So this weekend has actually been pretty damn wonderful. Got a lot accomplished around the house as well as spent some really good quality time with the wife and kids; always a plus. But what of the gaming?
Spooner’s Choice of the Week: TORCHLIGHT!
WoW is still pretty much a remote topic as my account isn’t active yet I still follow pretty closely and just about everybody I know still plays in some capacity. I’m looking forward to Patch 3.3 and where the story is going to go from there. All the gameplay shifts aside, I still think the lore of WoW is the best in the business; and even then the new PUG system and LFG changes are pretty awesome.
Aion. You know… I’m done. I’ll say it here first and finish up YouTube videos with all the content I have recorded in the coming weeks. I’ll talk more about this on the Monday podcast (check it out http://www.ustream.tv/channel/for-the-lore) but for the sake of argument, NCsoft has made the game very undesirable. A lot of it stems from the natural “korean grinder” type vibe that they have failed at breaking away from, the other half comes directly from them as they fail yet again in their task of removing botting and RMT advertising in game. The tactics they’ve employed to try and solve these issues have only made the game worse.
Torchlight is fucking amazing. If you ever played Diablo or Diablo 2 then you will feel like you’re spending time with an old friend. The art style of the game is very easy on the eyes and adds to the gameplay. It’s minimalistic and fun and addictive and has tons of re-playability. Best of all you’ll be able to use the exact same developer tools to custom create your own maps and scenarios when Runic Games releases the editor shortly. Great job Runic Games, you guys put out an amazing title in a season of great competition and you only charge $20.00 for the kind of gaming experience we’re used to shelling out twice as much for.
Borderlands is still going strong as one of my favorite games. The story of the game has a lot to be desired but the gameplay aspect is still top notch. I really suggest not playing it in single player as much and instead spending time with friends from the beginning. The game scales in difficulty as well in rewards the more players you have in your little group. The ending of the scenario is pretty lackluster and leaves you with a bad taste in your mouth if you were expecting something grand. I wasn’t – so I don’t have a problem with it. I’m very excited for the DLC coming out soon involving zombies and mutants.
Finally we have Left 4 Dead. I’ve been dabbling again in L4D preparing myself for the sequel and getting as much gore splattered on my monitor as humanly possible.
I actaully enjoyed the story of Borderlands – though plot wise there sint much to it, all the voice acting and humor kept me playing to hear more of it. Patricia Tannis in particular cracked me up, I dont think I’ve enjoyed an insane ingame character as much since Shodan.
Im so glad the game has been a hit, I look forward to all the DLC thats bound to come and the inevitable sequel the game is bound to spawn. Even after im done with it (near the end already, at the Vault) Ill be hunting down the spare quests and replaying it on a harder mode to reach the level cap. Ive been playing it with friends since the start, and the only fault I can find with it is that its been a little too easy. MAybe the second time through it will be a bit more of a challenge, but all the killing, headshotting and looting has been a blast.
Next week brings Modern Warfare 2, damn, theres another 40 euro waiting to be spent.
On my server in Aion, its quite the sight to even see more then 1-2 botters going at any one time, which can be blocked. In about an hour or so there may be another to block, but I find this very much like how WoW is. You always seem to have someone advertising, saying “weclome to mybullshitwebsite.com” at the end of their promos, and a bunch of dead bodies in SW and IF spelling out link to said website.
But as far as the grind goes, that’s pretty valid. It takes some time to level up whereas in WoW you can get very far with minimal effort utilizing the recriut a friend system. But this doesn’t really bother me at all- I enjoy the game and even the leveling process thus far. Doing quests, heading out take a few heads in the Abyss, doing some training grounds, etc. And I really enjoy in pvp how every move in the game doesn’t have a counter to it, as WoW does. Having a counter for counters, and counters for those always left a bad taste in my mouth as it seemed there was litle being done.
Though right now I am enjoying WoW again for the moment, I sitll play Aion. It’s an alternative, something I don’t feel I absolutely need to race to get top level. I’ve gotten quite the attachment to my character at this point, and seeing my character develop (or rather, reborn) into the shining greatsword of the Elysean army (lore wise) is very exciting for me.
As to why I felt the need to post this comment, perhaps in defence of Aion, is that I still think its a great game, but a game everyone might not enjoy. The instant gratification of hitting high level and having great gear within a few days time once reaching level cap is not present in Aion at all. There is again, another gear grind that is represented in all MMOS, but perhaps this one is a bit more challenging as it requires you get abyss points which stem from PvP- and PvE too, however this has a much slower aquisition speed.
As I read up on things like Abyss only abilities, being able to go godmode if you have aquired a top ranking pvp title- it keeps me wanting to play long enough to see those things, while knowing quite well those are not to be within reach anytime soon.
What I play for now is my character, and seeing him develop (as stated above). Right now, I feel like I’m reading a book where things are just starting to get interesting, and with each turning in of a campaign quest I find myself in the next chapter, the next journey, the next challenge. All to rise above self doubts and uncertainties and meet the challenge head on, do what needs to be done, and walk off changed by whatever means NcSoft has implemented- gear, spellbook, or otherwise. Until I have flipped the last page, I will hold off pawning the game off as unworthy until I have experienced all that there is to be had. While I believe game needs to have good design to be successfull, things can be a tad off in places (such as in the grind) and still have something remarkable- ultimately- for us to enjoy. It’s one of those pet peeves of mine, to see the task through to the end. And while AIon isn’t remotely labeled as a “task” for me, the same mentality carries over.
