Category Archives: News and Updates
Off-Week Update (12-16-2012)
Ok, I’ve given it enough time, let’s do this thing.
First off, let’s again reiterate that The Secret World is now subscription-less, but NOT free. Taking the buy to play route has really grabbed the media, and as I said in the review of the game, the biggest hurdle for people was that subscription requirement. Now, with a 30 dollar buy-in (HALF of Guild Wars 2, mind you) you get to experience all available story content, with no restrictions to powers, travel or chat ability. The only paid content will be in the form of Issues, which will go for 5 dollars per content pack, and you have the option to subscribe fer perks, like free monthly items and Funcom points. The same goes for Lifetime subbers.
After the popularity of my SWTOR review consisted of mostly people looking to yell at the free-to-play restrictions, I’ll just let people know right now that a few of them have been lifted. Apparently now all quickbars are available, (despite me never actually reporting on that) meaning you can have 4 without having to pay for them. It also seems the limit on created characters has been lifted SLIGHTLY, and from what I understand it only applies to premium (5 dollar purchase) players anyway. The only other commentary was my saying that voice acting was weak. I am not saying ALL of it was weak, but there was a LOT of weak voice acting. Sorry. There was. Put a random NPC up against ANY NPC in The Secret World and you’ll know exactly what I meant. SWTOR acting is “put on an accent and call it a day.” There’s very little REAL emotion in ANYTHING said. Trust me here. Why would one Twilek on Hutta speak like a redneck and another sound like a stereotypical Canadian? It’s stupid, I’m sorry. The final complaint was on the stories, but sorry, that’s kinda subjective. For every one person who told me the Jedi Knight or Imperial Agent storyline was amazing, there were others telling me how every story was lame and pointless. It’s all opinion there, and while one might feel that some stories are weaker than others, bot everyone is going to answer that question the same. So I didn’t talk about it, because it’s just flame bait.
Overall performance of the review has been positive, certainly better than recent numbers and unquestionably better than the numbers on RaiderZ (which I’ll get into next OWU).
As for a recent title that I did look at, and don’t feel the need to give it a while before reporting on, AirMech, my first Browser-Based I’ve done in a long time. Apparently it’s a “spiritual successor” to a Genesis (Megadrive) game called “Herzog Zwei”. A game that, shockingly, predates all MOBA genres and even the game credited to start the popularity of the RTS genre. And… when it was new, everyone fucking hated it. This is a PRIME example of a game that was “ahead of its time”, a phrase that I feel gets overused for things that were generally crappy, but found a new audience later on, but in this case it’s a deserved use. EGM gave Herzog Zwei some of the most pathetic scores they could give, mostly 4s, a 6 and a 3. This was clearly a game NOT made for the time it was released in. It also apparently gained a cult following in recent years, and is now considered a groundbreaking classic. I decided to share this info with you for one reason. I HATE when I overlook something like this. I was an NES/SNES kid, and due to a twitch of fate and a poor console choice by my father, (He thought Turbo-Grafx 16 had more potential and bought me that when I requested a Genesis), I never got into the Genesis titles outside of a few friends who had the Sonic titles. I just thought it was an interesting tidbit of information, and to know that AirMech isn’t a game blending current market trends, but giving new life to a sadly overlooked innovator.
As for Browser-Based, I’ve decided to be a LOT more lenient in what I choose to review in that spin-off show. For example, I was recently shown “Gameglobe” and despite it hardly qualifying for a full Grinder, or even as an MMO, it’s got a unique enough social aspect that makes me think it might be worth showcasing. Of course some BB games still will prove tough to adapt, especially those with no sort of music or graphic interface.
Final note: Those who’ve been paying attention to my twitter, either account, and if you’re not, just look at the twitter Sidebar on the site, and you’ll see the latest tweets from the @MMO_Grinder account, might have noticed I’ve taken up a bit of livestreaming. Due to (occasional) demand, I was able to get something up in order to stream the games I wish to, be it future Grinder eps, old favorites, or what I enjoy streaming the most, The Secret World. Come by and check it out at Twitch.tv/ChaosD1 and keep an eye on twitter, or the Twitter Sidebar on this site, to see when I go up. You can even check it to see what’s been recorded in the past but be wary that without an active chat it will just sound like I’m talking to myself. I’m PLANNING on doing one tomorrow, so check back and join in when it’s announced. I use it as a Q&A as well as a simple chat, so if you have questions you wanted to ask me live, feel free to stop by.
