Blarg-a-rant to the spambots that "read" this stuff.
Been tearing about in Borderlands The Pre-Sequel some more. According to their website, legendary drops have been tweaked for this game and for B2, but I'm not seen any real increase in the orange glow. That said, I've only done 1 1/2 playthoughs, and all of it normal difficulty thus far, so I can't expect too much.
That said, the rate I've seen them in vending machines is absolutely epic so far. I've managed to find two Moonlight Sagas, an Oxidizer, a Whiskey Tango Foxtrot, a Nasty Surprise, an Avalanche, and a Logan's Gun (I tragically couldn't afford that last one, *sob*), making for a whopping seven legendaries on Normal (and five of those solo). That's a ridiculous amount compared to my long B2 run with at least six playthroughs, including True and Ultimate VH difficulties. All together, two Bitches, a Quasar (!!!), a Sledge's Shotgun, a Fastball, and...I think that's it actually. Five legendary pieces in regular vending machines. (NOTE, this doesn't include the Torgue machines, which have a guaranteed legendary Torgue item)
While the actual drop rate is still somewhat ambiguous right now, the vendors in PS seem to have been tweaked for the better thus far. I really hope it stays that way.
Tell you what, the vehicles in PS are crap, though. I want my damn Truck-a-pult back!
Sunday, May 3, 2015
Saturday, May 2, 2015
Why Torgue Should Love Lasers
It's actually very simple. A weaponized laser actually delivers thermal energy to the target, and happens so fast that things explode. While Borderlands PS laser weapons don't do that, so what? They're also used in, y'know, rock concerts.
Fun fact: did you know that the "sandwich" coins (in the US these would be dimes, quarters, and half-dollars) are actually exploded during the initial process. The copper and nickel parts are rolled into sheets, explosive gel applied to each side, and BOOM! This forces the layers together. Then the sheets are cut into round blanks, and minted into coins.
See, even making money can be badass!
Fun fact: did you know that the "sandwich" coins (in the US these would be dimes, quarters, and half-dollars) are actually exploded during the initial process. The copper and nickel parts are rolled into sheets, explosive gel applied to each side, and BOOM! This forces the layers together. Then the sheets are cut into round blanks, and minted into coins.
See, even making money can be badass!
Wednesday, April 22, 2015
All Ur Mythril R Belong 2 Us
Blarg-a-rant! I live!
Finally have a bit of a breather for a couple of days. Things are going mostly ok, but springtime at work is somewhere between a riot and a Cub Scout meeting.
In the nerdy front, I'm going to put my playthrough of Shining Force EXA on ice for a while. It's not bad, really, but it's getting really bland and same-y. I have some thoughts on the game to share, in no real order.
The Good
The combat is ok, but one thing I really did like was the defensive battles concept. While tearing about, your home base gets attacked by a semi-random pack of mooks and a boss. The fun part is that you have to defend a big shiny generator from big-ass swarms of nasties, and not only do you get good rewards for beating the baddies, you seem to get a boosted drop rate for cash and gear.
Another nice thing is that you actually can call in support fire from your base (which is pretty much looks what would happen if Aztecs got their hands on a Death Star). Canonizing freaks doesn't get much cooler than this.
One really cool thing is the base itself. You get to upgrade its capabilities, with nifty stuff like blowing more stuff up harder, robot buddies for defensive battles, radar abilities for shiny hunting, and an randomized dungeon you can tear around and plunder in.
The Bad
Could be the hardware, could be somebody at Sega just not thinking things through, but getting a certain threshold of enemies on the screen starts some serious slowdown. Unfortunately, this is a hack-and-slash style RPG, with extra emphasis on reflexes and mobility, so things can get really crappy really quickly.
One major flaw in the game is that combat overall just doesn't really evolve for your characters. Toma the warrior is your archetypical beatstick with two similar styles. One handed weapons which hit faster and allow for shields and more mobility, and two handers which...don't. Cyrille the Sorceress gets spellbooks which allow for you to cast spells of various kinds and smack fools with a big-ass book. She also gets crossbows, which tend to be suited for particular enemies. None of these are crap in and of themselves, but in a genre where one expects at least some game-changers over time, in the from of special loot or level unlocks, this stuff gets monotonous quickly.
