Thursday, December 4, 2014

No Man's Sky

If you know me, I tend to get fairly excited about upcoming games. Almost to an unhealthy degree. I bought the Super-Duper Enhanced Collectors Edition of Star wars: The Old Republic. I Ran a progression raiding guild, and eventually just quit, mostly because of all the bugs that were in the end game content. I haven't played since the game went free to play, but I hear good things. That may be something Amnry and I might need to try. Another example is The Elder Scrolls Online. Yet again, I spent too much of my money on a game that really wasn't as fleshed out as it should have been. I stopped playing that one almost 2 months after starting. Now, some of you may be of the opinion that this is how most MMO's are. I actually enjoy most MMO's. I played WoW for years, Loved Eve Online(despite it's difficulty curve), and have enjoyed Diablo in all it's iterations(though some would argue it's not an MMO.)

A complete ecosystem, with mega-fauna, plant-life, birds, etc.
What I'm trying to get across, is that I can sometimes get caught up in hype. But I don't let the hype cloud my judgement of the game once I actually get a chance to play it. That being said, there's a game coming out soon(Early 2015), that just tickles my fancy. It's called No Man's Sky. One of the things that really caught me was it's procedural generation. I LOVE Procedurally generated games, especially roguelikes and roguelites(examples being Dungeons of Dreadmor, The Binding of Isaac, and FTL). The idea of having a game with a core mechanic of exploration including procedural generation was just an astounding concept. And from what the developers and other reviews explain, the way the generation works, how the seeds populate, you can have an infinite number of worlds, each with it's own special ecosystem with flora and fauna native to it's world.

Another boon this game shares is it's lack of loading screens. In a few game-play videos I've seen, you can be walking on a planets surface, hop into your ship, leave the planet, encounter space battles, trav
el to another planet, gain entry, land and explore a new planet without a single load screen. That's just immersive. To the right is a video showing just that. It's 100% game-play video, no cinematics or cutscenes.  It really is hard for me not to be excited for this game. I know from previous experiences that my hype may get deflated upon release, but I sincerely hope that's not the case. If this game is everything it claims to be, Amnry and I can play together, exploring new worlds, hand in hand.

Wednesday, December 3, 2014

Divinity: Original Sin

They're holding hands, isn't that cute?
This blog started because I was complaining that I couldn't play the games I wanted with my fiance, either because she had no interest, or the games were too hard for her. she's not a pro, and FPS's, or games that request clutch decision making may not be the best thing to start with. I'll develop those skills in her, and make her a true gamer.

In the mean time, I was looking for games that can be played Cooperatively, and could account for a slower player. I was searching on Steam, and online sources(at the moment, we're only gaming on PC's), and eventually found Divinity. Now, I ran through a check list in my head. Turn based combat. Fantastic, this means that when combat happens, she can take her time, and think about what she wants to do without getting flustered about time constraints. Extensive Roleplaying elements. This was a boon as well. We've both played our share of tabletop games like D&D, Pathfinder, WoD, etc. Roleplaying is fun, and something we both value in a game. Reactive game environment. Now, this is just plain cool. I even used it as a selling point to get her to want to play it. Basically, there's 4 elements of magic, and they all interact with each other. Pools of poison are combustible, so a fireball can turn into an explosion. Water conducts electricity, so zapping a guy standing in water zaps everyone standing in the water. pretty fun. And lastly, we are two distinct characters, that are independent of each other.

Zombie toll trolls are a thing.
Lets go a little deeper into the game itself. Now, Apparently, Divinity:Original Sin is the latest in a long run of games in the universe. To be completely honest, neither of us were familiar with the existing world, or it's history. But the game gives you a little primer as soon as you start. Basically, it goes like this. Magic is everywhere, but kind of looked down upon. Why? cause it's tempting to use Source Magic! Source magic comes from the source, which used to be wonderful, and the source of life. but something, somewhere tainted it. Now, people who use source magic are akin to necromancers, and raising zombies to do your bidding is just plain bad(It's a common theme in games with magic. Borderline cliche there.). Anywho, you play as source hunters, people who have some strange authority granted to them to go hunt down people who practice this forbidden magic.


