Hey everyone! Time for another majestic Friday post flown in on the wings of eagles, or something. This week has been a fantastic one for me, filled with lots of content creation and fun. However, something that has really put my week over the top has been being able to watch Summer Games Done Quick 2015. What's that you say? Well, I'm glad you asked!
You see, a few years ago, a group of gamers got together and decided it would be fun to have a marathon gaming session where they completed games as fast as they could and took donations for a charity from the people who watched. Like most great things, it started small but has mushroomed into a huge bi-annual event attracting game players from around the world, but professional and novice. 100% of the money donated goes straight to the charity being supported (currently it's Doctors Without Borders) and it's just generally a great time if you enjoy seeing exactly how broken some games can be.
It's a week long event that happens twice a year in which games of every ilk will be on display. Some of my personal favorites are always seeing some of my favorite role playing games being destroyed in an expedient fashion. Remember Earthbound? Well, it got blasted in about an hour and a half. That's not a typo folks. Now of course, it was what we call a glitched any % run. Meaning, it doesn't matter how you complete the game, you can skip areas of the game, don't have to pick up all the items, and can abuse in game bugs. Other speed running categories can include 100%, where you must pick up all the in game items and hit all areas, Glitchless, where you can't abuse any in game glitches to advance, and other incentive based prerequisites. These can be some of the most fun types of runs, because they can put ridiculous restrictions on the player, such as a Swordless Legend of Zelda run. You can complete the whole game, minus Ganon, without the starting sword. Amazing! (and super difficult) Want to see someone beat Mike Tyson blindfolded? We've got you covered.
mmmm, swag
As the event has grown, quite a swell of support has grown from different corporate sponsors and as such, special products have been made available supporting the marathon that are only available during it. There are special t-shirts available, wall art, and game bundles, of which some or ALL of the proceeds of the sales go directly to the charity as well. When you add in all of the viewer donations along with these proceeds, most of the marathons usually raise above a million dollars during the week of the event. Donating also enters you into random drawings for certain gamer swag, some of which is quite expensive or rare. So, overall, it's just a great thing all around.
This iteration of SGDQ began last weekend and will culminate on Saturday, August 1st with runs of Super Metroid (save the animals!) and Chrono Trigger. (100%, please!) So, if you haven't already checked it out, you still have time! Even if you don't really care much about games, it's still amazing to see people who have near godlike reaction times flying through these beautiful games at an insane pace. So, where can you watch it? Well, you can navigate over to www.gamesdonequick.com and watch from there or you can also catch it on www.twitch.tv. A warning though, turn the twitch chat OFF! It's generally a fairly toxic environment full of negativity and trolls! Anyways, it's great to see something good coming of gaming and I hope you agree and check it out! #GameOn!
Hey, hey! New games are a comin'. Are you ready? Each month I will be bringing you an article detailing some of the exciting and popular new gaming releases for the next month. I won't be covering EVERY great new release, it simply wouldn't be feasible. Instead, I'm just going to focus on a small handful. August's list of new releases almost feels like the calm before the storm. Aside from a few releases, most publishers seem to be gearing up for the holiday season. So, shall we see what's on the horizon?
Why do they always seem to put rain in these?
For fans of the Shadowrun series, Shadowrun: Hong Kongwill be available for the PC platform on the 20th. In this offering from Harebrained Schemes, players will find themselves in a Hong Kong dominated by megacorporations. There will be a single player campaign as well as a level editor for the more hardcore Shadowrun fan. This level editor will allow anyone to create their own content for Shadowrun and share it with other players through the usual outlets. (Steam, etc) If you like your games a bit grittier, darker, and more futuristic, Shadowrun: Hong Kong might be worth your investment. I'm eager to see the graphical rendering of a future Hong Kong dominated by corporations. Neon everywhere? Probably.
Lisa the Joyful is tentatively set to drop onto Steam on the 25th. This is the third game set in the post apocalyptic Lisa universe. In this game, we will be further introduced to the characters of Buddy and Buzzo (Let's play a game!), and we will learn more about the apocalyptic event that caused most of the world's women to suddenly vanish. While the first game was a bit of a mixed bag overall, if this game is anything like the second game, it should be a great play and well worth the pittance it would cost. If you enjoyed Earthbound as a kid, you'll definitely feel the tugs on your heartstrings when you see the animation style. The writing and subject matter is definitely mature, so take that under advisement.
What would an August be without a Madden release? Yep, it's that time again. Madden NFL 16 is going to attempt to intercept your money on August 25th for PS4, PS3, XboxOne, and Xbox360. As of this post, there are two editions of the game available for purchase; the core version and Madden NFL 16 Deluxe Edition. The deluxe edition will set you back ten extra dollars but yields fifty dollars worth of ultimate team packs. Definitely a great investment for people who enjoy that aspect of the game, but this version is only available as a preorder. When the game launches, that deal will be gone. (Likely replaced by another deal, but who's counting) Along with the usual graphical improvements, EA has promised to deliver a "completely transformed passing game" along with a new game mode known as Draft Champions. As someone who has always enjoyed the off the field aspects of the EA sports titles, I'm looking forward to seeing what this mode is all about.
Geralt, is that you?
The last game in our short list of August releases is Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain. Acting as a sequel to Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes, this story follows Punished "Venom" Snake into Africa and Asia as he seeks vengeance for what happened in the previous installment. As is usual with this series, the game leans more towards stealth rather than shooting. Interestingly, Konami is claiming that the game has improved enemy AI that will adapt to the tactics that Snake uses. For example, if you off a bunch of people with a certain weapon, the enemies will start to take care to protect that part of their body with body armor. Hmm.... There will also be base building in the game. From your home base, you can do things such as develop weapons and items for use and recruit units. In the continuing trend of technological integration, you'll be able to access this base from your smartphone. Neat! Anyways, that's only a few of the slew of things the game is claiming to bring to the table, so both new players and fans of the series will probably enjoy this installment. It will be available for consoles (minus the Wii U) on September 1st and then release for PC on the 15th.
Being that this is a new column, I'm still unsure as to how I want to present this information. Should I keep it brief, or go more in depth on the features of the game? I tend to think the former, because the latter could be very, very long for a single post. Regardless, let me know what you think! Hit me up in the comment section below, on my facebook, or on twitter. Until next time, #GameOn!
Hey everyone! It's Friday, so I know that you are all in a fantastic mood, assuming that you have a weekend to look forward to. I know that weekends are rapidly becoming irrelevant, especially to those who are cursed with working in a service industry. Regardless, Friday has always had that special feeling about it to me. Perhaps it's a holdover from being a student and longing for the freedom that the weekend brought. Maybe? Whatever! I'm not here to wax philosophical on the psychological implication of comfort days. Let's talk about games!
