So I had the chance to mess around in ZA this weekend.
Before I get into that, about my group: the majority of the group was Karazhan/Gruul's Lair level gear; some on the low end of that, some only looking for 1-2 drops, with 1-2 higher-geared (a t5ish healer, and a shadowpriest with BT/Hyjal gear). I was on both days MT.
First off: Scripted events, nice. The boss voices are good, and I imagine if you were trying to keep up with the timers the effect would be neat.
Secondly: Blizzard will never, ever learn regarding trash. No one liked the supression room in BWL. No one liked the supression room I MEAN bug tunnel before Fankriss in AQ40. No one liked the supression room I MEAN hallway of grubs and bats in Naxxramas. So why the hell is there another gauntlet where shit spawns at you in ZA?
Similarly, the trash respawn time for Eagle is very short, something like 45 minutes, an hour tops. We managed to screw around with it to remove the gauntlet part of it (kill the tempest on the stairs, very doable if they spawn when you're about to do an attempt), and given that it's a very short clear (5ish 2-pulls) that makes it not so bad, but regardless - enough people have complained about "we hate having to clear trash over and over" that they shouldn't be doing that any more.
There's also a lot of repetition in the trash - several times you have the same or very similar pulls right in a row. Frankly, I'm of the opinion that if a group can handle a given encounter twice, the only purpose of trying to use that same encounter on them again is either to kill time or try to catch them with their pants down/making a mistake.
That said, the trash isn't horrible like some of the Karazhan trash was. Everything seems to be tauntable, there's a lot less aggro-drop lameness (though, a lot more multi-elite tanking), hell, most trash is even stunnable.
As for the rest:
-Boss design is interesting; doing the Eagle fight after reading it was quite different than I thought it'd be. That in particular was a fight I could not see happening without counting how long before big special ability uses you have. The bear was well done, though I'm *still* not sure how fond I am of fights hinging on one ability not being resisted. Lynx is BUGGER HARD on healing, and requires two competent tanks (well, one at a minimum, but he'll have to handle the add, not the boss). I've yet to try dragonhawk/warlock/captain planet (seriously - imagine each boss calling out their avatar, with Warlock holding up a bloody heart, and tell me that you can't see Zul'jin showing up saying "I AM CAPTAIN TROLL PLANET!").
-Loot seems generally good, though scanning the loot tables makes me think that DPS casters (particularly affliction warlocks) get the short end of the stick.
-Forest frog shenanigans are fun; why are the little trinket dealies rolled on if you had to roll on the sticks first and they're not BoP? Also, very easy to not get money from that.
-Nice, "easy" quests with decent rewards (well...you get a 20-slot bag, anyway). There seems to be some plot there but I'm only partway through.
More to come as I run it more...
Monday, November 19, 2007
Tuesday, November 13, 2007
State of the World (of Warcraft)
For those of us still on the World of Warcraft horse, today is, as you probably know, Patch Day.
Patch Day is a wondrous time where Blizzard giveth and Blizzard taketh away.
Nerfs will be handed out, and everyone's addons will break until they update them; this is the bulk of the taketh away. I can understand the former: balance, tuning fights to be more what they are supposed to be/less impossible/less of a pushover. I don't quite get the latter, aside from changes that really mess around with the LUA interface to the game. Fine, maybe they just want us to know we should look for updates; sometimes we can just blithely hit "Load Out-of-Date Addons" and be done with it, but for major patches I tend to find I have to go to WoWAce or whatever and redownload the crap that makes up my UI. A huge deal? Not really - it gives me something to do on patch day (or rather, it used to, when I didn't have Other Things to Do as well) when the servers are generally messed up to all bijimminy.
The bright side of this patch includes a new 10-man raid instance, Zul'Aman, which is full of trolls. I am generally in favor of 10-man raids; in my opinion, it's a small enough number that unless you are the Most Antisocial Player Ever or cannot be online for more than an hour at a time (and even then, an understanding group can get you to see the content), you should be able to experience the place and get some HAWT PURPALZ. Even better, this particular dungeon is intended to be finished in a couple of hours, *literally* - for each boss (or at least the first five), you have twenty minutes to get to them and possibly also kill them to get some extra treasure. Unless Blizzard totally messed up the balance on that, this means that appropriately geared groups (Karazhan gear, not BT gear) with good knowledge of the fight should be able to accomplish that. So yes, your first few weeks it'll likely take a few more hours (though even if you take twice that...it's *still* only as much of a time investment as Karazhan), but then it'll pick up pace. Oh, and the loot is by and large pretty good, filling a bunch of unfortunate gaps in various offspec gear sets. Plus you get Badges of Justice.
