Tag Archives: Blaugust

On Blaugust, Redux

August 28, 2014 Ashgar 1 Comment

Blaugust is almost over, and I have a few thoughts on the whole process. Kodra wrote about the same thing yesterday, and I thought I’d share my thoughts on it.

Worth

First, I believe the event was absolutely worth it for me personally. I’m a lot more comfortable writing things on relatively short timelines. I feel like I know a bit more about what sort of posts people actually click on (and while it might help, I’m still not going to change how I title my posts). Some of my habits while playing games have changed a bit. I’m always looking for ways to take screenshots now, and taking note of things that work and things that don’t, so I can say things about the games I play other than “It was fun” or “It sucked”.

More importantly, it’s been a good way for me to see what other people are writing about. I’ve taken the opportunity to see a lot of content from people who weren’t part of NBI (and some people that were, but I wasn’t following that closely). Special mentions in particular to Isey and Murf, who’ve given me plenty of ideas about things to write about, whether they know it or not. Both Rae and Kodra (fellow Aggrochat participants) used the opportunity to start posting more. Because this is as good a place as any to mention it, Tam has also started a blog this month (although if he manages to write 31 posts before the end of the month I’ll be both shocked and impressed).

But…

However, I’m pretty sure I’m going to go back to posting 2-3 times a week in September, probably starting the second week of September. It’s had the desired effect on me, and I’m going to finish out the month, but daily posting is not something I’m willing to do long-term. It’s a bit easier during the week, especially if I can get a draft up (or sometimes a post, if it doesn’t need actual screenshots) during lunch. It suffers a lot on the weekends, when I’d rather be playing games than writing about them using that time. There have also been a few days where I worked on a post, and then decided that it needed more work than I had time for and posted something else instead. (This is what happened yesterday, I’m sure the original idea will surface eventually).

A journey of self-discovery is worth it even if we fall a bit short of the end goal, so this one satisfies. You should really check out the Blaugust Initiative for more posts on a variety of topics by other people. Did I mention that Tam wrote an introductory post?

Gaming

On Upcoming Games

August 28, 2014 Ashgar 1 Comment

Now is a good time to be a gamer, I think. There are a variety of upcoming titles this year that look interesting, and they aren’t all coming out in October. (In fact, the three I’m going to mention are all pre-October.) Let’s take a look.

Azure Striker Gunvolt

Inticreates is the company actually behind the Megaman ZX games as well as Megaman 9 and 10. As such, I have a lot of interest in their 2d platformers involving guns. (They’re also working on Mighty No. 9.) Azure Striker Gunvolt involves a hero with a gun of sorts used to lock on his actual weapon, witch seems to be electricity wielded in a variety of different ways. This hits the 3DS on Friday, and I’m looking forward to picking it up.

Destiny

Halo 2 was the last “big” shooter I enjoyed, before everything became Call of Duty and things like it. I was iffy on this one until I got to play the Alpha and Beta with other people, and now I’m looking forward to spending a lot of time in it. It releases on September 9, so I hope I have enough time to beat Gunvolt before this happens.

Gauntlet

Red Warrior needs food badly. I know someone else is also interested in this, and I’d hoped to play it soon, but it was recently delayed to September 23. I like arcade-style games like this (I’m apparently the only person who likes Sacred 3, for example) and this looks like an interesting and varied take on the formula. It’s also made by the people who made Magicka, so the deaths should be entertaining.

For more posts about… everything, check out the Blaugust Initiative.

Gaming

On Crimzon Clover

August 26, 2014 Ashgar 1 Comment

I mentioned it a bit when I was talking about other shooters, but I feel like I should give Crimzon Clover a good writeup. It’s made me interested in the Japanese indie scene again, when previously I ignored every part of it that wasn’t Touhou.

