Holiday Greetings to the Spambots!
Things are going back to what passes for normal around here. Currently, I'm tearing through Borderlands 2 and getting my hands on all the nifty loot. So far I've had the good fortune to acquire a third Volcano (it should have been the fourth, but tragedy struck last night, story later this post), three Slayer of Terramorphus mods, a nice Flakker, and--DUN DUN DUN--my first Conference Call!
As should surprise no one, this game is at its best with at least two people. I'm commenting on simply because I was soloing for most of the last eight or so months. It is fun, but not nearly the fun it can be with friends. I'm not sold on the matchmaking system. FPS trolls plus RPG trolls equals Xbox on fire. I prefer my Xbox unburnt, thank you.
Some notes I've made:
Unless you're running a Gunzerker or with a Gunzerker using a Hoarder class mod, friggin run at least four types of guns and get as many SDU ammo upgrades as possible. Almost all of the best guns chew through ammo like crazy.
Torgue shotguns are close to broken, especially the Three Way and Ravager variants. Because of the way explosive rounds work, these guns true damage output is at least 150% the value on the item care, with this number increasing radically when critical hits are scores, and increased again when accounting for any bonuses to gun and grenade damage, and yet again from any bonus to explosive damage.
Be on the lookout for splatguns, the E-tech version of shotguns. These are more of a grab bag that other E-techs, but there is some nasty potential there. The shot acts as a splashy grenade, with higher-level guns typically getting increased range and the ability to have bouncing projectiles. With practice, you can actually wind up with a gun that acts as a mid to long range mortar. This is especially useful against large groups of mooks at standoff range when you're trying to hang on to rockets and grenades for upcoming nasties.
And finally, whoever decided that the bigger robot enemies are immune to DoT effects needs to be slapped. I'm looking at you, Saturn.
Monday, December 23, 2013
Tuesday, December 10, 2013
Wreckonomics - Legend of Mana
Legend of Mana is Copyright Square Enix. Any and all references to content are strictly for review and discussions therein.
Well well, a post for Wreckonomics has finally come to pass! Be advised that things discussed below, especially crafting and the Gas Pedals, will assume some working knowledge of the game and may contain spoilers.
Legend of Mana is one of Square's entries into the World of Mana aka Seiken Densetsu series of RPGs. This series is well known for it's quirky, cartoonish presentation, which is often countered by some very dark themes and elements weaved throughout the story and characters. It also is part of the PS1 era of RPGs, which is both good and bad. Good because this when the giants of the RPG world were really hitting their stride, and the attention to graphics, sound, and in-game mechanics really showed. Bad because the demand for these sort of games and the subsequent frenzied production and translation really made for some horrible missteps in actual storytelling. This game is very much of the "obscure equals profound" school of storytelling. What this translates to is that while there is a over-arching story and plot, you had to piece it together from hints and dribbles found in all sort of places. The whole thing was exacerbated by making this a open-world style of RPG, so lots and lots of wandering around and hoping that you can a picture of things ensued. Many players really stopped giving a damn about ten hours in, and proceeded to find the real meat of the game, crafting and combat.
The good parts of this game are very good indeed. Combat is fun and intuitive, with both normal attacks and special moves (called Killer Moves) for all sorts of weapons, plus an intricate magic system using eight elements. The monsters are very colorful and varied. Characters are even more so. The whole graphical style is designed to evoke a children's storybook setting, with characters and monsters having a pop-up feel. The music is an absolute joy, very much adding to the experience. The crafting system is far and away one the biggest reasons to play this game. It eschews the now traditional A plus B equals C recipes for an extremely deep and versatile upgrade system. You can even recruit pet monsters with actual practical combat benefits, and create golems from your crafted gear, both of which have all sorts of nasty moves and spells to unleash on the forces of badness.
If you have a console that run this game, and you like smacking things like killer bunny slippers, angry treasure chests, and ridiculously large bosses, feel free to try this out. Just don't bother figuring out why until you've beaten the game at least once; some evil soul decided that the background material needed to be made into journal snippets unlocked as you progress, and then decided to place it somewhere you'd get no real indication to check.
Crafting System: Holy crap does this game have a crafting system! This is by far one to the deepest and most varying systems I've ever seen. Weapons, armor, and accessories are directly created through the use of materials known as Primaries (metals, woods, stones, etc.), and are altered using Secondaries (magic crystals, potions, elemental coins, magical fruit, etc.). Spells are derived from magical instruments, using a Primary and an elemental coin to determine properties. All these are furthermore the building blocks for golem companions. The whole process is very involving, and can be addictively fun. Whole sites and fandoms have sprung up for this part of the game over the years. I could literally go on and on about this.
