Stuff (mostly Dark Souls)

So last night I continued the Dark Souls addiction and beat the GAPING DRAGON which is one of the scariest mofo’s in the game (so far)– an absolute fucking triumph of monster design by any measure. I had my bonfire Kindled (10 health potions), I’m in human form (not for long!) and I had upgraded my armor as much as I can possibly afford at the moment (all the shit around the first bell church drop titanite BTW), I bought 2 Uncurse stones in case I ran afoul of the cursing frog things on the way to the boss, AND to cover my ass, I spent my 10K souls I had lying around on leveling up (you do not need to level up much in the game from what I’ve read) so if I get killed my soul-pile will be small.  I also switched out my chain leggings for some leather pants so I can move quicker.  With some of the bosses you can’t block their attacks effectively so there’s no reason to go in there armoured up.  It took me three tries to beat him.  The first one I just got sloppy and got killed, the second one I was running away from his acid spill attack and fell off a cliff (embarrassing) and  for the last one I had help from another human player instead of one of the CPU phantoms you can grab (only available when human, not hollowed).

It’s taken me a long while to get this far and I think this is the point where you get into the meat of the game.

That said, there are other things going on!

First, there will be an ipad blood bowl game! Cyanide is continuing their BB license usage and coming out with an iPad version of blood bowl this year called Blood Bowl Star Coach. Looks more top down than the current PC version, but still has 3d Models. Should be a blast, though I don’t get ANY iPad time normally at home, I may have to steal it away from the crying children for this.

Dogs

Second, Mouth let me know that while Confrontation is DEAD (and AT-43 for that matter, sniff), the spirit survives  at Cyanide with their acquired license from now defunct Rackham.  While the Confrontation game wasn’t too good, Dogs of War looks like a game where you have a perpetual warband of monstrosities and they gain experience over time– much like Mordheim, Necromunda, Chaos Warbands from the old Realm of Chaos Books.  Looking like something to watch.  Ironically it was the Dogs of War expansion to Confrontation 3 that made me not want to play C3 any more…

Torchlight 2: I still haven’t finished ELITE mode with my Berserker which is sad (but it’s really, really hard on Act 3) but in the news recently is that Runic is still pursuing the MAC version of the game– but there is no timeline and no release date.  While I love the game and it is superior in every way to Diablo 3 (except the sound which in D3 is amazing) if I pre-purchased it on MAC I would be pretty fucking cheesed off by now (matt).

 

Dark Souls vs the spoon feeding

Playing the new Shadowrun game and with the exception of combat, it’s a cakewalk type of game.  You’re basically spoon-fed what to do at every turn and then there are the fights, which can be difficult (and fun).  While it LOOKS like Ultima, it certainly isn’t that type of puzzle, explore, sometimes fight game.  This does not make Shadowrun a bad game (the PNP version that I played years ago was a bad game) but you can see the leakage of the ‘easy game’ expectations that we have these days and I was going to explain this further… and then I found the image below regarding Dark Souls:

darksouls

River City Ransom Underground kickstarter

Yes, kickstarters are often successful for themselves but unsuccesful for backers, but you should take another chance at it and back this:  http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/combitstudios/river-city-ransom-underground

A bunch of Canucks are putting together a new River City Ransom– a new version of the best game ever made on the NES system (yes, I am aware of Mega Man).  While we can easily just go and play Castle Crashers, these guys are keeping it HIGH SCHOOL through and through with the same plot and similar characters.    I’m like 25 years older than the last time I played River City on an actual NES so I have no idea if it will stand the test of time– but I have played the living SHIT out of Castle Crashers with my errant children.  If that’s any indication, this will be a big winner.

No post like this is complete without an animated gif!

RCRcycle

 

Dominions 4 in Beta!

Ah….Illwinter, your terrible graphics (not sprites) and terrible looking turn-based battles still make me shudder despite the fact that I love the games so much.   Looks like Dominions 4 will be out at the end of September and that’s good news for Sensless who can ONLY PLAY DOTA2 on his ‘gaming’ laptop these days.

After all these years, the sprites look good but the world maps still a complete puke-o-rama. Thankfully fans make gorgeous maps for the game that can easily be added to the game. However, I rip on the game because I love it and it’s the ONLY strategy game that isn’t some internet pay-to-win game that is actually playable by normal humans (say a turn a day).

