Play ~ Life Game Style

Ingress is good for you

2013-05-17T09:38:00.001+12:00

Augmented Reality Games are a newish thing, being made more accessible with the use of our fancy new phones. You may be familiar with the popular Zombies, Run app? Absolutely fantastic idea for a phone app; I'd use it myself if I didn't hate running. Anyway, Google have taken an interesting leap into this gaming arena with their Augmented Reality Game called Ingress. I've been playing it, albeit sporadically, for the last few months. If you use an Android phone or frequent geek circles on Google+ you may have heard of Ingress, otherwise I'm betting this is NEWS for you.

What's it all about?

The Basics

Think of it as a conquest style of PVP battleground, but your battleground is the real world. Your phone augments your reality with an overlay, showing you the surrounding area pulsing with 'exotic matter' (XM). XM is a type of fuel that most of the game actions require and is usually found clustered around landmarks. The landmarks are known as Portals. You've chosen a faction. Enlightened or Resistance. Fearless Futurists vs Mistrusting Humanists. Or just Green vs Blue, whatever works for you.

Using the phone application, you can hack, destroy, claim, link, upgrade and recharge portals and control fields. You get points from these activities which contribute to your level progress (level from 1 to 8, currently). Levels afford you better item rewards from hacking. The ultimate goal is to gain 'Mind Unit' points for your faction to help achieve global dominance.

A fair amount of effort has been put into the alternate reality background, including a related but separate alternate reality game, unfolding a story centered around the company Niantic Labs. You can watch the conspiracy unfold via small film clips and a regular news report, which you can pick up on your phone as you play. The player-created content is definitely a highlight.

For hardcore puzzle enthusiasts, the alternate reality game is a thick layer of conspiracy additional to the live-action augmented reality game. Frankly, I don't have the time or patience for hunting down clues on the internet, I play Ingress to get outside. All of these facets give the game the potential for a worldwide craze. Add Google Glass to the picture and we'll all be squealing with delight as we run around town with our own Terminator readouts, pretending to dominate/save the world. Even once the careless hordes start playing and the streets are choked with corporate-sponsored portals (how did I become so jaded...) there will be good reasons to play Ingress.

Ingress is good for you.

I S-Pen'd some of this post on my Galaxy Note phone in the sun, while defending a nest of Enlightened Portals somewhere in central Wellington, New Zealand. With winter on the way, it was nice to get some sun and Ingress gives me another excuse get outside. There are constant tug-o-wars for portal domination. I can't tell who around me is the 'enemy'; almost everyone looks suspicious! You will be amazed at how many people use cellphones while out-and-about in the city.

Portal detail

Since I've started playing l found myself taking the long way to work or home or wherever I needed to go, if it meant I could swing past more portals. In fact, I'm not even looking for excuses to leave the house, just 'going for a walk' is good enough. Two hours later, I'm back home having netted a decent amount of points and resources and done 'my bit' for the cause. The best part of Ingress, you have to LEAVE THE HOUSE to play. Yes YOU, get off your arse and play a game. As excellent as it is to enter other game worlds in your own PC cave, it is pretty darn fun to enter your own world to play a game too. And the air is fresher and the sun is shinier and you're moving your legs a helluva lot more. It has to be good for you! And then there are the landmarks I never knew existed. lngress, in these early days, is centered around landmarks such as statues, outdoor artworks, public spaces, churches and other old buildings, many of which l had no idea were in the small part of the city l trek around. It has been educational.

Control fields over the Baltic region

Did I mention that Ingress was multiplayer? When you sign up for a faction, you're part of a massive worldwide team. In fact, you will be much more effective if you work together. You could use the built-in comms functionality or perhaps join a local Google+ Ingress community and meet up with people to play. Not to dismiss the importance of our awesome and real online friends but research suggests that playing games with face-to-face friends is pants-off better for you than playing with online friends. Ingress is a great way of meeting new people, assuming you are on the same team but even if they are not, I've had a chuckle trying to guess who it is behind me from the other faction undoing all my work! Getting involved with your local Ingress community will also net you advantages such as faster leveling, donated resources and strategies.

What's in it for Google?

Google, being hugely huge, have earned a 'So Big We Must Be A Bit Evil' Badge, so it is hard not to look at them a bit sideways and wonder what's in it for Google? It's a free game but are we just foolish pawns in their bid to take over the universe? Are our souls (and portalling habits) being sold to aliens or other corporates? Here's a look at some of the theories, in the order I think are most likely from top to bottom:

Sponsored portals = $$. This is already happening in the US at a small scale where Portals have been activated at local franchises. Commercial interests pay Google to set up portals at their stores to entice players inside. Expect to see product-game promotions from them soon.
Google gets free, crowdsourced location mapping and photos of points of interest for use in improving mapping functions in other applications. This is already being used to improve the existing Niantic 'Field trip' application.
Google+ is promoted and becomes the social network of choice for players.
Google Glass technology is promoted as the ideal way to play.
As the game can expect to attract some who will try and fake their real GPS location, Google can use this experience to design, improve & sell methods to prevent GPS-spoofing to interested parties.

I don't know for certain how Google will benefit from entering the games arena with Ingress but I recommend giving Ingress a go. It's free and fun. And you can throw your phone away if it starts freaking you out.

Ingress is in a 'closed beta' phase and you need an invite to play but don't expect it to be a closed beta in the normal game-making sense. It is Google, who like to introduce most of their new applications incrementally. I don't expect they will ever reset the current game but rather continue to introduce new functionality while growing the player base at a controlled pace.

10 Things I Don't Love about The Secret World

2013-05-07T16:57:00.001+12:00

The very truth is that I do want you to try this game. But having been unashamedly gushy earlier about how good the game is, I don't want you to be blind to the things that might make you regret becoming a subscriber, so read through my list of gripes first.

In fact, if you haven't, don't subscribe yet, play it subscription-free for a month or two and make your own mind up.

To state it simply, The Secret World is small. There just isn't the amount of content we're accustomed to from an MMO. Sure, you can farm drops or repeat almost all of the quests endlessly. Or you could find all of the Lore, kill all of the rare mobs and do a lot of other inane things to get one more Achievement ticked off. You might even get a fancy outfit for your troubles. But I personally hate farming and I find Achievements pointless. I want more of the good stuff, more story, more regions, more variety in the things I can do in game.

Sadly, after Transylvania, there is no more. I am one of the slower players I know to consume content yet they can't even keep up with me. I have no doubt been spoiled by the vast worlds of WoW, RIFT, Aion, etc. And yes, we get not-quite monthly content updates in The Secret World but it is a drip-feed amount; it is new content that you can finish in a session or two. If you are a player who devours content at an alarming rate, I recommend leaving the game to mature, like a fine wine, for another year, lest you be disappointed.

The Secret World is thoroughly infested. You've gotta laugh otherwise you might cry. While the game design and story-writing are among the best in the industry, you've got to wonder what is going wrong with the implementation of it. EVERY function is broken in some way and there are still a lot of fundamental functions (functions you use every time you log on) that haven't been fixed since Day 1, despite at least 2 or 3 attempts! New bugs are introduced at the same rate (or faster??) than old ones are fixed and the very latest patch is another fine example of random functionality breaking that appears completely unrelated to the functionality updated.

Is the code so badly convoluted already that they have lost control of it? Are their development processes so badly flawed the left hand doesn't know what the right is doing? Are they that understaffed that they can only fire-fight a handful of the worst bugs at a time. I guarantee, YOU WILL regularly rage at the bugs in this game and then if, like me, you decide the game is still worth playing, you'll shrug your shoulders and sigh, defeatedly.

You know, the bit where you've run out of story and you've got all of your abilities and you are expected to have fun running, re-running, re-running and re-running the missions and dungeons so that you can get better at running and re-running and re-running them again. The Secret World offers you the same end game as everyone else so if that works for you, great! But if you were expecting something a little bit new and special, you will be let down. Don't expect fresh new dungeons for your end-game consumption, just the knobs turned up on the old ones to make them harder. Raiding to the rescue? Alas...I recall we were all so excited when the first Raid was announced. How terribly disappointing that it had exactly 1 boss. A brilliant and difficult encounter to be sure but like so many other things in the game, it fell well short of expectation. The Raid instance will give you no chance to enhance your gear so the boss becomes achievable, so back you go re-running those end-game dungeons again to get the gear to make this single Raid encounter achievable.

One could argue that all games must end, that it is only a business model that demands a continuous income stream, that forces games to attempt to drag out the end until new content can be thrown at us like fresh meat to a hungry dog. I tend to agree, but I'd argue that more can be done than chaining us to a stake and expecting us to run around in circles in the meantime.

I'm mostly accustomed to it now but using The Secret World GUI feels like you're wading through thick syrup (or you've had too much to drink). I have paddles for fingers when I'm picking up items and dropping them, switching targets, accessing stats and wardrobes and crafting. Tidying inventories used to be a task I enjoyed in MMOs. But in TSW, it is hell. For some reason the mouse pointer is often a bit off to one direction or another; it takes a bit of practice to aim the pointer so that you know you are dropping something where you want it.

Many good folk have lost some good shit through accidentally deleting inventory items. I'd caution you to try not to make the same mistake, but you will. You might call it a bug but it feels more like it is an unfortunate impact of a design decision. Even keystrokes can feel clunky, some abilities just not firing at all. Just imagine how much fun that is in combat...

Some functions really stood out as blatantly missing from the game. Firstly, the crafting mini-game. I'm not talking about the assembler, which is merely the means to break one thing down in order to make something slightly different. And even the assembler itself is an infuriating fiddly feature, made sane only though a player-made mod. What I mean is the full minigame crafting, with its own levelling, materials, gathering nodes. I always enjoyed the crafting minigame in other MMOs and so do others! It gives me a reason to explore, it gives me more to achieve but it is optional as well. I'm going to take a wild guess that the designers had some fantastic ideas but they ran out of time.

Is that the same excuse for the hopeless cabal functionality too? If you've ever run a decent-sized cabal/corp/guild in a game, you know that there are some fundamental features that make managing groups easier, such as showing when anyone in the cabal logged in last or being able to put notes against individuals or customise officer permissions or having a cabal bank this is even slightly big enough. But all we have is bare bones basic so be prepared to bust out a spreadsheet and your own forums. I could include the inventory, the wardrobe and the chat functionality in a list of features that offer only the most primal functionality in this most modern of MMOs. This isn't a console game dammit!

It makes you wonder, was it part of the plan to leave it for modders to build for them?

Or, the animation issue. It was never much of an issue for me but now, since reading the (constructive) gripes I'm starting to become a big fan of the idea of an animation patch, where FUNCOM focus on polishing up the whole lot. Imagine seeing a realistic shift when you switch weapons, not just this flicker from one to another. Maybe your character gets puffed after running for so long. Maybe she doesn't check her nails so damn much! Perhaps there wouldn't be so much reuse of the same combat moves and maybe Chaos abilities get some real flavour. Whoa, what about if our characters could actually sit down or look a little shaky when they jump 10 storeys off a building (after doing mid-air somersaults!). Drones are so lacklustre to use I forget to use them and I've just realised I've never reloaded my guns...

It seems a shame to put so much effort into involving us in the story and cinematics, then have us push around slightly unreactive human-shaped robots. I sort of wish I hadn't looked into this issue; ignorance was bliss.

There is something very satisfying about putting the pieces together on a TSW Investigation mission. I've had more than one EUREKA moment while playing them and marveled at the excellent decision they made to include these cerebral delights in the game. But what happens when you get stuck? You have three options:

As the game has been out for more than a week, search for a walkthrough. Easy and completely unsatisfying. You probably feel a bit dirty.
Wrack your brain, run around the game some more, run around the internet (carefully avoiding those cheat sites), learn morse code, learn Arcadian history, learn other useless but possibly interesting stuff. If you still can't work it out in the next 2 hours, you can start crying.
Ditch the mission. Find one of those nice brown-coloured Action missions which, even if they prove equally challenging to start with, you know you will eventually best it because the game provides you with the means to improve.

The truth is, unless you cheat, you may never finish the mission. Not the end of the world (or the game) of course, but it stings, hence it's inclusion on the poop list here.

Can Funcom fix this? Should they even fix this for (lazy/stoopid) players like me? While it shouldn't be on the top of their list, I think they should. And I think they can. If they included multiple layers of clues within Investigation missions for the cerebral-challenged, they could preserve the level of difficulty for those that want to puzzle it out with as little info as necessary while giving everyone else a nudge in the right direction. win win WIN!

