Gone Digital: Shadowrun Returns

Woot! Two Kickstarter payoffs this month. First was the Reaper Bones mini, and now Shadowrun Returns. After waiting over a year since the KS ended, only a five more days to wait. Here is its main site and its trailer.

Gone Digital: Minecraft

I've been hearing about Minecraft for the past couple of years now as well as watching Youtube videos of some amazing creations that people have made using it, from simple computers to recreations of actual buildings. Despite all of those cool videos, I have dismissed it as niche game due to its simplistic, blocky graphics. Am I ever sorry for that. Seriously.

Just over a month ago, a co-worker of mine mentioned how he got it and was loving playing. His two young kids eventually started playing, and he recently ended up getting a second account so he could play (again) as well. About a week and half ago, I started watching a Minecraft tutorial series called How to Survive & Thrive on paulsoaresjr's Youtube channel. I made it about 20 episodes in before I broke down and bought the game. To reiterate, I am sorry for dismissing this game these past few years and would loved to have gotten on board with it back when I first heard about it.

According to the Bartle Test of Gamer Psychology, I am EASK (Explorer, Achiever, Socializer, Killer) which I pretty much could have guessed.

And what does Minecraft do? It allows you to create and explore whole "worlds" that are randomly generated each time you start a new game. Heck, even in a game you have started, new areas are automatically generated whenever you get close to the edge of "known space". I am in explorer's paradise. But it's not just the exploring that's exciting. The creative aspect of Minecraft has me caught as well. I have not created any special yet but am still having an amazing time building my little homestead.

Gone Digital: Mixed Bag O Stuff

The past few weeks I have not been playing any one game consistently but rather switching up between a handful of them. Here are the time sinks, mainly thanks to Steam's holiday sale.

A Game of Dwarves - It's similar to the old Dungeon Keeper game, but this time around you are the "good guy".
Crusader Kings II - This one has eaten a lot of time lately and I still suck at it. That's mainly because it has so much going on, is incredibly detailed and has no real goal other than what you make of it.
Sengoku - Paradox's game previous to CK II (above). Fun with the setting of Japan but prefer CK II.
FTL - Rogue-like game based in space. Not played this one much but is still kind of neat.
Guild Wars - Yes, GW 1. This one has consumed at least an hour or two most days this week.
XCOM Enemy Unknown - Not played it this week. I may start over now that I have a better understanding and hit it hard this weekend. Really fun.

Gone Digital: Mesmer Fun, Phase 2

Wow! Finally a non-WIR post. Last night my little Asura mesmer reached level 80, and the best part was that it involved absolutely no grinding/farming whatsoever. It mainly involved the personal story up to the lower 60s part, map completion (~56%) and a couple dozen dungeon runs (~95% being the Mad King's Labyrinth). The only parts that seemed like a chore were a few of the vistas and trying to figure out how to reach them. (Yea for Youtube!)

Now the she is max level, I will continue with the rough plan I have mentally created (and now finally written down).

• Mostly finish map completion. Mostly because once you do you get a star by your name that people can see even in PvP. This would normally not be an issue; but for someone that constantly creates illusions of ones self, the stupid star let's opposing players see which "me" is actually me. Hopefully Anet will fix this soon.
• Run the remaining dungeons on story mode. So far she's only been through Ascalonian Catacombs. 1 down, 7 to go.
• Run Fractals of the Mists to raise that dungeon level. Current Fractal level: 1 (sigh).
• (Finally) do some PvP.
• Continue working on crafting skills.
• Doing the remaining jumping puzzles. (I hate jumping puzzles but these are mostly not too bad.)
• Going through achievement list and doing whatever strikes my fancy at the time.

Gone Digital: Riley's First Toon

Riley has enjoyed sitting in my lap, watching me play various video games both computer and console. His first real interaction with them has been him hitting the space bar and making the character jump. He loves to make them jump. Shortly after Guild Wars 2 came out, he came into the room while I was playing and got in my lap. (Actually he said "what are you doing" while he forced his way under my mouse arm and climbed up.) After playing a little bit, I decided to make another character. I let him pick all of the visual selections. He had fun picking things out.

Fast forward to this past weekend. this time he's in Angela's lap watching her play. Again, he gets to make all of the visual selections and choose the name. He decides on one. I laugh quietly at the selection not thinking she would actually try it. She didn't think anything of it at first, entered it and started the game. The name was Wankerstein. Needless to say, I had her deleted that character and remake it. I didn't want my three and a half year old running around with a character name of that connotation. The new name was Hamerstein.

