Possibly one of my shorter rants as destroying Halo is like tearing a hole in the proverbial wet paper sack. Anyway, here we go.
Halo, it's a true phenomenon of the day. As with all phenomena, you either love it or you hate it. Guess which one I am.
Got your answer yet?.. Oh sorry I'll give you a bit more time..
I FUCKING HATE IT! I gave Halo a chance, I really did. I love Science Fiction, especially when it follows the age old formula of: Humans go into space and find bi-pedal, aerobic alien species. This species is hostile and we retaliate with a war. However it seems that the only way to win is to use genetically enhanced super-soldiers, so we do. It's fucking great and is the basis of my favorite Science Fiction series: Warhammer 40,000. However, what Warhammer did that Halo didn't is that it expanded on that base, it gave more depth to the basic story, where as Halo was content just sitting at the cliche. The Space Marines is Warhammer weren't explicitly created to defeat the aliens, in fact they were originally created to conquer Earth, or Terra as it's called in Warhammer. This gives a brand new level of possible depth for the characters just in the very framework of the story. These people were made to kill, not a foreign species, but their own species. It's even seen in the books surrounding the Horus Heresy where, during the effort to re-establish contact with and dominance over the vestiges of humanity that had been lost in the stars during a storm in the parallel reality used for long distance space travel, the Space Marines are used to slaughter several planets-worth of military forces. Without even talking about individual characters I can illustrate just how much deeper Warhammer is than Halo.
But Halo's fanbase doesn't care about stories. If they did they wouldn't be playing Halo and defending it so voraciously. Halo's gameplay is fundamentally different from almost every Warhammer game made, so I will have to abandon that comparison... in favor of one that actually fits better. Halo's gameplay is nothing more than a cut and paste Unreal Tournament or Quake engine, for consoles. Hell, I'd even venture to say that Quake 3 for the PS2 is a better game than Halo. Halo has yet to offer anything to the genre except the first decent FPS port to consoles. All it does is take worn out aspects, throw some high res textures on them and stuff them into the game.
Do you know why Halo has the level of success it does now? It's because when Halo was released the FPS genre was one that generally shied away from consoles since at the time their RAM was vastly lower than what was possible with a modern computer, and with the twitch reflexes and quick pay-off of an FPS game quick load times were essential as well as minimizing possible screen tear. Bungie simply took a, at the time, ballsy leap into the genre and was able to crank out a console FPS that did the same thing computer FPS had been doing for years. Most people, at the time, were either console or computer gamers, sure, most owned both, but few actively played video games on them both, so the console gamers were astounded by what they had been missing out on, THAT is why Bungie has such a large fanbase. So Bungie has no need to innovate, they hooked people in, and since moderate gamers, the ones who like FPS the most, have smaller amounts of gaming dollars they like to stick with a series they know, like Halo, so they just lap up every single game Bungie churns out. Bungie doesn't need to bring in more buyers, so they don't try.
THAT is why I hate Halo. It's unoriginal, uninteresting, and all around mediocre. It's not worth my money, and is not worth yours. If you want an FPS that is shallow, focused solely on multiplayer, requires minimal strategy, and offers the same mechanics Halo does, buy Battlefield: Bad Company 2. I don't play it, but at least it's gameplay isn't entirely worn out.
Thursday, September 23, 2010
Sunday, September 19, 2010
Free? To Play Freakout
Lord of the Rings Online has recently stated that they have released a "Free to Play" option for their Massively Multiplayer RPG. Enticed by this proposal I took a look at it. Here's what I found.
Despite this being placed in the Free to Play Freakout tag it will work more like a "Pariah's Angry Rant" for reasons you shall see.
Turbine thinks what they are doing is releasing free to play content for their "Award Winning" game in order to give people a taste of the MMO so that hopefully they'd decide to pay for it down the line. What they've done, however, is spit in the face of anyone who doesn't want to pay for their game.
Here's how a great, successful, Free to Play MMO works: They offer full content access to ALL players. Make an account and you can access every single bit of content in the world. Then, add a cash shop, similar to what you can find on most Korean MMOs. Stock the cash shop with different buffs that give the payers certain advantages, such as increased EXP gain, or a faster mount. (Of course not something like a new class or equipment or stat boosts, that breaks the game). There, you've got a great base for an MMO that, if it's fun of course, will make you money and make you lots of fans who will WANT to pay you money.
What you DO NOT DO is this: Grant free players access to most zones, however, only give them quests in the first three that will take them to about level 25. Give them limited chat, crafting, storage, inventory, money cap, support, no permanent mount, etc. Instead have three levels of players: Free, Premium, and VIP. To get Premium, force them to purchase something from the store, whether it be points or actual content. Then to get VIP force them to pay A SUBSCRIPTION FOR YOUR FREE TO PLAY GAME.
