Evoland is an action adventure game which basically rips off Zelda. Theres also the overhead view which is ripped off of Final Fantasy. You might be thinking, well if this game is such a huge rip off of other games why should we play this. This is done intentionally as a "history" of video games. You start off the game as shitty pixels and every treasure chest you open you unlock a new added improvement in the game such as fluid screen scrolling instead of the classic Zelda one, BGM, colour, etc etc. You go from shitty graphics to full on HD 3D graphics. But outside of the gimmick of video game history its a pretty bland game.
On the overworld you basically play like a final fantasy game with an ATB bar and attack, skill, item commands. You have the main hero who can do damage, and the heroine who does pitiful damage but can heal the team (all two of them) with no mana cost. Basically you just spam the same button over and over and kill everyone. Inside dungeons it could have both the same turned based combat or sometimes its the top down action adventure style like Zelda. Here you really notice how awful the control are on PC. Its awkward to move around and swing your sword and you more than often get hit trying to swing at the enemy. Not to mention how annoying most of the enemy are. Its not very hard but its very tedious because its not very fun chasing a monster around for 2 minutes trying to hit it once. The puzzles aren't hard at all and just wastes your time even more.
I know they are trying to pay homage to the old school games but when you do it so badly I think its more of an insult. The graphics eventually do get really good but outside of that there really isn't much going for it. The gimmick wears off fast and I hear the game is very short. The only upside in this game is the card game mini game. Its almost the same thing as the FF8 card game and I wasted quite a lot of time playing it. When the mini game is more fun than the main game you know you probably fucked up somewhere.
Overall, the game is boring as fuck. Outside of the gimmick of being a history of video games, its just a mediocre action adventure game and turn based game mixed together. There are references like "Claud's Buster Sword" and a guy with an airship called "Sid." But honestly, its really not that interesting.
Saturday, April 6, 2013
Thursday, April 4, 2013
Defender's Quest - Yes it looks like shit
I wasn't really sure about this game when I first heard about it. One look at it reminds me of a shitty copy paste flash tower defense game. Not that I have played any of them though. So after reading about the game, reading people talk about it on the forums I decided to check it out. I was pleasantly surprised at how good it actually is. However there is one major problem that people keep arguing about over and over. The graphics are shit. People look at the graphics and go "it looks like shit it must be shit" and won't give it a try.
When you first start the game you are wandering around as Azra, a librarian. You must be going "why the fuck am I playing some dumb librarian chick." Don't worry you meet your first ally within seconds. Slak the berserker. He's smelly, he's crazy, and he's hilarious. As you progress you start getting more and more allies and the bickering between your team is entertaining. Its not all fun an games though as you learn more about the pit and how everyone that ends up here eventually becomes fucked up from all the shit they see on a daily basis. Some of your party are insane, some are bloodthirsty murderers waiting to stab you in the back, but they all have one thing in common in following you. To get the fuck out of the pit.
However, you only get half the story by playing the game. After you beat the game you unlock new game+ which adds extra missions to learn about the characters and the diary. The diary is constantly updated as you complete missions and it expands on the world and character a bit more from the eyes of Azra. Its entertaining and very well written.
The combat is fun but sometimes, a little lackluster. Its basically a tower defense game. You have one or more targets the enemy will head towards. This is usually Azra in the very end of a maze. There will be one or more spawns that will spawn enemies. You must then summon in teammates onto the wall of the mazes. Each character has different abilities and range. You will start off with some PSI, but every time you kill an enemy you will gain more. PSI is used to summon in teammates, magical spells, or to upgrade your teammates giving them bonus range, damage, skills, etc. In normal mode you basically just have to stack archers and they will snipe down everything. In new game+ you'll require a bit more thinking.
Basically don't judge a game by its shitty graphics. For an indie tower defense game this game is actually pretty fun.
When you first start the game you are wandering around as Azra, a librarian. You must be going "why the fuck am I playing some dumb librarian chick." Don't worry you meet your first ally within seconds. Slak the berserker. He's smelly, he's crazy, and he's hilarious. As you progress you start getting more and more allies and the bickering between your team is entertaining. Its not all fun an games though as you learn more about the pit and how everyone that ends up here eventually becomes fucked up from all the shit they see on a daily basis. Some of your party are insane, some are bloodthirsty murderers waiting to stab you in the back, but they all have one thing in common in following you. To get the fuck out of the pit.
However, you only get half the story by playing the game. After you beat the game you unlock new game+ which adds extra missions to learn about the characters and the diary. The diary is constantly updated as you complete missions and it expands on the world and character a bit more from the eyes of Azra. Its entertaining and very well written.
The combat is fun but sometimes, a little lackluster. Its basically a tower defense game. You have one or more targets the enemy will head towards. This is usually Azra in the very end of a maze. There will be one or more spawns that will spawn enemies. You must then summon in teammates onto the wall of the mazes. Each character has different abilities and range. You will start off with some PSI, but every time you kill an enemy you will gain more. PSI is used to summon in teammates, magical spells, or to upgrade your teammates giving them bonus range, damage, skills, etc. In normal mode you basically just have to stack archers and they will snipe down everything. In new game+ you'll require a bit more thinking.
Basically don't judge a game by its shitty graphics. For an indie tower defense game this game is actually pretty fun.
Friday, March 29, 2013
Bioshock: Infinite - Elizabeth is Annoying
Bioshock Infinite is the third game of the Bioshock franchise. The game was hyped up delayed and many people left the company. There was also the whole ending fiasco.
"There was a scene in the game at the end where . . . one of our artists--who got to a point in the game, played it, turned off BioShock, opened up his computer, opened Microsoft Word, and wrote a resignation letter; it had offended him so much," said lead designer Ken Levine in an interview with GameSpot.
Really? Because the ending sucked about as much if not more ass than mass effect 3's ending. Only difference was Mass Effect spanned three games so the build up was bigger before the fall.
Bioshock Infinite takes place in SURPRISE another dystopian city, this time Columbia that flies over America led by the prophet Comstock. The game starts with you, a man named Booker DeWitt who to pay off gambling debts have to kidnap a girl called Elizabeth. As you do this you get dragged along different factions. The rich white folk the Founders, and the Chinese, Native, Black, Irish folk, the Vox . Basically the game is a social commentary of the 1900's except it suddenly changes halfway through the game and focuses solely on Elizabeth.
Now Elizabeth is a pretty useless character. She points out stuff, like explaining about the military and other things. What I found confusing was how she even know all this being locked away in a tower. Other than that she is used as a portable lockpick. Walk up to a locked door and click F. She will walk over and unlock it for you. Other than that she doesn't do anything other than throwing you an occasional item. Although she does give conversations sometimes which makes the game a little less lonely. However, the first two Bioshock games had people radio you so there is really no difference in her being there or not.
She also whines and cries. When things doesn't go her way she cries and runs away in a tantrum. When she runs off she is immediately captured and requires you to rescue her. Isn't that a great thing to teach women? A battered woman running away from the man and then get punished for doing so! This happens a lot in the game actually. Pretty much the whole game revolves around her getting captured again and again and requires your rescue. One thing I noticed in the game is she gets more and more battered as the game goes on. There is even a long torture scene where you can hear the sounds of her screams. Then you rescue her half unclothed 17 year old body from the chair and "help her." In the end of the game she is covered with cuts and bruises everywhere.
What I find annoying as hell is how powerful she is. She is able to bend space and time yet she has to be "protected." You are constantly telling her to stay behind and leave everything to you. She never joins you in battle. Like what the fuck? Shes a fucking God, let her do some work too. Its not like your guns or vigor powers are any good either. Compared to the other games it feels lacking.
Near the second half of the game, everything falls to shit. There was already a huge shortage of character compared to the first two games. Having killed off the few major characters like 25% of the way into the game wasn't really much help either. It ended up with just the two of you versus Comstock. The story became weird and haphazard as if it was suddenly rushed to meet a deadline. The two factions as said above were claimed to be "equal." The Vox is just the Founders with a different name was what Booker pretty much said. I found that to be quite bullshit because the Founders pretty much have government sanctioned stoning to death for interracial couples, while the Vox is trying to change things albeit a bit violently but what other way could they have done it?
Either way the factions merely exist as fodder. The game isn't about Columbia, it isn't about the factions, it all about you and Elizabeth and Comstock. The ending doesn't really explain everything either. Its filled with plot holes and pretty much ruins everything you've done in the game. Its also a 15 min long exposition from Elizabeth. But don't worry, all this can be solved with the season pass! The season pass is basically another name for the DLCs.
They're now selling DLCs before they even come out.
"There was a scene in the game at the end where . . . one of our artists--who got to a point in the game, played it, turned off BioShock, opened up his computer, opened Microsoft Word, and wrote a resignation letter; it had offended him so much," said lead designer Ken Levine in an interview with GameSpot.
Really? Because the ending sucked about as much if not more ass than mass effect 3's ending. Only difference was Mass Effect spanned three games so the build up was bigger before the fall.
Bioshock Infinite takes place in SURPRISE another dystopian city, this time Columbia that flies over America led by the prophet Comstock. The game starts with you, a man named Booker DeWitt who to pay off gambling debts have to kidnap a girl called Elizabeth. As you do this you get dragged along different factions. The rich white folk the Founders, and the Chinese, Native, Black, Irish folk, the Vox . Basically the game is a social commentary of the 1900's except it suddenly changes halfway through the game and focuses solely on Elizabeth.
Now Elizabeth is a pretty useless character. She points out stuff, like explaining about the military and other things. What I found confusing was how she even know all this being locked away in a tower. Other than that she is used as a portable lockpick. Walk up to a locked door and click F. She will walk over and unlock it for you. Other than that she doesn't do anything other than throwing you an occasional item. Although she does give conversations sometimes which makes the game a little less lonely. However, the first two Bioshock games had people radio you so there is really no difference in her being there or not.
She also whines and cries. When things doesn't go her way she cries and runs away in a tantrum. When she runs off she is immediately captured and requires you to rescue her. Isn't that a great thing to teach women? A battered woman running away from the man and then get punished for doing so! This happens a lot in the game actually. Pretty much the whole game revolves around her getting captured again and again and requires your rescue. One thing I noticed in the game is she gets more and more battered as the game goes on. There is even a long torture scene where you can hear the sounds of her screams. Then you rescue her half unclothed 17 year old body from the chair and "help her." In the end of the game she is covered with cuts and bruises everywhere.
What I find annoying as hell is how powerful she is. She is able to bend space and time yet she has to be "protected." You are constantly telling her to stay behind and leave everything to you. She never joins you in battle. Like what the fuck? Shes a fucking God, let her do some work too. Its not like your guns or vigor powers are any good either. Compared to the other games it feels lacking.
Near the second half of the game, everything falls to shit. There was already a huge shortage of character compared to the first two games. Having killed off the few major characters like 25% of the way into the game wasn't really much help either. It ended up with just the two of you versus Comstock. The story became weird and haphazard as if it was suddenly rushed to meet a deadline. The two factions as said above were claimed to be "equal." The Vox is just the Founders with a different name was what Booker pretty much said. I found that to be quite bullshit because the Founders pretty much have government sanctioned stoning to death for interracial couples, while the Vox is trying to change things albeit a bit violently but what other way could they have done it?
Either way the factions merely exist as fodder. The game isn't about Columbia, it isn't about the factions, it all about you and Elizabeth and Comstock. The ending doesn't really explain everything either. Its filled with plot holes and pretty much ruins everything you've done in the game. Its also a 15 min long exposition from Elizabeth. But don't worry, all this can be solved with the season pass! The season pass is basically another name for the DLCs.
They're now selling DLCs before they even come out.