The Basics

If there’s a story, I don’t know it. You fly through 5 levels firing massive amounts of bullets at things that fire almost as many back at you. In this context there are 4 modes and two difficulty levels, although two of the modes are only available on “arcade” difficulty. (One of the modes, Unlimited, is just standard with everything turned up to 11, with a few special rules that allow you to theoretically survive everything being turned up to 11.) You have your choice of three ships at the start, with a 4th unlockable. The Type-I is the balanced ship, with a wide spread primary attack and homing lasers for a lock-on attack, The Type-III (my personal favorite) is much faster but has a narrower primary fire and a slower-charging lock-on attack. The Type-II is somewhere in the middle, with the fire spread being determined by how you position the Gradius-style options. The final ship, the Type-Z, is better than the others in almost every way, and you can consider it your reward for playing the game for long enough to unlock it.

Standard Mode

A key feature of the game is the Break Gauge in the upper right. If this meter is over the small line, you can use a bomb (although using one will cause the bomb line to move further to the right, making it take longer to earn the next one). Using a bomb destroys all shots and most small enemies on-screen and gives you temporary invincibility, so it’s a good way to get out of trouble. If the gauge is full, using the bomb button instead enters break mode, causing your firepower and max number of lock-ons to go up, as well as doubling the score multiplier (This still clears the screen of bullets and grants temporary invincibility). This lasts for a certain duration or until you use a bomb. If you manage to fill the gauge again while in break mode, you can enter double break mode for screen-filling ridiculousness in your firepower and doubling the score multiplier again. The downside to this is that your break gauge completely empties when this ends and you can’t use a bomb during it.

Other than this upgrade to the bomb button, this mode is fairly standard. The difficulty ramps up as you move through the stages and beat the bosses, with an EX-boss available if you can beat the normal boss of Stage 5 without using a continue. (Despite calling the easier difficulty “novice”, this is not any easy task in any sense.) Beat the EX boss to see the credits and beat the game (and join about 11% of the players on Steam).

Boost Mode

Boost mode works a little differently. Instead of being able to activate break mode, it activates automatically when the gauge is full and lasts until you either use a bomb or die. Instead, the UI element that normally counts down break duration has a timer that counts up, and enemies and bullets speed up based on how high it gets. Many attack patterns are slightly (or in some cases significantly) easier in boost mode to compensate for this. Dropping out of boost mode will reduce things to a normal speed, but it will go back up to full speed when you fill the gauge again, something that’s certainly going to happen eventually.

If you’re not playing for score, I think Boost Mode is easier, as you can bomb to slow things down and if you don’t need to do that, you have the increased firepower of Break Mode all of the time. I like it better, but that might just be because I’m better at it. If you have any interest in shmups at all, you should give Crimzon Clover a shot. It’s on Steam and is supposedly coimg to GoG soon, so it’s much easier to get than many other games in the genre out of Japan.

For more posts about… everything, check out the Blaugust Initiative.

Gaming, Meta

On an Ash NPC

August 25, 2014 Ashgar

I think this is the first time I’m resorting to one of the prompts for this event, but here goes.

If you were an NPC in a video game, what type of NPC would you be?

First, this is cheating. Random ESO NPC aside, I’d probably be an inconveniently located trainer. I’ve got a bit of a reputation for knowing things, and I frequently like being away from people. I’m not sure I’d go to a place like Uldaman, because there are reasonable limits to this sort of thing. (Seriously, that was bullshit.) I could see myself as a druid trainer, living in the wilderness, forcing people to come find me if they want to know my secrets.

On the other hand, I might be a random mob, zone-sweeper style (think Fel Reavers or Morladim). I could also see myself as a big bear, chasing after low-level players for no good reason. Maybe if the game was sophisticated enough, chasing after the person with the most food in their inventory or something. FF14 had Phecda, but now that B-rank hunt mobs are non-hostile, the effect of a giant bear running after you is lost.

I guess it’ll just be a short one today. For more posts about… everything, check out the Blaugust Initiative.

Gaming

On Decision Paralysis

August 24, 2014 Ashgar 1 Comment

I was originally going to write about the Pillars of Eternity Beta today, but that would require me to get past the character creation screen. Also, it doesn’t have graphical settings other than resolution and isn’t optimized, so it barely runs on my laptop.

