Author: Oz

Jaded old gamer, and father of gamers, who's been around long enough. Still, he's always up for giving the Next Big Thing a whirl.

Trail of Trials, Part 3 – Norranthain Nostalgia

For part 3 of my trial adventure, I went to a place I never thought I would go back to – Everquest. I have a bit of a history with Everquest, and swore I’d never give them another dime. After playing EQ2, that oath has not changed, but I did somewhat enjoy my visit to the parallel world of my former stomping grounds.

Now, in fairness, EQ2 is a dated game. It was released in 2004, so comparing it apples to apples to a game like STO is unfair at best. That said however, as the game continues to live in today’s date; my comparison will have to take into consideration that the other games exist. Now that we’ve got that out of the way, on to the review.

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Oz’s Trail of Trials, Part 2 – Set Phasers to Spam

You know, it’s harder to come up with a witty title that has not been used elsewhere than you’d think. That said, I now present part two of my trial account adventure, where I journey into one of the new kids on the block, Star Trek Online. And as my title alludes to, the goldpammers have gotten there first. I’m going to try not to ride the game too hard, as after all it is new, and that would be like picking on the new kid at school on the playground. That said, it is a well-known name, and of course has lots of baggage with it. I really think the developers did a good job trying to blend in 40+ years of history into a game without it being absolutely required to move around. I am, however, a bit of a Star Trek geek, and playing this game really brought it out. I’m almost ashamed at how many references I was easily able to get.
Continue reading Oz’s Trail of Trials, Part 2 – Set Phasers to Spam

Oz’s Trail of Trials – Pre-Part 2

A question and a few notes from a closet Trekkie to any others who may be playing this game –

* If this is set 30 years after Nemesis, and 22 years after Romulus was destroyed, how is Spock narrating it when he was sent to a parallel universe shortly thereafter?

* While the ground fight battles are fun but repetitive, the space battles are the most amazing eye candy I’ve seen since LoTRO’s Lorien. The graphic geek team who worked on this deserves medals.

* The goldspam in this game is worse than Ironforge, Orgrimmar and Bree combined. It was literally impossible for me to ask a single question without it being instantly whisked out of the chat buffer.

* Props to the Trek geeks who worked hard to ensure this game follows established stories/lore. LoTRO is the only other game to do so, in my experience. SWG tried, and ended up…well…NGE is all I need to say.

Oz’s Trail of Trials, Part 1 – Friday Night Tights

While it’s safe to say I’m an avid LoTRO player, I’ve found myself at a loss for things to do lately, even after a major patch (which took me under 4 hours to complete all solo/group content). So to keep myself from fatal burnout, I decided to take advantage of the City of Heroes/Villains free welcome-back weekend we just had. I’ve previously talked about CoX more than a few times, but I was more than willing to give it a run again. So I grabbed a frosty beverage, a bag of chips, and sat down to put on the ol’ cape once again.
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“The Guild” Continues to Entertain

Continuing the proud Internet tradition of cross-linking as much as possible, I must recommend The Guild’s newest video called “Do You Want To Date My Avatar” as an entertaining few minutes. Possibly a bit cheesecakey for your more conservative workplaces, and bound to get you weird looks from folks not familiar with gaming. Watch near the end as they begin to fall out of character for more laughs.

Spotted on Broken Toys, Digital City (which has a nice behind the scenes interview), my LoTRO’s kinboard, and many other places.

(My)Last Word on Free Realms Launch

While I hadn’t planned to post more on the subject, I was contacted earlier today by SOE in regards to my post. We talked through the elements I raised like rational people and I came out of it feeling like they are going to launch with eyes on the road. While I still hold that it’s too early to launch the product yet, and I won’t be signing myself or my kids up for it to start with, I was happy to spend some time talking through the plan rather than simply being told “You’re crazy, get over it.” I sincerely wish them goodwill on their launch.

Also, since I’m taking the most heat over one element, let me be completely clear – the price right now, at release, is $4 for 10 cards for their TCG, which was the element of the game I enjoyed the most (which is likely why the high cost I saw mentioned in several places bothered me the most).

More on Free Realms

Despite the blogs and posters claiming otherwise, I did not hate Free Realms. In fact, I had high hopes for it, and at least two potential customers for it. Just to prove that, as well as flesh out my review some more, I’m going to give a quick 5 pros and cons of Free Realms. My goal here is to make sure that if someone is listening to me for advice on how they are spending their gaming dollars that they have a full picture.
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Oz Does Free Realms Beta

For the past few weeks I’ve been heavily playing Sony’s new MMORPG offering, Free Realms. I’ve been working on a review for here for a while, but had refrained on posting it until I had confirmation that the NDA was lifted. Tonight, while wandering through the forums, I read that they lifted the NDA on April 22nd, although they really didn’t make a lot of noise about it. I also found out that they are now going to launch on this Tuesday the 28th, after just under two weeks of a single round of closed beta. I was stunned, and can only imagine that the people behind the Vanguard launch are making the decisions. That said, what follows is a review from the prospective of both a long time gamer who has played nearly every MMORPG that has come down the pike, including beta testing launched and shelved products, and also a father of a pair of pre-teens, who are clearly this game’s target market. If you’re not interested in the long breakdown, here’s a one sentence summary:

Ever wonder what the child of ToonTown and Everquest would be? Wonder no more.
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Everquest Turns 10 – Oz Reflects

In celebration of Everquest turning 10 this week (well, actually last week, but as the always entertaining Sanya Weathers points out, the first week was largely unplayable so counting from week two is accurate enough), I invite folks to post their EQ memories. It was my intro into the world of online gaming, and like one’s first love, gets looked back on with rose colored glasses. Ah memories…

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My LoTRO Book 7 Experience So Far

Arrive home last night, hang with family. Family goes to sleep, dad sneaks online. 20 minute queue.

Queue does its thing, log in. My character is missing a Second Age book he had looted before I logged off on Sunday night (I travel during the week on business) in a group and that I was deliriously happy to win. Petition launched.

Wander in Lothlorien, very pretty, and very simple quests. Impressed. Atmosphere seems perfect for what type of zone it should be.

GM contacts me out of the blue with the comment “I’m sorry, we cannot replace Legendary items”. When I ask why, or for any details, tells me it is policy, then sends me their cut-and-paste closure message (“Have a great day in Middle Earth!”).

No longer impressed. Migraine. Log out.