Legend of Neil, Season 2, Ep. 7 -- A Date With Destiny
I just really want to support a wonderful Internet show. Watch, comment, digg it up, especially if you like it. This is the season finale, but feel free to explore the rest of this really funny irreverent show.
Sunday, November 29, 2009
A Casual Social Hardcore Perspective or Walking the Tightrope
On Thursday, Steam sold Batman Arkham Asylum at a 50% discount. Realizing the opportunity, (and with my wife's permission >_<) I bought the game for a mere $25.
I must say, this game is everything I heard it was. It's genuinely fun, never feels like you're slogging through it, there's enough variety of what you're doing that as it cycles through it, you always feel fresh, and it is full of details.
Exploring, gathering, fighting, stealth, puzzle solving, and tracking. You're always doing something new. You go into a new area, and you immediately need to sneak, neutralize the armed guards, brawl the punk push overs, find some Riddler clues, climb a building, find a secret entrance, and follow the tobacco/fingerprints.
Batman himself is a badass, and you don't need to have the detailed combo controls of a fighter to get him to do cool things. You have Attack, Counter, Stun, Quick Batarang, Quick Batclaw, beyond that you have unlocked moves, and some stealth take downs.
There's a part in the game, a Challenge Mode, that let's you try beating up a series of baddies, and at the end you get your grand total. To get higher scores, you need to get long uninterrupted chains of attacks, until you have an insanely high multiplier, and flawlessly do ground take downs on your foes (as it scores the highest point return). I've managed to near 20,000 points, putting me in the 45,000th place. I checked the top 100. Their scores are in the billions. I'm wondering if they had to of cheated to get that score, and why if the cheat is gone, they didn't reset the leaderboards.
I know I'll never get into the top 100, but I do know that I can beat 20,000, I just need to do better. This is where I'm very much into the challenge. Despite the fact that most of the game the baddies are pushovers, and I never worry about death (though I have died, mostly to Bane), and play it pretty casually. I've always been this way with games, doing the casual and the hardcore.
But there's more to it than that, and some games don't let you play both. In Tetris, you can start with a higher speed, you'll still need to clear as many lines as it would take you to get to this level, before you move on, but you'll start faster (and therefore harder).
I'm really happy with Batman, and I'm glad I bought it. It's a very good game.
I must say, this game is everything I heard it was. It's genuinely fun, never feels like you're slogging through it, there's enough variety of what you're doing that as it cycles through it, you always feel fresh, and it is full of details.
Exploring, gathering, fighting, stealth, puzzle solving, and tracking. You're always doing something new. You go into a new area, and you immediately need to sneak, neutralize the armed guards, brawl the punk push overs, find some Riddler clues, climb a building, find a secret entrance, and follow the tobacco/fingerprints.
Batman himself is a badass, and you don't need to have the detailed combo controls of a fighter to get him to do cool things. You have Attack, Counter, Stun, Quick Batarang, Quick Batclaw, beyond that you have unlocked moves, and some stealth take downs.
There's a part in the game, a Challenge Mode, that let's you try beating up a series of baddies, and at the end you get your grand total. To get higher scores, you need to get long uninterrupted chains of attacks, until you have an insanely high multiplier, and flawlessly do ground take downs on your foes (as it scores the highest point return). I've managed to near 20,000 points, putting me in the 45,000th place. I checked the top 100. Their scores are in the billions. I'm wondering if they had to of cheated to get that score, and why if the cheat is gone, they didn't reset the leaderboards.
I know I'll never get into the top 100, but I do know that I can beat 20,000, I just need to do better. This is where I'm very much into the challenge. Despite the fact that most of the game the baddies are pushovers, and I never worry about death (though I have died, mostly to Bane), and play it pretty casually. I've always been this way with games, doing the casual and the hardcore.
But there's more to it than that, and some games don't let you play both. In Tetris, you can start with a higher speed, you'll still need to clear as many lines as it would take you to get to this level, before you move on, but you'll start faster (and therefore harder).
I'm really happy with Batman, and I'm glad I bought it. It's a very good game.
Thursday, November 26, 2009
Thanksgiving
PVD got me thinking about how things have changed, in both MMOs and off-line games, and I have some things I'm thankful for that I think every game or MMO should do:
1. Free Preview
Recently I was on Steam and tried out a few demos, it only took time to download these demos, and once I had them I was able to get a taste of what the games were like.
Thanks to the free preview I learned that Gyromancer is not a game for me, that L4D2 is hella hard, and I need to practice more on L4D(1) before I decide I'm awesome enough for 2. But I also discovered a game that will be joining my collection soon: Zombie Shooter 2.
Free Previews allow the consumer to more appropriately find the game that they want, and in the case of Zombie Shooter 2, allows me to give a smaller indi game, a chance.
2. Expansions
There are plenty of games out there that we love, and we play through once. We might re-play it, to relive some moments in a story (in the case of RPGs or Adventure games). An expansion would allow us to have more of the same (which quite honestly, would cut back on the 5 million Megaman games out there).
Essentially, in the model of Megaman in particular, is that you would add more bosses, and more Wily Castles. When you finally come up with something different enough (sliding, rush, power armor), that you would make a sequel for it.
