I started this after reading some opinions less and more to the point and less and more exaggerated about Twitter. Where have I read those? On Facebook of course. :)
Nowadays everybody has an opinion about everything. So point to note this is may view on Twitter and it resumes to games world am not floating on internet every area every day I have things to do.
And it may be wrong but it's my wrong so ... you don't have to agree :)
The most often seen criticism about T is the shortness of the posts the 140 limit. Actually you can say a lot in less than 140 characters. Here are some famous quotes of history in less than that:
To be or not to be
My kingdom for a horse
Cogito ergo sum (I think therefore I am) *note to FB :)
And so on, you got the picture.
Back to games posts on T my notable "there's something wrong with this picture" is the absence of criticism. In fact is not absent is just not very visible. And there 2 reasons why.
Number 1 - is hard to criticize in 140 characters. Why? Praising is easy.
"Oh this is great, fabulous, amazing, fantastic, yada yada yada blablabla "
People are ready to accept that at any time. You don't have to argue, it's the human nature we are ready to accept the compliments with no further explanations. Which doesn't go for criticism. That you have to explain. You need arguments and is hard to put that in only 140. "You stink" now that's not constructive, that's more like trolling. "I didn't like the gameplay". Ok,why? See, and it can on and on. Consequently the solution is to review the game, blog, vlog, personal site, whatever and put the link there. That goes for praising too. But what if you're not a blogger, vlogger, Twitcher, Youtuber and so? You are a gamer.
Point to FB you can write a review there with no limits. But not on T because they like to gather those links. It's the foundation of leaks and gossips like it or not. Ok that goes for FB too but we are on T now. The question is - do the games developers and games reviewers want to really here us the gamers? I like to think they really want. Am sure that almost all of them if not all don't want to be lied nicely? Right? And that brings us to:
Number 2 - am not expecting that the developers and the rest of the media people to RT a criticism. I haven't seen any I would be utterly impress to find one such RT. Am sure they are reading the critics and assume the constructive ones because it helps them to make better games (that's why Forums exists). So the negative point doesn't go to the developers and the media people but to Twitter. It's not a constructive thing, is just a showcase. Don't get me wrong there is useful info there on events mostly, conferences, games releases. But most gamers prefers the dedicated sites and one of the main reasons is because they can largely comment about. That makes Twitter more into a showcase as said, than into a dialogue. It is funny at time but it has a lot of "meh" too. I still like to "fish" for some clever "tweets" and I have some "fellows in fun" there that makes me to appreciate the ingenuity of the human mind when it has to stick with the 140. And there are some criticisms posted you just need to dig in deep.
Therefore I offer my ultimate respect to the one game developer that will ever RT a criticism. If you know one let me know. :)
Happy gaming,
The Ogre
PS constructive criticism, trolls not allowed.
Sunday, 20 March 2016
Wednesday, 9 March 2016
Why a Rebellion fan ? :)
In the yesterday Twitch of Rebellion Q&A about Sniper Elite 4 launch I was asked if I have played all the games made by Rebellion. The answer was yes.
This kind of post is usually reserved to Underground but will put it here too for just in case.
The reason am a "super duper" Rebellion fan is not mysterious nor spectacular, and it happened like this:
I always liked video games, and few years ago my grandpa bought me Sniper Elite. And I liked it, and have played quite a lot.
Then it came that time when I was sick. In the days of doing chemo I was quite weak and there were not many things I could do. So my grandpa came with the idea that maybe playing games will help me pass the time better and keep my mind off things.
My grandpa doesn't know much about games, but he remembered the name of the company on the game he previously bought. Since he knew I liked that, he bought all the games he found under the Rebellion name at that time :). So I tried them all. I can't say that I liked all of them to the max but there are mostly good up to very good. According to my taste.
Sniper Elite will probably be always my favourite series.
Anyway the main part of this story is that grandpa was right. It worked.
Reason why Rebellion is more to me than just a bunch of games.