The Problems With Character Creation

A problem this game has (that’s shared with a lot of other games including the vast majority of computer D&D games and Divinity: Original Sin) is that it’s impossible to know your first time through how useful your character creation decisions are. Pillars of Eternity (PoE from now on) had 6 races, and 11 classes. It also asks you to make decisions distributing stat points (in a way that resembles but isn’t actually identical to D&D point-buy), where you character is from (which also impacts stats somewhat). Depending on your class, you may also have to make some decisions regarding spells or abilities (Druids have to determine their animal form and the damage type used by their Wildstrike feature.)

When all you have to go on is a character creation screen, it’s very difficult to know how useful any of this is. To take Divinity as an example, it asks you to fight a lot of undead around levels 5-8, which is difficult if your party happens to have a rogue or archer type, since they’re resistant to piercing damage. I don’t know if PoE is going to ask me to fight things that are going to absorb fire, so how useful is Wildstrike: Fire over the course of the game? It’s also unclear how useful “talky” abilities are, until you’ve played a bit of the game. Some games (specifically Obsidian ones, to be fair) make these skills extremely useful and let you talk your way out of (or into, if that’s your thing) anything. In some others it’s better described as a waste of stat points that could be serving you better in a combat-related skill.

The number of decisions you’re asked to make with almost no knowledge of the coming game is rather high, and it leads to paralysis about what to pick. It’s also impossible to know who your future party members are, and many other things that might influence your decisions. It would be awkward to have a tutorial before character creation, but that might help in some ways. I’m ok with the freedom to make bad decisions, but I’d prefer games were better about not allowing them to be made unknowingly.

For more posts about… everything, check out the Blaugust Initiative.

Gaming

On Peer Pressure, Part 3

August 24, 2014 Ashgar 1 Comment

And now for the rest of the list:

14. Most memorable moment in a game:

My memory is terrible. I do remember facing Magus in Chrono Trigger for the first time, with all of the torches and lines of speech leading up to the fight. Interestingly, I don’t remember much about the actual fight.

15. Scariest moment in a game:

I don’t play many scary games, so this one’s from The Secret World. The Templar quest between Egypt and Transylvania (Virgula Divina) is the creepiest thing I’ve experienced in any game I’ve played at all, much less in an MMO.

16. Most heart-wrenching moment in a game:

If Mass Effect 3 had ended 20 minutes earlier, it would have been a proper tragic ending and not the stupid thing that actually happened. That game had a bunch of moments that I’d consider heart-wrenching, the most notable of which is probably the one Bel mentioned, which I won’t spoil here.

17. What are your favorite websites/blogs about games?

This list would be incomplete if I didn’t mention Tales of the Aggronaut, because Bel got me into this in the first place. I also frequent NeoGAF, because I find it a better source for gaming news than most of the websites intended to deliver this sort of information.

18. What’s the last game you finished?

The last game I “finished” as in “saw the end credits” is Shovel Knight. It has New Game+ and I haven’t finished that.

19. What future releases are you most excited about?

Pillars of Eternity is a game I’m quite looking forward to, but also Destiny, Azure Striker Gunvolt, and probably a few things I’m forgetting.

20. Do you identify as a gamer?

I play games, therefore I’m a gamer. I feel like that’s a simple question.

21. Why do you play video games?

I play video games for entertainment, and also to socialize. At this point I’ve met quite a few people through the games I play, and I’d like this to continue.

For more posts about… everything, check out the Blaugust Initiative. It’s still Saturday in Bel’s time zone, so hopefully he’ll take this as the post for the 23rd.

Gaming

On Peer Pressure, Part 2

August 22, 2014 Ashgar

Who am I to throw away another pair of potential blog posts? More of the list!

7. Name a game that was popular/critically adored that you just didn’t like.

In an effort to not talk bad about Guild Wars 2 yet again (although it certainly qualifies), I’ll mention Call of Duty here. I played a Lot of Halo and Halo 2, but I just never got into the Call of Duty series. I guess I like more fantasy in my shooters.

8. Name a game that was poorly received that you really like.

Shining Soul 2 has a 74 on Metacritic, but it’s one of my favorite GBA games. For those unfamiliar, it’s a diablo-like where you play as one of a bunch of interesting classes and beat up monsters to collect random loot to beat up more monsters. Another game I could mention is Scaler, a mascot platformer for the PS2. (Mascot platformers were pretty much dead at this point, with only Ratchet & Clank left.)