3. My Avatar is better than me
I first saw this in Kotor, and again in Wow. Let's take a game like God of War, and I can dodge on my own, but, Kratoes, in all his bad-assery, also avoids getting hit on his own. I press to block but on his own he deflects attacks. I want more of this in games.
4. Any Race, any Class
D&D 4e, finally allows this to happen, and though you can be any class/race combination, it's not always ideal. In the end, it's about player choice, and restricting that in a game that's not all voice over, just feels silly.
5. Voice choices
Dragon Age Character Creator, allowed me to select my character's voice, and EQ2 also let's you do that. From an "RP" stand point it allows added immersion for your character.
6. Downloadable games
As time goes on, my desire for cheap, good games that are just a download away increases. I recently downloaded the new Excitebike for Wii, and I'm looking forward to playing through Zomebie Shooter 2. I got my wife Mario 64 as well. Having the choice to download old favorites is great for me, and is honestly something I've wanted to have legally for a long time.
Now if only they'd get more of the backlog collection onto the DSi library so that I could play Super Mario Bros. 3 on it.
1. Free Preview
Recently I was on Steam and tried out a few demos, it only took time to download these demos, and once I had them I was able to get a taste of what the games were like.
Thanks to the free preview I learned that Gyromancer is not a game for me, that L4D2 is hella hard, and I need to practice more on L4D(1) before I decide I'm awesome enough for 2. But I also discovered a game that will be joining my collection soon: Zombie Shooter 2.
Free Previews allow the consumer to more appropriately find the game that they want, and in the case of Zombie Shooter 2, allows me to give a smaller indi game, a chance.
2. Expansions
There are plenty of games out there that we love, and we play through once. We might re-play it, to relive some moments in a story (in the case of RPGs or Adventure games). An expansion would allow us to have more of the same (which quite honestly, would cut back on the 5 million Megaman games out there).
Essentially, in the model of Megaman in particular, is that you would add more bosses, and more Wily Castles. When you finally come up with something different enough (sliding, rush, power armor), that you would make a sequel for it.
3. My Avatar is better than me
I first saw this in Kotor, and again in Wow. Let's take a game like God of War, and I can dodge on my own, but, Kratoes, in all his bad-assery, also avoids getting hit on his own. I press to block but on his own he deflects attacks. I want more of this in games.
4. Any Race, any Class
D&D 4e, finally allows this to happen, and though you can be any class/race combination, it's not always ideal. In the end, it's about player choice, and restricting that in a game that's not all voice over, just feels silly.
5. Voice choices
Dragon Age Character Creator, allowed me to select my character's voice, and EQ2 also let's you do that. From an "RP" stand point it allows added immersion for your character.
6. Downloadable games
As time goes on, my desire for cheap, good games that are just a download away increases. I recently downloaded the new Excitebike for Wii, and I'm looking forward to playing through Zomebie Shooter 2. I got my wife Mario 64 as well. Having the choice to download old favorites is great for me, and is honestly something I've wanted to have legally for a long time.
Now if only they'd get more of the backlog collection onto the DSi library so that I could play Super Mario Bros. 3 on it.
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
New Costumes Added to Champions Online, for FREE!
New costume pieces were added, check them out. Also on that page is a list of costumes that you can now add GLOW to. Glow can make or break some outfits, so going back to a tailor to add glow might be a must.
I counted about 23 costumes or so, most of it for the back of your hero. Things like weapons, mantles, guitars and some cool head pieces.
The other great thing is that this weekend, for Thanksgiving, they're giving another Free weekend. I can only hope it goes more smoothly than last time, but hey, nothing like playing a hero for a weekend a month it seems. I wonder if they'll do the same thing for X-mas.
Either way, check out the glows, and see you this weekend!
Sunday, November 22, 2009
Battle Station
Champions Online has a training room called the Battle Station (check out NET Custa's video). It's pretty much a Danger Room, that you can set up with Enemies that you'd be running into. As you level up the enemies change to fit the type of enemies you'd be fighting at that level.
You pick the type of enemy group you'd be fighting (The Purple Gang, Demons, Irridiates, etc etc), then you choose the difficulty. Easy are for enemies 1 level lower than you, normal is for enemies equal level to you, and hard are for enemies one level higher than you.
Then you choose your team size. This is great if you want to practice with a teammate, or a regular group of guys. It also let's you test your solo ability.
My highest level player has been in the Training room for weeks, as I've been trying different in-style combinations (I mean, powers that fit his character). The one thing I noticed most was that my two favorite defenses are Regeneration and Invulnerability. Further more, don't forget you can pick an offensive and a defensive passive ability.
The Battle Station is an amazing room, and it can really help you decide what's best for your hero.
You pick the type of enemy group you'd be fighting (The Purple Gang, Demons, Irridiates, etc etc), then you choose the difficulty. Easy are for enemies 1 level lower than you, normal is for enemies equal level to you, and hard are for enemies one level higher than you.
Then you choose your team size. This is great if you want to practice with a teammate, or a regular group of guys. It also let's you test your solo ability.
My highest level player has been in the Training room for weeks, as I've been trying different in-style combinations (I mean, powers that fit his character). The one thing I noticed most was that my two favorite defenses are Regeneration and Invulnerability. Further more, don't forget you can pick an offensive and a defensive passive ability.
The Battle Station is an amazing room, and it can really help you decide what's best for your hero.
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