That's why. :)
This kind of post is usually reserved to Underground but will put it here too for just in case.
The reason am a "super duper" Rebellion fan is not mysterious nor spectacular, and it happened like this:
I always liked video games, and few years ago my grandpa bought me Sniper Elite. And I liked it, and have played quite a lot.
Then it came that time when I was sick. In the days of doing chemo I was quite weak and there were not many things I could do. So my grandpa came with the idea that maybe playing games will help me pass the time better and keep my mind off things.
My grandpa doesn't know much about games, but he remembered the name of the company on the game he previously bought. Since he knew I liked that, he bought all the games he found under the Rebellion name at that time :). So I tried them all. I can't say that I liked all of them to the max but there are mostly good up to very good. According to my taste.
Sniper Elite will probably be always my favourite series.
Anyway the main part of this story is that grandpa was right. It worked.
Reason why Rebellion is more to me than just a bunch of games.
That's why. :)
Tuesday, 16 February 2016
The Flat Line
This is the version 2.0 on my view into the f2p world. So you got it, is my view not one of those statistics on the market.
Few years later, and supposedly wiser :) I still think that the main quality of a f2p game is: you can play for free. So then what is the main defect?
As playing I noticed that the f2p system involves a never-ending play time that keeps the game going ... and going ... and you got the picture. This works very well with some genre like building strategies and sims and not that well with others like RPG.
You see generally speaking these games are based on patterns. The human brain is built to make patterns, this is the way we learn things. The pattern prints into our brain the instructions for doing something and repeating the pattern over and over helps us mastering that something. Repetitio mater studiorum est - the repetition is the mother of learning.
Now back to the RPG you see I played these games for a long time. I got used with the great stories and the large open worlds of the payed ones. Yes am gonna say Gothic again. Why? Because it was the first "big" RPG I played and one of the things I enjoyed the most was the vast world to explore. I even got lost in the first day before getting a map. You could very well finish the game without covering all the caves, rocks and plains of the world. And there was the great rewarding finale - and I want that ending like saving the world, the princess, the whatever. Very few f2p RPG are giving that kind of world and that kind of feeling. Especially in the mobile ones you have a small world with up to 10 map locations which you will learn quickly as being fixed and not changing in layout. Just a bit of different background and monsters. I remember some time ago I told to Jim Squires (EIO on Gamezebo site) that his guide for some game fits to many other games generally. Why? because these games are having the same structure: up mentioned static map levels with 3 difficulty modes, resources dungeons, arena, boss fights, guilds, chat, daily/weekly quests/rewards and achievements. With minor variations. all of them are registering an ascendant curve in the first days from launch. It's the novelty and the promise of a hopefully good game with a constant income of new players. The exciting phase. Then slowly but surely while the game "duties" are becoming a daily routine the income settles down. Less new players are registered and veteran players are starting to abandon the game. Because as much as it likes the pattern at some point the brain becomes bored with it. You know that guy Heston Blumenthal with his food chemistry? Am not fond of him but he has some points. He wondered about taste. Why the chewing gum that has millions of micro-particles of aroma loses it's taste after a while? In reality the taste/aroma doesn't disappear but the brain becomes bored of keep registering the same info and blocks the communication channel. Thus you don't feel the aroma anymore.
Same thing happens with the players, some of them are becoming addictive and the routine gets printed in their daily schedule. But others, and after a while many of them, are getting bored and abandons. And this is the main defect of f2p: no mater how well the game starts it will enter, sooner or later, into the repetitive up to boredom phase. Many games especially the reasonable good ones manages to keep a constant in between newcomers and abandons but, regardless of how you look, this linear constant for me is the flat line. Is not an accountant or mathematical flat line is that cardio monitor flat line that means "game over".
Few years later, and supposedly wiser :) I still think that the main quality of a f2p game is: you can play for free. So then what is the main defect?