I have an confession to make. I've never played a themepark MMO that doesn't 'require' the holy trinity of roles for group challenges. It is ingrained in me, I can barely imagine how it could work otherwise. The Secret World has chosen to agree. True, there are some notable crossovers, tanking builds which can heal themselves or healer builds who can contribute to DPS but in most boss fights you need someone to soak up most of the damage, at least one mostly dedicated healer and a minimum amount of DPS to get through.

The freedom in The Secret World is that your character can do it all. Once you have unlocked the relevant abilities, you can switch your role as many times as you like in between fights, it is part of the beauty of classlessness. What this doesn't completely solve is the age-old issue of Tank and Healer shortages, at least at the earlier stages, before folks have unlocked their trees and had some practice in multiple roles. No Tank, no Healer? Then no dungeon loot for you.

And to go a bit deeper into the trinity rut, take the perspective of the poor healer, whose job remains as it always has been, reduced to staring at health bars, playing their own little game of whack-a-mole, while a glorious battle against a horrendous monster occurs somewhere in their peripheral vision. Perhaps I expect too much from new MMOs and their revolutionary flavour of hype. Don't make the same mistake.

FUNCOM made a big noise pre-release about belonging to a faction and encouraged excited players-to-be to dominate the forums with faction flavour. I remember feeling quite satisfied to personality-test as a Dragon (although my 'main' ended up being Templar for other reasons) and in my own mind I conjured up backgrounds and tried to define what 'Dragon' meant to me. So it was a great pity to find so little of the faction contention in the game, or rather, in the gameplay.

Pick your faction: Dragon-Templar-Illuminati and be rewarded with a faction-flavoured cinematic. Complete a couple of faction-specific quests. Report to your faction leader and/or your faction headquarters every now and again. Pick up your faction-specific uniforms. That is all. Everything else you do in the PVE arena is the same as anyone else in any other faction. If these factions are rivals, you'd hardly know it. We all get along just fine in the dungeons and lairs. Those smart red uniforms don't seem to confer any bonuses, in fact, none of us bother to wear our uniforms any more. I live and die in the field with my fellow blue and green and red combatants and I don't even know what faction most of them are. You get the picture. There is a noticeable disconnect between the supposed factional conflict and the reality of it in the game, massively undermining the point of even having factions at all.

Since paying a subscription became optional, it lost its value. Until they offer a lot more for a subscription, it is not worth it. The subscription is currently up to $US15 month, slightly cheaper if you subscribe for longer terms. For that price you will get points enough to buy the content packs, which is where the real value is. The remainder is mostly virtual cosmetic items, no real value at all unless having every single outfit is paramount to you. On the other hand if you are not a subscriber (after you buy the box for up to $US30), play for free and just buy content when it comes out for $US10 per content pack. As the content has been irregular at best you may not need to fork out that $10 every month (making it even more of a rip for subscribers). But keep a lookout for special promotions because as soon as the monthly sub is cheaper than the monthly content packs, you are on to a winner. Otherwise subscribing at these prices will give you little more than the satisfaction that you are supporting the game

Are these the sort of things that would put you off trying the game?
How would you fix them?

Related links:

10 Reasons to Play The Secret World
Dreaming of an MMO (pre-launch jitters)

That Shiny New Theme Park isn't so new (more pre-launch jitters!)

Solomon to Egypt

The Real World vs The Secret World

Shiny, happy places in The Secret World (screenshots)

10 Reasons to Play The Secret World

2013-04-30T14:20:00.002+12:00

If you enjoy MMORPG games or want to try one and have not yet given this one a whirl, read on. I have been playing since release and I'm going to summarise what the appeal is for me and many others.

And if you are a little sceptical about this one-sided perspective, watch this space, I have another list coming up; the 10 Things I Don't Love about The Secret World.

...I swallowed a bee. Story, story, story. Cohesive, progressive and emotive. The stories within the game are easily the most praised attribute both from folks who aren't familiar with horror, historical or occult literature to those who know far too much. With every new Issue (content patch) the story is progressed, questions are answered and more questions are exposed. The cohesiveness of the story was something I was sceptical about before I started playing; how could they possibly stitch together a region containing zombies and draug (Viking undead) or Mayans, American Indians & Excalibur. But the depth and research is there and even where there are currently gaps, I feel confident now that the story writers have thought of it already and are going to reveal more when the time is right. There are so many stories and factions and connections to make, it is a game in itself. The challenge for the modern MMO gamer is to slow down and take it all in.

Distinct from the actual story is the narrative mode or the storytelling methods and mechanics. Take your pick. Enjoy the narrative as told through fabulous NPC characters and brilliant voice-acting in the cut scenes and in the optional click-though written dialogues or even in the comments you get when you pass by minor NPCs:

"Tuck your shirt in, don't you know we have standards to uphold!"

Once you dig a little deeper, the NPCs become such a highlight that you will look forward to any new installment for a chance to see more of their character revealed (will Moose and Andy ever get together?!). I guarantee you will have those favourite cut scenes which you will replay repeatedly and you will have your favourite NPCs.

On the other hand, if you just want to get to the action, move to the next boss or you find a particular storyline unappealing, hit the escape button to cut that cut-scene off. You are almost never required to click and read any further on your NPCs other than accepting the mission dialogue and you can ignore those spinning gold honeycombs you see along your journeys. The gold honeycomb icons are yet another storytelling mechanic, known in-game as Lore, they provide another layer of narrative and are a puzzle in themselves. Each piece of Lore, carefully written in the tone of its own mystery, is storytelling for the explorer, another one down for the achievement hunter and another layer of narrative richness for the immersionist.

Arguably a facet of storytelling, is the setting itself. This is an MMORPG set in the modern world: our own world, occult gone-wild. This will especially appeal to anyone tired of the usual fantasy trappings. But if you don't like horror (ugh zombies), persevere until the next area, sunny Egypt with its distinct Indiana Jones feel. And once you are done with the sun, cool down in grim, gray Transylvania. The ex-coldwar military, gritty (unsparkly) vampire culture will chill you and probably kill you, a lot. There is even a Hellish saga, for the demonically attuned, running through the whole world. On your days off beating back spooks, browse a range of modern clothing, from the Pangaea fashion store in London, get a new 'identity' with the best plastic surgeon in New York or just chill out with friends at The Crusades nightclub. And if you think the scenery is disturbingly real it is because a lot of areas are modeled on real physical locations. Many areas (but not all) are convincing and the dungeons are no exception, each themed in tune with the story they progress.

Compared to many popular MMOs, The Secret World is difficult. If you're like me, this is a bonus. A new solo player will be challenged as they experiment with the ability wheel; finding a winning combination of abilities in one area might not cut it for the next. With ultimate freedom in ability choice (everyone has access to potentially every ability), experimentation is encouraged.

The difficulty doesn't end for more experienced players; heading into the ultimate end-game dungeons can feel exactly how they are named, a Nightmare. Even the most experienced dungeon groups can't afford to have an off-day, there are fights to challenge every role. But the difficultly level presents a double-edged sword. For players who don't enjoy experimenting or don't have dungeon groups who are tolerant with learning and experimenting, cookie-cutter specs and min-maxing behaviour is encouraged.

And I'm not talking about picking flowers. It is a common complaint of MMO games that exploration is discouraged by obvious 'quest-hubs' and the NPC's character and story diminished by that giant glowing punctuation mark floating over their heads. The old mechanic also required players to trundle back and forth to the NPCs, a thankless and dull task for a player and a further immersion killer if the area became a hive of player drones buzzing back and forth on the same quests.

More recent MMOs have attempted to address this disconnect with the game environment and The Secret World is no exception. The three mechanics they have employed that address this issue are clever mission (ie. quest) placement, mission maximums and that modern wonder we call the cellphone. There are major NPCs who hold important missions, starter missions if you will. But many of the missions are sprinkled across the landscape. If you seek, you may be rewarded by finding a mission icon hidden in the woods atop a pile of bones. The missions themselves naturally draw you through the areas, where you may find more missions along the way. They often finish in areas where another one is nearby. Don't bother with running back to 'hand-in' your completed mission, just phone it in with your faction-provided cell-phone and collect the reward where you stand. Easy. As. That.

Worried that your mission list will become congested with half-forgotten and meaningless missions? Don't. Aside from special circumstances, you are allowed to hold only 1 action, investigation OR espionage mission and 3 side missions at a time. The effect of all of these changes helps keep the player immersed in the story, moves the player at a natural pace through the area, encourages exploration and reduces player congestion at mission pickup areas.

I'd call that a Win.

A thoughtful narrative in a well-crafted setting with memorable characters can be destroyed if the mission design is seriously lacking. In between fantastic cut-scenes, you'd feel like you're little more than a pointless ping Pong ball being batted between posts, asked to deliver supplies or kill spiders, just so you can get some extra points, maybe some virtual gear and progress from area to area.

Thankfully TSW has put a whole lot more thought and narrative into their mission design than that. Not to say you won't see some standard fare, with missions that look a lot like 'Kill x number of Beasties' or 'Return x to y', alas there are plenty of those. But once you Take The Last Train to Cairo in all it's whip-cracking epic-ness or follow in the footsteps of Tyler Freeborn, one of the most haunting set of missions in the game, you'll have experienced mission crafting at its best.

There are loads of these inspiring missions in the game, that will make you forget the reward you were after. And I would be remiss if I didn't mention the Investigation missions, designed to challenge the mind, not the fingers. Search for clues in the game and use the internet to search for clues outside of it, you either love them or you hate them (wait for my next post) but they offer something not seen in any mainstream MMO and the game is better for it.

Are you bored of fireballs? Try an assault rifle instead. Ranged attacks too easy? Start learning a melee weapon. Although intimidating at first, as the game progresses, you will be very thankful for the classless freedom offered by the ability wheel (sometimes called the 'skill' wheel). Because every character can eventually access every ability, there is no need to have alts in order to unlock any build you want to try. Made a mistake by learning Hammer skills? Not a problem, start investing your Ability Points into another weapon. Each weapon has it's own strengths and bonuses and despite the vast array of active and passive skills under them, no two weapons feel the same. As an experienced healer in The Secret World, I am impressed that the three heal styles I have experimented with each offer a completely different method of healing. If you enjoy theory-crafting, the possibilities to experiment with are almost endless.

The Secret World is hosted on a single server. The very best thing about this for you is that you can play with your friends no matter which dimension they made their characters on. You can chat, send in-game mail, group together for missions and for dungeons, no matter where they play. On this single server are several instances or dimensions of the game world. Your home dimension is the dimension you will log into by default but you can switch back and forth across to other dimensions during gameplay. Dimensions are very slightly flavoured, for example there is an RP dimension and some dimensions which may target players who speak particular languages (as decided by the players). Additionally Warzone PVP is dimension-specific so the Fusang Warzone will only contain players from your dimension. If you like to play with others, once you go single-server, you won't go back.

Many of the dungeon and event boss encounters in The Secret World are well-designed, have challenging mechanics and are colourful characters themselves. There isn't anything particularly new about the basics of a dungeon encounter in TSW. You enter a dungeon as part of a group of five. You ideally have a tank and a healer and three DPS. There are threat mechanics, enrage mechanics and stuff on the ground you don't stand in. The fun part is that these encounters are often impressive and memorable, generally because they have an interesting combination of those mechanics and others. Where one boss might be a real challenge for the tank, another might be very stimulating for the DPS.

Expect a lot of movement in most of the encounters. You may be required to swap in different abilities or weapons or even roles for different encounters. The Nightmare level dungeons are challenging enough that even after repeating them several times, they do not become boring, as mastering them requires some practice and failing them is still very possible for even experienced groups. Before I started playing TSW, I was disappointed when I realised that the dungeon encounters would not be revolutionary in terms of the Tank-Healer-DPS requirements, but the fact is, testing myself against these bosses is the challenge I enjoy most in the game.

There is something else a little bit special about The Secret World. It is The Albion Theatre in London. Massively under-utilised, I expect because it is either too buggy or ahead of its time (probably both), but it illustrates the game designers commitment to player roleplay and to trying something different. Within the Albion Theatre, you can design your own stage set, with props found around the rest of the world. You control the lighting, the effects and once you feel rehearsed enough you (and perhaps others) can put on an actual stage show for an audience of players.