He spent about 10 to 15 minutes running and jumping around the asura area. Being only three and half, it was more going in kind of straight lines then actual running around. I would have to go over and turn him around whenever he was against a wall or cliff.

And so begins the next generation of gamer.

Gone Digital: Assassin's Creed 3

Been playing AC3 at times since it was released last week. Overall, I like it so far. I just barely started playing as Conner. The first "chapter" is not as Conner but rather his father, Haythem Kenway. While the controls are somewhat similar to the previous games, they are enough different that I am still getting used to them and the new UI. It is rather frustrating at times, but I know it will get better the more I play.

I say "at times" since most of last week's gaming was spent in Guild Wars 2 doing the Halloween events.

Gone Digital: Risen 2

I finished Risen 2 last night. Despite it lower than average Metacritic score (69 at the time of this writing), I really enjoyed it. It helped in satisfying my recent "pirate" phase in games. I say helped because I still have to urge to go swashbuckling. Even Riley has started going around the house saying "Shiver me timbers." It's cute. Unfortunately, there's not really a good pirate game out right now. I thought about reinstalling the updated version of Sid Meier's Pirates; but as much I as loved the original game, I just can't bring myself to do it right now. It's probably for the best since in a couple days AC3 hits the shelves.

Gone Digital: Done With Dunwall

After just over 19 hours playtime, I finished Dishonored. I really enjoyed the game despite it being much shorter then I expected. I do like how the game is split into different missions that you can go back to and reply by themselves. I'm not sure how it works though since I have not replayed a mission yet. By this I mean, I'm not sure what equipment, powers and bone charms I would have. But for now, I'm going to take a break from it since I basically spent the past 5 days playing that game.

I tried to get back into Fallout 3 (and all its DLC) to finish it, but only managed less then an hour before putting it aside. I need something less consuming for now. Pirate 101 opened today, and it's one that I played with Riley a couple weeks ago for a few hours when they had a day trial going on. I may do that some with him since he enjoyed "playing" it with me. ("Playing" meaning he sat in my lap telling me what to do and where to go.)

Gone Digital: From Pandora to Dunwall

I finished the Borderlands 2 last night with my Siren. I must say that the ending I didn't see coming. Nuff said. I did not finish the entire game as I still have 4 side missions left plus one that Tanis gives you after you finish the main story. But for that one you need to be level 50! Needless to say, I won't be going after it for while being only ~35.

Once B2 was done, I gently put it aside for my next obsession: Dishonored. I played through it for almost 2 hours before the Sandman finally caught up to me. I will continue my mission to rescue Emily and clear my name tonight.

Gone Digital: WoW : MoP

It feels a little strange that the latest World of Warcraft expansion (Mists of Pandaria) came out today and not having bought it. As much as I would like to try out the monk class and explore the new lands, I don't see myself going back to WoW.

Gone Digital: Into the Vault

I'm sad. Since I haven't logged into Secret World in almost 2 weeks and with Borderlands 2 coming out today, I ended up cancelling my SW account for the foreseeable future. I know I will get back to it eventually but not sure when. Borderlands (the original) consumed quite a bit of time, and I have no doubt that number two will as well. Plus next month sees Dishonored and Assassin's Creed 3 both releasing. Because of this, it may be at least December before I get back to my Dragon.

Gone Digital: 2 Days and Counting

Early access for Guild Wars 2 starts in 2 days! Granted that date is only for those that pre-purchased the game (like moi) but that means that release is just a scant 5 days away. Does this mean that I'm giving up my beloved Secret World already? Most definitely not! GW2 will be fit into my cramped schedule but will still take a back seat to SW.

Gone Digital: My Dragon eats my Asura

So this past weekend was the final beta weekend for Guild Wars 2. It was also the first time during open beta that the asura and the sylvari (and their respective starting areas) have been playable. I have been waiting for the asura since they were announced as a playable race.

After updating the client Friday night, I jumped on to make my asura. I rather quickly went through the character creation process and hence Talsen was born. He ran around talking to NPCs and exploring his world. He helped out a couple people in need (i.e. quests). Then about 15 to 20 minutes in, something that had been creeping around the back of my mind burst through to the front: my Dragon wanted to be played. It was with only slight reluctance that I logged out of GW and started up Secret World. I say slight because even though I have waiting a long time to finally play an asura, the character was only going to be around for the weekend then wiped. I figured that my time would be better spent on a live character then a temporary one.