So, although I am loathe to pen another article about Path of Exile, it seems that it will just have to do. I'm a pretty big believer in writing about things that you care about or are in your area of expertise, and well, lately I've been eating, breathing, and sleeping this game. I was brainstorming ideas for new Youtube vids and came up with the idea of basically vlogging my efforts during the current race season. So today I'm going to explain a little bit about what racing actually is in Path of Exile. Spoiler; It's fun!
Well played, GGG, well played...
Every few months, Path of Exile releases new "challenge leagues." These leagues are fresh economies where players must start from scratch and build up new empires. Sounds like a terrible idea, right? Well, the catch is that these new leagues have features and changes that are not implemented into the core game yet. So it's basically a very clever way for Grinding Gears Games to fool us into pseudo beta testing an unfinished product. Sometimes, after the challenge leagues the new content makes it into the game as a core feature. Other times, only pieces of the new content make it in. It really depends on the community reaction during the leagues. Also during these challenge leagues, they will have what is called a "race season." Thursday marked the start of the Emberwake racing season. Prior to this season, they've always been called by numerical names, i.e. Season one, Season two. However, this season marks a departure from that naming convention. I suppose this is to highlight the signature feature of this league, fire.
Speaking back towards what racing actually is, the races are (usually) timed events in which fresh characters compete against each other within certain guidelines. For example, a race might be something like 30 minute Endless Ledge. What this means is that the player will have thirty minutes of time to get a character class of their choosing to the highest level they can running the zone Ledge repeatedly. When you finish clearing one ledge and get to the zone exit, you immediately start at the beginning of a new one. You receive points when you finish based on the things that you achieved during the thirty minute timer. Unless you are a very seasoned racer, the majority of the points you get will often come from attaining a certain level. If you hit level 10, you might get 3 race season points. Hit level 15 and maybe the number goes up to 5. You get the point. You can also get points for being the first accomplish certain objectives. If you are the first person to kill a boss in a race, you will almost certainly be given an extra couple of points. If you happen to be in the top 20 in levels for your class at the end, you will be awarded extra points. The race season is kept fresh by having a wide variety of different race events that go on at different times.
In this race season, Emberwake, there are a total of 120 race events scheduled. Yes, 120 events
spread out over the course of a one month period. Now, I'm sure you're thinking, "Why would anyone want to devote such a large amount of time to always making fresh characters?" The simple answer is this: rewards! Each race season comes with it's own set of rewards that you can get for accruing a certain amount of points over the course of that season. Some of the rewards are very easy to get to and even a very casual racer could get them racing only a few times, however, other rewards will be challenging for even the best. The rewards are even more desirable because they are alternate art versions of items that are in the game. So not only can you get some of the nicer items in the game, but they will also come with artwork that may never be available in game again. This can seriously affect the price of these items on the market.
I've ran a few races this league so far, and I'm planning on running a good deal more and documenting my efforts with videos on Youtube. So far, I haven't done very well, but for being new to racing, I think I'm doing fine. Have you ever thought about racing before? If you've raced before, what were your experiences with it? Let me know in the comments section below! Have a great weekend!
Hiyooooooo, I hope all of you had a fabulous weekend. Aside from it being intolerably hot here, mine went swimmingly. Time spent with friends and working on a little somethin', somethin' for you guys to devour. Mmmm...starch! I love me some simulation games and the weirder the better. That's why Holy Potatoes! A Weapon Shop!? caught my eye on Steam. You mean, I can pretend to be a potato while I create weapons for adventurers? Sign me up!
Bulk Bogan, hard at work
Holy Potatoes is a new game published by developer Daylight Studios. They are mainly in the business of making mobile games, so it's not much of a surprise that their game seems like it would be at home if played on a mobile device. For some games, that would definitely be a condemnation of the contents. However, cutesy simulation games seem to hold their own pretty well on any platform, and this game is no exception.
Upon diving into the game, you are quickly introduced to the main plot. Surely fans of the Harvest Moon series will have a smile on their face upon learning that the blacksmith shop was once owned by your grandfather and has been passed down to you upon his demise. We are greeted by a shady character known as Agent 46, who seems driven to help you reopen the weapon shop so he can collect on his 99.9% ownership of the shop. What does this leave you in the shop? To us, it's apparent that it's nothing, but our main character seems to not care as he eagerly gets started following in his grandfather's hallowed footsteps.
The game is centered around your workshop where you forge weapons and then sell them to adventurers from different locations. Not all adventurers are the same, however, and some will pay more $tarch (the game currency) for weapons that suit their interests better. A ranger, for example, might want a bow with a high accuracy stat, but the thief across the room needs a dagger with high speed. As you sell weapons to these adventurers, they use them for, uh, adventures, and gain experience points depending on how well suited it was for them and the craftsmanship. In turn, your weapon shop gains fame which allows you to progress into later areas of the game. It's a fairly simple cycle with just enough bells and whistles to let you get your money's worth out of the game.
Your shop is capable of accommodating a number of blacksmiths, each with their own strengths and
weaknesses. You match their strengths up with the corresponding workstation, and when you are crafting an item, it improves that statistic at a higher rate. The quality of the blacksmith's work is also affected by their mood. Too much work and they get stressed. To combat this, you have to send them on vacations. A few days away, and they come back ready to work! While they are away, you can have your other potato smiths make trips to the store for supplies, explore areas for enchantments and relics, and research using the relics to unlock new things to make. The only stipulation being that at least one spud has to stay at the home base at a time. We wouldn't want our potato dog to be left alone, would we? (Yes, you get a potato dog. Yes, it looks like a potato.)
As you progress through the game, there are many events that can happen and affect your shop and the surrounding area. Some events are minor and will only influence the weapon you are currently crafting, while some events can affect how much money you will get from selling weapons in a certain place or how much experience you will get. I also saw a neat little event where they give out awards for the best weapons crafted that year. Goals! I'm not sure what you get for winning an event like that, but it will be mine, oh yes!
Would you eat the whole thing?
The game is a fun time waster and for fans of simulation games, I could see putting five to ten hours into the game easily. I haven't played into it too far, but there seems to be a good deal of content to unlock for completionists and, of course, the steam achievements. Aside from a few quality of life improvements I wish the game had, such as a buy max button at the store or an option to auto position your potato smiths when they return from an errand, I've really enjoyed spending time with this game. If you like quirky, silly simulation games with a bit of strategy thrown into the mix, you'll probably enjoy Holy Potatoes! A Weapon Shop!?, too. It's available on Steam for 14.99. If you pick it up, let me know how you like it! #GameOn!
Greetings, my little nerdists! Today, I will be introducing a new format of column called "Sorted." The focus of these writings labeled as "Sorted" will be to explain parts of a game that are complex or unintuitive in such a manner that a new player wouldn't feel so overwhelmed by their very nature. I'm not sure if it will be an every Friday type thing or if it will be delivered on an as needed basis. Likely, I will let the needs of my followers dictate this, and thus, ask and ye masses shall receive. For those of you who can't really be bothered to read large walls of text, fear not! I will also be producing accompanying videos for each Sorted blog post. These videos, while visually stimulating, may not quite have the breadth and depth of information in writing, so I recommend using them both in combination for best results.
