Moving!

I'm moving blogs to change its name and possibly add more then just games. All posts were imported and should be edited to fit in the newish layout soon.


http://brazokie.blogspot.com/


Will be erasing this one soon :)

Perfect World Entertainment can be cute

I just read a cute e-mail from PWE congratulating me for reaching level 10 in Forsaken World this past week. It basically kinda directed how to follow the main quest line, which are the side quests color code, and that the main capital city is always a safe haven to go back to and relax. No cash shop propaganda.

I know it is something extremely simple, but I got impressed. It was friendly, and I was really expecting the email would end with “and come by the store for some flavor items to add into your game time”, and then it didn’t. The e-mail did come days after I got level 10, but yet, so cute.

Turbine spams me to spend money much more often then PWE and Aeria, and yet, when reading comments on news posts about MMOs, I see a lot of cash-shop hate going for PWE and Aeria titles. In my experience, their cash shops are very non intrusive and unnecessary to have fun with the game, so I am kinda lost where all the hate is coming from. I’ll assume it is just a “cool thing to hate”, and I am thankful for not being “cool”.

Rusty Hearts and Raiderz both have their closed beta sign ups going on right now if anyone is interested too, by the way. I got into the Rusty Hearts one already because of a PWE survey that offers a closed beta key if you just press a button to say why you haven’t been logging into one of their games lately (in my case, Perfect World). With that key, I also got two “friend” keys, let me know if anyone would like one of those.

The picture is unrelated, but it is an awesome gif I just found stored on my computer.

Forsaken World First Impressions

With steam's new list of F2P games, I decided to give Perfect World Entertainment's Forsaken World a try. The game runs smoothly on my computer, but it is interesting that you can toggle certain things to help in crowded areas. Much like in Vindictus, you can choose not to view other players or their pets if you have problems in capital cities.

Before even creating, I'd like to warn about deleting a character: it takes 7 days. So if you are first making lots of characters to be able to read the skills like I do, use crappy names, and just when you make your choice use one that you like, since the character waiting those 7 days will have its named locked.

Character creation has its typical options of colors and designs, with the addition of the "date of birth" detail, giving you the choice to pick a zodiac sign for your character. It makes no difference which ones you pick: the zodiac in the game is a way to pray for hourly rewards, that can be buffs, xp or a material reward. Each hour will belong to a sign, and when it matches your own, chances of better rewards will be a bit bigger. So, in the end, it really doesn't matter.

The races are humans, elves, stoneman, dwarves and kindred (vampires). Each race has some racial skills, but as far as I can tell from this early point in the game, they are always some sort of overpowered AOE attack, so I'd say to pick your race by the looks. These racial skills are powered by Soulforce, which you gain when you defeat monsters, filling up a green bar right by your health and mana.

The only gender lock is about the Stonemen but I will include here the dwarves, even though you can be male or female. And this inclusion is because you actually can't be a DWARF female, you get to be a little cute girl. I personally hate that. The guys get to be the stereotypical round dwarf, but their females are just eternally young and cute, looking like children. I have a problem with that. I don’t mind micro dresses and short shorts on ADULT looking characters, but looking like a child and being an adult with too short of a skirt does not go good with me. By the way, Rift made the cutest female dwarves so far, it is possible without being skinny and young, promisse!

I've played through 3 different tutorials, and they pretty much show you the basics of gameplay and an idea of how your solo experience will be: kill 10 rats quests and pick up items quests. Quest text is a little painful to me, since the color of the text is kinda light against a not very eye friendly background. Could be just me. As for the quality of text, I personaly see that the english version was not translated by a native of the english language. There are no grammar errors, but weird ways to use certain expressions. Also, I've found some quests where it seemed that the text didn't fit, and parts are missing. The story is nothing too amazing, but it has its weird moments that keep me reading it.

A point that I love about the quests is that its items get their own bag. I hope all games with quest items copy this one day. Lotro has it in an even better way, that you don't even see the quest item if it is not an readable one. So big thumbs up about that!

The achievement system comes with a lot of game story and collectibles. Or maybe I confused the two. So far I have only played the tutorials and done some quests around the main city, and the achievements/collections get completed without much thought or search.

You don't really need to think about moving, either. I admit it is pure lazy, and kinda weird, but you can auto-route directly to where you have to go. As quests get listed on your right side of the screen, you can simply look for where you have to go, conveniently highlighted in green, click, and go get a drink, talk on the phone or continue doing your nails. I recall Shayia having something like that, maybe Perfect World too, but I can't be certain. I actually like it, but feel so lazy about it. It might get boring later on, but at least I can read while I move right now.

And there are lots of things to read, by the way. The achievements provide the stories as I've mentioned before, and the game also has an encyclopedia, earned after some initial quests, which will answer some basic game questions.

