There has been a lot of debate over good and bad manners and no one can really figure out which is acceptable and which is not. The obvious ones like "gg noob" after scoring one kill is bad manners. So after much research I have the results.
The first is the most obvious. Saying GG before a game is over. What exactly is it. GG pretty much means good game. Most games start off with a GLHF as in good luck have fun then end with a GG. There are some variations like GGWP and BG which are good game well played and bad game with the latter being bad manners.
Saying GG after you score a kill or suffer a death is considered bad manners. Its the same as going "just give up you lose or my team is full of retards just push and end it we're gonna lose."
The winner cannot say GG before the loser at any time of the game or it is considered bad manners. It doesn't matter if you are pushing into his base and you scouted that he has no expansions. You just don't do that.
Alternatively the loser cannot leave the game without saying GG or it is considered rage quitting and bad manners. The winner will then be allowed to follow up with a GG.
If you are losing, concede honorably. This means if your shit is getting destroyed don't run an SCV away and build supply depots like a dipshit.
As you can see, saying GG is pretty complex! Its the most debated one because some people go apeshit when someone calls out GG while others go whats the big deal. However there are more little things such as talking shit to the enemy team.
If you're having a team fight keep it amongst the team. Once your team chat starts flowing into all chat then it is considered bad manners towards the other team. No one wants to hear your shit.
Calling people out on their mistake if you're not going to help or teach them is bad manners as well.
A person can call themselves a noob, but someone cannot call another person a noob.
Talking using caplocks is never appropriate. It makes you sound like a raging baby so don't do that.
Camping in FPS although sometimes acceptable can be considered bad manners. However spawn camping is always considered bad manners.
Having to pause the game because you forgot to take a shit before starting the round or you have to take your dog out to shit is bad manners. No one wants to wait for the one person on the team or in the game because they didn't take a shit. This also includes quitting because you didn't have enough time to finish the game.
This is all I can think of at this time. Pretty much one basic rule to remember, don't be an asshole. Follow that and you'll be fine
Friday, August 10, 2012
Thursday, August 9, 2012
Mechwarrior - It's getting worse by the second
It is SOLARIS time! It's also time to pony up and get reamed.
Remember my previous post about Mechwarrior Online?
Serious case of 'I told you so' incoming.
Prices are out of control and an assault mech can cost up to 18 USD. People on the forums have brought it up, but most f2p veterans seem to think its okay, because they migrated from World of Tanks, where an equivalent purchase over there costs them $40-50.
Are they fucking crazy??? I may not be well versed in F2P, but that is such a ripoff. Hearing that, I would NEVER touch WoT. Not even consider trying it. If that's the same policy they want to take with MWO, they're going to ruin it for me. It already has some issues with balance and design decisions (not hardcore enough), but slapping such an offensive price tag on items, optional or not, just reinforces the notion that they're not dedicated to creating a successor title for the veteran MW players, but instead creating a WoT2 with a different franchise setting.
The sad thing is, everyone I talk to, claims WoT's model basically prints money, and doesn't see how it'll be any different for MWO. They may be right, but since I've seen the cash shop, I've lost interest in playing. Funnily enough, I spent a day trying 50 different ways to reinstall Mechwarrior 2: Mercenaries (1996 title), and have been playing it exclusively for the past week.
Sadly, I just don't have a lot of love for a Mechwarrior battle-arena game. It's not Mechwarrior, it doesn't feel like a meaningful part of the universe, it's mindless as hell, there are too many design simplifications for newer players, requires a massive grind to unlock components (that you'd normally be able to buy within ingame cash in every other game), and now there's a horrible cash shop scheme.
Sigh. I wanted to like it, and I still do, but it needs a massive rework that I doubt we're gonna see.
I also saw gameplay footage of Mechwarrior Tactics, but it's like an online version of the tabletop game, but with card-collecting. Cards representing the tabletop units and equipment and so on. And guess what, they're also purchased with cash shop money, but you buy 'booster packs' and get random stuff. Great. -_- I don't like card games, and I didn't buy into the scams that they were when I was a kid. I'm not going to start now.
There's also another game I recently heard of, called Solaris Assault Tech, which is a deathmatch arena Mechwarrior game. Dear God, it sounds like it's gonna suck even more. What's with all the MW titles lately, and why are they all awful? Can someone just make a new SINGLEPLAYER campaign? Nobody seems to know how to do multiplayer.
I look back, and I think my optimism cost me. Never again. Pessimist Cent is prophetic Cent.
Update:
Spoke with the lead designer for MWO. Unfortunately, he claims that despite the success of the founder's package program (paying 30/60/120 dollars for initial premium packs) there still would not have been enough revenue to produce Mechwarrior 3015, the original proposed title that was not F2P. Apparently, MW3015 would have costed about $20 million, as it was intended as a XBOX/PC game, and console rights aren't cheap.
I'm not too sad though, because even if they did make it, it was going to suck. A mechwarrior game on console will inevitably lead to a dumbed down simulator. That explains why the controls are so simplified in MWO too. It would have been a glorified Mechassault, and yet another travesty in the series that would stagnate the franchise for another decade.
Remember my previous post about Mechwarrior Online?
Serious case of 'I told you so' incoming.
Prices are out of control and an assault mech can cost up to 18 USD. People on the forums have brought it up, but most f2p veterans seem to think its okay, because they migrated from World of Tanks, where an equivalent purchase over there costs them $40-50.
Are they fucking crazy??? I may not be well versed in F2P, but that is such a ripoff. Hearing that, I would NEVER touch WoT. Not even consider trying it. If that's the same policy they want to take with MWO, they're going to ruin it for me. It already has some issues with balance and design decisions (not hardcore enough), but slapping such an offensive price tag on items, optional or not, just reinforces the notion that they're not dedicated to creating a successor title for the veteran MW players, but instead creating a WoT2 with a different franchise setting.
The sad thing is, everyone I talk to, claims WoT's model basically prints money, and doesn't see how it'll be any different for MWO. They may be right, but since I've seen the cash shop, I've lost interest in playing. Funnily enough, I spent a day trying 50 different ways to reinstall Mechwarrior 2: Mercenaries (1996 title), and have been playing it exclusively for the past week.
Sadly, I just don't have a lot of love for a Mechwarrior battle-arena game. It's not Mechwarrior, it doesn't feel like a meaningful part of the universe, it's mindless as hell, there are too many design simplifications for newer players, requires a massive grind to unlock components (that you'd normally be able to buy within ingame cash in every other game), and now there's a horrible cash shop scheme.
Sigh. I wanted to like it, and I still do, but it needs a massive rework that I doubt we're gonna see.
I also saw gameplay footage of Mechwarrior Tactics, but it's like an online version of the tabletop game, but with card-collecting. Cards representing the tabletop units and equipment and so on. And guess what, they're also purchased with cash shop money, but you buy 'booster packs' and get random stuff. Great. -_- I don't like card games, and I didn't buy into the scams that they were when I was a kid. I'm not going to start now.
There's also another game I recently heard of, called Solaris Assault Tech, which is a deathmatch arena Mechwarrior game. Dear God, it sounds like it's gonna suck even more. What's with all the MW titles lately, and why are they all awful? Can someone just make a new SINGLEPLAYER campaign? Nobody seems to know how to do multiplayer.
I look back, and I think my optimism cost me. Never again. Pessimist Cent is prophetic Cent.
Update:
Spoke with the lead designer for MWO. Unfortunately, he claims that despite the success of the founder's package program (paying 30/60/120 dollars for initial premium packs) there still would not have been enough revenue to produce Mechwarrior 3015, the original proposed title that was not F2P. Apparently, MW3015 would have costed about $20 million, as it was intended as a XBOX/PC game, and console rights aren't cheap.