The Secret World removes its subscription fee!
If you missed my review of The Secret World, click this link!
So, remember how I said in my review of The Secret World that’s I’d pick up the lifetime subscription pack even if the game were go free-to-play the next week. I actually did thanks to a viewer, and… Well, guess what just happened… kinda.
Yes, TSW has gone the Guild Wars 2 route, of only charging for the box price, and allowing access to all story content without the need of a subscription fee. While the specifics of the unsubbed limitations aren’t fully yet known to me, this doesn’t seem like Funcom will be going the SWTOR route of blocking everything available to everyone. Funcom still offers a subscription model, granting monthly perks and rewards to those active and lifetime subscribers.
Now you have no excuse to not play… unless you didn’t like the game to begin with, I suppose.
The Secret World was quite abuzz with news for the past few days, posting a cryptic “12-12-12” on their official twitter with no other information, starting a new ARG based around the 2012 Mayan prophecy, and releasing an (obviously comedic) video starring game director Joel Bylos, where his sudden realization of the prophecy causes him to lose his mind and demand TSW drop the subscription fee.
Seems at least one prophecy came true.
In honor of this, I’ll be streaming TSW (Well, I was planning on doing that anyway) over at Twitch.tv/chaosd1, at times which will be announced on my personal twitter (@ChaosD1), as well as the @MMO_Grinder twitter. I may also do a backtrack when TSW Issue #5 drops.
Lux Omnia Vincit.
MMO Beat-Em-Ups (Off Week Update 11-30-2012)
You know I haven’t even touched the next game I’m working on yet?
Ok, so with the release of Episode 32 on DarkBlood I was starting to notice just how often I seemed to gravitate toward this genre. After all, if you recall the opening to Episode 0, we were all about to play Turtles in Time before my Xbox crashed. (The actual situation that was based on, we were about to play Castle Crashers.) Regardless, the games in my hypothetical and parenthetical situation were both Beat-em-ups. I fucking LOVE Beat-Em Ups. I have no idea why. If you had any idea how much time I spent with Scott Pilgrim vs. the World: The Game on XBLA for that review, you’d be all the more mad at my release schedule for MMO Grinder giving me only a week and a half to work with any given title. (This is also when scripts took me 4 weeks to 3 months to complete, I had a worse microphone, and didn’t quite have a grasp on how to talk to the camera without staring at it like I was afraid it was going to hit me.)
Yeah, the games are repetitive, yeah they’re much less fun to play alone, and I totally don’t care. Get one like Castle Crashers, River City Ransom, Scott Pilgrim, where there’s a bit of progression and a variety of moves to use, and I’m all over it. Not AS much of a fan of quarter-muncher Beat-em-ups, but I’ll still give one a few playthroughs when I have the chance. (It’s where you’re most likely to find me at MAGfest, really.)
So now that’s I’ve sampled 4 different MMO versions of this genre. Let’s take a quick look back at all of them and how my perspective has changed:
“In Name Only”: A personal philosophy on the developer/publisher relationship.
If you think I’m doing this to discuss SWTOR, let’s let that one stew for a bit more. Right now feedback is related to restriction shock, and my voice acting comment. Again, I’ll give it a while before discussing it.
No, today, I’m talking about a line that was either ignored, or baffled many a viewer when I stated it in my Special Episodes: Guild Wars 2, and The Secret World.
Why would I place so much emphasis on saying that GW2 was published “in name only” by NCSoft, and TSW published “in name only” by EA?
Because people HATE NCSoft. And people HATE EA… and the worst part, they’re completely unwilling to separate a game from its publisher, even when said publisher has little to no creative control over the product.
Off-Week Update (10-11-2012)
Ten, eleven, twelve. Heh.
Ok, let’s go back down the line and talk about what’s been going on.
Yeah I talked about this in the last OWU but I had more time to revisit and reflect. They really REALLY need to hop on getting some sort of tutorial or help mode. I was showing MegaGWolf around the game and again getting completely frustrated by the lack of any… logic in the game. I’ve never played an FPS based game that felt it was a good idea to have hotkeys on the right half of the keyboard, but that’s Firefall for you. It also loves to give you tasks without any direction and often leads me into profanity laced tirades you might have seen on MegaGWolf’s Youtube channel. (This reaction might have also been fueled by alcohol and a marathon of “Bro Team” videos.) In essence, I want to like this but they need to get to work on it.
Man, this one isn’t performing at all. Like right now, it’s a record holder for least-viewed episode. Not sure if I can attribute that to bad timing, low-interest in the game, or the fact some BT people don’t understand it’s kind of jerkish to post several of your own videos on the slider in a row. General reaction seems ok, otherwise, although it seems to have brought out a lot of “Well, this game isn’t fast! You should play (insert 90’s era PC FPS here) because THAT’S fast!”
No… no not really. You’re still inside a building and everyone moves at the relative same speed. Call me back when you’re playing CTF on a map and blink only to notice the flag has been snatched away and the person holding it is now flying off into the horizon over halfway across the map. If you mean “fast” as in, you aim at everything really quickly… turn down your mouse sensitivity. Idiots.
Yep! THIS game again! I figured making this my first Backtrack, and seriously, I’m looking for feedback on the formula. I don’t want it to look like Sidequest. Should I add more text in places? Should I do the credits differently? Should I bother posting these on BT? Upcoming Backtracks are Champions Online and Doctor Who: Worlds in Time. Seriously, let me know how you think they should be done. As for this Backtrack? Did I sound unenthusiastic? 5 guesses as to why. Also I had a sore throat. That’s why I sounded so deep in this compared to other videos I do.
I was expecting another Firefall from the way people were… well bringing this game up when I looked at Firefall. It’s not. The ONLY thing this game has in common with Firefall is that it’s an FPS. These games are VASTLY different in playstyle, and are completely unique experiences. The Borderlands/Firefall comparison is much more accurate. Firefall has an overarching story, quests to perform, worlds to explore, with enemy encounters everywhere. Planetside 2 has PvP. That’s IT. I was very off-put initially playing P2, just because people had led me to beleive it was another Firefall. Once I figured out WHAT it is… well, let’s just say right now, I like Planetside 2 better than Firefall, but I really want to see what Firefall will BECOME, while Planetside 2 is pretty much going to be what it is. Two separate experiences. Don’t let someone try to compare them against each other as if they offer the same experience.
As for personal news, I’m mildly concerned I won’t make the next episode in time. Side-job and all take away a LOT of my work time, but I’m going to try as hard as I can.
Also, viewer Lai-Lai pointed out to me, there’s a contest going on over at the infamous MMOHUT Youtube channel looking for a new content producer. I have a few concerns with this:
1. They want submissions on Youtube, and are basing the winner on number of likes received.
2. They want a Top 5 video, and it to be under 15 minutes.
3. They want the submitter to use their intro in the video.
4. It’s MMOHUT. (Look up what they did to get so many people angry at them.)
I’ve had a Top Whatever video idea for a LONG time (originally it was my intention to do THAT as my “pilot” for MMO Grinder. I could probably toss something together before the deadline, but do any of you think this is a good idea. In all honesty, I wouldn’t WANT to win. I like what I do here, and what I have going now. If anything, I can use this as some “advertisement” for the site and show itself.
What do you think?
Off-Week Update (09-24-2012)
…because why the hell not?
Ok, let’s browse through the list since the last time.
…oh, wow… Fiesta? Episode 26?! Hell, this is the first update I’ve done on the new, PC, too. I’m so not good at this “supplemental text” thing.
Ok, so Fiesta. Fun story, This was not only one of the episodes, along with Aion, that I’ve had footage of on this computer years before I ever started MMO Grinder, but it was also featured in Episode 0. Ok, so was that Aion footage… so that story wasn’t that fun after all. Ok, here’s a better one. I’d actually ducked into Fiesta a few times after starting the show, and never had a problem logging in… Except the week I decided to review it. For some reason I couldn’t access my account, so I had to start a brand new one. As for the episode, it came out better than I was feeling it, but as I predicted, it wasn’t viewed that much. Not really a standout title.