Right at the beginning, you are given a guide that will tell you of some dailies that can be done as a low leve

l character, as well as some daily dungeons. Also, the game has many daily events going on that I couldn't go check yet, but it is good to know that the game is trying to provide lots of things to occupy the players that get bored fast.

Setting up shop and auction houses are both present, which makes me recall a discussion about such options on the Tera's boards. Personally, I like the presence of both, it is nice to enter a town and have all these shops to check. It can be annoying on computer performance and make a clutter in towns too though. Guess it is the nostalgia kicking in from back when I played Ragnarok Online, and Prontera was just filled with shops on all possible corners.

Also from the starting quests you will be given your first combat pet. So all character, no matter your class, will have a little buddy to help in killing. If pets annoy you, just don't summon it. This first quest lets you pick among three, which made me recall playing Pokemon on the Gameboy systems. It is either a wolf, a turtle or a sheep. The quest is repeatable, so you can have all of them in the end, but at least at this point in the game, there are only 2 pet slots available. Pets need to be feed and you can interact with them a little. Didn't really do much about them, so I am unsure what else is possible.

 

Jobs (crafting) has a point system, and you assign these points gained from doing the "main questline" into which professions you'd like to learn. And there are 15! Every 10 levels you unlock a row of them, and the initial tutorial quests incentive you to get all the first 3 ones available, which is what I did on my first character. Gathering is a typical map track, click to gather it style, with Alchemy and Cooking needing a set of ingredients and a progression bar.

In a first view, the game is entertaining, even though it doesn't bring any groundbreaking news to MMOs. I do have a weak spot for beautiful robes though, and admit: part of the reason I abandoned WoW and my priest in that game was the fact that I looked hideous on my raid and PvE gear. Their stubbornness to not add cosmetic slots and their weird art direction just upset me. So I am more than happy to see games like Forsaken World are doing beautifully with the looks of the character robes.

As for the gameplay, Forsaken World is what I call an "in the mood to kill and repeat" kind of game, and I do get that kind of mood sometimes, so I'll probably keep it and learn a bit more about it in the next weeks.

Choosing the best LOTRO account for you

If you ever wondered about playing Lotro but feel uncertain of the F2P limitations/advantages, this link provides a great guide. It also explains the "subscribe for a month" technique, which is how I play this game without spending a dime anymore - or for now, and for many months now.

LINK: Choosing the best LOTRO account for you

Games and Creativity

This past weekend I've played much less games then I usually do. Part of that is the fact that there's too many out there and I keep looking for new ones. Too tempting! The other part is that I am going back to another hobby I used to have, which is drawing and painting with watercolors. It all started with me getting a box of my old stuff sent from Brazil, and there they were, my old pencils, and I just had to try and see if I could copy this floral image... and BANG I start remembering lots of things, and where I messed up, and why I messed up in this or that color, and how hard it still is to reproduce light.

While I can copy with an OK quality, my objective is to be able to actually create new images from scratch. Have a live model of some landscape and be able to create totally new things in there. That feeling extends to games a lot with my hunger for customization options.

EQ2 is probably the most complete game in that for me right now. I can play the game's objectives of questing, crafting and killing looking the way I want (given the limitations) and take a break building my house's decoration. LotRO also has good cosmetic options, but they have bigger limitations, such as determined furniture spaces in the houses and less cosmetic options in the outfits. And then, APB is just amazing about customizing clothes and vehicles.

So I decided to check Wurm, see how far the possibilities there can go. It is the first "sandbox" title I've ever played, and the game concept itself, being new, is something that makes me a little divided: I am simply free to do as I wish within the game limits. But after playing so many directed games, that feels a little bit "too free".

But then the game started right for me, with a good tutorial and its funny remarks and sign posts along the way. I love comic relief when it is well done. But most importantly, the game showed me the basics without boring me.

Basically, the game tries to follow your simple steps whenever you want to do anything. To craft, make sure you got the right tool, or if you don't use a tool, make sure to pick the hand you'll be using. Instead of having a list of materials, you got to memorize how to craft the objects, such as a mallet. You will activate your axe to cut down a tree, then cut down logs, then activate a carving knife and carve that log into a shaft, then shape the shaft into the head of the mallet, then back to the fallen log, get another piece, shape it into another shaft, activate that shaft and select the head of the mallet to put it all together. It feels like crafting!

Combat gives you options such as in which direction you are trying to hit your enemy, rather than focus on rolls of buttons with cooldowns. To me this reads as "oh just kill it and be done with it". No animations in for combat yet, so it does feel very dull. Right now, as I check the game, that is fine, since killing is what I'm trying NOT to do, I have dozens of games where I can do that. And I discovered all that while being attacked by a lava fiend loosen in a harbor area. Yeah, was weird, but apparently people imprison these creatures to use as light sources.