9. What are your favorite game genres?

If it involves the letters R, P, and G, you can apply all sorts of modifiers and I’ll probably like it. Special mention to tactical RPGs in the spirit of final Fantasy Tactics, and MMOs.

10. Who is your favorite game protagonist?

In an effort to not use the cop-out answer of myself, I’ll say I really like Ratchet. After his character development in the first game in his series, he’s been a cool protagonist. Shame about the games after a Crack in Time, though.

11. Describe your perfect video game.

Something with solid gameplay, good sound design, and advancement of some sort.

12. What video game character do have you have a crush on?

Let’s go with Liara from the Mass Effect series. The fact that she becomes a badass in 2 and 3 helps a lot.

13. What game has the best music?

Taken as a whole, I’m pretty sure Bastion has the best soundtrack. Transistor has better vocal tracks. FF14 has some really awesome tracks as well, but I think Bastion still wins.

This is good for one more, which will be up tomorrow. For more posts about… everything, check out the Blaugust Initiative.

Gaming, MMO

On ギルガメッシュ

August 20, 2014 Ashgar

As a break from slightly more serious subjects, let’s talk about Gilgamesh, the best character in Final Fantasy. Our Free Company organized a group to fight him in FF14 over the weekend, and certain things about it seemed really familiar.

Battle on the Big Bridge

Gilgamesh debuted in FF5, where he serves as a minion of Exdeath and general comic relief. (This is important, because a lot of people die during the section of the game that he’s primarily in.) He’s fought four times in actual battles before Exdeath gets tired of his failures and tosses him into the Rift. The second of these introduces Gilgamesh’s now-famous theme, and takes place in a location known only as the “Big Bridge”. Gilgamesh isn’t the only thing you fight here, but he ambushes you as you attempt to go through a door in a watchtower.

As far as FF bosses go, he’s pretty easy. He’s vulnerable to Old, an absolutely crippling status in FF5, and due to the timing you’re quite likely to be using a weapon that can inflict old on hit (it’s the best sword available at that point in the game). For fiesta parties he’s frequently a bit harder, because the -a level spells are starting to wane in effectiveness and it’s right before you reach a town with weapon upgrades.

Speaking of which, you have 11 days to finish the Fiesta. Get to it!

Thrown Into The Rift!

Usually, Gilgamesh is thrown into the rift where he sacrifices himself to defeat the boss guarding the last save point in FF5. However, him getting thrown into the rift is technically optional (Don’t open the chest that contained the Excalipur in Exdeath’s castle) and him sacrificing himself to defeat Necrophobe is also optional (either don’t fight Necrophobe or deal over 9999 damage in a turn to finish him off), so his fate is a little ambiguous. Later games have taken this to mean that he’s a dimension hopping wanderer, making appearances in FF1 (GBA, and versions based on it), FF6 (same as FF1), FF8, FF9, FF12, FF13-2, and FF14. Unlike the other cross-series characters, Gilgamesh acts nearly the same in almost all of these.

Welcome to Eorzea

This brings us to FF14, and a trial so very imaginatively referred to as the “Battle on the Big Bridge”. It’s a bit of a spoiler to explain why you’ve come to this place, but it’s where you face Gilgamesh once again. He even appears right after you open a door, just like in FF5. When fighting him, he takes several of his lines directly from his FF5 lines. His fighting style hasn’t changed much either, with plenty of blue magic and jumps to go around. This is another example of what FF14 is really good at. Along with Crystal Tower, it’s a love letter to several of the previous games in the series. If they continue making content like this (this fight was added in patch 2.2) then I could see myself playing this game for a long time. Maybe Bel’s right, and this can be a new “home” for a while.

For more posts about… everything, check out the Blaugust Initiative. For some D&D math, check out Kodra’s post about DPR for Strength based classes. (Before anyone comments, we both know there’s more to the game than Damage Per Round.)

