Weekend Gaming

Paradox Interactive, well-known for their historical grand strategy games, is certainly abuzz at the moment. The hype train is so very, very real for their new spacey space 4x-ish strategy everything-but-the-friggin-kitchen-sink title Stellaris. This is especially noteworthy as it is Paradox’s first foray as a developer into the cosmos. And judging by the dev diaries and the previews trickling in on YouTube, this is definitely one giant leap, and Paradox fanfolk will be at the game’s heels the entire trip.

While not on the game’s heels, I have kept a measured distance. Stellaris is shaping up to be perhaps much of what I loved about EVE Online but without having to deal with other players’ stupid, backstabbing, sociopathic crap. Though, I do have reservations about Stellaris, at least its initial release (not to mention its overall accessibility). History has shown that Paradox games need some TLC right at the onset, for various reasons. Reading about how big Stellaris is proclaimed to be, I can with surety expect some part of the game to go bellyup or house some void in the mechanics.

But Paradox are the masters of following up – the Masters! And don’t you ever forget it. Whatever is wonky about Stellaris upon release will be patched up and eventually buried under four years’ worth of DLC. For good or ill. Just look at Crusader Kings 2! Every time I load the game after a new DLC/Patch, the UI is all different and there’s new mechanics and limits that stop me in my tracks. The same intrusive behavior can be said about EU4; some DLCs have been proclaimed to be game breaking. Staying up-to-date with these games is work, son – for both developers and the players.

All the while, Victoria 2 is just sort of there minding itself. It is not the most contemporary Paradox game but it is nonetheless a very integral part in the patchwork of the company’s history – And recent enough that it continues to have a healthy player base and modding community. It is also somewhat of an exception to the habitual addition of DLCs to Paradox games. Vicky2 only has two major DLCs. The game operates in a narrow window of time and hasn’t spiraled out of control as its younger siblings have.

Because it is ‘contained’ like this, I found an appeal. I tried playing CK2 recently, but the Conclave DLC (which I haven’t bought yet) and accompanying patch (which everyone gets regardless) rearranged stuff and I quickly lost motivation (non-aggression pacts? C’MAAAWN!). Personally, I have to get amped to initiate a grand Paradox campaign. It takes days to mentally prepare. And within the game, I need to know where my tools are and what they can or cannot do. The slightest change from what is familiar and I have to walk away. Petty, I know – but truth.

Anyways, with only two DLCs, I perceived Victoria 2 to be far less impenetrable than, say, to take a step back and see what EU4 is right now. I like that the focus is on industrialization and a global economy. The sociopolitical aspects are relevant to the game’s time period (1836-1936) and promise to keep the passage of those years interesting and varied, as opposed to just using time to make your military numbers higher. Industry, Prestige, Military – These are equal factors in determining a nation’s rank, and they all influence each other. Indeed. Each nation isn’t just an island rushing and crushing for numerical superiority. There’s competition, absolutely, but because of all the industrialization there’s a bit of a co-dependency nations have on each other. An internal and external balance must be sought in order to climb the ranks. I can dig on that.

This weekend I shall be developing a wicked case of vertigo as I continue to tread the infamous Paradox learning curve.

… Oh, and playing Etrian Odyssey Untold 2. I’m slowly making my way through the labyrinth and devising all kinds of oddball recipes for the populous to eat. I sort of regret playing in story mode bcs I want to try out different classes. I might make use of the extra save slots and start a game in classic mode just to see what it’s all about.

What are you playing this weekend?

There was that time just a few years ago when I was looking into buying a Nintendo 3DS. A very thorough article on Kotaku caught my attention. Its enthusiasm for the innovation of the StreetPass system was convincing. Likewise were the testimonies of nearly every single 3DS owner I spoke with. There was a delight in voice and sparkle in the eye, as well as an inability to articulate just why they love their DSes so. I had never seen such tickled affection for an inanimate object.

I didn’t understand the sensation at the time, but now, as a 3DS owner myself, I do. And I too can only attempt to articulate the delight in knowing my DS is so near. It is a low-pressure mobile gaming device, but unlike other mobile devices, I do not have a compulsion to check up on a notification or text or any other countless distractions. The DS just kind of hangs out, always on standby and is ready when you’re ready.

The intensity of said delight may ebb and flow but it is nonetheless always there, and right now it is pretty stinkin’ high. Etrian Odyssey Untold 2: The Fafnir Knight is the reason. Yes. What began as an inquiry into the new Fire Emblem games now sees me nearly 15 hours deep into EOU2 and still getting my sea legs.