I'm not too sad though, because even if they did make it, it was going to suck. A mechwarrior game on console will inevitably lead to a dumbed down simulator. That explains why the controls are so simplified in MWO too. It would have been a glorified Mechassault, and yet another travesty in the series that would stagnate the franchise for another decade.
Tuesday, July 31, 2012
Warlock: Master of the Arcane - Everyone is a giant asshole
So when I first saw this all I can think of is how much it looks like Civilizations 5. I didn't play much of that game so I couldn't really compare them. What the major differences are is that Warlock focuses more on combat and its set in a fantasy world rather than historical world. When you first start the game you just pick a world size, a world type, and a wizard hero. You can customize your hero but theres not too much to it. The spells you can pick can all be learned so its better off picking a passive upgrade but even those are minor compared to any building you can make. As soon as you enter the game you notice that the world is fucking tiny. Yes the world is that small and yes you meet your enemy about five seconds into the game and you start fighting.
You might be thinking, well I like faster combat and I rather not build for hours. No, its just an illusion that you can get straight into the battle. The shitty units you start off with keep dying off like flies. I know thats supposed to happen but trying to capture a castle is like catapulting bodies against a stone wall. You lose out on so much resources its pointless. Also you can't start wars with everyone at once because you'll get fucked from all sides because of how small the world is. By the time you have a decent army and start laying siege to their castle the enemy has time to expand. You're laying siege gathering all your troops and pumping out more by the turn while waiting for your loser catapults to lumber over faster and you notice something wrong. YOU CAN'T FUCKING END THE TURN.
They simplified the game so that you press one button for everything. There will be a list of things you must do before the turn is over. You click that button it automatically picks the first objective on your list. Build a building. Ok thats fine. Click again, your troops have been created. Ok great. Click again. You unit is missing an action. Ok I'm laying siege I'll have them stand here. Click. Your unit is missing an action. No I don't want to move. Click. Your unit is missing an action. FUCK YOU. Move 1 cell to the left move 1 cell back. Click. Turn ended. It doesn't seem that bad but when you have 15 units waiting for catapults to arrive it gets tedious. I like to point out that there is absolutely no tutorial in this game. What does this do? What does that make? What is this for? You'll never know the answers to those questions until you play and get killed finding out. You'll never know what you're building for and what that building is for anyways.
Back to the battle you send all your guys in start attacking while catapults are blasting away. All of a sudden the enemy summons a bunch of spirit wolves and skeletons in one turn. What the fuck is that bullshit? Summon spirit wolves have a two turn cast time and this asshole just summoned five in a single turn thats against the rules. Well screw the rules because the computer cheats like a fucking asshole. You kill off his army but lose out on most of your units because the asshole won't stop summoning and you take over the town. His tiny expansion on the edge of his empire. Then the next turn he summons more wolves and destroy your army taking it back. You send more troops and take back the town only to find him summoning more wolves. So you play like an asshole too and click destroy city so he can't take it back.
Now the game becomes a war of attrition. I've been playing this game for five hours and I still haven't beaten a single guy. I captured most of the continent he's in his corner summoning endless wolves that I can't kill fast enough before more pops up and I don't know what the fuck to build or do to counter that. I don't even know what to build in order to unlock the higher tier stuff. There are special locations where you can build special buildings but those too don't explain anything. If you find a labyrinth you can build a building to hire minotaurs or give your infantry labyrinth training. What do either of those do? I don't fucking know. It never explains it.
The magic is ok in this game. You have three resources. Gold to hire stuff, build stuff, and basic upkeep of everything. Food is for army upkeep and mana is for your wizard spells. You can research spells and learning certain spells unlock new spells but you'll never know what unlocks what because it never tells you. Of course it is everything is hidden in this game and theres no tutorial at all. Some spells like summon spirit wolves cost a lot of mana and has mana upkeep for every turn. Some spells take more than one turn to cast like summon spirit wolves but for the fucking cheating enemy they can keep casting forever.
Then to put salt on the wound, I suddenly get a message pop up saying yellow player has won the game. Why did he win? How did he win? It never says anything just "so and so has won the game" and kicks you to the main menu. Theres no warning, theres no stat screen to compare yourself theres nothing. You just die and it kicks you to the main menu. What the fuck?
Maybe this game isn't for me. I don't want to spend hours reading up on what to do on a wiki site and spending 80 hours to win a war of attrition to a cheating asshole enemy.
You might be thinking, well I like faster combat and I rather not build for hours. No, its just an illusion that you can get straight into the battle. The shitty units you start off with keep dying off like flies. I know thats supposed to happen but trying to capture a castle is like catapulting bodies against a stone wall. You lose out on so much resources its pointless. Also you can't start wars with everyone at once because you'll get fucked from all sides because of how small the world is. By the time you have a decent army and start laying siege to their castle the enemy has time to expand. You're laying siege gathering all your troops and pumping out more by the turn while waiting for your loser catapults to lumber over faster and you notice something wrong. YOU CAN'T FUCKING END THE TURN.
They simplified the game so that you press one button for everything. There will be a list of things you must do before the turn is over. You click that button it automatically picks the first objective on your list. Build a building. Ok thats fine. Click again, your troops have been created. Ok great. Click again. You unit is missing an action. Ok I'm laying siege I'll have them stand here. Click. Your unit is missing an action. No I don't want to move. Click. Your unit is missing an action. FUCK YOU. Move 1 cell to the left move 1 cell back. Click. Turn ended. It doesn't seem that bad but when you have 15 units waiting for catapults to arrive it gets tedious. I like to point out that there is absolutely no tutorial in this game. What does this do? What does that make? What is this for? You'll never know the answers to those questions until you play and get killed finding out. You'll never know what you're building for and what that building is for anyways.
Back to the battle you send all your guys in start attacking while catapults are blasting away. All of a sudden the enemy summons a bunch of spirit wolves and skeletons in one turn. What the fuck is that bullshit? Summon spirit wolves have a two turn cast time and this asshole just summoned five in a single turn thats against the rules. Well screw the rules because the computer cheats like a fucking asshole. You kill off his army but lose out on most of your units because the asshole won't stop summoning and you take over the town. His tiny expansion on the edge of his empire. Then the next turn he summons more wolves and destroy your army taking it back. You send more troops and take back the town only to find him summoning more wolves. So you play like an asshole too and click destroy city so he can't take it back.
Now the game becomes a war of attrition. I've been playing this game for five hours and I still haven't beaten a single guy. I captured most of the continent he's in his corner summoning endless wolves that I can't kill fast enough before more pops up and I don't know what the fuck to build or do to counter that. I don't even know what to build in order to unlock the higher tier stuff. There are special locations where you can build special buildings but those too don't explain anything. If you find a labyrinth you can build a building to hire minotaurs or give your infantry labyrinth training. What do either of those do? I don't fucking know. It never explains it.
The magic is ok in this game. You have three resources. Gold to hire stuff, build stuff, and basic upkeep of everything. Food is for army upkeep and mana is for your wizard spells. You can research spells and learning certain spells unlock new spells but you'll never know what unlocks what because it never tells you. Of course it is everything is hidden in this game and theres no tutorial at all. Some spells like summon spirit wolves cost a lot of mana and has mana upkeep for every turn. Some spells take more than one turn to cast like summon spirit wolves but for the fucking cheating enemy they can keep casting forever.
Then to put salt on the wound, I suddenly get a message pop up saying yellow player has won the game. Why did he win? How did he win? It never says anything just "so and so has won the game" and kicks you to the main menu. Theres no warning, theres no stat screen to compare yourself theres nothing. You just die and it kicks you to the main menu. What the fuck?
Maybe this game isn't for me. I don't want to spend hours reading up on what to do on a wiki site and spending 80 hours to win a war of attrition to a cheating asshole enemy.
