Champions: See you down the line...

Gaming, Opinion, What I'm Playing 5 Responses »
Sep 302009

This week I decided to go ahead and cancel my Champions Online account.  I think there is a general malaise at my house when it comes to MMOs. So I guess I have to tell Champions; “It’s not you, it’s me.”  I need to see other MMO’s.

Champions is a fun game and I think that there will be a time in the future that I resub. For now though, there are a few things about the game that make me want to put it down.  First, there is the lack of polish and finish to the game.  Depending on the encounter, a mob near your level might be an appropriate challenge or it may not.  This is especially true in boss encounters.  Some of them are major undercons.  This betrays a lack of balance that permeates the game.  Second, there is the quest driven nature of the game.  Now before you think I’m going to bash quest-driven games, know that I like that style of game just fine.  You (game designers) just can’t let me run out.  As my main character reached his mid-twenties he started falling farther and farther behind the quest curve.  For example, when he was 21 he only had quests that were 2 levels higher than him available.  He was still able to do them, if not able to use the rewards immediately.  As he leveled through his twenties this problem became worse.  I could probably grind though it but mob experience is weak, and I’m not inclined to do so.

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Posted by Genda at 6:33 AM Tagged with: , ,

Amazing Accomplishments of the Daft

Gaming, Opinion, What I'm Playing 1 Response »
Sep 142009

Among the great things that are accomplished by people every day, I have always pointed out that doing so is easy when you are smart.

Accomplishing things when you are an idiot requires some effort and determination.  Many of the things I have accomplished in my life are heroic in nature because at the very core of my being, I’m an idiot.  I pointed this out to some of my fellow bloggers and guild members in our Champions Ventrilo channel the other night.  To my dismay, they tacitly agreed.  As a matter of fact, they tactfully tacitly agreed.

Here’s the latest example of my bumblehood;

Now, in reality, I’m a relatively smart guy.  I get it, more often than not.  But lately when it comes to gaming, I’ve noticed a trend.  For example, I’ve been playing Champions online since late beta.  Admittedly, not a terribly long time.  During this time, I have experimented with many of the pre-made power sets if not nearly all of them.  During that time, I managed to completely avoid slotting a single defensive ability.  I think it’s fair to say that I died.  A lot.  I knew something was wrong, but I was having fun and the death penalty is so small in CO.  So I kept dieing.  And dieing.  Sometimes it was so often that I felt a need to apologize to my teammates.  I’ve often used the saying that “Doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results is the definition of insanity.”  Or the southern version; “If all you do is all you’ve done, then all you’ll get is what you got.”

Clearly, I’d lost my effing mind.

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Posted by Genda at 11:51 PM Tagged with: ,

Champions Makes a Good 2nd Impression

Design, Gaming, Opinion, What I'm Playing 2 Responses »
Sep 072009

So when the PileFlanet (Yes, I did that on purpose) beta came out for Champions online, I took advantage of the membership I’ve inexplicably maintained for the last few years and downloaded and installed the game.  I got my key, activated my account, patched (I won’t bitch too much except to say that didn’t go well) and tried it out.  I made a few characters, cool, and tried to play.  Meh.

Pete over at Dragonchasers and I exchanged tweets about it, and we agreed that the main problem with Champions is that it’s got a first-impression problem.  Now, the game might not be for everyone but everyone I have spoken to has agreed that the game is better than the first impression it gives.  And that’s a problem for Cryptic.  I almost didn’t come back to the game.  In fact, I wouldn’t have if it weren’t for the fact that Brent over at A Wall of Text commented that he was really digging it.  Given that he and I seem to like some of the same stuff, and when we play together we often have the same likes and dislikes, I decided to give it another run.  I’m glad I did.

I’m not saying that I’m going to cancel my WoW accounts (I’m not) or that it’s going to be a game that I’m going to be playing 5 years from now (it almost certainly isn’t) but it’s a lot of fun.  Tarkheena and I are enjoying it.

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Posted by Genda at 10:34 PM Tagged with: ,

Cryptic Studios Aptly Named on Pre-Launch Event

Business, Opinion, Rant 8 Responses »
Aug 292009

Champions Online

Like anyone who is interested in the MMO space, I tend to want to at least try every game that comes along.  I was a little resistant to mess with Champions Online just because from the brief time I spent with it in beta, it felt like CoX 2.0.  This isn’t a ringing endorsement.

Like a lot of people, Tarkheena and I were fascinated by the character creation though.  Add to that a lot of friends that are playing and we decided to give it a run.  I headed over to the Champions Online website to find out what the deal is with pre-order, head-start and the like.  I also wanted to find out when the game was going live.  According to what I saw there, I’m evidently just supposed to know this by osmosis or something.  There isn’t a single banner, news post, or link that would tell me when the damn thing is going to happen.

Being the stubborn sort, I refused to look elsewhere to find this news because if you are trying to sell me a product, I feel like you should effing tell me when it’s going to be available before I have to google (or Bing) it.

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Posted by Genda at 2:03 PM Tagged with: , ,
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