Monday 30 January 2012

Guild Wars 2 Beta Discussion

With the Guild Wars 2 beta hot on our heels I think that there are some fairly decent conflicts arising. How to go about selecting beta testers. Now we already know that a bunch have been selected for the closed beta, but of course no method to apply for this.

Thursday 19 January 2012

Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning Demo

Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning is a peculiar game. At a glance it appears to be a cross breed of several games. I think most single player RPG's are similar, but there are definitely some very noticeable similarities. With a dialogue system similar to the Mass Effect series and a combat system similar to an action game there are a few things I have noticed.

The combat system is wonderful. It's fast-paced, gritty and really rewards skillful combos. I love the idea of committing to skill combos. That the more combos you link together the deeper you get and the harder it is to pull back. So delving into a combo you really have to be committed or you will pay. The game feels very much the same as a lot of RPG's out there. Now this can be taken either way, for me it felt natural. Although I wish there was more things being done different besides combat and a few other smaller things.

Wednesday 18 January 2012

Games Overload

Sorry about the inactivity, been contemplating a lot of new posts. Also the mundane assignments I have been getting for my writing class recently has been dimming my blogging spirit. I'll keep on trucking though!

So, today I think a small ramble is due. This mostly relating to the absurd amount of steam games I have floating around my library. Now take a deep breath, I know this will be hard. 95... dun dun dun. I really don't know if that is a ridiculous amount but for me that is. 

Now at this point I feel sort of mixed about these games. On the plus side if online gaming ever dies I will have a whole whack load of untouched games to play. On the other end I just find it hard to believe I have actually purchased around 95 games, plus the 30 something for my PS3 and a couple new releases I have grabbed for my Xbox 360.

Now this ultimately brings me to my small ramble topic. Why so many games? Do we really need that many. In my opinion I don't think so. My problem is I get bored of games really quickly and the only games that have actually kept me going have been massive games. Games like Runescape, World of Warcraft, Guild Wars. And now my latest fixation League of Legends. I love games with a lot to them, layers of content for me to sift through. And recently the splurge of FPS shooters has really deterred me from console play. I used to play my Playstation 3 constantly and now my computer is getting all the love. 

So just ponder that for a moment, the sheer amount of games you and others have purchased. It is mind-blowing really. Or should I say game-breaking. Nope, terrible pun and doesn't even make sense. Damn!

Ramble complete.

Wednesday 11 January 2012

Jax Remastered

If you haven't seen it already there is a new champion spotlight for the "remastered" jax. In all honesty they haven't really remastered him, just removed dodge from his skills and mixed things around.

Now to be fair I don't play Jax and really don't have any interest. But from what I gather his passive has been severely butchered. His E skill is now Counter-Strike. This should be an interesting skill to get balanced right. If the duration/cooldown is too long there could be sever drawbacks in using the too early/late. We will have to see how that plays out. And now his ultimate appears to be a sort of splice of his passive and the old ultimate.

The Youtube community seems to up in arms about the new changes. That this has "ruined" Jax. We will have to see really, there are several ways it could pan out.

All I know is Riot really needs to figure out their champion balancing before releasing/changing champions. I mean even Viktor who was recently released has been majorly buffed due to his poor performance. He just doesn't compete with other mage casters.

Come on Riot! You have the ability to balance and fix champions accordingly, so do it baby!

Ramble complete.


Tuesday 10 January 2012

Early Game Fizz

To kick off this gaming blog I figure a small blurb for League of Legends is in order.

Fizz. That annoying little sea creature dodging all your spells with that playful/trickster. Now I play Fizz on a regular basis and I have noticed a few things.

Fizz's early game is atrocious. He has no laning presence. He is squishy, his dash gets him into the wrong position all the time, and the playful/trickster is much too mana costly to be spamming. This is a problem I feel being not addressed by Riot. In all honesty I think they fear a fizz buff. A lot of my friends consider him over-powered. And in a way he is. His late game can spiral out of control very quickly. The biggest thing with fizz is getting in his face, he has a lot of agility so this is not an easy task. I think keeping him locked down with a lot of Crowd Control effects while his playful/trickster is on cooldown is key. If fizz starts getting focused a quick playful/trickster can give him enough distance to be ignored, but he never stops there. Coming back into the fight unnoticed is a strong asset of his. And he will do it on a constant basis.

So in all honesty they need to tone down his late game a tad and give him a little more early game sustainability. Whether it be more mana regen or something of the sort.

And on the playful/trickster bit it seems a little ridiculous. Nocturne has a similar skill and so does Sivir. Come on, it's not like nothing we haven't seen before.

Ramble complete.