Wednesday, March 20, 2013
Digital: A love story & its sequels
So I was browsing around the forums learning what people thought were the best indie games they ever played. Going on an indie gaming spree I managed to try this game out. Its completely free and you can download it from here. What is it exactly? Well its a visual novel of some sort made by some writer called Christine Love. Who dropped out of school being supported financially by the proceeds of her latest project.
So we can assume this game is pretty good right? Well to be honest. It surprised me a lot, it was pretty good. The writing was good but the best part of it was the interface. Having to type in numbers in your modem and hearing the screeching sound of death and then logging/hacking your way into a BBS board then sorting through the trolls and the useful information to solve a mystery.
There really is not much choice in the story you just keep following it. Some parts you have to read posts and emails and think but you can honestly finish it in a couple of hours.
The spiritual sequel to that game is don't take it personally, babe, it just ain't your story. This was created in a span of a month for a contest. This game you play as a literature teacher in a school set in the future. The students all have handheld computers they can send messages, post stuff, and start topics for. You as the teacher have the ability to read anything they post at any time. The entirety of the game revolves around you invading their privacy and reading everything.
What I find annoying, but at the same time brilliant is the use of slang and internet speak. Bro, lol, and others are used very commonly and while it grates on your nerves it is sort of believable as students barely talk to each other and spend most of their time talking through the computer instead. Their essays which you mark are barely literate and you have to constantly raise the marks so that everyone can pass. It is mandatory that they pass. Its filled with drama, homosexuality, bullying, invasion of privacy, suicide, and other stuff. Even the "bullies" you have a chance to yell at, you can't help feeling sympathetic for. They are human after all. Everyone of them feels like they could be real people.
The current latest sequel is Analogue: A hate story. The only one that isn't free. Like the other two, it has a lot to do with technology. Set many years into the future on a generation spaceship called the "Mugunghwa" that mysteriously disappeared. It has now reappeared and you are an investigator on the ship looking through the logs and sorting out what happened. The writing in this game is much better than the previous two. For example this is just one of many letters exchanged by the crew.
Oh So-jin
When I first saw you, bringing my husband home in the late hours of the night, I was jealous. All I could think of was my daughter, and the first courtesan he'd had an affair with, nine years ago.
With every brief glimpse of you that I saw as you passed through our home, my heart burned a little, as if you embodied every single fault of my farce of a marriage.
I will never send this letter, because I know how ridiculous it sounds: for weeks, I, a noble wife, could be jealous of a poor courtesan? But you are young and beautiful, full of energy and grace; I am none of these things.
Only after you have been entertaining him for months did I start to realize what I was feeling: true, I was jealous, but not of you, for having my husband. I was jealous of my husband, for having the affections of a girl so pretty as you!
These are such ridiculous thoughts for a woman to have, I know, and even more ridiculous still is the way they have overwhelmed me. I used to dread my husband bringing his courtesans home with him; now I look forward to your nights together.
How could I not, when it means that I am treated to the sight of your bashful face in the morning? When we exchange glances, you hide behind your long hair, with so much cuteness and grace, my eyes can't help but wander, to admire the way it rests on your breasts. to see your clothes draped loosely over your hips; I cannot help myself from admiring your body as you try to hide from me.
It is ridiculous, to be so preoccupied with such thoughts, and perhaps I was better off having not ever realized them. Nevertheless, even though I may be as much of a woman as you are, I find myself longing for the same affections you shower my husband with. There is more to it than that: I would like to truly get to know you better. I like to imagine that we have much in common, aside from the obvious.
When I see you hiding in the corridor on those mornings, I imagine wrapping my own arms around those lovely hips, sharing long conversations about our tribulations in life, discovering just how much alike we are. And perhaps... I like to imagine we could share more than that.
I have been married for ten years to a man who has never paid any attention for nine of them. Perhaps my old age has made me bold, but I want more.
The next time I see you, I promise I will say something. For in all my twenty-six years, I have never felt a longing for anything this intensely. I don't care how wrong it is, as a wife and as a woman; I want you, Hana
And the reply
Hana
To my lovely So-jin,
You made it so easy, you know that?
I've always wanted to be seduced. The more I learned about it, the better I got at it, the more I thought about how lucky men are, that they'll get to be on the receiving end of it. It's always seemed like it would be so much fun.
But that wasn't why I dropped my guard in front of you, by the way. I was actually really wary the whole time you were serving my breakfast; do you know what I first thought? I thought maybe you were trying to poison me!
I mean, not seriously, of course. But it crossed my mind.
So no, I was guarded, until you started talking. You know what it was that got me? "Do tell me, how hard is it, studying to be a courtesan?" I answered modestly, "Oh you know, there's nothing to learn, you just have it or you don't"; the answer that any man would expect. But you?
You wouldn't have any of that. You said, "Please, don't lie. I actually want to know. It takes years, does it not? That must be intense for a girl of your age."
Then you leaned in, I started to blab about how it kind of is pretty intense, and I only realized an hour later that I was staring into your eyes, telling you - proudly, no less - about my whole life story. Our faces were barely a foot apart by the time I noticed what you'd done.
And that was how you caught me totally off guard. I had no idea what to do! Should I touch you? What's the right body language in that situation? Was I interpreting you right, or was it all in my head? Not even the slightest clue! You had me good.
And you played it so well! You know just the right moment to pull back, and tell me to go on my way, but in a way that left me wondering.
So-jin, you made it so easy. Returning home, my heart was so a fluttered, my feelings so confused, and all I could think about was you. You, the bored old wife of my patron, actually managed to seduce me, just like that.
I'd always wanted to know that feeling, and you know? It was everything I dreamed it'd be.
Its a story about two families, the Smith's, and the Kim's. These are the two noble families fighting to put their own family ahead and gain recognition from the Ryu family, the emperor and captain of the ship. However that has changed since many generations on the ship and society has regressed. They have no idea why they are even in space or care. Women are treated as if they don't exist. Their names doesn't matter and they are only referred to as the husband's wife. Some doesn't even have names like "the pale bride." They are raised to serve men, have their own women's quarters where they live and are married off like property at the age of 16. Like the other games and the letter exchanged above, it also have themes of homosexuality. However unlike the other two the story of this one is dark. Its based on the Korean Joseon dynasty which is one of the most brutally opressive ears for women in Korean history. Expect to read about patriarchy, sexual abuse, incest, rape, and more.
Its a fucked up place on the ship and the only thing you have to remember is:
Namjon yeobi.
Men are honoured, women are abased.
The writing is extremely well done and the interface is fun to play with. Typing in commands trying to find passwords and logging into admin and typing decrypt block3 to open new things in the game. Be warned though you might want to throw up from reading this but you will keep reading on because its interesting enough.
So we can assume this game is pretty good right? Well to be honest. It surprised me a lot, it was pretty good. The writing was good but the best part of it was the interface. Having to type in numbers in your modem and hearing the screeching sound of death and then logging/hacking your way into a BBS board then sorting through the trolls and the useful information to solve a mystery.
There really is not much choice in the story you just keep following it. Some parts you have to read posts and emails and think but you can honestly finish it in a couple of hours.
The spiritual sequel to that game is don't take it personally, babe, it just ain't your story. This was created in a span of a month for a contest. This game you play as a literature teacher in a school set in the future. The students all have handheld computers they can send messages, post stuff, and start topics for. You as the teacher have the ability to read anything they post at any time. The entirety of the game revolves around you invading their privacy and reading everything.
What I find annoying, but at the same time brilliant is the use of slang and internet speak. Bro, lol, and others are used very commonly and while it grates on your nerves it is sort of believable as students barely talk to each other and spend most of their time talking through the computer instead. Their essays which you mark are barely literate and you have to constantly raise the marks so that everyone can pass. It is mandatory that they pass. Its filled with drama, homosexuality, bullying, invasion of privacy, suicide, and other stuff. Even the "bullies" you have a chance to yell at, you can't help feeling sympathetic for. They are human after all. Everyone of them feels like they could be real people.
The current latest sequel is Analogue: A hate story. The only one that isn't free. Like the other two, it has a lot to do with technology. Set many years into the future on a generation spaceship called the "Mugunghwa" that mysteriously disappeared. It has now reappeared and you are an investigator on the ship looking through the logs and sorting out what happened. The writing in this game is much better than the previous two. For example this is just one of many letters exchanged by the crew.
Oh So-jin
When I first saw you, bringing my husband home in the late hours of the night, I was jealous. All I could think of was my daughter, and the first courtesan he'd had an affair with, nine years ago.
With every brief glimpse of you that I saw as you passed through our home, my heart burned a little, as if you embodied every single fault of my farce of a marriage.
I will never send this letter, because I know how ridiculous it sounds: for weeks, I, a noble wife, could be jealous of a poor courtesan? But you are young and beautiful, full of energy and grace; I am none of these things.
Only after you have been entertaining him for months did I start to realize what I was feeling: true, I was jealous, but not of you, for having my husband. I was jealous of my husband, for having the affections of a girl so pretty as you!
These are such ridiculous thoughts for a woman to have, I know, and even more ridiculous still is the way they have overwhelmed me. I used to dread my husband bringing his courtesans home with him; now I look forward to your nights together.
How could I not, when it means that I am treated to the sight of your bashful face in the morning? When we exchange glances, you hide behind your long hair, with so much cuteness and grace, my eyes can't help but wander, to admire the way it rests on your breasts. to see your clothes draped loosely over your hips; I cannot help myself from admiring your body as you try to hide from me.
It is ridiculous, to be so preoccupied with such thoughts, and perhaps I was better off having not ever realized them. Nevertheless, even though I may be as much of a woman as you are, I find myself longing for the same affections you shower my husband with. There is more to it than that: I would like to truly get to know you better. I like to imagine that we have much in common, aside from the obvious.
When I see you hiding in the corridor on those mornings, I imagine wrapping my own arms around those lovely hips, sharing long conversations about our tribulations in life, discovering just how much alike we are. And perhaps... I like to imagine we could share more than that.
I have been married for ten years to a man who has never paid any attention for nine of them. Perhaps my old age has made me bold, but I want more.
The next time I see you, I promise I will say something. For in all my twenty-six years, I have never felt a longing for anything this intensely. I don't care how wrong it is, as a wife and as a woman; I want you, Hana
And the reply
Hana
To my lovely So-jin,
You made it so easy, you know that?
I've always wanted to be seduced. The more I learned about it, the better I got at it, the more I thought about how lucky men are, that they'll get to be on the receiving end of it. It's always seemed like it would be so much fun.
But that wasn't why I dropped my guard in front of you, by the way. I was actually really wary the whole time you were serving my breakfast; do you know what I first thought? I thought maybe you were trying to poison me!
I mean, not seriously, of course. But it crossed my mind.
So no, I was guarded, until you started talking. You know what it was that got me? "Do tell me, how hard is it, studying to be a courtesan?" I answered modestly, "Oh you know, there's nothing to learn, you just have it or you don't"; the answer that any man would expect. But you?
You wouldn't have any of that. You said, "Please, don't lie. I actually want to know. It takes years, does it not? That must be intense for a girl of your age."
Then you leaned in, I started to blab about how it kind of is pretty intense, and I only realized an hour later that I was staring into your eyes, telling you - proudly, no less - about my whole life story. Our faces were barely a foot apart by the time I noticed what you'd done.
And that was how you caught me totally off guard. I had no idea what to do! Should I touch you? What's the right body language in that situation? Was I interpreting you right, or was it all in my head? Not even the slightest clue! You had me good.
And you played it so well! You know just the right moment to pull back, and tell me to go on my way, but in a way that left me wondering.
So-jin, you made it so easy. Returning home, my heart was so a fluttered, my feelings so confused, and all I could think about was you. You, the bored old wife of my patron, actually managed to seduce me, just like that.
