- According to the Champions Online website, Cryptic has announced its first expansion/patch/update/thingy. Called Revelation, it will include the previously mentioned Vibora Bay zone. And most interesting of all? The price for the expansion is zero.
- Bill Roper states in today's State of the Game post that winning the trust of the community is their number one priorty and I think releasing this content free of charge is a big step in the right direction. Cryptic has a lot of good will to make up. But now that Star Trek Online has shipped, they have a chance to avoid the distraction of that launch and realize they have a second game to support.
- Their plans for improving the community are pretty deep. I'm no Tweety, so I can't say for sure if these are the best steps to take. But any steps at this point are a good start. If anything, though, this might have been enough to remind me why I wanted a lifetime subscription to the game in the first place.
© 2009 Marty Runyon. All rights reserved.
If you're reading this on a site other than Bullet Points, be aware that this post has been stolen and is used without permission.
- I'm not in a wordy mood, so my bullet points will be very bullet pointy today.
- I finished Mass Effect 2 at 3 am last night. I'm not ready to go into it, other than to say it's a great game. I'm thinking about writing a non-spoiler post for tomorrow, but putting all the spoiler talk in the comments. What do you think?
- On the MMO pundit front, Wolfshead brought up the immersion word again. Personally, I think immersion is the easy excuse for people who just are enjoying a game any more. The link comes from Evizaer from That's A Terrible Idea does a great job getting to the heart of the issue. But the best reply is in the comments section of the original post. Moorgard from Mobhunter absolutely takes Wolfshead to school over the reality of an immersion problem. Great reads all around if you're interested. (EDIT: I initially attributed the schooling to Psychochild. Oops. That what I get for not double-checking. Plus I lost a perfectly good Psychochild joke along the way.)
- On Saturday, Tobold made an off-hand comment about the level of polish evident in Allods Online. I had written the game off, completely irrationally, based on the screenshots as well as the voluminous posting by Keen of Keen and Graev. But that comment was enough to get me to download the client (which was quick and easy) and try out the beta. Boy howdy! Polish is right. I rolled up a League scout and was immediately struck but the storytelling in the starter zone. It's still an MMO, but they do a good job of telling a story so far. If I have a problem with the game, it's that they are handing out experience points like candy since it's the end of the closed beta. I'm going to spoil myself if I keep playing before the game goes live.
- Finally, I've been playing League of Legends here and there. First time I've ever played a DotA-style game and I'm enjoying it. Somehow I've got a positive Win-Loss ratio. Beginner's luck, I suppose. I'm not going to talk about my Kill-Death ratio, though. A full post is impending.
- Happy Monday, everyone. Just remember, it only lasts twenty-four hours.
© 2009 Marty Runyon. All rights reserved.
If you're reading this on a site other than Bullet Points, be aware that this post has been stolen and is used without permission.
- It never fails. Just as soon as I complain that I don't have anything else to say about MMOs, something comes along that makes me want to blog and/or rant. This time, it's related to the long-awaited release of Shut Up, We're Talking #57. So as I've done before, I'm going to pull up my virtual fifth microphone and add my own comments on the episode.
- The question about stickiness in MMOs in quite a good one, especially in this era of the WoW tourist. Why don't people stay with a new MMOs? There are a few things you can blame. MMOs aren't really the best games, always, especially at launch. And people can be flighty, always hopping from one game to the next. But people do stick with games if they are the right one. Just look at Syncaine and Darkfall. But looking for problems is the wrong way around. Best time I've had playing MMOs lately were during the launches of Champions Online and Warhammer Online. That may sound strange to you considering how the games have faired since launch. But the reason I had such a great time is due to the excitement in the community around them. People were talking about them and thinking about them and it was great to be caught up in that. I was caught up in the wave of enthusiam and, darn it, that was fun. You hear or read statements that its the people you play with that make you stay with the game. But that is not just true on a micro level. If other people are in the game, having a good time and sharing that experience, that's where I see the stickiness of MMOs occuring.
- I know it was just a small part of the cast, but Karen mentioned how statistical items in microtransaction games have disappeared from Free Realms and Wizard 101. I have to agree that this is only a good thing. Considering that one the things you play for in an MMO is gear, selling that gear undermines your reward structure. So good riddence. I wonder how well +3 swords are selling in Dungeons & Dragons Online.
- The discussion of MMOs on other platforms went in all kinds of directions, but I think that's primarily because the question was so unfocused. MMOs have a chance to go in a few directions now, especially because they are stretching beyond the standard PC client model. Yes, they can devolve into mindless clicky games like Farmville. But they also have the opportunity grow the genre in new ways beyond the standard DIKU. The question seemed to denigrate MMOs becoming single player games. That's not the problem. The problem is that they are doing it wrong. There have been some awesome single player games released in the last couple years, but MMOs are still copying the same game mechanics used since the beginning of the genre. As little attention that I give to SWTOR, Bioware does have a chance to make a game the steps out of the shadow of the DIKU/UO/EQ/WoW lineage. And if someone wants to put an MMO on the iPhone, they darn well better make a game that takes advantage of that platform.
- I really enjoyed Michael's discussion of the MMO labels. The fact the most games are just iterations on old games instead of restarting from first principles has made the genre stagnate. In its own way, this is part of why WoW did so well. They took the EQ model, stripped it down to the fun game stuff, and threw out a lot of the virtual world trappings. And they keep throwing more of that out as they go along. New MMOs need to question the assumptions made by prior games and throw out anything that is no longer needed.
- Wow, this was much more random and lame than I expected. If you made it all the way down here without skipping ahead, you deserve a cookie.
© 2009 Marty Runyon. All rights reserved.
If you're reading this on a site other than Bullet Points, be aware that this post has been stolen and is used without permission.
