Well, another day and another boss, though I have not yet gotten her down. Vicar Amelia is the first really "important person" boss, and I know she's a big transition one, as she sets the time of day from evening to night.
The most frustrating thing is that my last attempt, which forced me to set down the controller and take a break, I had her to within 10% of defeat. After many attempts in which I was basically getting two or three hits in, I really thought I'd figured out the boss. I think I may have gotten greedy though. Unlike Cleric Beast or Blood-Starved Beast, you can't just stay right in Amelia's face, as she's got a ton of close-range attacks that are very hard to dodge.
So far, my most effective strategy has been to stay at mid-range, baiting some of her long-duration attacks (there's one ground-pound she does that has a shockwave effect and must be dodged even at range) and then closing in to slash at her legs.
I did also manage to stun her at one point, and got a nice nasty visceral attack on her face.
I knew she could heal, but maybe she sensed I had my Numbing Mist on me, because she never chose to do that.
Between attempts on Amelia, I allowed a Snatcher to kidnap me and freed Arianna and took my first sort of accidental attempt at Darkbeast Paarl. Having Henrik's gear allowed me to survive a bit longer against him than I expected, but I think Amelia's really the next boss for me to down.
Still, knowing that seeing Paarl would (for some reason) allow me to have a friendly interaction with Djura, I went and talked to him and then Bold Hunter's Mark'd out of there, basically figuring I never have to go to Old Yharnam again (except to kill my new buddy and steal his clothes.)
I think that post-Amelia I'll be in the right area to start the DLC content if I choose to get it. I think taking down Paarl next wouldn't be too crazy, though I might instead go do Hemwick (I don't know about the level that leads to the boss, but I'm given to understand that the Witch is very easy. I might even spend all my Insight at the shop to make sure there are very few adds.)
Wednesday, June 1, 2016
Tuesday, May 31, 2016
That Poor Starving Beast, Get Him Some Blood!
Three bosses down and so far no real brick wall.
I've been trying to be thorough as I can, making sure to clear out a much of Old Yharnam as I can. I think I've done so, and pretty early on managed to get a very convenient shortcut that made it pretty easy to get back to Blood Starved Beast without too much of a headache. I spent two or three Insight on summoning Alfred to help with the boss and also upgraded my Flamesprayer up to the same level as my Kirkhammer (+3,) and while the Flamesprayer strategy did do tons of damage, I found myself at a loss for bullets (it really seems pretty feast-or-famine with those things.)
So instead I used some Fire Paper, and boy howdy did that work well. Once using the paper, I managed to down him in two attempts (not total - with the Fire Paper.) I was still poisoned and out of antidote when I killed him, so I lit the lantern and warped to the dream just as I was about to die.
I believe that BSB opens up the first of the Chalice Dungeons, and I figure I should probably check those out soon, but I found myself drawn to a new area that had just opened up: The Church Workshop. While very familiar enemy types, the guys here hit quite hard. I also think I've missed a few of the things found there, but ultimately I got a badge and opened up a shortcut to Vicar Amelia that should make the many attempts I'm sure to make go smoother.
It's a little jarring to so quickly get to the next boss, but then again, I had cleared much of Cathedral Ward before heading to Old Yharnam, so I guess it's not so premature.
Amelia seems similar to the other beast bosses I've faced - encouraging you to get close and dodge around her. But she has some close-quarters moves and one particularly devastating AoE attack that has killed me on the two attempts I've made against her.
Even with the shortcut, getting to her is a bit of a challenge, as there's a Church Giant and a few of the big minister-types who you have to dodge quite carefully to avoid. Still, on attempt one I managed to get Amelia down to about two thirds of her health, and while the second phase is often where these bosses get their obnoxious mechanics, I'm feeling confident that she shouldn't take too many tries.
There's also a summon for a new NPC to assist, though my Madman's Knowledge is a little on the low side and I only have about three liquid Insight. And Alfred wasn't all that helpful in taking down BSB, so...
Right now my only complaint about the game is that I wish Blood Vials would drop more frequently. Or they could give you ten free ones when you die. Still, I love the artistic design and the flow of combat is quite good.
Monday, May 30, 2016
Meeting Padre Gascoigne
Well, it didn't take long for me to get to the second boss of Bloodborne (the first mandatory one, if I understand correctly.) While I have not yet beaten it, it's not quite the ramp-up in difficulty I had been expecting from his reputation.