As playing I noticed that the f2p system involves a never-ending play time that keeps the game going ... and going ... and you got the picture. This works very well with some genre like building strategies and sims and not that well with others like RPG.
You see generally speaking these games are based on patterns. The human brain is built to make patterns, this is the way we learn things. The pattern prints into our brain the instructions for doing something and repeating the pattern over and over helps us mastering that something. Repetitio mater studiorum est - the repetition is the mother of learning.
Now back to the RPG you see I played these games for a long time. I got used with the great stories and the large open worlds of the payed ones. Yes am gonna say Gothic again. Why? Because it was the first "big" RPG I played and one of the things I enjoyed the most was the vast world to explore. I even got lost in the first day before getting a map. You could very well finish the game without covering all the caves, rocks and plains of the world. And there was the great rewarding finale - and I want that ending like saving the world, the princess, the whatever. Very few f2p RPG are giving that kind of world and that kind of feeling. Especially in the mobile ones you have a small world with up to 10 map locations which you will learn quickly as being fixed and not changing in layout. Just a bit of different background and monsters. I remember some time ago I told to Jim Squires (EIO on Gamezebo site) that his guide for some game fits to many other games generally. Why? because these games are having the same structure: up mentioned static map levels with 3 difficulty modes, resources dungeons, arena, boss fights, guilds, chat, daily/weekly quests/rewards and achievements. With minor variations. all of them are registering an ascendant curve in the first days from launch. It's the novelty and the promise of a hopefully good game with a constant income of new players. The exciting phase. Then slowly but surely while the game "duties" are becoming a daily routine the income settles down. Less new players are registered and veteran players are starting to abandon the game. Because as much as it likes the pattern at some point the brain becomes bored with it. You know that guy Heston Blumenthal with his food chemistry? Am not fond of him but he has some points. He wondered about taste. Why the chewing gum that has millions of micro-particles of aroma loses it's taste after a while? In reality the taste/aroma doesn't disappear but the brain becomes bored of keep registering the same info and blocks the communication channel. Thus you don't feel the aroma anymore.
Same thing happens with the players, some of them are becoming addictive and the routine gets printed in their daily schedule. But others, and after a while many of them, are getting bored and abandons. And this is the main defect of f2p: no mater how well the game starts it will enter, sooner or later, into the repetitive up to boredom phase. Many games especially the reasonable good ones manages to keep a constant in between newcomers and abandons but, regardless of how you look, this linear constant for me is the flat line. Is not an accountant or mathematical flat line is that cardio monitor flat line that means "game over".
Saturday, 25 May 2013
Kingdom Knights review - online - facebook
Kingdom Knights - to play on Facebook - and still in beta is a well built mix of strategy and role playing.
The look is anime like, with excellent graphics, good level of details, well assorted sounds and a vast array of features, items, gear, power-ups and buildings.
You'll start on an "island" with a patch of land and the option to expand by buying the neighboring lands with money and, earned through battles, expansion permits.
As in any strategy game one of the main parts is building your infrastructure: houses, farms, lumber yards, hunter cabins, quarries and so on. Decor features will improve happiness (that will bring production bonus).
As in any strategy game one of the main parts is building your infrastructure: houses, farms, lumber yards, hunter cabins, quarries and so on. Decor features will improve happiness (that will bring production bonus).
Each feature costs and brings a certain amount of money and supplies, 2 of the main resources in game.
Military buildings are needed for troops: barracks, archery, stable, training ground and so on.
The Blackwater Inn will allow hiring mercenaries, and crafting as soon as you get the Blacksmith.
Each military requires various rank upgrades and skills upgrades all depending on your level and troops rank and there's a certain time for recruiting, researching and upgrading.
The Blackwater Inn will allow hiring mercenaries, and crafting as soon as you get the Blacksmith.
Each military requires various rank upgrades and skills upgrades all depending on your level and troops rank and there's a certain time for recruiting, researching and upgrading.