The difficulty comes in two flavors, and unfortunately is almost exclusively determined by the character chosen at any particular time. Toma is simply much beefier and more nimble than Cyrille. He's far from invincible, but he has a much easier time with both big bosses and swarms. Cyrille is powerful, escpecially when you can exploit elemental weaknesses, but one unlucky hit and it's game over. For me, this had the bizarre effect of primarily using Cyrille in the field, since Toma is much more viable in defensive battles, which are all about big swarms and being able to tank some hits to get going. The end result is that I have to save every five minutes now, since any time I confident, Cyrille dies. Fricking Horrible.
The Shiny
The loot drops in this game are your standard gold and gear. Gear is randomly generated, with up to two special properties (usually along the lines of stat boosts, hits a mook type harder, elemental properties, though sometimes a special move comes along). An interesting twist is that you get "Secret Arts" which act as a third special property and have specific bonuses. These are earned though various challenges throughout the game like fighting supersized enemies or arena battles. Another interesting twist is Mythril (not mithril!), which you collect like a second currency, and can spend on "Power Arts" which are basically stat boosts. Mythril is harvested from big crystals out in the field, can be extracted from gear with special properties (vanilla gear has to be sold or discarded), and dropped by monsters (boosted by a special Change Mythril trait), and also is gained in large quantities from denfensive battles. Get all the Mythril you can.
On a final note, natural Mythril Crystals look an awful lot like the mineral crystals from StarCraft. If I get enough Mythril, can I build a Goliath or Siege Tank? That would be the shit, man.
Finally have a bit of a breather for a couple of days. Things are going mostly ok, but springtime at work is somewhere between a riot and a Cub Scout meeting.
In the nerdy front, I'm going to put my playthrough of Shining Force EXA on ice for a while. It's not bad, really, but it's getting really bland and same-y. I have some thoughts on the game to share, in no real order.
The Good
The combat is ok, but one thing I really did like was the defensive battles concept. While tearing about, your home base gets attacked by a semi-random pack of mooks and a boss. The fun part is that you have to defend a big shiny generator from big-ass swarms of nasties, and not only do you get good rewards for beating the baddies, you seem to get a boosted drop rate for cash and gear.
Another nice thing is that you actually can call in support fire from your base (which is pretty much looks what would happen if Aztecs got their hands on a Death Star). Canonizing freaks doesn't get much cooler than this.
One really cool thing is the base itself. You get to upgrade its capabilities, with nifty stuff like blowing more stuff up harder, robot buddies for defensive battles, radar abilities for shiny hunting, and an randomized dungeon you can tear around and plunder in.
The Bad
Could be the hardware, could be somebody at Sega just not thinking things through, but getting a certain threshold of enemies on the screen starts some serious slowdown. Unfortunately, this is a hack-and-slash style RPG, with extra emphasis on reflexes and mobility, so things can get really crappy really quickly.
One major flaw in the game is that combat overall just doesn't really evolve for your characters. Toma the warrior is your archetypical beatstick with two similar styles. One handed weapons which hit faster and allow for shields and more mobility, and two handers which...don't. Cyrille the Sorceress gets spellbooks which allow for you to cast spells of various kinds and smack fools with a big-ass book. She also gets crossbows, which tend to be suited for particular enemies. None of these are crap in and of themselves, but in a genre where one expects at least some game-changers over time, in the from of special loot or level unlocks, this stuff gets monotonous quickly.
The difficulty comes in two flavors, and unfortunately is almost exclusively determined by the character chosen at any particular time. Toma is simply much beefier and more nimble than Cyrille. He's far from invincible, but he has a much easier time with both big bosses and swarms. Cyrille is powerful, escpecially when you can exploit elemental weaknesses, but one unlucky hit and it's game over. For me, this had the bizarre effect of primarily using Cyrille in the field, since Toma is much more viable in defensive battles, which are all about big swarms and being able to tank some hits to get going. The end result is that I have to save every five minutes now, since any time I confident, Cyrille dies. Fricking Horrible.