I'd always wanted to know that feeling, and you know? It was everything I dreamed it'd be.
Its a story about two families, the Smith's, and the Kim's. These are the two noble families fighting to put their own family ahead and gain recognition from the Ryu family, the emperor and captain of the ship. However that has changed since many generations on the ship and society has regressed. They have no idea why they are even in space or care. Women are treated as if they don't exist. Their names doesn't matter and they are only referred to as the husband's wife. Some doesn't even have names like "the pale bride." They are raised to serve men, have their own women's quarters where they live and are married off like property at the age of 16. Like the other games and the letter exchanged above, it also have themes of homosexuality. However unlike the other two the story of this one is dark. Its based on the Korean Joseon dynasty which is one of the most brutally opressive ears for women in Korean history. Expect to read about patriarchy, sexual abuse, incest, rape, and more.
Its a fucked up place on the ship and the only thing you have to remember is:
Namjon yeobi.
Men are honoured, women are abased.
The writing is extremely well done and the interface is fun to play with. Typing in commands trying to find passwords and logging into admin and typing decrypt block3 to open new things in the game. Be warned though you might want to throw up from reading this but you will keep reading on because its interesting enough.
Monday, March 11, 2013
SimControversy (updated Mar 23/13)
Everyone is jumping in on the SimCity bandwagon. It's been a week now, and still the reports are ceaseless. If you haven't heard, or would like a recap, go here.
What bothers me isn't that yet another DRM game failed. What a surprise. Such a problem is easily forseen, and people are fools to have put faith in DRM yet again.
The beloved SimCity franchise crippled with a tacked on DRM that no one asked for is also not a source of my ails. Such a matter was announced early on in development, much to the chagrin of the fans, but this isn't anything surprising within the last week when the game garnered so much criticism.
The problem is that EA lies. Or more precisely, everything or everyone EA touches becomes corrupted or a liar. Lucy Bradshaw, Maxis' general manager said, "SimCity is an online game and critics and consumers have every right to expect a smooth experience from beginning to end. I and the Maxis team take full responsibility to deliver on our promise."
Well, if the game tanks, it's on you. If the customers are not getting a smooth experience, it's coming out of your wallet. So then what happened when people asked for refunds when the game didn't work, then had features removed, then still didn't work? Did Lucy Bradshaw step in and make good on her promise of 'respnsibility'? No, EA customer support instead turned away customers requesting refunds, and threatened to close their Origin account (effectively banning them from all the games they've purchased on that account).
It's really easy to make promises before you're asked to make good on them.
I really don't care about EA, as I never buy games from them anymore, I've had my fair share of listening to the PR spin of liars in their employment, and I'm not stupid enough to put faith in their games. But EA didn't force Lucy Bradshaw to write that damage-control bullshit. She wrote that. She wrote that without truly understanding the weight of her words. And sure enough, people put faith not in EA, but in her. I guess it works. You work for EA, you learn the ways of a liar, no matter how respectable you once were.
We can all learn from EA. Publish that you are offering refunds, and that you're taking full responsibility, but ensure the fine print policy specifies the possibility of rejecting refunds offered, and that no responsibility may actually be taken. Where in normal scenarios these stipulations apply to the corner case scenarios, EA applies them to all scenarios.
Many games have problems at launch (not that this is an excuse), but EA... You're trying your hardest to dig your own grave. I hope in the future, you will accept consumer apologies as payment for your games, as you seem to think apologies are sufficient in lieu of refunds. Oops, sorry I just accidentally pirated Dead Space 3.
Update:
I stopped following the SimCity scandal because I didn't think it could get much worse. But then it did, as the lies continued.
What bothers me isn't that yet another DRM game failed. What a surprise. Such a problem is easily forseen, and people are fools to have put faith in DRM yet again.
The beloved SimCity franchise crippled with a tacked on DRM that no one asked for is also not a source of my ails. Such a matter was announced early on in development, much to the chagrin of the fans, but this isn't anything surprising within the last week when the game garnered so much criticism.
The problem is that EA lies. Or more precisely, everything or everyone EA touches becomes corrupted or a liar. Lucy Bradshaw, Maxis' general manager said, "SimCity is an online game and critics and consumers have every right to expect a smooth experience from beginning to end. I and the Maxis team take full responsibility to deliver on our promise."
Well, if the game tanks, it's on you. If the customers are not getting a smooth experience, it's coming out of your wallet. So then what happened when people asked for refunds when the game didn't work, then had features removed, then still didn't work? Did Lucy Bradshaw step in and make good on her promise of 'respnsibility'? No, EA customer support instead turned away customers requesting refunds, and threatened to close their Origin account (effectively banning them from all the games they've purchased on that account).
It's really easy to make promises before you're asked to make good on them.
I really don't care about EA, as I never buy games from them anymore, I've had my fair share of listening to the PR spin of liars in their employment, and I'm not stupid enough to put faith in their games. But EA didn't force Lucy Bradshaw to write that damage-control bullshit. She wrote that. She wrote that without truly understanding the weight of her words. And sure enough, people put faith not in EA, but in her. I guess it works. You work for EA, you learn the ways of a liar, no matter how respectable you once were.
We can all learn from EA. Publish that you are offering refunds, and that you're taking full responsibility, but ensure the fine print policy specifies the possibility of rejecting refunds offered, and that no responsibility may actually be taken. Where in normal scenarios these stipulations apply to the corner case scenarios, EA applies them to all scenarios.
Many games have problems at launch (not that this is an excuse), but EA... You're trying your hardest to dig your own grave. I hope in the future, you will accept consumer apologies as payment for your games, as you seem to think apologies are sufficient in lieu of refunds. Oops, sorry I just accidentally pirated Dead Space 3.
Update:
I stopped following the SimCity scandal because I didn't think it could get much worse. But then it did, as the lies continued.
It was then quickly discovered that a modder by the handle UKAzzer cracked the game, removing the online requirement and fixing the majority of bugs and problems in one fell swoop which has poured more fuel onto the fire. Naturally the ability to play the game offline with no repercussions, other then the ability not to be able to go online, directly contradicted statements from Lucy Bradshaw, General Manager at Maxis who stated “It wouldn’t be possible to make the game offline without a significant amount of engineering work by our team.” Her evidence was that the entire region was simulated server side, but that claim itself was debunked by a Maxis Developer.Free games are being given out as compensation, and the CEO of EA resigned. Refunds are 'being honored' but who knows if that actually means you'll get your money back.
Thursday, November 29, 2012
No one gives two shits where you used to work
Seriously, whats with all these developers plastering "Ex-Bioware employees" on everything as if it actually means anything. More and more developers have gone indie and you hear this for every single time. Disgruntled employees or employees who wish to create their own vision now need a kickstarter to help fund their games! They're founded by 3 Ex-Bioware employees! Oh wow I just shit my pants from reading that! Fuck off. No one gives a shit where you came from.
Its not just indie games either, we have big name companies who go "This entirely new IP we're making has Ex-Bioware employees working on it!" Is Bioware even relevant now? I think after the shitty trio that is Dragon Age 2, Mass Effect 3, SWTOR they put out recently most people would read that with some skepticism. First of all, who are these millions of employees from Bioware, and secondly which employees are they? Of course its not just Bioware but the most common ones you see are Bestheda, Bioware, and Blizzard. No one gives a flying fuck about the rest. You never hear anyone go "We used to work at this so and so company!" They want a big names like Bioware to show that they were good enough to play with the big boys.
Its not just indie games either, we have big name companies who go "This entirely new IP we're making has Ex-Bioware employees working on it!" Is Bioware even relevant now? I think after the shitty trio that is Dragon Age 2, Mass Effect 3, SWTOR they put out recently most people would read that with some skepticism. First of all, who are these millions of employees from Bioware, and secondly which employees are they? Of course its not just Bioware but the most common ones you see are Bestheda, Bioware, and Blizzard. No one gives a flying fuck about the rest. You never hear anyone go "We used to work at this so and so company!" They want a big names like Bioware to show that they were good enough to play with the big boys.
Tuesday, November 20, 2012
Mana Khemia 1 & 2 - Endless murdering of monster girls
(Well I decided to finally finish this and post it after sitting in draft mode since forever.)
Mana Khemia : Alchemists of Al-Revis
Mana Knemia 2: The fall of Alchemy
This will be a joint double review. Lets start it off as always. How I came to find this game. I was looking around when I saw Mana Khemia 2 coming out, so I checked out the first of the series. Alchemist? Sounds interesting. Then I saw NIS America made it, the same people who made Disgaea and other similar games. I thought, this must be pretty good right!? Well they also made Ar Tonelico with its infamous scene seen here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JoODv8LVib8
Apparently from what I have heard the sexual innuendos continue for the whole game in Ar Tonelico. Then when I first started the game the graphics looks like shit while the game play felt like Persona where you are at school but at the same time hanging out with friends and killing monsters. I was horrified. In my mind, I was ready for the huge disappointment to come. I cannot express how wrong I was. This game was good. Very good in fact. There are flaws, but its a very lighthearted RPG aimed towards a younger audience but still fun to play nonetheless.
At the start of the game it lets you pick between Japanese voices and English voices. Its like the game is warning you ahead of time of the terrible voice acting. Like all games that I can switch off voice acting from Japanese games, I do it. The voices are pretty annoying at first, but eventually you'll get used to it. Didn't bother me much in the end as the characters eventually grow on you. You start off the game as Vayne, this really soft spoken passive kid living with his mana being recruited by a teacher from the academy of Al-Revis. Since he knew your father, who happens to be the most famous alchemist that has ever lived and he recently died he asked you to join the school in which you accepted. On your first day of school you immediately start meeting the four main characters and the main villains.
You meet Jessica, a fellow alchemist who is not only terrible at alchemy but a huge airhead klutz. Then as you leave the classroom you meet two seniors, Tony and Renee who tries to recruit you for their workshop. Just as this happens a man (supposed to be a student but he looks like he's 30 from a jrpg point of view) falls from the sky and recruits you first. He and Tony are rivals and he recruits you before them. Tony and Renee will be your villains. The man introduces himself as Flay and he needs people to join his workshop or he'll be closed down. Then you meet a beastman (cat people) chick named Nicole. These are your main characters.
One thing you will notice are Manas. They are magical creatures that come from another world and makes pacts with the alchemist for mutual gain. In other words a familiar for the alchemist. Without one you are weak as shit. An alchemist may choose to restrain the mana by force or to just simply make a pact. You already have a Mana, a cat named Sulpher. Sulpher is special as only you can hear and understand him, everyone else sees him as a very smart cat but with magical powers. It is part of the storyline so there is a reason. Mana are gained by storyline or by interacting with different characters during "free time" mode. To access free time, you must complete all the required credits in a term. Once you have acquired them all you automatically enter free time and can do jobs or spend time with party members to learn their stories.
So its kinda like persona? Yes it is but its much more fun. To start things off you don't have stupid bullshit like quizzes and tests, your class are like for example, Combat class IV where you enter a dungeon clear to a boss and for that boss you are given restrictions. Cannot heal and you must beat the boss while using chains and finish off with a finishing strike. You're grade will depend on your combos and time etc etc. Other times you will be sent to create items for Synthesis class or hunt for rare items in Gathering class. There is no studying as the earlier classes are mandatory to progress the storyline and to teach the players new abilities and also show them how its done. During free time, instead of fucking finding your friends and wasting days talking to them like in persona. Its like Mass Effect where they all stand around in your workshop and you can talk to them anytime. If during a free time, they will give you an option "Do you wish to spend the day with [name]?" If you do you enter character story mode. Free time depends on how early you complete your courses. It is very lenient on how many credits you need. You have around 6-7 weeks (days) to complete all the credits for your term. You only need about 2-3 A's to complete all credits but if you're struggling with C's or F's you'll probably need the full week.