Speaking of those, G'eras, who at this point has probably thoroughly won the "most items on a vendor" award, has a whole bunch of new stuff for people to buy with their precious badges. Some of the itemization there makes me scratch my head - what's with all the DPS plate without crit? - but many items are quite solid (notably for warriors, a pair of pants not too far off from tier 6; it actually has better stamina potential, but...that is a debate for another post). While everyone's favorite badge farming spot - heroic Mechanar - was nerfed (the Key-keepers or whatever they are no longer drops badges, instead the Cache of the Legion drops one), the 10-mans now drop badges (with Karazhan apparently giving 15 or so for a full run), so I think on the whole they'll be not too hard to get, especially for people who run 10-mans but don't have the time to heroics very often.
Also, faster leveling for sub-60 characters. That's gold - I've been on and off building up a new character - a druid - and given that it's my fifth character that's made it past 30ish...I find most of the Azeroth content kind of "well let's get this done with eh (especially the sub-30 content)." I imagine this might be a little bad for people who are just getting into the game and want to see all the content, but...I can't help feeling those people are in the minority now. This doesn't mean that they should be alienated; maybe we should encourage alting more. Or maybe make the "XP lost for being too high level for this quest" penalty smaller.
In general, this seems like a pretty good patch. Raiders get candy (though the hardcore raiders, god bless the crazy fools, will need to wait till 2.4 for their new instance), and casuals - well, all but the most casual - also get candy.
On that note - I'm not entirely sure what should be done to make the game more attractive to those people (mostly, those who can't play for more than an hour or so at a time). To some degree "well this requires block time commitments" and tough noogies, but realistically that should not be the case. Daily quests were a step in the right directions - short quests that you can get done and get some rep for an overarching reputation goal, and get some money - but a) the rewards are too hit-and-miss re: class specialization, b) some of the rewards are...not that well itemized, and c) some of them are inferior to gear out of heroics/badge rewards (which someone could conceivably get even with only an hour to play at a time). Then again, this needs to be balanced against stat inflation...but at the same time WotLK is coming, and if TBC was any indication, the gear we have now will not matter at all at 80. So maybe...let them have their cake and eat it to, maybe.
And that's what I have to say about that. For now.
Patch Day is a wondrous time where Blizzard giveth and Blizzard taketh away.
Nerfs will be handed out, and everyone's addons will break until they update them; this is the bulk of the taketh away. I can understand the former: balance, tuning fights to be more what they are supposed to be/less impossible/less of a pushover. I don't quite get the latter, aside from changes that really mess around with the LUA interface to the game. Fine, maybe they just want us to know we should look for updates; sometimes we can just blithely hit "Load Out-of-Date Addons" and be done with it, but for major patches I tend to find I have to go to WoWAce or whatever and redownload the crap that makes up my UI. A huge deal? Not really - it gives me something to do on patch day (or rather, it used to, when I didn't have Other Things to Do as well) when the servers are generally messed up to all bijimminy.
The bright side of this patch includes a new 10-man raid instance, Zul'Aman, which is full of trolls. I am generally in favor of 10-man raids; in my opinion, it's a small enough number that unless you are the Most Antisocial Player Ever or cannot be online for more than an hour at a time (and even then, an understanding group can get you to see the content), you should be able to experience the place and get some HAWT PURPALZ. Even better, this particular dungeon is intended to be finished in a couple of hours, *literally* - for each boss (or at least the first five), you have twenty minutes to get to them and possibly also kill them to get some extra treasure. Unless Blizzard totally messed up the balance on that, this means that appropriately geared groups (Karazhan gear, not BT gear) with good knowledge of the fight should be able to accomplish that. So yes, your first few weeks it'll likely take a few more hours (though even if you take twice that...it's *still* only as much of a time investment as Karazhan), but then it'll pick up pace. Oh, and the loot is by and large pretty good, filling a bunch of unfortunate gaps in various offspec gear sets. Plus you get Badges of Justice.
