Only in video games...
So. I'm still tearing up the forces of badness in Blue Dragon. It actually is paced fairly slow for a JRPG, mostly because of one thing: The Encouragement of Rampant and Incessant Kleptomania. Some luminous soul on the developer's team decided that they should take the old school 'random crates contain goodies' concept and somewhat (but not really) newer Elder Scrolls concept of "holy crap take all the clutter and junk and make it searchable and salable" and toss them into a blender. After about a hour of being set to frappe, we wound up with "spend an hour per location ALL THE THINGS SUCH LOOT."
We're not just talking a bit of gold and some random potions squirreled away in crates and pot and stuff; we're talking like walking up to a vent in an ancient techno-fortress and being handed magic gems and free stat boosts! We're talking looking at a plate of fruit and grabbing ten pieces of gold and an XP bonus. And on top of all this, is the "nothing" mechanic. A good portion of the searchable objects hold Nothing, which sounds like your usual "ain't found squat." It isn't. The game keeps track of how many Nothings you find, and there is a character that hands out special gear when you hit certain milestones. Oh, and there's a DLC which hands out some extra goodies, one of which is a set of glasses that highlight things that hold Nothing. Some of them are pretty surprising, and this is made more so when you realize that means similar objects hold actual stuff.
What all of this boils down to is that we have a tale of plucky teenagers that smash evil with kickass animal totem shadow puppets, whose downtime is taken up by communing with the kender spirit and walking away with enough junk to weigh down a mechanized platoon. It's hilarious, awesome, and just hair disturbing at the same time. What makes it worse is we have the traditional JRPG "NPCs are blind, kindly idiots unless explicitly indicated otherwise" thing going on, so we have situations like turning a palace upside down and the king offering to let you go smite evil together.
Oh, did I mention we have the usual JRPG in-battle theft mechanic, as well? I'm telling you, it's like Dire Straits put it, "Money for nothing and your chicks for free!" All we need is a crafting system (sadly omitted) and this would be the fine expression of The Harvest in action.
Oh, and thanks to cookie cutter container syndrome, we have a wardrobe full of cute dresses in several of the local (all male, with only one exception, and she has her own rooms) army's quarters. Lookin' good, Miss Cloud!
Wednesday, February 24, 2016
Wednesday, February 17, 2016
Bitz From Teh Bitz Can
Yeesh...
So, what have been an annoying half hour of fiddling with a camera and sorting through shots became an epic struggle against grouchy technology and beating software into submission.
But despite having to deal with a cantankerous camera, which should really be put to pasture (to be fair, it's well past paid for itself for a long time now), and one of the worst startup/boot time for an application I have ever seen, the push to turn all my leftover Warhammer models and parts is now underway.
If anybody cares, I'll provide links.
In cheerier news, the Draconic campaign is actually going fairly well. It's been a while since the Harvest has come for cartoony freaks, and its satisfying to remember that the forces of badness are doomes, no matter the style or reasons for stupidity. The Harvest never rests!
So, what have been an annoying half hour of fiddling with a camera and sorting through shots became an epic struggle against grouchy technology and beating software into submission.
But despite having to deal with a cantankerous camera, which should really be put to pasture (to be fair, it's well past paid for itself for a long time now), and one of the worst startup/boot time for an application I have ever seen, the push to turn all my leftover Warhammer models and parts is now underway.
If anybody cares, I'll provide links.
In cheerier news, the Draconic campaign is actually going fairly well. It's been a while since the Harvest has come for cartoony freaks, and its satisfying to remember that the forces of badness are doomes, no matter the style or reasons for stupidity. The Harvest never rests!
Tuesday, February 16, 2016
Shifting Priorities, Much Like A Goldfish
Well, I was going to go ahead and get some Fleabay auctions done. Then I was compelled to stare at BattleTech stuff for five hours.
Dammit Joe!
Stuff is pretty badass, I freely admit; I like tanks and stuff more, though.
Once you go down the path of the Dork Side, forever will it dominate your destiny.
Dammit Joe!
Stuff is pretty badass, I freely admit; I like tanks and stuff more, though.
Once you go down the path of the Dork Side, forever will it dominate your destiny.
Sunday, February 14, 2016
Never Give Up, Never Surrender!
Love Live Thermia and stuff.
After careful consideration (and near-lethal exposure to Tokay, the worst island native stereotype next to Gungans), I decided to pursue a new campaign; I've chosen Blue Dragon for this one.
It's already pretty entertaining, with stereotypes for characters (including a villain that does pretty much everything just for the hell of it). The whole "Shadows" thing is pretty cool. They're effectively something close FF VIII's Guardian Forces, with some mechanical difference. Each character only gets one, and they have a 'job' system that allows you to mix and match skills. One interesting thing is that some of more diverse skills come earlier than you'd expect, like stealing and multi-target physicals. Another one is that this game's answer to Final Fantasy's Sorcerer/Magic Knight, the Sword Master is ready and attached to the main protagonist right out of the gate, and is just as awesome as it sounds.
Somebody on the developer's payroll must've played some Gears of War at some point; they've come up with a charging mechanic for magic that's very like the Active Reload from that series. You hold a button to begin charging a meter, with a 'sweet spot' where the goal to release the button for extra oomph (as opposed to tap and tap again for AR). I'm pretty terrible at it thus far, but still, it's a nifty idea.
The mooks thus far are fairly hilarious. You can actually set things up to make them eat each other, with entertaining results. The survivors are rewarded by becoming subject to The Harvest, but that's vidya for you. The Harvest is also helped along by making all sorts of things searchable, granting little extras like gold and items, and Nothing. I'm not quite sure what Nothing is, but supposedly finding lots of Nothing will pay dividends later on.
Oh, and 'stinky' is an actual status effect. Ask not for whom the smell rolls, it rolls for thee!
After careful consideration (and near-lethal exposure to Tokay, the worst island native stereotype next to Gungans), I decided to pursue a new campaign; I've chosen Blue Dragon for this one.
It's already pretty entertaining, with stereotypes for characters (including a villain that does pretty much everything just for the hell of it). The whole "Shadows" thing is pretty cool. They're effectively something close FF VIII's Guardian Forces, with some mechanical difference. Each character only gets one, and they have a 'job' system that allows you to mix and match skills. One interesting thing is that some of more diverse skills come earlier than you'd expect, like stealing and multi-target physicals. Another one is that this game's answer to Final Fantasy's Sorcerer/Magic Knight, the Sword Master is ready and attached to the main protagonist right out of the gate, and is just as awesome as it sounds.
Somebody on the developer's payroll must've played some Gears of War at some point; they've come up with a charging mechanic for magic that's very like the Active Reload from that series. You hold a button to begin charging a meter, with a 'sweet spot' where the goal to release the button for extra oomph (as opposed to tap and tap again for AR). I'm pretty terrible at it thus far, but still, it's a nifty idea.
The mooks thus far are fairly hilarious. You can actually set things up to make them eat each other, with entertaining results. The survivors are rewarded by becoming subject to The Harvest, but that's vidya for you. The Harvest is also helped along by making all sorts of things searchable, granting little extras like gold and items, and Nothing. I'm not quite sure what Nothing is, but supposedly finding lots of Nothing will pay dividends later on.
Oh, and 'stinky' is an actual status effect. Ask not for whom the smell rolls, it rolls for thee!
Saturday, February 13, 2016
Oracle of Ages
They called it that since it takes a friggin' era to get from one dungeon to the next.
I got my hands on the Zelda Oracle games again. The Seasons cart refuses to load and I'm scared to tell the nice person that loaned it to me that I think its a dead cart. That was my favorite of the two, too (TOO!)
So I decided to man up and play Ages. I've had a theory that this was the second game of the pair to be put together, and playing it again really just reinforces the idea. While the dungeons themselves are fairly normal Zelda fare, the challenge level is much higher than in the Seasons game, with bosses that are plain nasty to boot.
And I forgot about the Tokay. URGH! The damn Tokay. To the uninitiated, they're little lizard guys that inhabit a tropical island to the south of the game's mainland. You wind up stranded on said island, and bastards rob you and leave you for dead. That would just be mildly annoying, but then you have to fetch your gear back, including having to fend off enemies without any weapons to start off. To make things extra tedious, you have to engage in a trading minigame, where you have to pick one of two items and leave a third behind. Fortunately, the one you trade with (the shovel) isn't required to progress until you have other stuff to barter with, and once you do have the trade goods you need, you can have all three back permanently. Unfortunately, you have to pick which of the two necessary tools (the Roc's feather and Power Bracelet) to leave behind until you start having tradables. The icing on the cake is that every time you want to swap, you have to reverse the previous exchange and then pick the item you want all over again.
Tokay suck. Subrosians have dance parties and dates for miniquests, and have smiths that only do work if you yell at them. And they hang out in the happiest lava land of doom ever. Those guys are awesome. Tokay should be flung into a volcano, while the Subrosians and Gorons and stuff dance to celebrate.
Yes, I'm tired and angry, why do you ask?
In happier news, look to the shadows and never give up! Here there be dragons; blue ones.
I got my hands on the Zelda Oracle games again. The Seasons cart refuses to load and I'm scared to tell the nice person that loaned it to me that I think its a dead cart. That was my favorite of the two, too (TOO!)
So I decided to man up and play Ages. I've had a theory that this was the second game of the pair to be put together, and playing it again really just reinforces the idea. While the dungeons themselves are fairly normal Zelda fare, the challenge level is much higher than in the Seasons game, with bosses that are plain nasty to boot.
And I forgot about the Tokay. URGH! The damn Tokay. To the uninitiated, they're little lizard guys that inhabit a tropical island to the south of the game's mainland. You wind up stranded on said island, and bastards rob you and leave you for dead. That would just be mildly annoying, but then you have to fetch your gear back, including having to fend off enemies without any weapons to start off. To make things extra tedious, you have to engage in a trading minigame, where you have to pick one of two items and leave a third behind. Fortunately, the one you trade with (the shovel) isn't required to progress until you have other stuff to barter with, and once you do have the trade goods you need, you can have all three back permanently. Unfortunately, you have to pick which of the two necessary tools (the Roc's feather and Power Bracelet) to leave behind until you start having tradables. The icing on the cake is that every time you want to swap, you have to reverse the previous exchange and then pick the item you want all over again.
Tokay suck. Subrosians have dance parties and dates for miniquests, and have smiths that only do work if you yell at them. And they hang out in the happiest lava land of doom ever. Those guys are awesome. Tokay should be flung into a volcano, while the Subrosians and Gorons and stuff dance to celebrate.
Yes, I'm tired and angry, why do you ask?
In happier news, look to the shadows and never give up! Here there be dragons; blue ones.
Tuesday, February 9, 2016
I Can't Take Gaming Seriously
Harumph.
There was a time when I could put together something at least semi-serious for a campaign. Even when I came up with something wacky (the Tooth Fairy campaign), I could actually put time and thought and flesh things out fairly well.
But now it seems that I can't do more than 'lolrandom' character ideas that are just...there. The latest bit of giggle-worthyness is an army of minotaur lumberjacks led by the fearsome Gus the Black and his fierce mate and rival, Brahma Mama. Nothing special there, just an excuse to tear around and be violent and eco-unfriendly. And cow jokes.
Maybe I need to just read more books. That seems to actually get things going. I once had a whole thing going for my custom Space Marine army (mostly just bad head-canon fluff) that justified my glorious kitbashing of every loyalist marine kit I could get my hands on. I even made the Boneyard into something other than a pointless backdrop. Now I've managed to forget half of it and fell kinda ashamed of the rest; it was kinda Mary Sue-ish.
Let's face it, the Dork Side has left me, and now I bereft of its power to make cool stuff and impress other nerds. Maturity sucks.
Maybe it's time to put together materials for the NetNerds project. That one has been bubbling way too long anyway.
There was a time when I could put together something at least semi-serious for a campaign. Even when I came up with something wacky (the Tooth Fairy campaign), I could actually put time and thought and flesh things out fairly well.
But now it seems that I can't do more than 'lolrandom' character ideas that are just...there. The latest bit of giggle-worthyness is an army of minotaur lumberjacks led by the fearsome Gus the Black and his fierce mate and rival, Brahma Mama. Nothing special there, just an excuse to tear around and be violent and eco-unfriendly. And cow jokes.
Maybe I need to just read more books. That seems to actually get things going. I once had a whole thing going for my custom Space Marine army (mostly just bad head-canon fluff) that justified my glorious kitbashing of every loyalist marine kit I could get my hands on. I even made the Boneyard into something other than a pointless backdrop. Now I've managed to forget half of it and fell kinda ashamed of the rest; it was kinda Mary Sue-ish.