So the rest of the night saw Raszagal running around with some of her companions (can't say friends since they're Illuminati). We ended the night after several sound defeats by the boss of the Darkness Wars dungeon.

Gone Digital: Off the Island

I finished the main story line for Solomon Island (SI) last night. The last tier was pretty interesting. It was the first real branching point that I've seen in the game so far. Being a huge HP Lovecraft fan, I've loved the whole Lovecraftian atmosphere of the island, and the main story dealt with it quite well. I was really torn between the two options I had at the finale but ended up choosing the one that fit my character's outlook.

I have only repeated 3 or 4 missions so far and then only to get enough xp to open up the next Dragon mission. I plan on work on it tonight then heading back to SI and finishing off the few remaining missions (that I know of). I will also most likely run through Darkness War (the Blue Mountain instance) several times to try and get better gear before I head to the next main area, Egypt I think.

Gone Digital: Pulling Back the Curtain

Friday was the first day of early access for Secret World. Needless to say, this weekend was full of exploration and attempting to turn back the tide of evil (pun intended). After having played through the starter area several times, I skipped the cut scenes I had seen before. I was a little miffed that they decided to complete change the model of at least one main NPC and completely remove another along with her related mission. Her removal makes some of the references made by other NPCs about her harder to piece together as being about the same person.

The main issue I (and many other players) have is the several of the missions are bugged. How the hell did these get past the betas let alone the internal testing? I have had to make a (short) list of missions I need to go back and complete when the game is updated later today/tomorrow for  release. Luckily you can invite people on other dimensions (aka servers) to your group and are temporarily moved to their server. This is one way of dealing with the bugged missions. Because, lo and behold...the bugged missions are only bugged on some servers! Seriously? How the hell is that even possible when all of the servers supposedly have the same code base!? WTF!? I did not partake of this method of getting bugged missions done nor did I petition a GM to force complete the bugged step of missions X. Instead I made a list and plan on trying again after each patch until I get them done.

This is definitely the buggiest (?) launch of a MMO that I've experienced with the exception of Anarchy Online. Hey, look! Another Funcom game. Age of Conan (their other MMO) suffered from a buggy release too, but I didn't have the problems I had with AO or SW. Seeing a trend here? Funcom puts out games with good concepts but is seriously lacking in the QA department. I absolutely love Secret World as a whole, but I can't stand shoddy programming/testing.

Gone Digital: Games of the Weekend

This past weekend was the last beta weekend for The Secret World with next weekend being the head start for those that pre-ordered and release on Tuesday. I created an Illuminati this time, again initially choosing Elementalism followed by Blood this time after gaining a few Elemental skills. These two have some nice multiple target skills (or chains as they're called in this game). Also, Elementalism has good single target damage skills while Blood is there for healing/damage resistance.

Also on the agenda this weekend was From Dust. Overall, I really enjoyed the game. Since I finished the story line levels, I will start on the Challenge levels sometime. I will say that the end of the story line is rather anti-climatic. I do need to go back an redo a couple of those levels to unlock some of the Challenge levels.

Gone Digital: The Secret World BW3

This past weekend was the third beta weekend for The Secret World.  The last time they had it, I played a Templar. This time around they had opened up the Illuminati and the Dragon factions. I chose the Dragon since that is what I plan on playing at release. For the most part, the majority of the beta has little real faction difference about it. Nevertheless, it was still fun and interesting. My Templar character went mainly elemental/blades with a little blood thrown in. The Dragon on the other hand started out blood and added blades after ranking blood some. Overall, the solo ability of both seem to be roughly the same.

As far as the playability goes, I did find a few bugs. They were mainly annoyances rather then game breakers. For instance, when I would sell something, the vendor window listing the items would blank out until I scrolled it. To me, for a game this far along and this close to release (July 3), things like that should not be there. Hopefully this weekend's beta will have fixed all of the ones I noticed.

I will have to say that I love the real world integration SW has. For one mission/quest you needing to get into someone's computer. You could get a hint ("music of the seasons") plus a nearby item was a picture of a nighttime scene with fireworks. If you did a web search on the hint (using the in-game or an out-of-game browser), you could discover the password. Another mission had you look up the duration of songs to get maps coordinates. Only once did I have to ask for in-game help, and that was because the item I was looking for was bugged and partially inside a table.