He looks fairly confident, actually.
As all of you well know by now, I've been playing a great deal of Path of Exile: Awakening since it's release a week ago. I've written a bit about it and some of the responses I've gotten have noted that the game looks fun, but the learning curve is a bit steep. Indeed it is. PoE has a wealth of features in it that can quickly cause a new player with no guidance to become frustrated. Today, I'm going to tackle what I think is one of the most important things for a newer player to get a firm grip on: Loot.
In Path of Exile, loot is everything. Literally. Anything that hits the ground could be useful or valuable. The problem is, there are tons of different kinds of loot in PoE. While some conventions of the ARPG genre are very present here, like rarity tiers on items, others seem alien to a new player. Hopefully today's article will help to get you on the right path if, like many others, you are a bit daunted by all the shinies on the ground. If you are a veteran player, stick around! People may have questions in the comments section or you may catch mistakes I make. (Let me know!)
Time to go swimming..
So, to start off with let's talk about currency. In most games, currency usually is interchangeable with some form of money, be it gold, gil, platinum, et. al. However, Path of Exile is unique in that there is no "gold" in the game. Perhaps the best way to describe interacting with npc merchants and other people in this game would be to call it a barter system. Anyways, enough about semantics, back to currency. There are twenty four, yes 24, different kinds of currency currently in PoE. They all have a different graphic associated with them and make a specific kind of sound when they hit the ground. They range from extremely common (wisdom scrolls and portal scrolls) to painstakingly rare. (Mirror of Kalandra) Currency is also further complicated by the fact that each currency item has a distinct use within the game. For example, a scroll of wisdom does exactly what you would think. It identifies magical items. However, some currencies can do amazing and powerful things. A Mirror of Kalandra creates an exact duplicate of any one item in the game. When used in this manner, the currency is expended after use. So, you are always having to weigh the option of accumulating your currency to buy items from other players or using that currency on existing items you have to improve them in some way. For new players I highly recommend going with the former and not the latter. I'm not going to go into item crafting in this post, perhaps in another Sorted column later, but crafting can be very costly. New players will want to loot all currency. All! No discussion.
Moving on, let's get some basic things about the items you will see out of the way before digging a bit deeper. As I mentioned earlier, Path of Exile adheres to the idea of having different loot tiers. Most items in the game will fall under this color coding. (potion flasks being a notable exception) An item with a white colored name is considered to be of normal rarity, a blue colored name signifies magic, and yellow is a rare, and orange/brown hued names signify uniques. As you would expect, the vast majority of items you will see hit the ground, or drop, will be of the lower rarity tiers.
Another kind of item you can expect to see are skill gems. In PoE, any character can use any skill the game as long as they satisfy the stat requirements of the gem and have an open socket that matches the color of the gem. You insert the gem into that socket and voila! You can now use that skill. Skill gems come in three different colors; green, red, and blue. Each color corresponds to a different primary stat. Green for dexterity, red for strength, and blue for intellect. Some gems do use a combination of two stats, with the higher proportioned stat being dominant and granted the gem it's color. For example, the skill flame totem requires both strength and intellect, but because it requires more strength than intellect, it is a red gem. Skill gems do not drop with rarity, but can have quality. Quality is a percentage roll that can appear on items that will increase their usefulness. On weapons it will increase the damage, on armor it will increase the mitigation statistic of that armor type, but on gems it is wholly dependent on the gem. I feel that as new players it's advisable to collect all the skill gems you see. Even if you don't want to use that skill, you can sell those gems to other players who do. Quality gems are generally worth more than regular gems because they are harder to find. (The exception being extremely low quality gems, like 5%-ish, these rarely sell for more than the normal gem)
Still on the topic of gems, a new feature that was added to PoE with the expansion was new kinds of gems that could be directly socketed into your talent tree. These gems do have different rarities, but do not seem to be able to have quality or drop as white. Meaning, these are always blue or better. Being that it's so early in the expansion, the jury is still out about these guys and their usefulness. Most seem fairly blah, with a few seeing good use. Needless to say, if any of these drop for you, pick 'em up! The metagame in PoE is constantly shifting and items can see insane valuation swings in a very short period of time. Just set aside a spot for these gems and remember that you have them for selling or use.
Now, before we actually get started on what items you should be snagging, let's talk about something that has a great deal of relevance to this topic: sockets. Sockets are of crucial importance because they are where you put the skill gems to enable you to actually use skills. Sockets can only be found on wearable items. Different items can have a different maximum number of sockets. Chests and two handed weapons can have up to six sockets, boots, helms, and gloves can have four, one handed weapons and shields can have three, and rings can have one. Amulets and belts do not currently allow for socketing. Sockets can also have little bridges between them which causes them to be linked. This is very important in the game because it is a prime way with which to increase the power level of your primary abilities. Most end game builds will be running at least one, perhaps two, five or six link skill setups. Sockets can come in the three primary stat colors of green, blue, and red, but can also come in white. White sockets are referred to as prismatic and, you guessed it, can house any color gem. This makes them particularly desirable, but they are generally rare. I won't go into it, but let's just say that most items that drop can't have a prismatic socket on it unless you do some tinkerin'.
Ok, have you got all that so far? Woof. It's a bit of a read, but I'm trying to be as comprehensive as I can while still not belaboring points. Hang in there, we're to the good part now! Let's talk about looting! We will talk about each color in turn, and I think you'll be surprised how quickly it goes.
When you see a piece of white gear keep these things in mind. First, white gear can be sold/bartered to npc merchants for a scroll fragment. Five scroll fragments makes a wisdom scroll. This can be helpful if you are really desperate for wisdom scrolls. (In which case I recommend looting white jewelry, since it only takes up one bag slot) It is also worth looting if you don't have an item in that gear slot. This is usually only applicable at the very start of the game. In fact, the default option within the game's user interface is to auto equip items you pick up to any empty slot. The most likely use you are going to find for white items will be when you see them with three sockets, linked, Red-Green-Blue. We call this "tri color" and these are worth looting because you can sell them to a vendor for a chromatic orb. Chromatic orbs aren't the most valuable currency in the game, but they certainly aren't useless. Chances are that if you stick with the game, you will end up burning through boatloads of these by the end of the day. Regardless, if it's "tri color", GRAB IT! You might consider also looting white items you see with four sockets that are linked, regardless of color. Four linked skills can be a great launching point in the mid to late game until you get better gear. If you happen to see something that has five or six linked sockets, snatch it up! A five linked piece of gear can really shine in most builds and six linked stuff is the pinnacle of power for your skill gems. Six links also fetch a tidy sum from other players looking to do some crafting and improve their own gear. When an item drops that has six sockets, regardless of whether they are connected, loot it. Six socketed items will vendor for seven jeweler's orbs. (Just be sure to not vendor something that's six linked!) Lastly, for white gear, if you see an item with 20% quality on it, loot it. You can sell these to vendors for currency that you can, in turn, use to improve the quality of items you want to keep.