There is at least one player acting troupe who have put on some wildly popular shows already, (but have failed completely to get it to YouTube so the rest of us can see it!). Apparently they are rehearsing for a new one. Colour me intrigued, I am always impressed by players who add to the enjoyment of others so I'm keeping an eye out for the next show even though I barely roleplay anymore. Big points to Funcom, I have never heard of the like of this functionality in any MMO before.

Playing the game yourself, have I missed a highlight? Or are you yet to play the game but still not sure? Ask a question.

Related links:

Dreaming of an MMO (pre-launch jitters)

That Shiny New Theme Park isn't so new (more pre-launch jitters!)

Solomon to Egypt

The Real World vs The Secret World

Shiny, happy places in The Secret World (screenshots)

Chapter 6 Alliances

2013-04-17T11:48:00.000+12:00

Previous Chapter here.

Such a length of time has passed since my last entry that I would not know where to begin in this latest accounting of my colonial life. So I will begin at the end, where the memory is most fresh and endeavour to fill in the background events as and when it would benefit the reader.

With that in mind, it is helpful to explain first the vast change of circumstance I now find myself in. For I am no longer a fresh villager sleeping on rough ground but rather the mayor and sole owner of a modest deed on the Isle of Deliverance, very close, in fact, to my original landing village of Serendipity Bay. Yes, I have been fortunate enough to realise the colonial ambition to be mistress of one's own domain and I can say with relieved certainty that it is all that I expected it to be. It is, without a doubt, that I have come a long way since those first days but as any colonial chum must know, from their own experiences, the journey was not without some difficulties. For we are constantly reminded that we are not alone on this wild isle. This raw land births it's own native inhabitants that are none too keen to be sharing the space with us, not to mention the steady influx of fellow settlers who too seek to make this place their home.

And so it is common habit for colonials to associate their settlements into loose alliances. I use the word 'loose' because the national governing structure and law enforcement is not of a strength to give a settler assured protection of all the dangers of colonial living so rather the colonials themselves band together and design what rules they see fit to live under.

Pic 12

The Serendipity Alliance is one such alliance and encompasses several settlements of differing size, background and ambition. One would imagine this difference could be the cause of regular friction and I would be remiss in my account if I recorded that there were not strong differences in opinion among us on some matters, but I believe the greater truth is that the Serendipity alliance prevails because its members understand that they are stronger within it than without and I do not mean through the combined force of arms or the accumulation and sharing of goods and wealth, but more importantly by a sharing and tempering of our visions for the isthmus that we all live on. For this reason, the alliance represents something greater than our combined land titles and specialist skills.

I feel surprised at the patience and steadiness of the settlers during the time when no proper authority was established among them, and they lived in constant fear of being deprived of the land of which they had got possession. It would have been said before-hand, that the settlement could not have preserved its existence under such circumstances. Yet the fact is, that it continually advanced in prosperity. By a sort of common consent, it seemed to be understood, that in our neglected position, everything depended on ourselves. The great bulk of us acted on this understanding, and thus the few evil-doers were kept in check by example and moral influence.

An excellent illustration of this concept struck me recently where one of the newer members of the alliance took it upon themselves to build a great structure on the isthmus outside of their own title. No doubt they had come into contact with the ravening wildlife, which have been assaulting our borders in ever greater numbers. This structure would house a permanent and armed constabulary whose job would be to dispatch any particularly dangerous beasts in the locale. One might think it a prudent precaution for those regularly traveling the threatened roadway. But it so happened to raise the ire of one of the long-established members of the alliance, with property adjacent to the tower, who feared that the armed force might unreasonably and uninvited wander upon their own deed and as the armed party were not members of the alliance they might have no qualms slaughtering everything for a good distance surrounding their tower. In my own mind, I felt the newcomers had the greater need but I shared the concerns of the aggrieved party as I too would not welcome this unaligned brigade on my doorstep (fortunately for me, in this case, my property was too far from their patrol path).

Pic 13

In a lesser alliance this could have caused an unbridgeable rift but the resolution achieved impressed upon me that the strength of our league was due to the respect shown by all parties for the isthmus as a whole. Our new neighbour, upon hearing of the distress caused by the planned construction and listening to the arguments presented did not hesitate to remove the offending building.

In response, the relieved owners of the nearby deed made the offer to provide quality protective armour to the newcomers should they fear molestation by the beasts in the future. Instead of alienation and continuing disharmony, the potential for a closer bond between the two parties now exists. And additionally, perhaps more importantly, we all come closer to a shared view and shared responsibility of how our isthmus should evolve.

It may perhaps be concluded, speaking of the whole body of settlers, that the absence of protection and law, by making us reflect on the consequences towards others of all our actions, led to a higher degree of good conduct than would have taken place if we had had a Governor, courts of justice, and soldiers to keep us in order.

Illustration:
Pic 12 1895-1900, A field trip at 'Taurakenga' near Rotorua.
Pic 13 1890-1909, Group portrait of uniformed men, possibly marines, at the Mount Eden rifle range.

All quotes from:
1842 - Petre, H. W. An Account of the Settlements of the New Zealand Company - Chapter III. Difficulties Overcome by the Colonists
Browse a great collection of colonial writings here.

Inspiration:
WURM Online is an online, multiplayer, craft-intensive pioneering sandpit.

Related links:
Chapter 1 New Chum
Chapter 2 Well occupied
Chapter 3 Neighbours
Chapter 4 Of Harvests & Beasts
Chapter 5 Good Prospects

Game review - Chillax. Build your own Barrel.

Dredmor, This Is Your Life

2013-04-09T14:29:00.001+12:00

Occasionally you crank up an oldie and are most pleasantly surprised to find out it is still a goodie.

Welcome back Dungeons of Dredmor, the game whose name I misspell more than any other. For the uninitiated, Dungeons of Dredmor is a graphical roguelike game, an old-school turn-based dungeon crawler, you can find an earlier review of it here.

In my absence, those funny folks at Gaslamp Games have released a few expansions. At the ridiculous indie price of US$3, I purchased Realm of the Diggle Gods and Conquest of the Wizardlands. I got free stuff too! The Game With No Name (apparently I'm allowed to name this expansion myself, but I haven't worked out how to yet) and various upgrade patches. It was like goddiggle Christmas! The only thing missing was my own Diggle soft toy, which incidentally, is cool enough to soften the heart of even a plush-hater like myself.

Now armed with the latest and greatest of Skill Trees I started from scratch. The Skill choices were even more overwhelming than before with the addition of Big Game Hunter, Rogue Scientist and uh Tourist? ...just to name a few. So I left it all up to the stingy Lutefisk God and hit "Random". What better way to learn new Skills and combinations! And what the hell, lets really test these skills out and select the highest difficulty 'Going Rogue'. And hey, Permadeath too, so at least I wasn't going to be stuck with an untenable build for too long. And that was how I discovered an immensely fun way of playing. I must have restarted over half a dozen times with varying degrees of success.

Vampirism was rough, melee skills without the ability to get life from food. It is a little sad that I never even made it to the Level 3 ability "Sparkly"...

SPARKLY: You can dazzle your enemies to leave them stunned by your spooky, sparkly vampire glamour. This also saps some of their life-force. Because seriously.

Several Permadeaths later, I was ready to create a character whose skills most reflected my own. I was amazed/frightened/embarrassed that I could create a character that read like a personal episode of 'This Is Your Life'...

Allow me to share with you my life, through Dredmor.

Introducing Tofu, the:

Bankster
Communist
Astrologer
Demonologist
Emomancy
Archaeologist
Killer Vegan

Who ever thought you could kick arse in a dungeon with this resume! Thankfully, most of these facets of my life are history and some of these choices are only close approximations...that is, there were no such thing as Emos when I was younger and angst-ridden, we were Goths and infinitely cooler. But as an Emomancer, I made grand use of my Level 1 ability "Love Will Teleport Us Apart" and lol'd every time I used the Level 2 ability "The Cure".

THE CURE: The Cure will heal you, but at a terrible price that will be photographed in your school yearbook.

As well as being of the vein of addictive 'just-one-more-room' dungeon crawlers, I have noticed that I am enjoying the humour of Dungeons of Dredmor a whole lot more than last time. Maybe I somehow missed the point on my first round of playing but I really believe it is funnier than ever.

Archaeology (I chose this from an interest in Ancient History during my university years) provided me with a fedora and a damn useful skill, "It Belongs In A Museum", which allows you to trade some items for experience points. More experience = faster leveling = getting deeper into the skill trees sooner.

The only currently relevant skill was Vegan (of which I am decidedly part-time anyway) but here was my chance to be ethically superior in a game for once and I was curious about how it would pan out. What does being a Killer Vegan even look like in a roguelike dungeon-crawler?!

Being Vegan in Dredmor turned out to be hilarious and frustrating. Frustrating because 90% of all the food that drops in the dungeons is cheese or meat, which, if you eat any of it, incurs the "Vegan Purging" debuff. But instead of starving, my vendetta against evil vegetables not only nets me more experience per kill but I can sometimes harvest them for fruit & tofu too. Nomnom!

The Elven Ingot Grinder: designed as a weapon in a war against the Dwarves which never came. Who knows what good they thought it would be? Made of soy and xanthan gum; for single use only.

The real game-changer for Vegans is that ALL animals in the game are peaceful to you, unless you attack them directly in melee. You can attack them directly but then you are subjected to a stacking debuff, "Fallen Vegan", particularly nasty and lasting 200 turns. So I find myself in rooms full of VERY ANNOYING animals getting under my feet making it difficult to get to where I want to go. On the positive, they provide a buffer between myself and the hostile monsters. Also on the plus side, if they don't get in your way, you can simply walk through the room, pick up anything on the ground and move on.

But I know what you are thinking. What about all of the experience you are LOSING because you can't slaughter bunnies! Calm yourself animal murderer...there are means and ways. If you must kill animals there are ways to do it that legitimately circumvents the nasty side-effects. For example, the Level 2 ability "Animal Friend":

ANIMAL FRIEND: Your animal friend will fight for you if you ask them because they love you sooo much...

Your animal friend will attack anything nearby, including other animals, so you get the experience without the virtual shame (although nothing, I MEAN NOTHING will purge the real shame that you will undoubtedly feel, right?). You can also harm them indirectly, through the use of area-of-effect attacks; of course, I only found that out by accident... But probably the cleverest part of the Vegan skill tree is the final Level 5 ability:

BREAK THE CIRCLE OF LIFE: Having achieved the purity and perfection of the fifth level of Veganism, you are privy to the inner secrets and methods of The Vegans.

As well as increased stats, use of the ability simply un-curses you, removing any of the 'accidental' debuffs you may have incurred when you 'inadvertently' stomped on some cute animals. A cynical swipe at veganism (right up there with the "Aura of Self-Righteousness") to be sure, but it wouldn't be Dredmor if it didn't poke fun.

Most of the other skills I chose had their humorous features. Being a Bankster will definitely make you rich but can sting you with unexpected interest charges, which you can pass on to unsuspecting monsters as a form of poisonous attack. The Communist skill tree features my favourite opener, "Guerrilla Attack" and at later levels what appears to be a series of nice buffs but I more often than not end up with a nasty debuff side-affect like "Rationing" or "Internal Contradiction". In short, Communism, that fabulous theory, does not work for North Korea and is not working for me.

Astrology is a powerful magical tree but alas, far too serious. (FYI, I'm Libran Sun, Scorp Moon, Sagg Rising). So much opportunity to ridicule but none taken! Instead of *yawn* "Blinding Flash", how about...

CELESTIAL BAMBOOZLEMENT: Your enemies are confused as you explain to them that the only reason they don't feel like an Aries is because their Sun is trining Saturn while Capricorn is in their eleventh house. It will pass once their Jupiter has finished squaring Uranus.

Or even...

RETROGRADE MOVEMENT: You tell your enemies you are moving forwards only you look like you are moving backward but you are actually moving forwards from a different angle. You move backwards.

I have yet to play to the end of the Demonologist tree yet but looking ahead I can tell I'm going to enjoy it. My end goal being the Level 7 Demonologist for:

NO, YOU ARE THE DEMONS: The abyss has looked back into you and taken up residence on your couch. It doesn't even take out the trash. Sometimes ... it takes over.

These new skill trees were most definitely a highlight for me. But another new-ish game function worth mentioning is the "No Time To Grind" mode, which you can select before you start a new game. It simply makes the dungeon floors smaller and, to compensate, it amps the experience gained. Perfect for me, someone who would never have the time to finish the game otherwise. There are a few more bells and whistles with these later expansions, such as the dreaded Dungeon Level 0 or the Pocket Dimension or for the crafting inclined, you can try your hand at "Encrusting". But they provide little more than an extra something for those fans who have done it all' in Dredmor already.

For the greedy among us, who have already devoured Dredmor, what's next? Can we expect future Dredmor DLC and more skills? Maybe not, the silly people at Gaslamp Games are making new things. Out of clocks. And gears. Maybe lamps. I don't really get it. Dwarf Fortress+Sim City. A steam-punk sand-pit city-builder game? It sounds like it could be something like Salem but SO MUCH BETTER, because Salem isn't really much fun (from the 10mins I played it). It is called CLOCKWORK EMPIRES. And after you've beaten Lord Dredmor to death with your fedora, I'd be keeping an eye out on this if I were you.

Born of the the bowels of the earth, this omelette quivers chthonically at you.

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I'm back!

2013-04-03T12:44:00.000+13:00

Right. Where were we…

Playing amazing computer games, writing about them and staying mentally and physically healthy. All at the same time.

Keeping up so far?

The problem with seriously investing in an MMORPG game is that it will (not can, will) push other activities out of your life. And by seriously investing, I mean putting most other games aside, focusing solely on one game, the meta-game, the community around the game, really the whole MMORPG package. You might have got hint that I was absorbing myself in The Secret World in my last few posts from last year, before it all went dark on this blog.

What I've been doing instead of writing.

But playing one MMO is a flimsy excuse for not writing. The truth is 'playing' the game wasn't the thing that actually stopped the writing. It was being thrust into guild leadership (+ a whopping great project load in my day job). Or rather as the game calls it, 'cabal' leadership, but over 3 cabals, which we can term, as a whole, a 'guild'. And being me, I had to put 110% in to get things working how I wanted them to work because my name was on it.

It was an awesome, exhausting experience and one that I gladly relieved myself of because I simply missed writing too much. For that matter, I missed actually playing the damn game too. I spent so much more time on the game community that I played the actual game even less than before. Something wasn't adding up...

Other things I've been doing instead of writing.

Now, freed from the admin work, the dramas, the motivating, the organisation and coordination and everything that goes into behaving like a leader+1, I can play and write again. And surprisingly (thankfully?), you won't just be hearing about The Secret World. With my precious hours back, I have been revisiting some old & new favourites that have inspired me enough to formulate full sentences!

Welcome back dear readers, I missed you, my silent and invisible audience.

(And now stay silent no longer; I have just enabled comments on the blog. Feel free to chime in here or over on my Google+ profile).

Killing giant squid in New York It's a full time job.

Shiny, happy places in The Secret World

2012-09-26T15:55:00.002+12:00

Syl set me a challenge. Not that she knows it. Her quote:

I believe an awful lot of MMO players are still looking for that immersive experience, that virtual world they consider a home - or at least a cosy and familiar place to return to, to relax and unwind.

But apparently you can't get that in The Secret World. So I thought I would do you a favour and hunt around The Secret World and find some shiny, happy places where we can relax and unwind...if indeed, there are any.

Turns out TSW is not a massively friendly place. But it is our planet after all. And 'invaded' by species actually worse than ourselves. Furthermore they didn't even choose a tropical island location complete with pina coladas to do it. How rude. Perhaps they could consider that for an expansion...

However, despite the prevalence of Filth, I did find some places of light and love to chillax in. Sorry, no unicorns...

If you like it luxurious, grab a comfy seat in front of the fire at the Temple Club. Members Only.


For a more rustic experience, seek out the Domus Rustica in the Shadowy Forest. Watch out for Werewolves on the way in.

The Savage Coast ain't that savage. Wander the coast for some idyllic beach views.

And the Shadowy Forest ain't all shadows. Just be careful hugging some of the trees in this area.

Chat with the friendly locals at the Wabanaki Trailer Park.

I have to admit, it takes a focused eye to find these places of warmth and tranquil beauty. The supernatural bad boys have made a considerable mess of things. Fortunately there are a few supernatural good guys handing out flowers and other refreshments.

Find this haven of happiness in the middle of Siren's Lake.

Sometimes, in the Besieged Farmlands, you can find a table for two in an old tree.

Want a cold drink in the Scorched Desert? You want Cafe Giza.

I could add more but I've probably blown up your browser already. Without a doubt, The Secret World is a scary place. Thankfully you get some magic powers on the way in. But when the dark is getting you down, find your safe place and have a breather.

And I'm off to exotic locales myself, a holiday at last! Catch you back on line in a few weeks.

The Real World vs The Secret World

2012-09-18T12:30:00.000+12:00

My favourite MMORPG is getting slammed in the press again.

Sales are below expectation. Half of the development team has been shown the door, including the Lead Designer. (UPDATE: turns out the Lead Designer is still there as Creative Director, someone's been lying...) There have been continued delays of new content. And now one of the head corporates in Funcom is being accused of cashing in his shares before the rest of us knew the business was going through a rough patch.

The Secret World meets The Capitalist World. Smacks of Illuminati.

But seriously, it makes those of us who know we’ve found MMO gold feel a little nervous. Does this portend the beginning of the end already? Reduced content updates? Are we going Free-to-Play tomorrow…more importantly, will that really mean Pay-to-Win?

Just tell me the future...

And you’re asking why am I even paying a subscription for this game with so many other MMO options out there?! Is The Secret World actually worth the monthly subscription?

Simple answer. Yes. Yes, if we’re going to receive regular, quality content updates. That is exactly what I am paying for. And I have no regrets thus far. But I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t going to be thinking a bit harder about renewing after this first six months. I’m most definitely going to be measuring what I get against what I pay for. I’m no charity. And yes, there ARE many other MMO options out there…just none that interest me as much. The Secret World is unique.

I’ve already expounded the strengths the game has in terms of story and setting, as have many others. But what else does TSW offer?

And why hasn’t everyone else realised how amazing it is!?

It has been much too quiet in the cabal these days but it is too easy to 'blame' Guild Wars 2 for thieving the more fickle gamers away to their fresh 'n' free candy-land MMO, although undoubtedly it was very convenient timing for those players who had finished all of the story content in TSW and needed something else to play, even if they are tired of fantasy fare. More than a few in our cabal have stated they will be back as soon as new content is released in TSW. And I fully expect a few more to return when they realise GW2 is just not for them. The folks running around in TSW now are the crew that know they're here for good, that know there isn't anything else quite like it out there. A much smaller crew than Funcom were hoping but if they keep up the content, the players will continue to come.

I think TSW suffers from being too different but also more-of-the-same-mediocre MMO we're bored of. I foretold this mediocrity here. For all its hype about being the next big thing, it was only ever going to offer much the same experience in many of the facets of MMOs that we have played in the past. Everyone expecting to be blown away by something 100% revolutionary was disappointed. But honestly, these players only had themselves to blame with grand expectations based on very little evidence.

On the other hand, where The Secret World is different is never going to suit those players who aren't ready for the change. The real world ‘horror’ setting is not going to appeal to folks who want the familiarity of high fantasy and talking pandas. And then the largest group of players was excluded because TSW is hard. It isn’t going to work for the casual player in terms of player skill & perseverance. Even after you master the art of customising your deck for the PVE mission areas, the instances can be brutal. Welcome back dungeon attunement and an unforgiving Gatekeeper fight that gives you a taste of what Nightmare (currently the hardest) level of dungeons are like. Forget downing that boss if everyone isn’t 100% on their game. This sort of challenge is most definitely a high point of the game for me but it ain’t for everyone.

Another criticism I’ve seen leveled at the MMO is that TSW is too small. That there is just not enough content or things for players to do. I sympathise with this. I play around 20 hours a week, pretty average (and optimum according to Jane McGonigal) and I’m almost finished all PVE mission content. I’ve played through all 5-man instances at elite level, defeated the Gatekeeper and have begun Nightmare level instances. The next update will give me a new auxiliary weapon to unlock but no new content that I know of. The first raid isn’t due for another month or so. The next new area is sometime next year. So I am worried I’m going to run out of things to do. The hardcore regulars had already finished everything, at least a month ago! While rushing through content is not my preferred play-style I can fully understand why they’ve moved on, at least temporarily.

This problem could be bigger than the both of us.

As a serious (not casual but not hardcore) player paying a subscription, I wouldn’t expect to run out of things to do. I would expect new content to come out ahead of me, that's why I'm paying. But it looks like I've caught up with the development. I might, for the first time, start considering doing fluffy filler tasks, like chasing achievements. I do not relish this and this isn’t what I pay for. Thankfully I'm thoroughly enjoying the instance challenges and fortunate enough to be in a large enough cabal that I rarely have to use a PUG.

Most importantly, I’m still loving the game. I’m not tempted in the least to purchase the latest versions of the various fantasy-setting MMO’s out there and I’ve even neglected my precious property in WURM for far too long. While TSW may not be the right recipe to make $bazillions, it is by no means a gaming failure. The real fear TSW fans have now is that it may collapse under the cost of its ongoing development, that is, The Secret World may not be financially sustainable in the Real World and we won't be able to log in one day soon. But despite the Real World seemingly falling down around it’s ears there is enough unique and special about The Secret World that will keep me logging in as long as I am able.

I blame Agartha.

The Secret World. Solomon to Egypt.

2012-08-15T18:07:00.001+12:00

Thoughts on setting and scene.

I have been playing Funcom’s MMORPG, The Secret World, since it came out, late June of this year. The Secret World is set in the modern world where every fairy tale, mythical monster and spook you’ve ever heard about is out and roaming our world. You become privy to world-scale conspiracies and secret societies will open their doors to you. For me, a large part of the enjoyment of this game would boil down to the environment and immersion because this was the main point of difference I was most looking forward to. I chose not to play the Beta, I wanted to see the full release as they designed it to be seen. And according to others, that was the best way to do it. I wanted to be a wide-eyed fresh explorer and enjoy the unique setting and story that first piqued my interest a year ago.

SPOILER warning: The sort of spoilers you’re going to encounter below relate to setting and scene. I DON’T go into mission detail. I DO talk about the look and feel of some of the areas and creatures you’d find in The Secret World.

So, here we are, I have FINALLY stopped playing the game long enough to report back to you on a mere fragment of this gaming experience. Setting and scene, from Solomon to Egypt.

A blog post never really does justice to an MMORPG experience, even a blog post purposefully scaled down to discuss only a couple of aspects; MMORPG worlds are too vast and varied. There are always 100 other things that stand out along the way through your travels that either do or don't work that I could point out. But I've chosen to focus on a couple of main points that are points of difference worth evaluating.

Sonnec, of the Templars

Firstly, did the game meet my expectations?

Simple answer: Yes. The setting is fantastic. Although ‘fantastic’ would be the wrong word. It is, after all, supposed to be set in the real world, our world, right now. No elves, no orcs, just plain ole humans. Unfortunately character creation feels a little stunted with the limited body types and faces; true individuation is achieved with clothing. And while we’re on the subject, what an absolutely refreshing change to be able to wear sensible fashion! For those of you who relish the near-naked option, don't be dispirited; you can wander around in a bikini but we ALL have real choice for a change, not just the teenage boys.

The first hour.

Having been spoiled with the variety of starter areas in World of Warcraft, it is always a little disappointing when an MMORPG doesn't support your desire to start again, over and over again. I was even more disappointed to realise that the very beginning scenes are the same for all three factions in The Secret World. Not only that but the story feels weak. This is the storyline that reveals to you how you transformed from a mere mortal to developing some pretty flashy superpowers. I was hoping for something a little more involved and believable. Alas, no.

The introductions to the factions themselves are much better, I’ve only experienced two and the Dragon intro (NSFW) is definitely more memorable than the Templar...

Once outside of the introductory faction missions, we're sharing our story again with everyone else in game.