Father Gascoigne is found in a cemetery, having apparently lost his mind (you know, like everyone in Yharnam) and really demonstrating the self-defeating nature of The Hunt. Right out of the gate, it's clear that you've got to parry him. The biggest issue I've had is that if I miss a dodge or parry, it's really hard to get a free moment to heal. Obviously the regain mechanic is meant to allow you to stay more aggressive, but given that, unlike the Cleric Beast, Gascoigne's all about comboing you, it's much harder to get your full regain and not, you know, die.
I'm definitely feeling myself settle into the groove of the game - a bit like when I got to the Undead Parish in Dark Souls - no longer making tiny incremental progress through the area, but still certainly encountering some danger and frequent death.
The biggest frustration is when you encounter enemies you feel you'd mastered (like the brick-wielding brutes) and screwing up and even dying to them.
The good news is that the blood vials and quicksilver bullets are flowing much more freely now, so with every death to Gascoigne, I'm either breaking even or actually storing up more for later. The guy in the machine-gun wheelchair in the dark house not far from the Central Yharnam lantern is a godsend, always dropping four bullets every time you kill him. Given that I need at least three just to get to Gascoigne (three of the aforementioned brutes, though I might start just using the dark house to circumvent the first two) and then I use a lot of them on the boss, having this guy guarantee a nice bundle each time is quite useful.
I have the Kirkhammer now, and I've upgraded it once (need two more shard to make it +2.) My goal is to eventually get the Logarius Wheel or, should I get the DLC (and manage to get anywhere in it,) the Whirligig Saw. The game's been relatively generous with shards so far - I expected I'd have to get past a few bosses before I could upgrade anything - so I hope I can get all of them upgraded to decent levels.
EDIT: Beat him as well. The trick with Gascoigne is absolutely getting used to parrying with the pistol. Basically, you have to dodge backward for most of his attacks (sadly doesn't work on his own gunshots, but those only do a little damage.) You definitely have to be careful and make sure you've got plenty of space between you when you need to heal. But the massive chunks of health you can tear out of him with visceral attacks makes the parry method really, really effective against him. I think six or so of these attacks got him down.
The other trick here is making sure you start with a decent number of bullets. I highly recommend using blood bullets and just spending a blood vial to heal back up, as I'm finding vials much more frequently than bullets (except my favorite wheelchair-gunner guy.) Be liberal with gunfire (though, you know, still try to time it right) and you can parry both his human-form attacks and his werewolf-form attacks. Learning the rhythm for the latter is tough, as you'll be in the last stages of the fight and probably really desperate to get him down, but at that point one visceral and a few R1s should be enough to take him down.
I'm feeling far more competent after playing the game for a few hours. Like Dark Souls, a big part of the game is understanding your space. You need to know where you can go and where you're in danger of drawing more enemies to you.
Right now I've actually made it to Old Yharnam, but I'm checking online to see any questlines I might have missed. I seem to have missed finding Eileen the Crow in Central Yharnam, but I think I can start up her quests in Cathedral Ward.
The game is getting very generous with Bloodstone Shards, so I've got my Kirkhammer upgraded to +3, meaning it now needs Twin Bloodstone Shards. Thankfully that means that the rest can be saved for the Logarius Wheel or Whirligig Saw when I get them eventually.
I don't find myself using the transformed version of the Kirkhammer too much, though I have used it on occasion. I'm thinking a future character will probably go Skill and use the Threaded Cane as his/her starting weapon, but I'm definitely not far enough to feel ready to try out alts.
Father Gascoigne is found in a cemetery, having apparently lost his mind (you know, like everyone in Yharnam) and really demonstrating the self-defeating nature of The Hunt. Right out of the gate, it's clear that you've got to parry him. The biggest issue I've had is that if I miss a dodge or parry, it's really hard to get a free moment to heal. Obviously the regain mechanic is meant to allow you to stay more aggressive, but given that, unlike the Cleric Beast, Gascoigne's all about comboing you, it's much harder to get your full regain and not, you know, die.
I'm definitely feeling myself settle into the groove of the game - a bit like when I got to the Undead Parish in Dark Souls - no longer making tiny incremental progress through the area, but still certainly encountering some danger and frequent death.