The basics of the game are based on in-game missions related to infrastructure and battles.
Battles so far goes on level missions each in another map location and are sort of turn-based but not player-controlled. All you do is deploy troops, supply them with goods and then the battle scenario is self-generated based on rank, skills, and power-ups.
A new feature was recently added - The Rise of the Dragoons but the lowest Thunderpeak map requested to enter training grounds has a 100k supplies price so will wait for now :).
As any monetized F2P there gems that can be bought on real money and used to enhanced and buy various items. Gems are also part of various rewards so it's ok if you don't want to invest.
Also being MMO there friends / allies to invite and cooperate with in various missions, including military and you'll even get an Embassy.
Rating goes 3.5 - 4 (out of 5) and for a game still in beta goes quite well.
1 major no-no: Unity Web Player plugin sometimes crashes - the image freeze and you have to refresh, or in the best cases just exists full screen.
1 major no-no: Unity Web Player plugin sometimes crashes - the image freeze and you have to refresh, or in the best cases just exists full screen.
Overall if you have a FB account go try the game - it's easy handling and playing even for a newbie into this.
Friday, 26 April 2013
"The Entire Hell Is Paved With Good Intentions" - a look into the no-no of the games monetization
I recently reviewed Dragon Eternity and it looked like a quite good playable game (f2p) but on gaining more levels and going deeper an ugly face started to show.
This game is a money making
factory and a good example for the title saying. The supporters of monetization
/ f2p eternal pro is the fact that people get the chance to play the game for
free.
True but not. Yes technically speaking, but in this game if you don't invest there's no chance on doing well in game and tho you wont see it on the net there many abandoning the game before achieving level 10.
True but not. Yes technically speaking, but in this game if you don't invest there's no chance on doing well in game and tho you wont see it on the net there many abandoning the game before achieving level 10.
First of all is the gear: leveling up you get access to better gear (weapons, armors, and so) but the better items are not available in shop. Presumable you get them in quests from enemies drops - which are very rare and involves using a lot of other items (potions, orbs, and so that also costs) to get there - or you can buy them in the auction hall at almost prohibitive prices. Which means you need to buy some "reals" on real money.
Quests items / collections also requests reals. You get the first ones also from battling monsters or in PvP but a part of them you have to buy. I got the "amendar" but it expired before getting the chance to gather enough reals for a "mekhar" (priced 3 reals) so only chance was to buy the reals from bank with my real money.
Upgrading items like parcels costs a bunch of reals if you buy them
from the Merchant.
Of course you can avoid investing and painfully crawl on
gathering money through game but in the meantime you'll be constantly busted by
rich players. You may end up by being level 12 to 15 hardly worked on some
reasonable good armor and weapons and a level 9 with a bought better gear will
bust you in PvP.
And the rotational PvP system is also designed to break as much as possible from the gear that will need repair (more money) and consume loads of orbs, potions or glyphs - more money. You'll fight one and when you are about to give the final hit it's switched with another one and someone else will give the deathly hit taking your credits. potentially this is said to balance the fight but not true. If they would want balance then they should offer equal levels one-o-one fights for PvP. Because you don't get the option to switched by yourself if that suppose to simulate real battles.
And the rotational PvP system is also designed to break as much as possible from the gear that will need repair (more money) and consume loads of orbs, potions or glyphs - more money. You'll fight one and when you are about to give the final hit it's switched with another one and someone else will give the deathly hit taking your credits. potentially this is said to balance the fight but not true. If they would want balance then they should offer equal levels one-o-one fights for PvP. Because you don't get the option to switched by yourself if that suppose to simulate real battles.
Even
the monster battling tho appears like a random is not: it has an algorithm also
to break you the most. I studied and registered about 200 of my battles and it is
obviously not random: if you give a critical hit for example almost sure next
time you'll have a low attack or the monster will block / dodge. You never have
2 critical hits in a row or if it is random at one point this will happen. I
asked friends to study their fights and they confirmed: is not happening. Or
you get a false critical hit - its marked in red but in fact is not bigger than
your average damage potential.