Disregard the rarity, look at the socket colors. Tri color. I will cry if you vendor this.
Hooray, one down, just a bit more to go! It gets much, much more easy from here if you've been paying attention. Take heart! In regards to blue drops, these can be sold to vendors either identified or unidentified. If sold identified, the vendor will offer you alteration shards, twenty of which will make an orb of alteration. These are very useful for both trading and crafting from mid to late game. If vendored unidentified, you will instead receive transmutation shards, and again, twenty of these will make an orb of transmutation. These are not quite as useful as alteration orbs, but still have their place. For what it's worth, once you actually get into the swing of the game, you will very, very rarely be looting blue wearables. It's always possible to have a turn of bad luck in trying to get a rare item to fill a slot, but believe me when I say, it's not worth the time to pick up and loot every blue item you see. Blue items can also have sockets, which means that they also adhere to the looting rules you saw above for whites. Tri color? Loot it. Five or Six links? Into the bag. Six sockets? Done. 20% Quality? Yessir. A notable exception is with four linked blue items. As a new player, you won't want to loot these unless they are tri colored. Why? Well, it has to do with crafting. It's much more expensive to craft on a blue item than a white item. There are more in depth things we could discuss, but it's simply not within the scope of this post.
See, that wasn't so awful was it? Yellows are where it's at. Chances are, these are going to be what you will spend a majority of your time sifting through. Personally, I loot and identify all yellow items, unless I'm running through a low level zone for a specific purpose. They vendor for more of the transmutation and alteration shards, and if you're lucky, you might actually get some alchemy shards. Twenty alch shards combine to make an alchemy orb and these are very useful. If you just can't be arsed to pick up ALL the yellows you see, adhere to the rules I laid out above and you'll still do fine, you just won't build up as much currency. Or maybe you will! Maybe in the time I would spend identifying all of those extra yellows, you'll have a super rare unique drop worth a dump truck of exalted orbs. Oh! Yeah, we didn't talk about uniques.....
What a glorious thing
LOOT THEM ALL! Granted, most will be junk or only good for leveling, but you might be surprised at how much some of them will sell for or how useful they can be. I remember on one of my first characters I had a unique amulet drop. Being that it was very low level and didn't look very impressive to my untrained eye, I tossed it in my stash and thought nothing of it. Later, I showed it to a friend of mine with an exponentially larger amount of experience than myself and he said, "Mate, that's the neck you want to wear for end game, congrats!" So when in doubt, don't throw it out. We have stash tabs for a reason.
*panting, hands on hips, bent over just past the finish line* Excuse me, sir? Sir. You need to do a cool down lap. *grumbles and starts running again*
Just kidding! Although I do want to share a few more tips or words of wisdom with you that aren't necessarily related strictly to looting.
Be patient! Compared to other action role playing games that are currently on the market, Path of Exile is designed to be much more of a slow drip of uniques. Consequently, the ascent up the power curve is often slow as well, but rewarding.
As a new player, I would generally avoid the general chat channels. All of them. It might sound like a good idea to pop into trade chat and ask for a price check on an item, but often these are met with ridicule and scam attempts. It can be frustrating when you want to know how much something is, but it's much better if you save your questions for a reputable source. I'm always available to answer price check questions in game, and if I don't know the answer, I can probably point you in the right direction. SN: Nerdstalgic, in the comments, etc.
A useful website for getting a general idea of the price of an item is PoE.trade. Beware though, it can be a bit of a bear to try and compare yellows for pricing. It's much easier with things that are more standardized, such as uniques.
When you interact with other people, don't take the bait! Because Path of Exile is a completely free game, it attracts the usual crowd of lamers and trolls looking for cheap (free, I guess) thrills. Some people you talk to won't be nice to you and that's OK! Be polite and when an interaction turns sour, excuse yourself from the situation. In the long run, you'll feel much better about acting this way. If you trade often, your reputation can and will follow you around!
I've decided to add another type of "column" to my regular ramblings. I will periodically writing under the heading "hindsight" to reflect on what I've experienced after playing some form of new game content, be it a new game, DLC, or a major content patch. Being that I've spent quite a large amount of time over the past few days with Path of Exile's new offering, I thought it would be appropriate to share some of my insights. Warning, if you are wanting to experience the new content through fresh eyes, there will definitely be spoilers.
My love for Path of Exile hasn't been particularly well hidden to readers of this blog. I've mentioned it a few times in other blog posts and written a whole blog about it prior to release. Here I am now, writing again about it post release. I'm sorry! The currency/crafting system, the story, and the character building have always had my number. Moving on, I was so pumped for this game's release that I immediately logged in when it became available and jumped into the 6000 person queue for entrance into the game. When I finally got logged in, I quickly jumped to the options menu and scanned the various tabs for changes. The first that I noticed was the option for "Lockstep" for networking mode. One of the biggest challenges for Path of Exile has been desync. Imagine this; You're in the middle of a particularly tense mob fight and decide to retreat through a doorway for a quick breather. You make it through the door, take a deep breath, and are instantly pulled back through the doorway into the middle of the mobs you just went through. Frustrating! This is an example of the desync that has been the bugaboo of players since the game originally launched. However, Grinding Gear Games has touted their new system as a resolution to this longstanding problem. I'm about twenty hours deep now and have had virtually zero desync issues, so I'd say they've delivered on this promise. At times, my characters do seem to be suffering from some mild stutter stepping, but I'm not willing to cast a stone at the new system in regard to that issue just yet.
I'll take that...and that...and that
Another new feature that has been particularly well received by many, including myself, is the addition of a loot filter system. Path of Exile is a gambling game. You kill a monster and somewhere in the inner workings of their game server a virtual slot machine sets into motion. Although mine often seems to be broken, sometimes it pays out and you get an item. In fact, as you progress in the game, it's rarer to not get an item from an enemy. If you are very lucky you might get something nice and then you get the accompanying rush of chemicals in your brain. Ahhhhh, dopamine. Back to the point, most of the stuff you will find laying on the ground is garbage. It can be very tricky for newer players to sift through the dirt to find the gold hidden within, but this new option can greatly aid them. Using a .filter file that you (or someone who knows more than you) writes with specifications about the different items that drop, the game will then further increase the visibility of important items. I'm currently using the loot filter "NeverSink" and it works pretty well. Valuable currency item's names pop up highlighted in gold, for example. It makes looting much faster and easier for all players. A+ on this one GGG.
psst..I got a deal for ya..gems!