If you don't see whats wrong with this then you are part of the problem. This game is not "Free to Play" it's "Free to Test" it's little more than an extended trial version. Turbine would be making so much more money if they'd follow the guidelines I set in the first paragraph, not only that, they'd have a much larger and more loyal fanbase. At the moment, they are offering Free to Play quality content for a Premium price. While there may be some Turbine sycophants out there, as there always is, that doesn't change the fact that this game is an insult to anyone who came there looking for a Free to Play game.
I am frankly infuriated that this is how it turned out. I had been eagerly awaiting the Free to Play release of LotRO as I don't currently have the means to support an MMO subscription, and this really felt like a slap to the face. Like they were some soup kitchen chef who looked out at all the hungry faces awaiting food, then as each person came by for their share they kicked them in the shins and gave them a few drops of soup. It's unacceptable that they think they can get away with this.
I wouldn't really be so upset about this if the game was better, if it was a game with the production quality and polish of something like World of Warcraft then I wouldn't be able to bash it so hard. But it's not, the combat is crude and clunky, everything feels swampy and delayed like you are walking waist deep in mud, and the crafting is restrictive, forcing you to take a set of three instead of giving you a choice of what you want. So if you were hoping to get Tailoring, Foresting, and Armorsmithing, for whatever reason, too bad, you're fucked. Then there's Turbine, which has become my new symbol for everything that is wrong with MMOs nowadays.
That's all for this hybridization of Free to Play Freakout and Pariah's Angry Rants, hope you enjoyed it
HappyPariah
Despite this being placed in the Free to Play Freakout tag it will work more like a "Pariah's Angry Rant" for reasons you shall see.
Turbine thinks what they are doing is releasing free to play content for their "Award Winning" game in order to give people a taste of the MMO so that hopefully they'd decide to pay for it down the line. What they've done, however, is spit in the face of anyone who doesn't want to pay for their game.
Here's how a great, successful, Free to Play MMO works: They offer full content access to ALL players. Make an account and you can access every single bit of content in the world. Then, add a cash shop, similar to what you can find on most Korean MMOs. Stock the cash shop with different buffs that give the payers certain advantages, such as increased EXP gain, or a faster mount. (Of course not something like a new class or equipment or stat boosts, that breaks the game). There, you've got a great base for an MMO that, if it's fun of course, will make you money and make you lots of fans who will WANT to pay you money.
What you DO NOT DO is this: Grant free players access to most zones, however, only give them quests in the first three that will take them to about level 25. Give them limited chat, crafting, storage, inventory, money cap, support, no permanent mount, etc. Instead have three levels of players: Free, Premium, and VIP. To get Premium, force them to purchase something from the store, whether it be points or actual content. Then to get VIP force them to pay A SUBSCRIPTION FOR YOUR FREE TO PLAY GAME.
If you don't see whats wrong with this then you are part of the problem. This game is not "Free to Play" it's "Free to Test" it's little more than an extended trial version. Turbine would be making so much more money if they'd follow the guidelines I set in the first paragraph, not only that, they'd have a much larger and more loyal fanbase. At the moment, they are offering Free to Play quality content for a Premium price. While there may be some Turbine sycophants out there, as there always is, that doesn't change the fact that this game is an insult to anyone who came there looking for a Free to Play game.
I am frankly infuriated that this is how it turned out. I had been eagerly awaiting the Free to Play release of LotRO as I don't currently have the means to support an MMO subscription, and this really felt like a slap to the face. Like they were some soup kitchen chef who looked out at all the hungry faces awaiting food, then as each person came by for their share they kicked them in the shins and gave them a few drops of soup. It's unacceptable that they think they can get away with this.
I wouldn't really be so upset about this if the game was better, if it was a game with the production quality and polish of something like World of Warcraft then I wouldn't be able to bash it so hard. But it's not, the combat is crude and clunky, everything feels swampy and delayed like you are walking waist deep in mud, and the crafting is restrictive, forcing you to take a set of three instead of giving you a choice of what you want. So if you were hoping to get Tailoring, Foresting, and Armorsmithing, for whatever reason, too bad, you're fucked. Then there's Turbine, which has become my new symbol for everything that is wrong with MMOs nowadays.
That's all for this hybridization of Free to Play Freakout and Pariah's Angry Rants, hope you enjoyed it
HappyPariah
Thursday, September 16, 2010
The First Ever, Pariah's Musing
It's time for the first ever actual Pariah's Musing. I mentioned in my mission statement that I'd do some personal topics for my own sake, and I plan to do this solely for my own sake. I will not archive these musings, so if you want to keep certain ones, be sure to bookmark the page or take note of which day I posted it.