Speaking of those, G'eras, who at this point has probably thoroughly won the "most items on a vendor" award, has a whole bunch of new stuff for people to buy with their precious badges. Some of the itemization there makes me scratch my head - what's with all the DPS plate without crit? - but many items are quite solid (notably for warriors, a pair of pants not too far off from tier 6; it actually has better stamina potential, but...that is a debate for another post). While everyone's favorite badge farming spot - heroic Mechanar - was nerfed (the Key-keepers or whatever they are no longer drops badges, instead the Cache of the Legion drops one), the 10-mans now drop badges (with Karazhan apparently giving 15 or so for a full run), so I think on the whole they'll be not too hard to get, especially for people who run 10-mans but don't have the time to heroics very often.
Also, faster leveling for sub-60 characters. That's gold - I've been on and off building up a new character - a druid - and given that it's my fifth character that's made it past 30ish...I find most of the Azeroth content kind of "well let's get this done with eh (especially the sub-30 content)." I imagine this might be a little bad for people who are just getting into the game and want to see all the content, but...I can't help feeling those people are in the minority now. This doesn't mean that they should be alienated; maybe we should encourage alting more. Or maybe make the "XP lost for being too high level for this quest" penalty smaller.
In general, this seems like a pretty good patch. Raiders get candy (though the hardcore raiders, god bless the crazy fools, will need to wait till 2.4 for their new instance), and casuals - well, all but the most casual - also get candy.
On that note - I'm not entirely sure what should be done to make the game more attractive to those people (mostly, those who can't play for more than an hour or so at a time). To some degree "well this requires block time commitments" and tough noogies, but realistically that should not be the case. Daily quests were a step in the right directions - short quests that you can get done and get some rep for an overarching reputation goal, and get some money - but a) the rewards are too hit-and-miss re: class specialization, b) some of the rewards are...not that well itemized, and c) some of them are inferior to gear out of heroics/badge rewards (which someone could conceivably get even with only an hour to play at a time). Then again, this needs to be balanced against stat inflation...but at the same time WotLK is coming, and if TBC was any indication, the gear we have now will not matter at all at 80. So maybe...let them have their cake and eat it to, maybe.
And that's what I have to say about that. For now.
Sunday, November 11, 2007
Picross DS: Impressions
So I realize this game is a few months old, but it's relatively new to me, so nyah.
Picross is a simple game: you have a n by n grid. Each column and row of this grid has clues in the form of sets of numbers - for example, "10 1" - which tell you the size and separation of marked-in blocks in that column/row. Continuing the example, this means that in that row there is a row of 10 contiguous marked squares; somewhere after that, a single square is marked in. It is then your job to mark all the marked squares, unveiling a picture of a rabbit or something. That's the premise.
This game as a *metric buttload* of set puzzles, each of which you are to finish in an hour or less. Some puzzles - "normal" puzzles - they'll tell you when you mark a square wrong and deduct time from your score. Others - "free mode" puzzles - they'll just let you go on blithely, leaving you to wonder where you went wrong when you *think* you finished.
The game also has some online dealies I haven't really played with - something like downloading puzzles other people make and uploading your own. Honestly I'm only maybe 1/4 of the way through the stuff that comes int he box so...I don't really feel the need to do that yet.
There's also Daily Picross, which is basically Picross Brain Academy. They rate you on how fast you do a set of simple (7x7) puzzles, sometimes with extra rules added in.
Anyway, on to the b/g!
The Bad:
-The screen likes to move as you poke it; this can cause inadvertent marks sometimes, which is annoying.
-I've had some dislike of the color contrast, but it's not so bad/may be r/g sensitivity.
-Horribly addicting.
Really, that's all. This is pretty well done.
The Good:
-Horribly addicting.
-Lots of fun, and you feel like you're learning something/exercising your mind when you play.
-Generally pleasant color schemes, barring the slight contrast issues.
-Little minigames to break up puzzling.
-Daily Picross lets you visually see how you get better when faced with differing challenges (even if sometimes you get lucky/unlucky with the difficulty of a particular set).
-Cheap as hell. $20 for probably 15-20 hours of entertainment with replay value is *gold*.