Like many other 3DS owners, Fire Emblem:Awakening was my first exposure to the franchise. And, like the majority who played FE:A, I could not and would not shut up about the game. It is fantastic and made a great impression. The follow-up games, Fire Emblem Fates: Birthright and Fire Emblem Fates: Conquest were released in the US a few weeks ago. Naturally, I was interested, especially at having to initially choose one title over the other. I did some investigating and came to the conclusion that, despite the differences between Birthright and Conquest, they are more or less ‘Awakening 2.0’ with a focus on either character matchmaking or aggressive tactics.

The thought of playing a familiar game held zero (0) appeal. I was feeling adventurous, ready to branch out. The 3DS, being the low-pressure, mobile platform that it is compliments this longing.

Etrian Odyssey is another franchise with a solid reputation. Untold 2, being the most recent release, is reported to uphold this high standard – And, get this: you actually utilize the touchpad! Not just to cycle through inventories or pan maps, but to create the maps! The game has a strong emphasis on exploration. Plus, it has both a story mode and classic mode as well as its own little sim building mechanic. A crafting system that, so far, is not arduous. AI that can’t be baited. Anime aesthetic and a great OST. Dialog between characters that doesn’t get too gabby…

It is a conglomeration that is all so wonderful and new to me. This, combined with the inherent, unspeakable delight of owning a DS, has me excited to take the time to play – which cannot be said about my steam library.

Alas, part of the motivating factor for choosing EOU2 was to get me away from habitually booting up my desktop and vacantly scrolling through my game library or, most recently, convincing myself load Diablo III. It’s time for a hiatus, son. The weather is breaking and the world beckons us forth from our winter shelters. So, why not grab the DS, trade some Grimoire stones via StreePass, and see what this spring has in store?

What are you playing this weekend?

All aboard the loot train!

…Say that again? The loot trains left years ago? The most recent one left last week? Well, I shall walk the tracks.

Indeed. I am late to the party. But considering how Diablo III has had years to evolve into the game it is now, I’d say now is as good a time as any to jump in.

I can’t pinpoint why I hadn’t committed to D3 sooner. The timing perhaps never felt right. Maybe I was waiting for the price to come down. I don’t know. The game was always in my sight, always a possible buy, but its favorable particulars went noticed…

That is, until last Friday when PC Gamer posted the news of D3’s new patch (which it declares to be ‘a biggie’) and the launch of season 5. I watched the embedded video and my interest finally flared. What in the Everlasting Mother Love is all of this, I thought. Rifts, Seasons, Set Dungeons, additional map zones, adventure mode. Clearly, Blizzard has addressed D3’s end-game problem – reports of which was another snag that kept me from buying.

After I watched the embedded video, I watched the embedded video again. After I re-watched the embedded video, I sat in silent meditation, reflecting on the gamer’s doldrums I felt myself drifting into. Could D3 be the necessary shakeup? And then I discovered that Blizzard now sells the vanilla and the Reaper of Souls expansion together for $40. Welp, that pretty much sealed the deal.

Now, one week later, and almost finished (I suspect) with Act IV, I am still driven by my Everlasting Mother Love ignorance. A line of inquiry about what this game is continues to piece itself together the deeper I investigate and the more I play. There is a giddy excitement resulting from the fact that I don’t fully understand what rifts are, where they are or what they do, or what happens during seasons and what happens when they conclude. And just what exactly can I do with my Death Magnet Monk once I complete the campaign? The meta-inventory for my loot works… how? Greater Rifts? Scaled Torment Difficulty?

Conversely, I find it interesting to learn about this iteration of the game and how it compares to its three years of evolution. Doubly so to hear about it directly from other ButtonMashers as they re-visit the game, having moved on before RoS was released.

The game feels familiar from my time with D2 all those eons ago, but still something very fresh. To my eyes, Diablo 3 is now far more arcade-y than I previously thought. And right now, I so need it.

What are you playing this weekend?

I didn’t even know I needed Thea: The Awakening in my life. Up until a two weeks ago I was doing just fine with what I had – doing just fine with getting tilted while playing Chaos Reborn and then releasing that rage on the endless Uruk population in Middle-Earth: Shadow of Mordor. But then Thea sort of wiggled her way into my field of view and batted her eyelashes at me. ‘Hey baybay,’ she wooed, ‘don’t cha wish your girlfriend was hot like me?’

Yes. I was tempted by the fruit of another and I yielded. Thea’s game descriptions and screenshots and reviews were very appealing. Rock, Paper, Shotgun just yesterday posted a full review declaring that the game “breaks the mold by doing a lot of different things at once. It just needs to do all of them better.”