Normally, if I already have an existing account for a game, I nab the more interesting footage from the characters further along, and of course, start a new character to do what the show is all about… looking over the newbie experience. Let me reiterate that.
NEWBIE.
EXPERIENCE.
This seems to be the thing most lost in translation about MMO Grinder. I’m NOT an MMO expert. It is impossible to keep to a two week schedule, including all the technical crap I have to go through to write out the script, prepare the footage, collect supplemental materials (music, images), edit, and upload it, leaving me with about, in more realistic terms less than a week and a half to actually play the game. Take away a few more days when I have plans not involving a computer. If there’s a lot to cover, like differing classes or various factions and starting experiences, I try to get a taste of them all. Ironic as this sounds, this show isn’t about “Grinding” to the max level reaching endgame, and give you a comprehensive wikipedian guide to all things about this particular MMO. I like to think I go a BIT deeper than a standard “review” you’ll see in most places, but I seriously can only get as far as I can get. Once I get an understanding of the basics, I write the script and I move on. The reason I bring this up…
R.I.P. City of Heroes
Since there seems to be a conversation going on in suggested MMO list, and I tend to occasionally delete comments on there, I suppose this is news that warrants being addressed.
When games shut down, it’s usually pretty expected. Luna shut down due to a poor conversion upgrade that changed many basic gameplay elements. Lego Universe got the ax due to poor publisher support and a refusal to embrace the concept of Free to Play. Pi Story was abandoned by its developer early in production, ended up wrought with lag/ framerate issues, and never got a cash shop implemented. Let’s not forget the numerous browser-based titles that come and go each year.
But this is… different.
For those of you not in the know, City of Heroes is officially shutting down in November, and Paragon Studios has been dissolved, giving the title three more months of life. Read the rest of this entry
Off-Week Update (for Ep. 26)
Why do I even call these Off-Week updates anymore?
OK, let’s cover what I’ve done in the previous …weeks.
Aion:
Man, I forgot how much this game was like Lineage II meets WoW. I’m also suprised just how LITTLE has changed in the game. I’m also not shocked at how torn people were about how grindy this game is. Although there were quite a few defenders who came out of the woodwork to claim it’s not as bad as it used to be. I can probably run it a lot better now, but I don’t want the NCSoft launcher anywhere near my new PC right now. It’s still a very nice, atmospheric game and I recommend it to those who liked what they saw in the review. A definite subscription quality game that’s truly free to play.
Spiral Knights:
I was NOT expecting this review to be as popular as it was, but once again, it’s another case of “one post in the forums”. Unlike CoH though, that community seemed to agree with me more or less (although I did get a few of those who didn’t get what I do saying how I “missed” this or that… things I couldn’t possibly have known without playing the game until the high levels.) This review was done with a week of play to “catch me back up” after taking so long with Aion, I felt it was a rush job and people STILL liked it.
The Secret World (Sidequest):
Have I made it obvious how much I love this game yet? Sure, this… “job” has made it difficult to log back in as much as I’d like, but it’s only because when I start playing I can’t stop unless the game crashes or I feel regretful seeing how it’s suddenly 5 a.m. It’s polarizing as hell, though, and people who don’t love the game will REALLY let you know about it. The fact I had someone “suggest” (read: “obnoxiously deride”) I should have preordered Mists of Pandaria instead of getting this made me laugh for all the wrong reasons.
I have a “guild” in the game set up, but nothing “official” as far as “What are our future plans?” is concerned. Right now, if you like the show, know who I am and you want to play alongside me, Message me (ChaosD1) in the game and I’ll add you. Call on me if you need a tank for Cthulu or Satan.
Vindictus:
Ah, the game I deemed “unreviewable” suddenly decided to work properly. Still it wasn’t working all that well, and unfortunately, rather than discuss the game, most people took the time to inquire about/mock me for my PC and it’s specs. Talk about missing the point. I can’t help but wonder if some of the more obnoxious comments ever played a PC game in their lives. (Trust me in that meeting “minimum” settings on a game only guarantees you a half-playable framerate and a few hundred crashes. I’d swear whoever writes the minimum settings is trolling people into buying better hardware.) Well, at the very least everyone can shut the fuck up about it now since, as I mentioned before… I have a new PC. Check the About page to see what my new setup is. (Still the same vid card, but at least it has a processor that can USE it.)