Theoretically Unlimited Wealth: Very present, with both a decently large-capacity wallet and a massive inventory. Farming for drops in this game is relatively painless, with fixed encounters that respawn infinitely upon leaving the screen and re-entering.
Limitations: Very low cash drops that do not improve over the course of the game, plus many of the best crafting materials command premium prices in shops. Even if you diligently farm and sell unwanted drops and equipment, you'll rarely get enough cash together to get more than a few of the goodies at a time. The good news is that the best of the materials are monster drops. All this is actually compounded by the crafting system, which is very much based on experimentation and trial-and-error techniques, with results that usually will not surface until you alter the same piece of gear at least three to five times. Finally, the drop system is reliant on monster level, with each monster type having a tiered table of drops. The kicker is that lower-level items are still dropped by high-level monsters.
Gas Pedals: The good news is there are ways to speed up both the cash acquisition and rare drop rates. The first and most direct way to acquire a pet Polter Box, which gives you a vastly improved drop rate. Each monster is considered to be two drop tiers above actual, which bypasses the experience crystal/cash drops in favor of items. This also allows mid- and high-level monsters to drop the higher tier items far more often, though you'll still need to fight the high-levels (50+) to see the highest tier drops (Adamantite, Dior Wood, etc.).
The second way is to use the crafting system. Effecting enough changes in a piece of equipment produces a Mystic Card. These determine specific special properties for equipment, and except for a certain one (Pixie) tend to increase the selling price. One the most efficient ways is to acquire a WindCap (dropped by Spiny Cones) and four Clear Feathers (dropped by Stinger Bugs). Altering the WindCap with all four feathers will result in three Lord of Flies cards, which take the dirt-cheap WindCap into the realm of 20000+ Lucre. There are many other ways to get quick cash, but this one has the benefit of requiring low-tier drops from extremely common monsters (these can even be found in good numbers on the Luon Highway, the usual starting combat zone) and an extremely dramatic price increase because to the WindCaps starting properties. This wonderful tidbit was published by Marcus Majarra on gameFAQs (link: http://www.gamefaqs.com/ps/256525-legend-of-mana/faqs/10806 ) and helped my personal quest for the best monster masher. This article is also a very nifty way to learn the nuances of Legend's crafting system. Go read it!
In any case, Legend of Mana is a very fun little game, and armed with this knowledge, you can now go forth on your quest to wave a sword made from hemp at angry rabites and actually do damage!
Well well, a post for Wreckonomics has finally come to pass! Be advised that things discussed below, especially crafting and the Gas Pedals, will assume some working knowledge of the game and may contain spoilers.
Legend of Mana is one of Square's entries into the World of Mana aka Seiken Densetsu series of RPGs. This series is well known for it's quirky, cartoonish presentation, which is often countered by some very dark themes and elements weaved throughout the story and characters. It also is part of the PS1 era of RPGs, which is both good and bad. Good because this when the giants of the RPG world were really hitting their stride, and the attention to graphics, sound, and in-game mechanics really showed. Bad because the demand for these sort of games and the subsequent frenzied production and translation really made for some horrible missteps in actual storytelling. This game is very much of the "obscure equals profound" school of storytelling. What this translates to is that while there is a over-arching story and plot, you had to piece it together from hints and dribbles found in all sort of places. The whole thing was exacerbated by making this a open-world style of RPG, so lots and lots of wandering around and hoping that you can a picture of things ensued. Many players really stopped giving a damn about ten hours in, and proceeded to find the real meat of the game, crafting and combat.
The good parts of this game are very good indeed. Combat is fun and intuitive, with both normal attacks and special moves (called Killer Moves) for all sorts of weapons, plus an intricate magic system using eight elements. The monsters are very colorful and varied. Characters are even more so. The whole graphical style is designed to evoke a children's storybook setting, with characters and monsters having a pop-up feel. The music is an absolute joy, very much adding to the experience. The crafting system is far and away one the biggest reasons to play this game. It eschews the now traditional A plus B equals C recipes for an extremely deep and versatile upgrade system. You can even recruit pet monsters with actual practical combat benefits, and create golems from your crafted gear, both of which have all sorts of nasty moves and spells to unleash on the forces of badness.