- I wrote a blog post yesterday about Borderlands, but all the comments ended up referring to Mass Effect 2. If that's what everyone wants to talk about, far be it from me to stand in everyone's way. So, using my bullet points the way the nature intended (and without spoiling anything):
- The intro sequence for the game absolutely stunned me. I knew going in what was about to happen. Bioware has been gleefully spoiling it to everyone they talk to. What that didn't prepare me for was how it would hit me emotionally. Sometimes when watching a musical, I'm overcome with emotion as the music and the singing swells. This was almost that. Closest I've come to crying at a video game.
Ahem. Now on to more masculine topics....
- Speaking of masculine topics, I was fascinated by the bachelor party going on in the bar in on Ilium. Asari dancers are spread more liberally throughout the universe in this game. I guess someone didn't want the model and animation to go to waste. And while this was a great bit of humor injected into the game, one of the interactions is very interesting lore-wise. The conversation between the Human, Salarian, and Turian implies that each of them see Asari dancer as resembling their own race. Does that mean that the reason they are modeled as attractive women is because they are psychic chameleons? It makes sense that a species that mates by drawing genetic code from other species would need a way to make themselves appealing to multiple species. I wonder if Bioware threw that in to deflect criticism of their blue space lesbians or it was always in the lore.
- I don't care what anyone says: scanning planets for resources is one hundred percent better than the Mako missions. It's not amazing or anything and I'm not going to give up hours of my time to do it. However there is something primal about the tactile, visual, and auditory feedback when you hit a rich resource node. Shawn Andrich from Gamers With Jobs is right: scanning is best done with your headphones on, listening to podcasts. It's like playing Minesweeper or Solitaire. You relax and let your fingers do their own thing.
- Who in their right mind thought Mass Effect was in desperate need of ammo. Sorry, I meant heat sinks. I thought the heat system in ME1 worked just fine. I liked that you could push an extra shot or two out at the risk of your gun overheating. I've never run out of ammo in an awkward situation. Maybe I've had to switch guns once or twice in the middle of a fight. (So much for universal thermal clips.) But even without any problems, ammo still sucks. It just doesn't suck too much.
- I've playing an Infiltrator in this game like I did in the first game. I liked the idea of a dedicated sniper class. Sniping is still awesome. At least it is now that I know what I'm doing. At first it felt too frustrating, but my skills have improved enough that I feel like a headshot terror again. My old Shepard is back!
- I have this feeling that I'm using Yeoman Kelly. Somehow (okay, maybe there was a little innocent flirting) she has lead Kelly on enough that the yeoman has offered to take care of Shepard's fish for her. Which gives the yeoman free access to the captain's cabin. My Shepard, the galactic hero that she is, doesn't just turn her back on the man she loves. She even keeps a picture of the man on her desk. I like having someone take care of the fish, but this is going to lead to an awkward situation down the line. Maybe I should keep multiple saves just in case.
- One of the problems with the story is that I keep wanting to diving ahead instead of taking my time and exploring the galaxy. In the first game, saving the galaxy was all laid back. Get around to it when you can, but the Alliance has a ton of busy work for you to handle along the way. In this game, even though the structure encourages you to explore, the story is so intense that I want to rush to the next chapter immediately. Some problem to have, huh?
- The funny thing about this game is that I don't just want to replay it when I'm done. I want to go back and replay ME1 and do everything from the beginning. The ability to carry a character over is so amazingly handled. You're not converting a set of statistics. You are bringing an entire universe into the new game.
- The characters are really cool in this game. Bioware absolutely nailed it with the crew this time. I enjoyed the squadmates in the first game, but they pale in comparison to how well defined the new characters are. That said, one of my favorites is returning crewmember Garrus. It was so great to meet up with him again. Plus he can use all the sniper upgrades that I've been researching.
- One final note: I believe that while stripping out all the overwhelming RPG systems, they have actually made Mass Effect 2 a truer role-playing experience than we've seen before. Role-playing is not about dice and statistics. It's about inhabiting a character and telling a story. That is exactly what we're doing here. Now if you'll excuse me, I have a galaxy to save.
© 2009 Marty Runyon. All rights reserved.
If you're reading this on a site other than Bullet Points, be aware that this post has been stolen and is used without permission.
- Back during the holiday Steam sale, I mentioned that I was waiting for Borderlands to drop to 50% off before I would buy it. 2K held their ground at 33% off and, by the end, my resolve crumbled. And I'm glad I did. Borderlands ends up being a lot of fun.
- Even though everyone suggests playing a soldier, I rolled up a siren. What can I say? I prefer to play female characters even when you play in a first person view! The way she laughs when I pull off a head shot always makes me smile. It doesn't really matter that her gender is tied to a specific character class. I play the game with the skills handed to me and enjoy myself.
- And I am enjoying myself. The comparisons with Diablo are for more than surface similarities. While Borderlands shares its colored rarity scale, skill trees, and randomized loot with that series, it also shares the design philosophy of stripping the game down to the barest essentials. It points you in a direction, hands you a weapon, and gets out of your way. Because the simple experience of shooting bad guys is so enjoyable here, they can build the rest of the game on the firm foundation.
- I'm also, amazingly enough, enjoying the game solo. Everywhere you turn you hear about how you should only play the game co-op, and I understand that sentiment. They said the same thing about Diablo. But no matter how much people protest, it works just fine for a single player. Even if I do have to exploit the boss AI to get through some battles.
- For the time being Mass Effect 2 has eaten my life, so it will be a while before I come back to Borderlands. But I will come back. There is still a lot of fun here to be found.
© 2009 Marty Runyon. All rights reserved.
If you're reading this on a site other than Bullet Points, be aware that this post has been stolen and is used without permission.
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