The subject of the first ever Pariah's Musing will be life, and the most difficult stage of it. Many people contest that the most difficult part of someone's life is the middle years, around 30-40, where you are settling your life down, building a family, and beginning your own homestead, I however, throw my lot in with the group that says the most difficult time in a person's life is their late teens, from about 17-24. Why is this? For a few simple reasons. While you are in school, sure it sucks and sure it's restrictive, but you get your time to live. You can truly enjoy everything. Meanwhile, at around the time you graduate from high school you are suddenly bum rushed by all sorts of things. While previously you had just talked about what colleges you are getting into, you are now faced with the realization that this means you will be separated. You are forced away from the people who mean the most to you and thrust into a new environment. Or you are left behind and feel useless, while all of your friends are attending college, you, for one reason or another, are not, and aren't necessarily pressured by your parents, but you feel pressured by your own mind, to find a job, simply so you aren't the only person sitting at home every day. Or you scramble desperately to find what you are truly meant to do in life. Or, you are like me, someone who is stuck in the middle of it all, only somewhat sure what you will aspire to be, yet confronted with the brunt of the whole thing as you observe the lives of the people you treasure most being subjected to these crises. The responsible people in this age zone are scrambling to find their place in the world, trying to carve out their own niche while not losing their sanity to the machinations of the world. When you throw in a disdain for the very society you are being forcibly integrated with, as is the case with me, you get inner turmoil unseen in the heart of any other age group. My views are so radical and unaccepted that my natural instinct is to rebel, however, I NEED to conform and work my way out of the norm, if I'll ever maintain my sanity.
My friend is moving away in a few days. Of course it's not as though I will never see him again, that is the magic of the internet, and he's really only moving all of 45 minutes away. But it's just the simple fact that in the normal workings of the day, every time me and my other friends spend time together, he won't be there. Our quartet has been shaved to a trio. The worst part is that it's only the beginning. In approximately four to six years I plan to have my degree and the job I want the most. In approximately four to six years a friend will be in school learning to become a nurse. In approximately four to six years a friend will be moving to Japan to begin his career as a teacher. In approximately four to six years a friend will be in the Army. I, having the job I've wanted, will be moved to Sweden. We will be scattered across the globe. We won't be able to spend time together at all. All of our light-hearted banter and well meaning quips will be distant memories. Of course we will always have the internet, I cannot begin to thank modern technology enough, but it's simply not the same. Even in a video chat room, we won't be able to sit around the local mall and complain about how boring the area is, we won't be able to sit in a house and realize we forgot the dice for a game of Dungeons and Dragons, only to find some contrived game buried deep within our hard drives to give a test run, we won't be able to see each other face to face. My friend moving marks the beginning of something every tight knit group of friends swears up and down will never happen, we are falling apart. While it's going to happen slowly at first, it will eventually cycle forward almost in the blink of an eye and we'll be separated. While it may seem a lazy thing to say, it is actually difficult to stay in contact over such large distances, especially considering one of us will be in the military. The three civilians will be stuck in radically different time zones. With the smallest difference being something like 8 hours.
However, I will end on a positive note, if a possibly foolishly optimistic one. While all of these things are true, I have actual confidence in my friendship with my friends. I'm not a confident person, I'm a sheepish, timid, submissive person. I rarely take confidence in anything, especially my own personal life. But I am confident that my and my friends have what it takes to keep in contact, because... we have nothing else. Our bonds have been tempered by the closeness we have for each other now.
That's it for the first ever Pariah's Musings.
The subject of the first ever Pariah's Musing will be life, and the most difficult stage of it. Many people contest that the most difficult part of someone's life is the middle years, around 30-40, where you are settling your life down, building a family, and beginning your own homestead, I however, throw my lot in with the group that says the most difficult time in a person's life is their late teens, from about 17-24. Why is this? For a few simple reasons. While you are in school, sure it sucks and sure it's restrictive, but you get your time to live. You can truly enjoy everything. Meanwhile, at around the time you graduate from high school you are suddenly bum rushed by all sorts of things. While previously you had just talked about what colleges you are getting into, you are now faced with the realization that this means you will be separated. You are forced away from the people who mean the most to you and thrust into a new environment. Or you are left behind and feel useless, while all of your friends are attending college, you, for one reason or another, are not, and aren't necessarily pressured by your parents, but you feel pressured by your own mind, to find a job, simply so you aren't the only person sitting at home every day. Or you scramble desperately to find what you are truly meant to do in life. Or, you are like me, someone who is stuck in the middle of it all, only somewhat sure what you will aspire to be, yet confronted with the brunt of the whole thing as you observe the lives of the people you treasure most being subjected to these crises. The responsible people in this age zone are scrambling to find their place in the world, trying to carve out their own niche while not losing their sanity to the machinations of the world. When you throw in a disdain for the very society you are being forcibly integrated with, as is the case with me, you get inner turmoil unseen in the heart of any other age group. My views are so radical and unaccepted that my natural instinct is to rebel, however, I NEED to conform and work my way out of the norm, if I'll ever maintain my sanity.