The Shiny
The loot drops in this game are your standard gold and gear. Gear is randomly generated, with up to two special properties (usually along the lines of stat boosts, hits a mook type harder, elemental properties, though sometimes a special move comes along). An interesting twist is that you get "Secret Arts" which act as a third special property and have specific bonuses. These are earned though various challenges throughout the game like fighting supersized enemies or arena battles. Another interesting twist is Mythril (not mithril!), which you collect like a second currency, and can spend on "Power Arts" which are basically stat boosts. Mythril is harvested from big crystals out in the field, can be extracted from gear with special properties (vanilla gear has to be sold or discarded), and dropped by monsters (boosted by a special Change Mythril trait), and also is gained in large quantities from denfensive battles. Get all the Mythril you can.
On a final note, natural Mythril Crystals look an awful lot like the mineral crystals from StarCraft. If I get enough Mythril, can I build a Goliath or Siege Tank? That would be the shit, man.
Tuesday, April 14, 2015
Metallurgy, Mineralogy, and Monster-Mashing
Blarg-a-rant!
Let's not mince words: I love games that have crafting systems. Going out and finding stuff, then bringing it back to base to make your own special shinies just doesn't get old. It has also sparked something of a real life interest in how stuff like swords and armor are made, what ores and techniques are involved, and how to alloy, temper and otherwise alter things.
In light of all this, I've done a bit of IRL research into stuff, and compared my finding to how various "craft-heavy" games I've played relate to it. Some of it is actually pretty close along, some of it not so much. In any case, I'd to talk about a few things I've found and/or inferred along the way.
TES V: Skyrim
Let's bring a big name right out of the gate. This open-world masterpiece manages to benefit from a whole ton of both RL research and both in-house and in-universe traditions. Put very simply, what you can smith, brew, or magically enhance is directly related to how good your character is at these respective tasks. While somewhat inefficient compared to getting paid instruction, the act of crafting improves your abilities, with the improvement directly related to the value of the final product i.e. make costlier products to get more experience. Some of the more interesting things here is that we have iron and steel as separate things in game (with steel as an alloy of corundum and iron), where I've notices plenty of games that treat them as identical or near-identical in properties and strength. We also have analogues to several "traditional" materials as well: Corundum for copper, quicksilver for mithril, and Dwarven metal for orichalcum. While there is an orichalcum named as such in the game, Dwarven metal actually fits much closer to the classical definition, being a brazen or golden colored metal with special properties and associated with an advanced, long-extinct civilization al a Atlantis.
Of interest is that, in-game, alchemy and metallurgy are treated as very separate disciplines, with few connections beyond skill enhancement potions. The closest in-game connection is a minor "radiant" quest involving bringing an unusual ore sample to a nearby alchemist. Amusingly enough, your character identifies the mystery sample immediately, but there's no way to just tell the guy instead of ferrying the thing to the shop. Interestingly, this is the same town (Riften) where fetching alchemical agents for specific purposes is a commonplace thing. Maybe the local "expert" is the lazy idiot he seems, since people actually know a thing or two themselves here.
Romancing SaGa: Minstrel Song
I'm deliberately contrasting here. This game is very much an opposite to Skyrim. It's a tragically flawed JRPG for the PS2. I won't go into details about the game as a whole (I plan on doing a Wreckonomics article at some point), but one of the more interesting points is the smithing system it has. The gist is that you 'temper' equipment with various materials ranging from ores to monster parts to special patented alloys available at certain guild-affiated shops. While in most RPGs you just get straight stat boosts (and the odd penalty) right off the bat, you actually have some immediate changes (usually in durability), while the full effect of the alteration only coming into play after using the weapon, with the change coming faster the harder you are on it. It's quite possible to break a weapon and then re-temper it before the full effect appears. To add a bit of depth, most weapons have 'harmonious' materials that when used and broken in result in stronger versions (+X) that end with a final, 'named' weapon at the end of the chain. This is usually worth doing, by the way.
The very interesting part, is that the ores in this game are, to date, the closest to real life i have encountered in a video game. There's plenty of fantastic ores, monster parts, and such-like, but real life ores and terms are present. Notable ones include marcasite (iron ore, related to pyrite), meteoric iron (besides the traditional mystical significance, the best way to get nickel-iron alloy in pre-industrial times), native silver (native as in found in a mostly pure, not compounded state), electrum (despite the traditional disdain among some older D&D fans, this stuff was very real), and finally, mullocks (a term for waste ores.) You are quite welcome to run a search on this stuff, in fact. Also of note is vermillion (a red pigment, containing mercury); I believe that this was a mistranslation of the mercury ore cinnabar, but I have no real proof.
One final note is that, as mentioned above, this game has two 'patent' alloys, Vernie and Garal. Two separate guilds hold the patents on these and jealously guard it, to the point that while the player can have these alloys tempered to equipment, they will never find any out in the field. Both have very separate properties (Vernie for light gear, Garal for heavy stuff), and are the trademark specialty of the patent holders, much like how various alloy blends are patented and guarded by real life organizations.
Quite a level of depth for a game that expects to race your way through it.
Well, I have plenty more to say, and a few more games to talk about, which I'll be covering in a future article. Stay tuned, and keep smacking them monsters!
Let's not mince words: I love games that have crafting systems. Going out and finding stuff, then bringing it back to base to make your own special shinies just doesn't get old. It has also sparked something of a real life interest in how stuff like swords and armor are made, what ores and techniques are involved, and how to alloy, temper and otherwise alter things.
In light of all this, I've done a bit of IRL research into stuff, and compared my finding to how various "craft-heavy" games I've played relate to it. Some of it is actually pretty close along, some of it not so much. In any case, I'd to talk about a few things I've found and/or inferred along the way.
TES V: Skyrim
Let's bring a big name right out of the gate. This open-world masterpiece manages to benefit from a whole ton of both RL research and both in-house and in-universe traditions. Put very simply, what you can smith, brew, or magically enhance is directly related to how good your character is at these respective tasks. While somewhat inefficient compared to getting paid instruction, the act of crafting improves your abilities, with the improvement directly related to the value of the final product i.e. make costlier products to get more experience. Some of the more interesting things here is that we have iron and steel as separate things in game (with steel as an alloy of corundum and iron), where I've notices plenty of games that treat them as identical or near-identical in properties and strength. We also have analogues to several "traditional" materials as well: Corundum for copper, quicksilver for mithril, and Dwarven metal for orichalcum. While there is an orichalcum named as such in the game, Dwarven metal actually fits much closer to the classical definition, being a brazen or golden colored metal with special properties and associated with an advanced, long-extinct civilization al a Atlantis.
Of interest is that, in-game, alchemy and metallurgy are treated as very separate disciplines, with few connections beyond skill enhancement potions. The closest in-game connection is a minor "radiant" quest involving bringing an unusual ore sample to a nearby alchemist. Amusingly enough, your character identifies the mystery sample immediately, but there's no way to just tell the guy instead of ferrying the thing to the shop. Interestingly, this is the same town (Riften) where fetching alchemical agents for specific purposes is a commonplace thing. Maybe the local "expert" is the lazy idiot he seems, since people actually know a thing or two themselves here.
Romancing SaGa: Minstrel Song
I'm deliberately contrasting here. This game is very much an opposite to Skyrim. It's a tragically flawed JRPG for the PS2. I won't go into details about the game as a whole (I plan on doing a Wreckonomics article at some point), but one of the more interesting points is the smithing system it has. The gist is that you 'temper' equipment with various materials ranging from ores to monster parts to special patented alloys available at certain guild-affiated shops. While in most RPGs you just get straight stat boosts (and the odd penalty) right off the bat, you actually have some immediate changes (usually in durability), while the full effect of the alteration only coming into play after using the weapon, with the change coming faster the harder you are on it. It's quite possible to break a weapon and then re-temper it before the full effect appears. To add a bit of depth, most weapons have 'harmonious' materials that when used and broken in result in stronger versions (+X) that end with a final, 'named' weapon at the end of the chain. This is usually worth doing, by the way.