Let's face it, the Dork Side has left me, and now I bereft of its power to make cool stuff and impress other nerds. Maturity sucks.
Maybe it's time to put together materials for the NetNerds project. That one has been bubbling way too long anyway.
Saturday, February 6, 2016
Wreckonomics In Real Life
So.
Found a copy of Final Fantasy VIII (black label no less) in wonderful condition. The horrific price tag? 12 bucks.
If somebody told me that I would find a PS1 black label Final Fantasy anything for under $20 ten years ago, I would have called them crazy; 15 years ago, I would have added some flavorful language to crazy.
What the hell happened? The JRPG secondhand market is something I used to monitor fairly closely. I stopped doing so about three or four years ago, mostly because I was trying my hand at Warhammer 40,000. After that hobby bubble finally burst, I started paying attention to my vidya again. I noticed that things were a bit cheaper, a bit easier to find. That was good; my budget problems had eased in some respects, but worsened in others, leaving me with being sparing with my disposable income.
But I never expected the bottom just fall out of it like this either. Practically everything I liked and wanted to play was a collector item of one level or another, and required some gymnastics to get in any decent shape. Now it seems that this stuff is growing off trees. I used to have a 'dream list,' and figured that even with a good paying job it would still require a genie get more than a third or so of this stuff.
That list is close to completion now. This isn't a result of my awesome market savvy or leet consumer skills. Its plain dumb luck sometimes, but the kind that starts making you wonder when everybody else stopped caring.
Is it because most of my picks are now two or three generations old? That RPGs have come full-circle to being a niche genre again? Nerds pay real money for nerdy toys, and you can't get much nerdier than that. JRPGs haven't really been big since the PS2, but the genre in general is still pretty damn strong. So what's the deal, really?
Found a copy of Final Fantasy VIII (black label no less) in wonderful condition. The horrific price tag? 12 bucks.
If somebody told me that I would find a PS1 black label Final Fantasy anything for under $20 ten years ago, I would have called them crazy; 15 years ago, I would have added some flavorful language to crazy.
What the hell happened? The JRPG secondhand market is something I used to monitor fairly closely. I stopped doing so about three or four years ago, mostly because I was trying my hand at Warhammer 40,000. After that hobby bubble finally burst, I started paying attention to my vidya again. I noticed that things were a bit cheaper, a bit easier to find. That was good; my budget problems had eased in some respects, but worsened in others, leaving me with being sparing with my disposable income.
But I never expected the bottom just fall out of it like this either. Practically everything I liked and wanted to play was a collector item of one level or another, and required some gymnastics to get in any decent shape. Now it seems that this stuff is growing off trees. I used to have a 'dream list,' and figured that even with a good paying job it would still require a genie get more than a third or so of this stuff.
That list is close to completion now. This isn't a result of my awesome market savvy or leet consumer skills. Its plain dumb luck sometimes, but the kind that starts making you wonder when everybody else stopped caring.
Is it because most of my picks are now two or three generations old? That RPGs have come full-circle to being a niche genre again? Nerds pay real money for nerdy toys, and you can't get much nerdier than that. JRPGs haven't really been big since the PS2, but the genre in general is still pretty damn strong. So what's the deal, really?
Tuesday, February 2, 2016
Weee, I'm On An Adventure
Well, this stuff is interesting.
We start off by doing the usual RPG cliches, doing favors for the locals, and kissing Mom goodbye to hit the wild blue yonder. More cliche-ness with a ghost ship that's really a front for a not-kraken.
And I'm loving every minute of it.
What is this? Nostalgia? Just a needed break from all the big grimness and darkened doom that your modern RPG has these days? Shiny New Game Syndrome? I can blame the latter for the Shining Force EXA fiasco; a month and a half down the drain before I realized it was a blend of all the bad parts of Diablo with all the bad parts of JRPGs. Ugh.
The Aztec Death Star cannon is still awesome, though. Stabbin' freaks and then calling down LAZORS OF DOOM upon the unworthy is a fine way to continue the Harvest.