The biggest frustration is when you encounter enemies you feel you'd mastered (like the brick-wielding brutes) and screwing up and even dying to them.
The good news is that the blood vials and quicksilver bullets are flowing much more freely now, so with every death to Gascoigne, I'm either breaking even or actually storing up more for later. The guy in the machine-gun wheelchair in the dark house not far from the Central Yharnam lantern is a godsend, always dropping four bullets every time you kill him. Given that I need at least three just to get to Gascoigne (three of the aforementioned brutes, though I might start just using the dark house to circumvent the first two) and then I use a lot of them on the boss, having this guy guarantee a nice bundle each time is quite useful.
I have the Kirkhammer now, and I've upgraded it once (need two more shard to make it +2.) My goal is to eventually get the Logarius Wheel or, should I get the DLC (and manage to get anywhere in it,) the Whirligig Saw. The game's been relatively generous with shards so far - I expected I'd have to get past a few bosses before I could upgrade anything - so I hope I can get all of them upgraded to decent levels.
EDIT: Beat him as well. The trick with Gascoigne is absolutely getting used to parrying with the pistol. Basically, you have to dodge backward for most of his attacks (sadly doesn't work on his own gunshots, but those only do a little damage.) You definitely have to be careful and make sure you've got plenty of space between you when you need to heal. But the massive chunks of health you can tear out of him with visceral attacks makes the parry method really, really effective against him. I think six or so of these attacks got him down.
The other trick here is making sure you start with a decent number of bullets. I highly recommend using blood bullets and just spending a blood vial to heal back up, as I'm finding vials much more frequently than bullets (except my favorite wheelchair-gunner guy.) Be liberal with gunfire (though, you know, still try to time it right) and you can parry both his human-form attacks and his werewolf-form attacks. Learning the rhythm for the latter is tough, as you'll be in the last stages of the fight and probably really desperate to get him down, but at that point one visceral and a few R1s should be enough to take him down.
I'm feeling far more competent after playing the game for a few hours. Like Dark Souls, a big part of the game is understanding your space. You need to know where you can go and where you're in danger of drawing more enemies to you.
Right now I've actually made it to Old Yharnam, but I'm checking online to see any questlines I might have missed. I seem to have missed finding Eileen the Crow in Central Yharnam, but I think I can start up her quests in Cathedral Ward.
The game is getting very generous with Bloodstone Shards, so I've got my Kirkhammer upgraded to +3, meaning it now needs Twin Bloodstone Shards. Thankfully that means that the rest can be saved for the Logarius Wheel or Whirligig Saw when I get them eventually.
I don't find myself using the transformed version of the Kirkhammer too much, though I have used it on occasion. I'm thinking a future character will probably go Skill and use the Threaded Cane as his/her starting weapon, but I'm definitely not far enough to feel ready to try out alts.
My First Visit to Central Yharnam
Well, I got Bloodborne.
Once again, From Software is using its absurdly steep learning curve for the earliest portions of the game. Though in this case there isn't even really an Undead Asylum equivalent. You simply get dropped into Central Yharnam early on and have to fend for yourself. I've managed to get to the Cleric Beast and make a few attempts before deciding one in the morning is probably late enough to call it a night.
Having played Dark Souls, but only recently (and only about halfway through, by my estimates) I thankfully have clear in memory the utter pain-train that was my first trip into the Undead Burgh - that earliest area prior to the Taurus Demon in which I must have died twenty times simply getting the feel for the game.
My death count in Bloodborne is already pretty high, though I have to blame one particular Executioner for several of these deaths. I wanted to try out my parrying skills with the gun, and unfortunately they have proven... ineffective. The brutes who try to smash you with a brick, however, have fallen to my parry/visceral combo many times, so I think it's a question of figuring out the timing.
Having played a heavy-armored knight character in Dark Souls, the lack of a shield is really pretty world-changing in this game. Combat is much faster and I definitely have to get used to the new pace of dodging and also making sure that I'm completely out of the way of enemy attacks.
I'm at an early stage, only having leveled up twice. I picked a class that starts with a high Arcane stat, though in retrospect I probably should have started with Strength or Vitality. Those are what I'm leveling up at the moment, and I think I might swallow my pride and grind a little until I'm at least even on those stats as I am with Arcane.