I step into the Kingsmouth starting area and it’s a nightmare. It’s horrifying. Imagine everyone in your neighbourhood is a zombie, eating your neighbours or being eaten by them. I can handle gore but horror has that ‘fear’ element to it that creeps me out! I wouldn’t even touch a full scale horror game but here I am, trusting in my new-found powers and taking my lead from the tough old cowboy, who is the first ‘living’ human I see in this dystopia. And combat is not easy! So I really am fighting for my ‘life’ while I get to grips with this combat system. And OMG since when did zombies scream so much!

The Cowboy

The Secret World makes you respect your surroundings. You have to pay attention, whether it is to avoid disturbing a group of feeding zombies, or because you are looking for a subtle clue in order to progress along your mission or just to admire the occult references. Investigation missions involve reading the mission and then reading it again, just in case there was something cryptic in it that will give you the hint you need to go to the next place. I’ve studied pictures, phone books, peered at signs 100x and run around the neighbourhood repeatedly in an effort to find the next stop on these damn missions. They are so frustrating when you don’t get it and so gooood when you do. Thankfully I haven’t had to rely too much on the in-game browser to search the out-of-game world for clues; Google is already muddied with spoilers and walkthroughs. Your best weapon on an investigation mission is having someone else to play with; another brain to think outside the square makes a big difference.

Solomon to Egypt.

The very first area, the town of Kingsmouth, is part of Solomon Island which is a fictional island off the coast of the US. Solomon Island is made up of three distinct areas of increasing difficulty before you’re instructed to make your way to Egypt. I was doubtful how they might pull off Egypt in a convincing way but it was better than I expected. Again, they cleverly centered the play in a small fictional town, Al-Merayah, stocking it to the borders with culture and conflict. I’m not 100% taken with the giant bugs and mutant scavengers out in the rest of the desert. Possibly they are neatly explained in some dialogue or Lore but in truth I felt like I was back in good ole’ Silithis for a while there. And while nostalgia is cute it snaps you right back to quest-grinding mode; an instant immersion-killer.

The Scorched Desert

I’m currently touring The City of the Sun God and it is, in comparison with previous areas, disappointing. The ancient Egyptian location, while beautiful, feels far from reality. Here, more than any other area so far, the setting feels contrived, like a typical fantasy game world. You are herded by the geography from venue to venue, forced to encounter or attempt to avoid predictably sprinkled mobs. Ok, so the story supports this outlandish setting AND one of Ptahmose’s cut-scene speeches is one of my favourites so far, but the place doesn’t feel ‘real’.

Why is Kingsmouth successful but City of the Sun God much less so? Has the novelty warn off by then? Perhaps, a little. But I suggest there is something more potent going on here.

Familiarity vs Fantasy.

Consider the town of Kingsmouth with its quaint cafés, a solid little church, petrol station and familiar grid street structure. It could be any little town you’ve passed through or lived in. Those citizens still living and sane enough to chat to you have been fabulously voice-acted, even if they do ramble on. The cynical fortune-teller, the balls-to-the-wall police force, that weird priest…they could all be people you know or have at least have seen on TV! There is familiarity and therefore a human interest in connecting and joining this seemingly hopeless cause. The remaining defenders are all the more admirable because they are mere mortals (like you, the player). They have no super powers, yet they still live. The reason for your intervention is a good one. No civilised town deserves to have its face eaten off like that!

Kingsmouth

By the time you reach the City of the Sun God you’re familiar with the sun and sand, from the Scorched Desert, but there are comparably few ‘people’ around and no sign of modern civilisation. The local monsters seem to be various flavours of unlikely and fantastical desert guardians. Occasionally you come across a pocket of deluded cultists. Granted, Solomon had its share of alien creatures, made even stranger by the relatively normal surroundings, but because the rest of the Solomon was familiar it accentuated the fact that something was incredibly wrong in this small town. In the City of the Sun God, the terrain is as foreign as the inhabitants (unless you happen to live in a desert). There is very little I can relate to and while it is supposed to be otherworldly, I don’t feel connected to it. I don’t feel a sense of caring for what happens to it. It doesn’t help that the terrain seems to force you along a route, making the area feel much more linear than the others. The missions feel more repetitive and although the surrounding mythos ties it together, it feels like you’re working a game map, not organically exploring the area. And have I mentioned how awful the Egyptian god cut scenes are?! Cringe-worthy. You’ll know what I mean when you get to them. I never thought I’d miss the zombies but my advice is: don’t be in a hurry to leave Solomon Island.

The Thoughtful Killer.

There is another explanation for the success of the setting and scene in The Secret World. The game designers are consciously attempting to break us out of our mindless killing mode. It is the mechanics that stop us hoarding screeds of meaningless ‘kill X number of monsters’ missions, it is the missions and mission placement that encourage us to explore the map in a natural way and the abundance of cut scenes that slow the pace down.

I can’t say that every mission is a breath of fresh air, there are plenty of ‘kill X number of monsters’ missions (and I think we’d all freak out if the game only had investigation or sabotage missions ). But it really does feel like thought went into slowing down the pace so that you not only enjoy the setting but so that you pay attention to the details enough to make your way through some of the more cryptic missions. And completing those missions that encourage you NOT to kill everything in your path allows you, the character, to feel more complex and realistic. You’re no longer just a mindless murderer, a simple slayer of anything that moves. The increased depth and dimension this can add to your gaming experience is a massive highlight for me and many others. But before you wonder if I’m actually playing an MMO puzzle game, you’ll be relieved/disappointed to know that combat missions are still the most common. Yes, you can play dress ups in whatever sophisticated civilian clothes you like (the shoes, ALL THE SHOES) but you are a killer. You kill to get gear to kill better, you earn and carefully select your skill points to kill better, the games cornerstone mechanic (and arguably the only mechanic that is currently working properly…) is still combat. I don’t know if it is even possible to progress on non-combat missions alone (I’m sure someone will try), but at the end of the day, the story writers are writing the tales of a soldier in a war, albeit a Secret War with all the creative limitations that imposes.

Al-Merayah

And considering that, I’m impressed with what they’ve done within this genre. The challenge which they must meet to keep subscribers is to keep providing this in-depth setting. Keep giving us a reason to care. They need to continue infusing the settings with real history, keep creating interesting NPCs (easing up on the clichés) and connect us to it all through thoughtful and believable missions. They need to be careful that their occult and fantastical references are believable or we will wind up too far in fantasy-land again and become kill-everything-that-moves zombies. AND if they scrapped Agartha, I’d be happy to pretend it never existed.

<RANT> It has to be said, Agartha is ridiculous. It reminds me of a cross between the railway station at Hogwarts and a tacky Salvidor Dali ripoff. It’s all golden and shimmering, spread among the tentacled boughs of a fantastical giant tree. Your only access to the rest of the world is by using shimmering portals along the branches. Apparently it’s in the centre of our Earth accessible via pretty-damn-obvious gates. I’d rather just take a plane. Give me a little travel line across the globe so I can feel like Indiana Jones please. </RANT>

But for all the aforementioned niggles, I am very delighted to report that the fresh setting of The Secret World, which was a big selling point for me, definitely met my expectations and I look forward to new developments and some bug fixes...

Nefetari

TSW vs Blog

2012-08-08T20:26:00.000+12:00

Every day I come home from work with the intention of putting the final nail in my next post.

It will be my first wee review of the new MMORPG, The Secret World.

But then I tell myself I need to see just a bit more of the game, just a bit more...

there's a themepark in my themepark MMO...

Zombies

2012-07-25T21:23:00.002+12:00

Why did it have to be zombies…

If there was one Monster that was going to jump out from under the proverbial bed and give humanity a serious FRIGHT, why couldn’t the vampires have got in first? I’d even take the werewolves. Anything is better looking (and smelling) than a zombie. Not to be shallow but I don’t want to be confronted with what I’m going to look like after 3 months of being 6ft under. It’s depressing as well as terrifying. But what can you do when a returned townie starts putrefying in your direction. A zombie is a zombie. And we probably should have seen the signs…

Mum eats child

Florida's homeless-eater

The Walmart zombie

Zombie in China

But because I’m not the sort of mean-spirited person to provide a problem without a solution, I’ve done some research for you on how to kill your undead kin, colleague or cohabiter and press on to survive another day.

To start with, I’m going to assume you don’t have superpowers. Personally, I prefer guns. Keeps me as far away from them as possible. But whether you have superpowers or not, simple rule of thumb: AIM FOR THE HEAD.

How to kill a Zombie

Ten Best Ways to Kill a Zombie

How to Survive a Zombie apocalypse (and look fab!)

from nerdfitness

from zombiefit

These people have really thought about this! We owe them...

Beelzebutt

2012-07-04T20:36:00.002+12:00

I’m fairly certain there’s something going on in my apartment building.

There seems to be a disproportionate number of older folk. I’ve got nothing against grey power but so many in one building, in the middle of the city? They all seem to be part of the property-managing body corporate for the place as well. I know what you’re thinking...

Rosemary's Baby

Thankfully I’m not pregnant.

But seriously, I reckon they’re in on something together. They could be Freemasons or the secret squirrel Rosicrucians. There have been the odd occurrences too. Like our tolerant resident polterghOOst, who is quite annoyingly turning taps on and making me drop stuff, I swear! And then there was the fire in the ‘goods lift’ at 1am in the morning. A likely story. More like some occult ritual gone wrong!

I’m not complaining though (unless they burn my place down). They are so much friendlier than everyone else in this apartment. I don’t get it with young(er) people today, didn’t they watch Friends or Melrose Place where everyone in the apartment is neighbourly and at least greet you when you pass each other on the stairs! A small apartment block is the perfect excuse for a great little community.

Well, at least the Satanists think so...

hah, look I found Beelzebut[t]!

Other ramblings:

Roller Coaster
The Raison D'être of India

See you in Hell, Diablo.

2012-06-28T20:15:00.000+12:00

where I become familiar with the 'You Have Died' screen in Diablo 3.

I’m in Hell at last. And now the pain starts.

Will I be forced to purchase gear from the Auction House just to stay alive or will I be good enough to strategise and battle through with the gear that the game sees fit to drop?

Here's the scene: I’m playing co-op with one other. I’m a monk, he’s a demon hunter. Co-op reduces the tedium substantially and allows us to take turns being entertained by each others temper tantrums. Oh, yeah, and we can share drops. (Why does a monk get all the bow drops and a demon hunter get NO claw drops? Why!?) Stepping out into Act 1 Hell and we’re dreading our first rush of blue elite champion mobs. Even the normal mobs take noticeably longer to kill and hit harder, so the blues will be awful. I’ve already radically adjusted my skill choice from the end of Nightmare. More defense for me, I can’t kill things if I’m dead.

The first few elite groups are straightforward. We take our time with them and wear them down. Then we hit the first true bitch of an ability combo: Scavengers with Frozen-Desecrator-Jailer abilities. The combination of damage and snaring was too much for us. We couldn’t get one down. And that ended our first rough night in Hell.

Fast forward to the Skeleton King and we’re stuck again. One wrong move and we’re deadburger, it seems there is no room for error. We backtrack and work through some of Act 1 again, trying out different skill combinations and hoping for some better gear to drop. I give up pretending to be a tank and go back to dual wielding damage dealing and life stealing which works much better. We develop better tactics against the elite groups and are feeling a lot stronger by the time we hit the Skeleton King again. But it’s still not good enough. We take down the summoned skeletons with more ease but he still hits like a freight train before we can do meaningful damage.

LESSON LEARNED – the Auction House is the ONLY way you will get all the gear you need in Hell.

Mama Said Knock You Out (Hell)

A quick trip to the AH and I’m armed with 2 rare claws for a bargain price. My DPS has moved from 1700 (yeah, I know, my drops really did suck) to over 2500. In the meantime, we’ve also had several hours break away from the game. Don’t underestimate the value of a good brain break when you are stuck in a game! We blitzed through the Cathedral once more and we took out the Skeleton King first go. Neither of us died. Yes. With a 2500 DPS monk (and a 6500 DPS Demon Hunter).

But my stats are still woefully low. I can handle large groups of small-medium mobs but if the elites are hard-hitters I’m a goner. Although we can wear down these vicious packs, kiting them around terrain either to keep them out of reach or to snag them on terrain features, it’s a grueling way to play. It’s back to the Auction House for me.

I’m hating Hell. And I’m lovin’ it.

By far the biggest challenge in Hell level are the packs of elite (blue, glowing) champions which come with randomly selected deadly abilities.

