Umber Hulks are incredibly annoying, and it was such a problem last Friday during the first battle.
There were only 2 Umber Hulks against the party of 6.
I mean, some of the chaos of confusion was funny, but it was still annoying when characters didn't have control.
The good thing is my 2 characters didn't receive any damage in the long run from that battle because they ended up either babbling incoherently, or running away from the battle. (And when a character runs over 700 feet from the battle, you know something's wrong). Then comes the Psion and the Favored Soul, those two were flinging spells at eachother for a portion of the battle. Only the fighter and the sorceress managed to keep from being confused.
Yes... the fighter... of all people... managed to NOT get confused.
--
It was supposed to be a "fun" game I think... and yeah, I laughed a few times at my characters not doing anything, so they didn't really have the chance to kill anyone... but I ended up just being bored because there wasn't really anything for me to do.
Oh well I guess.... that's happened before...
Especially with the last few sessions.
Monday, October 19, 2009
Monday, October 12, 2009
Champions Online
Thanks to my friend Kaschua I've been able to take a stab at Champions Online. She was kind enough to drop me one of her 14-day trial keys, and I was able to get in there and play.
I may have only played the game for a few hours, but there is alot of action to play with. From the character creation, to the many tutorial quests that I've completed so far, there's lots to do.
It would have been alot slower to learn if I hadn't had Kaschua to walk me through all the stuff. I didn't read any of the information that was given by the various NPCs, which I normally do in other MMOs. When it came to tutorial information, it was all handed to me when I needed it.
I liked having an area to test out the various abilities before actually committing to them. That was definitely a step in the right direction, and it made it that much better for me.
-- If you're a fan of MMOs, then you know what I'm talking about... choosing a power at random (even if you understand what it SHOULD do) and then finding out it does something completely different.
But inside the PowerHouse you could test ALL of the powers, which required you to talk to the "Trainer" several times to retrain them over and over. That can be a nuisance, I'm sure, but in the long run it makes it so much better to find a setup that you want.
This is a game, that if my computer was at the absolute top of its game, I would want to keep playing to the end all - be all of gaming. I've played WoW, Lineage 2, and Age of Conan. I was absolutely smitten by the look and feel of Lineage 2... but having the ability to test powers prior makes Champions Online a cut above in my opinion. It has also been several years since I've played that game.
If you like MMOs and want a game that allows a wide array of customizations... this is for you.
I may have only played the game for a few hours, but there is alot of action to play with. From the character creation, to the many tutorial quests that I've completed so far, there's lots to do.
It would have been alot slower to learn if I hadn't had Kaschua to walk me through all the stuff. I didn't read any of the information that was given by the various NPCs, which I normally do in other MMOs. When it came to tutorial information, it was all handed to me when I needed it.
I liked having an area to test out the various abilities before actually committing to them. That was definitely a step in the right direction, and it made it that much better for me.
-- If you're a fan of MMOs, then you know what I'm talking about... choosing a power at random (even if you understand what it SHOULD do) and then finding out it does something completely different.
But inside the PowerHouse you could test ALL of the powers, which required you to talk to the "Trainer" several times to retrain them over and over. That can be a nuisance, I'm sure, but in the long run it makes it so much better to find a setup that you want.
This is a game, that if my computer was at the absolute top of its game, I would want to keep playing to the end all - be all of gaming. I've played WoW, Lineage 2, and Age of Conan. I was absolutely smitten by the look and feel of Lineage 2... but having the ability to test powers prior makes Champions Online a cut above in my opinion. It has also been several years since I've played that game.
If you like MMOs and want a game that allows a wide array of customizations... this is for you.
Sunday, October 11, 2009
Opening Sentiments
Well, this is a fine little mess I've gotten myself into.
Games are my passion, and all I ever see splattered across the net are flame wars between the fans of various systems. I've got my hands on all the major systems, and I'm happy with games on all of them. There are some games I like better on one system over another, and some points on upcoming technologies I like better than others.
I'll start with a small, yet large argument over the net these days: Digital Distribution.
The way times are moving, digital distribution is necessary. It saves everyone supplies and distribution costs (honestly, think about how much it costs to make the packaging and instruction manuals?) but it still poses problems for many gamers.
-- The first problems I would pose as my opinion are having the physical copy... I, like many others I've seen online, like to have a physical copy in my hands so that I know it's there. If the copy stored in my system gets erased by some fluke... how do I recover it? I've never really found any information on that because I haven't searched through knowledge databases. Most codes that anyone gets (for points and such) are used once, and only once. If you try and redeem it again it tells you it's already redeemed. I would hope that this could be rectified by combining that code with your online ID, which would then make sure that you could reuse it with your own systems. But if someone attempted to use that code elsewhere, it would give an error like "Code not recognized with online ID"... it would make it more personal, and re-redeemable if the item was lost.
