Redwolf's Journal (continued)

... on panels from conventions I totally didn't go to. I watched two different convention panels on Saturday, thanks to the wonders of the internet. The first was the Fate: Grand Order panel from AnimeExpo, celebrating the one-year anniversary of the US release of the game. It started half an hour or so late - which probably speaks more to the difficulties in coordinating a fairly large anime convention than anything (as we're talking an expo in LA with somewhere around 100,000 attendees). It was... lackluster in general, though had a certain charm. You had your guy running the show who came across as more a hype man than a developer for the game, regularly trying to get bigger reactions from the crowd. Then they brought out two voice actors and a translator. The VA's talked a bit about coming to the con - for one of them, it's their first time at the con (possibly in the US at all, though I don't recall). They showed off a few photos from their visit. They wer...

I feel like the few things I can vent out of my mind recently are all spoilerish. How much should one protect people from spoilers, though, when they probably won't even see the source material? Hmm... Well, here there be potential spoilers, anyway. With some newish access to Netflix, I was easily able to get caught up on the latest (6th?)season of Voltron: Legendary Defender. I like the show and the development of the setting and characters for the most part. This season has some major ups and downs. On the one hand, it's getting to explaining and elaborating on a good number of things that were hinted at before. Lotor and Haggar's histories and perspectives lose some mystery. Keith and Krolia get to explore details of their past via (very convenient) time disruptions. We get a little bit of a love triangle going on. We find out what's up with Shiro. We get some Altean reveals. And even if it took up basically a whole episode, I enjoyed seeing the group playing Mon...

It's a bit odd to run through such a range of thoughts and feelings toward a game in the space of a couple days... Friday, I got some time in running Warframe with Samantha and the guild she's in. This was a generally positive experience, though it did emphasize just how bad I am at small-talking during a game (as if that was in doubt). The question of why I hadn't joined the guild came up, which got me thinking some. I really did expect a little more push when that was first mentioned. There are a lot of in-game advantages to joining a bigger, more active, guild. The only thing I give up is some feeling of accomplishment/self-reliance. I had considered that previously, and I think the conclusion I reached was I would be willing to take the leap as long as I felt there was some acknowledgement/validation of the work I had done. But the discussion had been dropped, which was fine too. This time, there was a bit more pressure, and a new angle presented itself as I conside...

A ton of balance changes went live this last week, affecting frames and weapons. When you get down to it, though, I don't think any of that particularly changes things for me. No, the changes for me are not so mechanical. I've managed to get a few hours of play in as a group, and that is a radical change. Easy missions become laughably trivial. While I haven't done any real higher-difficulty ones with others, having a group of four removes a great deal of challenge - to the point where it might be hard to get 30 kills (an occasional bonus affinity requirement) because things are dying too quickly. On the one hand, it's nice to be able to gain quick affinity with things. On the other hand, it removes some sense of accomplishment as well. And that bring me right to a big question. I now have the opportunity to join a reasonably-active clan. Doing so, however, would mean leaving behind the clan I made myself in order to research/unlock items. The clan in question is ...

There's a definite appeal to the "building up" portion of games. It's often perceived as integral in RPGs (though you could have a roleplaying game without advancement). It draws players in for strategy and survival games. It's there in mobile gacha games. And yeah, I kind of love it. It can only last so long, though. Either you reach a point of equilibrium. In survival games, you reach a point where resources aren't so much of an issue. In a strategy game, the building up and advancing slows and is replaced by war with neighbors. In an RPG, you reach a cap of levels and gear. Or the game scales with you, in which you may be able to advanced "infinitely," but it doesn't matter because the opposition advances with you. I'm approaching 200 hours in Warframe, and I haven't actually hit that moment yet. I've run into a few "soft" roadblocks that blocked progression for a few days while I had to build up. I've now made it...

With the big project consuming much time and focus out of the way, I look back toward games a bit... I've still been getting a little time here and there into Warframe . While it can be a little grindy at times, it hasn't burned me out. It's generally fun to play. And I've actually managed to get everything together to make my first constructed (started with Excalibur initially and Frost Prime from a Twitch freebie) warframe: Ivara. That's a little exciting because it's one of a handful of frames that have stealthy abilities. Using it will mean learning some new ways to play trading off Frost's higher armor and awesome bubble shield for invisibility. I'm eager to see how that plays. Some would say the game is brave for unlocking new aspects for players only after so many hours of playing. Frankly, I think it has more to do with the iterative game design. Either way, it's unusual. As for new, I decided to buy Destiny 2 . I haven't managed muc...

So Warframe just released it's Plains of Eidolon patch. What is it? Well, it is not quite what the term "open world" conjures to me in an online multiplayer game. Technically, I guess it fits, but to me the phrase implies running around, crossing paths with other people, and doing stuff. Really, POE adds two main things. One is Cetus, a player-shared hub like the relays that already existed, though with a bit more NPC presence, including vendors and "bounty" (ie. mission) givers. The other is the Plains itself, which is a large open map with day/night cycles, periodic random events, new activities like fishing and mining for materials, and enemies scattered around in camps and patrols. The Plains are still instanced, however, so you only ever encounter players already in your squad. If anything, it reminds me of Guild Wars (1) maps. That's not quite the big, revolutionary thing that came to mind when I first heard about POE, but it is a marked difference f...

Warframe is... impressive and infinitely daunting. I have to give the developers a lot of credit for the work they've done over the years. The game looks pretty good. Movement feels sound, the weapons and abilities are varied, and it just plays well moment-to-moment. The game continues to expand fairly regularly, with new weapons, warframes, and features. The game seems to have a pretty solid player base. And all this for a game you don't have to pay to play. Nothing's perfect, though, and there are some drawbacks. While there are variations, the map tilesets, enemies, and mission types are finite, so they'll start to feel repetitive at some point. Most of the game revolves around the mission of the moment, which very little in the way of story strung along between any of them. And probably the biggest "down side" to the game is the lack of explanation. I think I've logged over 40 hours in the game and I'm still probably a "beginner." I...