Satisfied, I closed the options menu and went to work on my new character. As I was working my way through act 1 in the first difficulty I observed that most things were fairly static. I could tell a difference in a few graphical touches. They added a few new mobs types in some of the zones. (parasite controlled sideways walking crabs, yuck) However, something that was quick to jump out to me as a veteran player was the relocation and addition of certain waypoints. In PoE, you have three ways of moving around. You can use waypoints to access any other waypoint that you have found, you can use a scroll of town portal to go back to the town in the act you are currently in, or you can exit the game to character selection and log back in. Before Awakening, some of the waypoints were in seemingly random places, often out of the way or hard to find. Post Awakening, these waypoints have been relocated into better locations that are much more convenient for the player. Another good quality of life improvement. Another QoL improvement was the addition of skill gems for sale in the town hubs. In the old days, skill gems could be hard to find for certain classes because they weren't a quest reward. People would make alt characters, lovingly referred to as mules, to collect quest rewards for gems that they didn't have access to on their other characters. Of course, you could buy the gems from other players, but that also takes money that some players haven't aquired yet. Voila! Now you can purchase quest reward gems from the potion/jewelry vendor in each town. (i.e. Nessa in act one) Worth noting, not all gems from quest rewards may be purchasable by your current class. There still are some restrictions in place, but for the most part they are. This was particularly helpful on quest rewards where I wanted multiple gems, but could only choose one.
I worked my way through the three old acts in the first difficulty, as I've done numerous times before. Often appreciating the small, thoughtful changes that were put into the game. After a few hours, I finally triumphed over Dominus and received my reward; act iv. My immediate impressions of act iv were that GGG has definitely honed their craft at creating content. The different zones all have a distinct feel to them and look gorgeous. The monsters are both simultaneously horrific and awesome. As my leveling partner and I beavered through the content, I couldn't help but notice that the difficulty had been ratcheted up quite a bit. Normal mobs seemed to have quite a bit of health and could become very dangerous in large packs. However, the real danger lies in the bosses of this part of the game. These boss fights are hectic! They feel less like the old boss fights and more like raid bosses from an MMO. Gone are the days of running into the bosses lair, moving to sidestep a few attacks, and grinding the boss into a pulp. Each boss has distinct mechanics that require some form of strategy to overcome. Unless you vastly out gear the content to trivialize it, engaging in a face to face conflict will often result in a very quick death. Often the strategy involves being patient and choosing your openings carefully. Knowing when to disengage is key. At first, I was a bit frustrated with the new bosses. I've been around in PoE for quite a while, and I'm not used to being so sorely tested. However, when I became accustomed to the fights and learned the mechanics, I felt much more rewarded for defeating those bosses. Being able to walk away from a fight and think, hey, I didn't die, actually means something now.
There has been a bit of an uproar through various channels about the difficulty of the act iv content. In response to this, GGG issued a minor patch to address some of the overtuned damage of the last boss fight, but largely left everything else untouched. Message received. It's supposed to be brutal. However, if you are thinking about playing, don't let the difficulty scare you off. Unless you play in a hardcore league, death is never permanent. When you die in a fight, you don't restart fresh and the boss doesn't regenerate health. It's possible to just revive and rush the boss down, if you are struggling with certain fights. You can always ask friends for help! Well, I suppose it's time for me to get back to leveling and looting. If you do decide to pick up the game, add me to your friends list (Nerdstalgicsigh) and I'll toss you some stuff to help you get started. Until next, #GameOn!
Confession time, friends. I'm penning this post a day early and publishing it later. Why? Reasons, of course. Just kidding, Path of Exile: Awakening goes live tomorrow at 3PM and I don't want to have a blog hanging over my head as I play. I do enjoy writing these, but I've got shinies to find! In Monday's blog, I promised that today I would bring something retro to you. And so I shall. Step into the time machine, folks, and I'll tell you a tale of a 15 year old boy and a love affair. *cue the music*
In the fall of 1997, Ultima Online was released unto the masses. It was (and still is) an open world, sandbox MMORPG. The brainchild of Richard "Lord British" Garriot, it's aim was to create a world full of mythical creatures, mystical locations, and mighty warriors. Oh, and also blacksmiths, beggars, and bowyers. The appeal of Ultima Online was that you could be anything you wanted. If you wanted to create a character to roam Britannia with nothing but a handcrafted bow and a bundle of arrows, you could. Perhaps your deep down desire was to make a living as an alchemist, grinding reagents with a mortar and pestle to create potions of varying effects. Or, maybe, you wanted to seek out other people with the intent to strike them down with sword and sorcery. This, too, was permitted. You could own a house and thereby claim a parcel of land on a server. Congratulations, you owned a piece of cyberspace and no one else could take it from you! Well, except for the thief hidden outside the bank. He stole your house key and is looting it dry. (He gets to keep the house, by the way)
The stuff of legends, but necessarily in the traditional sense. I adored this game. I thought about it at school, at home, and probably dreamed about it a bit, too. Looking back, I'm almost positive that what drew me to the game was the thrill of the unknown. When the game first launched, it was "open player versus player." This means that any player can attack any other player at their discretion. Sure, there were places that were guard protected. However, most of the game world was definitely outside of that protection. You always had to be on your guard.
The correct answer is run
Shhhhhh....I think I heard footsteps... *waits ten seconds and then goes back to mining* Corp Por
*dies*
Corp Por are the words of power that would appear over the head of a would be player killer during the casting of the spell "e-bolt." Usually, one of these spells, or perhaps two would be all that's needed to finish off a haggard miner. I know because I was there. I was that miner. A few times even. But what a rush! Never knowing what fresh hell lurked around the next bend in the dungeon or through the next copse of trees.
Minoc 4 lyfe
In the early days of the game, it was a fairly buggy affair. Lag was common, made even more so by the dial up connections we were all using at the time. Most of the snags were tolerable and could even add to the allure of the game. However, some could render the game unplayable at times and very frustrating. I once had a character get "lost" within the game. I don't mean lost on the map and I couldn't find my way back to town. I mean the screen turned completely black. For all of the characters on that account. Quite unfortunate for my friends, as there were about four of us (all teenage boys with an addiction) sharing that account. This was back before (gasp) computers started becoming more commonplace in all homes and internet was even more rare. Only one of us actually had a computer and dial up, so we would all try to make a pilgrimage over to his house on the weekends. Then we would drink deeply of the game in eight to ten hour marathon shifts. If you were lucky enough to get there first. You would know when your shift was over because you'd feel the twitchy eyes of another junkie boring holes into the side of your head. At which time you would inevitably collapse on the bed in the sweltering bedroom born of bodies and frenzied computation.