Hopefully this will be up on Steam (likely greenlit like Dominions 3 was)— now where is the iPad version? It is 2013 right?

teotl

And there goes the RMAH

LordLobo
http://www.shacknews.com/article/81172/diablo-3…

bahahahaasfhahahahwghagagaag
littlemute
why would they do that?
LordLobo
I have no idea

dumb

dumb

dumb
littlemute
dude they are so full of shit

a secure place for trades?

that’s why they made it? bullshit

why take a cut then?
LordLobo
well, it’s more secure than chinese gold farmers – but everything they did was so dumb

not fun
littlemute
dude they reduced good item drops based on the number of items of X type that were in the auction house
Maurice B.
ha D3 is fucking crumbling under it’s on FATGUNT
littlemute
crafting will still suck

Maurice B.
fucking horrible foundation issues D3 has, and the fattalanch
littlemute
hitlag will still ruin the game

and there will still be gear checks just like that guy said
sociopath
i think i set the console demo to DL

never checked back

haha
littlemute
worth looking at the demo to see the controls if you have time
LordLobo
seems like the console one would be fun with people – but then it’s still d3
littlemute
it’s not torchlight 2
LordLobo
yep
littlemute
or Diablo 2
sociopath
then maybe d3 expansion on console with frengs
littlemute
I would rather just play Zyel or Midian/Eastern Sun
LordLobo
I’d sit on a couch and play console tl2
sociopath
cuz the new class looks kinda fun
littlemute
Mods

no fucking mods

it’s a dead game
LordLobo
yeah

alas
sociopath
i don’t really mod like i used to
littlemute
Well you have to wait
sociopath
i’ve got some loaded for skyrim pc
Maurice B.
i played the xbox 360 d3 demo
littlemute
in like 6 months there will be a TL2 mod that takes it to the next level
LordLobo
I wonder if anyone’s made a mod that will let you play tl2 with 4 people on gamepads…
sociopath
tried to get something going for gta4 pc
Maurice B.
FUCKING HIT LAG IS THERE OR WORSE THEN PC
sociopath
never could get it working well
Maurice B.
fucking HIT LAG ON MY LOCAL XBOX 360

WTF

it’s fucking BUILT THE FUCK IT[in]
LordLobo
wow
sociopath
we get it bro
littlemute
it’s meant to be that way man
Maurice B.
you can’t dodge SHIT
littlemute
DESIGNED to be that way

you can’t dodge shit per DESIGN
Maurice B.
a pissfromspace

fucking JAY
sociopath
you’ve been screaming about hit lag since the beta
Maurice B.
taht asshole fucked d3 so badly

and then LEFT!
littlemute
but now we know WHY the hit lag is there

for the gear checks
Maurice B.
because they DONT WANT YOU TO BE SO POWERFUL YOU CAN WIN IN 10MIN

they dont want that shit

THE SHIT THAT MAKES THE GAME GREAT!
littlemute
no, they want to gear check you at points so you buy
Maurice B.
they REMOVED it form the game

yes exactly

fuckinghorriblenessinfinity
littlemute
if you can dodge or use skill to get through areas without gear, they don’t make their money

littlemute
so naked hardcore runs are not possible in D3
Maurice B.
yes. i will not buy anymore blizzard games

period

fuckthemforever
littlemute
dude what about their online CCG?
Maurice B.
even if it’s my loss
LordLobo
the last one I will buy is the Protoss sc2 expansion and that’s it
Maurice B.
and i cant play some “great” new blizzard game

fuckthem
littlemute
warcraft 4
Maurice B.
no more money for how hard they pissed on diablo

NO
littlemute
I can wait until then
Maurice B.
to my detriment
LordLobo
wc4 isn’t happening
Maurice B.
to the grave

fuckitall
littlemute
starcraft 2 is boring but that’s likely just me
sociopath
chumpo jimmies: ☑ rustled ❑ unrustled
Maurice B.
ahahahaha
littlemute
no WC4, no money
LordLobo
it’s more I want to finish the story of sc2

though the zerg sp game wasn’t very memorable
Maurice B.
dude mute

they are making a fucking DOTA!

there will be no WC4 RTS
LordLobo
LATE
Maurice B.
and if they do make WC4, and you buy it, you have no one but yourself to blame when it is spacepiss
LordLobo
I don’t think blizz’s dota will ever see the light of day
Maurice B.
because?