Now some 15 hours in, I am, admittedly, not all the way sold on Thea. But the more that I play the more I get a feel for the game. It reveals itself gradually. This is exciting as I see that I have barely scratched the surface. But I still have reservations because, at least from my semi-n00b perspective, I wonder how systematic the game will become, how repetitive will campaigns become in order to unlock new gods?

I do not agree that all of the ‘different things’ in Thea need to be done better. (I likewise do not think the RPS review does a sufficient job of analyzing the rest of all those ‘different things’. Although, Rob Zacny’s initial drafts may have included them, but because of space had to do some surgical editing.) Let not the downsides of the clumsy UI and the occasional unfair, campaign-destroying random event eclipse the big picture. If the player approaches this like he is going to play an open world 4x, he shall therefore have a Thea: Rude Awakening.

Thea: The Awakening is not assembled to be a 4x. Its cogs are designed and manufactured by disparate groups who deal in different genres. The player must find his own way of working within this menagerie. Part of this methodology is entering the mindset involved in, say, playing a roguelike/lite. The expectations of Roguelikes/lites is that survival will be difficult, perhaps even unfair, but any progress made, however piddly, will be applied to an overarching mechanic that can be made available for future play-through. With new and stronger gods to play as, Thea: The Awakening grants a more sure, confident opportunity to expand in proceeding campaigns. At that point the player can then approach Thea with the mindset (and wisdom) to conduct a 4x-like-ish game.

It is the players responsibility to learn and act accordingly. I’m getting the sense that the player’s approach to Thea evolves overtime. And that’s really cool.

But, frankly, the above words could all be a bunch of hooey hocus pocus. In theory I have hope; In reality I’m going to continue forward and deal with the toils and trials of each day/night cycle, be prepared for the harshest unexpected event the best that I can, and always keep a keen eye on the horizon.

What are you playing this weekend?

The lack of media exposure of Chaos Reborn befuddles me. Rock, Paper, Shotgun gave the game some love while it was in early access, but, strange enough, ever since official release two weeks ago there has been nary a hint of coverage – no major reviews, minimal youtube presence, and maybe an occasional person playing on Twitch.

Chaos Reborn deserves – nay, requires – as much love as possible. Admittedly it’s a tough time of the year to establish a foothold as an indie game. However, the game merits to stand alongside the big names of this holiday season. Sure, the UI is a total mess and the single player realms are a bit convoluted… These matters are minor and will be resolved in due time. Regardless of the current state of the aforementioned, the true power of Chaos Reborn is in the PvP, whose systems are drum-tight and responsive. All that is needed is bigger population of players.

Personally, this past week and upcoming weekend will be one of exploration, to investigate the different game modes and to steadily build my confidence and skills in vying for dominance in a place where so few things are certain and the tides of battle can shift in a single turn.

Yes! The RNG. The percentages. The chaos. It is a thing of beauty. And Chaos Reborn balances it on a razor’s edge.

I am finding that my view towards the uncertainties inexorably tied to each action within each turn are shifting. I am now thinking more offensively. Whereas before I would approach each turn with the mentality of something like: These hits are not guaranteed, so I better turtle up while I try to establish more board presence. This same strategy was utilized by many of my opponents. And when you have two wizards cowering behind structures and defensive creatures you therefore have very long and tedious and boring matchups. Nuts to this, I concluded, I’m going in for the kill, and I’m gonna do it with my bare hands. It was a risky endeavor but the payoff was a sweet victory.

That specific match set forth a change in how I view the RNG of Chaos Reborn. I use the percentages as assets not as impediments. I want to improve on playing the odds and knowing when to push, when to run and when to bluff my way into board dominance – but not get pissed when the RNG royally bones me. Chaos Reborn truly is a state of mind.

What are you playing this weekend?

May I begin this post by squeezing in another type of post to serve as a sub-header. “In My Digital Hands” posts are Sir Tony Buttonmasher’s gig, but this is my post and I’m feeling saucy. So I will post whatever I want in this post. (Say ‘post’ again. I dare you. I double-dare you. Do they speak English in ‘post’?)

In My Digital Hands

I added Chaos Reborn to my Steam wishlist as soon as I caught wind of it earlier this year. And then I removed it along with a few others shortly after because I didn’t want early access games clogging up the list. And then I added it again because of a handsome update I read about. And then I removed it again because I was still chaffing against wishing for incomplete games – But, still, it looks really cool!; better keep my eye on it. See? Even before buying it, the game already brought chaos into my world.

Now Chaos Reborn is out of early access and deemed ready for the masses. Can we confidently say the game is complete? Hardly.