I definitely wish Blood Vials came more frequently. Thankfully they drop multiple at a time on occasion, but I certainly miss the guarantee of at least 5 Estus charges when you respawn.
One thing that's kind of interesting is that the insane detail of the world actually makes it easier for enemies to camouflage in there. I've definitely mistaken a sleeping Yharnamite or two for a pile of rubble or garbage.
Oddly, while I haven't beaten him, fighting the Cleric Beast has made me feel more competent than the preceding area. Once again, I wish that I had more Blood Vials available (I also wish I hadn't wasted my Molotov Cocktails on my first attempt - if I had waited until I could get him down to where I got him on my last attempt, I'd probably have beaten him by now,) but I'm also finding it something of a relief that I only have this one big enemy to keep track of, and not a million torch-and-pitchfork-wielding jerkwads with their freaking dogs.
Luckily I have a shortcut unlocked to get to the Cleric Beast easily, so making attempts is not too hard (plus there's a guy who is guaranteed to drop quicksilver bullets, so I've got a crapton of those.)
I'm eager to get the boss down and get the Kirkhammer (which I'll be using until I get Logarius' Wheel or the Whirligig Saw if/when I get the DLC.) I'm also eager to get him down so that I can get those delicious boss echoes and level up hopefully a couple times.
I'm assuming that, much like Dark Souls, this first area is going to force you to learn the mechanics fast, and subsequently will even out a little as you get better and also get enough blood echoes to level up a decent amount.
I've also gotten a couple of bloodstone shards, but I'm saving those for the Kirkhammer.
Incidentally, the music that plays when fighting the Cleric Beast is really epic.
EDIT:
The following morning I feel a lot more competent, partially because I downed the Cleric Beast. I realize he's one of the easiest bosses (appropriate, given that he's the first) but in any Souls-like game, getting any boss down feels pretty good. I found that I was able to recover a lot of health through regain, given that many of his attacks are single hits that leave him open for a while.
I've definitely grinded a bit, but even with that effort I still don't actually have the stats for the Kirkhammer (I'm one Strength shy at this point.) Granted, my starting class did emphasize Arcane, which I figure I might be thankful for later on when I actually get to use the stat for something (other than item discovery.)
But I also think I'm just getting a better sense for the rhythm of the game.
If I get to a point where I'm getting more Blood Vials than I'm using, I'll be pretty happy with that system, but I really think they ought to give you like forty when you first start the game. I also miss the Dark Souls system where you can reset the world and get your Estus/Health back by simply resting at a bonfire instead of having to go all the way back to the hub, though I understand that all the other Soulsborne games have had the hub mechanic.
Once again, From Software is using its absurdly steep learning curve for the earliest portions of the game. Though in this case there isn't even really an Undead Asylum equivalent. You simply get dropped into Central Yharnam early on and have to fend for yourself. I've managed to get to the Cleric Beast and make a few attempts before deciding one in the morning is probably late enough to call it a night.
Having played Dark Souls, but only recently (and only about halfway through, by my estimates) I thankfully have clear in memory the utter pain-train that was my first trip into the Undead Burgh - that earliest area prior to the Taurus Demon in which I must have died twenty times simply getting the feel for the game.
My death count in Bloodborne is already pretty high, though I have to blame one particular Executioner for several of these deaths. I wanted to try out my parrying skills with the gun, and unfortunately they have proven... ineffective. The brutes who try to smash you with a brick, however, have fallen to my parry/visceral combo many times, so I think it's a question of figuring out the timing.
Having played a heavy-armored knight character in Dark Souls, the lack of a shield is really pretty world-changing in this game. Combat is much faster and I definitely have to get used to the new pace of dodging and also making sure that I'm completely out of the way of enemy attacks.
I'm at an early stage, only having leveled up twice. I picked a class that starts with a high Arcane stat, though in retrospect I probably should have started with Strength or Vitality. Those are what I'm leveling up at the moment, and I think I might swallow my pride and grind a little until I'm at least even on those stats as I am with Arcane.
I definitely wish Blood Vials came more frequently. Thankfully they drop multiple at a time on occasion, but I certainly miss the guarantee of at least 5 Estus charges when you respawn.