they are taking their ball home and doubling down on WoW?

i hope so
LordLobo
they won’t get enough interest from the other MOBA camps

well
Maurice B.
and you think they are seeing that

i mean they SHOULD be able to see
LordLobo
you can bet on a new WoW expansion announcement at Blizzcon in october
Maurice B.
but will they admit that to themselves

Maurice B.
can they admit they are past their prime, is that the real issue.
LordLobo
probably not
Maurice B.
they are in a time of decline and there is just a long way down from here
LordLobo
WoW has to be nearly hemmoraging money at this point
Maurice B.
isn’t activation wanting to sell blizzard or some shit?
LordLobo
activision wants to buy out of Vivendi
Maurice B.
ah right
LordLobo
which might actually be good for them
Maurice B.
because they want all their COD money
LordLobo
right
littlemute
They won’t be able to top LOL or DOTA 2
LordLobo
also Vivendi is a shithole company
littlemute
they are just too fucking refined at this point
LordLobo
consider this
Maurice B.
right and they spent how much already trying to make DOTA and they will just walk away from it

fucking idiots
littlemute
they could have HIRED Icefrog and those guys in 2005
LordLobo
HoN is older than either LoL or DOTA2 and has a tiny fraction of the audience

yep

then valve scooped them up
Maurice B.
they tried to make a full game out of a mod for WC3 instead of MAKING SOMETHING FUCKING NEW THAT COULD TAKE THEM SOMEWHERE!
LordLobo
they scraped that ‘titan’ project which was rumored to be their next MMO
littlemute
uhhh what the fuck?
Maurice B.
think of the MILLIONS of dollars blizzard has wasted
LordLobo
with their insane 12-year dev cycles that seems pretty dumb
littlemute
CCG
Maurice B.
AGAIN and AGAIN we see what money does to movies/video games
littlemute
won’t that save them?
Maurice B.
money fucked starwar[s]e

money fucked diablo 3

Rome Total War 2 – 20 hours in and counting

Well, I’m about 20 hours into Rome Total War 2 and while it’s a good game, there are some really serious issues. I’ve been playing the Iceni (Britain) and they have some big horde armies, chariots, shitty cavalry, and slingers. In the campaign I took out everyone else in England/Ireland and then hit the continent, spearing down through northern France straight to the Mediterranean and into Spain. I was trying to get near Rome/Carthage before they were taken out, but both of them are gone from the game already, including the off shoot Nova Carthago.  I think that will get patched (having Rome taken out by a minor Celtic faction is sad).

One of the things about playing barbarians is that you expect fights to become big mob fights with little to no formation– so when you’re playing it seems normal–however once you start fighting some of the more civilized factions you realize that they ALSO do not maintain their formations during unit to unit fights– it’s EXTREMELY odd to see a Macedonian phalanx turn into a mob type fight as the phalanxes break apart after a charge, but that’s what happens every fucking time.  Remember that video of the phalanxes fighting?  Where is that in the game? Dunno.

There are a few other things I’m not a fan of: no family tree makes me completely ignore all the personalities other than my main generals for example and there have been a few odd movement and control issues with the campaign map.  Otherwise as big as the world is, the map seems SMALL and the fighting is nearly always around some city and not out in the countryside because cities in the game are WAY out of proportion huge compared to real life.  They may look right on the map, but with the movement speeds of the armies, it’s just ….off.

I’ve done a bit of reading on what people are experiencing that have played the game a shitload more than I have and there are oodles of bugs, some of which are quite comical (ships flying through the air, flying through the ground, dudes flying off towers), but really it amounts to a buggy game.  I’ve had a blue screen once and about 5 other crashes.  I’m looking forward to the patches– but how far forward?

Good stuff: Sieges, while there are some issues with the ladders and siege tower placement are the best they’ve been in a TW game to date. I no longer automatically press the “autoresolve” like I did in Rome 1 and Medieval 2 because it is much more tactical and much easier to get around the cities. One thing that’s odd is that only the main cities can be sieged with equipment, all other cities just have a normal battle set in a town area.

Graphics: battle graphics are just superb.  Everything looks great.  I do get some slowdown in the bigger battles which hopefully will work out.  Otherwise the battles seem to load FASTER than the old Total War games, which is crazy.

Ahh screenshots: