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The Digital Continuum: Week three of vacationing in Vana'diel
Sometimes you're reminded of things that you once cherished and in these moments of recollection it feels as though you need to embrace those long forgotten loves once more. I've found this to be particularly true of Final Fantasy XI. What I haven't decided yet is whether I truly do need to embrace what it was I once loved about the game -- challenge.All of this stems from my ongoing vacation in Vana'diel and specifically my static group experience this last week, which was unequivocally a failure of chance and circumstance. We began playing without one person, and that turned into a permanent situation after the fact. Then our group faced several non-starter situations where we'd defeat two or three monsters before something disastrous would occur.
The Digital Continuum: Week two of vacationing in Vana'diel
My second week returning to Final Fantasy XI has come to a close. It's strange; I thought I was going to be a lot more frustrated with the game by this point, but apparently, I'm not. In fact, I've gotten halfway to level 16 on my Warrior. Check out week one if you'd like to read these in order.It probably helps that I'm listening to podcasts and chilling on my bed/floor as I play. Having a wireless controller really frees up my ability to move around while playing an MMO. Sure, there are nice things about getting your groove going on the PC, but you can't prop up some pillows and kick back while killing some Clippers.Now that I mention it, I killed so many Clippers this week that I could make a mountain of crab cake and live atop it as a king wearing a crown of crab claws.
The Digital Continuum: Vacationing in Vana'diel part 2
Since my static group is only around level 10 -- and it only took me around five hours to hit that mark thanks to Fields of Valor tasks and a smoothed leveling curve -- I decided to switch from Warrior to Monk for a little while. br> Never underestimate the power of having one character who can switch between all available classes, at least after earning the advanced ones at your discretion.
The Digital Continuum: Vacationing in Vana'diel
Summer has arrived, July is only just around the corner and with it comes the gaming drought. This seems an opportune time to explore an old favorite, write about it and try to make it as interesting as possible. I figured, what MMO is less known about and more curious than Final Fantasy XI?Plus, I'd never played it on a console, so this had the potential to be a semi-new experience at the very least. Something about that prospect has always intrigued me -- playing it the way it was originally designed. sorta. I mean, I did purchase the Xbox 360 version.My goal with this idea is to crack open the sometimes mysterious world of Vana'diel to people who wish they could spare the time and patience to experience it themselves, but otherwise cannot or will not. But before that, a little bit of back story is required and I also need to actually get to those juicy story and boss bits.
The Digital Continuum: Reign of the shooters
This year, a bleating signal is ringing out from all corners of the MMO industry. It calls to our attention a new order on the horizon: the order of shooter MMOs.Can it be coincidence that everywhere you look at this year's E3, most of the exciting upcoming MMOs are shooters in one way or another? I'm looking forward to Final Fantasy XIV as much as the next fan, but there's only one or two traditional looking concepts that have my interest.Moving through my mental list of must-play MMOs reveals a very obvious pattern. Jumpgate Evolution, All Points Bulletin, CrimeCraft and even aspects of Star Wars: The Old Republic are looking shooter-like. I mean, come on, cover mechanics for the Smuggler class? Now you're just teasing me into a squelching geek heat, BioWare.
The Digital Continuum: SWTOR turns up the heat, part 2
How can I hope for a 2010 release date with BioWare promising fully voiced acting, branching story/dialogue and all other standard MMO features? Yes, it's a lot to ask of one company, but thankfully all this work isn't falling solely onto BioWare's shoulders. Lucas Arts and Electronic Arts are both heavily involved, count on it, and much of the legwork of voice sessions -- among other things -- will definitely be handled by their people.
The Digital Continuum: Summertime MMO alternatives
You, much like myself, may have had summer MMO plans a month or so ago. But like many things in life, circumstances changed and both Champions Online and Jumpgate Evolution were met with delays in their schedules -- making any plans to play them over the summer null.It's a bummer, but not all is lost. Another thing I'm certain we all share is our love of gaming in general. I've been thinking of a list of games I plan to play through this summer in lieu of shiny new MMOs to delve into, with an emphasis on filling the void left by a lack Cryptic's and NetDevil's still forthcoming titles. I'm sure I'll play more than just three, but these are the ones I'll definitely play the most of overall.
The Digital Continuum: Dealing with delay
Back in 1999 when I was just a 14 teenager with way too much free time on his hands, I had finally got Lunar: Silver Star Story Complete for my PlayStation. Saying the game saw delays would be quite an understatement and up until that time I had been pretty frustrated with the whole ordeal. Nobody likes it when games are delayed and back then I was no exception.But thinking back to how wonderfully translated (and semi-ported from the Sega Saturn) the game was, it was quite worth the wait. Although I may not have realized it at the time, the delays were entirely the right choice. And as it turns out, they usually are, not that everyone can make that observation.
The Digital Continuum: Blizzard's mysterious MMO
We've got a good reason to believe that Blizzard's next MMO is in actuality a new IP, which means it's the perfect time to discuss the potential of this newly crafted world. Assuming that Games Workshop isn't the inspiring factor for yet another Blizzard game, I'll lay out five settings that I hope will catch a few of you off guard.Here's the thing about Blizzard, they rarely stick to vanilla settings. Diablo is the only real exception, but even it had the addition of the Japanese inspired Assassin class and Celtic inspired Druid class. StarCraft's races range over a several influences and Warcraft pulls stuff from all over the place, chief among them being some steampunk.Will it be the same for this new IP?