On their own, each of these abilities are a cinch to avoid. In Hell level each pack has 3 of them. They can come in any combination. Some combinations are just too tough and in these cases I give you permission to avoid them (kite them to an earlier cleared spot, die and respawn far away) to preserve your sanity. It might feel wrong to purposefully avoid content but:

elite packs are random content that you can reset and retry later with, hopefully, a different combination of abilities and
playing a dungeon crawler that FORCES you to buy from an Auction House (Gold OR Real Money) to progress is wrong anyway. There are a few debates flying around about the game changing value of the Diablo 3 Auction House. There are fans and opponents of the mechanic and I sit as an opponent. This is simply because I thought I was buying a dungeon crawler or if you like, an ‘ARPG’. Not a trading game. And the reality is that you cannot progress through and beyond Hell difficulty without trading (unless you are REALLY lucky with drops or like dying a lot). Don’t get me wrong, it’s not a game-breaker. But relying on the Auction House noticeably lowers my game satisfaction.

Witch Doctor & Family (Normal)

And in an effort to help YOU stay away from at least the Real Money Auction House (seriously, it’s not worth your hard-earned cash) here are my:

Coping Mechanisms for Elite Champion Packs in Hell.

As you clear areas, keep an eye for paths and circular 'racetracks' you can kite mobs around. Especially in the narrow confines within buildings, where you don't have as much room to avoid damage.

Arcane Enchanted – ARCANE DAMAGE: Mobs regularly summon an arcane beam that sweeps 360degrees from a fixed point damaging players in it’s path.
The beams don't move particularly fast and can be avoided as they originate as points of glowing purple lights before they become dangerous.
Avenger – BUFF: When one mob in the group dies, it buffs the remaining mobs.
This doesn’t seem to be a very effective buff but if you can kill the mobs within seconds of each other, you will reduce the amount of buff time remaining mobs have.
Desecrator – DAMAGE: Mobs regularly leave pools of painful reddish goop on the ground.
Avoid the red stuff, it hurts.
Electrified – LIGHTNING DAMAGE: Lightning sparks outward from the mob on contact.
My monk has little issue self-healing through this damage. Squishy ranged may have to dance to avoid.
Extra Health – BUFF: Mob has more life.
Stay alive. You are in for the long run, these mobs simply take longer to kill.
Fast – MOBILITY: Dramatically increased movement speed.
Their speed can make them almost unkiteable so in combination with hard hitting this is a curse for ranged and squishier players and an annoyance for melee who have to chase them around the place. I hope you are melee or have a friend who is. :p
Fire Chains – FIRE DAMAGE: 2 or more mobs will be connected by fiery chains that sear into any player touching them. The mobs will move together and attempt to envelop you in the chains.
If you are playing co-op split the pack up. The chains break over a certain distance or if there is an object in between. Or summon a tough minion to help you tank these apart. Otherwise keep moving and kite to prevent them from surrounding you.
Frozen – COLD DAMAGE & SNARE: Mobs periodically summon small balls of ice over an area around them. The balls take a couple of seconds to expand before exploding causing damage and freezing the player to the ground for a couple more seconds.
Very dangerous ability, but if you know what to look for you can run and avoid these explosions easy enough. Be prepared to kite across a wider area.
Health Link – BUFF: Damage is split across a shared life pool. AOE these mobs down.
Illusionist – BUFF: Mobs conjure mirror images of themselves periodically. These obscure the original mob and will also attack.
The illusions don’t have as much life as the original. AOE the group down to find the original mob.
Jailer – SNARE: Occasionally roots the player in place for a time.
Easier for melee, smack anything surrounding you. Deadly in combination with a pain pool.
Knockback – PHYSICAL DAMAGE & SNARE (of sorts): The mob will occasionally knock you back a long distance.
Annoying for melee as you'll have to run or teleport back within melee range. Apart from the damage, little impact for ranged.
Missile Dampening – BUFF: An aura surrounding the mob reduces the effect of ranged attacks.
A complete non-issue for melee. Some reduction in ranged DPS.
Molten – FIRE DAMAGE & BUFF: Molten mobs hit with additional fire damage, have fire resistance and leave a nasty trail of lava behind them. They also like to explode after they die.
Melee can hit these mobs from the front, as the lava trail is behind them. They will try to circle you to force you through the trail so adjust your position accordingly. Don’t be surrounded by multiple moltens!
Mortar – FIRE DAMAGE: Fast ranged fire attack.
This one targets ranged players. If you are melee, gather them up and tank them down to avoid mortars.
Nightmarish – DEBUFF: Mob will occasionally fear you for a few seconds.
Can be dangerous as you are vulnerable to attack and unable to control your movement but otherwise has little effect. Survive and get back in the fight.
Plagued – POISON DAMAGE: Mobs regularly leave pools of green poisonous goop on the ground.
Avoid the green stuff, it hurts.
Reflect Damage – BUFF: 10% of your damage comes back at you.
Unless you can heal through it, save the burst damage for another time. Wear these mobs down more slowly.
Shielding – BUFF: Mobs are periodically shielded from all damage.
Kite/Tank shielded mobs until shields are down, then attack. May need to switch targets regularly.
Teleporter – MOBILITY: Regularly teleports to and from players.
An annoyance for melee as they keep teleporting away. A teleporting skill of your own can negate the impact. Ranged to watch out for sudden melee attacks.
Vampiric – BUFF: Mobs will life steal as they hit you.
Get rid of all of your summons and minions as they will heal the mob more than they damage it. Then, avoid being hit yourself! Stun, kite, etc.
Vortex – SNARE: Teleports a player to the mob’s melee range.
Ranged players be ready to run back out of range when they are drawn in. Little issue for melee who will be in range more often than not anyway.
Waller – SNARE: Frequently creates earthen walls around the player.
Easier for melee, you might have to tank in tight corners until the walls come down but Wallers seem to create walls between you and other dangerous mobs more often than not. In combination with a pool of hurt (Desecrator, Plagued, Molten) on the ground, RUN.

A Few More Hints (sorry, Monks only!)

You need at least one 'Oh Fuck' button, especially if your DPS isn't overpowered. For a Monk, Serenity is a good choice for avoiding all damage. Blinding Flash can effectively stop them hitting on you long enough to get distance but won't stop the elemental damage that has been dropped on the ground. At a pinch use your Wave of Light or Lashing Tail Kick to knock mobs back or stun if you are surrounded or kiting.

If you want to tank mobs for longer, don't bother stacking Armor or Life to any major extent. THINK: Spirit = Life. Ensure your Spirit never runs out (Exalted Soul and Fists of Thunder-Quickening or Mantra of Healing-Circular Breathing) and use the passive Transcendence (and items) to convert used Spirit to Life. That way, you can do damage and heal at the same time. You can improve your survivability further by Dual Wielding with high Chance to Crit plus items with Life Steal (convert #% damage to Life) and Life per Hit.

Elemental damage sucks. Thankfully Monks have the One With Everything passive skill. Pick an element, stack the gear and turn it on for all-round elemental & physical resistance protection.

Us vs the Big D (Nightmare)

So, my sanity (and keyboard) is mostly intact again after a serious Auction House shopping spree. But that niggling disappointment remains. I would like to think the game was playable without relying on thousands of other folk finding the gear I need. I would like to find my own upgrades again. We've seen folks blitz Diablo on Inferno Hardcore, maybe the real challenge is Diablo on Inferno Homespun-Threads Only?

Roller Coaster

2012-06-21T19:28:00.000+12:00

I find it absolutely fascinating how different people are. And even so, there is something that is similar enough about us that we (ok, most of us) function together in society. That sense of being a part of a group while visibly being a distinct individual.

And then within the island that is me (or you), I watch my feelings of camaraderie, connection and the need for companionship with my fellow human shift and give way to the intense disappointment in humanity and a feeling of utter embarrassment of being of the same species. It’s times like those, you should be glad I don’t have access to the Doomsday Button...!

If you were in a position of ultimate power over the mass of humanity, would you deliver or destroy them? I contemplate this unlikely situation more often than I'd like to admit.

photo from here, it's in Japanese...

I’m on my roller coaster ride again aren’t I. You’re going to have to get used to this. I have a habit of thinking in extremes. I think it’s an escape mechanism from being average and *gasp* boring. But I AM boring.

Before you feel sorry for me, STOP. You’re probably boring too. Even if you are even a bit interesting, I’ve already imagined a person like you. Even if you are completely weird and twisted, my brain has already wondered what it’s like to be you (and we’ve probably already seen it on reality TV). My brain is full of every sort of oddness, but I will hardly exhibit it. I’m too much of a wuss. But one day I will be a crazy old lady. Watch out.

Other Posts by India
~ The Raison D'être of India

Screenshot June 2012

2012-06-17T19:05:00.000+12:00

hi-res image of the road running through Cedar Grove at night.

click on the image to view full size.

the shot was taken at night with fog so I normalized the lighting.

The Raison D'être of India

2012-06-14T11:21:00.000+12:00

You know that feeling that comes over you when you realise you are destined for something greater and you wrack your brain over what it might be until you finally get over yourself enough to come back down to earth and remember you are just another biological blob wandering around in a human shape.

You're a random genetic concoction just as mortal and pointless as anyone else. Consuming goop for your motor and ejecting undigested leftovers so you can burn for a little longer. Consuming a bit more of the world every moment. For what? FOR WHAT!

And once you’re ego has traveled full circle from super-being status to meaningless meat-bag, you finally decide your raison d'être is something in the middle. Or let’s be honest, somewhere above the middle; there really are a lot of idiots out there.

Introducing me. India. Like the country, but not really. I’ve been let loose on this blog. I’m supposed to talk about games occasionally. Like Diablo 3. Playing it. It’s getting better, as in, now that I’ve yawned my way through Normal difficulty I’m starting to feel like a gamer again and not just a normal person.

Obviously I’m having issues with being normal lately.

Irena Sophia drew this.

And reading back over these words, I'll admit I may have taken a fanciful ride on that ego-driven emotional roller-coaster again. I‘m going to put it down to hormones. I’m at the mercy of chemical reactions. Don’t judge me. You are too.

Have a whinge, it's good for you.

2012-06-09T13:52:00.002+12:00

or what I wrote on a piece of paper in 2011...

What is fucking me off right now:

Continually feeling at the bottom of a learning curve at work and having to learn stupid shit I am not interested in.

My inability to be house-proud when the cat pukes and shits everywhere. My fear of ruining this nice place because of her. I don't even enjoy her company.

Spending so much money in rent on a place that is too big for me.

The way my energy fluctuates all over the show and my reliance on refined sugar!

Anger

And I ranked My Life Out of 5:

Home 2
Work 2
Friends 3
Love 4
Family 3
Self 3

O...K. I'm in a very different place now. Thankfully much improved. But it's a wakeup call to see how much has changed since then. I know a lot of the change stemmed from the very act of admitting and articulating my pain so I could take steps to move from it.

An update to the above rant might look like this:

I'm master of my game at work. Still learning stupid shit I'm not interested in.

My cat is dead and I miss her every day. I am so relieved that, once I learned she had an untreatable and fatal condition, I snapped out of feeling sorry for myself and gave her the very best last 6 weeks a cat could have. Pats and snacks whenever she wanted. No more boring diets and nauseating drugs. I even bought a cat harness and took her for walks in the park. She was the happiest she could be with her condition. And she didn't ruin the carpet one single bit.

I've moved apartment this year, sharing rent in a beautiful place with a wonderful man. Utility costs are now halved, rent is reasonable. Hello savings.

I gave up my reliance on sugar. I indulge every now and again but there is no more daily sugar see-saw.

My Life Out of 5 now:

Home 4
Work 3
Friends 4
Love 4
Family 4
Self 4

Honestly some of those 4's could be 5's but I can always think of ways life could be better.

Give it a go. Have a rant, submit to negativity for a moment and then take a hard look at it and see if you can't devise a plan to shift you forwards.

Walkies!

On the Path of Exile

2012-06-02T13:39:00.001+12:00

Where I try out the latest class to be released, the Shadow.

Introducing Jandals.

A Shadow of a man, stranded in wretched Wraeclast, with nothing much to do except slaughter the locals. Most of them anyway. We’ll leave someone alive to sell loot too.