Friday, July 27, 2012
Puzzle Quest - Bejeweled meets RPG
A glance at the name would make you start thinking what could possibly make someone play a game like this. Well, to be completely honest with you, its a decently fun game. Its complex and its stupidly imbalanced. Most of the game is about luck. Like playing dice poker in The Witcher and getting your ass beat kind of luck. When first starting the game you can directly jump into the combat or create a story character. Jump into combat is like playing vs against other players or just fighting monsters. If you start a story there is actually a vast and interesting world to explore and play around in. The world map reminds me of Final Fantasy Tactics where you move around your cursor and click and your character moves to designated stepping points. You can enter cities go to old fields you been to and fight enemies to train. There is also a complicated city building thing that I didn't understand and gave up.
The game play requires you to run around doing errands with side quests and a main story quest marked in a red ! instead of a yellow !. Combat is played like bejeweled. There are different blocks, red, blue, green, yellow are mana blocks. Matching them will add into the mana pool of the specific color. Different classes take advantage of different pools. For example a Wizard focuses on red and yellow while a Druid focuses on green and blue. Then there are skulls, purple stars, and gold. Skulls means you attack it is based on your weapon damage, while purple stars are exp and gold is well, gold. You take turns to match. If you know you can get something but leaves yourself vulnerable to a skull or letting the guy charge up his red mana that he needs to do a super skill, you might leave that one alone and let him grab it instead.
When you first play the game you can pick between a few different classes each with their own unique skills, strengths and weaknesses. You then pick a premade avatar which will show up in all the talking scenes as well as your character screen and combat. Not knowing what to do I asked my sister to pick one and she picked the green hair wizard girl so thats what I went with. The classes are as follows:
Druid - Focuses on messing up the field and disrupting the enemy. Completely useless class except for one stupid exploitable spell that lets you one shot everything to death instantly.
Knight - They focus on getting a lot of exp and they get it fast! But other than that you are just a really defensive loser that can't kill.
Warrior - You build damage and you destroy people. The strongest and easiest class in the game.
Wizard - Your spells do decent damage early on but when you get higher the spells do shit and you have to abuse a skill to do any kind of damage.
As you can see here the classes are badly balanced. Wizard being probably the most balanced of them all but requires you to build specifically for a Hand of Power build. How this works is every time you match skulls. you deal damage but when you use skills to blow up skulls it will always do 1 damage. 1 damage does not get boosted by weapon and gear boosts. So what you do is, cast Hand of Power which will always add +2 damage to any damage done. So blowing up a skull instead of doing 1 damage will be doing say 8-9 damage a hit making your damage go up very fast. Its not stupidly overpowered like a druid but it puts you on equal footing with other classes.
There is a lot to do in the game, you can buy gear, craft, learn new skills, get mounts with special effects, bring companions, have captives, build kingdoms, follow rumors, and a shit load of stuff. What I'm getting at is this game is very complex. Its also brutal when luck isn't on your side and you see the enemy matching 5 in a row multiple times and you go from full health to zero after one lucky streak by the enemy when you spent the last 5-10 minutes whittling down his health. Often I need to fight the same fights multiple times because of terrible luck. You can however pick your difficulty. I picked normal but for masochists and noobies there are hard and easy modes for you. You can even pick limited time option so you have to make yourself match faster or it'll skip your turn and hurt you. If you accidentally mess up a move it will say "invalid move" and deal damage to you then skip your turn so the enemy can damage you more and kill you. Its merciless.
While the puzzle combat is the only "puzzle" part of the game the rest of the game plays like any other RPG. Theres a main story that you follow. You're a wizard of some Queen and she sends you on a mission to find out why undead are popping up you meet people along the way beat up a few necromancers here and there and gives you decisions that branch the story out a little bit come back and realize necromancers are the least of your concern. I haven't finished the game but from what I can see I'm not very far in. One thing I should mention is the text in this game is fucking tiny. I play on the PS2 version and holy fuck is it small. I have to strain my eyes to read this and I could read King's Bounty fine on the PC when everyone says the text is small there. Its smaller in Puzzle Quest and maybe its because its on the TV but its like a grain of sand.
If you're a RPG fan or a puzzle fan or just someone looking for something to waste your time on, try this game out. The game is frustrating and it cheats but its just the right amount that you don't want to give up and try again, and again, and again. You might hear the voice "you have suffered defeat" over and over in your head at night when you're trying to sleep but give it a chance.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VgxxrHCJ6xM
The game play requires you to run around doing errands with side quests and a main story quest marked in a red ! instead of a yellow !. Combat is played like bejeweled. There are different blocks, red, blue, green, yellow are mana blocks. Matching them will add into the mana pool of the specific color. Different classes take advantage of different pools. For example a Wizard focuses on red and yellow while a Druid focuses on green and blue. Then there are skulls, purple stars, and gold. Skulls means you attack it is based on your weapon damage, while purple stars are exp and gold is well, gold. You take turns to match. If you know you can get something but leaves yourself vulnerable to a skull or letting the guy charge up his red mana that he needs to do a super skill, you might leave that one alone and let him grab it instead.
When you first play the game you can pick between a few different classes each with their own unique skills, strengths and weaknesses. You then pick a premade avatar which will show up in all the talking scenes as well as your character screen and combat. Not knowing what to do I asked my sister to pick one and she picked the green hair wizard girl so thats what I went with. The classes are as follows:
Druid - Focuses on messing up the field and disrupting the enemy. Completely useless class except for one stupid exploitable spell that lets you one shot everything to death instantly.
Knight - They focus on getting a lot of exp and they get it fast! But other than that you are just a really defensive loser that can't kill.
Warrior - You build damage and you destroy people. The strongest and easiest class in the game.
Wizard - Your spells do decent damage early on but when you get higher the spells do shit and you have to abuse a skill to do any kind of damage.
As you can see here the classes are badly balanced. Wizard being probably the most balanced of them all but requires you to build specifically for a Hand of Power build. How this works is every time you match skulls. you deal damage but when you use skills to blow up skulls it will always do 1 damage. 1 damage does not get boosted by weapon and gear boosts. So what you do is, cast Hand of Power which will always add +2 damage to any damage done. So blowing up a skull instead of doing 1 damage will be doing say 8-9 damage a hit making your damage go up very fast. Its not stupidly overpowered like a druid but it puts you on equal footing with other classes.
There is a lot to do in the game, you can buy gear, craft, learn new skills, get mounts with special effects, bring companions, have captives, build kingdoms, follow rumors, and a shit load of stuff. What I'm getting at is this game is very complex. Its also brutal when luck isn't on your side and you see the enemy matching 5 in a row multiple times and you go from full health to zero after one lucky streak by the enemy when you spent the last 5-10 minutes whittling down his health. Often I need to fight the same fights multiple times because of terrible luck. You can however pick your difficulty. I picked normal but for masochists and noobies there are hard and easy modes for you. You can even pick limited time option so you have to make yourself match faster or it'll skip your turn and hurt you. If you accidentally mess up a move it will say "invalid move" and deal damage to you then skip your turn so the enemy can damage you more and kill you. Its merciless.
While the puzzle combat is the only "puzzle" part of the game the rest of the game plays like any other RPG. Theres a main story that you follow. You're a wizard of some Queen and she sends you on a mission to find out why undead are popping up you meet people along the way beat up a few necromancers here and there and gives you decisions that branch the story out a little bit come back and realize necromancers are the least of your concern. I haven't finished the game but from what I can see I'm not very far in. One thing I should mention is the text in this game is fucking tiny. I play on the PS2 version and holy fuck is it small. I have to strain my eyes to read this and I could read King's Bounty fine on the PC when everyone says the text is small there. Its smaller in Puzzle Quest and maybe its because its on the TV but its like a grain of sand.