The game was quite a success upon release. If you look at the subscription numbers compared to now, it seems very small, but for the time it was astronomical. Within six months of release, warts and all, subscription numbers reached 100,00 people. More importantly, the foundation was being laid for other games to follow in its wake. People often forget, or cite incorrectly, that Everquest came first. However, EQ came out almost a year and a half after UO released. Asheron's Call would come out six months after Everquest. I think it would be fair to say that while World of Warcraft may have made MMOs "cool", and Everquest made them "more accessible", Ultima Online was definitely what started the domino rally of the MMO craze we currently live in. I mean, really, who hasn't played an MMO?
Well, I wasn't asking you, anyways!
If you have a wont, you can still play Ultima Online. There have been numerous changes over the past eighteen (wow) years, but the core concept remains the same. Owing to the fact that the game was made with an isometric overhead view and 2-d graphics, it honestly doesn't look that bad, if you don't mind it not being 2-d. I've always found the look charming and it's certainly easy to discern what you are looking at. It's one of the few remaining MMOs that hasn't went free to play, however. You have to pay for the game itself and also pay a monthly fee. If you're bored and looking for a fun time, you could always slide on over and take advantage of the fourteen day free trial. When I'm feeling nerdstalgic, but don't want to shell out the money to reactivate my account, I usually go this route.. Usually by the end of the free trial I've sated my nerdstalgia and move on.
Have you ever played UO? Thinking of giving it a shot? Leave me a comment with your thoughts on Ultima Online below! #GameOn
Whao, what the hell, you say? A Wednesday blog? That's not what you said you'd be doing! Mwahahahaha...(cough, choke, cough)
No caption really needed, right?
Wellllllll, you're right! However, I thought I might write a little somethin', somethin' today just letting you guys know where we are and where we are going in the immediate future with the content. So, grab a beverage and relax with me while I lay it all out.
So, this whole purveyor of entertainment content has been something rumbling around in the back of my mind for quite some time. I flirted with it a bit during my time in Korea, only to find that it wasn't really an option. Unbelievably, the location we were living at didn't possess upload high enough to stream content to the level I wanted to produce at. I wasn't quite at ease with the notion of making Youtube vids just yet, and blogging, while an option, didn't seem as effective as a stand alone product. In my mind, all three work together in harmony to provide something (hopefully) to entertain you regardless of the medium you prefer. Want to hang out with me live? Check me out on Twitch.tv. Can't be around when I'm twitchcasting? Youtube. Crave something a bit more intimate and on a personal level? Well, you're here already, aren't you? (or, Facebook, I suppose) So, now, having found myself in a better situation technologically and logistically, I'm ready to put forth a product that I feel I can be proud of.
I spent most of today working on and researching computer specs, thinking about needed upgrades, and recording software. In my dabbling before, I had opted to use OBS (Open Broadcaster Software) because it was cost efficient. Free is hard to turn down when you aren't sure exactly how far you want to stick your toe in. However, today I took the plunge and bought a three month license for Xsplit in the hopes that it will aid me in content creation. It will work for both broadcasting and local recording (Twitch and Youtube, respectively) and was not terribly expensive. To be sure, there are much, much more expensive products available out there. I just don't think they are necessary at this point. I'm thinking that the stars will be aligning for video content to begin rolling out by mid next week. I could begin sooner, but I like to make sure all the boxes are ticked and that my vest has enough flair on it before I go in for my shift. I'm having to make the switch from wireless connectivity (convenient) to wired prior to starting for stability reasons. So there will be getting the necessary components for that and set up involved.
Give me a minute..ah, damn, it's gone.
As far as what kind of content I will be starting with, well....I plan on streaming Path of Exile to start. I will be putting up a broadcasting schedule sometime prior to starting, so that you will know in advance when you can tune in and hang out with me. Youtube recordings will be more strategy-y (really), so I will probably be firing up some sort of Crusader Kings 2 series, Europa Universalis 4 series, or perhaps Dwarf Fortress. These will ALSO release on a schedule. At the start, the Youtube stuff might be more of a trickle. I'm unfamiliar with video editing, but familiar enough with the process to know that there is work involved. I plan on adhering to the blog schedule that I currently have set up for the near future. The absolute last thing I want to do is offer something that I can't deliver on. I think the key is to start slowly, see what works, and build on that, rather than rush in with a slew of sub par scheisse. Let's do it right the first time. Okay? Okay.
You guys are in on the ground floor of something that I hope will grow and become something phenomenal. Let's build it together! I'll see you for Friday's blog post, where I'm going to be writing something a little retro. Until then, #GameOn
Well, hello there! I thought that today I'd write a little bit about the forthcoming expansion for Path of Exile that is due out this week. I'm pretty excited. In the past I've spent quite a bit of time playing Path of Exile with great enjoyment, but had stopped in the past few months due to stagnation. However, the new expansion promises things to make the game fresh again, so I'm sure that I'll be hooked again for a month (or three).
If this was a real tree, it would just be the top, folks.
Path of Exile is an action role playing game with a strong multiplayer component published by New Zealand company Grinding Gear Games. It's 100% free to play. There is nothing to buy and no hidden cost. You simply create an account and download the client. The game makes money through what GGG calls "ethical micro-transactions." Most of these micro transactions are cosmetic effects for your character, your character's items, or the skills your character uses. They are also transferable between characters, so you don't have to continually re-buy effects that you really enjoy. As far as gameplay goes, it's very comparable to the Diablo series. I like Diablo, but I prefer Path of Exile due to the greater depth of character customization and how skills work. Skills are allocated through points you get from leveling mostly, but also from some quests. You allocate them into "nodes" on a massive skill tree that is very similar to the sphere grid from Final Fantasy 10. The abilities that your character can use are not locked based on the class you choose. Instead, you loot gems from drops and quests that you then socket into your weapons and armor. Sound familiar? Anyways, the game really ticks many of the boxes for someone who is both a fan of Diablo and the Final Fantasy series.
Sure is dark in here
The new expansion, "Awakening", is the second major expansion for Path of Exile since its original release date of October 23rd, 2013. In this expansion, players will be introduced to act IV, set to the north in Highgate, with the accompanying new quests and monster types. The new story line centers around the awakening of a beast that has been laying dormant under the earth. Apparently, as part of act IV, adventurers will be going inside of the beast to destroy it from within. Sounds like equal parts Chrono Trigger and Contra, I'm sold! Of course, with this major content release, there will be a slew of new skills, new items, and tweaks to the aforementioned skill tree.
However, something I'm personally looking forward to the most is the new "deterministic lockstep" system they are introducing to combat desync. Desync is when, because of lag, there is a discrepancy between where your computer shows your character and where the actual game server registers your character at. This is what causes "rubber banding". It's annoying in non-hardcore leagues, but it's extremely dangerous when playing hardcore leagues. You rubber band, you die. Have fun re-rolling! So here's to hoping that this new system gets that sorted. They've also said that they are adding more international servers, which should help the sizable crowd of players from around the world.
