately the game suffers because of it. keeping none of the flag bearers on in EQ, those who coined the arena that EQ was during its heyday, noone to enforce the old ways, those that have taken over have changed it, morphed it, into something worse, not quite great, and unfortunately, shit. its something we see often, good things don't always last, and usually they're just a chance happening where things seem to work out, either because nobody plays it, or because its just got all the right people in the top management, with all the right support, a shared vision, and all that, but time has a bad way of weathering these things down. people move on, others are brought in, and inevitably the vision slips and the game becomes a vehicle for the next guys own ambitions. and meanwhile we're left with increasingly worse content. its just a shame because over the years the game has built a following but those who epxect the old way are just left in the dark, meanwhile those who dont mind the new way are shown the way to their tables. bitterly swallowed
but the thing is, EQ was so good, that i dont think there was another game out there quite as good as it. I've tried WoW, and other things, and honestly, they just don't measure up. I'm just not really impressed with what i find there. and honestly, i dont think i will see another game that takes all the things that EQ did right and stick them in a game for a long while. there's too few games being made, its a big effort to make a game, and even if you set out in the beginning to make a game like that, in the end it may not get executed that way. so many things stand in the way, its a battle from start to finish, and each of the people involved influence things deeply. there has to be a deep understand of whats being tried to be accomplished. otherwise without that airtight knowledge of the goals, then things can go to shit. and thats whast happened with EQ. they brought in replacements, didn't bother checking if they really got it, and then left the reigns, and left the building. unsupervised, things got real bad, real quick. entire armies of people who had made legions of friends during their time online just began to leave, because the place just didn't serve their kind any more. its a shame but games have a way of abandoning fans and families. but thats the bitter cycle of things of this nature.
many of these articles i write tend to devolve into a recollection of the former greatness of everquest and its current demise, but honestly its something im still trying to properly master, how exactly did it happen, and where do we go from here. the truth is there is nowhere for us to go, except into the sunset, soldiering on. we can never expect another thing like EQ, because it was a chance happening, and whilst it may happen again, the odds are against it. the original men behind it are scattered, one of them suffering from drug addiction for instance and major unreliability problems. if they had an allstar team that was able to assemble themselves and put something amazing together agani it could work, but then the makers of EQ weren't known for a sustaniably good product, but more a brief blip of goodness. kindof like a one hit wonder band, such as Kings of Leon, they had a great album, then devolved into a clone of another band. they lost their infectiously good sound, and instead put together a contrived version of someone elses, and it just didnt sound half as good. things like this can and do happen, all the time. the key is to enjoy the good bits for what they were, brief flashes of genius, and just shielding yourself from the badness that is the rest of the work from that crew.
but back to thw ii, i would've expected better stuff than basically rehashes of games i played when i was half my age today. but alas thats what it seems to be. i mean this is worse than the sequel epedemic in the film industry today. at least they have comics to mine. games dont even have that. the thing is there is no equivolent for games. the industry and the medium is so new that there just isnt ay prior masterpiece that designers and writers can draw from. and if they do its generally so overplayed that its beaten dead. like say warcraft, starcraft, diablo, EQ, all these games were great, so great that they really couldn't exist reasonably outside their game of origin. the truth is that hardcore players will play those games to death. and then when the developers haul out a new iteration, many of those hardcore folk have gotten their jollies already and dont really want to do it all over again. its like sequels, or serials. let the fucking soaps be on tv alone. gaming doesnt need them. we need highly original, new, and markedly different and unique experiences in each play to make it all worthwhile. otherwise... why bother. why play the same game five times for five prices. its just not worth it. and that kindof gaming has a shelf life.
in some ways im disappointed, because of the fact so little about the wii really is new. now the controller is neat, i havent yet gotten used to it truth be told, but i mean... the games. mario for instance, the mario galaxy game... it seems just like super mario for the n64. i mean yeah it looks cool, just like that 64 mario looked great too... but i never really played that game more than a few minutes. it just wasnt fun. and neither does this seem it either. mario karts great, but its entirely about the multiplayer experience. and with two controllers, and a girlfriend who hates to be against you, or die really, then its a matter of some hardcore team action against an incompetant npc team. so that kills some of the fun there. but beyond that, zelda seems nice. i mean of the games ive seen so far, zelda seems nice... only it seems like the graphics were aged, and when i looked it up i noticed it had the year 2006 stamped on it. i mean... come on now, how advanced is this wii really. i have yet to see something that shocks me in how good it looks. the xbox for instance with halo and the like kinda had me more glued to my seat than what im seeing from this wii. but then im starting to read things like the wii just isnt the best graphic system out there as a known fact. so that might move me to buy an xbox.
