I’ve been playing Secret World a lot after playing the final
Guild Wars 2 beta; I’m trying to get to the final area before the first
content patch drops and the inevitable nerfs and changes. I’m constantly
struck by how good the characters are. Story is always something I look forward
to seeing in games but the Secret World is the first MMO where the characters
are even memorable. Certainly TOR had great companion characters with pretty
good back story but those characters were made to be good from the ground up,
aside from a few cool characters (here’s looking at you, Thana Vesh),
most NPC’s were completely forgettable. Guild Wars 2 NPC’s are up
in the air, but likely to be as memorable as cheap vanilla ice cream, but
Secret World dares you to care.
Saturday, July 28, 2012
Friday, July 27, 2012
The Greatest Trailer
The new Planet Side 2
trailer came out a couple days ago and continues the tradition of spectacular
video game trailers. My younger brother works for Diamond Age games, a small little
startup game developer. He’s trying to make his initial trailer and so I
thought to myself what makes the great trailers, not only in among themselves but
for the games they represent. Here are five of the best in no particular order.
Tuesday, July 24, 2012
A Better Sequel
I watched The Dark Knight Rises today, it was amazing. I was awestruck
after that movie, Christopher Nolan made comic book movies incredible, he
probably singlehandedly legitimized them as serious movies. I was struck the
most by how good the story was and how uncompromising his vision was to the
trilogy he forged. I don’t often get that feeling with video games,
I’m passionate about them but they don’t always instill passion in
me.
Monday, July 23, 2012
A Primer to Guild Wars 2: Hype and Reality
You will give the
people an ideal to strive towards
They will race behind
you, they will stumble, they will fall
But in time, they
will join you in the Sun
In time you will help
them accomplish wonders
-
Jor-El, Man
of Steel
Thursday, July 19, 2012
Hypocrisy in Writing
I’ve noticed something for a while now, a hypocrisy that at the
same time amuses me and rather irritates me . I’ve said
before how the game media loves to beat the drum about one issue or another.
One issue that is coming up again and again lately is sex in video games, by
which is meant the sexualization of women in video games. Whether or not I
believe that video game writers even have a true concept of what is wrong in
the industry in terms of that issue I am struck by the complete lack of recognition of the irony of
the argument.
Saturday, July 14, 2012
The Power of the Passive
This week in The Secret World I’ve focused on getting some of
the passives I thought would strengthen my character. Since the last article I’ve
focused entirely on my DPS Chaos/Sword deck. I changed all my gear to critical
hit chance and penetration. In Secret World the better the gear you have, from
green to blue to purple the more specialized it becomes, so that a fully DPS
decked character might actually have less HP than when he first started with
all greens. It means playing smarter and insuring that the solo or team deck
you have has a lot of DPS, because it’s killed or be killed and your margin of
error is practically nil.
Monday, July 9, 2012
The End of the World As We Know It
As I sit before my computer I am forced to realize that
something amazing has happened, I am enjoying The Secret World. It’s not just
that the story is driving me forward, it’s not just that I listen to the launch
trailer before I start playing every day, it’s not even that I am thrilled with
the skill system and thus character development
in a way I haven’t been in a long time; I am enjoying the Secret World for the
sum of its parts. And what parts they are! From the undoubtedly eccentric
mission system, to the unbelievable this-isn’t your-usual-MMO Dragon opening
shot across the bow (Dragon 4 Life!), to the skill system that will take days
to understand and years to master; The Secret World is constantly shaking the
way MMOs can be played. The Secret World is unwavering in its commitment to let
you go the easy way. Yes like any good spoiler you can Google things and get a
bit of a cheat sheet but there are times when you are just awestruck that it even
works, that you even care.
Monday, July 2, 2012
Miracle Day
‘These are the times that make men stride across the skin of
the world’
- Torchwood:
Miracle Day
When I heard those words, while watching the trailer of
Miracle Day for the first time I swear I had goose bumps, such words they were.
They were full of greatness and awe-inspiring, like the words of the poet Lord
Tennyson’s “Ulysses” ‘Death closes all: but something ere the end/ Some work of
noble note, may yet be done,/ Not unbecoming men that strove with Gods’. While
it wasn’t quite as great a season as the legendary Children of Earth season, it
didn’t disappoint me; those words were a promise fulfilled of the greatness
that the fourth season of Torchwood would unveil.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)