Fresh off the Boat

The first thing you want to start thinking about early in Path of Exile is the type of active skills you want to play with – blue, green or red. As a rough guide:

Blue – Intelligence, Spells
Green – Dexterity, Ranged, Dual-Wield
Red – Strength, 2-Handed, Sword & Board

For Jandals, green was the obvious choice in skill gems and I chose melee over ranged. Here are my favourite active skill picks for this class:

Dual Strike – mana-efficient, bread-and-butter single-target skill for dual-wielders.
Fire Trap- early AoE winner, just set and walk away! Great for kiting large groups through. Works for bosses too but you either need to be able to tank them or Bear Trap them in place to get the benefit.
Flicker Strike- perfect for ranged mobs, I prefer this over Whirling Blades although both offer great mobility. Flicker Strike hits a single target harder while Whirling Blades hits everything in your path.

lesser favourites being:

Double Strike – I had to use this for a while when I couldn’t level Dual Strike up due to a lack of Strength. It just doesn’t compare, it does noticeably less damage than Dual Strike.
Bear Trap - I haven’t actually used this myself but I have seen it being used. Combined with Fire Trap, it has some situational potential.
Ethereal Knives – cone-shaped, forward-facing, short-range AoE. Mana-intensive but can do some nice damage at higher levels. I find it an effective way to finish off groups coming through a Fire Trap.
Whirling Blades – for moving and grooving up to ranged foes. Line it up right and you’ll hit everything in it’s path. Most fun with barrels!

Whirling Blades

Although Path of Exile’s skill gem system is more versatile than a traditional class-based talent tree. But these skills aren’t just handed to you right away. Skill gems are offered as quest rewards or drop as loot. They are not connected to character levelling and your class will not directly limit you. You can use any gem when it is slotted into equipped gear with the same colour slots, if you have the minimum stats required. Jandals uses green gems but he could use red or blue gems. In fact the only thing that choosing a Shadow class confers are starting stats and a position in the Passive skill tree that favours a Dexterity/ Intelligence build and of course you get a slim and shifty-looking male avatar. Instead of being a dual-wielding slice’n’dicer, Jandals could have been an arrow-flinging zombie master. This variety is one of the great strengths of Path of Exile.

The second consideration you should make are the passive skills you want to work towards. Gaining a level (and sometimes completing a quest) provides you with a point to spend on the passive skill tree. There is nothing stopping you from meandering through the passive skill tree without any focus or direction but you’ll notice that various branches of the skill tree culminate in special passive bonuses that advantage your play style. It makes sense to head in their direction.

Jandals, being keen on the leather gear and with both hands full of daggers or claws, felt vulnerable. Sure, killing fast was the best defence but one smack on the head at the wrong time and he was a goner. So I thought we’d make our way to Acrobatics and then a little further to Phase Acrobatics.

Passive skill path to Phase Acrobatics

By level 26 I had both including a small detour to pick up some more Intelligence so I could play with sharper daggers. Acrobatics gives you a chance to Dodge attacks. This is another opportunity to completely avoid being hit, in addition to but not stacking with Evasion. But it came at a cost. No more Energy Shield. Jandals will be even more vulnerable to hits but he will be hit less. And with Phase Acrobatics, the Dodge mechanic would be applied to magical hits. Without number-crunching the actual result (because I have better things to do) I’m definitely seeing a lot more hits swinging at thin air but there have been a couple of times where I’ve run into some groups that hit hard enough to finish me off, in a couple of seconds, before I could take them down. This leaves me concerned how this will work for real boss fights. Do I focus now on hitting harder or continue to build more defensive skills?

With the Acrobatics skill, gear choice becomes easier. I’m interested in gear with pure Evasion stats, Energy Shield being useless now. Here are some examples relevant for my level. Note that PoE is still in Beta so this gear is subject to change.

UPDATE 03/06/12 - digging around on the PoE forums, I thought I might catch some tips on improved survivability and I found this:

Taking acrobatics is suicide. It's a red-herring passive... if you take it, you will suck.

Grand. Obviously this is only one opinion. But it proves my theory that I have the uncanny ability to always pick the most 'challenging' builds (and make them work!).

Evasion Leather (mid 20's)

It is fair to say I’ve enjoyed playing the Shadow class more than any other so far in PoE, although I’m sure the Marauder is even more fun than before with the additional skill gems and passive skills that are available now. I’m probably asking for trouble in later difficulties playing melee classes but bring it on.

Both being highly anticipated dungeon crawlers, it is hard not to compare Path of Exile to Diablo 3. As a free game, Path of Exile stands incredibly strong but I can’t say yet which game I’d still be playing in 3 months, 6 months, maybe even a year. Path of Exile, definitely the more challenging, may prove too frustrating and difficult to master at later difficulties. Diablo 3, flashier and friendlier, may be done and dusted too soon. Time will tell.

Related articles:
2012 Your Year in Dungeon Crawling
Path of Exile, Seagulls & Toetoe
Path of Exile, First Impressions

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2012 Your Year in Dungeon Crawling

2012-04-29T12:11:00.000+12:00

So, I’ve planned your year of ~~ARPGs~~ Dungeon Crawling. It’s like a pub crawl without the smell. You can thank me later.

A word on terminology. I’m not convinced with the term, ARPG Action Role Playing Game. I think those wily marketing types are trying to promote this glamorous look to make you think there is a lot more storytelling and characterisation than there is. Truth is, they are Dungeon Crawlers; you kill, you loot, you level and it only takes you 2 seconds to come up with a name for your avatar, not the hours you spend creating your character in a real RPG. Admittedly "Dungeon crawler" is not an entirely accurate classification either; you will find a lot of action outside of the ‘dungeon’ these days. But walls or not, you’re still confined to a relatively small map compared to an actual RPG. We still love them though, so semantics aside, here is your hack-n-slash roadmap for 2012!

Firstly you need to save your bucks. For the big one. That’s right. Diablo III. No serious dungeon-crawling fan is not going to have this. It will be shiniest of them all, polished to perfection as only Blizzard can do. Even stingy ole me will fork out for it. I might be a few days late to Battlenet due to scooping up the cheap-but-late option but I’ll get there.

You’ll need $US59.99 by May 15th. That’s soon! If you live in NZ you have the joy of using NZ Game Shop and pay $NZ69.99 for it IF you don’t mind getting it a bit later than the fanbois, i.e.. about a week later. For Diablo III, I can wait.

Diablo III links
Diablo III official site
YouTube Diablo III - Monk Spotlight Video
YouTube Diablo III - Witch Doctor Spotlight Video
YouTube Diablo III - Barbarian Spotlight Trailer

Diablo III should last you at least few months, if it’s as good as we hope. You’ll tear through it on your first pass, eager to get to the end (unless you’re like me), then, if you’re not bored to tears, you’ll do it again with another class, maybe more. If it has the re-playability of its predecessors, it will be a game you come back to for years to come. Assuming that even happens any more in this age of fickle gaming… But at the very least, Diablo III should keep you going for a month or two. If not, mix it up a little with your favourite online shooter or MMO. Until…

Path of Exile arrives. Path of Exile will be going into public beta testing in June. So I’m kinda guessing that it will be released a month or two after that. Which should be just when your Diablo III glow has worn off. If it hasn’t worn off then keep playing Diablo for as long as you need. Just remember you have a fresh and free-to-play option waiting in the wings.

Path of Exile is darker and grittier. There’s something old school and right about it. There’s something nice and sticky there. Like they’ve got the right focus, like they’ve taken the things you love about hack-n-slash and twisted it a little. Dark and beautiful is your Path of Exile. I suggest you take it. And like I said, it’s free!

Path of Exile links
Path of Exile official site
YouTube The Duelist - Path of Exile
YouTube Path of Exile - The Witch
Path of Exile - First Impressions
Path of Exile - Seagulls & Toetoe

If either of these two games doesn’t keep your dungeon-crawling itch scratched for most of the year, then it’s your fault. There’s something wrong with you. But don’t despair completely, somewhere down that tunnel, you’ll find the light. Torchlight 2 to be exact. Release date, unknown as I hit publish, but rumoured to be July this year. If you want something that doesn’t take itself as seriously as the other two and is priced neatly in between, keep an eye out for this treasure. You can pre-order Torchlight 2 from Steam now for $US19.99.

Torchlight 2 links
Torchlight 2 official site
YouTube Torchlight II Berserker Frenzy
YouTube Pets of Torchlight II

AND if you still need more, if you’ve devoured everything above, keep an eye on Grim Dawn. Grim Dawn is currently on Kickstarter and will hopefully bear more fruit in 2013.

Happy Crawling!

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I can't finish a game

2012-04-21T10:03:00.000+12:00

Aren't you bored of prose...yawn.

I've written a poem instead.

It's much more fun if you rap it.

I can't finish a game

It's a source of some shame

It's truly not my intent

But there's no one else to blame

Don't get me wrong

My play style ain't weak

I rock it on Hardcore

And I won't cheat

I can't finish a game

I keep rolling again

I start off with one alt

Before I know it there's ten

If you look at my desktop

It's littered in icons

Like half-eaten food

I won't even dine on

I can't finish a game

It's not that it sucks

I get so far through

Then I don't give a fuck

Some say I'm too fickle

A computer game whore!

One eye on the game

Another looking for more

From FPS to MMO

I nibble on them all

Mainstream to Indie

It doesn't matter how small

Oh hold on, I found one

A game I played to the end!

Looks like a co-op

I played with a friend

I can't finish a game

I'm a schizo ludophile

But I don't care what you think

This is MY game style.

With a Little Help from my Friends

2012-04-15T21:30:00.001+12:00

An online friend passed me this link the other day. It was a short article about…online friends. What struck a chord for me was the writer’s admission of awkwardness when trying to describe online friendship to physical world friends. I know what she means. I wonder though, is it awkward because we don’t value them ourselves?

Online shame
Are online friends not as important because games aren’t important?

Why is there less shame in talking about our friend John, from tennis, than our friend Stormcloud Furybeard, from Lord of The Rings Online? Even when online friendship shares the same sort of camaraderie as people who meet up to play sport once a week, fully cognisant and accepting that the other has a full life outside of the game with no expectation to become anything more than a competitor/team member for an hour. So why does it feel strange for us to talk about our online friends with equal respect? I suggest that WE choose to devalue our online friends. It is our own feelings about online friends and gaming more than the reaction we get from our physical world friends that cause us embarrassment.

Do we choose to devalue our online friends because we don’t know their given names or do we devalue them because we’ve decided amateur tennis has more cred than LoTRO? Even though computer gaming is as much a valid hobby as tennis/football/golf is, we’ve decided that knocking a small ball into a net/goal/hole is something to be less ashamed of than our cerebral online escapades. At least in my country, that’s most definitely the case. Gamers are about as socially accepted as well...vegetarians, to use another example I know well. People nod politely, think you’re a bit weird and don’t really want to know much more about it.

Society hasn’t quite got there with accepting that online gaming merits as much time as watching the cricket or playing indoor soccer and this makes it hard to speak about our online experiences with confidence. As part of society, the change can only start with our own attitude. When we value our game time, we have to value our online gaming friends, don't we?

Foolin' about in RIFT

It’s a matter of trust
Are online friends not as important because we can’t really trust the human behind the avatar?

We don’t really trust our online friends because we don’t really know them. Unless you are one of those dear souls that believe almost everything you read on the internet, you won’t have enough information to give them the level of trust that you would a physical world friend. Some of this might be learnt by experience and some of it has to do with the lack of physical connection. For me it is a bit of both.

I was burnt in my early online years playing a MUD, when a ‘friend’ faked his own death. This grotesque deception was a blow to what was a close-knit community and there was a lot of heartfelt anger on those forums from his former ‘friends’ when the truth came to light. An unspoken online bond of trust had been irreparably damaged by someone who obviously didn’t share the same code of decency at all, someone who had dismissed everyone in that game as simply another mechanic to manipulate. I consider myself pretty savvy with people, both in the flesh and online, but being duped in this way served as a hard lesson of the reality that, at the end of the day, you can’t know the person on the other end of the connection that well at all.

Weaker online connections aren’t limited to online gaming. In many modern work environments, especially if you work with others globally or remotely, you may have experienced the difference between face-to-face meetings and teleconferences. Or the effectiveness of a face-to-face discussion vs an MSN conversation. It may vary from person to person but a face-to-face connection is generally almost always more effective. So much so that, at work, I will always press for a face-to-face meeting with anyone I haven’t met before, at least the first time. I build a connection much faster with someone I meet physically and all else being equal, I am more likely to prioritise work higher for someone I’ve met than for someone I haven’t.

