The Effect of Mass
So... exterior repairs are underway. I'm still waiting for the financial stuff to all fall in place, but that'll probably happen toward the end of the month. At least I'm not sweating it so much at the moment. I'm comfortable enough that I picked up Mass Effect for PC, something I'd intended for a while. But hey, I had to do something with that gift card.
Mass Effect
I actually played the Space Siege demo, but found the controls frustrating enough that I'm not bothering with that, so back to a game I have wanted. Mass Effect's controls are... odd. Not perfect, but serviceable. The console roots are pretty clear. I keep wanting to either get into first-person mode and play like a shooter or to be able to pause and deal with things like a turn-based game (like I could in Knights of the Old Republic). Instead, the game sticks with a third-person hybrid of those two that is awkward to me.
The game is pretty, by and large. The missions could have used some more detail in their journal write-ups, though - I frequently find myself guessing at what planet to drop to for a particular quest because I only have a system/cluster name to go on. I've had the game hang on me a couple times, I've fallen off a catwalk to a place I couldn't get out from, and I've seen someone get stuck in a wall. So there are still bugs. The Mako APC/tank behaves more like a remote-controlled 4x4 that defies physics to always end up on its tires. And after the first few side-quests, you notice that most of them reuse the same handful of area layouts exactly. But 90 percent of the frustration I've experienced in the game has come from snipers. Few things suck so much as going through cut scenes, getting into a major fight, then dying in one hit because you were slow to move or get to cover... then having to go through it all again. One-hit deaths to snipers, especially repeated deaths, are not fun.
But for all the technical issues, which really haven't slow me down much, the game is fascinating. The setting is interesting, and has the bonus of being original (not that there aren't common sci-fi elements here). The characters are pretty solid. The storyline is compelling. I'm finished yet, but I've seen a few scenes that have made me go "dayumn" in a good way.
I'm curious to see how it all finishes out, but that's yet to come.
Guild Wars
Minor rant time, and repetition, probably.
I don't like the PvP play. It's an exercise in frustration and feels largely futile. I'm sure there's a way to steamroll the opposing team, kill the guild lord, and bask in triumph. More often, it seems like senselessly tossing everything you can at one target and hoping (often fruitlessly) you down them before they get healed fully. I played one 25-minute skirmish last night, ended up on the winning team, and still came out of it annoyed. Think next time I'll sit it out.
Having a hero with a resurrection ability is not a substitute for having a dedicated healer. Dying frequently is bad, and further frustrating - especially as your change of dying increases the more you die. Go figure. A group really should have someone healing - which includes, but is not limited to, resurrection by spell rather than signet. Our PC warrior/monks aren't going to do it. That does sort of make me wonder why warriors bother taking the monk secondary class if they're not going to heal... but then, I did that with my first character too.
Mass Effect
I actually played the Space Siege demo, but found the controls frustrating enough that I'm not bothering with that, so back to a game I have wanted. Mass Effect's controls are... odd. Not perfect, but serviceable. The console roots are pretty clear. I keep wanting to either get into first-person mode and play like a shooter or to be able to pause and deal with things like a turn-based game (like I could in Knights of the Old Republic). Instead, the game sticks with a third-person hybrid of those two that is awkward to me.
The game is pretty, by and large. The missions could have used some more detail in their journal write-ups, though - I frequently find myself guessing at what planet to drop to for a particular quest because I only have a system/cluster name to go on. I've had the game hang on me a couple times, I've fallen off a catwalk to a place I couldn't get out from, and I've seen someone get stuck in a wall. So there are still bugs. The Mako APC/tank behaves more like a remote-controlled 4x4 that defies physics to always end up on its tires. And after the first few side-quests, you notice that most of them reuse the same handful of area layouts exactly. But 90 percent of the frustration I've experienced in the game has come from snipers. Few things suck so much as going through cut scenes, getting into a major fight, then dying in one hit because you were slow to move or get to cover... then having to go through it all again. One-hit deaths to snipers, especially repeated deaths, are not fun.
But for all the technical issues, which really haven't slow me down much, the game is fascinating. The setting is interesting, and has the bonus of being original (not that there aren't common sci-fi elements here). The characters are pretty solid. The storyline is compelling. I'm finished yet, but I've seen a few scenes that have made me go "dayumn" in a good way.
I'm curious to see how it all finishes out, but that's yet to come.
Guild Wars
Minor rant time, and repetition, probably.
I don't like the PvP play. It's an exercise in frustration and feels largely futile. I'm sure there's a way to steamroll the opposing team, kill the guild lord, and bask in triumph. More often, it seems like senselessly tossing everything you can at one target and hoping (often fruitlessly) you down them before they get healed fully. I played one 25-minute skirmish last night, ended up on the winning team, and still came out of it annoyed. Think next time I'll sit it out.
Having a hero with a resurrection ability is not a substitute for having a dedicated healer. Dying frequently is bad, and further frustrating - especially as your change of dying increases the more you die. Go figure. A group really should have someone healing - which includes, but is not limited to, resurrection by spell rather than signet. Our PC warrior/monks aren't going to do it. That does sort of make me wonder why warriors bother taking the monk secondary class if they're not going to heal... but then, I did that with my first character too.
Anything/Monk. If your profession is one which is designed to attack others, then Monk is used for self-buffing. With Warriors, the trick is to make your attack skills adrenaline-only, and use your mana regeneration to handle Monk Enchantments on yourself. The one which gives extra health, the one which damages your opponent when you get hit, and... of course... resurrection. If your profession is to augment others (Anti-Effects, Ritualists, etc), then Monk as a second class is good, because it helps. You can swap between giving weapon bonuses or augments, and healing or removing conditions. Mesmer/Monk is a shoe-in, Ritualist/Monk is good, as is Ranger/Monk if you're doing traps and beast mastery. Yeah, Shammy didn't realize she screwed up last night.
ReplyDeleteI suppose I can see the theory behind Warrior/Monk (other than the idealistic notion of playing a front-liner who can readily heal himself). But I've yet to see the self-buffing work in practice. With mine, the enchantments would eat too much mana - a scarce resource I still needed for some warrior attacks, whether because I'd lead with them before building adrenaline (and whose idea was it to not have a visible meter of that?), because they help build adrenaline, or because they're just that good. And I had way too few skill points to make the enchantments worthwhile anyway. Of course, it might be better at maximum level with all the skill points available and more skills unlocked. But I don't see any of the other Wa/Mo's in the guild using the visible enchantment(s) either.
ReplyDelete