If you're a RPG fan or a puzzle fan or just someone looking for something to waste your time on, try this game out. The game is frustrating and it cheats but its just the right amount that you don't want to give up and try again, and again, and again. You might hear the voice "you have suffered defeat" over and over in your head at night when you're trying to sleep but give it a chance.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VgxxrHCJ6xM
Wednesday, June 20, 2012
Gender Inequality - Female Gamers
Half of the world is populated by women, yet the majority of gamers are men. Everyone has been asking that question and no one knows why. Perhaps its the way they are treated that turns them away from gaming. Maybe its the way that women are portrayed in games. Since I've already talked about it in my previous gender inequality post, I'm going to focus on the female gamer instead.
Most people when playing games are civil to the opposite gender. However there are people who are so insecure that when a women plays a video game they feel like their boy's club of video games is being threatened and needs to attack that person. Whats wrong with a female gamer? Nothing. If no one said anything would you have known? I play with women all the time and I don't notice a different between men or women. They can both suck, they can both be good, they can both be funny or stupid as all hell. Why hate on them? The most common excuse is that they are attention whoring whiny people who won't shut up. Newsflash, just because they are popular does not mean they are attention whoring. Do not be envious of someone who is more popular than you. If a man gets a lot of attention of everyone around him does anyone bat an eyelash? No. He's the cool dude. If a women gets attention its because she has breasts.
Another I get is that women are bad at playing games. As if being a certain gender means you automatically suck at a game. If someone is Asian does that mean they are good at RTS? If they are Brazilian does that mean they are terrible at everything? Fuck no. People often whine that everyone has to help the girl and teach her everything because she sucks. Ever had that friend or guildie who just don't know what to do? Yeah you teach him. Does that mean he's a girl? Fuck no. Everyone is new once and just because you aren't new now doesn't mean weren't before. I know girls who can kick people's ass consistently in games.
Then there are people who attack them just because they are a girl. They rather all the games they play be a huge sausage fest. I've played many games with girls and theres always one or two angry people. I've once played a game of HoN and our team was doing well. But when one random teammate talked into her microphone and revealed that she was a girl, a guy on our team flipped out. Apparently the thought of having to play with the opposite sex infuriated him so much he had to purposely lose the game. For the entirety of the match he did nothing but call her out by calling her a fat pig or stupid cunt because the only girls playing video games are ugly and fat. Why? I know girls who play games that are normal. No one else spoke up about it. Only me and another person did and the guy responded with "you must be dating the fat cunt because you won't stop bitching about it. Hey is it worth it? Was it worth it? Dating this ugly fat bitch so you can get your dick sucked."
Unfortunately thats not uncommon. Revealing you are a girl will get people messaging you telling you "tits or gtfo" and many other comments. The worst part is no one is doing anything about it. ANYTHING. In fact most people believe its innocent and that its part of the community. Reread that last sentence. Remember that shitty thing that happened awhile ago on some shitty Capcom show that no ones ever heard about but the sexual harassment shit that came out of it was bigger than the show itself? According to them, sexual harassment is part of the fighting game community.
In almost every game I've played with I've played with girls at some point. Sometimes they sit on my friend list for months before they reveal to me they were a girl. Sure. Do I assume they are male or female before they reveal anything? No not really. To me everyone online is just a empty husk. Once they share information that gets filled in more and more. I've met with both men and women from online games offline in real life and they are as normal as the next person. If we can get along in real life, why the hate when we meet online? I have been told by many people that they always thought I was a girl when they first meet me online. Somehow its the way I talk and my general niceness that gives off a vibe that I'm a girl. When people ask, I tell them I'm a guy. What would happen if I had answered differently? I actually gave that a test. What I gotten was people hating me for no reason than the fact that they thought I was a girl. One high school kid hated me so much he refused to talk to me or group with me or have anything to do with me.
There are people who go "I'm just trolling man." Why? You don't really hate women you just pretend you hate women? So you think its funny to pretend to hate women? I think at that point deep down you hate women and you are just lying to yourself. Trolling is something I don't get anyways. Why the fuck do you want to purposely go out of your way to mess with someone? Oh look you're a chick I'm going to go out of my way to make your life miserable because it makes me laugh. At this point you're a misogynist. Don't even bother trying to defend yourself.
Now recently, a woman tried make a series of Youtube videos talking about the common tropes of video game women. I'm actually interested because I've been talking about that for the longest time. However instead of being welcomed by the rest of the gaming community she is attacked verbally with hateful comments of sexual violence. Her youtube and wikipedia page was vandalized as well. More information can be found on the link below.
http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2012/06/13/tropes-vs-women-in-video-games-vs-the-internet/
Why did the hate start anyways? From what I gathered. There was a group of people on 4chan who thought what she was planning to do was so stupid they had to rally up a bunch of people and attack her. Their reasoning? Men are also portrayed in certain roles. The difference is its a power fantasy. Men are portrayed as powerful while women are portrayed in less than ideal roles. Though thats not always the case thats often the case though. These people were so enraged at the thought of a woman challenging this they attacked her BEFORE she even made a video. What? Why don't you wait for her side of the argument before you attack her. Their argument is "lol this bitch should shut up men are sexualized too." Then they decided to make a kickstarter to gather up money to make a tropes vs men on video games and then donate all the money to charity (or use it for beer money) and make a video about it because they want to "show women they don't need to get money to make videos."
However, during the whole attack the person who was making the videos handled everything extremely well. She didn't run away and let the mob silence her. She didn't attack them back. She talked to the admins to get stuff back to normal. Left the comments on to prove her point of sexism in video games. And because of all that she got a huge amount of media attention and completely broke her goal of $6000. The funniest part is if they didn't attack her openly like that she probably would never had gotten that much raised. Some people are just stupid.
Most people when playing games are civil to the opposite gender. However there are people who are so insecure that when a women plays a video game they feel like their boy's club of video games is being threatened and needs to attack that person. Whats wrong with a female gamer? Nothing. If no one said anything would you have known? I play with women all the time and I don't notice a different between men or women. They can both suck, they can both be good, they can both be funny or stupid as all hell. Why hate on them? The most common excuse is that they are attention whoring whiny people who won't shut up. Newsflash, just because they are popular does not mean they are attention whoring. Do not be envious of someone who is more popular than you. If a man gets a lot of attention of everyone around him does anyone bat an eyelash? No. He's the cool dude. If a women gets attention its because she has breasts.
Another I get is that women are bad at playing games. As if being a certain gender means you automatically suck at a game. If someone is Asian does that mean they are good at RTS? If they are Brazilian does that mean they are terrible at everything? Fuck no. People often whine that everyone has to help the girl and teach her everything because she sucks. Ever had that friend or guildie who just don't know what to do? Yeah you teach him. Does that mean he's a girl? Fuck no. Everyone is new once and just because you aren't new now doesn't mean weren't before. I know girls who can kick people's ass consistently in games.
Then there are people who attack them just because they are a girl. They rather all the games they play be a huge sausage fest. I've played many games with girls and theres always one or two angry people. I've once played a game of HoN and our team was doing well. But when one random teammate talked into her microphone and revealed that she was a girl, a guy on our team flipped out. Apparently the thought of having to play with the opposite sex infuriated him so much he had to purposely lose the game. For the entirety of the match he did nothing but call her out by calling her a fat pig or stupid cunt because the only girls playing video games are ugly and fat. Why? I know girls who play games that are normal. No one else spoke up about it. Only me and another person did and the guy responded with "you must be dating the fat cunt because you won't stop bitching about it. Hey is it worth it? Was it worth it? Dating this ugly fat bitch so you can get your dick sucked."
Unfortunately thats not uncommon. Revealing you are a girl will get people messaging you telling you "tits or gtfo" and many other comments. The worst part is no one is doing anything about it. ANYTHING. In fact most people believe its innocent and that its part of the community. Reread that last sentence. Remember that shitty thing that happened awhile ago on some shitty Capcom show that no ones ever heard about but the sexual harassment shit that came out of it was bigger than the show itself? According to them, sexual harassment is part of the fighting game community.