With that being said, yes you can play the game for free but it wont
be too much fun, you'll struggle a lot. I am considering that the "buy the game system" (paying a
price from the beginning) is a far more honest offer that will bring the
fighters with the same chances in game.
Paying 30 to 50 $ on a game from start (you will
pay far more in the so called f2p except that you'll pay by instalments) is
what I want (at least at this point) but it is your choice. Maybe other f2ps are more honest but this
one is not. So basically speaking is not that I'm against the f2p system but I want an honest offer.
Friday, 5 April 2013
Dragon Eternity - browser game
I played this game online for a while until reached some level (9 at this point). Haven't finished as is a long therm commitment :).
The game plays as a MMORPG in the hack&slash quest style where basically the background story doesn't count too much. But it is reflected in the many community based quests you get.
The game plays as a MMORPG in the hack&slash quest style where basically the background story doesn't count too much. But it is reflected in the many community based quests you get.
You're set in a fantasy world (Adan) where the Sadar Empire and Vaalor
Empire are fighting for supremacy and will start by choosing one of 2
factions: Sadarians (Red) or Vaalorians (Blue). I played Sadarian the
pick being based purely on the fact that I like red color :). The things
in the story are complicated by the armies of the Dark Gods of Shaab
that break into Adan from the mysterious Abyss and are enemies of both
factions.
There 3 classes to choose from Bersek, Paladin or Witcher. Each class has specific items (weapons, armors, jewelry, necklasses and amulets). Potions, artifacts, glyphs and some other stuff are not class dependent. The items are earned from battles, or bought. The Shop will always show the items available to you depending of your level.
The leveling goes by earning XP like in any RPG to which will add various Reputations like Gladiator (fighting in the Arena) or Conqueror of Seven Bridges, and will also get Valor by participating to battles.
You can easy access your character stats, gear, and backpack content from a very easy handling interface
Later you'll have the option to create or join to a clan. Clans are formed by the online players, being available after you reached level 6. Also after reaching level 16 and passing the Elder Dragon trials (collecting 6 parts of the Amulet of Melding) you may have a dragon, and summon it into battle.
For the rest as said the game plays mainly by fulfilling various quests mostly requiring fighting a bunch of enemies: monsters, living dead, traitors, spies and others. Also there various quests of finding and researching.
You can also learn and use spells in battle
and various professions - hunter, farmer, fisherman and prospector that will help gathering items for crafting: blacksmith (armors & weapons), alchemist (potions) inscriptor (glyphs), cook (food) and jeweler (orbs). If you wonder what they serve for keep in mind that all these items are used to boost yourself a very useful thing.
The combat goes in turn-base style where you can choose to weapon attack, defend or use magic. Boosting by using potions doesn't count as an action being performed at anytime in battle and some items like orbs have auto option being functional for a certain number of actions.
Additional features are:
- PvP option with 5 Battlegrounds: Arena of Honor and Seven Bridges being available for players of any level the other 3 only for level 16+.
- Auction - for buying and selling items
- Bank - for buying reals, and items for real money.
There a lot of things going on will not go into all details it's up to you to discover them.
Technically the game goes very well in therms of graphics, sounds and handling and it's a very appealing scenery with a catchy going through. I started with the thought of just testing and ended by being caught in playing.
Worth trying, a good recommended experience for the fans but only if you're ready to spend some real money. And seriously if not you will struggle to get well in the game.
There 3 classes to choose from Bersek, Paladin or Witcher. Each class has specific items (weapons, armors, jewelry, necklasses and amulets). Potions, artifacts, glyphs and some other stuff are not class dependent. The items are earned from battles, or bought. The Shop will always show the items available to you depending of your level.
The leveling goes by earning XP like in any RPG to which will add various Reputations like Gladiator (fighting in the Arena) or Conqueror of Seven Bridges, and will also get Valor by participating to battles.
