Off Week Update (12-29-2012)
Ok, now that’s I’m gearing up for MAGFest again, I can at least tell everyone right off the bat I most likely won’t have a full MMO Grinder episode for the next due date. But as I said before, I’m not going to neglect any forms of content, and no, an Off-Week Update doesn’t count as “content.”
In past episode news, let’s go over RaiderZ, which actually had a fairly pathetic showing. I guess people only care about games like that when they are brand new. I’ve been hearing a LOT of people tell me that I “forgot” to mention the lag in combat… Well, I “forgot” to mention that because I never experienced it. I do forgot a lot of my audience isn’t from the U.S., and some games, especially action heavy ones, tend to be more unresponsive to those playing overseas. It makes sense, but why one would IMMEDIATELY draw the conclusion that the game itself is laggy baffles me. I never had a problem with it, and I didn’t think it was a big issue. In general I thought the game was fun, and had no idea so many people took issue with it. A few others also blame the lack of attention apparently being paid to Rusty Hearts on the fault of Perfect World focusing it’s efforts on RaiderZ. I… I don’t know, but that does remind me that RH is overdue for a Backtrack.
BUT WAIT! THERE’S MORE! Read the rest of this entry
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.
MMO Grinder 