My friend is moving away in a few days. Of course it's not as though I will never see him again, that is the magic of the internet, and he's really only moving all of 45 minutes away. But it's just the simple fact that in the normal workings of the day, every time me and my other friends spend time together, he won't be there. Our quartet has been shaved to a trio. The worst part is that it's only the beginning. In approximately four to six years I plan to have my degree and the job I want the most. In approximately four to six years a friend will be in school learning to become a nurse. In approximately four to six years a friend will be moving to Japan to begin his career as a teacher. In approximately four to six years a friend will be in the Army. I, having the job I've wanted, will be moved to Sweden. We will be scattered across the globe. We won't be able to spend time together at all. All of our light-hearted banter and well meaning quips will be distant memories. Of course we will always have the internet, I cannot begin to thank modern technology enough, but it's simply not the same. Even in a video chat room, we won't be able to sit around the local mall and complain about how boring the area is, we won't be able to sit in a house and realize we forgot the dice for a game of Dungeons and Dragons, only to find some contrived game buried deep within our hard drives to give a test run, we won't be able to see each other face to face. My friend moving marks the beginning of something every tight knit group of friends swears up and down will never happen, we are falling apart. While it's going to happen slowly at first, it will eventually cycle forward almost in the blink of an eye and we'll be separated. While it may seem a lazy thing to say, it is actually difficult to stay in contact over such large distances, especially considering one of us will be in the military. The three civilians will be stuck in radically different time zones. With the smallest difference being something like 8 hours.
However, I will end on a positive note, if a possibly foolishly optimistic one. While all of these things are true, I have actual confidence in my friendship with my friends. I'm not a confident person, I'm a sheepish, timid, submissive person. I rarely take confidence in anything, especially my own personal life. But I am confident that my and my friends have what it takes to keep in contact, because... we have nothing else. Our bonds have been tempered by the closeness we have for each other now.
That's it for the first ever Pariah's Musings.
Monday, September 13, 2010
Top Ten List: The Most Epic Battle Themes
Welcome to another Top Ten list. As always, this is my opinion, so if you think that your favorites are way better than mine, kindly shut your trap and enjoy my list. I will grading these themes upon just basic epicness. What is "epicness" well it's how incredible I think a song is. That's pretty much it... just a list of my ten favorite battle themes.
#10- The Seal is Broken for "Blue Dragon"
The first in a large chunk of Nobuo Uematsu songs. Honestly, Nobuo is my favorite composer no one can match how epic he makes his songs. Sure, other composers can have him beat on other aspects of a good song, but none have ever stuck with me better than some of Nobuo's greatest. The Seal is Broken is the final boss music for the XBox360 game "Blue Dragon" and it's definitely one of his best.
#9- I'll Face Myself for "Persona 4"
The first in another large chunk, but this is by composer Shoji Meguro. Shoji is a composer of equal skill to Nobuo, however their specialties differ. While Nobuo is able to make intense and memorable fight songs, Shoji's are usually lack-luster, however, Shoji's skill to make normal music that conveys an overlying tone such as "Edge of Madness" for Persona 4 is absolutely awe-inspiring. However, I'll Face Myself is a two in a million shot, you'll see why "two" later, for Shoji, showing that he can in fact make great battle music. I'll Face Myself is the normal boss music for Persona 4.
#8- Dante Battle for "Shin Megami Tensei 3: Nocturne"
Another song from Shoji Meguro, however, not all of the credit can go to him, as he had two other composers working on the music with him. It really shows in this song, you can definitely feel Shoji's hand in this piece, but it also gives off the same air of epic that comes from Nobuo, if at a much smaller degree.
#7- Dancing Mad for "Final Fantasy 6 / Dissidia: Final Fantasy"
Another Nobuo song, I think I'm developing a pattern here. Anyway, Dancing Mad is a spectacular example of how great music from the SNES can be, and how it can trump songs from modern games entirely. Dancing Mad is essentially two songs, one is about 8 minutes in length the other is about 6, and they play during the final gauntlet of bosses in Final Fantasy 6. The song I will provide is the Dissidia remake of the music that plays when you actually fight Kefka, the final boss.
#6- The Decisive Battle for "Final Fantasy 5 / Dissidia"
Yet another Nobuo song, this time it's Exdeath's final boss theme. There's really not much left to say here, I've already said it all before.
Welcome to another Top Ten list. As always, this is my opinion, so if you think that your favorites are way better than mine, kindly shut your trap and enjoy my list. I will grading these themes upon just basic epicness. What is "epicness" well it's how incredible I think a song is. That's pretty much it... just a list of my ten favorite battle themes.
#5- Clash on the Big Bridge for "Final Fantasy 5"
Again, Nobuo, again amazing.
#4- Otherworld for "Final Fantasy 10"
I absolutely hate Final Fantasy 10. Everything about Tidus pisses me off. Yuna is a stupid floozy. Lulu finds something to love in Wakka. Wakka is, to quote Peppy, "hawribble!". Rikku is... kinda hot, but still annoying. Kimahri is one dimensional and entirely useless in the game. Auron is the one character I don't want to strangle, he's actually kind of cool... if only Square had decided that his much more interesting story was worthy of the spotlight and not that Meg Ryan dead ringer. However, if one good thing did come out of Final Fantasy 10, it's this song, Nobuo's death rattle before slipping into obscurity to work on games like Blue Dragon and Lost Odyssey.
#3- The Darkness of Eternity for "Final Fantasy 9"
Again, I don't have much to say.
#2- The Battle for Everyone's Souls for "Persona 3"
This is the shining example of how to make a calm, yet epic boss theme. Shoji really outdid himself with this song.
And now, for the Number One most epic boss theme in any game ever.
#1- Howl of the Departed for "Lost Odyssey"
This song. I can't even begin to describe it. I get chills every time I hear it. I'm ashamed to say that I abandoned Lost Odyssey long before I got to this song and was devastated when I came across it later. It's absolutely breath taking. Nobuo's greatest work, and the greatest work for any battle theme ever.
#10- The Seal is Broken for "Blue Dragon"
The first in a large chunk of Nobuo Uematsu songs. Honestly, Nobuo is my favorite composer no one can match how epic he makes his songs. Sure, other composers can have him beat on other aspects of a good song, but none have ever stuck with me better than some of Nobuo's greatest. The Seal is Broken is the final boss music for the XBox360 game "Blue Dragon" and it's definitely one of his best.
#9- I'll Face Myself for "Persona 4"
The first in another large chunk, but this is by composer Shoji Meguro. Shoji is a composer of equal skill to Nobuo, however their specialties differ. While Nobuo is able to make intense and memorable fight songs, Shoji's are usually lack-luster, however, Shoji's skill to make normal music that conveys an overlying tone such as "Edge of Madness" for Persona 4 is absolutely awe-inspiring. However, I'll Face Myself is a two in a million shot, you'll see why "two" later, for Shoji, showing that he can in fact make great battle music. I'll Face Myself is the normal boss music for Persona 4.
#8- Dante Battle for "Shin Megami Tensei 3: Nocturne"
Another song from Shoji Meguro, however, not all of the credit can go to him, as he had two other composers working on the music with him. It really shows in this song, you can definitely feel Shoji's hand in this piece, but it also gives off the same air of epic that comes from Nobuo, if at a much smaller degree.
#7- Dancing Mad for "Final Fantasy 6 / Dissidia: Final Fantasy"
Another Nobuo song, I think I'm developing a pattern here. Anyway, Dancing Mad is a spectacular example of how great music from the SNES can be, and how it can trump songs from modern games entirely. Dancing Mad is essentially two songs, one is about 8 minutes in length the other is about 6, and they play during the final gauntlet of bosses in Final Fantasy 6. The song I will provide is the Dissidia remake of the music that plays when you actually fight Kefka, the final boss.
#6- The Decisive Battle for "Final Fantasy 5 / Dissidia"
Yet another Nobuo song, this time it's Exdeath's final boss theme. There's really not much left to say here, I've already said it all before.
Welcome to another Top Ten list. As always, this is my opinion, so if you think that your favorites are way better than mine, kindly shut your trap and enjoy my list. I will grading these themes upon just basic epicness. What is "epicness" well it's how incredible I think a song is. That's pretty much it... just a list of my ten favorite battle themes.
#5- Clash on the Big Bridge for "Final Fantasy 5"
Again, Nobuo, again amazing.
#4- Otherworld for "Final Fantasy 10"
I absolutely hate Final Fantasy 10. Everything about Tidus pisses me off. Yuna is a stupid floozy. Lulu finds something to love in Wakka. Wakka is, to quote Peppy, "hawribble!". Rikku is... kinda hot, but still annoying. Kimahri is one dimensional and entirely useless in the game. Auron is the one character I don't want to strangle, he's actually kind of cool... if only Square had decided that his much more interesting story was worthy of the spotlight and not that Meg Ryan dead ringer. However, if one good thing did come out of Final Fantasy 10, it's this song, Nobuo's death rattle before slipping into obscurity to work on games like Blue Dragon and Lost Odyssey.
#3- The Darkness of Eternity for "Final Fantasy 9"
Again, I don't have much to say.