As for the game, THIS is how you do an action combat system. Screw TERA. Speaking of…
TERA (Sidequest):
Fun fact: This Sidequest was planned BEFORE Secret World. As the story goes, when I JUST finished downloading TERA, MegaGWolf informed me that he got a couple keys for the Secret World beta weekend sent to him, and sent me one since I was willing to check it out. Since I had a few days with TERA I decided to give Secret World a shot first… You see how that turned out. To be completely honest, TERA bored the hell out of me. I dn’t understand why people think this combat is the be all end all of MMO combat. It’s… it’s just there. Shooter mode in Star Trek Online works in almost the exact same manner. The fact you still have to hotkey skills baffles me, especially with the spacebar combo system in place. (That also seemed wonky. I have no idea why the Slayer would want to use ANYTHING but Whirlwind after that charge move (which only seems to work half the time) but the game seems insistent on making it that second swipe by default. At least you can change it. The game does get more interesting when you unlock more skills, but getting there has been turning a lot of people off to it. The fact archers are rooted when shooting makes sense from a balance standpoint doesn’t lend well to feeling like an “action” game, so this is the first time I had WAY more fun with a melee class. Vindictus did this much better, and if that game contained an open world instead of a dungeon grind, I think people wouldn’t be giving TERA the time of day. Long story short, I said it before I’ll say it again. The game did nothing for me. Sorry.
Bonus points to anyone who can pick up on the slight “jab” I took at a certain someone when I posted it on BT.
Site changes:
I made a couple changes on here, so a heads up. First off, there are now pages for Sidequest and Browser-Based. Besides clicking on the links I just put there, You can access these pages by mousing over the Episode Guide, where a dropdown menu will show you the links to either page.
Second, I removed the comments from the About, and Episode Guide, and removed the ability to post comments on those pages. Simply put I want those pages to be for information gathering and navigation, not to have to worry about comments posted there slowing it down over time. F.A.Q. still accepts more questions, and of course, Suggested MMO List is going strong as always (Still need to sift through that again.)
Coming up in Episode 26… a constrained time limit that might be late, but now that things are more under control, I think I may be able to hammer it out in time. Wish me luck. (Oh and nobody has guessed correctly so far. I was a lot more vague this time, it seems.)
Off-Week Update (for Ep. 23)
Ok, I’ve been really bad about this, haven’t I? Blame the sudden desire to make supplemental shows. Speaking of that, I’ll get back to that in a minute.
First off, those who follow me (not just the show) on Twitter will have probably figured out I was in Arizona in mid-May. That cut into some time for Episode 22, which I why I chose to do Brick-Force, despite my only just having done a Sidequest on it.
Going back further, I’m not entirely surprised to see that both Project Powder, and Brick-Force were met with slightly lower than average views. The former being an unknown, abandoned game, and the latter being already covered by me once.
Of course, there was also the Sword Girls review, that yes, WAS supposed to be the first “Browser-Based” I did, but Justin’s enthusiasm in the game had me pass the torch to him, so we kinda co-wrote it, and he used my show format to do the video. If you want some fun trivia, the card Justin was supposed to show when I said, “I want that card so badly” was “Hot Springs Luthica” a MUCH racier card than the one he choose. It’s also the same card I’m VERY SLOWLY grinding toward. I haven’t been playing it as much is all.
The first Browser-Based instead was Realm of the Mad God, which I mentioned in the video, I was FLOODED with requests to do that dropped off just as suddenly. In fact the same goes for a lot of the “new to Steam” games that came out that February.
