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.
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