In almost every game I've played with I've played with girls at some point. Sometimes they sit on my friend list for months before they reveal to me they were a girl. Sure. Do I assume they are male or female before they reveal anything? No not really. To me everyone online is just a empty husk. Once they share information that gets filled in more and more. I've met with both men and women from online games offline in real life and they are as normal as the next person. If we can get along in real life, why the hate when we meet online? I have been told by many people that they always thought I was a girl when they first meet me online. Somehow its the way I talk and my general niceness that gives off a vibe that I'm a girl. When people ask, I tell them I'm a guy. What would happen if I had answered differently? I actually gave that a test. What I gotten was people hating me for no reason than the fact that they thought I was a girl. One high school kid hated me so much he refused to talk to me or group with me or have anything to do with me.
There are people who go "I'm just trolling man." Why? You don't really hate women you just pretend you hate women? So you think its funny to pretend to hate women? I think at that point deep down you hate women and you are just lying to yourself. Trolling is something I don't get anyways. Why the fuck do you want to purposely go out of your way to mess with someone? Oh look you're a chick I'm going to go out of my way to make your life miserable because it makes me laugh. At this point you're a misogynist. Don't even bother trying to defend yourself.
Now recently, a woman tried make a series of Youtube videos talking about the common tropes of video game women. I'm actually interested because I've been talking about that for the longest time. However instead of being welcomed by the rest of the gaming community she is attacked verbally with hateful comments of sexual violence. Her youtube and wikipedia page was vandalized as well. More information can be found on the link below.
http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2012/06/13/tropes-vs-women-in-video-games-vs-the-internet/
Why did the hate start anyways? From what I gathered. There was a group of people on 4chan who thought what she was planning to do was so stupid they had to rally up a bunch of people and attack her. Their reasoning? Men are also portrayed in certain roles. The difference is its a power fantasy. Men are portrayed as powerful while women are portrayed in less than ideal roles. Though thats not always the case thats often the case though. These people were so enraged at the thought of a woman challenging this they attacked her BEFORE she even made a video. What? Why don't you wait for her side of the argument before you attack her. Their argument is "lol this bitch should shut up men are sexualized too." Then they decided to make a kickstarter to gather up money to make a tropes vs men on video games and then donate all the money to charity (or use it for beer money) and make a video about it because they want to "show women they don't need to get money to make videos."
However, during the whole attack the person who was making the videos handled everything extremely well. She didn't run away and let the mob silence her. She didn't attack them back. She talked to the admins to get stuff back to normal. Left the comments on to prove her point of sexism in video games. And because of all that she got a huge amount of media attention and completely broke her goal of $6000. The funniest part is if they didn't attack her openly like that she probably would never had gotten that much raised. Some people are just stupid.
MechWarrior Online (formerly MechWarrior 5, or MechWarrior 3015, or MechWarrior, PayToWin)
Remember this post I made 3 years ago on the upcoming MechWarrior game?
It has been announced officially as MechWarrior Online, a free to play game, launching sometime this year, and with no singleplayer campaign at all. They're aiming at an action oriented online arena feel, ala MechAssault.
I should have added another criteria to that wishlist: that it wouldn't be a whored out f2p game with tons of cash shopping to win. In my inbox today, I received an email offer from MWO for their upcoming cash shop packages. There are $30, $60, and $120 packages, giving you 1, 2 or 3 months of exp boost respectively. You also get some exclusive founders-only mech variants with a reskin. It's not clear from the wording whether or not the variants will be exclusive too, or if it's just a reskin/remodel of an existing variant available to all players. You also get a bit of in-game cash shop currency and some prestige crap.
Holy damn, that is a massive amount of money to pay, especially before a game launch. $120 is beyond what I'd even expect for a collector's edition, so why would anyone pay that except to get massive advantages? I'm not against all F2P games, but the setup here gives me the wrong vibe. I was expecting players would pay maybe $10 and be able to buy/unlock 3-4 items which could be obtained over a period of 1-2 weeks. But 60 USD for a 2 month buff, 1 reskin and $80 of cash shop? Just how pricey are the items going to be??
Next, it really seems these guys are copying the Tribes: Ascend formula. Fast-paced, jump-into-action game with unlockable items per class in an online arena. It worked pretty well for Tribes, but I'm not so sure it will for MWO. It's going to be just like MechAssault if it does that, and that's not how Mechwarrior is supposed to play at all. MechWarrior isn't about arena-deathmatches (although Solaris Arena is), instead, you play a battlefield with objectives and smart tactics and coordinated strategy with a full arsenal of Air, Infantry, Vehicles and Mechs.
Worse, MW has an incredibly rich history of lore that's just going to be abandoned for F2Ping. No doubt they'll add more and more items as the game goes on to milk it, but the rich backstory that MW is built upon is going to be unimportant. Who cares what's happening in Tribes? Who even knows the lore for that? You just go in and FRAG. That's not a mold MW fits into, no matter how hard MWO is jammed into that role.
Last thing, it seems rather likely now that mechs cannot be customized, and players will be limited to variants. This is probably the best way the devs can continue to milk players harder and harder. It also means things will be a little more bland, and less freeform as MW is supposed to be.
Well... At least there's MechWarrior Tactics coming out soon.
Wait, that's F2P too. Shit.
It has been announced officially as MechWarrior Online, a free to play game, launching sometime this year, and with no singleplayer campaign at all. They're aiming at an action oriented online arena feel, ala MechAssault.
I should have added another criteria to that wishlist: that it wouldn't be a whored out f2p game with tons of cash shopping to win. In my inbox today, I received an email offer from MWO for their upcoming cash shop packages. There are $30, $60, and $120 packages, giving you 1, 2 or 3 months of exp boost respectively. You also get some exclusive founders-only mech variants with a reskin. It's not clear from the wording whether or not the variants will be exclusive too, or if it's just a reskin/remodel of an existing variant available to all players. You also get a bit of in-game cash shop currency and some prestige crap.
Holy damn, that is a massive amount of money to pay, especially before a game launch. $120 is beyond what I'd even expect for a collector's edition, so why would anyone pay that except to get massive advantages? I'm not against all F2P games, but the setup here gives me the wrong vibe. I was expecting players would pay maybe $10 and be able to buy/unlock 3-4 items which could be obtained over a period of 1-2 weeks. But 60 USD for a 2 month buff, 1 reskin and $80 of cash shop? Just how pricey are the items going to be??
Next, it really seems these guys are copying the Tribes: Ascend formula. Fast-paced, jump-into-action game with unlockable items per class in an online arena. It worked pretty well for Tribes, but I'm not so sure it will for MWO. It's going to be just like MechAssault if it does that, and that's not how Mechwarrior is supposed to play at all. MechWarrior isn't about arena-deathmatches (although Solaris Arena is), instead, you play a battlefield with objectives and smart tactics and coordinated strategy with a full arsenal of Air, Infantry, Vehicles and Mechs.
Worse, MW has an incredibly rich history of lore that's just going to be abandoned for F2Ping. No doubt they'll add more and more items as the game goes on to milk it, but the rich backstory that MW is built upon is going to be unimportant. Who cares what's happening in Tribes? Who even knows the lore for that? You just go in and FRAG. That's not a mold MW fits into, no matter how hard MWO is jammed into that role.
Last thing, it seems rather likely now that mechs cannot be customized, and players will be limited to variants. This is probably the best way the devs can continue to milk players harder and harder. It also means things will be a little more bland, and less freeform as MW is supposed to be.
Well... At least there's MechWarrior Tactics coming out soon.
Wait, that's F2P too. Shit.