If you have a console that run this game, and you like smacking things like killer bunny slippers, angry treasure chests, and ridiculously large bosses, feel free to try this out. Just don't bother figuring out why until you've beaten the game at least once; some evil soul decided that the background material needed to be made into journal snippets unlocked as you progress, and then decided to place it somewhere you'd get no real indication to check.
Crafting System: Holy crap does this game have a crafting system! This is by far one to the deepest and most varying systems I've ever seen. Weapons, armor, and accessories are directly created through the use of materials known as Primaries (metals, woods, stones, etc.), and are altered using Secondaries (magic crystals, potions, elemental coins, magical fruit, etc.). Spells are derived from magical instruments, using a Primary and an elemental coin to determine properties. All these are furthermore the building blocks for golem companions. The whole process is very involving, and can be addictively fun. Whole sites and fandoms have sprung up for this part of the game over the years. I could literally go on and on about this.
Theoretically Unlimited Wealth: Very present, with both a decently large-capacity wallet and a massive inventory. Farming for drops in this game is relatively painless, with fixed encounters that respawn infinitely upon leaving the screen and re-entering.
Limitations: Very low cash drops that do not improve over the course of the game, plus many of the best crafting materials command premium prices in shops. Even if you diligently farm and sell unwanted drops and equipment, you'll rarely get enough cash together to get more than a few of the goodies at a time. The good news is that the best of the materials are monster drops. All this is actually compounded by the crafting system, which is very much based on experimentation and trial-and-error techniques, with results that usually will not surface until you alter the same piece of gear at least three to five times. Finally, the drop system is reliant on monster level, with each monster type having a tiered table of drops. The kicker is that lower-level items are still dropped by high-level monsters.
Gas Pedals: The good news is there are ways to speed up both the cash acquisition and rare drop rates. The first and most direct way to acquire a pet Polter Box, which gives you a vastly improved drop rate. Each monster is considered to be two drop tiers above actual, which bypasses the experience crystal/cash drops in favor of items. This also allows mid- and high-level monsters to drop the higher tier items far more often, though you'll still need to fight the high-levels (50+) to see the highest tier drops (Adamantite, Dior Wood, etc.).
The second way is to use the crafting system. Effecting enough changes in a piece of equipment produces a Mystic Card. These determine specific special properties for equipment, and except for a certain one (Pixie) tend to increase the selling price. One the most efficient ways is to acquire a WindCap (dropped by Spiny Cones) and four Clear Feathers (dropped by Stinger Bugs). Altering the WindCap with all four feathers will result in three Lord of Flies cards, which take the dirt-cheap WindCap into the realm of 20000+ Lucre. There are many other ways to get quick cash, but this one has the benefit of requiring low-tier drops from extremely common monsters (these can even be found in good numbers on the Luon Highway, the usual starting combat zone) and an extremely dramatic price increase because to the WindCaps starting properties. This wonderful tidbit was published by Marcus Majarra on gameFAQs (link: http://www.gamefaqs.com/ps/256525-legend-of-mana/faqs/10806 ) and helped my personal quest for the best monster masher. This article is also a very nifty way to learn the nuances of Legend's crafting system. Go read it!
In any case, Legend of Mana is a very fun little game, and armed with this knowledge, you can now go forth on your quest to wave a sword made from hemp at angry rabites and actually do damage!
Tuesday, December 3, 2013
Brain Barf
Hello the Sixty Spambots that clicked my blog.
Been busy with the Christmas Chainsaw Massacre. Many trees were brutally mauled and dismembered, much to the delight of small children and bored retail associates. More trees shall follow, after the taste of their fear is allowed to ferment into sweet sweet scents of despair and sap.
I've also been screwing around on Star Ocean: The Last Hope. I really would like to know what Squeenix was smoking at the time. It clearly wasn't as potent as the stuff Infinite Undiscovery and Romancing SaGa was developed with, and not near SO: Till the End of Time (which needed less 4D bullshit and more Rassilon). I'm running around with Edge the Space Paladin, his not-a-Rosa-ripoff, his not-a-Rydia-ripoff, and space elves of one kind or another. The good news, I get to play as Bacchus D-79, AKA SPACE ELF ROBOCOP! *random manly squee noises* Rockets and killsats and Sith Lightning and frickin' black holes! So many black holes! 400 BLACK HOLES. Give Bacchus to your black holes and they can kill shit dead! Make shit die abnormally fast!
You can say I'm a fan. But whoever decided on the English voice acting for Sarah really needs chastening.