One thing that's kind of interesting is that the insane detail of the world actually makes it easier for enemies to camouflage in there. I've definitely mistaken a sleeping Yharnamite or two for a pile of rubble or garbage.
Oddly, while I haven't beaten him, fighting the Cleric Beast has made me feel more competent than the preceding area. Once again, I wish that I had more Blood Vials available (I also wish I hadn't wasted my Molotov Cocktails on my first attempt - if I had waited until I could get him down to where I got him on my last attempt, I'd probably have beaten him by now,) but I'm also finding it something of a relief that I only have this one big enemy to keep track of, and not a million torch-and-pitchfork-wielding jerkwads with their freaking dogs.
Luckily I have a shortcut unlocked to get to the Cleric Beast easily, so making attempts is not too hard (plus there's a guy who is guaranteed to drop quicksilver bullets, so I've got a crapton of those.)
I'm eager to get the boss down and get the Kirkhammer (which I'll be using until I get Logarius' Wheel or the Whirligig Saw if/when I get the DLC.) I'm also eager to get him down so that I can get those delicious boss echoes and level up hopefully a couple times.
I'm assuming that, much like Dark Souls, this first area is going to force you to learn the mechanics fast, and subsequently will even out a little as you get better and also get enough blood echoes to level up a decent amount.
I've also gotten a couple of bloodstone shards, but I'm saving those for the Kirkhammer.
Incidentally, the music that plays when fighting the Cleric Beast is really epic.
EDIT:
The following morning I feel a lot more competent, partially because I downed the Cleric Beast. I realize he's one of the easiest bosses (appropriate, given that he's the first) but in any Souls-like game, getting any boss down feels pretty good. I found that I was able to recover a lot of health through regain, given that many of his attacks are single hits that leave him open for a while.
I've definitely grinded a bit, but even with that effort I still don't actually have the stats for the Kirkhammer (I'm one Strength shy at this point.) Granted, my starting class did emphasize Arcane, which I figure I might be thankful for later on when I actually get to use the stat for something (other than item discovery.)
But I also think I'm just getting a better sense for the rhythm of the game.
If I get to a point where I'm getting more Blood Vials than I'm using, I'll be pretty happy with that system, but I really think they ought to give you like forty when you first start the game. I also miss the Dark Souls system where you can reset the world and get your Estus/Health back by simply resting at a bonfire instead of having to go all the way back to the hub, though I understand that all the other Soulsborne games have had the hub mechanic.
Friday, May 27, 2016
Major Legion Lore Reveals
This isn't really organized or part of some particular recent Beta build. But it's information that has come to my attention recently, and we've got some pretty big whoppers. This is, of course, all big spoiler territory, dealing with at least the Paladin Order campaign (though given the gravity of the information, I wouldn't be shocked if all classes get in on some of these plot developments.)
Anyway, now that there's enough of a buffer for people reading on an RSS feed, let's do a cut and deal with spoilers.
Anyway, now that there's enough of a buffer for people reading on an RSS feed, let's do a cut and deal with spoilers.
Thursday, May 26, 2016
Building My PS4 Library
It's always weird when you have a brand-new console. A console has a whole library associated with it, and particularly with one that has been out for a while, there are clearly a lot of places to go.
I recently got a few big expenses out of the way well, well under-budget, so I felt I could afford to splurge a little.
I got the PS4 with the Nathan Drake Collection bundle - which is itself a compilation of the three PS3 era Uncharted games remastered for the PS4. On top of that, I got the Witcher III.
I'm loving the Witcher (I like Uncharted, but it's definitely not as deep a game as the Witcher,) and part of me feels like I shouldn't get any new games until I've beaten it, but another part of me says "feel free to take your time with this one." The Witcher has a pretty intense story, but I also think I'm at a good breakpoint, having dealt with what I imagine is the biggest quest chain in Novigrad (could be wrong, though, as it's a big city,) and I feel like picking it up again later wouldn't be too terrible. I haven't even gone to Skellige yet, so I figure there will be a good "new beginning" if I wind up taking a break from it.