In any case, the Grandia campaign seems to be well in hand. The battle system is actually fairly fun. Instead the usual stand-place-then-smack-monsters most turn-based games have has been modified to account for position and a bit of CPU-controlled tearing around. It play much more dynamically, and gives you a bit more depth. Getting stat boosts for using weapons and magic on top of traditional leveling is also a plus. Oh, and this game has a explosion element. Therefore granting three extra awesome points as a bonus.
Time for chunky style!
Well, the IRL grind in unfortuantely calling, so I must go. Nevertheless, the Harvest Never Rests!
We start off by doing the usual RPG cliches, doing favors for the locals, and kissing Mom goodbye to hit the wild blue yonder. More cliche-ness with a ghost ship that's really a front for a not-kraken.
And I'm loving every minute of it.
What is this? Nostalgia? Just a needed break from all the big grimness and darkened doom that your modern RPG has these days? Shiny New Game Syndrome? I can blame the latter for the Shining Force EXA fiasco; a month and a half down the drain before I realized it was a blend of all the bad parts of Diablo with all the bad parts of JRPGs. Ugh.
The Aztec Death Star cannon is still awesome, though. Stabbin' freaks and then calling down LAZORS OF DOOM upon the unworthy is a fine way to continue the Harvest.
In any case, the Grandia campaign seems to be well in hand. The battle system is actually fairly fun. Instead the usual stand-place-then-smack-monsters most turn-based games have has been modified to account for position and a bit of CPU-controlled tearing around. It play much more dynamically, and gives you a bit more depth. Getting stat boosts for using weapons and magic on top of traditional leveling is also a plus. Oh, and this game has a explosion element. Therefore granting three extra awesome points as a bonus.
Time for chunky style!
Well, the IRL grind in unfortuantely calling, so I must go. Nevertheless, the Harvest Never Rests!
Monday, February 1, 2016
A Grand Old Time
Ahhh...
I've been playing serious, near-grimdark RPGs for so damn long now, it's good to get back to basics.
Since the Amalur campaign proved to be a disaster, I bumped up some things in the queue and started playing Grandia. It's unashamed, cheerful adventure. Sure, some bad stuff is going to happen; things will darken, plots will thicken. But it's very refreshing to be back with some fresh-faced JRPG characters, ready to take on the polygonal world.
For the uninitiated, Grandia is an old-school PS1 RPG, from that special era when Eastern-style role-playing goodness was all the rage. You've probably heard it before: When this stuff was new, we had to walk fifteen miles to the Best Buy or Babbage's (or the odd Wal-Mart) in the snow to be able to play good RPGs. No DLC, no patches, no fancy-pants online stuff. Oh, and pony shows sucked back then too (any shows about bears that flashed people to death with happy rays did not exist and certainly weren't surprisingly enjoyable; any rumors to the contrary should be reported to the Ponyquisition for purgation and lulz).
Anyway, its good to be able to play some of the lost gems of the Golden Age of RPGs again. I've made some nerdy life choices, and decided that it was high time that I reassembled my old stash and more. The Harvest never rests, after all, and I needed the break.
Here's to high adventure and spunk and all that!
I've been playing serious, near-grimdark RPGs for so damn long now, it's good to get back to basics.
Since the Amalur campaign proved to be a disaster, I bumped up some things in the queue and started playing Grandia. It's unashamed, cheerful adventure. Sure, some bad stuff is going to happen; things will darken, plots will thicken. But it's very refreshing to be back with some fresh-faced JRPG characters, ready to take on the polygonal world.
For the uninitiated, Grandia is an old-school PS1 RPG, from that special era when Eastern-style role-playing goodness was all the rage. You've probably heard it before: When this stuff was new, we had to walk fifteen miles to the Best Buy or Babbage's (or the odd Wal-Mart) in the snow to be able to play good RPGs. No DLC, no patches, no fancy-pants online stuff. Oh, and pony shows sucked back then too (any shows about bears that flashed people to death with happy rays did not exist and certainly weren't surprisingly enjoyable; any rumors to the contrary should be reported to the Ponyquisition for purgation and lulz).
Anyway, its good to be able to play some of the lost gems of the Golden Age of RPGs again. I've made some nerdy life choices, and decided that it was high time that I reassembled my old stash and more. The Harvest never rests, after all, and I needed the break.
Here's to high adventure and spunk and all that!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)