Anyway, welcome to my Brain Barf section, where randomness reigns and dignity is slowly lowered into a pit filled with rabid Pomeranians. Very yappy death.
Been busy with the Christmas Chainsaw Massacre. Many trees were brutally mauled and dismembered, much to the delight of small children and bored retail associates. More trees shall follow, after the taste of their fear is allowed to ferment into sweet sweet scents of despair and sap.
I've also been screwing around on Star Ocean: The Last Hope. I really would like to know what Squeenix was smoking at the time. It clearly wasn't as potent as the stuff Infinite Undiscovery and Romancing SaGa was developed with, and not near SO: Till the End of Time (which needed less 4D bullshit and more Rassilon). I'm running around with Edge the Space Paladin, his not-a-Rosa-ripoff, his not-a-Rydia-ripoff, and space elves of one kind or another. The good news, I get to play as Bacchus D-79, AKA SPACE ELF ROBOCOP! *random manly squee noises* Rockets and killsats and Sith Lightning and frickin' black holes! So many black holes! 400 BLACK HOLES. Give Bacchus to your black holes and they can kill shit dead! Make shit die abnormally fast!
You can say I'm a fan. But whoever decided on the English voice acting for Sarah really needs chastening.
Anyway, welcome to my Brain Barf section, where randomness reigns and dignity is slowly lowered into a pit filled with rabid Pomeranians. Very yappy death.
Monday, November 11, 2013
Ghosts 'N' Daimons
Hello The People I Pretend Read This:
Logged many a hour of afterwork vicarious violence on the vidja game front lately. I have come to certain conclusions lately.
After showing a gamer friend the joys of loot farming on Borderlands 2, I realized that somebody at Gearbox is a damn troll. As part of their Loot Hunt contest, they periodically altered certain loot drops from certain bosses, sometimes altering drop rates, sometimes adding a new rare drop. Unfortunately for me and my friend, the drop altered yesterday was the legendary drop for the Warrior. Some humorous soul decided that the guaranteed drop should be a Flakker, a nice--but situational--shotgun. I would be ok with this, if this wasn't the Warrior, the home drop for the Conference Call! This is arguably the best gun in the game, and has extra appeal for me personally since it's a shotgun that shreds things and therefore appeals to my redneck blood (GRARG! *banjo music* BAMBI SAUSAGE TIME!) and does cool tricks to appeal to my nerdy brain (GRARG! *Nightwish song* EPIC GUN TIME!). The Flakker is close but is still no substitute. In practice, this means that you got lots of Flakkers but no other legendaries at all from the Warrior. May whoever came up with this nasty little trick be made to write Gungan-oriented fanfics forevermore!
On the cheerier front, I did some more randomness on Dragon's Dogma, and I still really like the game. I want to babble on about the Dark Arisen expansion they came up with.
First, random comments on Bitterblack Island establish that the world of DD has a moon and pawns know what a moon and moonlight is. This means that the main area of Gransys is either stuck in a perpetual new moon or even all-out lunar eclipse. Whether this is a sign or part of the game's events, I don't know.
Second, somebody at Capcom Europe wants to do a modern Ghosts 'N' Goblins really badly, and came up with Dark Arisen as a DD take on the whole thing. The entire quest is a macabre romp through spooky places with really nasty enemies (especially for low-level characters) that isn't truly finished until you complete the dungeon twice, with the second playthrough being even tougher. There are some little touches here and there that also point to this, with others being nods to other franchises like Dark Souls and Castlevania.
Finally, the hilarity of setting a bigass zombie dragon on fire with a delayed action incendiary RPG never gets old.
Logged many a hour of afterwork vicarious violence on the vidja game front lately. I have come to certain conclusions lately.
After showing a gamer friend the joys of loot farming on Borderlands 2, I realized that somebody at Gearbox is a damn troll. As part of their Loot Hunt contest, they periodically altered certain loot drops from certain bosses, sometimes altering drop rates, sometimes adding a new rare drop. Unfortunately for me and my friend, the drop altered yesterday was the legendary drop for the Warrior. Some humorous soul decided that the guaranteed drop should be a Flakker, a nice--but situational--shotgun. I would be ok with this, if this wasn't the Warrior, the home drop for the Conference Call! This is arguably the best gun in the game, and has extra appeal for me personally since it's a shotgun that shreds things and therefore appeals to my redneck blood (GRARG! *banjo music* BAMBI SAUSAGE TIME!) and does cool tricks to appeal to my nerdy brain (GRARG! *Nightwish song* EPIC GUN TIME!). The Flakker is close but is still no substitute. In practice, this means that you got lots of Flakkers but no other legendaries at all from the Warrior. May whoever came up with this nasty little trick be made to write Gungan-oriented fanfics forevermore!