#2- The Battle for Everyone's Souls for "Persona 3"
This is the shining example of how to make a calm, yet epic boss theme. Shoji really outdid himself with this song.
And now, for the Number One most epic boss theme in any game ever.
#1- Howl of the Departed for "Lost Odyssey"
This song. I can't even begin to describe it. I get chills every time I hear it. I'm ashamed to say that I abandoned Lost Odyssey long before I got to this song and was devastated when I came across it later. It's absolutely breath taking. Nobuo's greatest work, and the greatest work for any battle theme ever.
Free To Play Freakout: Allods Online
Sorry about the lack of updates, I really haven't had much to write about, even now this is a bit forced. I am really looking for a bit of content to put out for now, so I had to force this one out of the planning stages before I had completely developed my opinion. Hopefully it'll still be entertaining, however.
When playing Allods Online, the first thing you'll notice is: This looks a lot like World of Warcraft. Of course it's to be expected that with the success of World of Warcraft that there would be clones popping up among some of the more shameless big name companies and the smaller ones just trying to make a name for themselves. The game plays almost exactly like World of Warcraft, so if you've played even the trial of WoW you'll feel right at home... with one distinct exception.
Graphics: What an odd place to start this review. Well, right after you notice how similar everything is to WoW you will then notice: Gawdam! This is beautiful. This game is among the best free to play has to offer in terms of graphics. Taking a look at the screen shots shows just how much time was put into just creating the scenery. While up close it might seem a bit bland in a largely unchanging area such as a forest, when you take a look off the sides of the floating islands the game is set on you can't help but feel awestruck by the beauty of it all. I sat for about ten minutes just staring out into the void of nothingness in the first quest zone you arrive at. In addition the animation was surprisingly fluid, if a bit repetitive, and is even said to be fully motion captured. That being said, all of this really does play into the whole World of Warcraft rip-off feel of the entire thing. Honestly, I would expect more originality from the developers of Heroes of Might and Magic 5, especially with the $12 million budget, the largest video game budget ever in Russia, it's developing country. Especially considering it has Gala-Net behind it, one of the largest free to play MMO publishers out there. Allods gets a 6/10 for Graphics. The scape is simply breathtaking, however the minute details are dated and boring.
Sound: Again, a very strange placement in the review for this particular piece. Allods prides itself on it's development quality. Stating in it's information page several times how reputed it's developers are, particularly the inclusion of Mark Morgan, a musician who has worked on Dexter, Fallouts 1 and 2, and Planescape: Torment. Honestly though, none of the music really stuck with me. I played this game only a few minutes prior to beginning this review and cannot remember a single tune. That's very disappointing given how fantastic the music for the Fallout games were. At the very least the town music should stick in your head. I remember playing Fallout for the first time, the very first time I heard "Trader's Life" I knew it would stick with me and it has. To this day "Trader's Life" is still one of my favorite examples of ambiance in a game. Unfortunately, the same holds true for the combat sounds in Allods. Sometimes after charging a spell and then holding it for the next encounter I'd get no sound after firing it. In addition, the melee fighting sound is very minimalistic presenting very little to pull you into the mood. Allods gets a 3/10 for Sound. A horribly disappointing turn.
Gameplay: Here we get to the meat of the game. Of course, the game can have all of the stupendous graphics it wants, but if it's not fun to play then who gives a fuck, right? Let me just say this. If you've played World of Warcraft, you've played Allods. There are the basic archetypes: Fighter, Ranger, Mage, and Cleric/Healer, and each seems to be different from the others with a decent amount of interesting skills for each of them. The crafting system in the game works more like a mini-game than in games like World of Warcraft, a refreshing change of pace. The game is said to be a spiritual successor to Rage of Mages, a game the developers had previously worked on. Having never even heard of Rage of Mages I can't confirm or deny this claim, but I don't think that even really matters. The game functions exactly like World of Warcraft with one tiny.. or major rather, difference. You cannot change the key bindings. I'm sorry but this really makes me angry. Especially when the developers decided that "A" and "D" in the normal "WASD" set up shouldn't be to rotate, but to strafe. Having played World of Warcraft since launch, only recently ending my account for good, this took a very very long time to get used to. I still mess up most of the time when trying to move. I don't understand what is so difficult about letting me change my bindings to set strafe to a different key.
Now, as per Free To Play law this game must have one huge hook factor that sets it apart and ahead of others. That hook comes in the form of The Astral, a supposedly enormous sea of nothingness in which numerous "Allods", basically islands that give a huge 'fuck you' to physics, float. I've not been able to reach the necessary level to explore this area as it also requires a very hefty sum of cash, and I really don't have the time to test out every aspect of every game I feature on this segment. According to the site a group of six players can man a flying ship and search The Astral to find Allods containing treasures and monsters, giant demons they must fight, and even enemy ships they can fight against, board, and subsequently pirate. This seems like a very interesting proposal, if a bit irritating that someone much more powerful than you can simply steal everything you won and, I'm guessing, destroy your ship in the process.