The very interesting part, is that the ores in this game are, to date, the closest to real life i have encountered in a video game. There's plenty of fantastic ores, monster parts, and such-like, but real life ores and terms are present. Notable ones include marcasite (iron ore, related to pyrite), meteoric iron (besides the traditional mystical significance, the best way to get nickel-iron alloy in pre-industrial times), native silver (native as in found in a mostly pure, not compounded state), electrum (despite the traditional disdain among some older D&D fans, this stuff was very real), and finally, mullocks (a term for waste ores.) You are quite welcome to run a search on this stuff, in fact. Also of note is vermillion (a red pigment, containing mercury); I believe that this was a mistranslation of the mercury ore cinnabar, but I have no real proof.
One final note is that, as mentioned above, this game has two 'patent' alloys, Vernie and Garal. Two separate guilds hold the patents on these and jealously guard it, to the point that while the player can have these alloys tempered to equipment, they will never find any out in the field. Both have very separate properties (Vernie for light gear, Garal for heavy stuff), and are the trademark specialty of the patent holders, much like how various alloy blends are patented and guarded by real life organizations.
Quite a level of depth for a game that expects to race your way through it.
Well, I have plenty more to say, and a few more games to talk about, which I'll be covering in a future article. Stay tuned, and keep smacking them monsters!
Friday, March 27, 2015
Moonstruck Brain Barf
HaHA, you spambots will never be rid of me!
Been tearing about on Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel. I'll talk about that later, mostly because I'm pretty frustrated with the game. Whoever did the vehicles probably did programming work for Battletoads' Level 3. Thanks a lot for making moon buggies suck.
In other vidya game news, I've also gotten my hands on Shining Force EXA, better known as "Sega Really Wanted To Make Diablo." It's actually pretty damn fun, and has a distinction of being challenging in a fun way, which I haven't run into lately.
It's actually kind of weird. Both games have a habit of randomly kicking my ass, they go about in different ways. Borderlands PS really comes across as trying to steal Dark Souls fans. I'm hoping it gets better down the line. 2 could be really damn hard at some points, too. And to be fair, this shit is still awesomesauce. LASER SHOTGUNS! YOU'RE WELCOME!
Shining Force here, when I die, I know I screwed up. I can go back and do the right thing (or grind) and I just jump aboard the train to PwnVille. Oh and you can smack things with spellbooks. I don't mean use the spellbook to burninate things (though you can do that too), I mean physically beat people with metaphysical literature.
Dammit, now I want to watch...oh...Raistlin and Snape whack the hell out of some Twilight characters now. Preferably with copies of The Simarillion. With Yakety Sax blaring in the background.
Oh, and I'm planning on writing a semi-intelligent post on a semi-serious topic. It will be entitled "Metallurgy, Mineralogy, and Monster-Mashing."
Been tearing about on Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel. I'll talk about that later, mostly because I'm pretty frustrated with the game. Whoever did the vehicles probably did programming work for Battletoads' Level 3. Thanks a lot for making moon buggies suck.
In other vidya game news, I've also gotten my hands on Shining Force EXA, better known as "Sega Really Wanted To Make Diablo." It's actually pretty damn fun, and has a distinction of being challenging in a fun way, which I haven't run into lately.
It's actually kind of weird. Both games have a habit of randomly kicking my ass, they go about in different ways. Borderlands PS really comes across as trying to steal Dark Souls fans. I'm hoping it gets better down the line. 2 could be really damn hard at some points, too. And to be fair, this shit is still awesomesauce. LASER SHOTGUNS! YOU'RE WELCOME!
Shining Force here, when I die, I know I screwed up. I can go back and do the right thing (or grind) and I just jump aboard the train to PwnVille. Oh and you can smack things with spellbooks. I don't mean use the spellbook to burninate things (though you can do that too), I mean physically beat people with metaphysical literature.
Dammit, now I want to watch...oh...Raistlin and Snape whack the hell out of some Twilight characters now. Preferably with copies of The Simarillion. With Yakety Sax blaring in the background.