On the cheerier front, I did some more randomness on Dragon's Dogma, and I still really like the game. I want to babble on about the Dark Arisen expansion they came up with.
First, random comments on Bitterblack Island establish that the world of DD has a moon and pawns know what a moon and moonlight is. This means that the main area of Gransys is either stuck in a perpetual new moon or even all-out lunar eclipse. Whether this is a sign or part of the game's events, I don't know.
Second, somebody at Capcom Europe wants to do a modern Ghosts 'N' Goblins really badly, and came up with Dark Arisen as a DD take on the whole thing. The entire quest is a macabre romp through spooky places with really nasty enemies (especially for low-level characters) that isn't truly finished until you complete the dungeon twice, with the second playthrough being even tougher. There are some little touches here and there that also point to this, with others being nods to other franchises like Dark Souls and Castlevania.
Finally, the hilarity of setting a bigass zombie dragon on fire with a delayed action incendiary RPG never gets old.
Sunday, November 3, 2013
Laying Siege To Houses
Hello The Twenty-Five People The Webernets Claim Read This:
(That's 26 more than I expected.)
I've been tearing about in the grim dungeons of Sanctuary and shooting up the denizens of Pandora for a good bit of time now. Whoever came up with procedurally generated loot deserves a statue. A really nerdy statue, made from melted and recast Red Bull cans, holding up a kickass gun and kickass melee weapon and the heads of Wizkids' Mage Knight killers piled up at their feet.
Some random observations I'd like to make about all this:
The legendary drops in Diablo III's console version are much more numerous than Borderlands 2; also typically a lot more useful. Tearing about and farming enough to require finding a agro-combine should result in more than one--ONE--legendary a month, especially when a number of these legendaries are situational or outright inferior to vanilla gear. Yes, they're supposed to be rare and special and make you feel like you accomplished something. But, honestly, I kinda have a job for mindless grinding for cash and maddeningly elusive rewards. I don't really need a game for that. And since I have a job, an honest full-time paying job, I don't have the time and inclination to spend 12 hours or more to get a nice +10/7/7 Submachine Gun of Burninating Morons to drop. So kudos to Blizzard's console team for giving me my fix more often. Maybe the drops in B2 will get a bit tweaked.
We need some more 'happy' RPGs these days. I like grim and gritty stuff too, and dark comedy has a very special and evil place in my li'l nerdy heart. But I miss some of the cheerful stuff that used to be churned out, and the colorful palettes and music. I grew up on things like Secret of Mana (and later Legend of Mana), Chrono Trigger, Star Ocean 2, SaGa Frontier 2, and Mario RP-Original-G. I had darker stuff around (Final Fantasy IV, VI, VII, and Tactics, Ogre Battle, Legend of Dragoon) and even the light-hearted games had some deep themes and grim sides. Hell, SaGa Frontier 2 was both quite light and kiddie in graphics and tone, but had some really gritty elements present, and there's always Chrono Cross for the Prettiest Dark Game Ever Award nominations. But these days it seems that games have gotten so damn grim overall that I keep expecting the Emperor's Holy Inquisition to show up and declare my dudes heretics and absolution can only be found in fighting the Flood at Thermopylae while wearing sackcloth made from tortured puppies and eating Pinkie's special cupcakes. Maybe I just picked the wrong damn console after all.
Dragon's Dogma is still frickin' awesome. Go play it.
Anyway, I need to wander off. Expect some more mad babbling in the days to come, plus my first real Wreckonomics post, where I'll be going on about the deepest Item Crafting System you've never used in Legend of Mana,
(That's 26 more than I expected.)
I've been tearing about in the grim dungeons of Sanctuary and shooting up the denizens of Pandora for a good bit of time now. Whoever came up with procedurally generated loot deserves a statue. A really nerdy statue, made from melted and recast Red Bull cans, holding up a kickass gun and kickass melee weapon and the heads of Wizkids' Mage Knight killers piled up at their feet.