When creating characters, it's on one screen
Character creation is interesting, because no matter what you choose, you're really not shooting yourself in the foot. Every class, and every character, has access to learn every ability or spell in the game. As you level up, you allocate skill points into their respective fields. You can start of as a purely magic using wizard, and start spending points on armor use, and fighting skills 5 levels in. You can balance a certain build in mind, or just grab whatever suits your fancy. What me and Amnry did, was play 2 vastly different characters. She, a spell caster, and I a fighter. My character focused on 2 handed weapons, and armor with ALL the resistances, she buil a little of everything, spell wise. It's also worth noting, that you get to control 2 additional NPC characters, that you can recruit. One thing I really enjoyed about this, is I could control both of them, while Amnry just controlled herself. We started play with each of us controlling one other, but I could tell, pretty quickly, Amnry was getting flustered and overwhelmed. The fact that I could easily swap the NPC's to exclusively my control was pretty cool.

The last thing I thought meriting mention was the way dialogue worked. In most conversations, the person initiating the dialogue gets control, but any time there's a "big decision" that can have effects on the game, it corrals both players into the dialogue. Each player chooses what they like. If both players agree on one option, the dialogue proceeds. If not, the characters in the game argue with each other, and an in-game version of Rock-Paper-Scissors occurs. winner is deemed more dominant, and gets to choose. I fell it's a pretty cool system, because it lets you truly role play. When Amnry and I play, we oddly match up in allot of our dialogues. but now and again, we butt heads(An allegory for our relationship, I'm sure). We duke it out over RPS, and winner gets to choose.

All in all, this game is pretty fun, both for myself, the avid gamer, and for my fiance, the not-so-pro. I find myself sometimes fighting the urge to micromanage her, but it really isn't so great, as I have 3 controlled characters to her 1. Further, there are many times she even asks me what she should do. I can easily shrug, and tell her to do what she would like, and because of all the elemental interactions, there's allot that can happen as a result. It really gives her the autonomy of playing, rather than watching, and and experience I've been finding both of us crave at the end of our respective work days.

Overall, I'd give this game a 9 out of 10, for the fun it provides, and the great Co-op features.

SO Gaming



I seem to have a problem. It’s one I feel I share with a great many others, but generally get no sympathy for. The problem you ask? I’m a gamer. “But Axis,” I hear you ask, “That’s not a problem, that’s a life choice!” Well, I argue, it is a problem, at least for me. You see, I live with my fiancĂ©, Work full time, and when I come home after a long day I like to sit at my computer/console, and veg out, sitting next to my Significant other, while watching some tv to the side. Well, the problem, you see, is that I get very little interaction time with my fiance. Amnry, my Fiance, enjoys games too, but not really the same kind of games I do. I’m sure you’re familiar with the type. She enjoys The Sims, word searches, hidden image games, plants vs zombies, etc. allot of the games that fall into the “Casual” genre. There are other games she enjoys though, like Katamary Damaci, and Soul Calibur. These are fun games, and are indeed games I can play with her, but the problem I have, is that I want MORE games to play with her. Another issue I run into, is that Amnry HATES using WADS. Controlers are fine, as are mouse controls. I try to teach her how to hold her hand, but she gets frustrated when she isn’t an instant adept. And here’s part of the problem. I, being a gamer, tend to micro manage Amnry, usually when she plays a game that I’m super familiar with and love. She doesn’t enjoy it, and I sure as hell don’t, because now I’m playing by myself, with two controllers, and a noob behind one of them. I want to play WITH her, not next to her.

Online searches have given me allot of sites that cater to co-op. Co-optimus.com, being a good one, Wikipedia articles for co-op games in list format, and other one shot articles of “here’s the best cop-op games to play” but from what I can see, I could not find a site that catered to what I wanted. Games that I could play with my SO(Significant Other), that weren’t the mindless casual games that I don’t really enjoy. Games that a novice gamer, and a hardcore gamer can like together. So I decided to make one.

I’ll be posting reviews for games that I enjoy, as a relative hardcore gamer, that my fiancĂ© is able to play with me. I’ll do my best to give points that articulate why I enjoy it, why she does, and if there’s much of the micromanaging hell I want to avoid, or frustration I want my SO to avoid. Lastly, I’ve named this blog SO Gaming, meaning these review are not meant to be for a Gamer Guy, to play with his non-gamer girlfriend. Its catered to Gamers of any sex or gender, whom want to play with their SO, if that happened to be a bromance, a romantic partner, or with your kid.