The Hindmania village, who has a group on MMO Voices, is simply incredible. Organized and well planned, it is difficult to imagine how it was all conceived. Because that is the point that gets me in drawing: I can copy things just fine, but creating new things is the real challenge, to imagine it first and put it on paper. That is what made me feel most amazed by the Wurm village, that a group of people could have a project and put it to work there. And thank you guys for letting me in :)

I do have a little suggestion for the village though: any chances you could name the streets? Would make it easier if not just plain cute to have this kind of detail.

The final impression after playing just a couple of hours in two days, is that I wish the game was not in 3D. I wish it looked like Ultima Online, but with all that freedom of creation. Or maybe it is just me not used to not being able to zoom out a lot to view better my surroundings. But then that kind of kills the realism they are trying to put on the game, since nobody can really have a bird's view of their own head whenever they wish to.

Anyway, I will keep trying to fulfill my little plan in Wurm: I want to plant things, maybe cook, maybe make healing stuffs. So if I make it to understand how to do all that, I'll probably ask for some space in the village to make a garden. The first person perspective is a challenge though, I am really not used to it.

With that said, does anyone know of other good sandbox games? I've read that Fallen Earth is going F2P, but other than that title and Minecraft (I hate the creepers idea), I don't know of any other sandbox titles. Either that or other games with good customization options will be welcome to my list of "new things to check".

Age of Wonders

EQ2 is not too happy with my husband's computer right now, so I'll be letting him use my PC until we figure out what is going on. So I bought an expansion for an old title and been having fun with it, since it really doesn't need a powerful computer to run.

I used to have Age of Wonders and Age of Wonders 2 back in Brazil, but it got lost during my journey here. But GOG "helped me", and it was even cheaper than last time to get both of those games plus the expansion for Age of Wonders 2, called "Shadow Magic".

Age of Wonders 1

The first game, Age of Wonders, has what I'd call a "delicate" art that appeases me more than the second version of the game. Everything is tiny and each unit has unique art portraits. Difficult to explain, but I just find it more adorable then the second game.

Age of Wonders 2: Shadow Magic

 Gameplay-wise, the games are fantasy themed turn-based strategy, like an easier version of Civilization, with less politics and more combat and exploration. The maps are always beautiful and detailed, and while you could simply run after the map's objective without looking around, exploring can reward you special items for your hero/wizard, extra gold and mana, nodes, extra resources and extra units. All of this happens by finding a node, or some ruins where you have to battle monsters and conquer loot, or by finding some independent party which is from your same alignment and is willing to join your cause for a few gold. Or maybe they are from a different alignment and you'll kill them for some xp.

Loot!

 To move around the map, each unit has movement points. Some have more than others, and some even have special abilities, such as flight, water walking and mountain climbing. Once all your movements are done, and you did all you could administrating your little cities, it is time to end your turn. Turns can be set up to be simultaneous or each moving on their own turn. I like to have each player with their turn so it is easier to watch what they are doing, when "fog of war" allows, of course. 

Combat is always each with their own turn to move. Movement points are in use here too, as well as the special movements, with highlights to the flying units and the wall climbers having an easy way here to conquer towns and towers with walls. The combat map is not just for cosmetics, since large stones and houses can provide you cover or be an annoyance to your archers and spell casters trying to kill from a safe distance.

Combat in Age of Wonders 1

Combat in Age of Wonders 2

Spheres of magic as seen in Age of Wonders 2

Magic is another big point it the game. Each hero/wizard will have an affinity sphere of magic, which can be either fire, water, air, earth, life and death, with cosmos arriving in AW2. Having an affinity, there are also different sphere points that will allow you to mix some of these schools of magic. So while you can have an affinity with fire and rain fireballs at your enemies, you can add some points in life for healing spells also.

Your spellbook is shared between all spellcasters. Spellcasting is a hero skill, and not all of them will have it. In such cases though, you can save up experience points and purchase the skill. To learn new spells you either research or find them for sale while exploring. Research and mana regeneration share a slider, so you can either have more mana per turn or spend less turns on research.

 Your spells are separated in Global, Unit and Combat. Global spells can affect the world map and summon creatures: eagles, fire storms and blessings or curses upon whole cities. Unit spells can be cast from the world map or combat to buff  and heal your units, or curse and debuff enemies. And combat spells, as the name suggests, are only available during combat, being damage dealing or debuffing combat area effects.

Spellbook in Age of Wonders 2

 Being good, neutral or evil is what makes diplomacy useful. You can make peace or war, or even choose to have an allied victory. It can be a relief in some maps where you are surrounded by all sides, and once allied, at least one of the corners you won't need to be watching for attacks anymore. Also gives you a feeling of how multiplayer could go which is a modality of this game that I have never tried. Other then multiplayer, you can even play by... e-mail. I don't think nowadays anyone would have patience for that though!