Allods gets a 7/10 for Gameplay. While it may just be World of Warcraft, World of Warcraft was magnificently executed and this game chose well in it's quest to rip-off a much more popular one. However, I am still angry about Key bindings.
Community: Allods is a unique game, at least to my knowledge, in that it's a Free To Play MMO that has a community with the mentality of a Pay To Play. Honestly, I couldn't tell the difference between chat in WoW and chat in Allods, it was spectacular. You get your classic MMO spread: The normal players who are looking for a good time, the hardcore elitists progressing through end game while being determined to make a name for themselves, the general assholes who like to be assholes for no reason, and everything else you could imagine. But.. everyone is so nice. I was really amazed at how well interactions went. Almost every question was answered, given of course there was someone around to answer it, in a timely and respectful manner. A nice change of pace from games like Gunz or some of the more infamous WoW servers, I'm looking at you Destromath. The guilds are friendly and seem to be real COMMUNITIES, something a lot of MMOs and players forget in the pursuit of being "hardcore". The service team even has interviews with popular and up-and-coming guilds and guild masters, showing how much they really care about the community. Allods gets a 9/10 for Community, while it does have some minor nagging issues that are of so little consequence that I didn't even mention them, this will become my example of how great an MMO community can be.
Support: Gala-Net did well, partnering with GPotato for the release of Allods. GPotato is a very large company that hosts several MMOs. Due to this the game gets great support all around. The team working on content and maintenance is also very clean and professional. As I've said before it really feels like the developers are proud of this game and promote the community in any way they can. However, the updates are slow, as can be expected from a Free To Play, but with the amount of people working on it, being free to play is little excuse. Allods gets a 5/10 for Support, amazing in it's developers fervor, but not excessive enough to warrant a higher score.
Overall: Allods gets a 6/10 overall. It is definitely one of the better Free To Play MMOs. The graphics, gameplay, and community really make this game what it is, while the sound and support are it's weaker links. If those two aspects can be brought up to par with the rest of the game then it could rival even it's inspiration, WoW.
That's all for this entry in Free To Play Freakout
Cheers,
HappyPariah
 |
| Blatant World of Warcraft clone is blatant |
Graphics: What an odd place to start this review. Well, right after you notice how similar everything is to WoW you will then notice: Gawdam! This is beautiful. This game is among the best free to play has to offer in terms of graphics. Taking a look at the screen shots shows just how much time was put into just creating the scenery. While up close it might seem a bit bland in a largely unchanging area such as a forest, when you take a look off the sides of the floating islands the game is set on you can't help but feel awestruck by the beauty of it all. I sat for about ten minutes just staring out into the void of nothingness in the first quest zone you arrive at. In addition the animation was surprisingly fluid, if a bit repetitive, and is even said to be fully motion captured. That being said, all of this really does play into the whole World of Warcraft rip-off feel of the entire thing. Honestly, I would expect more originality from the developers of Heroes of Might and Magic 5, especially with the $12 million budget, the largest video game budget ever in Russia, it's developing country. Especially considering it has Gala-Net behind it, one of the largest free to play MMO publishers out there. Allods gets a 6/10 for Graphics. The scape is simply breathtaking, however the minute details are dated and boring.
 |
| Fantastic |
Sound: Again, a very strange placement in the review for this particular piece. Allods prides itself on it's development quality. Stating in it's information page several times how reputed it's developers are, particularly the inclusion of Mark Morgan, a musician who has worked on Dexter, Fallouts 1 and 2, and Planescape: Torment. Honestly though, none of the music really stuck with me. I played this game only a few minutes prior to beginning this review and cannot remember a single tune. That's very disappointing given how fantastic the music for the Fallout games were. At the very least the town music should stick in your head. I remember playing Fallout for the first time, the very first time I heard "Trader's Life" I knew it would stick with me and it has. To this day "Trader's Life" is still one of my favorite examples of ambiance in a game. Unfortunately, the same holds true for the combat sounds in Allods. Sometimes after charging a spell and then holding it for the next encounter I'd get no sound after firing it. In addition, the melee fighting sound is very minimalistic presenting very little to pull you into the mood. Allods gets a 3/10 for Sound. A horribly disappointing turn.