The first few characters are fun but near the end they keep adding new characters. What I dislike most is adding characters near the end of the game. You don't care about them they don't do anything to the storyline and its a waste of a character. This game the girls are scary. When I thought persona 4 girls were aggressive these will literally pull you away and force you to do stuff. Half the game is you being dragged around force to do this and that. Vayne doesn't say anything to go against them. And your mana goes "sighs" and he follows you complaining all the way. Spending time with your friends will improve skills and progress the story. The ending will change depending on who you maxed your relationship with. Only one person can become the highest maxed relationship.
Here's a breakdown of the characters.
Vayne - That's you! You have super powers you learned from Sulpher and is probably the strongest character in the game because you have both physical and magical attack.
Jessica - Airhead clutz. She is a healer and caster. She has a bag with endless stuff inside it and throws random stuff inside it for skills/attacks. Shes your classmate and first person you meet. She is very important to the storyline.
Nicole - Catgirl. She is super horny and goes around flirting with guys and trying to find a husband to have tons of children with. She has a giant hammer with super strength. Highest physical attack in the game. I had her ending and you ended up going back to her village to have dozens of cat eared children with her.
Flay - Crazy hyperactive guy. He is the comic relief. He has super powers like flying through walls and jumping across the sky and lifting houses with his bare hands. But in combat he doesn't have shit. His weapon of choice is a mechsword that shoots ninja stars. These stars are extremely strong. He beats up a mana and forcefully binds it to himself. He wishes to be a super hero/villain.
Roxis - Stuck up asshole guy. This guy is a loser and sucks ass. He doesn't have a mana and can't learn skills and he happens to be a caster. He can't do shit until much later where he gets this mana who wouldn't stop picking on him and making fun of him. He's the "rival" character. Cool-headed pretty boy who hates your guts.
Pamela - Ghost girl. Shes a ghost that lives in the school and scares all the freshmen. Shes extremely overpowered as her guard skill makes her completely immune to damage. So with her as a support she can avoid a instant death move or large damage attack by taking the damage of one of the vanguard. Other than that she's annoying as hell. She doesn't seem to have a mana.
Anna - Sword wielding girl. Shes a swordsman who has no common sense like Touka from Utawarerumono. If you don't know what that is, its a chick who has no common sense and does all sort of stupid stuff. Exactly what this chick does. Except she goes into insane kill mode and starts chasing after everyone trying to cut their necks off their head. Then cries because she messed up. She doesn't seem to have a mana either.
Muppy - Some alien guy. I don't even know I don't give a shit about him as he came like one chapter before the game ends.
Now lets get to the best part of the game, Alchemy. You will spend hours upon hours in your lab making new recipes and mixing items and other stuff. Its loads of fun. When you make an item you can potentially think of new items or your party members will pitch in and say "Hey I wanna make an armor like a crab" and you go "what?" then he write down a formula and you can go mix it if you want. For example, if you add king crabs with steel and other shit you make a crab armor which is armor literally made out of crab shells. Its hilarious and fun. Also in this game there is no exp and no leveling up. The only way of leveling up is unlocking new recipes and items from alchemy and using the AP gained from combat/gathering/etc to learn it, kinda like FFX's grid.
When you combine different items you can make them with different alchemical levels, resulting in different benefits and drawbacks which also transfers into different status and effects on your equipment and items. For example, you can make a crab armor that adds bonus to attack and allows you to cast the spell Tempest. Or you can make a weapon that adds the effect to knock back the enemy's turn on attack or even sleep on strike. Each of the materials used to make an item have different stats and end up being different when you mix them all. Choosing who to upgrade items also adds different stats and effects. There are also alchemy levels from 0-100 which is based on the items you use. By say using a lv 20 water and lv 60 crab with a lv 5 steel will make you steel crab soup lv 85. It will give different effects from say a lv 25 steel crab soup. Recrafting older items can get you higher or lower amounts as well as picking different characters and the roulette system. Higher does not always mean a better item. Sometimes its a very specific amount that gives better stats. Very customizable. Unfortunately there is a downside. When you don't have the materials to make items it can really piss you off. Luckily as you advance the game you can send your friends on gathering hunts or synthesize. You can randomly get the items you want without having to make them or hunt them every week or few weeks. This can help for rare equipment and materials.
Another great thing about this game is the combat. Its turn based and reminds me of Grandia a lot. When you start the game, there is just you, Jessica and Nicole. at the top of the screen is a row of cards with different pictures on it. Its pretty much the order of actions. As you play more you start to realize, if you continuously pound on a target, they will keep moving behind on the row. If you stun them they get knocked out and gets skipped over while everyone moves ahead. When you cast a time card spell, like for example Echo Heal Alpha. You heal someone and then you see a few cards on the list. Every time its that card's turn it automatically heals. Its like a damage or heal over time skill. These skills will randomly target enemies if its offensive and allies if its supportive. The more hits you do a bar at the bottom fills up. When it fills to full a character can use his/her super move. If you hit a target's weakness they get pushed back and stunned easier while your bar gains even quicker.
That's pretty much the basics. But when you start getting more people you'll notice that you can get more than three people in combat. You can take up to six characters into combat. Three vanguards and three supports. These are interchangeable during combat. You can hit L and R to switch your active support. When you are attacking you can hit a button anytime and your support will jump out and attack the enemy switching places with you. You can switch as many times you want. However after switching that character will have a cooldown before being able to switch. Players that are in support will slowly gain hp and sp. Skill use up a lot of sp so changing around is required. Boss fights are very long. When you are being attacked, you can hit a button and the support will jump out and take the hit to save your guy from being killed or taking less damage because they auto guard when you save your teammate. This means you can drop time cards and switch your allies to the back and keep stacking and damage starts flying around everywhere and you keep combo-ing and blocking. Different characters have different effects of supportive blocking and attacking. For example when Jessica comes out to block someone she does a party heal. And Pamela completely nullifies all damage. Anna counterattacks when she blocks, etc etc. A good strategy is to load up on time cards and switch so it keeps doing damage while your character is recovering.
Seems fun right? Yeah it is. Its very fun. I recommend this game a lot. It might not appeal to everyone though, as combat is a little easy and there isn't much to do. The story isn't bad but kinda childish. Although it does get pretty dark later on. This game is targeted at high school kids. But for some reason, almost all the enemies you meet are naked monster girls. Like you have harpy girls, dragon girls, mermaid girls, squirrel girls, dryads, plant girls, sword girls, shield girls, angel girls, devil girls, cat girls, girl girls. Even some of the items are a little messed up. You have to kill angel girls to get angel panties and use it to make angel wings and use them to make an angel costume. You use devil panties to make bondage gear for your characters. Cat ears to make cat girl maid costumes. Yeah, some alchemical formulas are a little messed up.
What about Mana Khemia 2? It must be great since the first is great right? Nope. Like Persona 4, they also got lazy and used the same monsters from Mana Khemia 1. Instead of being alchemists, you get to pick between two characters. Some sword guy and some air headed chick. Naturally I picked the sword guy but he turns out to be some dense retard. You start the game as a slave to some chick and she has a mana who looks like a person with robot ears and wears a maid uniform. This chick, Lily is your first party member and then you meet this super active girl, who is a childhood friend of Lily and you. Her name is Et, and shes the rival of Lily who is vying for your attention. None of the characters are likable and the story is stupid. Every five minutes you are slamming your head into the wall from second hand embarrassment. Ok I admit Lily was a little cute the first time when shes trying so hard to get your attention but your character is completely oblivious. Then when they do it over and over it got old fast. Honestly, its like the game decided to make Mana Khemia 2 into a big giant fan service filled with cliches and shit from anime.
In combat you don't even have six people. You can get five people and one guest on special events. Every character is annoying and you don't even wanna pick any of them. The first game had a decent story, but the second one you're this guy going around killing shit and being a stupid slave and some guy comes and give you a ring and somehow you go insane and start stabbing manas and making them die permanently by sending them back to their own world. Then you somehow find out that guy is a bad guy and you fight and he kicks your ass but somehow you get super powers and beat them and all these characters appear for no reason and you don't know who is who and what is what and the game ends. You are supposed to play the game twice to find out what you're missing from the other point of view and then the secret hidden play through where you play as both. Who is going to play it three times? Fuck that shit.
Alchemy got dumbed down. Instead of mixing properly you get this weird shit that you must + and - the numbers to get whatever. Trust me it sucks. The item variety isn't as wide and when leveling up instead of unlocking a grid you get a list you scroll though on what to level up. Items are much easier to get but for some odd reason, the gear you keep making seems to keep getting shittier and you end up using old weapons for a long time. The skills you learn are garbage as well. Some characters are just useless. And sucks to be you because you can't change characters. You only have 5 characters per main character. Special events where you get together you can pick one from the other party to make it six. These are rare and the ones you get are much weaker because you don't get to upgrade their spells or items.
The characters in the first game were generally good. Even the bad ones were good. In the second game they try way too hard. Instead of having a plot they just reuse Flay from the first game and have him do his random stuff. It was funny in the first game when he breaks through a wall like the kool-aid man randomly but after seeing it used so many times in the second game it was boring. The second game you have one dimensional characters. They have stock clichéd personalities.
The only good person in the game was Yun. He is a mana without a master that will do stuff for money. He's aloof and serious. The mature member of the group basically. Later on you find out he's doing lots of jobs to get millions and millions of Cole and you find out that when his old master died, she left a daughter which he takes care as his own. He sends all the money he earned back home to her and she grows up to be a spoiled brat. One part of the game she shows up and starts insulting everyone while looking for Yun. She's not a brat she just wants her father's attention and he's completely clueless on how to raise her. As you progress through his story he slowly learns. Unfortunately, everyone else in the game is shit.
Raze is you the unfortunate hero of the game who must listen to Lily all day long. He's pretty apathetic to everything and who can blame him when he's the slave to Lily.
Lily I already talked about, then her mana is dressed like a maid who she likes to punish all the time. I don't know why but probably to get all the dumb fuckers with maid fetishes worked up.
Et is the super hyperactive big boobed girl who has a brother complex and childhood friend secretly in love with Raze blah blah blah. Pass.
Yun the mana who is the only likable person. Has a bitchy daughter.
Puniyo the little human girl that was raised by Punis and can only say puni for all her words. She is accompanied by her three puni brothers who she rides on like a mount who can speak the human language. You'd think they'd teach her but no. These three are the most annoying characters. Pretty much three retards constantly fighting with each other and you're supposed to laugh at how stupid they are blah blah blah. Fucking cringe whenever shes on screen.
Then the other characters in the game who you have to constantly meet over and over again and fight over and over and over again. They are from the other route in their own party.
Ulrika is the country bumpkin who accidentally crashes into you at the start of the school semester and the two of you start off yelling at each other. Shes in Lily's class and Lily scolds her for you only for her to get angry at the both of you. Blah blah blah angry tsundere bullshit fuckface. Pass.
Chloe is the bookworm no emotion girl who doesn't speak and when she does its always horrible words coming out her mouth. She makes evil curse charms and shit. Boring.
Peperocino is the most fucking annoying character. Not because he sucks but because his voice is horrifying. It grates on your ears and he's this giant muscleman fairy. All other fairies are kids except for him and he speaks in this squeaky voice saying the most fucking shitty things. Pass.
Ena is Et's younger brother who has a crush on Puniyo. He's ok he's not that bad but 90% of the time he's getting chased around by Et and getting fucked over by everyone. So he's shitty because whenever you see him you know Et is going to show up and fuck over everything by being in there.
