|
Malik
(8/30/04)
Well, in the end, I decided against going to PAX. Some people, most
of which have far longer attention spans than I do, would call this
a mistake on my behalf. I, on the other hand, have no regrets. So,
here's the basics of my decision...I at first, was thinking I may
try to go to the second day of the show (my money is a bit on the
short side since I did drop over $500 in my main computer in the
last month) since that would be the Halo 2 day. Then I could also
hit the other attractions that were running on both days. However, a
couple of my friends, who went to PAX right when the thing was
starting up on Saturday, stopped by my place on Saturday evening to
pick up a couple of their books for the open D&D gaming at PAX.
So, when I asked them about some details of the show, as of that
point, I learned some things that turned me off from the whole deal.
Mainly, there was only enough Fable going around for about 4 people
to play at once and the playing consisted of the childhood of the
main hero...so, it was a long demo. This meant, with the thousands
of people at PAX, I would not have a chance in hell of playing
Fable. Plus, there were only a handful of demos for any of the other
preview games. This also means that the odds of getting to play Halo
2 would be pretty slim. Since I didn't want to spend the last $20 I
had on watching people playing demo games, I decided to spend the
money on a far better thing...pre-ordering Fable.
However, I did get in more than my fair share of gaming this
weekend, and I didn't have to blow more money than I'd want to, in
order to do so. I spent plenty of time leveling my new invun/fire
tanker on CoH. I think gaining 6 levels was a better investment of
my time than watching people play games and drooling over their
shoulders...if I could even get that close. I also decided to create
a more traditional superhero on CoH. Since all of my main avatars
are less than traditional (armor plated on my tanker and armored and
hooded on my scrapper), I made a radiation/radiation defender with
the classic spandex look. So far, I have to say I like the rad/rad
action...however, since I made the character at 10:30 last night and
went to bed shortly after doing so, I still haven't gotten my
feeling on defenders yet...and I probably wont for a while since I
want to at least get my travel power for my tanker before working
much on another character (plus, it's fun being able to be a tanker
and just take the damage without too much worry).
Anyway, as you can tell, from my lack of mentioning much on my
scrapper and blaster, I've given up, for the most part, on them. I
liked doing the blaster thing, but I picked fire/fire, and since
there seems to be more of them than almost any other character, it
just doesn't feel original enough to continue with...I know, rad/rad
is a pretty standard combo too, but at least it's a little less
common than fire/fire blaster. As for the scrapper...well, once you
reach that magical level (around 20), they just feel worthless. No
parties are actively seeking a scrapper (since they don't play any
vital role...they tank a little and they deal a little damage...but
a blaster deals a lot and a tanker tanks for a lot more), and it
gets pretty hard to solo after you hit that special level point for
each archetype.
On a different note...for those who were following the rumors of
Half Life 2 going gold on September 1st, it looks like this rumor is
just that...an unfounded rumor. HL2 shouldn't be too far off, but
September 1st, for the golden date, is looking to be about as likely
as there being no more rip-off superheroes in CoH (nothing like
seeing Magneto, Thor, and the Green Lantern running through Parez
Park together to fight crime...or seeing Dr. Doom, Mr. Doom, Sr.
Doom, Doom Man, Doctor Doom, Mister Doom, and Son of Doom, all Dr.
Doom rip-offs, all within the same city section within a 60 minute
span)...but who knows...I guess Valve can pull of some random
surprise...I just wouldn't count on it.
Malik
|
Malik
(8/31/04)
There is some good
news for nostalgic geeks like myself...assuming Sega doesn't mess up
another good franchise...which they probably will do. Anyway, Sega
is bringing a new Shining Force to the PS2.
Just when I think
I've had as much fun as possible from CoH I get a pleasant surprise.
Like, for example, last night. I was playing with my tanker and I
teamed up with one of my friends playing his rad/rad defender. Well,
we were kicking ass and taking names, as usual, when we decided to
hit Parez for some quick exp. Well, after about an hour of playing,
we were getting ready to call it a night. My friend decided a few
more groups of thugs and we'd go off to train and log out. Well, we
kept watching good groups being taken on my other parties, so I was
feeling discouraged...and that's when things went insane.
As we watched one
solo dude taking on a few hellions, a couple of the hellions decided
we looked like a couple of victims. Well, we could easily KS, but
that's pretty lame to do, so we blindly jumped a wall nearby and
waiting to get our bearings. Then, as my friend looks one way (the
way we were heading) and I was looking back to see if anything
followed us, one of the hellions jumped the wall. So, being the
tanker, I pulled out my fire sword and went to work on this stupid
hellion who was determined to make me into a KSing whore. As I layed
him to rest, my friend started to say "DAMN!" over and
over. Well, I thought he was just pissed that we were reverting to
the dark side...KSing. Well, as I lay down the hellion, his talk
starts to become more along the lines of "Damned!" and I
see a fire ball fly over my shoulder. So, as I turn around, I see
about 20 whites, a couple of yellows, and a good old-fashioned
orange Damned staring us down. Off in all of the possible escape
routes are more of the same, so we set to our grim job. As I let my
flames do my talking, my friend is doing a great job debuffing.
Then, I think another of the groups who was on one of our escape
routes got a bit of the agro...and the party gets rolling like mad.
By the end of everything, I had gained a good 3 or so bubbles of
experience, used every inspiration I had (and I was collecting more
as the battle raged) and I think my friend had the same problem. At
the end, we had one final Fallen Buckshot to deal with and only
enough endurance to slowly punch the dude
(punch...wait...wait...wait...punch and miss...wait...wait...punch
and deal piss damage). I should mention that since these hellions
were whites and better to me, my friend was probably seeing a lot of
yellow. Man, that is what CoH is all about. It's like reliving a
good comic book as the countless forces of evil face down on one or
two heroes with nothing more than a few moves and a strong sense of
justice.
So, anyway, I've
been obsessing with CoH as usual. I don't think I'll slow down in my
playing any until I've gotten at least two more of the travel powers
(super speed is not fun enough on it's own...I need more...I need
them all)...on different heroes, of course. So...yeah...CoH kicks
arse. I'm thinking of doing the review thing if I could ever find
the strength to stop playing for a few hours...speaking of which...
Malik
|
Malik
(9/01/04)
I didn't get in
the CoH time I was hoping for last night. I got in enough time to
get about 5 bubbles before life had to come at me full force.
However, it was a good gaming session since I teamed with my rad/rad
friend again and knocked out one of my more annoying missions (kill
10 CoT in Parez)...sadly, he wouldn't help me with the CoT Jewel
Thief (cave/door) mission...not that he was being an ass, but those
damned cave missions are bad enough without becoming a CoT cave
mission...I guess I'll have to do that on my own (not that it's hard
to accomplish, but it's less annoying if you have the speed of a
tag-team).
On a less CoH
themed note...I was looking at the future of geekdom for the next
3-4 months and came across a rather bitchy thing...
Phantom Brave
(RPG)
Pikmin 2 (Hella
Fun)
Star Ocean 3 (RPG
that should've come out 2/04)
X-Men Legends
(RPG)
LotR: Third Age
(RPG)
Half-Life 2 (FPS
should've been out around 10/03)
Halo 2
(FPS...11/03)
Shadow Hearts
Covenant (RPG sequel of one of the best RPGs ever made)
GTA:SA (Need I say
anymore)
Burnout 3 (Arcade
Driving)
Fable
(RPG...11/03)
Paper Mario 2
(RPG)
Need For Speed
Underground 2 (Arcade Racing)
Gran Tourismo 4 (Sim
Racing)
Wild Arms Alter
Code: F (RPG remake of the hella sweet Wild Arms)
Metroid Prime 2:
Echos (FP Adventure)
Baten Kaitos (RPG
for GCN)
Prince of Pursia 2
(You know the deal)
Midnight Club 3
DUB Edition (Arcade Racing)
Those would be
some (not all) of the games of interest coming out in the next 3-4
months. Does anyone else see a problem with this? I know I sure do.
I wont go into it too much right now (I'm saving that for Friday, if
you catch my meaning), but I will say this; too many good games at
once hurts everyone. The players have too many potentially fun games
that will slip through their fingers to never be heard of again
(especially with many RPGs that can disappear after their initial
release), the developers will hurt (if 5 RPGs come out at once, then
you will only see so many compared to if it's the only one offered
at a given time period), which in turn will hurt us players again
(when a game fails to do well, the chance of us seeing a sequel
becomes rather grim...and most of the RPGs, which will be most
strongly affected by this, are ones that will be great to see a
sequel for)...this is just going to turn ugly. The worst part of
this is how so many of these good games should have come out some
time in the past (many of these titles were delayed and pushed back
from last year or at least early this year...when we happened to
have a drought of good games). The logic behind the developers and
publishers of these games (especially those involved in an RPG) is
nothing short of retarded...oh well. I hate to do it, but I'm going
to play favorites, myself. I will pick mainly the games that have
not jerked me around too much (SO3 will wait since it was delayed on
several occasions...same with HL2), like GTA:SA and Burnout 3. I
will show a little love to Fable and Halo 2, however. Fable just has
so much to offer that it is really a breath of fresh air on the
usually stale gaming scene...as for Halo 2...IT'S FREAKIN' HALO 2!
Need I say more? I think not. I know I could say the same about HL2,
but I don't plan to do as much multiplayer, so I wont need to hone
my skills as quickly...and it will never vanish from store shelves,
if the original is any indicator. Sadly, this means I will probably
miss my chance with some great games, like SO3, Phantom Brave, and
Wild Arms Alter Code: F...but these games have jerked me
around...well, not Phantom Brave, but it's just too long of a game
to get involved with at this time (time to beating a game is also
another important factor). The saddest part is that it'll be a bitch
to write any reviews as long as my life is consumed.
On one hand, there
are too many good games, but on the other hand...too much of a good
thing is rarely as good. Some things can be considered greater
than the sum of it's parts, but at the same time, too many good
things can be worse than the sum. Oh well...for now, I have
Paragon City to defend, and that's all I need; one good game.
Malik
|
Malik
(9/02/04)
I checked out the CoH
test server last night as one of my friends reached for that almost
impossible dream of getting a cape. I learned a few things from this
experience that shed a new light on my CoH gaming experience.
Firstly, the GMs care and love each and every one of us CoH
children. When my friend had a mission that wouldn't end (the final
contact would not respond to him to end the mission), he sent a
support request and about 20 minutes later a GM poofed into existence
as a police drone. Then the GM took some notes and the mission
magically ended out of the blue. The GMs kick arse!
Secondly, I saw that
capes are not worth the effort on the test server (maybe on the real
servers...) since you will have to redo all that crap again in the
real game anyway. The mission involves a lot of time wasted in
meeting a horde of different contacts, and then you're off to a
massively tedious and brutal door mission. In the end, it took my
friend a few hours to finally get to Icon (the clothing store of CoH)
to be turned down for a cape...he didn't have the ridiculous 40,000
influence...
The last thing I saw is
that the chat window is about to get overly complicated (if this
change carries over from the test server). Instead of the typical
split window with chat info on one half and combat info on the
other, there is one window with tabs at the top to change from one
type of info to another. This means that if you're checking out the
damage you're getting in combat and you hear the beep of a
"tell" message...well, you have to click on the tab for
"chat" and see what you're friend wanted before clicking
the "top" tab again to see combat data...such an unnecessary
headache.
Speaking of
headaches...I mentioned this a couple days ago, but
here it is again...only not from me this time. The market place
is about to become overly saturated with quality games and it's
going to hurt badly for the companies not involved with the top
contenders. I said it before, and I'll be saying it again tomorrow
(in Malik's Bitchings), but now it's Gamespot.com that's saying it.
I love it when I'm a few days ahead of the other guys (hell, I've
had my Malik's Bitchings part of this ready for a day or two before
Gamespot got onto it...I'm that damned good).
Malik
|
Malik
(9/03/04)
So another Friday
is upon us. Normally this would just mean that I can look
forward to one and a half days of freedom from work...and a new
issue of Malik's Bitchings, of course. Well, the
Bitchings are here, and I can look forward to a whole Saturday
and a half of a Sunday off...but this weekend I get a little more
out of the deal. Firstly, I also get Monday (Labor Day) off
from work, and I get Tuesday off (Malik Has Labored Too Much
Day). That's all great for me (although it might mean a lack
of posting between now and Wednesday...but I may pull a rabbit, or a
review as it may be, out of my ass in that time), but even better is
what this weekend is going to entail. Firstly, since it's my
friend Bastich's birthday (happy birthday Bastich) today, there is
fun to be had this weekend...which is always a good cause to
celebrate. Secondly, I have some plans with him for this
weekend of the geekly persuasion.
We are going to
take on the lowest level Task Force on CoH this weekend. I'm a
newb to the task force deal, so this is huge to me. Bastich
has done a bit more in the task force world (and the CoH world), but
this should still be good for him too. For those who don't
know, a task force is a series of about 15 missions involving a
major story arc on CoH. During the series of missions, you
must start with a small lead that eventually turns into a giant
undertaking to clean up the streets of Paragon City. This can
involve anything from fighting a monster to fighting a super villain.
Either way, this will be hella sweet!
Also, last night I
got to see World of Warcraft beta (see, not play...). I have
to say, this is not my idea of a fun game, but for those fans of
Warcraft and traditional MMOs (as in, not like CoH), this is a
definite must get when it finally comes out...which should be soon
since the beta I saw was the stress test (which is usually one of
the last steps before release).
Anyway, I have a
lot to do and very little time to do it in...ok, I actually have a
need for some CoH before the fellow geeks get off work
tonight. Plus, formatting Malik's Bitchings is a lot more
draining than writing the basic text, and I feel I need a little CoH
style fun.
Malik
|
|