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A Different Goat Thought

The rental goats in Moria are absurd. Not their appearance, not how they get drunk and stuck on things: their use of mechanics is nonsensical. This is a standard thing in games: you get used to a mechanic in one case, then still accept it even when the context that made it coherent is gone.

In this case, the mechanic is “you cannot be attacked on rental mounts.” This makes sense as gameplay: that would suck, especially as you have no control at that point. In the early days of Dark Age of Camelot, there were horse routes that would kill people, because they took hills very sharply, and you were not flagged as immune to falling damage. Yeah. Anyway, throughout Shadows of Angmarâ„¢, you use the rental horses along roads. There are few to no enemies on the roads, and you can buy blowing by the occasional orc or bear on your Fast Horse. There are a few horse routes through dangerous areas, but they all use the fast travel mechanic: you teleport from one stable to the next, not seeing the monsters you must have dodged along the way. Immersion is preserved!

All that goes out the window in Moria. Except that Moria lacks windows. The goats ride directly through large camps of monsters, who ignore you because … because you’re on a goat. Right, orcs fear goats, or goats and their cargo are invisible to bats’ sonar, or…

You are standing there in Moria, starting a risky solo fight, and a rental goat silently zooms in and runs you over. It looks like some double-stacked warg rider just added to your fight, so panic! panic! Wait, no, it is another goat that somehow is immune to everything. But if you ride your own, identical goat, they are all over you.

Can I buy one of those invisible, invulnerable goats? How do they tell them apart?

: Zubon

Kindle 2

Since I had a review request: I like it. It does a few things well and a few others well enough.

I do not intend to make much use of the Kindle store. I have review and library copies of recent books. I will use this for the many free and public domain books around, many of which folks are converting to the Kindle format. I hope that prevents unfortunate line breaks, which are distracting.

I have not yet had a long reading session with it, but it seems as easy on the eyes as advertised. I have found it uncomfortable for reading things that I am used to seeing on a larger page or screen, but it is the right size for a paperback. It is light, thin, and small, and the button layout is good. Like a real book, you still need light; unlike a real book, you need not hold it open, which allows for more comfortable and flexible reading positions.

Continue reading Kindle 2

Goat Chopper

I seem to be getting a lot of money in Lord of the Rings Online lately.  I think it is mostly that I have few things to spend it on, and between slayer deeds, black dye profiteering, and hard mode runs, I am racking it in more than ever.  Which leads me to the ultimate buyable (not auctionable) item in Moria… the Nimble Redhorn-Goat.

This caprine pile of fur and pockets weighs in at a decent 6 gold and some change.  For many players this is a drop in the bucket.  For casual players, like me, this will take most everything.  But, this is not the issue because the money will come back and the elves in Lothlorien abhor cash in order to use twig and berries to barter.

The problem is I can’t use my horse in Moria (decrees Tolkien), but I can use a goat in Moria and under the sky.  If it were merely an unlockable skill, which Zubon discussed earlier, there would be no discussion.  But, with a bag full of status potions, legendary items, traveling rations, maps, hope tokens, and random crafting materials, it feels like it is a decision.

I suppose I have plenty of options.  Hoof it (colloquially) in Moria and use my horse elsewhere.  Hoof it (literally) in Moria and carry my horse too.  Stuff one of the hoofers into the bank vault.  Retire my dapple gray.  Etc.

The big things against buying a goat is that the travel system in Moria is very good and the mobs are packed tightly in the narrow stone halls.  Buying the beast feels a little superfluous.  Sure, it might be nice to dodge past fungus-filled trolls or cross the 300 m back to the quest hub, but I have gotten so used to 35-45 silver rides where I high five a warg-rider on my way to the depths that the control might shake things up a little too much.  Plus, goat eyes were not meant for this world.

–Ravious
seventeen dollars and a good watch

Silicon I have loved

“Finished” Fable 2 last night. Slightly disappointing ending itself, but the buildup to that ending… by Saint Meier, it’s magistral. Of course I say “finished” because it’s not really-really The End(tm). Now I got a bunch of post-ending quests that opened up, so we’ll see how that goes.

That’s not what I wanted to talk about. I’m still in a reminiscing mood this week, so after talking about games, I started thinking of all the little and not so little machines I owned throughout the years. It struck me as amazing how in only two decades and change the available power at our fingertips increased so much. I know we know this, but it helps to map it out and visualize it.

Continue reading Silicon I have loved

On Sunsets

I’ve been in Moria for too long.  Far too long.  I forgot that the light shifted from night to day.  When I ported back to Bree it was raining, and I wanted to run inside the nearest hole until the foreign precipitation stopped.

Moria is beautiful and expertly crafted, but I subconsciously missed the real world landscapes and skies.  Scientists should be doing psychological studies on the affect of environments on player depression and guild drama rather than doing heuristics on terabytes of numbers.

I think Lorien is going to breath fresh air into everyone’s psyches… those of us that aren’t coal miners.