Goto just magically appears and is never mentioned in Raze's route and I have no idea who he is.
So out of all the main characters only a few are likable and by likable I mean not terrible.
The worst part is the combat is just so much worse than the first. Like you know the first game has great combat, what should we do with the second one? Fuck it up thats what. They ruined the whole specialized characters and vanguards/support thing. Its there its just not as fun as it used to be because you don't have enough characters to bounce around and strategize. In the first game you can pick and choose which characters to use to fit your strategy and everyone is highly specialized in their role. The second one you HAVE to use the five you have. It gets especially shitty in boss fights where you have to fight for 30 minutes straight. You do get a bonus party member from the other party (Ulrika's if you are Raze.) You get to choose which to pick but without any idea what they are good for what their skills are or anything. These people are generally much weaker than your party members because they don't scale them. Basically you are given dead weight. However it still has the time cards and combat turn cards where you can push back enemy action cards to miss their turn. However they're now balls and its much harder to see.
Storyline is non existent. The first one focuses on you and the school and your party members. You get attached to them, even the villains aren't really villains. They're just rivals and you guys get along afterwards. The teachers are all interesting and the events are generally funny without being overbearing. Theres actually a story where you look for your father and it gets really dark really fast. Sulpher is the coolest character in the first game and he doesn't even talk that much. In fact, the twist in the first game was that you are the mana and the cat is actually the person who you made a contract with. Thats why no one can understand him but you and how he is dying of old age and everyone goes "I never seen a mana get sick before." In the second game you're just begging for shit to end and slamming your head in shame from the sheer stupidity of things. Like the country bumpkin showing up and sees your party there first so she decides to stomp all the alchemy flowers only to realize you guys already picked it up and are on your way to leave and then she goes "I need the flower for my homework!" Ha ha thats funny right? No its not. What about Lily trying to confess to Raze and he keeps getting distracted and never hears her. Groan. Piece of shit. The whole game is just slapstick comedy with no story. I wouldn't be this pissed off if the first one wasn't so fun. It would be bad still but its just an insult when compared to the first game. I played this a long time ago and I still remember how shitty the second one is whenever I see NIS America's logo or name.
I hate to say it but I enjoyed the story of Persona 3 better. Actually no, Persona 3 is pathetic because they tried too hard to sound serious and dark while Mana Khemia 2 is pathetic because they try so hard to be funny. I say they're both equally pathetic and bad.
Mana Khemia : Alchemists of Al-Revis
Mana Knemia 2: The fall of Alchemy
This will be a joint double review. Lets start it off as always. How I came to find this game. I was looking around when I saw Mana Khemia 2 coming out, so I checked out the first of the series. Alchemist? Sounds interesting. Then I saw NIS America made it, the same people who made Disgaea and other similar games. I thought, this must be pretty good right!? Well they also made Ar Tonelico with its infamous scene seen here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JoODv8LVib8
Apparently from what I have heard the sexual innuendos continue for the whole game in Ar Tonelico. Then when I first started the game the graphics looks like shit while the game play felt like Persona where you are at school but at the same time hanging out with friends and killing monsters. I was horrified. In my mind, I was ready for the huge disappointment to come. I cannot express how wrong I was. This game was good. Very good in fact. There are flaws, but its a very lighthearted RPG aimed towards a younger audience but still fun to play nonetheless.
At the start of the game it lets you pick between Japanese voices and English voices. Its like the game is warning you ahead of time of the terrible voice acting. Like all games that I can switch off voice acting from Japanese games, I do it. The voices are pretty annoying at first, but eventually you'll get used to it. Didn't bother me much in the end as the characters eventually grow on you. You start off the game as Vayne, this really soft spoken passive kid living with his mana being recruited by a teacher from the academy of Al-Revis. Since he knew your father, who happens to be the most famous alchemist that has ever lived and he recently died he asked you to join the school in which you accepted. On your first day of school you immediately start meeting the four main characters and the main villains.
You meet Jessica, a fellow alchemist who is not only terrible at alchemy but a huge airhead klutz. Then as you leave the classroom you meet two seniors, Tony and Renee who tries to recruit you for their workshop. Just as this happens a man (supposed to be a student but he looks like he's 30 from a jrpg point of view) falls from the sky and recruits you first. He and Tony are rivals and he recruits you before them. Tony and Renee will be your villains. The man introduces himself as Flay and he needs people to join his workshop or he'll be closed down. Then you meet a beastman (cat people) chick named Nicole. These are your main characters.
One thing you will notice are Manas. They are magical creatures that come from another world and makes pacts with the alchemist for mutual gain. In other words a familiar for the alchemist. Without one you are weak as shit. An alchemist may choose to restrain the mana by force or to just simply make a pact. You already have a Mana, a cat named Sulpher. Sulpher is special as only you can hear and understand him, everyone else sees him as a very smart cat but with magical powers. It is part of the storyline so there is a reason. Mana are gained by storyline or by interacting with different characters during "free time" mode. To access free time, you must complete all the required credits in a term. Once you have acquired them all you automatically enter free time and can do jobs or spend time with party members to learn their stories.
So its kinda like persona? Yes it is but its much more fun. To start things off you don't have stupid bullshit like quizzes and tests, your class are like for example, Combat class IV where you enter a dungeon clear to a boss and for that boss you are given restrictions. Cannot heal and you must beat the boss while using chains and finish off with a finishing strike. You're grade will depend on your combos and time etc etc. Other times you will be sent to create items for Synthesis class or hunt for rare items in Gathering class. There is no studying as the earlier classes are mandatory to progress the storyline and to teach the players new abilities and also show them how its done. During free time, instead of fucking finding your friends and wasting days talking to them like in persona. Its like Mass Effect where they all stand around in your workshop and you can talk to them anytime. If during a free time, they will give you an option "Do you wish to spend the day with [name]?" If you do you enter character story mode. Free time depends on how early you complete your courses. It is very lenient on how many credits you need. You have around 6-7 weeks (days) to complete all the credits for your term. You only need about 2-3 A's to complete all credits but if you're struggling with C's or F's you'll probably need the full week.
The first few characters are fun but near the end they keep adding new characters. What I dislike most is adding characters near the end of the game. You don't care about them they don't do anything to the storyline and its a waste of a character. This game the girls are scary. When I thought persona 4 girls were aggressive these will literally pull you away and force you to do stuff. Half the game is you being dragged around force to do this and that. Vayne doesn't say anything to go against them. And your mana goes "sighs" and he follows you complaining all the way. Spending time with your friends will improve skills and progress the story. The ending will change depending on who you maxed your relationship with. Only one person can become the highest maxed relationship.
Here's a breakdown of the characters.
Vayne - That's you! You have super powers you learned from Sulpher and is probably the strongest character in the game because you have both physical and magical attack.
Jessica - Airhead clutz. She is a healer and caster. She has a bag with endless stuff inside it and throws random stuff inside it for skills/attacks. Shes your classmate and first person you meet. She is very important to the storyline.
Nicole - Catgirl. She is super horny and goes around flirting with guys and trying to find a husband to have tons of children with. She has a giant hammer with super strength. Highest physical attack in the game. I had her ending and you ended up going back to her village to have dozens of cat eared children with her.
Flay - Crazy hyperactive guy. He is the comic relief. He has super powers like flying through walls and jumping across the sky and lifting houses with his bare hands. But in combat he doesn't have shit. His weapon of choice is a mechsword that shoots ninja stars. These stars are extremely strong. He beats up a mana and forcefully binds it to himself. He wishes to be a super hero/villain.
Roxis - Stuck up asshole guy. This guy is a loser and sucks ass. He doesn't have a mana and can't learn skills and he happens to be a caster. He can't do shit until much later where he gets this mana who wouldn't stop picking on him and making fun of him. He's the "rival" character. Cool-headed pretty boy who hates your guts.
Pamela - Ghost girl. Shes a ghost that lives in the school and scares all the freshmen. Shes extremely overpowered as her guard skill makes her completely immune to damage. So with her as a support she can avoid a instant death move or large damage attack by taking the damage of one of the vanguard. Other than that she's annoying as hell. She doesn't seem to have a mana.
Anna - Sword wielding girl. Shes a swordsman who has no common sense like Touka from Utawarerumono. If you don't know what that is, its a chick who has no common sense and does all sort of stupid stuff. Exactly what this chick does. Except she goes into insane kill mode and starts chasing after everyone trying to cut their necks off their head. Then cries because she messed up. She doesn't seem to have a mana either.
Muppy - Some alien guy. I don't even know I don't give a shit about him as he came like one chapter before the game ends.
Now lets get to the best part of the game, Alchemy. You will spend hours upon hours in your lab making new recipes and mixing items and other stuff. Its loads of fun. When you make an item you can potentially think of new items or your party members will pitch in and say "Hey I wanna make an armor like a crab" and you go "what?" then he write down a formula and you can go mix it if you want. For example, if you add king crabs with steel and other shit you make a crab armor which is armor literally made out of crab shells. Its hilarious and fun. Also in this game there is no exp and no leveling up. The only way of leveling up is unlocking new recipes and items from alchemy and using the AP gained from combat/gathering/etc to learn it, kinda like FFX's grid.
When you combine different items you can make them with different alchemical levels, resulting in different benefits and drawbacks which also transfers into different status and effects on your equipment and items. For example, you can make a crab armor that adds bonus to attack and allows you to cast the spell Tempest. Or you can make a weapon that adds the effect to knock back the enemy's turn on attack or even sleep on strike. Each of the materials used to make an item have different stats and end up being different when you mix them all. Choosing who to upgrade items also adds different stats and effects. There are also alchemy levels from 0-100 which is based on the items you use. By say using a lv 20 water and lv 60 crab with a lv 5 steel will make you steel crab soup lv 85. It will give different effects from say a lv 25 steel crab soup. Recrafting older items can get you higher or lower amounts as well as picking different characters and the roulette system. Higher does not always mean a better item. Sometimes its a very specific amount that gives better stats. Very customizable. Unfortunately there is a downside. When you don't have the materials to make items it can really piss you off. Luckily as you advance the game you can send your friends on gathering hunts or synthesize. You can randomly get the items you want without having to make them or hunt them every week or few weeks. This can help for rare equipment and materials.
Another great thing about this game is the combat. Its turn based and reminds me of Grandia a lot. When you start the game, there is just you, Jessica and Nicole. at the top of the screen is a row of cards with different pictures on it. Its pretty much the order of actions. As you play more you start to realize, if you continuously pound on a target, they will keep moving behind on the row. If you stun them they get knocked out and gets skipped over while everyone moves ahead. When you cast a time card spell, like for example Echo Heal Alpha. You heal someone and then you see a few cards on the list. Every time its that card's turn it automatically heals. Its like a damage or heal over time skill. These skills will randomly target enemies if its offensive and allies if its supportive. The more hits you do a bar at the bottom fills up. When it fills to full a character can use his/her super move. If you hit a target's weakness they get pushed back and stunned easier while your bar gains even quicker.
That's pretty much the basics. But when you start getting more people you'll notice that you can get more than three people in combat. You can take up to six characters into combat. Three vanguards and three supports. These are interchangeable during combat. You can hit L and R to switch your active support. When you are attacking you can hit a button anytime and your support will jump out and attack the enemy switching places with you. You can switch as many times you want. However after switching that character will have a cooldown before being able to switch. Players that are in support will slowly gain hp and sp. Skill use up a lot of sp so changing around is required. Boss fights are very long. When you are being attacked, you can hit a button and the support will jump out and take the hit to save your guy from being killed or taking less damage because they auto guard when you save your teammate. This means you can drop time cards and switch your allies to the back and keep stacking and damage starts flying around everywhere and you keep combo-ing and blocking. Different characters have different effects of supportive blocking and attacking. For example when Jessica comes out to block someone she does a party heal. And Pamela completely nullifies all damage. Anna counterattacks when she blocks, etc etc. A good strategy is to load up on time cards and switch so it keeps doing damage while your character is recovering.
