I’m not deep into FPS games. They get old and tired.
Titanfall has shown promise since i first saw it and then forgot about it last year. It’s one of those rare gems I might buy at Retail Pricing.
Comments closedAuthor: Leprekawn
Having witnessed it's glory days ago, I now hold the Malformed Fork and it's wisdom should be spread.
Here we have a new game coming upon the horizon. Wildstar catches my eye almost immediately for t he tongue-in-check characterization and evil villainy. I swear I watched this cartoon some years ago.
Bundled with the bright colors World of Warcraft was known for will be action-combat, secondary class mechanic choice and <gasp> player housing. I’ll touch on a few of these points, what so we’re sure to be on the same page later when I say “OMG, this is AMAZING..”
Action Combat is new variation in the approach in gaming. Where you can dodge the big red ring of “OH CRAP”, you can sing and dance your way through combat as you wish. Where you’re not arbitrarily locked to one place to finish casting your magick spells. It’s there in Guild Wars 2 and some other games where it shakes up the conventions nicely. The downside in some games is that you -have- to move a lot to avoid getting trounced in combat. It remains to be seen how bad Wildstar will be but in exchange for quality character animation I’ll happily endure the never-ending Dodge’em Up.
Class mechanics are an animal I study in every game I play. It’s almost scientific study with the subtle variations in character development having their own nuances and offshoots. Here in Wildstar you’ll pick a basic class what dictates how you trounce monsters and a profession that dictates what kind of quests and content you’ll encounter. If you go soldier, you’ll see a lot of combat missions and very few exploration, or so I’m reading. An interesting system as they’re tying in armor rewards and abilities to people who delve deep into their profession missions.
All in all an interesting sounding experience. The two great questions arise.. How Much and How Soon?
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And there we were, standing on a tower laden with five ballistae each capable of oblitering my team six ways from Sunday at least a half dozen times. Each ballistae stockpiled with ammunition that would spell out the aforementioned doom should any one of them detonate via sharp impact or fire. Being a aptly prepared wizard I did what I do best.. Edged what I’d call a leaning lightning bolt down a narrow 5ft line through five ugly dudes I really wanted to take off the battlefield.
They responded in kind by one of them trying to stab me with his impromptu spear at great disadvantage. I did my wizard thing with a spell called Mirror Image which always seems to amaze the DM. So several rounds later when the Barbarian had enough of the fight and the Ranger’s player, eager to recycle this character to the Great Beyond, exchanged what would be described in-character as a knowing look I started to panic a little. The barbarian, who I’d Hasted as a means of empowering us to kick even more butt, rushed me and picked up the fighter and myself as he ran us like a linebacker hauling groceries over the edge of the tower, down it’s side and out into the forest some 100ft beyond. Then the tower blew up.
I did that math. That was a scary fight.
Post Update: As the Barbarian is rushing over the side of the tower I remark “Wait.. what about my Clone!?”
Comments closedI liked Minecraft. A lie, in it’s simplest form. I love Minecraft. There are times I like nothing more than to roam and explore and Minecraft does that perfectly.
Cube World was being built as a “hey, this is fun but here’s something slightly different” at one point. And then Mojang brought that guy/team in-house. They’re still building it and it’s in Alpha but it’s very playable and from what I hear and see very amazing. Like.. “I totally don’t see why this isn’t released yet” good.
There are a lot of videos out there, I suggest you pull one down and watch it. If you liked Minecraft you’ll probably love Cube World.
A word of caution, they were under a DDoS for a bit and the site/store had a realm of problems staying up.
Comments closed..and I look forward to it. I never played much of the original. It was too early in my cognitive development, bedecked in details and structure and mechanics that I wouldn’t be able to grasp for nearly 10 years. By then it was too late. But I remembered the level of detail like scraps of legend about Manticores dwelling along a mountain road.
Procedural map, changing trade lanes and a detailed first person control schema. It was hard.
I haven’t read into it heavily now that they’re rebuilding it using new computers and bringing us a quality successor to the classic game. But i have my hopes.
Elite: Dangerous is to be a first person game with multiplayer where you can fly the galaxy, see strange new stars and get shot at by pirates while hauling precious alien brandies.