I'm also really looking forward to seeing how the new unique jewels interplay with the skill tree. You will be able to socket these gems into certain areas of the tree to change the modifiers the tree gives you. For example, certain parts of the tree are very heavy on a certain ability score, like strength. If you were wanting to play a caster character, you'd much rather those "nodes" become intelligence. So, using one of these unique gems, you will effectively be able to change the bonus to something much more useful to your character's build than strength. It looks as if the gems will have different rarity levels, akin to other items in the game, so that more powerful gems will be much harder to get.
And of course, there're the leagues. The place where all new players should get their start. Fresh economies, bootstrapping, 'Murica! The two leagues that will start on the 10th are "Warbands" and "Tempest." As usual, one will be a standard league (re:no permadeath) and one will be hardcore (re: you die, bye bye). The Warbands league is defined by warring clans that have spread across the map. Apparently, when you engage a group, they will use complimentary skills and work together to take you down. At higher levels, they might even have a leader with them to guide them and failing that, kill you. In "Tempest", there are magical whirlwinds located across the land with various powers that can help you, hurt you, or do the same to your enemies. At first blush, it sounds quite a bit like the shrines that already exist in the game, but I have faith that GGG has crafted something fresh and engaging. Both leagues will have unique items specific to only their league, so if you want to collect them all, you'll have to play both leagues. Also, there will be a new set of challenges for these leagues. Completing these challenges will grant you a totem pole decoration for your hideout that will grow in height with each one you muscle through. Having completed some of the challenges for leagues before, a few will be simple, but most will be time consuming or hard. Good luck!
Path of Exile: Awakening will release Friday the 10th of July at 1 PM PDT/3 PM CST. If you are playing, feel free to add me to your friends list. My id is....."Nerdstalgic." Ta-daaaaaa! See you in game, hopefully!
Hello everyone! I hope you all had a wonderful 4th of July setting fire to incendiary devices of Chinese make and engorging copious amounts of animal products. As promised, today I'm going to deliver to you the second half of that ridiculous tale I started on Friday. Truthfully, I could probably write a post everyday about the tomfoolery that goes down in my various forts. (Yesterday, I clubbed an ettin to death with crossbows. Yay.) However, I realize that Dwarf Fortress isn't for everyone and thus, I won't. Besides, writing these things out is a bit exhausting. Too damn long.
ONWARD!
When last we left our intrepid dwarfs, we were in the middle of a lycanthropic nightmare. A surviving were-possum-dwarf (in humanoid form) was alive in the fortress, a ticking time bomb. Because of the dwarfs reticence to attack one of their own, I knew that I would have to take matters into my own hands and construct a "dwarven atom smasher." It's not nearly as fancy as it sounds. It's basically just a drawbridge that you tell the offending dwarf to stand under. You raise it up, you lower it down and voila. Deleted. As in, there aren't even any body parts left to inter in a coffin. (Bonus points if another dwarf sees you do it.)
So, I dug out a passageway away from the day to day goings on of my fort, lest someone accidentally wander in while justice was being served. Built a lovely 3x2 bridge of the finest schist and designated a corresponding area for daddy's little monster to wait in. sigh. He wouldn't move over there. Now, before you think that DF is some sort of buggy and broken game, stop. It does have its share of bugs, yes. However, getting your dwarfs to do exactly what you want them to do, when you want them to do it can be rather arcane. You can't just click on a dwarf and say "do this." I don't want to go into the specifics of dwarf management because ZZZzzZzZz to most of you.
Anyways, as I was trying to coax him under the bridge, he raged out again. Dwarfs scattered, blood sigh. So, I act quickly, I designate those three to go to the DAS for "justice" and draw ragged gasps of breath waiting to see if they will do it. Thankfully, two do amble over under the bridge and await their fate, however, another dwarf already found his way into a hospital bed. He wouldn't budge.
Accurate.
flew, and my militia charged. End result; the offender died, took a few dwarfs with him, and infected three more. Including my broker, who is responsible for trading with other civilization's trade caravans.
Not wanting to waste time, I quickly pulled the lever (or had a dwarf do it) to raise and lower the bridge. Only, for some reason, it didn't catch one of the dwarfs. Hilariously, the dwarf managed to dodge back out of the way of my death trap, only to turn around as his accomplice was deleted from existence. As he was busy freaking out, I yanked the lever two more times to soothe his nerves. Two down, one to go. Over the next few minutes, I tried everything I knew to coax that dwarf out of the hospital. I undesignated the hospital. I deconstructed the bed around him. All in vain. Ultimately, I ended up having to construct a wall at the foot of his bed, so that I had two walls to hook a bridge onto. Then I built a tidy bridge directly on top of him, connected it to a lever, and lowered it down...while he was in the bed. The ultimate painkiller, he was completely gone when I raised my bridge back up. I then had to deconstruct the bridge, the wall, and the lever. It was worth it though, my fortress had survived the lycanthropy scare. Ready to march on and see what fresh hell tomorrow might uncover.
Exhausting!
If you've stuck with this until the end, bravo! I'll be back with another blog post, oh, tomorrow. I suppose. Until then #GameOn!
Yup, it's Friday, so that means it's blog post time. While I intend on increasing the frequency of my postings, I think that I'm at the very least going to stick with a regular Monday/Friday posting schedule that has a theme. While I haven't 100% settled on either day's theme yet, I'm leaning towards Friday being some sort of a conglomerate week in review/what Nerds been up to post. In the meantime, I need to think of some sort of snazzy title for it. So, if you think of anything fitting, toss it down in the comments below. Thanks!
If you've followed @nerdstalgic (and if you haven't, shame on you, naughty readers) you know that I've been beard deep in dwarf shenanigans this week. I fully intended on picking Europa Universalis 4 back up to put in some playtime before other shinies arrive next week, but alas, the dwarfs had other plans. I had a pretty amusing (re:unfortunate) set of events (re:a shitstorm) that I plan on describing at the end of this post because it's a rather long tale and that way if you have no interest you can just tune it out without fear of missing any of my juicy words. Ha.
So, unless you've been living under a rock (or in a fallout shelter) you probably heard that Fallout 4 is finally coming in the fall. Ah yes, the game we have been eagerly awaiting. Patiently dealing with false leaks and misinformation to
be rewarded with our prize. Remember, remember the 10th of November, because that's when it hits the streets, folks. This time the game is going to be set in Boston and I'm eager to see how the landscape compares to Fallout 3, which was set in Washington D.C. Certainly, I expect the game to look better graphically, but short of Bostonian landmarks, what will make this bombed out metro area look different? I've been pleased to hear that the crafting system is going to be much deeper. Supposedly every lootable item in the game will have some sort of crafting purpose, which is both a blessing and a curse for me. You see, I have a problem with in game hoarding. Horrible, I know, but when I know that something might be of potential use to myself or an ally I desperately cling to it. Here's to hoping there is some sort of swanky storage system in game. You'll be able to construct and deconstruct buildings in the game and build your own base. Maybe I'll just build an underground vault and wait out the game. Like, whoa.