Seems fun right? Yeah it is. Its very fun. I recommend this game a lot. It might not appeal to everyone though, as combat is a little easy and there isn't much to do. The story isn't bad but kinda childish. Although it does get pretty dark later on. This game is targeted at high school kids. But for some reason, almost all the enemies you meet are naked monster girls. Like you have harpy girls, dragon girls, mermaid girls, squirrel girls, dryads, plant girls, sword girls, shield girls, angel girls, devil girls, cat girls, girl girls. Even some of the items are a little messed up. You have to kill angel girls to get angel panties and use it to make angel wings and use them to make an angel costume. You use devil panties to make bondage gear for your characters. Cat ears to make cat girl maid costumes. Yeah, some alchemical formulas are a little messed up.
What about Mana Khemia 2? It must be great since the first is great right? Nope. Like Persona 4, they also got lazy and used the same monsters from Mana Khemia 1. Instead of being alchemists, you get to pick between two characters. Some sword guy and some air headed chick. Naturally I picked the sword guy but he turns out to be some dense retard. You start the game as a slave to some chick and she has a mana who looks like a person with robot ears and wears a maid uniform. This chick, Lily is your first party member and then you meet this super active girl, who is a childhood friend of Lily and you. Her name is Et, and shes the rival of Lily who is vying for your attention. None of the characters are likable and the story is stupid. Every five minutes you are slamming your head into the wall from second hand embarrassment. Ok I admit Lily was a little cute the first time when shes trying so hard to get your attention but your character is completely oblivious. Then when they do it over and over it got old fast. Honestly, its like the game decided to make Mana Khemia 2 into a big giant fan service filled with cliches and shit from anime.
In combat you don't even have six people. You can get five people and one guest on special events. Every character is annoying and you don't even wanna pick any of them. The first game had a decent story, but the second one you're this guy going around killing shit and being a stupid slave and some guy comes and give you a ring and somehow you go insane and start stabbing manas and making them die permanently by sending them back to their own world. Then you somehow find out that guy is a bad guy and you fight and he kicks your ass but somehow you get super powers and beat them and all these characters appear for no reason and you don't know who is who and what is what and the game ends. You are supposed to play the game twice to find out what you're missing from the other point of view and then the secret hidden play through where you play as both. Who is going to play it three times? Fuck that shit.
Alchemy got dumbed down. Instead of mixing properly you get this weird shit that you must + and - the numbers to get whatever. Trust me it sucks. The item variety isn't as wide and when leveling up instead of unlocking a grid you get a list you scroll though on what to level up. Items are much easier to get but for some odd reason, the gear you keep making seems to keep getting shittier and you end up using old weapons for a long time. The skills you learn are garbage as well. Some characters are just useless. And sucks to be you because you can't change characters. You only have 5 characters per main character. Special events where you get together you can pick one from the other party to make it six. These are rare and the ones you get are much weaker because you don't get to upgrade their spells or items.
The characters in the first game were generally good. Even the bad ones were good. In the second game they try way too hard. Instead of having a plot they just reuse Flay from the first game and have him do his random stuff. It was funny in the first game when he breaks through a wall like the kool-aid man randomly but after seeing it used so many times in the second game it was boring. The second game you have one dimensional characters. They have stock clichéd personalities.
The only good person in the game was Yun. He is a mana without a master that will do stuff for money. He's aloof and serious. The mature member of the group basically. Later on you find out he's doing lots of jobs to get millions and millions of Cole and you find out that when his old master died, she left a daughter which he takes care as his own. He sends all the money he earned back home to her and she grows up to be a spoiled brat. One part of the game she shows up and starts insulting everyone while looking for Yun. She's not a brat she just wants her father's attention and he's completely clueless on how to raise her. As you progress through his story he slowly learns. Unfortunately, everyone else in the game is shit.
Raze is you the unfortunate hero of the game who must listen to Lily all day long. He's pretty apathetic to everything and who can blame him when he's the slave to Lily.
Lily I already talked about, then her mana is dressed like a maid who she likes to punish all the time. I don't know why but probably to get all the dumb fuckers with maid fetishes worked up.
Et is the super hyperactive big boobed girl who has a brother complex and childhood friend secretly in love with Raze blah blah blah. Pass.
Yun the mana who is the only likable person. Has a bitchy daughter.
Puniyo the little human girl that was raised by Punis and can only say puni for all her words. She is accompanied by her three puni brothers who she rides on like a mount who can speak the human language. You'd think they'd teach her but no. These three are the most annoying characters. Pretty much three retards constantly fighting with each other and you're supposed to laugh at how stupid they are blah blah blah. Fucking cringe whenever shes on screen.
Then the other characters in the game who you have to constantly meet over and over again and fight over and over and over again. They are from the other route in their own party.
Ulrika is the country bumpkin who accidentally crashes into you at the start of the school semester and the two of you start off yelling at each other. Shes in Lily's class and Lily scolds her for you only for her to get angry at the both of you. Blah blah blah angry tsundere bullshit fuckface. Pass.
Chloe is the bookworm no emotion girl who doesn't speak and when she does its always horrible words coming out her mouth. She makes evil curse charms and shit. Boring.
Peperocino is the most fucking annoying character. Not because he sucks but because his voice is horrifying. It grates on your ears and he's this giant muscleman fairy. All other fairies are kids except for him and he speaks in this squeaky voice saying the most fucking shitty things. Pass.
Ena is Et's younger brother who has a crush on Puniyo. He's ok he's not that bad but 90% of the time he's getting chased around by Et and getting fucked over by everyone. So he's shitty because whenever you see him you know Et is going to show up and fuck over everything by being in there.
Goto just magically appears and is never mentioned in Raze's route and I have no idea who he is.
So out of all the main characters only a few are likable and by likable I mean not terrible.
The worst part is the combat is just so much worse than the first. Like you know the first game has great combat, what should we do with the second one? Fuck it up thats what. They ruined the whole specialized characters and vanguards/support thing. Its there its just not as fun as it used to be because you don't have enough characters to bounce around and strategize. In the first game you can pick and choose which characters to use to fit your strategy and everyone is highly specialized in their role. The second one you HAVE to use the five you have. It gets especially shitty in boss fights where you have to fight for 30 minutes straight. You do get a bonus party member from the other party (Ulrika's if you are Raze.) You get to choose which to pick but without any idea what they are good for what their skills are or anything. These people are generally much weaker than your party members because they don't scale them. Basically you are given dead weight. However it still has the time cards and combat turn cards where you can push back enemy action cards to miss their turn. However they're now balls and its much harder to see.
Storyline is non existent. The first one focuses on you and the school and your party members. You get attached to them, even the villains aren't really villains. They're just rivals and you guys get along afterwards. The teachers are all interesting and the events are generally funny without being overbearing. Theres actually a story where you look for your father and it gets really dark really fast. Sulpher is the coolest character in the first game and he doesn't even talk that much. In fact, the twist in the first game was that you are the mana and the cat is actually the person who you made a contract with. Thats why no one can understand him but you and how he is dying of old age and everyone goes "I never seen a mana get sick before." In the second game you're just begging for shit to end and slamming your head in shame from the sheer stupidity of things. Like the country bumpkin showing up and sees your party there first so she decides to stomp all the alchemy flowers only to realize you guys already picked it up and are on your way to leave and then she goes "I need the flower for my homework!" Ha ha thats funny right? No its not. What about Lily trying to confess to Raze and he keeps getting distracted and never hears her. Groan. Piece of shit. The whole game is just slapstick comedy with no story. I wouldn't be this pissed off if the first one wasn't so fun. It would be bad still but its just an insult when compared to the first game. I played this a long time ago and I still remember how shitty the second one is whenever I see NIS America's logo or name.
I hate to say it but I enjoyed the story of Persona 3 better. Actually no, Persona 3 is pathetic because they tried too hard to sound serious and dark while Mana Khemia 2 is pathetic because they try so hard to be funny. I say they're both equally pathetic and bad.
Thursday, November 15, 2012
Mechwarrior Online - Yet another update
So MWO is out in open beta now. I've commented about it several times, and have raised many concerns as to its future. Unfortunately, I was right. Very right.
It's a F2P game that is very shallow in nature, repetitive in its grind, and completely unsuitable for release in its current stage. Netcode sucks, performance sucks, the awful motion blur, film grain, HDR, and bloom are obnoxious, content is lacking, game mode is boring, mech prices are WAY too expensive, matchmaking is nonexistent, the grind is painful even for the cheapest mech, and they still pushed it out the door into open beta anyway. The developers knew too, but they had deadlines to meet, which is a shame. They settled on releasing a minimum viable product (their words), and thus, I do not understand how they expect to receive anything more than a minimum viable score. What a terrible business plan.
They cited a bunch of other similar F2P games (namely World of Tanks) to justify their pricing and launch quality, but like I said before... F2P isn't a cureall, and a game released years ago shouldn't be used as the measuring stick for today.
Sadly, I really wanted to be wrong on this one, and for MWO to succeed. But I don't think it will. The biggest chance for MWO to get noticed was at launch, and they blew their chance. Even if they do fix up the game, it'll be too late, as Mechwarrior has always been a small community without the same level of magnetism. Even though it has only been the first 2 weeks of launch, the numbers are disheartening. The devs, PGI, have smartly pulled out the online players counter that was present in every iteration of beta. Worse, they're using a terrible engine (CryEngine 3) which suffers from persistent netcode problems and poor handling of fast moving vehicles (CryEngine 1+2 also had this problem, so MWLL was affected). Its engine also has shockingly poor performance despite being tailored to adhere to console specifications.
Well, I tried my best back in beta to warn the devs of this problem. I even spoke to them personally. They did stall beta few times to increase it's standard of quality, but this isn't enough. At least I enjoyed my time in the beta with it. You know, back when these flaws were 'acceptable'.
"It's just a beta, it'll be fixed on release." Yea, right.
It's a F2P game that is very shallow in nature, repetitive in its grind, and completely unsuitable for release in its current stage. Netcode sucks, performance sucks, the awful motion blur, film grain, HDR, and bloom are obnoxious, content is lacking, game mode is boring, mech prices are WAY too expensive, matchmaking is nonexistent, the grind is painful even for the cheapest mech, and they still pushed it out the door into open beta anyway. The developers knew too, but they had deadlines to meet, which is a shame. They settled on releasing a minimum viable product (their words), and thus, I do not understand how they expect to receive anything more than a minimum viable score. What a terrible business plan.
They cited a bunch of other similar F2P games (namely World of Tanks) to justify their pricing and launch quality, but like I said before... F2P isn't a cureall, and a game released years ago shouldn't be used as the measuring stick for today.
Sadly, I really wanted to be wrong on this one, and for MWO to succeed. But I don't think it will. The biggest chance for MWO to get noticed was at launch, and they blew their chance. Even if they do fix up the game, it'll be too late, as Mechwarrior has always been a small community without the same level of magnetism. Even though it has only been the first 2 weeks of launch, the numbers are disheartening. The devs, PGI, have smartly pulled out the online players counter that was present in every iteration of beta. Worse, they're using a terrible engine (CryEngine 3) which suffers from persistent netcode problems and poor handling of fast moving vehicles (CryEngine 1+2 also had this problem, so MWLL was affected). Its engine also has shockingly poor performance despite being tailored to adhere to console specifications.