In short, damn fine game. If you like sudoku/crosswords/other paperesque games and own a DS, it's definitely worth a try.
Stay tuned for more; next post feels like...something about WoW.
Picross is a simple game: you have a n by n grid. Each column and row of this grid has clues in the form of sets of numbers - for example, "10 1" - which tell you the size and separation of marked-in blocks in that column/row. Continuing the example, this means that in that row there is a row of 10 contiguous marked squares; somewhere after that, a single square is marked in. It is then your job to mark all the marked squares, unveiling a picture of a rabbit or something. That's the premise.
This game as a *metric buttload* of set puzzles, each of which you are to finish in an hour or less. Some puzzles - "normal" puzzles - they'll tell you when you mark a square wrong and deduct time from your score. Others - "free mode" puzzles - they'll just let you go on blithely, leaving you to wonder where you went wrong when you *think* you finished.
The game also has some online dealies I haven't really played with - something like downloading puzzles other people make and uploading your own. Honestly I'm only maybe 1/4 of the way through the stuff that comes int he box so...I don't really feel the need to do that yet.
There's also Daily Picross, which is basically Picross Brain Academy. They rate you on how fast you do a set of simple (7x7) puzzles, sometimes with extra rules added in.
Anyway, on to the b/g!
The Bad:
-The screen likes to move as you poke it; this can cause inadvertent marks sometimes, which is annoying.
-I've had some dislike of the color contrast, but it's not so bad/may be r/g sensitivity.
-Horribly addicting.
Really, that's all. This is pretty well done.
The Good:
-Horribly addicting.
-Lots of fun, and you feel like you're learning something/exercising your mind when you play.
-Generally pleasant color schemes, barring the slight contrast issues.
-Little minigames to break up puzzling.
-Daily Picross lets you visually see how you get better when faced with differing challenges (even if sometimes you get lucky/unlucky with the difficulty of a particular set).
-Cheap as hell. $20 for probably 15-20 hours of entertainment with replay value is *gold*.
In short, damn fine game. If you like sudoku/crosswords/other paperesque games and own a DS, it's definitely worth a try.
Stay tuned for more; next post feels like...something about WoW.
Thursday, November 8, 2007
First Impressions: Dragon Quest Monsters Joker
Okay, I can't really keep it a secret - I am a huge fan of the Dragon Quest Monsters series. I have the first one, both versions of the second one (and both have been played extensively), and even the third game (Caravan Heart) which was never released stateside (which I spent way too much time and effort creating a FAQ/walkthrough for). So when I heard that another one - with the curious title Joker - was coming out, I knew I had to have it. Like, release day.
After one false start Tuesday (oh I hate how the listed date is sometimes "when it ships" and sometimes "when it gets here"), I picked up the game yesterday afternoon. I've played it a bunch.
What do I think? Let me tell you a story. A story about Star Wars.
After Episode I came out, everyone was a little skeptical about how Episode II would be. I mean, a relative unknown in the lead, shaky work on the previous film, etc. etc. So I didn't get that hyped for it. I mostly avoided previews and such, and was rewarded for my ignorance - I actually kind of liked Attack of the Clones.
So the series was, at least to me, looking on the up-and-up again. And then they started releasing stuff to bridge to the third movie. Most notable of these was the Cartoon Network shorts, which were...just freaking awesome. General Grevious was at least 60% of my excitement for seeing Revenge of the Sith. So I was there opening day to see it.
Oh man, was that like getting hit in the balls with a two-by-four. Awesome characters were killed off like little bitches, especially Grevious. Horrible, terrible dialogue. Other stuff I've probably blocked out. It was terrible, and I was very sad.
So what does this have to do with DQMJ? Same feeling. I loved the previous games - well, maybe not so much Caravan Heart, as I think the heart system was at best overly complicated and at worst a massive pain in the ass - and this has so far been kind of a letdown.
Let's start with the bad news first.
-Ugly textures on backgrounds: Yes, yes, I realize that this is a DS game and I should be happy there is 3D at all. But some of the background textures are literally blobs of pixels, and it looks sloppy considering how polished the characters are.