Some random observations I'd like to make about all this:
The legendary drops in Diablo III's console version are much more numerous than Borderlands 2; also typically a lot more useful. Tearing about and farming enough to require finding a agro-combine should result in more than one--ONE--legendary a month, especially when a number of these legendaries are situational or outright inferior to vanilla gear. Yes, they're supposed to be rare and special and make you feel like you accomplished something. But, honestly, I kinda have a job for mindless grinding for cash and maddeningly elusive rewards. I don't really need a game for that. And since I have a job, an honest full-time paying job, I don't have the time and inclination to spend 12 hours or more to get a nice +10/7/7 Submachine Gun of Burninating Morons to drop. So kudos to Blizzard's console team for giving me my fix more often. Maybe the drops in B2 will get a bit tweaked.
We need some more 'happy' RPGs these days. I like grim and gritty stuff too, and dark comedy has a very special and evil place in my li'l nerdy heart. But I miss some of the cheerful stuff that used to be churned out, and the colorful palettes and music. I grew up on things like Secret of Mana (and later Legend of Mana), Chrono Trigger, Star Ocean 2, SaGa Frontier 2, and Mario RP-Original-G. I had darker stuff around (Final Fantasy IV, VI, VII, and Tactics, Ogre Battle, Legend of Dragoon) and even the light-hearted games had some deep themes and grim sides. Hell, SaGa Frontier 2 was both quite light and kiddie in graphics and tone, but had some really gritty elements present, and there's always Chrono Cross for the Prettiest Dark Game Ever Award nominations. But these days it seems that games have gotten so damn grim overall that I keep expecting the Emperor's Holy Inquisition to show up and declare my dudes heretics and absolution can only be found in fighting the Flood at Thermopylae while wearing sackcloth made from tortured puppies and eating Pinkie's special cupcakes. Maybe I just picked the wrong damn console after all.
Dragon's Dogma is still frickin' awesome. Go play it.
Anyway, I need to wander off. Expect some more mad babbling in the days to come, plus my first real Wreckonomics post, where I'll be going on about the deepest Item Crafting System you've never used in Legend of Mana,
Thursday, October 24, 2013
Diablo 3
So.
Thing's are heating up at work while the things are the house are cooling down (good for the power bill, yes). For those not in the now, I work in a all-year garden center in a major home improvement store. I will not provide many details, since I have little interest in creating a problem in my professional life with my inane fribblings; don't expect me to name names, ever.
However, I will say that we sell fresh Christmas Trees ever year, which is great because I get to use a chainsaw in public and be destructive with a crazy grin. The kids like to watch the Great Christmas Chainsaw Massacre! Don't worry, we have a lot of safety procedures in place, and I'm viciously obsessive about rules regarding sharp objects. The downside to all of this is that we have to tear down and rebuild part of the shop to accommodate things, and 'tis not fun.
But now is the time of year I can focus on things not work-related for a while. Right now I'm working out the engineering on a minor quasi-craft project, harassing the internet, and drowing my sorrows in Diablo 3.
Damn, that game is fun. I'm currently running a Demon Hunter, and frankly I think this is as close as we're gonna get to a Mordheim video game. I'm tearing about with an arsenal of whacky kickass devices designed to cleanse dungeons of demonic freaks and heretics, all the while looking for cash and gear to help me in my quest to hand out colonic arrowtherapy sessions to evildoers.
I've forgotten how much fun an old-style hack-n-slash RPG could really be; I haven't really played one like this since...well damn, Legend of friggin' Mana or Seiken Densetsu 3. I have done modern style ones, like the shooter variant paragon of pillage that is Borderlands 2 (all hail Salvador and Krieg!), and the somewhat more traditional Dragon's Dogma. But there's no substitute for a good old-school dungeon crawl.
Anyway, if you're looking for a good looting session and don't have an older console, go ahead and try this sucker out. It's not perfect, but it's as close to perfect as I've seen for a very long time.
Thing's are heating up at work while the things are the house are cooling down (good for the power bill, yes). For those not in the now, I work in a all-year garden center in a major home improvement store. I will not provide many details, since I have little interest in creating a problem in my professional life with my inane fribblings; don't expect me to name names, ever.
However, I will say that we sell fresh Christmas Trees ever year, which is great because I get to use a chainsaw in public and be destructive with a crazy grin. The kids like to watch the Great Christmas Chainsaw Massacre! Don't worry, we have a lot of safety procedures in place, and I'm viciously obsessive about rules regarding sharp objects. The downside to all of this is that we have to tear down and rebuild part of the shop to accommodate things, and 'tis not fun.