Oh, and I'm planning on writing a semi-intelligent post on a semi-serious topic. It will be entitled "Metallurgy, Mineralogy, and Monster-Mashing."
Sunday, March 8, 2015
Brain Barf
Blarg-a-rant!
I've decided to get off my ass and make a list of Star Wars lines that can be improved with the word 'pants'. I saw a short list of such things a long time ago on an old SWCCG trading site, but never encountered another one, so I throwing them back out there with some additions. They will be a fairly random bunch, and probably far from exhaustive.
Original Trilogy:
"Han will have those pants down, we got to give him more time."
"That blast came from those pants. That thing's operational!"
"The pants are ray-shielded, so you'll have use proton torpedoes."
"Those pants better be back up by midday, or there'll be hell to pay."
"Luke...help me take...these pants off."
"In his pants you will find a new meaning for pain and suffering..."
"Judge me by my pants, do you?"
Prequel Trilogy:
"All last we will reveal ourselves to the Jedi. At last we will drop our pants."
"No money, no pants, no deal!"
"Your pants will make a fine addition to my collection."
"There's pants here, unless you brought them with you."
"His pants were a necessary loss. Soon I will have a new apprentice, one far younger..."
"Not victory, Obi-Wan. The pants of the dark side have fallen."
I've decided to get off my ass and make a list of Star Wars lines that can be improved with the word 'pants'. I saw a short list of such things a long time ago on an old SWCCG trading site, but never encountered another one, so I throwing them back out there with some additions. They will be a fairly random bunch, and probably far from exhaustive.
Original Trilogy:
"Han will have those pants down, we got to give him more time."
"That blast came from those pants. That thing's operational!"
"The pants are ray-shielded, so you'll have use proton torpedoes."
"Those pants better be back up by midday, or there'll be hell to pay."
"Luke...help me take...these pants off."
"In his pants you will find a new meaning for pain and suffering..."
"Judge me by my pants, do you?"
Prequel Trilogy:
"All last we will reveal ourselves to the Jedi. At last we will drop our pants."
"No money, no pants, no deal!"
"Your pants will make a fine addition to my collection."
"There's pants here, unless you brought them with you."
"His pants were a necessary loss. Soon I will have a new apprentice, one far younger..."
"Not victory, Obi-Wan. The pants of the dark side have fallen."
Tuesday, March 3, 2015
Rated T for Tanks
Blarg!
Been tearing about like a madman on World of Tanks again. Even when I die like a moron, its an absolute blast. The big trick to the game is really that death is just part of the game. Its even reinforced by an achievement, This is World of Tanks, which you get by dying all alone as the last guy on your team.
I've also been tearing about in Final Fantasy VII. It's still a fun game, even after all of these years. FF7 is a particular favorite of mine; I actually owned a copy of it before I owned a Playstation! I'm a little angry at the RNG right now. Snagging certain skills can be a real bitch if the game isn't in a good mood. I'll go back to it a day or so; controller throwing is a sign of idiocy. Ol' Seph is in deep shit anyway. He realizes that I'm back and prepared to shank a bitch, or bishie in his case. Hell, it's both.
I'm still of the opinion that the real reason post-game Cloud is so damn emo because Seph up and poked Aerith with his sword before Cloud could. That shit is Freudian as hell.
Been tearing about like a madman on World of Tanks again. Even when I die like a moron, its an absolute blast. The big trick to the game is really that death is just part of the game. Its even reinforced by an achievement, This is World of Tanks, which you get by dying all alone as the last guy on your team.
I've also been tearing about in Final Fantasy VII. It's still a fun game, even after all of these years. FF7 is a particular favorite of mine; I actually owned a copy of it before I owned a Playstation! I'm a little angry at the RNG right now. Snagging certain skills can be a real bitch if the game isn't in a good mood. I'll go back to it a day or so; controller throwing is a sign of idiocy. Ol' Seph is in deep shit anyway. He realizes that I'm back and prepared to shank a bitch, or bishie in his case. Hell, it's both.
I'm still of the opinion that the real reason post-game Cloud is so damn emo because Seph up and poked Aerith with his sword before Cloud could. That shit is Freudian as hell.
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