-- The second problem is lack of an instruction manual. I mean, I know that most of these XBLA, PSN, and VC/WiiWare/DSiWare games have instruction manuals built in, but that still takes up even the smallest amount of space. With the many instructional gaming sites online (GameFAQs being the biggest one), it brings up the question why games really need instructions anyway? (But that also brings up the argument of difficulty given most games nowadays; that's a conversation for another day however)
With many games nowadays, it's understandable to have digital distribution. With so many re-releases of older games, what's the point of putting them onto a disc? They aren't big enough to worry about. But to redo many games and put them on a compilation disc ala Mega Man Anniversary Collection, Sonic Mega Collection, that easily makes it worthwhile because you're paying for multiple games. Nowadays, companies are trying to really milk money out of the consumer, releasing small tweaks, or even just upgrading the looks.
-- A recent re-release of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Turtles in Time looks like garbage compared to the original.... at least that's my opinion... because Baxter Stockman doesn't look anything like the original.
-- Re-releases of PS Classics in the Playstation store are only slightly cheaper than you can find some used copies... heck, even new copies. Several years ago, you could unfortunately find a used copy of FFVII for probably upwards of $80 because people fawned over it (I wasn't one of those people) but I bought a new copy from Wal-Mart for $20. What does that tell you? Prices of games are blown out of proportion, and digital distribution doesn't help this much because it's only $5 cheaper than what I paid for it in 2003.
Releasing each game individually makes you dish out even more money than you should have to, because you can still go out and find a hard copy of the aforementioned games for a portion of the original prices. That right there is probably one of the biggest problems with digital distribution.
Say what you will, but digital distribution is both good and bad for the coming years. The PSPgo is a GOOD example of this... re-releases is a BAD example of this.
And that's my take on it.
Games are my passion, and all I ever see splattered across the net are flame wars between the fans of various systems. I've got my hands on all the major systems, and I'm happy with games on all of them. There are some games I like better on one system over another, and some points on upcoming technologies I like better than others.
I'll start with a small, yet large argument over the net these days: Digital Distribution.
The way times are moving, digital distribution is necessary. It saves everyone supplies and distribution costs (honestly, think about how much it costs to make the packaging and instruction manuals?) but it still poses problems for many gamers.
-- The first problems I would pose as my opinion are having the physical copy... I, like many others I've seen online, like to have a physical copy in my hands so that I know it's there. If the copy stored in my system gets erased by some fluke... how do I recover it? I've never really found any information on that because I haven't searched through knowledge databases. Most codes that anyone gets (for points and such) are used once, and only once. If you try and redeem it again it tells you it's already redeemed. I would hope that this could be rectified by combining that code with your online ID, which would then make sure that you could reuse it with your own systems. But if someone attempted to use that code elsewhere, it would give an error like "Code not recognized with online ID"... it would make it more personal, and re-redeemable if the item was lost.
-- The second problem is lack of an instruction manual. I mean, I know that most of these XBLA, PSN, and VC/WiiWare/DSiWare games have instruction manuals built in, but that still takes up even the smallest amount of space. With the many instructional gaming sites online (GameFAQs being the biggest one), it brings up the question why games really need instructions anyway? (But that also brings up the argument of difficulty given most games nowadays; that's a conversation for another day however)
With many games nowadays, it's understandable to have digital distribution. With so many re-releases of older games, what's the point of putting them onto a disc? They aren't big enough to worry about. But to redo many games and put them on a compilation disc ala Mega Man Anniversary Collection, Sonic Mega Collection, that easily makes it worthwhile because you're paying for multiple games. Nowadays, companies are trying to really milk money out of the consumer, releasing small tweaks, or even just upgrading the looks.
-- A recent re-release of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Turtles in Time looks like garbage compared to the original.... at least that's my opinion... because Baxter Stockman doesn't look anything like the original.
-- Re-releases of PS Classics in the Playstation store are only slightly cheaper than you can find some used copies... heck, even new copies. Several years ago, you could unfortunately find a used copy of FFVII for probably upwards of $80 because people fawned over it (I wasn't one of those people) but I bought a new copy from Wal-Mart for $20. What does that tell you? Prices of games are blown out of proportion, and digital distribution doesn't help this much because it's only $5 cheaper than what I paid for it in 2003.
Releasing each game individually makes you dish out even more money than you should have to, because you can still go out and find a hard copy of the aforementioned games for a portion of the original prices. That right there is probably one of the biggest problems with digital distribution.
Say what you will, but digital distribution is both good and bad for the coming years. The PSPgo is a GOOD example of this... re-releases is a BAD example of this.
And that's my take on it.
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