Thursday, May 31, 2012
38 Studios - How to fuck up and run off with 75 million
Remember Kingdoms of Amalur? How I said if the game flops the city of Rhode Island would have to pay for it? Well its exactly what happened. Somehow they convinced Rhode Island to lend them 75 million but thats not all, they will also cover the loan if they somehow defaulted it. How did they even fuck this up so badly. Well for starters they invested all of the money into a new IP not knowing whether it will even be good. Somehow they figured people would like it enough to support novels, comics, a MMO, and an action rpg all at once. ALL AT ONCE. They decided to do them all at the same time. There was even a sequel for KoA2 in the making, while the MMO is coming out soon in 2013. Soon eh? Its pretty hard to finish a MMO when you fired over 300 employees and aren't paying them.
The problem is the game did alright, it wasn't great and it wasn't as popular as they have expected. In fact they needed more than double break even. Then they sunk everything into a mmo and a sequel and ran out of money before they were even done. They were making games to make money. While everyone does it to make money, they have no idea how to make money and think that if you throw enough big names into it then they'll make enough money to fund the rest of the games they are working on simultaneously. Not just that the company is going to die, the taxpayers have to bail them out, R.A. Salvatore gets to run off with 5 million fucking dollars.
http://www.golocalprov.com/politics/donna-perry-taxpayers-are-owed-transparent-answers-by-the-edc/
Now I know why they couldn't break even. Fucking dick runs off with all the money. They needed to sell over 3 million copies to have enough money to fund their MMO. How the fuck do they expect a new IP to sell over 3 million? Are they completely fucking retarded? But they are not the biggest bunch of idiots, the people at Rhode Island who gave them the loan is. 75 million with no downside if they collapse and fail? Win win situation for them to fuck around. They did and they failed. Way to go.
And just recently they completely died firing all their employees and closing down their studios.
http://www.theverge.com/gaming/2012/5/24/3041662/38-studios-lays-off-entire-staff
Now all their employees are fucked, out of a job and Curt Schilling, the multi-millionaire baseball guy who founded the company used the money from the company to pay off a personal loan and then walked without having to pay a single cent.
According to the report, when 38 Studios moved from Massachusetts to Rhode Island in 2010, it offered employees a relocation program that would see the company sell their old homes for them. However, "some" employees received notice from banks this week that they had missed mortgage payments on their old homes, at least one of which 38 Studios told the owner employee it had sold last year. An unspecified 38 Studios official told the site that it was trying to resolve the situation.
http://www.gamespot.com/news/collapse-of-38-studios-sticks-some-devs-with-second-mortgage-6378649
Talk about fucking over their employees even more. This is the most infuriating thing about this whole ordeal. The people in charge walk away with money in their pockets while everyone else pays for it. They claimed they did extensive research and that MMOs rake in money. So they wanted to make a MMO without any idea on how well KoA would do. That just isn't true.
http://users.telenet.be/mmodata/Charts/Subs-1.png
http://users.telenet.be/mmodata/Charts/Subs-2.png
MMOs die off fast and when they do they usually take half the company if not all with them. They are risking all 100% of the MMO by funding it with money they will earn from KoA which they need to sell over 3 million copies at full price. And no one thought this was a bad idea?
The problem is the game did alright, it wasn't great and it wasn't as popular as they have expected. In fact they needed more than double break even. Then they sunk everything into a mmo and a sequel and ran out of money before they were even done. They were making games to make money. While everyone does it to make money, they have no idea how to make money and think that if you throw enough big names into it then they'll make enough money to fund the rest of the games they are working on simultaneously. Not just that the company is going to die, the taxpayers have to bail them out, R.A. Salvatore gets to run off with 5 million fucking dollars.
http://www.golocalprov.com/politics/donna-perry-taxpayers-are-owed-transparent-answers-by-the-edc/
Now I know why they couldn't break even. Fucking dick runs off with all the money. They needed to sell over 3 million copies to have enough money to fund their MMO. How the fuck do they expect a new IP to sell over 3 million? Are they completely fucking retarded? But they are not the biggest bunch of idiots, the people at Rhode Island who gave them the loan is. 75 million with no downside if they collapse and fail? Win win situation for them to fuck around. They did and they failed. Way to go.
And just recently they completely died firing all their employees and closing down their studios.
http://www.theverge.com/gaming/2012/5/24/3041662/38-studios-lays-off-entire-staff
Now all their employees are fucked, out of a job and Curt Schilling, the multi-millionaire baseball guy who founded the company used the money from the company to pay off a personal loan and then walked without having to pay a single cent.
According to the report, when 38 Studios moved from Massachusetts to Rhode Island in 2010, it offered employees a relocation program that would see the company sell their old homes for them. However, "some" employees received notice from banks this week that they had missed mortgage payments on their old homes, at least one of which 38 Studios told the owner employee it had sold last year. An unspecified 38 Studios official told the site that it was trying to resolve the situation.
http://www.gamespot.com/news/collapse-of-38-studios-sticks-some-devs-with-second-mortgage-6378649
Talk about fucking over their employees even more. This is the most infuriating thing about this whole ordeal. The people in charge walk away with money in their pockets while everyone else pays for it. They claimed they did extensive research and that MMOs rake in money. So they wanted to make a MMO without any idea on how well KoA would do. That just isn't true.
http://users.telenet.be/mmodata/Charts/Subs-1.png
http://users.telenet.be/mmodata/Charts/Subs-2.png
MMOs die off fast and when they do they usually take half the company if not all with them. They are risking all 100% of the MMO by funding it with money they will earn from KoA which they need to sell over 3 million copies at full price. And no one thought this was a bad idea?
Wednesday, April 25, 2012
To the Moon - Even RPG maker games can make money
I find it funny that unknown indie games are thriving and Ubisoft is still complaining about a 90% drop in sales because of the evil pirates. After continuing my Adventure game marathon I found this game. Someone had suggested it on the forums. I looked at it saw a RPG maker game (a program that premakes RPGs for you easily for people who can't make them) and went fuck that. But after hearing a lot about it again and having just finished up Gray Matter I decided to give it a try. At first I'm going "what is this some lame comedy bullshit?" Then I played longer and finally understood what everyone was talking about. The game may look unappealing but the story is great. After playing for the few hours it took to finish the game, the graphics doesn't look so bad anymore. However is this really worth 12 bucks?
The game is almost as short as Dear Esther and theres absolutely no replay value. Why is it worth 12 bucks? For a game you make in RPG maker? Seems like anyone can throw together a game and sell it these days. However I remember saying games with shitty gameplay but good stories should stick to writing books this one is a bit different. It may be an RPG maker game but its an Adventure game at heart. It wouldn't be fun if it was a real game with lots of dumb stuff to distract you and it wouldn't make sense in a book. Its mixing these two together that you get the perfect game, an Adventure game. Without being able to interact with the world and find objects to trigger memories it just wouldn't be the same. Its a shame Adventure games are dying out. I may not have played many of them, but I still find them extremely fun.
Adventure games may be dying but its certainly not entirely dead. It has a very niche audience that are eagerly waiting for more. Double Fine recently started a Kickstarter for a new adventure game and they raised over 3 million dollars to make the game. That is a lot of fucking money from people desperately wanting a new adventure game. A lot of adventure games joined up Kickstarter too and are getting close to reaching the goal. I'm going off topic. When you first start the game you meet up with your two protagonists, Dr. Eva Rosalene and Dr. Neil Watts. The two of you have unique jobs where the two of you give the person another chance to live by granting them one wish just before they die but everything is just a memory. You meet the caretakers of an elderly man named Johnny who is on his deathbed. You are told his wish is to go to the moon and the two of you enter his memories and find out exactly why and by changing certain events in his memory the two of you can make that wish come true. However its never really that simple is it?
Its painful and heartbreaking. The characters are all very likable, and you're always begging for more information but its never given to you. As you go back further in time you learn more and more about them and why they are doing what they did. There is really nothing I can say without spoiling the game. The story is very good and the music isn't bad. It fits the theme pretty well. However as the game ended we were told this is part 1 of many. If this really is part 1 of many then its already 12 bucks for 1 part?. Thats pretty steep of a price for something with barely any replay value with RPG maker graphics.