But now is the time of year I can focus on things not work-related for a while. Right now I'm working out the engineering on a minor quasi-craft project, harassing the internet, and drowing my sorrows in Diablo 3.
Damn, that game is fun. I'm currently running a Demon Hunter, and frankly I think this is as close as we're gonna get to a Mordheim video game. I'm tearing about with an arsenal of whacky kickass devices designed to cleanse dungeons of demonic freaks and heretics, all the while looking for cash and gear to help me in my quest to hand out colonic arrowtherapy sessions to evildoers.
I've forgotten how much fun an old-style hack-n-slash RPG could really be; I haven't really played one like this since...well damn, Legend of friggin' Mana or Seiken Densetsu 3. I have done modern style ones, like the shooter variant paragon of pillage that is Borderlands 2 (all hail Salvador and Krieg!), and the somewhat more traditional Dragon's Dogma. But there's no substitute for a good old-school dungeon crawl.
Anyway, if you're looking for a good looting session and don't have an older console, go ahead and try this sucker out. It's not perfect, but it's as close to perfect as I've seen for a very long time.
Wreckonomics - First Post
Wreckonomics
Welcome to the first Wreckonomics post, where I babble on about a video game, and give the best solutions I can to snag yourself lots of plunder. As is this is the first one, I explain some ground rules and personal terms I'll be using.
Theoretically Unlimited Wealth: At its essence, this is the idea that enough grinding, farming, and suchlike, a player can get unlimited cash and/or resources. There is literally an unending amount of respawning or random enemy encounters, chests (or equivalents), and therefore drops. Almost all games with a currency/loot system have this, and most games that do this also don't have the nasty economic impact of some gang of crazies showing up in town with a few million gold pieces and an urge to splurge every other hour.
Limitations: Exactly what is says on the tin. These are the obstacles set in place that keep the Theoretically Unlimited Wealth theoretical and limited. First off, the very real fact that one can never have infinite currency or items. Even if one could do so in real life (which is impossible), a computer program like a video game could not be able to hand that. Limited memory and coding means limited wealth. However, time and technology has made it to where this limit has become effectively meaningless in modern games. Cases can also be made for bugs and exploits making things infinite in practice in some games.
But the limitations I will be mentioning are the reason I'm making these posts in the first place. A lot of games, particularly RPGS, have artificial barriers to wealth building. These can often to lead to lots of frustration and controller slinging, and plenty of nerd rage and forum flames. Some of the nastier ones include ridiculously low cash limits and drops, restrictive inventory sizes, and the more draconian anti-grinding mechanics out there. A lot of these are done in the name of realism; others, so players will actually finish the game instead of tearing about slaughtering critters and bandits for weeks while the king is dying and the hot princess is dealing with the attentions of various monstrosities. Some are done in the name of simple sadism. The really maddening ones are typically just designers not thinking things through, or leaving out wealth building mechanics that were either helpful or downright vital in the finished game. Another layer is the whole 'lost in translation' problem, where for one reason or another, a set of features and/or mechanics were removed when a game was imported and localized. A variant is where features were added, but people stuck with original versions couldn't benefit from them.
TL; DR: The game designers were jackasses and this is why. Here there be rants
Gas Pedals: The good news. These will be things a player can do to really make cash and item acquisition go much easier. A lot of these seem to be put in place by designers to get needed stuff without all the fuss of grinding, but requiring a lot of experience with the game mechanics or exploring (or GameFAQs) to find. Others are things that were missed or made by mistake. Still others are things that were meant to accelerate the process to a degree, but you usually don't have to step off the pedal until you get what you wanted.
A note: I will typically not discuss glitches and bug exploits unless they are either well-known and deemed acceptable by many players, or are the only way to get your hands on enough stuff to actually ease the horrible Dickens-style cruelty going in some games.
I signed on to rampage about, smack the legions of doom, and woo damsels, not be the heroic fantasy version of Oliver freaking Twist.
Anyway, these are the things I'll be going on about in Wreckonomics posts. Stay tuned for all sorts of nerdity involving the slaughter of cutesy monsters and playing a game that is nothing but sidequests in Legend of Mana. Kill the Rabite!
Friday, October 18, 2013
Colonel's Desk - First Colonel's Desk
Hello again The People That I Pretend Read This,
This is my first true general post. Tonight I suppose I shall explain the name here.
No, I'm not in the military, not is this a military-centric, or even truly military related blog, unless you count any mad natterings about tanks and guns and the best way to conquer freaks. That said, I am also very much not anti-military in any way. I do support our men and women in uniform, and the only reason I didn't join the family tradition of jumping out of airplanes is that they didn't want me for medical reasons (damn you faulty lungs).
