Game Comments
Shadowrun Returns
Not really much more to add, in spite of questions. I've played a few user-created stories and they vary from short, boring, and repetitive, to pretty good - but still short.
Borderlands 2
Late to the party, but I picked this up. Random-gear-focused FPS. The cell shading is not my favorite, but doesn't detract too much. The humor of the game is a plus. Handsome Jack is a jerk, but he feels so distant that I find it hard to call him the awesome villain that others seem to think he is. Angel's motivations at the point I'm at really don't make much sense. Overall, it seems fine so far, but isn't going on any "best games ever" list of mine. I may have more to say later on.
Guild Wars 2
Urgh. My annoyance with the direction of the game grows. Not only do I dislike the pressures of constant involvement, but the most recent additions/edits to the game (addition of champion rewards, zones in the Queen's Pavilion, and the watchwork invasions) all push toward zerg play. The most successful/rewarding way to play the game is to run around the map in a big group of players from event to event.
I like that cooperation works, but zerging is brain-numbingly boring. Not in the sense that there's nothing to do and you can get away with not paying attention. No, doing that probably means ending up in a damage area and going down/dying. Instead, there's the frenetic pace of trying to tag as many targets as possible amidst the utter chaos of everything that's going on, the frustration of having perhaps a second to react before being struck down by something, and generally not having any time to understand or care about what's going on.
It was effective-but-boring in WvW and it's effective-but-boring in PvE. That the latest invasion batch asks you to stay involved for close to 45 minutes at a stretch is all the more frustrating to me.
Not really much more to add, in spite of questions. I've played a few user-created stories and they vary from short, boring, and repetitive, to pretty good - but still short.
Borderlands 2
Late to the party, but I picked this up. Random-gear-focused FPS. The cell shading is not my favorite, but doesn't detract too much. The humor of the game is a plus. Handsome Jack is a jerk, but he feels so distant that I find it hard to call him the awesome villain that others seem to think he is. Angel's motivations at the point I'm at really don't make much sense. Overall, it seems fine so far, but isn't going on any "best games ever" list of mine. I may have more to say later on.
Guild Wars 2
Urgh. My annoyance with the direction of the game grows. Not only do I dislike the pressures of constant involvement, but the most recent additions/edits to the game (addition of champion rewards, zones in the Queen's Pavilion, and the watchwork invasions) all push toward zerg play. The most successful/rewarding way to play the game is to run around the map in a big group of players from event to event.
I like that cooperation works, but zerging is brain-numbingly boring. Not in the sense that there's nothing to do and you can get away with not paying attention. No, doing that probably means ending up in a damage area and going down/dying. Instead, there's the frenetic pace of trying to tag as many targets as possible amidst the utter chaos of everything that's going on, the frustration of having perhaps a second to react before being struck down by something, and generally not having any time to understand or care about what's going on.
It was effective-but-boring in WvW and it's effective-but-boring in PvE. That the latest invasion batch asks you to stay involved for close to 45 minutes at a stretch is all the more frustrating to me.
With the last event in GW2 - you don't have to do any of the zerg material. The 'prize' for completion is a transformation potion. If you're not interested in that, skip it. You also don't need to do it if someone else has the gate for the final boss, either. (Samantha has a key, so she can do it now, and take friends in with her). So, yeah. Running with the Zerg? I've mixed feelings about it, but I like it isn't necessary.
ReplyDeleteY'know, there's a point at which the "it isn't necessary" argument sorta falls on its face. When 95+% of an update's content is something I would rather not do, then from my perspective, the company may as well not be putting out updates at all. When the game incentivizes this sort of play, it's saying "this is the game." Sure, you don't have to do it. I also don't have to boot the game up in the first place - which is sort of my whole point.
ReplyDeleteHmm. I guess I'm looking at it from a different perspective. To me, the 'living story' is nice, in that it is a story, and I can watch it unfold. The setting itself is moving forward, at a fairly reasonable pace (one event every two weeks or so). Not everything is earth-shaking, some of it is localized, but overall, it reminds me of what I would like to see in most RPGs. 'Something is happening, you can or can not get involved'. You said something I can agree with though. If the majority of an update is something you're not interested in, then you can treat it as 'not an update'. In which case... there's other things to do in the game, which don't have to be that. The game isn't 'finished', even if you've completed it... places to explore, crafting to do, bosses to defeat, jumping puzzles, dungeons... or just enjoying the vistas and seeing the sights. And when the minigames come out, that'll be something new. :) And the new skills and traits.
ReplyDeleteWhat else is there to do at this point? Like a good (C)RPG player, I want a sense of improvement. And I'm very much into progression of story. The only way to get either right now seems to be to suffer through gameplay I do not enjoy. Map completion means I've explored almost all there is to explore. I've capped 3 crafting skills and while I could do others, there doesn't feel like any point save to blow money. I think I've seen all the world bosses go down, I was even doing "kill all the dragons" runs for a while. I've done all the dungeons at least once - there's some play there that I haven't done, but it would require a group and random groups are far too hurried for me to enjoy the experience. So... what is there? The game is telling me if I want to improve, my options are basically slow, repetitive stuff elsewhere or faster, unpleasant zerg-running. The story updates are brief, impersonal, and mingled in with the mess of zerg-running. So...
ReplyDelete