I still think Aion is a great game and I wouldn’t mind playing more – but it’s very lonely. I have little to no friends playing and the time requirement commitment is really high. If it takes a week to accomplish something in WoW it translates to a month or two in Aion. Though a lot of people are getting the argument confused, it’s not about the amount of skill required or the difficulty, its the time sink factor. Even if WoW was balls to the wall hardcore hard and Aion was easy, I’d still be at odds with the fact that Aion’s time requirement is insanely high. There isn’t even a sense of breadcrumbs in the game which is ultimately why I had such a big problem with it.
When I leveled up in Aion I wasn’t given a new and unique and awesome spell or skill, I didn’t get a new armor class or perhaps the ability to use a mount, I didn’t get more flight time or flight speed or anything really. Every 3 levels I had to spend a very large sum on money on spells that really didn’t deviate much from my usual rotation of skills. And then there was gear. I didn’t get anything incredible from quest rewards and I ran Training Camp 12 times for 12 days before I was too high level to enter again (seriously that’s fucking stupid) and the boss only dropped an item twice (a sword and the staff I wanted that was taken by a fucking Cleric of all things). I’m nor asking for instant gratification, I’m asking for SOME kind of gratification. Crafting 30 worthy titanium hauberks and not getting a single proc to the blue quality version was a little soul shattering. Then realizing I spent all my kinah in worthy armor flux and couldn’t afford to buy back EXP let alone my new skills.
The feeling I got when I leveled up was usually “now I leveled, time to grind more money so I can afford upgrades and shit when I level again.” Maybe it was my fault for playing a chanter, they start off strong then teeter off into a support class and there’s just enough at any given time that getting a group really becomes a hassle. That fact alone is the worst since the game forces you to group to progress like FFXI did.
Hey Spoon, try Dragonage, you will not be sorry. Actually it is one of the best games i played in years… The story is great, the twists in the story are marvelous! Its like writing a book while you play…
As for Aion, he he he. I stopped playing it. I have my last and only month i payed for and I will have to log in the game to give my grinded million of kinah to somone who might need it. The game started strong but it turned out to be too much of group orientated grind game. Not my style at all. There is no class balance and i dont take arguments that on lvl 50 everything is balanced as this means that from 1-49 nothing is balanced.
But this game is perfect for firnds that go to school together and are always playing together. This will become a teenage game at some point. You just cant organize- 4-5 working people with their private lives to go play always at the same time. Everyone that works and has a gf or wife knows what i mean.
Last words-
Dragonage RULES!
You’ll love this
This is being included in the new patch for 1.5.1
talk about punishing the player.
“Item
1. When you extract Aether, there’s a chance that Aether Poison Gas will infiltrate your body. The poison blocks gathering for a certain period of time unless you detoxify the poison.
- Once you are poisoned the only way to detoxify yourself is to utter the “Cleansing Word.”
- To utter the Cleansing Word, type the randomly given letters and numbers within the designated time
- When you utter the Word, you get three chances to enter the correct letter/number sequence. If you fail three times, Vitality Extracting and Aether Extracting are prohibited.
- The “/ExtractStatus” command provides your extraction status.
- When you have Aether Poison Gas in your body, you can still move and activate other abilities, so move to a safe place before you utter the Cleansing Word.”
Hm, may I be excused for a second.
*Laughs hysterically*
Phreak3189- hahahah i just cant, this is hillarious! Yeah i checked and those are really the unofficial patch notes for Aion 1.5.1!!! Muahhahahhaha!
Hey I have a suggestion why not just chage the poison gass for a raid boss! You are gathering aether when suddenly a raid boss comes out of the aether and kills you! While they are at it- they can give mages plate armor proficeincy at lvl 10
Maybe gathering ore may spawn a random 50 lvl golem that will r*pe you but.
Gathering plants may just randomly turn you into a plant for 1 hour during which you cant do anything!
Im jsut waiting on Spoon’s comment on the patch notes
You want to hear me go off live the podcast is tonight and oh boy I am going to fucking rant. When this baby hits 88 mile per hour you’re going to see some shit…
Im sorry that i wouldnt be able to hear you because im in Europe and the time difference will not allow me hear you go nuts on the latest patch
But yeah this really is the last nail in the coffin for aion, at least for me.
if you have iTunes the subscription is free and we usually have them edited and ready for download by Wednesdays so you can check it out there?
Lol Spooner is the one who fucking encouraged a captcha style system for gathering. Read some of his older articles.
you’re right I did, I thought it would be a great an awesome way to stop botting farmers. Go back and read that I posted that shit in the BETA. I had no idea the fucking magnitude of botting that seems to come with this type of mmo. CAPTCHA challenges aren’t going to do jack shit but make it harder for the normal player to get anything done.