The reason for the name is simply that 90% of my scribblings from my tender years was about Colonel Wulfe Luer, planeswalking asskicker and his merry band of societal leavings and health hazards. The whole concept of the character has been so ingrained into my brain that Colonel X Y of the Z is the first thing that pops into my head whenever I'm cooking something up for a new setting, and Wulfe Luer is the first thing to be tried when I'm naming a character in a video game. This is pretty much an evolution of my weird weird psyche trying to express itself, so please just play along. Or not; in that case I'll so suck my thumb and play Diablo III in that corner over there.
Speaking of which, if you like RPGs with hack'n'slash elements, go play that game. You can play a friggin' Mordheim character that slays demons with ninja stars, crossbows, grenades, and a sentry gun. And that's one class out of five (soon to be six).
Thanks for reading!
This is my first true general post. Tonight I suppose I shall explain the name here.
No, I'm not in the military, not is this a military-centric, or even truly military related blog, unless you count any mad natterings about tanks and guns and the best way to conquer freaks. That said, I am also very much not anti-military in any way. I do support our men and women in uniform, and the only reason I didn't join the family tradition of jumping out of airplanes is that they didn't want me for medical reasons (damn you faulty lungs).
The reason for the name is simply that 90% of my scribblings from my tender years was about Colonel Wulfe Luer, planeswalking asskicker and his merry band of societal leavings and health hazards. The whole concept of the character has been so ingrained into my brain that Colonel X Y of the Z is the first thing that pops into my head whenever I'm cooking something up for a new setting, and Wulfe Luer is the first thing to be tried when I'm naming a character in a video game. This is pretty much an evolution of my weird weird psyche trying to express itself, so please just play along. Or not; in that case I'll so suck my thumb and play Diablo III in that corner over there.
Speaking of which, if you like RPGs with hack'n'slash elements, go play that game. You can play a friggin' Mordheim character that slays demons with ninja stars, crossbows, grenades, and a sentry gun. And that's one class out of five (soon to be six).
Thanks for reading!
Obligatory First Post
Hello the Five People That Might Read This,
Welcome to the first post of my (currently experimental) blog! This is where I will post various inanities and babble about nerdy stuff and rant and so forth.
I plan to have three primary categories of posts:
1. Colonel's Desk (ain't that redundant): This will be most of my posts, which be general topics and whatever is on my mind, including going on about personal stuff, babbling about games and whatever randomness I like to delve into.
2. Wreckonomics: More detailed gaming goodness will go here, especially too-long-to-be-practical posts about how to get all sorts of mad loot from the vidja games. While I will talk some about mainstream games, I plan to go on more about games more off the beaten path, and ones with economic systems that will be more difficult within to accumulate and/or get the nice goodies.
3. Brain Barf: This is where I will let my inner weirdness out to roam about and terrorize good taste. Usually this will be things that pop into my head and won't stop making me laugh, no manner how pointless, useless, and obscure it may be. I will promise that I will strive mightily to keep it PG13 and mostly SFW. You will most likely see some serious juxtaposition of sophisticated syntax and vulgar babblings. Really sesquipedalian horseshit.
In any case, welcome to the desk; please stay and bring me some coffee and nerdity!
Welcome to the first post of my (currently experimental) blog! This is where I will post various inanities and babble about nerdy stuff and rant and so forth.
I plan to have three primary categories of posts:
1. Colonel's Desk (ain't that redundant): This will be most of my posts, which be general topics and whatever is on my mind, including going on about personal stuff, babbling about games and whatever randomness I like to delve into.
2. Wreckonomics: More detailed gaming goodness will go here, especially too-long-to-be-practical posts about how to get all sorts of mad loot from the vidja games. While I will talk some about mainstream games, I plan to go on more about games more off the beaten path, and ones with economic systems that will be more difficult within to accumulate and/or get the nice goodies.
3. Brain Barf: This is where I will let my inner weirdness out to roam about and terrorize good taste. Usually this will be things that pop into my head and won't stop making me laugh, no manner how pointless, useless, and obscure it may be. I will promise that I will strive mightily to keep it PG13 and mostly SFW. You will most likely see some serious juxtaposition of sophisticated syntax and vulgar babblings. Really sesquipedalian horseshit.
In any case, welcome to the desk; please stay and bring me some coffee and nerdity!
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