The Digital Continuum: Business as unusual
The subject of microtransactions has long been a point of contention. Not only do some people feel that the practice somehow lessens a game's worth, they consider the very act to be malicious in nature. Other people seem to be welcoming the idea with open arms, and more and more game developers are redoubling their efforts in North America and Europe. The reason? They don't want to get left behind.
The Digital Continuum: Free Realms is missing one key class
There are a lot of Jobs in Free Realms, but of all the job types available there's one in particular that's nowhere to be seen. Why SOE hasn't done everything within their power to launch with a monster battler job is beyond me. Maybe legal can't decide on whether or not to include berets as a costume option.Moreover, when will it be added, if such a thing ever occurs? Surely the developers would be crazy to design a free-to-play "Mommy can I borrow your credit card?" online game without considering the power of capturing, leveling, evolving and battling monsters.
The Digital Continuum: Evolving past the Diku design Part 2
The other movement of change sweeping through developers' design choices is the near removal of classes and/or levels. EVE Online was one of the first MMOs to do away with levels, and the upcoming All Points Bulletin and The Secret World appear to be doing the same. Now, titles like Champions Online and Fallen Earth are doing away with the idea of a class system altogether.
The Digital Continuum: Evolving past the Diku design
I never played any of the numerous MUDs -- let alone DikuMUD -- back in the early nineties, and it's probably for the best, as my then youthful mind wouldn't have spared more than a few minutes to learn how they worked, let alone spend the necessary time to play them. We're talking pre-teen here, just to be clear, and I was really interested in stuff like point and click adventure games. Oh, and also Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.Even though I wasn't around for the progenitors that would eventually lead to things like Ultima Online, EverQuest, Dark Age of Camelot and World of Warcraft, it's not hard for me to see in the wake of all those titles the line of ideas and creativity that connects all of them. Hell, you can trace it back to the original release of Dungeons and Dragons if you really wanted to, but let's focus on the future for today.
The Daily Grind: What race would you add to Free Realms?
Humans and Pixies -- or faeries if you like -- of both genders are currently available in SOE's upcoming Free Realms. Some of us have already jokingly suggested what we'd want in future races, but it seemed like a reasonable enough question to ask those interested in playing the game what they would want to see.Certainly there are all sorts of other things that could be added to Free Realms, most of them being new jobs. And while those are without a doubt coming, we'll leave that topic for another day and another grind.So what's it gonna be dear Massively readers? More fantasy ala Dwarves and Elves, or would you rather race karts, raise pets, cook food and fight Robgoblins (yes, that is what they're called) as a robotic penguin person? Speaking of Robgoblins, there's always playing as baddies like them or trolls and such, too!So many choices.
The Digital Continuum: Four days with Dungeons & Dragons Online
7:41pm Tuesday, April 7thI just spent my first night with Dungeons and Dragons Online since it first launched in 2006, and came away from the experience pleasantly surprised. The trial client download was snappy, at around 45 minutes. The graphics have definitely seen an upgrade and overall my initial experience has been one of enjoyment. I was expecting to be left a little wanting and instead ended tonight's session quite begrudgingly. Why?I needed to write this first entry. And oh yeah, I also required some food, too.
The Digital Continuum: Four days with Dungeons & Dragons Online part 2
Anyhow, I opted to keep away from Stormreach for today and do a few more remaining starter quests in Korthos, which is fine since it gave me the chance to talk about the Korthos experience as a whole. Players originally began in the harbor of Stormreach. In DDO, you're sent to save a man descended from a famous bloodline and he's the only person that can aid the town in some substantially dangerous -- but equally exciting -- stuff.
The Digital Continuum: Five PvP MMOs with potential
PvP and PvE -- both are part and parcel to the MMO experience. Some games focus on one more than the other, to be sure. Others try to strike an even balance, but ultimately a game seems to become one aspect more than the other.With so many upcoming MMOs in the next couple of years, I thought it would be worthwhile to see which games may possess a substantial degree of PvP potential. As per usual, I'm choosing five to keep things from getting out of hand.
The Digital Continuum: Zombies, zombies, zombies
I firmly believe persistent online games have a lot more to offer, and every so often that fact rises up to the front of my thoughts by games like Resident Evil 5. If a cooperative and ostensibly zombie game can exist, then why not a massively version? Let me present to you, the reader, my vision of a game that could quite feasibly exist in just four or five years time:The zombie apocalypse MMO.
The Digital Continuum: Beyond Warhammer Online patch 1.2
Warhammer Online players are in the midst of the Bitter Rivals live event, plus another big new patch. I'm going to guess that it probably took a lot of development muscle to get the Black Guard, Knight of the Blazing Sun, Slayer and Choppa in a fun, playable shape. Not to mention the improvements to open RvR, Scenarios, PvE and general quality of life fixes.I have no doubt that the east coast developer has the next several patches planned out to some degree. Nonetheless, Mythic, Warhammer Online and its community are at a development crossroads -- and so today I'm going to explore a few possibilities.
The Digital Continuum: My only problem with Free Realms
I love Free Realms, so don't get me wrong when I say I've finally found a problem with it. What's that problem, you (hypothetically) ask? It's full of regular people and faeries, and what manly guy wants that?No, sir, not me. There's certainly nothing wrong with a man who prefers to flutter about on dainty wings, or a man who just wants to be a 'Regular Joe' -- but what of the rest who just want to express their inner macho man? I think we need some representation!That's why I've done all the creative footwork for Sony Online Entertainment and thought up a bunch of great concepts for manly races to add into Free Realms. That way, when hairy manly men log into the game after a hard day of sweating and lifting heavy things, they'll feel right at home.