Do not let the first few minutes of the game fool you. Walking around like an RPG and fighting turn based combat is all for comedic effect. People start off hating the protagonists because they add nothing to the story until later on they realize they're there for the comedic effect to alleviate the bleakness of the game. Its a very depressing game yet touching at the same time. I don't hate this game, in fact I like it a lot. Would this be called an adventure game? It most likely can. People assume its an RPG because its made in RPG maker. It is not. Adventure games are unique in the sense that they rely more on the story to sell the game. However the gameplay is not entirely forgotten. Without proper gameplay, an adventure game is nothing but a story. Its the merging of these two things that we get something amazing. This game did it right.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sqkJuSV-23U
Give it a try.
The game is almost as short as Dear Esther and theres absolutely no replay value. Why is it worth 12 bucks? For a game you make in RPG maker? Seems like anyone can throw together a game and sell it these days. However I remember saying games with shitty gameplay but good stories should stick to writing books this one is a bit different. It may be an RPG maker game but its an Adventure game at heart. It wouldn't be fun if it was a real game with lots of dumb stuff to distract you and it wouldn't make sense in a book. Its mixing these two together that you get the perfect game, an Adventure game. Without being able to interact with the world and find objects to trigger memories it just wouldn't be the same. Its a shame Adventure games are dying out. I may not have played many of them, but I still find them extremely fun.
Adventure games may be dying but its certainly not entirely dead. It has a very niche audience that are eagerly waiting for more. Double Fine recently started a Kickstarter for a new adventure game and they raised over 3 million dollars to make the game. That is a lot of fucking money from people desperately wanting a new adventure game. A lot of adventure games joined up Kickstarter too and are getting close to reaching the goal. I'm going off topic. When you first start the game you meet up with your two protagonists, Dr. Eva Rosalene and Dr. Neil Watts. The two of you have unique jobs where the two of you give the person another chance to live by granting them one wish just before they die but everything is just a memory. You meet the caretakers of an elderly man named Johnny who is on his deathbed. You are told his wish is to go to the moon and the two of you enter his memories and find out exactly why and by changing certain events in his memory the two of you can make that wish come true. However its never really that simple is it?
Its painful and heartbreaking. The characters are all very likable, and you're always begging for more information but its never given to you. As you go back further in time you learn more and more about them and why they are doing what they did. There is really nothing I can say without spoiling the game. The story is very good and the music isn't bad. It fits the theme pretty well. However as the game ended we were told this is part 1 of many. If this really is part 1 of many then its already 12 bucks for 1 part?. Thats pretty steep of a price for something with barely any replay value with RPG maker graphics.
Do not let the first few minutes of the game fool you. Walking around like an RPG and fighting turn based combat is all for comedic effect. People start off hating the protagonists because they add nothing to the story until later on they realize they're there for the comedic effect to alleviate the bleakness of the game. Its a very depressing game yet touching at the same time. I don't hate this game, in fact I like it a lot. Would this be called an adventure game? It most likely can. People assume its an RPG because its made in RPG maker. It is not. Adventure games are unique in the sense that they rely more on the story to sell the game. However the gameplay is not entirely forgotten. Without proper gameplay, an adventure game is nothing but a story. Its the merging of these two things that we get something amazing. This game did it right.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sqkJuSV-23U
Give it a try.
Thursday, April 12, 2012
Captain Morgane and the Golden Turtle - You need a man to get anything done
Well what is this game? Its a pirate adventure game set in the Caribbean. Wait, isn't there another game like that? Yeah one of the most famous adventure games of all time, Monkey Island. Except this game you are searching for turtle island. The game isn't bad its reminds me a lot of Monkey Island but instead of a lumbering oaf that is Guybrush you get this giant asshole Morgane. Morgane isn't as witty or resourceful as Guybrush but she has a crew that can do stuff for her. I forgot where I heard about this game but it caught my attention by being so similar to Monkey Island. Its a spinoff series of another adventure game by the same company called So Blond and share many of the same characters.
The graphics are pretty good, but character sprites are a little lacking but easily overlooked. Most characters are likable and entertaining minus a few. Voice acting is decently well done. There is a problem though, and that is Morgane thinks of you as an idiot. She needs to point out everything to you. EVERY LITTLE THING. Oh I got a cloth I should go to the pump. Oh the pump is missing a rivet it must be on the ground. Oh I fixed the pump now I can add water to my cloth. The cloth is wet now I can clean the windows with it. I cleaned the windows, Mama is going to be so proud. Arghhhh. Let us think for ourselves you dumb brat. The game starts as an 8 year old Morgane doing chores for her mother and its mostly a tutorial so she gives you a ton of information. As you progress you are given less and less information. Even with so, the amount of information given is still too much. You're supposed to be Morgane, not some loser that follows Morgane around while she explains everything to you a second time because you're too stupid to understand. Yes literally she repeats what just happened on the screen to you. The character says something and something happens oh no heres Morgane breaking the 4th wall, yet again, to explain to you in simpler terms. The inventory is kinda annoying as its extremely sensitive. Moving it too far to the left or right flies across all the pages.
Later on you become the acting captain for your father's ship when you are grown up. At first your crew is slow to trust you but eventually they start growing on you. You as in Morgane. What I liked is that she is both a woman and Spanish. Thats two minorities in video games in one character. Although Morgane is likable and portrayed in a positive light as a capable independent woman, she can never get anything done without ordering a man to do it. For example you need to climb up a wall, you have to call someone to give you a lift. Opening a window? Need a man to open it. Sure the captain's first mate has comically huge strength and is twice as big as the other guy but most of the time the men used are random scrawny guys. He is used when you need to cut through a jungle with a battle axe or threaten away pirates and to act as a bodyguard because its an unsafe area in the French Quarter. Its a shame. Guybrush isn't super strong but as an adventure game we can understand being able to hold random huge objects or lift things that are impossible (until you suddenly aren't!) Because its an adventure game how else are you supposed to fit 50 items in your pants?
I can understand if its a super realistic game but this is a comedy adventure game. Its not as witty as Monkey Island but its not bad if you don't compare it to that. You're able to hold giant fucking totem poles in your pants to save your crew yet you can't open a window because you're a girl and you don't have the strength? Why do you have to go back to call a crewmate to do it? Other than that theres really not much to hate about the game. The game has many references like on a rock formation at the top of a cliff if you investigate with the look button you make a comment about how it looks like a monkey holding up a lion cub. An obvious reference to Lion King. Inside the kitchen you see lots of fish and various seafood hanging on the walls. One of them looks like a metroid. If you keep an eye open for these things you can find them easy. Theres even a my little pony reference. However the puzzles for the game is very easy. Any adventure game veteran would find it too easy but for a novice it should be fine.
Overall, its an ok game but its not great. If only you can get things done without a man. Even so, Morgane is a memorable character with her Spanish accent and sharp tongue. It makes me smile every time someone goes "Hello Morgane (pronounced mor-gain) how are you" because of the way it sounds. Its pleasing to hear an ethnic name and that of a woman in a game. Morgane isn't sexualized either. She is a strong female character (despite needing men to do all the heavy lifting yet being able to hold giant objects like totem poles to save your crew when they get shackled is exempt from this.) A rare breed and more games need to learn to make.
The graphics are pretty good, but character sprites are a little lacking but easily overlooked. Most characters are likable and entertaining minus a few. Voice acting is decently well done. There is a problem though, and that is Morgane thinks of you as an idiot. She needs to point out everything to you. EVERY LITTLE THING. Oh I got a cloth I should go to the pump. Oh the pump is missing a rivet it must be on the ground. Oh I fixed the pump now I can add water to my cloth. The cloth is wet now I can clean the windows with it. I cleaned the windows, Mama is going to be so proud. Arghhhh. Let us think for ourselves you dumb brat. The game starts as an 8 year old Morgane doing chores for her mother and its mostly a tutorial so she gives you a ton of information. As you progress you are given less and less information. Even with so, the amount of information given is still too much. You're supposed to be Morgane, not some loser that follows Morgane around while she explains everything to you a second time because you're too stupid to understand. Yes literally she repeats what just happened on the screen to you. The character says something and something happens oh no heres Morgane breaking the 4th wall, yet again, to explain to you in simpler terms. The inventory is kinda annoying as its extremely sensitive. Moving it too far to the left or right flies across all the pages.