Well, I tried my best back in beta to warn the devs of this problem. I even spoke to them personally. They did stall beta few times to increase it's standard of quality, but this isn't enough. At least I enjoyed my time in the beta with it. You know, back when these flaws were 'acceptable'.
"It's just a beta, it'll be fixed on release." Yea, right.
Leaked SWTOR developer's meeting
SWTOR Dev Lackey: GUYS GUYS GUYS GUYS GAIZ GAIZ! I has idea! What if we take our game, which nobody thinks is worth paying for... And then strip content out of it, and sell it back to them as individual components at a collectively higher price?
SWTOR Dev Lead: GENIUS. Let's take 6 months to covertly plan and develop our new F2P features, while subscribers continue to pay a monthly fee and receive no content updates. Then when F2P arrives, they will have to pay TWICE just to get back the items and perks they've earned and already paid for.
And thus, an already shitty game became a cosmic joke. In retrospect, I guess they achieved something original with the franchise after all, instead of just cloning another MMO.
If you haven't heard, SWTOR announced F2P some time ago, after the TORtanic prophesies proved true. Waves of players and developers abandoned the sinking ship, and EA hastily branded it a failure, and the sole unpredictable blemish on their otherwise flawless business strategy, deferring all blame onto Bioware. When your own parent disavows and abandons you, you know you've fucked up. Around that time, BW/EA tried to excuse themselves with data claiming that subscription based MMOs were dead, and an unsuitable payment model for the times. They also tried to reference F2P MMOs like LOTRO, DCUO, etc for their relative success. But the truth is, F2P isn't a cureall. I will probably make a dedicated post about that later, but F2P doesn't automatically make your game better, nor will it alleviate the existing flaws. However, no need to worry, because SWTOR never got the memo on how to make a F2P game; they focused all their time on fixing their public relations problems instead, so it would be a farce to even call this F2P.
Back to the headlines then: SWTOR officially launched their F2P today, and now all servers are open for you to play for free. Not that I would recommend it.
SWTOR's F2P restrictions are so tight, that many players are labeling it an 'extended trial', as it allows a player to level from 1-50, but little else. For the first time in any F2P MMO I've heard of, SWTOR restricts your UI, and makes you pay money to use it. It doesn't end there. Let's list some moronic restrictions:
SWTOR Devs: Herp derp, you don't want to pay $15 a month for my game? How about $20 for only 1/5th of my game? ULTRA DEAL!
It is clear that this F2P change won't draw in any more players than their free trial did. Because that's all this is: another free trial. And a chance for Bioware to double-dip into their subscribers and make them pay again for something they've already paid for months ago. And which ex-subscriber would be stupid enough to pay? If they didn't think the entire game was worth the money then, why would it be worth the value now? Nothing's changed, except for getting even less content. Sickeningly, it also means Bioware gets an excuse to put in a CASH SHOP into a P2P game. People would have been outraged if they did it while it was still technically P2P, but now they can call it F2P, however unfaithful it may be to that label. It shocks me that Bioware promises more content every 6 weeks from now on, when they've broken that promise repeatedly since release, when people were already supposedly paying monthly for content. Now that people don't have to pay monthly... They're promising monthly content again? How gullible do you think your subscribers are?
These guys have no fucking clue how to run a MMO, or a F2P game. Since release, more than half their employees and major project leads were fired, and I'm not sorry to see them go. They were trash and should never work in the industry again. My only regret is that their replacements are just as deluded and out of touch with gaming and the community.
What a fucking waste. And I'm not even surprised. I came to my senses in March, but that was already too much time wasted on this crap. So I'll redeem myself with a prediction, nay, a prophecy: SWTOR F2P is going to flop hard, and will not get any more players than a wave of trial offers. Not even close to the 50 million predicted (this guy should be fired too btw). Bioware won't shut down SWTOR so soon, so I foresee massive revamping of the F2P system, an admission of guilt and a shallow apology, then a reduction in its restrictions, and more incentive for ex-subscribers to return. New periodic content of substance will still be scarce. Cash shop profits will keep SWTOR afloat, and they'll attempt to use it to bolster their reputation and initial claims, despite subscriber numbers not actually increasing (but they'll conveniently avoid that data).
Update: Just read this at wired.
While the rest of the article points at a conclusion I'm not quite ready to accept, this segment of it is spot on. The game is bad, that's why it's not worth $15 a month. If they focused on trying to make the game better to match the $15, it would be harder, but ultimately a better product. Instead, they weakened the product to market it at a deceptively cheaper price. I also don't think the problem is with the p2p MMO archetype, it is with the games being lackluster and ultimately, lacking the frequent updates you'd expect with a monthly bill. Imagine subscribing to a magazine, and paying a monthly fee only to get the same issue over and over again. Not enough content? Re-read it! Read it backwards! Fold it into origami! Keep yourself warm at the fireplace! The sad thing is, f2p moba games update every 2 days, yet $15 a month, despite server maintenance costs, give you an update every 6 months if you're lucky? I'm afraid the problem lies with the developers and publishers, not with the model.
SWTOR Dev Lead: GENIUS. Let's take 6 months to covertly plan and develop our new F2P features, while subscribers continue to pay a monthly fee and receive no content updates. Then when F2P arrives, they will have to pay TWICE just to get back the items and perks they've earned and already paid for.
And thus, an already shitty game became a cosmic joke. In retrospect, I guess they achieved something original with the franchise after all, instead of just cloning another MMO.
If you haven't heard, SWTOR announced F2P some time ago, after the TORtanic prophesies proved true. Waves of players and developers abandoned the sinking ship, and EA hastily branded it a failure, and the sole unpredictable blemish on their otherwise flawless business strategy, deferring all blame onto Bioware. When your own parent disavows and abandons you, you know you've fucked up. Around that time, BW/EA tried to excuse themselves with data claiming that subscription based MMOs were dead, and an unsuitable payment model for the times. They also tried to reference F2P MMOs like LOTRO, DCUO, etc for their relative success. But the truth is, F2P isn't a cureall. I will probably make a dedicated post about that later, but F2P doesn't automatically make your game better, nor will it alleviate the existing flaws. However, no need to worry, because SWTOR never got the memo on how to make a F2P game; they focused all their time on fixing their public relations problems instead, so it would be a farce to even call this F2P.
Back to the headlines then: SWTOR officially launched their F2P today, and now all servers are open for you to play for free. Not that I would recommend it.
SWTOR's F2P restrictions are so tight, that many players are labeling it an 'extended trial', as it allows a player to level from 1-50, but little else. For the first time in any F2P MMO I've heard of, SWTOR restricts your UI, and makes you pay money to use it. It doesn't end there. Let's list some moronic restrictions:
- Only get 2 of the available 6 hotbars for skills (and believe me, you need at least 4)
- Pay more at vendors and every time you exchange tokens for gear (the primary way to get good gear)
- Can't use guild bank or regular banks (any items inside are locked)
- Can't mail or trade
- Cant accept common quest rewards
- Can only post 2 auction house listings
- Cant have more than 200k credits on you (the rest is locked into an account that is never released until you subscribe)
- Can only talk in 2 channels at 1 message a minute
- Cant wear epic gear (even if earned from being a subscriber)
- Cant wear event gear (even if earned from being a subscriber)
- Can't hide headslots or display titles or legacy name (even your 'founders title' awarded from being a long term subscriber)
- Can only roll 3 times for loot in dungeons PER week (failed rolls count)
- Can only do 5 battlegrounds a week (losses and incomplete games count, and the weekly quest requires 9 battlegrounds won)
- No access to the LFG tool
- No access to raids.
- Only 1 of 3 professions allowed
- Emotes are locked
- Half your inventory size. Anything in the other half is locked until you pay.
- Quick Travel (town teleport ability) cooldown is quadrupled, now at 2 hours. Emergency fleet pass (teleports you back to main fleet hub) completely disabled
- Only 2 characters per server. Returning players must select 2 and lock out the rest.
- No rest xp.
- No using /who.
- No using out of combat move speed passive ability until level 14.
SWTOR Devs: Herp derp, you don't want to pay $15 a month for my game? How about $20 for only 1/5th of my game? ULTRA DEAL!
It is clear that this F2P change won't draw in any more players than their free trial did. Because that's all this is: another free trial. And a chance for Bioware to double-dip into their subscribers and make them pay again for something they've already paid for months ago. And which ex-subscriber would be stupid enough to pay? If they didn't think the entire game was worth the money then, why would it be worth the value now? Nothing's changed, except for getting even less content. Sickeningly, it also means Bioware gets an excuse to put in a CASH SHOP into a P2P game. People would have been outraged if they did it while it was still technically P2P, but now they can call it F2P, however unfaithful it may be to that label. It shocks me that Bioware promises more content every 6 weeks from now on, when they've broken that promise repeatedly since release, when people were already supposedly paying monthly for content. Now that people don't have to pay monthly... They're promising monthly content again? How gullible do you think your subscribers are?
These guys have no fucking clue how to run a MMO, or a F2P game. Since release, more than half their employees and major project leads were fired, and I'm not sorry to see them go. They were trash and should never work in the industry again. My only regret is that their replacements are just as deluded and out of touch with gaming and the community.
What a fucking waste. And I'm not even surprised. I came to my senses in March, but that was already too much time wasted on this crap. So I'll redeem myself with a prediction, nay, a prophecy: SWTOR F2P is going to flop hard, and will not get any more players than a wave of trial offers. Not even close to the 50 million predicted (this guy should be fired too btw). Bioware won't shut down SWTOR so soon, so I foresee massive revamping of the F2P system, an admission of guilt and a shallow apology, then a reduction in its restrictions, and more incentive for ex-subscribers to return. New periodic content of substance will still be scarce. Cash shop profits will keep SWTOR afloat, and they'll attempt to use it to bolster their reputation and initial claims, despite subscriber numbers not actually increasing (but they'll conveniently avoid that data).
Update: Just read this at wired.
The $15-a-month subscription game is dying. But it’s not because players are cheap, it’s because they’re bored.
As the game development website Gamasutra put it, the most expensive game in history is now free: With a reported $200 million budget, the massively multiplayer RPG Star Wars: The Old Republic wasn’t attracting nearly the number of subscribers that publisher Electronic Arts needed if it was going to see returns. So EA added a business model that has been lucrative for other online games: Allow gamers to play for free, then charge them small amounts for upgrades once they’re hooked.
But that may not be enough. Experts in the space say the reason Star Wars struggles while other online games are killing it isn’t because of the money, it’s because of how the games themselves are designed. It’s not the business model that’s obsolete, but the product.
While the rest of the article points at a conclusion I'm not quite ready to accept, this segment of it is spot on. The game is bad, that's why it's not worth $15 a month. If they focused on trying to make the game better to match the $15, it would be harder, but ultimately a better product. Instead, they weakened the product to market it at a deceptively cheaper price. I also don't think the problem is with the p2p MMO archetype, it is with the games being lackluster and ultimately, lacking the frequent updates you'd expect with a monthly bill. Imagine subscribing to a magazine, and paying a monthly fee only to get the same issue over and over again. Not enough content? Re-read it! Read it backwards! Fold it into origami! Keep yourself warm at the fireplace! The sad thing is, f2p moba games update every 2 days, yet $15 a month, despite server maintenance costs, give you an update every 6 months if you're lucky? I'm afraid the problem lies with the developers and publishers, not with the model.
Monday, November 12, 2012
Long Live The Queen - Probably easier to be a real queen
I don't even know how to describe this game. The closest thing I can compare it to is Academagia, a fantasy life simulator where you play as a student in a magic school. Its not as complex and you don't need to read an essay of text every 20 seconds. However I learned its based off some Japanese game called Princess Maker where you raise a princess and force her into prostitution or something fucked up. Knowing Japan you'd probably end up fucking her too. So that raised some giant red flags. I first heard about this game from people posting shit all over the forums about it. I was looking for something to entertain me and so I decided to see what this was about. I checked their site, Hanako Games, where all you see are a bunch of Anime games. This sent more red flags but then I read on and I basically learned that its made by girls for girls.