They've also said that the main character will be completely voiced and that the interactions with other characters will feature much more fleshed out options, a la Mass Effect. This excites me a fair deal, because in other fallout games I'd usually talk to a character once and then potentially never interact with them again. Waste. The idea of having a more living experience with the setting sounds great. The game engine that they will be running is different than the previous Fallout games. This time they will be using a modified version of the engine that Bethesda used for Skyrim. So, for those of you following at home, we have loads of crafting, in depth dialogue options, and Skyrim style exploration. Minecraft + Mass Effect + Skyrim = ? The game seems very ambitious in scope and I look forward to seeing if it will meet the absurdly high expectations that the Fallout brand carries with it or crumble under the weight of promising too much and under delivering. Let's hope for the former.
DWARF FORTRESS ALERT! IF YOU DON'T CARE ABOUT DF, ABANDON HOPE NOW!
Stay awhile, and listen!
So, I had a bit of an "adventure" the other night while playing Dwarf Fortress. By adventure, I mean that I spent an hour dealing with a problem in my fortress. As I had mentioned in my previous DF post, lycanthropy is a real threat to a dwarven civilization of any size. All it takes is a mere scratch from someone who is under the effects of a full moon and that being will turn on the next full moon. In game, this means that the affected creature will heal fully on the full moon, go beserk, shred any clothing they are wearing (think Bruce Banner), and attack any living thing they can get their hands on. Their strength is a multiplicative factor of the strength of their base form, so a were-human is vastly more dangerous than a were-weasel. I could be wrong on that point, and if someone knows otherwise, please let me know in the comments!
Anyways, I had recently started a new fortress. Things had already taken a small sour turn in the form of thieving kea birds. They like shiny things (or really, just anything they can wrap a talon around), so they stole a bar of coke, (the fuel, not the drug, although a coked up kea would be a few orders of magnitude worse. They could probably loot my whole fortress in about five seconds.) a training axe, and a copper pick. I hurriedly assigned the remainder of my supplies to be brought into the fortress and the keas contented themselves with flying around and stealing logs.
A few more seasons went by, but progress was slow. One season, I attracted no migrants. This slowed down my ability to create a functioning militia to deal with outside threats. Then, danger struck. A were-possum-human sheriff attacked my fort. Now, if you are unfamiliar with the game, that looks like a bunch of ridiculousness, so let me explain. It was a human who was bitten by a were possum. After this happened, they probably killed everyone else in their settlement and took to wandering around the created game world. As you are playing in your fortress, the world around you is also evolving. It's very neat. Back to the story, I had no military. I realized that my only hope to save my people was to hide them under my fortress. So, I told all of the people to go to the deepest level of the fortress, in hopes that he wouldn't find his way down to us before he reverted back to human form. I also made the decision to leave my animals in their pasture in front of the entrance to my fortress. Call it a peace offering, a distraction, or just a buffet, more time munching my critters is less time eating my dwarfs. Largely, my plan worked. I had a fisherdwarf get caught outside fishing and was killed immediately. The plus side was that he had distracted the were human far enough away from my fort that he didn't seem to interested in coming back. After he reverted, I gave chase with some dwarfs armed with copper picks, but to no end. He escaped.
Finally, I was able to scrape together a few tough dwarfs along with some of the dregs of dwarf society to create my first militia unit. I built them a barracks and set them to training immediately. Time passed and everything was going fairly well until my game suddenly paused and I got a pop up informing me of the return of the were human. Unfortunately, this time we didn't detect him until he was basically standing right above the cave mouth entrance to my fortress. I ordered all civilian dwarfs to run inside and sent my rookie militia out in hopes they could deal with the problem. They met just outside of the mouth of my fortress and a fierce battle ensued. I could tell that things weren't going as well as I had hoped from the sizable amount of blood splatters hitting the ground all around the site of the melee. After they finished off the monster, I opened up that health screen to see the damage to my dwarfs. My worst fears were confirmed. Two dwarfs were listed as being cut open, a sure sign that they would turn on the next full moon. Two others had body parts that were smashed open, which wasn't as certain an indicator. I also had a black rabbit that was bleeding heavily for some reason, but showing no signs of wounds. I quickly took action, and carved out two quarantine rooms with the intention of confining the two sure bets and the rabbit together and putting the two question marks in the other room. I could've carved out a third room and further segregated the other two that I wasn't sure about in an attempt to further triage any potential damage, but the days were slipping by quickly.
The dwarfs wouldn't move out of their hospital beds.
Yep, it's about that time
Regardless of everything I tried to get them out of their beds, they absolutely refused to move. Perhaps their injuries limited them from movement, or perhaps it's just the coding of the game to confine sick dwarfs to their beds until they are better. I was running out of time, so I decided to forbid passage on the hospital door and wall it off. I was able to "pasture" the rabbit inside of one of the rooms, effectively locking it into place, but when I sent a dwarf to wall it in, he walled himself in...with the rabbit. Frantically, and while cursing quietly, lest I woke up my slumbering wife, I ordered another hole dug in the wall. After the hole was dug and the dwarf safely exited the room, I again ordered for a wall to be built to entomb the rabbit. As the last piece of the wall went into place, to my horror, the same dwarf from earlier scurried into the room and the dwarf who constructed the wall finished it from the inside, again. aoisdfoisndoian !
Tick, tock. Tick, tock.
Flush with thoughts of a were rabbit with huge pointy teeth killing two dwarfs, I ordered another hole dug, then ordered a door built. I then forbid passage on the door and built a wall on the other side of the door. Problem solved. Now, there was naught to do but wait. Obsidian 28th, I remember the day well. In the hospital room, the two that I was sure were infected transformed into hulking, rabid versions of themselves and proceeded to butcher the other two dwarfs. Indeed, they had not been infected during their initial exposure, but were still doomed to death. After killing the two innocents, one of the monsters died of blood loss, leaving one were-possum-human-axedwarf straddling a hospital bed. I waited a few more days until he reverted and then ordered my militia to attack him, only they wouldn't. To prevent certain things from happening in game, you aren't allowed to attack dwarfs when they aren't in were form. Sigh.
I knew I needed to bring in the big guns to deal with this problem, plus, I was out of patience. We needed a dwarven atom smasher!
Now, as this blog post has grown quite long, I've decided to segment it. I'll post the finale to all these shenanigans in the next few days. (Likely, Sunday)
Hey everyone! Time for another majestic Friday post flown in on the wings of eagles, or something. This week has been a fantastic one for me, filled with lots of content creation and fun. However, something that has really put my week over the top has been being able to watch Summer Games Done Quick 2015. What's that you say? Well, I'm glad you asked!