So my new purchases:
First is Bloodborne. This one's a no-brainer because it's basically the main reason I got a PS4 instead of an Xbox One (Microsoft's console seems to have a much better backwards compatibility system, but we still have the 360, so that's less of a draw.) No, I still haven't beaten Ornstein and Smough in Dark Souls, but I'm really too curious to find out how different Bloodborne feels (I'm going to guess it's easier between bosses, thanks to the ability to find Blood Vials all over the place, but that bosses might be tougher because the game's built around dodging rather than blocking.) I haven't decided what sort of build to start off with - I did find a hybrid Strength/Arcane build online that focuses on Logarius' Wheel (one of my big determining factors for what build I use is how ridiculous my weapon will be, and that's got to be one of the most ridiculous.)
Oddly, looking at Amazon, it's actually like 50 cents cheaper to buy the game and The Old Hunters DLC separately, so I figured I'd get the base game and then if I'm feeling eager, I'll pick up the DLC when I get around the level required to start it.
The other purchase was Grand Theft Auto V. I cannot tell you how many hours I've spent dicking around in GTA 3, Vice City, and particularly San Andreas (the latter being the only one I personally owned.) I don't know if there's any other franchise that is as good at just plain making it fun to wreak havoc. There's a lot of talk in the theory of games (not Game Theory) about "extrinsic" versus "intrinsic" rewards. Having you farm a dungeon to get some cool piece of gear? Extrinsic. That dungeon being a total blast to fight your way through? Intrinsic. GTA has, in my experience, been great at intrinsic rewards, making it plenty of fun to just drive like a maniac and blow everything up.
So I'm excited to play a newer game. We had GTA 4 for the 360, but the disc cracked and while it was playable, we didn't want to risk breaking the console if the disc suddenly flew apart or something, so I never really got to play much of 4.
So that should round me out quite well. I guess I just need a quality FPS (perhaps Fallout 4 or maybe one of those Far Cry games, which I've never played.) I could also use a traditional JRPG, and I'm excited to hear about a new Square Enix game called I Am Setsuna, which looks to be mechanically based on the original Chrono Trigger, which is probably my favorite RPG of the SNES era (which was definitely Squaresoft's Golden Age.)
Anyway, the whole reason I got a new console was to open up new horizons of gaming possibilities, and already I'm feeling good about it. I'm not getting rid of my Wii U or anything, I'm just patiently waiting for Zelda and occasionally doing a round of Smash Bros.
I recently got a few big expenses out of the way well, well under-budget, so I felt I could afford to splurge a little.
I got the PS4 with the Nathan Drake Collection bundle - which is itself a compilation of the three PS3 era Uncharted games remastered for the PS4. On top of that, I got the Witcher III.
I'm loving the Witcher (I like Uncharted, but it's definitely not as deep a game as the Witcher,) and part of me feels like I shouldn't get any new games until I've beaten it, but another part of me says "feel free to take your time with this one." The Witcher has a pretty intense story, but I also think I'm at a good breakpoint, having dealt with what I imagine is the biggest quest chain in Novigrad (could be wrong, though, as it's a big city,) and I feel like picking it up again later wouldn't be too terrible. I haven't even gone to Skellige yet, so I figure there will be a good "new beginning" if I wind up taking a break from it.
So my new purchases:
First is Bloodborne. This one's a no-brainer because it's basically the main reason I got a PS4 instead of an Xbox One (Microsoft's console seems to have a much better backwards compatibility system, but we still have the 360, so that's less of a draw.) No, I still haven't beaten Ornstein and Smough in Dark Souls, but I'm really too curious to find out how different Bloodborne feels (I'm going to guess it's easier between bosses, thanks to the ability to find Blood Vials all over the place, but that bosses might be tougher because the game's built around dodging rather than blocking.) I haven't decided what sort of build to start off with - I did find a hybrid Strength/Arcane build online that focuses on Logarius' Wheel (one of my big determining factors for what build I use is how ridiculous my weapon will be, and that's got to be one of the most ridiculous.)
Oddly, looking at Amazon, it's actually like 50 cents cheaper to buy the game and The Old Hunters DLC separately, so I figured I'd get the base game and then if I'm feeling eager, I'll pick up the DLC when I get around the level required to start it.
The other purchase was Grand Theft Auto V. I cannot tell you how many hours I've spent dicking around in GTA 3, Vice City, and particularly San Andreas (the latter being the only one I personally owned.) I don't know if there's any other franchise that is as good at just plain making it fun to wreak havoc. There's a lot of talk in the theory of games (not Game Theory) about "extrinsic" versus "intrinsic" rewards. Having you farm a dungeon to get some cool piece of gear? Extrinsic. That dungeon being a total blast to fight your way through? Intrinsic. GTA has, in my experience, been great at intrinsic rewards, making it plenty of fun to just drive like a maniac and blow everything up.