Each race comes with an alignment already though, so you can't pick to be a nice flower picking orc, sadly. In both games though, there are other races and creatures that you can have or combat no matter your race,  like the summoned creatures, siege engines and priests. 

Races in Age of Wonders 2: Shadow Magic

Each race has different units. Some of them can be a little alike, such as the fact that each race will have a basic foot soldier unit, and an archer, but they'll still have different stats. And then differences just keep growing, like some races being stronger or weaker against certain kinds of magic.

If you are interested, both games do have demonstrations to download and try to see for yourself what I'm trying to explain here. Also, both editions of the game have active modding communities. AND both games do have map/campaign editors which are shared on that same community, which are their HeavenGames websites.

The games are available at Steam, Impulse and GamersGate also, but I am not sure if there are any price differences when compared to GOG.

Taking a break from elves: my adventures in APB: Reloaded

Most of the games I play are fantasy MMOs. With that said, having a sniper rifle with me and a speeding car is a huge break from killing goblins and orcs!

The first big question was: Criminal or Enforcer? Personally, so far, I prefer to play as an Enforcer. That means I am a cop, with the choice to shoot down criminals or arrest them. Also, killing civilians by mistake will lower my rating, which makes me gain less money while completing missions. It is an extra challenge, since their A.I. to get out of the way is not the best, and probably with the purpose to make life a little more difficult to Enforcers. Also, the idea of pretending to be a criminal is not entertaining to me, though I might try the criminal side later.

Very first impressions were, of course, about the gorgeous character creator. You can be pretty and chubby, or skinny and ugly, or muscular and meanie looking. You'll be able to revisit it later in the game, but it will cost you game-money (not cash). The tutorial covers most things, like equipping you primary and secondary weapons and accessories and how to complete missions. And before you go shooting, remember this: people with names in grey you simply can't hurt in any way. Only those with names in red (enemies) and green (allies) and be hurt by you. So yeah, friendly fire exists, and the punishment for it is quite rough! You become ally/enemy when dispatched for a mission. If there isn't a group/person that matches your skill level, you won't be bothered, but if there is, watch your back, because someone if coming after you. That is called "oposition", and grants more rewards then just completing missions in peace.

Once done with the tutorial, you are asked to pick a district. This will also happen everytime you log into your character. Social is where you do all the fluff related activities, like compose your wardrobe, looks, create symbols and music and customize and buy new cars. It's the "customization mall", and nobody can shoot around here. Just look for the kiosks with the respective symbols. Financial and Waterfront districts are where the action is. I highly recommend accepting the option to automatically group with those around your level of skill. Stay together and try your best not to shoot your own friends or run them over with a car.

 So the game basically works in different maps, and each can hold up to 100 players. I do believe they control it so that it's 50/50 between criminals and enforcers, but while it is not yet full, some maps will show some difference on those numbers.

When you are lucky and get a good team, you'll probably be in a car with another 3 buddies, storming around the city doing missions and taking down your enemies. It's fast paced and easy to sort roles. The city maps are well made, it is easy to find cover and good shooting spots, but they are always reachable from another way. So far, I have not found a "perfect" spot where people simply could not come up with a way to end my sniper happiness. Groups can get pretty big, my record being of 6 people so far, when you call for backup and more people join your team.

Weapons are what I'd call "balanced", but then, this is the very first PvP shooter game I've ever played in my life. And by "balanced" I mean that, even though I can kill an enemy with one shot from the distance with a sniper rifle, I am horrible in short range combat. Then again, my sniper rifle is big and heavy, and I can't sprint while carrying it, just slowly run. I also can't use it from the window of a car. On those occasions I equip my secondary little pistol, which is an easy mouse scroll away, but still in disadvantage  if I just bump with an enemy equipped with a machine gun. Although such situations make me curse out loud, I am happy this kind of balance is present in the game.

The simplicity of the controls are like a vacation from playing EQ2 and LotRO. Shoot, interact, throw grenades, use accessories. I don't need to click anything at all, I use my mouse just to point, shoot and direct my camera. Another great point in APB is the huge amount of it is fun and full of possibilities, and goes beyond an appearance tab, since you can really design what you wish on pieces of clothes and cars.

Even though I am a big noob who can't go past threat level bronze 3, I am happy with this game. It is refreshing to do something I've never done before, having to learn and having all these people much better than me to keep challenging me. The social part of the game is huge, since alone you are nobody and won't stand alive long doing missions. Getting a group automatically is also very easy.

Some people say the game still has lots of hackers and bots, but I sincerely can't tell. Maybe those kids are just plain better than me and I can't tell the difference yet.

Please send in tips and suggestions for this inexperienced shooter player if you have any :)