–Ravious
no coolness in me at all

Games I wanna see remade

Reminiscing with Syncaine about Syndicate (that’s a nice pair of Syns) on my previous post reminded me about those games that urgently need to be made again for the enjoyment of today’s spoiled achievement and gamer card generation.

– The aforementioned Syndicate, because it was godly fun. A squad of four cybernetically-enhanced agents packing miniguns in a dense urban area? Sign me up.
– Crusader: No Remorse. Just think of all that property damage riding on top of a modern engine with physics and particle systems. Yum.
– X-COM (Or UFO: Enemy Unknown, depending on which side of the pond you are): Because it was one of the greatest games ever  and pretty much the noble granddaddy of the tactical squad games.
-Paradroid. I don’t expect you whippersnappers to know what I’m talking about, but running around as a robot in a derelict spaceship hacking and assimilating other robots to stay alive was way too much fun.
– System Shock. This one is pretty much self-explanatory. I wouldn’t mind it one bit if someone remade System Shock 2 either.
– Deus Ex. No, don’t tell me about Invisible War. That was a bad sequel. The original Deus Ex was fraggin’ lightning in a bottle that needs to be caught again. At any cost.
– Ultima V. I know I’m getting into tenebrous territory here, but Ultima V was to me one of the high points of the series. I’m not getting into arguments about which one is better.
– Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 2. A dark horse in this list. Did everything right, this one. Later installments were hit or miss.
– Carmaggeddon. Good luck getting this done in today’s saccharinized society.
– Supercars 2. An awesome, awesome little top down racer with violent vehicles.
– Transport Tycoon Deluxe. Often imitated, never surpassed.
– Elite. And no, don’t tell me I can play EVE for my Elite fix because it’s not the same and you damn well know it. Also, while I’m at it, I’d just like to mention that Frontier was better than most people gave it credit for. It just had a ton of bugs. Still, remaking Elite (and remaking it properly that is) is a tall order.

I also want my very own magical pony and a Secret of Monkey Island MMO. There, I said it.

Unlockables versus Items

How many mounts do you have or have you had? My Hobbit seems to be collecting ponies, and she does not get rid of them when a new one comes along. She has a Bree pony (low-level, slower), a blonde sorrel (first real mount), a chestnut (faction mount that survives more hits), a gray pony (white horse reward for finishing Volume One), and however many seasonal event ponies she has (plus tokens for more). These will soon be replaced with a Nimble Goat, which can be used in Moria.

I could sell a pony every time I get a better one, but they are ponies. My wife might never forgive me, and maybe today I want to ride a different pretty pony. What I would prefer, rather than having an inventory item for every possible mount, is to have a single mount item or power. When I get a new mount, I get a new option for that single mount. Give me a drop-down menu on my character to set my mount choice. (I am aware that I just asked for a pony menu on my paper doll. You cannot have my man card.) If the mount color is not considered PvP-relevant, I should be able to set the appearance to any mount I have unlocked — separate functionality improvements from appearance options, and leave me all my appearance options.

That is a general principle. As with most appearance issues, City of Heroes does it right. You start with a variety of options for what your sword looks like, and when you get a new option, you get a new sword appearance option on your list rather than a new sword to carry around. You unlock costume pieces through badges, task forces, microtransactions, and veteran rewards.

If you have item sets for each class, make that a deed, accomplishment, badge or whatever you call it. Once you finish the set, you permanently unlock that set appearance. You already have a cosmetic equipment tab, don’t you? Have another option on it: pick a completed item set from this drop-down menu.

Or better yet, everyone start using a system like the City of Heroes costume designer. I am looking forward to what Champions delivers. I still need to see The Chronicles of Spellborn’s version, once my addiction to The Lord of the Rings Onlineâ„¢ Volume Two: Mines of Moriaâ„¢ fades.

: Zubon

More than the sum of its parts

I’m still in a circular mood (360, circular, get it? har har). Got Fable 2 recently just on the strengths of its many positive reviews and because I generally tend to like Peter Molyneux’s games a lot. Yes, even back to Populous. I played it when it came out. I’m old.

Well, it doesn’t disappoint and most of the praise thrown in the game’s direction is well warranted. Fable 2 does a lot of things very right, and a few things wrong. However, the more I play it I’m finding out those wrong things were done wrong essentially because they had no choice. But all in all this is one of those games in which the general feeling of the whole being way more than the sum of its parts is really strong and noticeable.

Thoughts follow.

Continue reading More than the sum of its parts

Hunters as Crowd Control

Yesterday was all about DPS, but Hunters have a secondary function in crowd control. They are a tertiary CC class, but let us look at the toolbox anyway. Hunters have the best rooting options around. They have decent fear, several slows, and minimal mez. Their abilities also require extra planning, setup, communication, or expense.

Rain of Thorns is hard to beat. There is not a lot of area effect crowd control available, and Rain of Thorns is an instant-cast, 30-second AE root at maximum range. It does, however, require a legendary trait and six focus. Continue reading Hunters as Crowd Control