For too many people, "games for girls" means nothing but bright pink and dolls and dress-up and shopping. Well, those can be fun, but there are plenty of girls whose lives don't begin and end at the mall. Fiction for girls (and young adults in general) often focuses on other common girl-interests, like horses, magic, and fantasy. So why aren't there more girl games with unicorns instead of prom dresses?
We are not just "girls games", although we are definitely girl-friendly. Anyone who likes fantasy and adventure, anime games, or just cute stuff is more than welcome here. We hope you will enjoy what you find and come back in the future to see what other games we have made. We may surprise you!
Want to make your own adventure? Join us...
Alright, you caught my attention. How are they going to pull this off. I remember talking about how the gaming industry is male dominated and there are not many games aimed at girls without it being shit. Well since there seems to be decent positive reviews it shouldn't be too bad right? Well, to tell you the truth it isn't.
You start off as Elodie, a 14 year old princess being pulled out of school and dragged to the castle to find out your mother has died and you will become the queen. You dad, King Dowager, the Duke of Caloris, is a stupid loser who doesn't know how to lead and forces you to do it. From what I assume its a matriarchal society in the kingdom of Nova but its never really explained why. Perhaps its explained in one of the history texts or if you play the game further but I never got there yet without being killed. Yes you can die and you will die A LOT. One thing I can't seem to remember though is the names and the titles. How the shit are you supposed to remember all this without some kind of journal or something so you can look up when you're trying to appoint some random asshole to lead some country where the king was assassinated.
Anyways so your dad is useless and you now rule over the entire country at the young age of 14 and everyone and their pet dog wants you dead. It throws you into a short tutorial where it explains the statistic screen. You have four mood meters: Angry and Afraid, Cheerful and Depressed, Willful and Yielding, Pressured and Lonely. Raising one will lower one of the opposite mood and vice versa. The one which is the highest or lowest of the four determines your current mood. You will get bonus to learning skills depending on your mood. Skills are broken down into 4 categories, each with multiple subcategories and 3 subcategories for each subcategory. For example, Social skill is broken down into the following subcategories: Royal Demeanor, Conversation, Expression. In Royal Demeanor you have: Composure, Elegance, and Presence. While in Conversation you have: Public Speaking, Court Manners, and Flattery. Then you have shit like Intellectual skills with the following subcategories: History, Intrigue, Medicine, Economics, Military. Overall in total you have 42 different possible skills to learn.
Again not as complex as Academagia but it will make anyone's head spin the first time you play. You can plan classes for any of the 42 different skills. One morning class and one evening class. These classes will last the week so you will gain 2 points for every weekday in the week. A total of 10/100 points per class if the bonus is at 0. When you see bonuses or penalties you should probably pick or avoid that. For example, if you're depressed you suffer a -2 penalty to Conversation skills. You will learn a total of 2 + -2 each day gaining a total of 0 for the week. However if she has +1 to Conversation you will gain 2 + 1 each day making a grand total of 15 points for the week. On weekends you can do stuff that will change your mood like playing with your toys, playing tennis, sneak out of the castle, and the list goes on. It will also have an event which can be anything simple from a person coming to the castle asking for funding for medicine for soldiers. If you don't have the proper skills you will fail the skill check and automatically reject the project.
Basically all the skills you learn are for skill checks. Certain events require you to have a certain amount in a certain stat to pass it. However you don't always need specific ones. For example when a maid crashes into you. If you have courtly manners high enough you can pass the check to accept her apology, to apologize or throw her in jail. If you fail that check thats fine if your Reflex skill is high enough you are able to dodge the whole thing. However shit will branch out and some options are hidden unless you have the right skills. Some will outright kill you without the right skills. For example one part I was riding on a cart to a party and we were attacked by bandits. Because I have enough Reflexes I was able to dodge the arrow. On my second play through I failed to level that skill and chose to go to the same party only to get shot and killed.
On my first playthrough I leveled my Intrigue skill up and with high enough Foreign Intelligence I was able to discover my crazy aunt's plot to steal my throne so I had her assassinated. Yes I'm a fucking 14 year old girl sending an assassin to kill my scheming evil aunt. Then when her son came to the castle you have inner dialogue going "He doesn't know I'm the one who killed her mother." Wow I just became this giant evil bitch. It didn't really matter though I was so focused on skilling up my Social skills and History and Intrigue that I neglected my Military skills. When the enemy attacked us I lost all my troops and he gave me a choice. If I dueled him to the death with magic he will leave everyone and everything alive if he wins. If he loses his army will leave. Or you can choose to fight to the end. Well I never picked up my magical girl super transformation crystal because I decided to wait until I was crowned the queen like a good girl so I wasn't able to duel him. He said he doesn't give a shit its either your head or the country. And I'm like I am the fucking country. So I ran from the duel and our armies fought and I got defeated then executed. The end.
Then another play though I decided to up my Military skill from the beginning only to fail to discover my crazy aunt's plot and she led a rebellion. It was that I either marry one of her sons and give up all power or die. Well I said fuck off and I was executed. Its much more fun than I expected it to be. Theres so much stuff to do, each and every play though will be slightly different. Maybe you get a little further, maybe you fuck up somewhere. But the things that happens always remain the same. The skill checks always remain the same. Sure you may be thinking. The title is all pink and fluttery it must be super girly. Not really. Other than the girly aesthetics like pinkness and your pink haired princess theres nothing that will stop a guy from going "Ewwww gay! Not touching!" Plus who the fuck cares about it being girly. You don't really go around shopping for clothes or gawking at guys. Sure there are some marriage candidates but they're all purely political. You can force people into marriage or break it off as well. Some are just outright creepy like a dude older than your dad that wants to marry you. Like fuck off. I dragged him to the executioner and had his head chopped off. Take that for girly.
For too many people, "games for girls" means nothing but bright pink and dolls and dress-up and shopping. Well, those can be fun, but there are plenty of girls whose lives don't begin and end at the mall. Fiction for girls (and young adults in general) often focuses on other common girl-interests, like horses, magic, and fantasy. So why aren't there more girl games with unicorns instead of prom dresses?
We are not just "girls games", although we are definitely girl-friendly. Anyone who likes fantasy and adventure, anime games, or just cute stuff is more than welcome here. We hope you will enjoy what you find and come back in the future to see what other games we have made. We may surprise you!
Want to make your own adventure? Join us...
Alright, you caught my attention. How are they going to pull this off. I remember talking about how the gaming industry is male dominated and there are not many games aimed at girls without it being shit. Well since there seems to be decent positive reviews it shouldn't be too bad right? Well, to tell you the truth it isn't.
You start off as Elodie, a 14 year old princess being pulled out of school and dragged to the castle to find out your mother has died and you will become the queen. You dad, King Dowager, the Duke of Caloris, is a stupid loser who doesn't know how to lead and forces you to do it. From what I assume its a matriarchal society in the kingdom of Nova but its never really explained why. Perhaps its explained in one of the history texts or if you play the game further but I never got there yet without being killed. Yes you can die and you will die A LOT. One thing I can't seem to remember though is the names and the titles. How the shit are you supposed to remember all this without some kind of journal or something so you can look up when you're trying to appoint some random asshole to lead some country where the king was assassinated.
Anyways so your dad is useless and you now rule over the entire country at the young age of 14 and everyone and their pet dog wants you dead. It throws you into a short tutorial where it explains the statistic screen. You have four mood meters: Angry and Afraid, Cheerful and Depressed, Willful and Yielding, Pressured and Lonely. Raising one will lower one of the opposite mood and vice versa. The one which is the highest or lowest of the four determines your current mood. You will get bonus to learning skills depending on your mood. Skills are broken down into 4 categories, each with multiple subcategories and 3 subcategories for each subcategory. For example, Social skill is broken down into the following subcategories: Royal Demeanor, Conversation, Expression. In Royal Demeanor you have: Composure, Elegance, and Presence. While in Conversation you have: Public Speaking, Court Manners, and Flattery. Then you have shit like Intellectual skills with the following subcategories: History, Intrigue, Medicine, Economics, Military. Overall in total you have 42 different possible skills to learn.
Again not as complex as Academagia but it will make anyone's head spin the first time you play. You can plan classes for any of the 42 different skills. One morning class and one evening class. These classes will last the week so you will gain 2 points for every weekday in the week. A total of 10/100 points per class if the bonus is at 0. When you see bonuses or penalties you should probably pick or avoid that. For example, if you're depressed you suffer a -2 penalty to Conversation skills. You will learn a total of 2 + -2 each day gaining a total of 0 for the week. However if she has +1 to Conversation you will gain 2 + 1 each day making a grand total of 15 points for the week. On weekends you can do stuff that will change your mood like playing with your toys, playing tennis, sneak out of the castle, and the list goes on. It will also have an event which can be anything simple from a person coming to the castle asking for funding for medicine for soldiers. If you don't have the proper skills you will fail the skill check and automatically reject the project.
Basically all the skills you learn are for skill checks. Certain events require you to have a certain amount in a certain stat to pass it. However you don't always need specific ones. For example when a maid crashes into you. If you have courtly manners high enough you can pass the check to accept her apology, to apologize or throw her in jail. If you fail that check thats fine if your Reflex skill is high enough you are able to dodge the whole thing. However shit will branch out and some options are hidden unless you have the right skills. Some will outright kill you without the right skills. For example one part I was riding on a cart to a party and we were attacked by bandits. Because I have enough Reflexes I was able to dodge the arrow. On my second play through I failed to level that skill and chose to go to the same party only to get shot and killed.
On my first playthrough I leveled my Intrigue skill up and with high enough Foreign Intelligence I was able to discover my crazy aunt's plot to steal my throne so I had her assassinated. Yes I'm a fucking 14 year old girl sending an assassin to kill my scheming evil aunt. Then when her son came to the castle you have inner dialogue going "He doesn't know I'm the one who killed her mother." Wow I just became this giant evil bitch. It didn't really matter though I was so focused on skilling up my Social skills and History and Intrigue that I neglected my Military skills. When the enemy attacked us I lost all my troops and he gave me a choice. If I dueled him to the death with magic he will leave everyone and everything alive if he wins. If he loses his army will leave. Or you can choose to fight to the end. Well I never picked up my magical girl super transformation crystal because I decided to wait until I was crowned the queen like a good girl so I wasn't able to duel him. He said he doesn't give a shit its either your head or the country. And I'm like I am the fucking country. So I ran from the duel and our armies fought and I got defeated then executed. The end.
Then another play though I decided to up my Military skill from the beginning only to fail to discover my crazy aunt's plot and she led a rebellion. It was that I either marry one of her sons and give up all power or die. Well I said fuck off and I was executed. Its much more fun than I expected it to be. Theres so much stuff to do, each and every play though will be slightly different. Maybe you get a little further, maybe you fuck up somewhere. But the things that happens always remain the same. The skill checks always remain the same. Sure you may be thinking. The title is all pink and fluttery it must be super girly. Not really. Other than the girly aesthetics like pinkness and your pink haired princess theres nothing that will stop a guy from going "Ewwww gay! Not touching!" Plus who the fuck cares about it being girly. You don't really go around shopping for clothes or gawking at guys. Sure there are some marriage candidates but they're all purely political. You can force people into marriage or break it off as well. Some are just outright creepy like a dude older than your dad that wants to marry you. Like fuck off. I dragged him to the executioner and had his head chopped off. Take that for girly.
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