Comments closedI quested for a night among the snowy tops of the Shiverpeaks, a land I despise for the piercing cold. I have places I would rather be, but I have a task at hand.
Durmond Priory has a way of poking their nose into business better left for Warriors. I found many of their encampments dangerously close to Dredge excavations, some of them right in the middle and all of their researchers eager to ask for assistance in securing their lines. I helped as best I can but I left them all with the same advice: Move. I’ve known Dredge to expand excavations aggressively and all I could think of was how many people would die all for the pursuit of ancient knowledge.
I managed to find an aged Dwarven Key what i tucked into my pack. It’ll come in handy some day, i’m sure.
My contact in the Order of Whispers met me at Spearhaunt Bane, a welcome shelter from the biting wind and the howl of battle at Black Earth Coalmine nearby. Orders in hand I took shelter among the ruins for the night before returning to my journey.
I woke in the morning to the sounds of battle. The Dredge had taken offense to the camp so near their mine and were staging an offensive to capture the ruins. Seeing little chance in fighting off a concentrated force I made my way to the Asuran waypoint and translocated out of Dredgehaunt, leaving the biting wind behind me.
Comments closedI practice The Mirrored Way. I practice The Shattered Visage. I am Lyssa’s reflection.
I am the Shattered Mirror.
Comments closedA jaunt into the Aetherblade Retreat taught me the folly of my hubris. I had begun to see the ‘dark’ Asura as childish and obnoxious. Their true danger had escaped me and it wasn’t until facing down specially designed golems and walls of burning light that I realized where I failed.
A lesson I hope I won’t have to learn again.
I finished my search in Mount Maelstrom, thanked my hosts as I packed up camp and departed for Dredge territory. I detest the Shiverpeaks and their snow and somehow I keep coming back to the mountain passes and the blinding blizzards.
Comments closedI ran amok with a band of fellow heroes in an Asura base, too close for comfort to Mount Maelstrom. The mountain being known for violent outbursts and volatile gases, the base was heavily shielded with Asuran magical technology, abominations of the Eternal Alchemy according to some friends.
My path of the Shattered Mirror makes me a uniquely powerful Mesmer. The only beast I encountered in all of the sub-aquatic base was a “Subject Alpha” who gave me a run for my money. We triumphed and parted ways, but not before smashing about every console and routing half the bases’ defensive response.
I’m still dwelling near the Mount, hopefully my journey ends tonight. I have a few more nooks to peer into.
Comments closedHawken comes along nicely. An arena shooter featuring you as a large-ish robot. More action than strategy, a mild amount of real money investment to customize. I enjoy the idea for 10/15 minutes a day or weekend. I’m not dedicated for more than that.
I talked a friend into spinning up EVE Online a bit. So far he likes it and committed to a 3 month run. EVE provides a sandbox experience that’s immediately deeper than most other games on the market. There’s so much information to be absorbed you spend your first couple of sessions wrapping your head around some of the concepts.
Meanwhile I got back into Guild Wars 2 right as the recent festival was ending. I reached out via Reddit to find a guild with active players. My previous guild, managed by my roommate is sorta dead. But that happens when you run an exclusive friends/family guild. I still retain leadership power, as GW2 doesn’t lock you out of guild memberships, but I don’t expect any of the six members to come flocking back anytime soon.
RIFT went Free to Play, my few hours with it have shown me that it’s a solid game with a reliable mechanic. I don’t find it compelling as it’s more of the same Fantasy MMO I’ve gotten used to, but you might find it more interesting.
Last of Us finally came out and so far it sounds amazing. I watched the first ten minutes via YouTube on a favored channel of mine. I got that same anxiety I get when I watch other suspense zombie movies. Fantastic, if you’re looking for that kind of thing. I’ll be playing but I’ll surely wait for a bright, sunny weekend.
Meanwhile, Shadowrun Returns, a strategy/rpg of the Shadowrun Genre releases on July 25th. I’m excited as I’ve been waiting for this since the Kickstarter convinced me to give my token support. It’s coming with full tools to build your own missions and so I look forward to forum threads on construction and playthrough of various homemade stories.
As always, you can submit personal requests via malformedfork (at) gmail. I’ll do what I can.
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