I may be aching of sinew and wearied of eye but the Witcher 2 is complete (again). I only planned to finish off Act 2 but caffeine and compulsion dictated otherwise and I pushed on through Act 3 and finished the game. I think ultimately I enjoyed Iorveth’s route more than Roche’s. Each has its ups and downs but the event in Iorveth’s route tie more closely into the major setting events taking place at the time the game is set. Iorveth, though he features very little in his own route, also feels like a more intricate character than Roche. That was the good, now for the bad. Continue reading…
Tag: CRPG
Convulsive Witching
The Witcher, Geralt of Rivia, The White Wolf. You mean Elric? No, this is a different White Wolf you fucker! Hunter of monsters, reluctant hero, plougher of saucy wenches, protagonist of the best-selling fantasy series by Polish novelist Andrzej Sapkowski and (more pertinently for this post) protagonist of a series of computer role-playing games based on the same character and world as the novels. Continue reading…
Games of Autumn 2010 : Edition M
I sort of hate a lot of game journalists these days. No, hates too strong a word, Im simply confused that they can get away with pumping out so much shite without losing their job or getting roundly lambasted by the general public. I suppose, as usual, its as much a condemnation of the general public as the direct target of my ire. Anyhow, following the annual summer lull were moving into the tidal wave of autumn game releases which drops away to a mere trickle in the first weeks of December. And I know that you my gentle reader may be too busy with this much ballyhooed “real life” to weed out the wheat from the chaffe. So here you go, the titles coming out in the next few months (or that have been recently released) that I would suggest buying/playing/pirating/taking a look at/worshipping like a god. Continue reading…
Initial impressions of the Final Fantasy XIV Open Beta – Part 2 – Combat and Cut Scenes
Well that was fucking sweet. I was wandering around looking for the Pugilist’s Guild when a message pops up on screen asking me if I was sure if I wanted to leave the area as I might not be able to return. As the area in question was a street I wasnt too pushed and hit yes. Cue some lovely looking in game cut-scene, which leads to your first combat, which ends with some more sweet cut-scene action. This is is how you should do in game “events”. Continue reading…
FFXIV Character Creation System Example 3 – Charden Earthshaker
And to fill my last character slot a Roegadyn Marauder. I like the look of these guys but wish there was a way to make them more buff as they can look a little, well, fat. Continue reading…
FFXIV Character Creation System Example 2 – Gilles de Rais
Decided to make an Elezen Thaumaturge. He so sexay. Continue reading…
Initial Impressions of the FFXIV Open Beta
Earlier in the week, just before the FFXIV (Final Fantasy XIV) Open Beta began I struggled with the question of whether to sign up or not. On the one hand I would get to see the game early and get an idea of what it was like, on the other hand I had already pre-ordered the game so was I spoiling it for myself? Also open beta’s are mainly for bug testing to the game would be buggy as fuck and may put me off, which would be unfair to the finished product. So I decided against it. Until I saw some screenshots. But by then the first phase of the open beta had closed. Luckily the second phase began yesterday and I managed to sign up. That was about sixteen or seventeen hours ago. Sixteen or seventeen hours, most of which have been spent trying to download or patch the client. Continue reading…
Let’s Play: Elemental War of Magic – Part 4 – The End (for now)
Hmm, well after reading this comment from Brad Wardell here my interest in continuing to play Elemental at the moment has dropped to more or less zero. If as Brad says theres going to be a major content patch out in less than a month which also addresses some of the more irritating issues with the current build of the game then it seems foolish not to put this lets play on hiatus until then. Hell, just fixing mana management issues alone would make the game so much better. I was looking at trying to mod it in myself but it seems the necessary values need to activated globally which cant be done by modders at the moment. At the moment the way magic works is all over the fucking place and mana regen is so slow thats its not a balancing mechanic. Its a fucking punishment. Oh well enough complaining. The game is clearly good enough to abosrb half of my week so Im really looking forward to playing a more balanced and expanded version of it in a month. So until then Im afraid the aventures of Mickgard’s motely monarchs is taking a break. Not that we ever actually got to any in game reports. Ah well such is life. Continue reading…
Let’s Play: Elemental War of Magic – Part 03(.75) – Smoked?
Well I installed patch 1.06 and updated my graphics drivers, windows updates and scented voodoo candles. I thought old Papa Legba had done the job until that pernicious memory leak once more brought my burgeoning empire to a close. Unfortunately that was about half five this morning. Needles to say, I was not at my best in work today. If half my blood was not currently replaced with caffeine I’d be unconscious. However one error in five or six hours of play was acceptable enough for my purposes so this evening when I got home from work and finished eating my (delicous) toasted prawn and sweek chilli sandwiches I loaded up Elemental. Whereupon I got a bit too carried away with my save game housekeeping and deleted all of them. (Luckily?) I was too tired to really work up much more than a shrug and so I began my fifth game. Continue reading…
Let’s Play: Elemental War of Magic – Part 03(.5) – The End?
Well I started over for a third time yesterday. Had to really after going to the bother of creating custom faction leaders and editing them into the factions via some (very simple) XML sauciness. Third time may be the charm in other things. Not so much in Elemental. While I wasnt doing particularly poorly the third run at it was extremely slow in comparison to the other two attempts, not much going on other than building up my forces in isolation. I suppose thats the chance you take with random maps. Still I pushed on and was around Turn 363 when the game decided to go tits up (yet again). It now consistently crashes every three to four turns, and frankly Im bored with re-starting and re-loading. I see that a new patch (and attendant hotfix) is out. So I think I’ll wait until I’ve installed that and then give it another go. Continue reading…