In case you want to know what I’m working on next, it’s been guessed correctly a few times, and VASTLY INCORRECTLY by one person. Yes, I’m reviewing Aion, the last former Sub game I bought on a whim…. ok, technically the second (LOTRO, Aion, Champions Online, then Star Trek Online) but my last to review. Install was a NIGHTMARE and it seems to be that way for a lot of people I talked to. I, no joke, had to run my PC in safe mode just to install it. It also crashed on me today, but I’m hoping that was a fluke. It hasn’t changed at ALL from last I remember playing it… but I still have yet to delve into the true game, so I’ll see if that changes. Episode will probably be late again, but I’ll do what I can.
…and I’ll try to get these done a bit more often, too.
Off-week Update (For Ep. 21)
Again, I missed the off-week update from last week, so I’ll give a quick rundown.
Elsword was WAY MORE well received than I thought it would be. I think that’s in no small part due to someone posting the review in the official forums for that game. It was another conversation that teetered between positive and annoyed until I showed up in the thread, and it tipped mostly toward the positive. I don’t know what that says about people in general.
Of course, the real reason we’re here, is Episode 20, which I kept mysterious until last week, even making sure not to reveal the game in the title or the title card. I hope I did surprise a lot of people with that. My reasoning for revealing it was due to the fact I didn’t think many people would click on “ChaosD1: Episode 20” when they saw my video in the sidebar of TGWTG, and I was going to reveal it later anyway.
I’m going to clear up a few things about this episode and why I did it.
- The Horde/Alliance exclusivity on PvP servers has been lifted.
In what I consider my traditional screw up per video, I stated that Alliance and Horde characters could not be both made on a PvP server. This WAS indeed the case when I was still playing. Since Blizzard seems absolutely adamant on making the Alliance and Horde fight, this is something I didn’t bother to check because if they left it that way for nearly 6 years, why change it? Well, they did, and I feel stupid for including it now. - “Will you review (insert pay-to-play MMOhere) now?”
No. This is and pretty much always will be a free-to-play review show/guide. There are several dozen reasons I chose WoW, the first and foremost I explained in the review for those who actually listened to it. And remember this game has an unlimited free trial, so anyone looking to play the game without paying for it, still technically can. So, no, I will not do Grinders on FFXI, FFXIV, Eve Online, or any other MMO that offers a trial that doesn’t last as long as I’m willing to put up with the restrictions. They MAY qualify for a Sidequest, but that’s hardly what the people asking me to review these games want. In fact, WHY do people want me to look at games they already play anyway? Because when that happens, all I get is an endless parade of nitpicking. It’s getting to the point that the more requested a game is, F2P or not, the LESS likely I’m going to look at it. - “Why did you go over this in such detail? We already know all this!”
The game is practically a framework for the modern fantasy MMOs now. The reason this review was so long and redundant (I think some people missed that point as well.) is because I wanted to strip the game’s mechanics bare, and have people listening to the explanation, especially people who’ve been watching my show for a long time, sit there and go… “Wait… that’s just like what he said about (Eden Eternal, LOTRO, etc.)!” And for those who actually did get annoyed at me telling people about how WoW works in painstakingly surplus detail? This video wasn’t for you. There ARE a lot of people who haven’t played WoW, and there are a lot of people who enjoy my show, but DON’T play every MMO, or possibly ANY MMOs on the market. This whole thing was created simply to show those people what the most basic MMO formula is, and why I reference the game so much in my reviews. In fact, Tyger’s video tries to explain the same thing…
I’d love to let you know how my current game, Project Powder is going, but for some mysterious reason, I CAN’T LOG INTO IT ANYMORE. Luckily, it was simple enough to get the gist of after a few days of play, but expect Episode 21 to be a SHORT episode. Not Sidequest short, but… it probably won’t be a third of the WoW review. Hopefully the ticket I sent to the support over on Outspark will be resolved and I’ll be able to get back in before the dead line, just for supplemental purposes. Although the form letter response I got (taken from a similar issue from another Outspark game, mind you) doesn’t bode well for this possibility.
If anything, though, you can at least look forward to a collaboration video I’m working on with another CA reviewer. Yes, that’s all I’m saying about that.
I have to once again thank Andrew Dickman for illustrating the comic I used in the review, especially when he was so swamped with 1000 other better things he could have been doing. I also plan on using the same image in another video, but for now, here’s the pic. Yes, this actually happened:
MMO Grinder 