-piss-poor controls/camera: Okay, I bet that got your attention. "But Ayndin! Surely this as a DS game must have controls like that which God dictated to Moses along with the commandments!?" No. No it does not. You have a pretty standard 3D Zelda camera, and a button for "face forward" plus buttons to rotate the screen. Most of it is okay-ish, but the button can't be used while you run, so sometimes you can make a sudden turn and not see where you're going any more. Also, you can't really run diagonally (or fast - your character seems to powerwalk everywhere, which is *not quite fast enough* to catch monsters moving away from you). Combine this with the horrific collision detection and you have a generally unpleasant time getting around. Oh, and no, you can't use the stylus to move.
-awful collision detection: So you know how people joke about RPG characters being unable to get around foot-tall barriers? It's like that, but most things - people, terrain, etc. - have a five-foot forcefield around them. Expect to get snagged on things as you plod around maps. Also, you may have to run around doors/chests/people hitting A for a bit to be able to interact with them.
-Plot: no, not "what plot", though it's about as detailed so far as I'd expect a DQM to be. No, the tone here is kind of ominous, a far cry from the "whoops I'm in some weird world, time to befriend monsters so I can get home" or "oops, pulled the plug on the drain to the world, we should consider fixing that...by gathering a group of monsters and taking on the universe" of the past ones. You're part of some secret organization and have been sent to infiltrate the monster battling competition. Your father is a cold bastard and the head of said organization (this is said within ten seconds of the start of the game and maybe in the manual, don't "SPOILERS NOES" me). We are dark and edgy, and the main character looks like Trunks had an unfortunate accident with a hairdresser who liked playing cards as models.
Good things:
-the graphics: Seriously, I have to imagine the DS almost bursting into flames to be able to display this thing. The monsters are well rendered, as are most characters, forgiving small resolution some. Menus are clean, and I like the flowcharty thing they have on during battle on the touchscreen. My only real gripe is the textures on the backgrounds.
-stat porn: It seems to still be there. I haven't delved into it as much as I'd like - I've spent a lot of time trying to get the WiFi to work, as Joker and Joker alone seems to hate my setup - but there is breeding ("synthesis") and it does things that pass stuff down, which means there is wankery to be had.
-slimes: They're cute. Eat your heart out, Pikachu.
More to come as I play.
After one false start Tuesday (oh I hate how the listed date is sometimes "when it ships" and sometimes "when it gets here"), I picked up the game yesterday afternoon. I've played it a bunch.
What do I think? Let me tell you a story. A story about Star Wars.
After Episode I came out, everyone was a little skeptical about how Episode II would be. I mean, a relative unknown in the lead, shaky work on the previous film, etc. etc. So I didn't get that hyped for it. I mostly avoided previews and such, and was rewarded for my ignorance - I actually kind of liked Attack of the Clones.
So the series was, at least to me, looking on the up-and-up again. And then they started releasing stuff to bridge to the third movie. Most notable of these was the Cartoon Network shorts, which were...just freaking awesome. General Grevious was at least 60% of my excitement for seeing Revenge of the Sith. So I was there opening day to see it.
Oh man, was that like getting hit in the balls with a two-by-four. Awesome characters were killed off like little bitches, especially Grevious. Horrible, terrible dialogue. Other stuff I've probably blocked out. It was terrible, and I was very sad.
So what does this have to do with DQMJ? Same feeling. I loved the previous games - well, maybe not so much Caravan Heart, as I think the heart system was at best overly complicated and at worst a massive pain in the ass - and this has so far been kind of a letdown.
Let's start with the bad news first.
-Ugly textures on backgrounds: Yes, yes, I realize that this is a DS game and I should be happy there is 3D at all. But some of the background textures are literally blobs of pixels, and it looks sloppy considering how polished the characters are.
-piss-poor controls/camera: Okay, I bet that got your attention. "But Ayndin! Surely this as a DS game must have controls like that which God dictated to Moses along with the commandments!?" No. No it does not. You have a pretty standard 3D Zelda camera, and a button for "face forward" plus buttons to rotate the screen. Most of it is okay-ish, but the button can't be used while you run, so sometimes you can make a sudden turn and not see where you're going any more. Also, you can't really run diagonally (or fast - your character seems to powerwalk everywhere, which is *not quite fast enough* to catch monsters moving away from you). Combine this with the horrific collision detection and you have a generally unpleasant time getting around. Oh, and no, you can't use the stylus to move.