So I'm excited to play a newer game. We had GTA 4 for the 360, but the disc cracked and while it was playable, we didn't want to risk breaking the console if the disc suddenly flew apart or something, so I never really got to play much of 4.
So that should round me out quite well. I guess I just need a quality FPS (perhaps Fallout 4 or maybe one of those Far Cry games, which I've never played.) I could also use a traditional JRPG, and I'm excited to hear about a new Square Enix game called I Am Setsuna, which looks to be mechanically based on the original Chrono Trigger, which is probably my favorite RPG of the SNES era (which was definitely Squaresoft's Golden Age.)
Anyway, the whole reason I got a new console was to open up new horizons of gaming possibilities, and already I'm feeling good about it. I'm not getting rid of my Wii U or anything, I'm just patiently waiting for Zelda and occasionally doing a round of Smash Bros.
Tuesday, May 24, 2016
Movie Inspired Transmog Now Live on WoW
Along with a few rather positive things said about the upcoming Warcraft movie (in the New York Times, even! Though take it with a grain of salt, as this is not an official review yet,) if you log in today or for the next two months, you'll get a set of transmog gear along with a letter from either Varian Wrynn or High Overlord Saurfang.
Alliance players will get a one-handed sword and a shield (which suits my protection paladin quite nicely.) Both are quite large. Horde players will get a one-handed axe and a staff (Gul'dan/Warlock themed.)
My understanding is that these models are based off of props from the movies, so if you ever wanted to make your Orc Warlock look like Gul'dan, you won't have much of a better option than this transmog piece.
It appears you'll get one strongbox per faction per account, as when I logged onto my Blood Elf priest after getting the box on my Tauren Shaman, I didn't seem to have one in the mail. But given that the new transmog system will make all these sorts of models account-wide (and I think the items are already bound to account, but with race restrictions to make sure they're on the correct faction's characters,) so it's actually probably for the best that we're not getting cluttered with all these items.
Indeed, once the new transmog system goes live, you should be able to just dump these items and retain the looks (in fact, given that there's an associated achievement, it might even be ok to do so now, but I do not recommend it.)
Warcraft comes out June 10th, I believe. Legion is launching on August 30th, and rumor has it that the pre-patch that will introduce, among other things, the new transmog system, should be coming around July 19th.
Enjoy the transmog, and let's hope this movie breaks the "video game movie curse."
(EDIT: So far, reactions to the movie have been not great. Variety and The Wrap hated it, though the Hollywood Reporter liked it. The NY Times piece wasn't a review, but a piece on director Duncan Jones and the roughness of having his wife get breast cancer just as they were starting and his father dying of cancer earlier this year, the latter event I'm sure you were all aware of. Ultimately, reviews are just reviews, and you should go and see a movie if you think you'll enjoy it. I sure as hell love convoluted fantasy stories, and having the game background should theoretically make it easier for me to enjoy this piece. That said, I'm also a bit of a film snob, so if it really does feel like a cash-in, I might react accordingly.
It's very tough to sort out biases - both those of yourself and those of reviewers. I've felt pretty negative about the modern "hype culture," which is really just marketing by playing hard to the fanbase and allowing them to spread the word. On the other hand, I think that some publications, particularly Variety, have a tendency to review movies the way they think they ought to, rather than based on individual consideration of a movie.
I obviously have a positive response bias toward this film, as I'm a fan of the series on which it is based. And I also want to see game stories make good film adaptations - we've come a long way from plots as thin as Super Mario Bros.
That said, the story for a game is ultimately there to serve the gameplay, not the other way around (though you could make the argument that games like Mass Effect make the real gameplay the story.) And thus, a lot of games' stories work great for an interactive medium but not so much for the fixed medium of film.
Still, one of the biggest draws of the Warcraft universe to me is the idea that the "monsters" are not necessarily monsters. Tolkien had a lot of trouble with his own Orcish creations, as he didn't like the idea of having a race that was entirely evil, which clashed with his egalitarian Catholic views. His solution was to make Orcs into corrupted elves - and thus not exactly "born evil," and instead were evil by definition because Orc basically meant "the elves that are so evil they got mutated."