You can easy access your character stats, gear, and backpack content from a very easy handling interface
Later you'll have the option to create or join to a clan. Clans are formed by the online players, being available after you reached level 6. Also after reaching level 16 and passing the Elder Dragon trials (collecting 6 parts of the Amulet of Melding) you may have a dragon, and summon it into battle.
For the rest as said the game plays mainly by fulfilling various quests mostly requiring fighting a bunch of enemies: monsters, living dead, traitors, spies and others. Also there various quests of finding and researching.
You can also learn and use spells in battle
and various professions - hunter, farmer, fisherman and prospector that will help gathering items for crafting: blacksmith (armors & weapons), alchemist (potions) inscriptor (glyphs), cook (food) and jeweler (orbs). If you wonder what they serve for keep in mind that all these items are used to boost yourself a very useful thing.
The combat goes in turn-base style where you can choose to weapon attack, defend or use magic. Boosting by using potions doesn't count as an action being performed at anytime in battle and some items like orbs have auto option being functional for a certain number of actions.
Additional features are:
- PvP option with 5 Battlegrounds: Arena of Honor and Seven Bridges being available for players of any level the other 3 only for level 16+.
- Auction - for buying and selling items
- Bank - for buying reals, and items for real money.
There a lot of things going on will not go into all details it's up to you to discover them.
Technically the game goes very well in therms of graphics, sounds and handling and it's a very appealing scenery with a catchy going through. I started with the thought of just testing and ended by being caught in playing.
Worth trying, a good recommended experience for the fans but only if you're ready to spend some real money. And seriously if not you will struggle to get well in the game.
Wednesday, 27 March 2013
L.A. Noire review
The game is an action adventure, a blend of mission puzzles (cases) solving and combat / shooter.
It was released for PS, Xbox and PC.
The best of the game are the story and characters built and the technical built. And it’s not just the authentic air of the 40’s (action take place in L.A. year 1947), one of the coolest things is the motion capture feature that offers the opportunity to analyze the facial expressions during the interrogation – a must in solving the cases.
Also add to this very good VOs and sounds and excellent music (a thing that becomes a rarity in these days judging by the latest games I played).
Now to get into the story: play as rookie patrolman named Phelps and develop his career inside the Police to Traffic, Homicide, Vice and Arson bureaus. Start with a serial killer, drugs trade, and a small insurance fraud to end following a big fraud case with many roots (the Mob, the corrupt policemen, businessmen and dignitaries).
You will be assigned with various cases to solve and will have a different partner on each bureau, while the story is revealed through clues found on cases, and newspaper cut-scenes info and memory flash-backs. Along with the main cases there also 40 side ones, not connected with them. After solving the cases you are evaluated and ranked 1 to 5 stars according to your performance for each case.
The side cases (Streets of L.A. mode), are unlocked after finishing activity on a bureau, and gives you the chance to hunt for badges and gold film reels. Also you will earn experience that brings intuition points and may also bring a new suit. There 10 suits, each gifted with special powers (like increasing shots accuracy or damage resistance), 6 in the main game and 4 in the side cases.
The control and going through is a mix of adventure like style while you walk through the scenery, interact with items, drive cars and talk and interrogate suspects, but also involves action play with body-combat and gun shots. Action sequences offers three attempts and if you fail all you may skip.
The interrogation is puzzle solving, clues based, and you get to believe, doubt or to not believe the suspects, but to prove the lies and accuse of crime you need evidence (notes on clues in your notebook). You may use the earned intuition points to eliminate one of the 3 options and also in the crime scenes to search for clues.
As said the game has an excellent noir atmosphere with a great attention to the details, from the people expressions to the items and scenery interaction, it is very catchy and clever done, and quite challenging. There is a bit of a certain clumsiness during the action scenes but a minor no-no.
A definitely worth playing game.
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