-awful collision detection: So you know how people joke about RPG characters being unable to get around foot-tall barriers? It's like that, but most things - people, terrain, etc. - have a five-foot forcefield around them. Expect to get snagged on things as you plod around maps. Also, you may have to run around doors/chests/people hitting A for a bit to be able to interact with them.
-Plot: no, not "what plot", though it's about as detailed so far as I'd expect a DQM to be. No, the tone here is kind of ominous, a far cry from the "whoops I'm in some weird world, time to befriend monsters so I can get home" or "oops, pulled the plug on the drain to the world, we should consider fixing that...by gathering a group of monsters and taking on the universe" of the past ones. You're part of some secret organization and have been sent to infiltrate the monster battling competition. Your father is a cold bastard and the head of said organization (this is said within ten seconds of the start of the game and maybe in the manual, don't "SPOILERS NOES" me). We are dark and edgy, and the main character looks like Trunks had an unfortunate accident with a hairdresser who liked playing cards as models.
Good things:
-the graphics: Seriously, I have to imagine the DS almost bursting into flames to be able to display this thing. The monsters are well rendered, as are most characters, forgiving small resolution some. Menus are clean, and I like the flowcharty thing they have on during battle on the touchscreen. My only real gripe is the textures on the backgrounds.
-stat porn: It seems to still be there. I haven't delved into it as much as I'd like - I've spent a lot of time trying to get the WiFi to work, as Joker and Joker alone seems to hate my setup - but there is breeding ("synthesis") and it does things that pass stuff down, which means there is wankery to be had.
-slimes: They're cute. Eat your heart out, Pikachu.
More to come as I play.
The Glossary of Doom
The Glossary of Doom is a service I provide so that you can understand what the hell I'm saying. Feel free to use these terms in your daily life. For example:
"I was going to mow the lawn, but I was wanking too hard to the stat porn in Monster Hunter Freedom 2 and I wound up staying inside until dinner."
This post will change as I think of new things to put in.
wank - (v) - to engage in an activity, particularly in gaming, that is pleasurably excessive. For example, trying to get your attack stat in Disgaea up over ten million is very much wanking. Comes from the British slang term for masturbation.
stat porn - (n) - excessive statistics in a video game (at its most basic). Typically expands to mean "the quality of promoting long, heavy wanking." Comes from extended analogy to "wank."
"I was going to mow the lawn, but I was wanking too hard to the stat porn in Monster Hunter Freedom 2 and I wound up staying inside until dinner."
This post will change as I think of new things to put in.
wank - (v) - to engage in an activity, particularly in gaming, that is pleasurably excessive. For example, trying to get your attack stat in Disgaea up over ten million is very much wanking. Comes from the British slang term for masturbation.
stat porn - (n) - excessive statistics in a video game (at its most basic). Typically expands to mean "the quality of promoting long, heavy wanking." Comes from extended analogy to "wank."
This time, the content is not optional
Given that otherwise this would be kind of empty, a post is needed. I shall take this time to greet my reader(s).
Hello! I can see you. Wait, is someone else coming in? Oh, no, they just wanted to use the bathroom. Oh well. Second door on the left.
This blog will primarily be a place for me to write about games - design, reviews, complaints, whatever - as I see fit. It's nice to have a space to do just that; I always felt guilty inserting heavy gaming theory (oh yeah, there might be like...math and stuff, if I think it's needed) into something that was originally for "how I'm doing." That said, other stuff - my thoughts on something going on in my life, or some issue in *shudder* politics - might also wind up in here, but...not so often, yeah?
Updates should come at least every three days, with gooey new semi-random crap.
Thanks for coming, don't be a stranger.
Hello! I can see you. Wait, is someone else coming in? Oh, no, they just wanted to use the bathroom. Oh well. Second door on the left.
This blog will primarily be a place for me to write about games - design, reviews, complaints, whatever - as I see fit. It's nice to have a space to do just that; I always felt guilty inserting heavy gaming theory (oh yeah, there might be like...math and stuff, if I think it's needed) into something that was originally for "how I'm doing." That said, other stuff - my thoughts on something going on in my life, or some issue in *shudder* politics - might also wind up in here, but...not so often, yeah?
Updates should come at least every three days, with gooey new semi-random crap.
Thanks for coming, don't be a stranger.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)