but thus far, we have many games, most of which havent been played with much. and i guess thats a good thing, in that basically we're not addicted, we're not glued. i used to play games as a kid, over in england, before and after we moved, so as early as '90 and '91. so, the year being '09, it's been awhile. not only that, i've spent alot of time away from consoles altogether, sticking almost entirely with PC's, and a singular PC game, everquest. sure, i picked up oblivion, only it never stuck, and honestly i'd still be playing everquest if the coders weren't mucking it up. slashing the support crew, slackening the pace of expansions, destroying what greatness the game originally held. its a shame to see something so great as EQ go down the tube, but the coders who made this game great i fear i never had the chance to know, and those that run it now, well, they do a decent job on some visible things, but on others... its just appalling. for instance, zone design. at some point, EQ fell hard. Kunark style zones were exchanged for veritable boxes, zones with raised edges and no notable features save a wall perhaps a hundred feet in front of you. depressing. that and the scaling back of diversity of implimented mobs. the models are recycled in a very obvious way. there just is no focus on looks.
another folly of EQ is that the men behind the scenes tend to shuffle people out of EQ and into EQ2, either that or newer games that are yet to be released. EQ gets such a low priority that it gets the fresh blood, those who have little to no clue, and unfortunately the game suffers because of it. keeping none of the flag bearers on in EQ, those who coined the arena that EQ was during its heyday, noone to enforce the old ways, those that have taken over have changed it, morphed it, into something worse, not quite great, and unfortunately, shit. its something we see often, good things don't always last, and usually they're just a chance happening where things seem to work out, either because nobody plays it, or because its just got all the right people in the top management, with all the right support, a shared vision, and all that, but time has a bad way of weathering these things down. people move on, others are brought in, and inevitably the vision slips and the game becomes a vehicle for the next guys own ambitions. and meanwhile we're left with increasingly worse content. its just a shame because over the years the game has built a following but those who epxect the old way are just left in the dark, meanwhile those who dont mind the new way are shown the way to their tables. bitterly swallowed
but the thing is, EQ was so good, that i dont think there was another game out there quite as good as it. I've tried WoW, and other things, and honestly, they just don't measure up. I'm just not really impressed with what i find there. and honestly, i dont think i will see another game that takes all the things that EQ did right and stick them in a game for a long while. there's too few games being made, its a big effort to make a game, and even if you set out in the beginning to make a game like that, in the end it may not get executed that way. so many things stand in the way, its a battle from start to finish, and each of the people involved influence things deeply. there has to be a deep understand of whats being tried to be accomplished. otherwise without that airtight knowledge of the goals, then things can go to shit. and thats whast happened with EQ. they brought in replacements, didn't bother checking if they really got it, and then left the reigns, and left the building. unsupervised, things got real bad, real quick. entire armies of people who had made legions of friends during their time online just began to leave, because the place just didn't serve their kind any more. its a shame but games have a way of abandoning fans and families. but thats the bitter cycle of things of this nature.
many of these articles i write tend to devolve into a recollection of the former greatness of everquest and its current demise, but honestly its something im still trying to properly master, how exactly did it happen, and where do we go from here. the truth is there is nowhere for us to go, except into the sunset, soldiering on. we can never expect another thing like EQ, because it was a chance happening, and whilst it may happen again, the odds are against it. the original men behind it are scattered, one of them suffering from drug addiction for instance and major unreliability problems. if they had an allstar team that was able to assemble themselves and put something amazing together agani it could work, but then the makers of EQ weren't known for a sustaniably good product, but more a brief blip of goodness. kindof like a one hit wonder band, such as Kings of Leon, they had a great album, then devolved into a clone of another band. they lost their infectiously good sound, and instead put together a contrived version of someone elses, and it just didnt sound half as good. things like this can and do happen, all the time. the key is to enjoy the good bits for what they were, brief flashes of genius, and just shielding yourself from the badness that is the rest of the work from that crew.
but back to thw ii, i would've expected better stuff than basically rehashes of games i played when i was half my age today. but alas thats what it seems to be. i mean this is worse than the sequel epedemic in the film industry today. at least they have comics to mine. games dont even have that. the thing is there is no equivolent for games. the industry and the medium is so new that there just isnt ay prior masterpiece that designers and writers can draw from. and if they do its generally so overplayed that its beaten dead. like say warcraft, starcraft, diablo, EQ, all these games were great, so great that they really couldn't exist reasonably outside their game of origin. the truth is that hardcore players will play those games to death. and then when the developers haul out a new iteration, many of those hardcore folk have gotten their jollies already and dont really want to do it all over again. its like sequels, or serials. let the fucking soaps be on tv alone. gaming doesnt need them. we need highly original, new, and markedly different and unique experiences in each play to make it all worthwhile. otherwise... why bother. why play the same game five times for five prices. its just not worth it. and that kindof gaming has a shelf life.
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