But Warcraft I think (starting with WCIII) came up with what I think is a cleverer and more interesting solution, which is that the Orcs are actually just normal people who were misled, and still have the potential to be good.
The fact that the movie is emphasizing this is very good. But on the other hand, having a solid philosophical foundation isn't enough to make a good movie. So we'll see. It could be that only hardcore fanboys will ignore the glaring flaws of the movie. Or it's possible that the reviewers decided not to like it before they sat down in the theater.
Or both. And hey, it's all a matter of opinion, right?
EDIT 2: Apparently even Kotaku thinks it's bad. So... such is life.)
Alliance players will get a one-handed sword and a shield (which suits my protection paladin quite nicely.) Both are quite large. Horde players will get a one-handed axe and a staff (Gul'dan/Warlock themed.)
My understanding is that these models are based off of props from the movies, so if you ever wanted to make your Orc Warlock look like Gul'dan, you won't have much of a better option than this transmog piece.
It appears you'll get one strongbox per faction per account, as when I logged onto my Blood Elf priest after getting the box on my Tauren Shaman, I didn't seem to have one in the mail. But given that the new transmog system will make all these sorts of models account-wide (and I think the items are already bound to account, but with race restrictions to make sure they're on the correct faction's characters,) so it's actually probably for the best that we're not getting cluttered with all these items.
Indeed, once the new transmog system goes live, you should be able to just dump these items and retain the looks (in fact, given that there's an associated achievement, it might even be ok to do so now, but I do not recommend it.)
Warcraft comes out June 10th, I believe. Legion is launching on August 30th, and rumor has it that the pre-patch that will introduce, among other things, the new transmog system, should be coming around July 19th.
Enjoy the transmog, and let's hope this movie breaks the "video game movie curse."
(EDIT: So far, reactions to the movie have been not great. Variety and The Wrap hated it, though the Hollywood Reporter liked it. The NY Times piece wasn't a review, but a piece on director Duncan Jones and the roughness of having his wife get breast cancer just as they were starting and his father dying of cancer earlier this year, the latter event I'm sure you were all aware of. Ultimately, reviews are just reviews, and you should go and see a movie if you think you'll enjoy it. I sure as hell love convoluted fantasy stories, and having the game background should theoretically make it easier for me to enjoy this piece. That said, I'm also a bit of a film snob, so if it really does feel like a cash-in, I might react accordingly.
It's very tough to sort out biases - both those of yourself and those of reviewers. I've felt pretty negative about the modern "hype culture," which is really just marketing by playing hard to the fanbase and allowing them to spread the word. On the other hand, I think that some publications, particularly Variety, have a tendency to review movies the way they think they ought to, rather than based on individual consideration of a movie.
I obviously have a positive response bias toward this film, as I'm a fan of the series on which it is based. And I also want to see game stories make good film adaptations - we've come a long way from plots as thin as Super Mario Bros.
That said, the story for a game is ultimately there to serve the gameplay, not the other way around (though you could make the argument that games like Mass Effect make the real gameplay the story.) And thus, a lot of games' stories work great for an interactive medium but not so much for the fixed medium of film.
Still, one of the biggest draws of the Warcraft universe to me is the idea that the "monsters" are not necessarily monsters. Tolkien had a lot of trouble with his own Orcish creations, as he didn't like the idea of having a race that was entirely evil, which clashed with his egalitarian Catholic views. His solution was to make Orcs into corrupted elves - and thus not exactly "born evil," and instead were evil by definition because Orc basically meant "the elves that are so evil they got mutated."
But Warcraft I think (starting with WCIII) came up with what I think is a cleverer and more interesting solution, which is that the Orcs are actually just normal people who were misled, and still have the potential to be good.
The fact that the movie is emphasizing this is very good. But on the other hand, having a solid philosophical foundation isn't enough to make a good movie. So we'll see. It could be that only hardcore fanboys will ignore the glaring flaws of the movie. Or it's possible that the reviewers decided not to like it before they sat down in the theater.
Or both. And hey, it's all a matter of opinion, right?
EDIT 2: Apparently even Kotaku thinks it's bad. So... such is life.)
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