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
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?
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.