Gaming, Meta

On Difficulty

August 19, 2014 Ashgar 1 Comment

This is kind of related to what Liore and Belghast have posted recently, but as I just hit on it in two recent posts myself, I figure it’s worth expanding on my thoughts.

My first experience with “difficulty level mockery” was in the Touhou series. All of the games in the series (since the 6th one at least) have 4 difficulty modes: Easy, Normal, Hard, and Lunatic. The first game in the series to release on Windows (Embodiment of Scarlet Devil) locked you out of the final level (and thus, the good ending) if you played on Easy. All of them have some additional text in the difficulty screen, usually mocking you somewhat for picking Easy (although occasionally also mocking you for picking Hard or Lunatic). Ten Desires has the following to say about its difficulties:

Prayer for Health and Long Life	Easy Mode	Hard to die. For those who want to live long as possible.
Prayer for Traffic Safety	Normal Mode	Find a safe way to go. Have a nice trip.
Prayer for Business Prosperity	Hard Mode	If you’re confident in your abilities. You should be able to make a profit.
Prayer for IT Data Security	Lunatic Mode	Asking gods for help is pointless. Don’t play this.

Just for reference, This is Ten Desires on Easy mode:
http://youtu.be/wgtFpcnlrDk

This phenomenon isn’t unique to Japanese games. Syder Arcade’s default difficulty cuts your score in half because it’s for “those who grew up with modern consoles”. (This implication, that modern games are “easier” than those that came before is also common.)

So why do we do this? There are probably players better and worse than you at nearly any game I’d care to name, so why focus on the second? I don’t actually have answers to these questions, or at least not answers that don’t make me sound like a cynical old man.

I’m not sure every game needs selectable difficulty, but games without it should be somewhat carefully designed. Examples I can think of that teach you how to play them before asking impossible things of you include VVVVVV and Shovel Knight. The idea that it’s okay to have a difficulty curve that resembles a cliff is also part of this problem. Many roguelikes are guilty of this, and claim that if you can’t understand them, then it’s not “meant” for you. I’d really prefer if we could be more encouraging to people adjusting to things. Touhouwiki has a page geared toward beginners that helps a lot (although it still tries to discourage starting on easy at the bottom). More things like this, and less making fun of people playing on easy would be appreciated all around.

That got a bit rambly at the end. For more posts about… everything, check out the Blaugust initiative.

Gaming

On New Space Invaders

August 18, 2014 Ashgar 1 Comment

The title of this post is a reference to how Nintendo has been titling their 2D game releases lately. Murf, this one’s for you.

Hangeki

Hangeki is a shooter from Pentavera, and as far as I can tell it’s their first game. Hangeki at first glance bears a very large resemblance to Space Invaders, but it plays pretty differently once you get past initial appearances. The objective is to kill enough enemies to earn a screen-clearing super-weapon (referred to as a Hangeki) and then use it to move on to the next wave. Repeat until you face a boss. Along the way, you can level up and earn some abilities that are powered by your chain meter (it goes up as you shoot things and down when you don’t). It’s somewhat moba-like in that you start each stage at level 1 and unlock abilities as you play, but you can choose what abilities to take in each slot. You can choose what abilities to take and in what order. Additional abilities unlock as you complete and perfect stages.

As for difficulty, the first stage is very easy. The second stage is slightly less so. Things ramp up quickly from there, as enemies expand from simple bullets to lasers and bombs and dashing. (Unlike a certain other game, lasers are telegraphed before they fire, to make dodging possible.) Your ship shoots automatically, but if you’re not hitting anything your chain will break and your power meter will drop, so positioning and planning is fairly important. If you destroy a column all at once, you’ll later break your chain if you’re forced to move to that column to dodge. I’m still learning, and I clearly have a long way to go if the global score table is any indication.

Hangeki comes highly recommended if you like arcade shooters. The combination of pretty lights, customizable weapons, and global high-score tables makes for a pretty enjoyable experience. I liked it more than I was expecting to, and at $10, the price is right.

For more posts about… everything, check out the Blaugust initiative. For ~~why I don’t browse kickstarter anymore~~ a good look at a shooter on Kickstarter, see C.T. Murphy’s post about Hive Jump.