But let us not bemoan this assessment. I read a message board comment that breaks CR down into being 25% PvE and 75% PvP. The idea being that PvE will be expanded by both game developer Snapshot Games as well as modders. There is a great desire in the community for more co-op opportunities in PvE and a more refined PvP experience – and more players. Yeah. More players usually helps…

This is why I decided to throw my hat into the ring. Although, in all honesty, the intricacies of most of the above doesn’t mean boo to me at this point as I am still (willingly) making my way through the tutorials. But I believe that I’ve caught the spirit of the game, managed to look at it from a distance and see what it is and what it can certainly become.

Chaos Reborn is all about risk/reward. I took the risk in buying the game even though it isn’t in its final form (and, really, why should there even be a final form?) with the hope that Snapshot will continue to be true to their refining processes. Considering the resumes and pedigrees of the minds behind the game, I trust that the reward of a tremendous game with tons of content and gameplay modes will far exceed the risk of spending a piddly discount price of $16.

What are you playing this weekend?

Hand of Fate continues to be on my mind this week, though I have not played it. Why? Because I had a MONSTER endless run last Saturday – The most successful ever since purchasing the game. The run feels even more glorious because most of the progress was made utilizing sub-par weapons. My skill carried me through.

I say this not to gloat, but more so to commend the control that HoF gives the player. Part of player skill as it pertains to this game is playing the cards – making tough decisions about resource management and movement, i.e. when to pursue a scenario and when to flee. And then, of course, there is the RNG, which, in this run, completely screwed me in some aspects (player loadout) but gave me slight advantage in others (the ‘High Constitution’ blessing. Nod your head enthusiastically if you know what I’m talking about!) This give-and-take setup enables very satisfying gameplay. And, specific to last week’s endless run, raised my level of expectation so high for future runs that I’ve been getting myself amped all week to give it another go.

While we’re on the topic of beating Personal Bests: I want to say a little something about a little twin-stick shooter called Waves: Hachi Machi! I sat on Waves, un-played, for nearly a year. Twelve months it was there in my Steam library, consistently being overlooked. Bruh, why did I do this to myself? This game is so good! On a whim I booted it up earlier this week and I haven’t even looked back. It is intense, satisfying, maddening, blood boiling, orgasmic, instinctive, hectic, etc, etc, etc, et-freaking-c. There are divers game modes, but, bruh,

Survival is where it’s at (Nod your head enthusiastically if you know what I’m talking about!)

Often, after blowing up, I blurt out, “I can’t play these types of games anymore! I’m too old for this crap!” And yet, there’s my high score from a previous run, taunting me, flirting with my wife, always in view. I must surpass this number. I will surpass this number. Indeed. No other game I’ve played in recent memory has me score and achievement chasing like this.

And what of Hearthstone? Will I ever achieve my PR of Rank 14 again? I accomplished this back in February, and have since fallen away from the game. I stuck around back then just long enough to incorporate Goblins vs. Gnome cards into my decks and make my way through all but one of the Naaxramas wings. Since then I have watched from a distance the release of Blackrock Mountain, Tavern Brawl, and The Grand Tournament. My monthly inactivity forced my rank back down to 25.

Come to last Friday. ‘Wouldn’t it be cute’, I thought, ‘to jump back in like no time has passed.’

Well. It wasn’t cute. Hearthstone has moved on without me. It has become a foreign, scary place with all kinds of new devious machinations. Being a stranger in a strange land made gleam the things about Hearthstone that turned me off all those months ago – Primarily, the realization/inevitability of my worst fear which pressed so deeply upon my heart as I sat high upon my Rank 14 lookout: Hearthstone is now exclusively pay-to-advance.

This was an obvious, bitter pill to swallow as I sat there playing my old burst Shaman against these new confangled monstrosity decks. Likewise, I play against decks at these low levels and it is clear they flushed a considerable sum to obtain so many legendary cards… And that turns me the hell off.

So, will I ever achieve Rank 14 again? Probably not. I just don’t care enough to make it happen. I used to enjoy earning the gold from daily quests. But now it will just feel like a grind. Buying packs on a shoe-string gold budget is a total wash because there are so many new cards.

The wild card here is the Arena. I was never very good at Arena. But, as I want to continue dabbling in Hearthstone, this may be the last bastion of hope. The gameplan for this weekend will be to do a few quests and bank up enough gold to buy a few admissions into the Arena, and to hopefully get to a point where my Arena career can be self-sustaining. Nod your head enthusiastically if you know what I’m talking about!

What are you playing this weekend?