Later on you become the acting captain for your father's ship when you are grown up. At first your crew is slow to trust you but eventually they start growing on you. You as in Morgane. What I liked is that she is both a woman and Spanish. Thats two minorities in video games in one character. Although Morgane is likable and portrayed in a positive light as a capable independent woman, she can never get anything done without ordering a man to do it. For example you need to climb up a wall, you have to call someone to give you a lift. Opening a window? Need a man to open it. Sure the captain's first mate has comically huge strength and is twice as big as the other guy but most of the time the men used are random scrawny guys. He is used when you need to cut through a jungle with a battle axe or threaten away pirates and to act as a bodyguard because its an unsafe area in the French Quarter. Its a shame. Guybrush isn't super strong but as an adventure game we can understand being able to hold random huge objects or lift things that are impossible (until you suddenly aren't!) Because its an adventure game how else are you supposed to fit 50 items in your pants?
I can understand if its a super realistic game but this is a comedy adventure game. Its not as witty as Monkey Island but its not bad if you don't compare it to that. You're able to hold giant fucking totem poles in your pants to save your crew yet you can't open a window because you're a girl and you don't have the strength? Why do you have to go back to call a crewmate to do it? Other than that theres really not much to hate about the game. The game has many references like on a rock formation at the top of a cliff if you investigate with the look button you make a comment about how it looks like a monkey holding up a lion cub. An obvious reference to Lion King. Inside the kitchen you see lots of fish and various seafood hanging on the walls. One of them looks like a metroid. If you keep an eye open for these things you can find them easy. Theres even a my little pony reference. However the puzzles for the game is very easy. Any adventure game veteran would find it too easy but for a novice it should be fine.
Overall, its an ok game but its not great. If only you can get things done without a man. Even so, Morgane is a memorable character with her Spanish accent and sharp tongue. It makes me smile every time someone goes "Hello Morgane (pronounced mor-gain) how are you" because of the way it sounds. Its pleasing to hear an ethnic name and that of a woman in a game. Morgane isn't sexualized either. She is a strong female character (despite needing men to do all the heavy lifting yet being able to hold giant objects like totem poles to save your crew when they get shackled is exempt from this.) A rare breed and more games need to learn to make.
Collector Editions - Another way to spell cognitive dissonance
Collector Editions are for people who wish to feel special. They are filled with nothing but the prestige of owning a collector edition that they spent massive amounts of money on. I don't buy collector editions. Why? Because I rather use that money to buy two games instead. Whats really in there anyways? Usually they include art books, bonus content on how the game is made, and other little stuff that doesn't really add much. Some of the more recent ones includes day one DLC, exclusive ingame items (that can be edited in by modifying the files by changing one line,) guaranteed beta access, and more. These are limited in numbers so people who buy them can feel special. For a 60 dollar game, collector editions go for 80-90 dollars. That is a "normal" collector edition.
What are these super special collector editions then? Well, how about one for 150 dollars? Bethesda for example, claimed that games are too expensive to make so they have to charge their collector editions for 150 bucks. That seems a little steep but people buy it up. Not wanting to be outdone, Kingdoms of Amalur has a collector edition for 380 bucks. Yes 380 fucking bucks. That shit is stupid as fuck. Who in their right mind would shell out 380 for a piece of shit collector's edition for a piece of shit game. The Secret World has one for 250 dollars but it includes a "lifetime subscription." If you're one of those thinking, "Hey that might be worthwhile if you play for an year and a half!" Then go slap yourself on the face. Lifetime subscriptions have never turned out well. The first game to ever do that, or one that I am aware of, is Hellgate London. That game flopped and closed down so fast that no one ever got their money's worth. When you get a lifetime subscription you are taking a gamble that the game won't flop. You are also gambling that you would continue playing the game for that long. Games that hand out choice for a lifetime subscription probably isn't looking forward to staying alive for very long because, why else would they give them out? They'd earn more money without it.
However, one company goes up and beyond everything in pure greed. I have never seen anything this stupid and greedy in my life. This goes beyond the stupidity of EA and Ubisoft. Who is it? Capcom. How stupid you ask, well would you ever pay 1293 bucks for a collector edition that has nothing but a leather jacket designed like the guy in the game? No its not a typo. No you did not read wrong. One fucking thousand two hundred and ninety three fucking bucks. I hope the collector edition comes with a gun to shoot yourself in the head because thats probably the only way you'll live down the shame and embarrassment of purchasing it. I can understand a tiny increase for 80-90 bucks. I can sorta understand 150 bucks for Bethesda, they have a huge fanbase and they are able to milk that much. I can understand lifetime subscriptions if you're willing to take a gamble. But for 1293 bucks there is nothing anyone can possibly say to justify that amount other than if Capcom comes out and says "We're greedy assholes and we want to know who is stupid enough to buy the collector edition because they've been eating up our shit and sucking our cocks for the past few years already by playing our shitty games. We want to know how far we can push it before they realize they're retards."
Maybe then, just maybe, it would be justifiable but that would never ever happen. Until people realize they're being played a fool game companies are just going to shit out collector editions with exuberant prices because they can.
What are these super special collector editions then? Well, how about one for 150 dollars? Bethesda for example, claimed that games are too expensive to make so they have to charge their collector editions for 150 bucks. That seems a little steep but people buy it up. Not wanting to be outdone, Kingdoms of Amalur has a collector edition for 380 bucks. Yes 380 fucking bucks. That shit is stupid as fuck. Who in their right mind would shell out 380 for a piece of shit collector's edition for a piece of shit game. The Secret World has one for 250 dollars but it includes a "lifetime subscription." If you're one of those thinking, "Hey that might be worthwhile if you play for an year and a half!" Then go slap yourself on the face. Lifetime subscriptions have never turned out well. The first game to ever do that, or one that I am aware of, is Hellgate London. That game flopped and closed down so fast that no one ever got their money's worth. When you get a lifetime subscription you are taking a gamble that the game won't flop. You are also gambling that you would continue playing the game for that long. Games that hand out choice for a lifetime subscription probably isn't looking forward to staying alive for very long because, why else would they give them out? They'd earn more money without it.
However, one company goes up and beyond everything in pure greed. I have never seen anything this stupid and greedy in my life. This goes beyond the stupidity of EA and Ubisoft. Who is it? Capcom. How stupid you ask, well would you ever pay 1293 bucks for a collector edition that has nothing but a leather jacket designed like the guy in the game? No its not a typo. No you did not read wrong. One fucking thousand two hundred and ninety three fucking bucks. I hope the collector edition comes with a gun to shoot yourself in the head because thats probably the only way you'll live down the shame and embarrassment of purchasing it. I can understand a tiny increase for 80-90 bucks. I can sorta understand 150 bucks for Bethesda, they have a huge fanbase and they are able to milk that much. I can understand lifetime subscriptions if you're willing to take a gamble. But for 1293 bucks there is nothing anyone can possibly say to justify that amount other than if Capcom comes out and says "We're greedy assholes and we want to know who is stupid enough to buy the collector edition because they've been eating up our shit and sucking our cocks for the past few years already by playing our shitty games. We want to know how far we can push it before they realize they're retards."
Maybe then, just maybe, it would be justifiable but that would never ever happen. Until people realize they're being played a fool game companies are just going to shit out collector editions with exuberant prices because they can.
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