 | |
| What the fuck is this thing? |
Gameplay: Here we get to the meat of the game. Of course, the game can have all of the stupendous graphics it wants, but if it's not fun to play then who gives a fuck, right? Let me just say this. If you've played World of Warcraft, you've played Allods. There are the basic archetypes: Fighter, Ranger, Mage, and Cleric/Healer, and each seems to be different from the others with a decent amount of interesting skills for each of them. The crafting system in the game works more like a mini-game than in games like World of Warcraft, a refreshing change of pace. The game is said to be a spiritual successor to Rage of Mages, a game the developers had previously worked on. Having never even heard of Rage of Mages I can't confirm or deny this claim, but I don't think that even really matters. The game functions exactly like World of Warcraft with one tiny.. or major rather, difference. You cannot change the key bindings. I'm sorry but this really makes me angry. Especially when the developers decided that "A" and "D" in the normal "WASD" set up shouldn't be to rotate, but to strafe. Having played World of Warcraft since launch, only recently ending my account for good, this took a very very long time to get used to. I still mess up most of the time when trying to move. I don't understand what is so difficult about letting me change my bindings to set strafe to a different key.
Now, as per Free To Play law this game must have one huge hook factor that sets it apart and ahead of others. That hook comes in the form of The Astral, a supposedly enormous sea of nothingness in which numerous "Allods", basically islands that give a huge 'fuck you' to physics, float. I've not been able to reach the necessary level to explore this area as it also requires a very hefty sum of cash, and I really don't have the time to test out every aspect of every game I feature on this segment. According to the site a group of six players can man a flying ship and search The Astral to find Allods containing treasures and monsters, giant demons they must fight, and even enemy ships they can fight against, board, and subsequently pirate. This seems like a very interesting proposal, if a bit irritating that someone much more powerful than you can simply steal everything you won and, I'm guessing, destroy your ship in the process.
Allods gets a 7/10 for Gameplay. While it may just be World of Warcraft, World of Warcraft was magnificently executed and this game chose well in it's quest to rip-off a much more popular one. However, I am still angry about Key bindings.
 |
| The obligatory Elf race of Allods |
Community: Allods is a unique game, at least to my knowledge, in that it's a Free To Play MMO that has a community with the mentality of a Pay To Play. Honestly, I couldn't tell the difference between chat in WoW and chat in Allods, it was spectacular. You get your classic MMO spread: The normal players who are looking for a good time, the hardcore elitists progressing through end game while being determined to make a name for themselves, the general assholes who like to be assholes for no reason, and everything else you could imagine. But.. everyone is so nice. I was really amazed at how well interactions went. Almost every question was answered, given of course there was someone around to answer it, in a timely and respectful manner. A nice change of pace from games like Gunz or some of the more infamous WoW servers, I'm looking at you Destromath. The guilds are friendly and seem to be real COMMUNITIES, something a lot of MMOs and players forget in the pursuit of being "hardcore". The service team even has interviews with popular and up-and-coming guilds and guild masters, showing how much they really care about the community. Allods gets a 9/10 for Community, while it does have some minor nagging issues that are of so little consequence that I didn't even mention them, this will become my example of how great an MMO community can be.
Support: Gala-Net did well, partnering with GPotato for the release of Allods. GPotato is a very large company that hosts several MMOs. Due to this the game gets great support all around. The team working on content and maintenance is also very clean and professional. As I've said before it really feels like the developers are proud of this game and promote the community in any way they can. However, the updates are slow, as can be expected from a Free To Play, but with the amount of people working on it, being free to play is little excuse. Allods gets a 5/10 for Support, amazing in it's developers fervor, but not excessive enough to warrant a higher score.
Overall: Allods gets a 6/10 overall. It is definitely one of the better Free To Play MMOs. The graphics, gameplay, and community really make this game what it is, while the sound and support are it's weaker links. If those two aspects can be brought up to par with the rest of the game then it could rival even it's inspiration, WoW.
That's all for this entry in Free To Play Freakout
Cheers,
HappyPariah
Tuesday, September 7, 2010
Birth By Sleep: A word for Developers
Bullshit attacks that easily chain into combos of spamming the same attack or that catch you and hit you multiple times but are also insanely difficult to dodge ARE NOT VALID SUBSTITUTES FOR DIFFICULTY. I love Kingdom Hearts and will most likely end up loving Birth By Sleep when I am done with it, but let it be known, this game has some of the most frustrating bosses I've ever had to fight in an Action RPG or video game for that matter.
Saturday, September 4, 2010
Themes for your day: A shitty one at that
Sorry for the lack of updates, I've been preoccupied with some certain things... not that anyone actually reads these, but I still feel that there is a necessity for a formal apologetic tone here.
It's time for another "Themes for your day", once again these will be based off of events in my day
Waking Up:
Forced to babysit:
Waiting to go out:
Finally out:
A bit of DnD:
It's time for another "Themes for your day", once again these will be based off of events in my day
Waking Up:
Forced to babysit:
Waiting to go out:
Finally out:
A bit of DnD:
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