Gone Digital: Guild Wars 2 BWE2

Guild Wars 2 had its Beta Weekend Event 2 (BWE2) this past weekend. I played in the first one and this one. I had some fun trying out the various professions I would want to play at release: Mesmer, Thief, Necromancer, and Engineer. Although I played all four the during the first BWE, I just continued with the mesmer and thief this time around. I say continued since we were able to keep the characters we had at the end of BWE1.

Given my love of controllers, I was really looking forward (before BWE1) to making a mesmer. The devs had basically said that the mesmer profession would be the most difficult to master, and I can see that. Most of the mesmer 's skills inflict various conditions on the enemies along with some skills granting you and allies buffs, this seems like a good thing. What's not good is the fact that more then a few of those skills do so randomly. I don't mean that they randomly apply the conditions but rather that the condition they apply is randomly chosen from a list. Granted most of their skills have set conditions that are applied but I much prefer to use skills whose effects (damage/buff/debuff/etc) that I can rely on. I would much rather use a skill that has a 30% chance of applying confusion each time it's used than a skill that applies a condition every time it's used but only 30% chance of that condition being confusion.

Another big thing I disliked about this version of GW is the effective de-leveling of your character when you go into a lower level area. I understand the need to do this but it's the way it's done. The is no notification what-so-ever when this happens. You are just have your effective level reduced to what the game thinks you should be at for that area. I dislike this game mechanic a LOT. Two things that would make this more acceptable is an in-your-face notification that your effective level is being adjusted whether up (if your moving to a more level appropriate area) or down. I also want to be able to constantly see what my effective level is if it's not my actual level. A combination of these the additions would make this unfortunate game mechanic more acceptable.

On more positive notes, I did enjoy running around with the memser. I definitely feel that I need more experience with it to truly get the hang of the profession. I have all of the weapon skills unlocked except for the trident (yes, trident. Underwater combat action, baby!) That one I didn't get around to using, mainly since I didn't have one. My favorite combo so far is the sword and pistol.

The thief on the other hand I am in love with a lot. Right now my favorite weapon combo here is dual-wielding pistols. I can definitely see why the thief is a dps profession. A skill unique to the thief is the Steal skill. It lets you  shadowstep to your target and steal one item from that target. This replaces the Steal skill from a skill based on the item stolen. This new skill lasts until it is used at which point the Steal skill returns and goes on cooldown.

Gone Digital: Act IV

Act IV. The culmination of Vasuro's journey the Diablo 3 (well, his first) nears an end. I reached Act IV last night before heading to bed. Aside from the really annoying loss of some achievements due to a software bug (thanks Blizzard), D3 has been incredibly fun. I'm not what I'm going to do when I finish normal mode. Right now four things are on the table: forge ahead with Nightmare mode on Vasuro, start over with another class, jump back into miniature painting (at least my Pathfinder mini), or work on some adventure ideas I had. I think painting may win out since I can use mini now and shouldn't take too long.
Of course, I may at least write down my adventure ideas so they disappear in my head. And they're not really adventures so much as locations/encounters. A quick aside, I had talked about running a new Pathfinder campaign a few months ago for some friends. It was going to be a homemade campaign rather then an AP. The players start out as Pathfinder Society probationary members with the first few sessions covering their training as well as their "test" mission. Each probationary member is given a mission that acts as their final exam with success meaning they become a full Society member and failure meaning they can try again a year later. After 2 failures, they are out.
Back to the location's discussion. Each location would have a set theme and goal (ex: find/explore ruins). Then I would determine the minimum difficulty for the encounter based off of character level and group size (ex: 4 1st-2nd level PCs). I would not worry about party composition (i.e. does the group have a cleric or fighter?) Next I decide on the number and scale of each iteration of the location (ex: 3 scales of 1st, 5th, 7th level PCs). After that, I write down an outline of the location's parts, draw a rough map and start filling in the blanks. Each iteration of the location would use the same overall map but have it's own notes. This way I would be able to reuse the location for different sessions or scale the location to better suit the party without needing to "wing it" as much.
While part of the idea of the campaign is to have it be an open world rather then always scaled to the PCs, I don't want the PCs to go wherever they want without thinking about the consequences.

Gone Digital: D3

Vasuro has made his way through Act I of Diablo 3 and a short ways into Act II. I managed to get him up to level 20 before the Sandman visited me. So far I'm enjoying the heck out of D3. I like the way you can interact (loosely) with the main NPCs especially the followers. I also love the random comments the followers make while out adventuring. I love the shared blacksmith and jeweler (whom I've not met yet). Of course, that aspect really won't come into play until I make a second character.