In gaming, we don’t have the advantage of face-to-face connection, unless we are already gaming with physical world friends (it's amazing how a face-to-face catchup can transform and cement your gaming friendships). We are at the mercy of an unwritten code of conduct, where we trust that our online friends have our gaming interests at heart as much as their own. Strong online friendships take some time to develop but even then, once offline, that trust has little currency in the physical world.

Buffin' it up in Aion

Being real online
We play with others online because it enhances our game experience. Whether that means overcoming more challenges, sharing knowledge or sharing our game experiences with someone who understands, if they’re not enhancing your game experience then seriously considering finding a new group of folks to play with. I don’t mean that your gaming buddies should be holding your hand all the way; real gamers prefer a challenge.   The reverse is also true; if you feel like you’re spending too much time babysitting someone in game, be honest, speak out and offer alternatives, a good online friend will respect your game time.

But do you have to be real? How much of ‘you’ do you need to take online and share with these folks who you will, in many cases, never really ‘know’? After years of gaming behind an avatar, it can feel odd or even difficult to be the ‘real you’. But with the rise of the MMO and the increasing pressure to bring your real ‘self ‘online (RP aside) I recommend bringing the same personality online as you would to a group of physical world friends. Of course, that doesn’t mean being carefree with personal information, I don’t even agree with putting your real details out there even though there is more and more pressure to do just that! One only needs to consider the popularity of social networking sites ; Facebook, with its focus on putting you and your physical world friends online and Google+ with its focus on putting your real profile out there.   Or even Blizzard’s Battlenet with Real ID, so you can apparently make the distinction between trusted online friends and all the rest. Call me paranoid but all I smell is thinly disguised marketing opportunities.   However the advantage to bringing your real personality to the game is that you have a better chance of meeting up with like minds and people with similar play styles.

Find your crew
Finding that stellar group of online game friends can make all the difference, even if, like me, you’re not a big socialiser. I absolutely love digging around in a new game by myself because I don’t feel rushed by others, I can customise my interface, read quest text, pick flowers in my own time. But many of my most memorable gaming experiences have been with others, working as a team to achieve a common goal. Relying on others and being relied upon is thrilling. But if you’ve noticed the rubbish streaming through your own global chat window, you know it can also be hard to sort through the drama lamas, children and trolls.   Other players know this too and you may have better luck finding groups outside of the game.   Look out for local gaming groups, try out different ‘guilds’ in-game, look for groups online that like to bring together gamers that sound like your crew; girl, gay, older, etc. But games that support making friends online should give you plenty of opportunities to connect so reach out, be you and be discerning; you may have to wade through a few idiots before you find worthy company.

Takin' him down in WoW

What do we owe online friends?

Once you’ve banded up with an online gaming friend or two, what do you really owe them? I mentioned it before, at the end of the day it’s about enhancing each other’s game life and that includes respecting physical world lives. Communicate and be you. Be respectful, there’s a warm-blooded human on the end of that avatar. And move on if it’s not working.

Personally, I'm a very low maintenance online friend. So I don't expect much from you and I honestly don't have too much time to give to you either. Don't feel bad, many of my physical world friends get the same deal. But I will make time to ensure my online interactions are 100% genuine and when I can help, I will. When we hang out, it's because I really want to. If you're done with the game, let me know yer off and tell me what the new game is like. I can't guarantee I'll join you and I don't expect you to keep in touch. And that's just fine.

Moving on is becoming increasingly common as more and more games vie for your attention. Check: are your online friends at the mercy of your fickle gaming habits? As soon as you stop logging in, do they just disappear with the game?

I was guilty of this, once. Years back, playing my first online MUD, I was relatively active on the game forums and regularly posted with some online friends. Then I stopped playing for a while. Stopped logging in. And didn’t tell a soul why, I didn’t think anyone would care. When I turned up a few months later, I was very surprised to hear that at least one of my online friends had become extremely worried about my sudden disappearance. It was only then that it occurred to me how negligible I had been and how little I had respected these very real people because I’d assumed they didn’t see me as a real person. I’m not one to throw up an epic ‘I’m Leaving’ thread but at least now I touch base with my onlineys and let them know of my comings and goings. It’s common courtesy.

Just hangin' in Fallen Earth

And finally I wanted to share with you this list from the forum of the crafting-centric, terraforming craziness that is WURM online. This is a list of words collated by a player from a thread entitled ‘The Sort of Player you Want to Play With’. How do they compare with your list?

Hilarious
Always joking
Puts their shoulder to the wheel when necessary
Shows compassion
Open-minded
Someone I can trust
Doesn't lie, steal or grief
Polite
Helped newbies
Always there if we struggled with something
Easy to get on with
Jokes around
Gets hands dirty when needed
Will get the crappy jobs done
Will get stuck in
Isn't afraid to die
Modest
Level-headed
Open-minded
Realises it's just a game in the end
Have something to talk about
Remain calm and patient
You can argue with a little
Yells "I got this" and rushes a bunch of enemies
Can withstand my abuse
Understand my sex jokes
Can be self-sacrificial, and save the Great Khan when he is being attacked
Trustworthy
Outgoing
Friendly
Humorous
Polite
Good patience to keep playing
Respects me (as Mayor)
Communication
Hard working
Sticks around for the hard stuff
Appreciates that everyone has their ups and downs

This post is dedicated to my online gaming friends, past, present and future who have made and will make my gaming experience even more enjoyable that it already is. They take my gaming to the next level; they help me evolve from independence to interdependence. I only hope I can do the same for them. They are simply, awesome.

Art & Entertainment

2012-03-30T16:44:00.001+13:00

RAOUL is to my Sandpit what John Carter is to my Themepark.

Let me explain.

The rivalry between Team Sandpit and Team Themepark is a topic I've seen across several MMO blogs this year. The discussions range from which genre is more financially successful to understanding your own personal preference. Unfortunately for my time and money, I enjoy both genres. With the glut of MMOs pouring out, there is only so much coin (and time) the average player can part with so, like gold fever, every game-dev-and-his-dog is frantically panning the river for one of your nuggets. You can tell when a market moves from one filled with artisans to barefaced gold-diggers when the hype speaks so very much louder than the end product (and then they make you sign up on Facebook so you can kindly advertise for them…for free).

Thankfully I’m very not interested in which MMO is more successful than another because just thinking about how many of those big flashy promise-the-world MMOs have disappointed their players makes me sad and angry and I would rather be…happy. Who wouldn’t.

I am, however, interested in those MMOs that make me (and you) feel full and satisfied with time and dollar spent. And if I'm being brutally honest, I am interested in how I might justify playing both sandpit and themepark MMOs at the same time.

Art & Entertainment

Outside of gaming I seek my entertainment in other arenas and this month had the fortune to see two performances. One I will call art, the other entertainment, although both were ‘entertaining’. I distinguish art as 'a challenge to the intellect and senses' while entertainment often only requires you to be conscious. Both have their place in our world.

John Carter

The two performances could not have been more different. Raoul is an intense live stage production performed almost solely by the incredibly talented James Thiérrée (grandson of Charlie Chaplin!). I can’t really give it any justice in mere words, it was bizarre. I knew, going in, there was a very real risk that it would be so incredibly ‘arty’ that I might come out feeling quite stupid. As it happens, I was right, the good thing being I quite like feeling stupid if my brain is being challenged. The performance was a tale of a crazy man in some post-apocalyptic-like setting being constantly assaulted by his house, giant marine animals and himself. The stage sets and props were stunning. There was acrobatics, magic tricks and crazy dancing. He barely spoke throughout the entire thing. I’ve not seen anything quite like it. But it was so obscure I found myself trying to piece together a cohesive story in my own head to make some sense of it. I’m pretty certain the giant axolotl, silverfish and jellyfish were meant to be ex-wives…

And then I went to see John Carter the next day. It had to be done. A Disney sci-fi epic ruined-by-a-love-story type of flick. Cheesy, predictable and funny with super effects and lots of fantastic costumes. Chewing gum for the mind. Best enjoyed but not retained.

John Carter

And this is where it all comes together.

Sandpit & Themepark

I log into WURM Online (my Sandpit of choice) and I have no quests to do, no instances to run, no levels I need to attain. I have nothing but the canvas of an untamed world. I have to decide whether I want to farm the fields, groom the cows or paint the house. I have to plan my short term and long term goals myself. I have to make up my own story from scratch. And I love it. It tastes like freedom. The same way I don’t really need to know what James Thiérrée is actually on about to enjoy his work. His expression gives me a starting place and I just springboard from there.

My favourite Themepark MMO would have to be WoW, although I no longer play. So I will use Fallen Earth, which I’ve been galloping around in lately. Some claim that Fallen Earth is some sort of sandpit-themepark hybrid but I’ve yet to see much in the way of sand. Still it’s early days in this sci-fi dystopia so I’m reserving my judgement. The point is when I log on, it’s all laid out for me. I’m not really carving out my own place in this world, I’m just being taken for a ride. A fun ride for the most part, with little map markers all along the way to show me which ride to get on next. And an army of NPCs at my service. I could pretend I have some sort of impact on the story but we’re not kidding ourselves anymore, we’re all being told the same story and we do what is expected like mindless automatons until we get to the end. Then we wait for the devs to make us the next part of the story. Much like we're set up for the sequel to John Carter.

I could probably stretch the parallel between movie/stage and MMOs further but the aim was to take you on a little ride through my brain as I try to understand/justify the place that both types of MMO have. We don't have to pick a Team. Perhaps you have the same dilemma. Or maybe you sit firmly on one Team.

Either way I encourage you to get out and take in a little art every now and again.

Raoul

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The Secret World. That Shiny New Theme Park isn't so new.

2012-03-22T20:49:00.000+13:00

So, here we are. The Secret World is coming out June 2012 and now I'm armed with the most in-depth look at The Secret World so far. Including the controversial Dragon new-character sequence!

Take a look. What do you see?

Game journalists have been publishing their thoughts on this for the last week or so and they’ve been pretty generous. Maybe they all want an invite to see more previews, the shameless hussies. Or maybe it is actually worth banging on about.

After watching the movie above, I’m pretty sure I know what I’m in for and it definitely isn’t the next BIG thing in MMO. I’m not saying that to avoid having my (and your) hopes crushed, it’s just plain ole observation. Am I going to play it? Hell, yeah. I miss a good theme park and this looks like the best roller-coaster ride out there.

Is it going to meet my expectations? With the information at hand, I can really only guess. And I will.

What I am looking forward to.

Strong story-driven gaming. The character intro for Dragon looks titillating to say the least. Controversy be damned, I like it! It gets top marks if male characters get to find their moment of ‘enlightenment’ with that tattooed man but given that the designers could only refer to their imagined player base as ‘he’, they probably only have straight men in mind as their target audience. So don’t expect to see any progression of gender roles in this game…

And if that hasn’t put you off playing (it shouldn’t) the other reason to take a look is the slick interface. Ain’t it purrrdy. From the skill wheel to the crafting interface to all those square buttons with rounded corners! Yum.

Complex skill builds. The 500 skills look to provide some serious skill build planning fun (and min-maxing debates). I do look forward to formulating my skill builds and trying as many out as I can. I’m hoping it will take a good long while to see it all.

But other than that…

I’m seeing same-same. Really. Nothing stunningly new.

I’m not buying into the level-less hype. Progression through skills is nothing new. Gather points, buy skills with them. Fallen Earth does it already. Ok, Fallen Earth has levels but they feel like a minor mechanic compared to the points you earn as you play and assign to your skills. And note that contrary to some claims, you DON’T have access to all 500 skills at once, you have to work down the skill trees to get to the big whammy skills.

Classlessness is that step further from RIFT’s on-the-fly ability to change roles and while removing classes altogether probably isn’t going to create an earth-shatteringly better experience for some of us, it will be interesting how we, as players, find other ways to express our character’s style. It would be nice not to be pigeon-holed into a role because of our 'class' but I bet that freedom won't last long. Humans being humans, players will create their own restrictive requirements on skill-builds in the name of group progression. Take my advice, find a good group of folks to play with that respect your own play style.

What about combat? Nothing new. Damage-over-time, combo points, tanks, healers, the usual. But why, I mean why would assault rifles HEAL you? How far have they sacrificed realism for the sake of balance?

Character creation. No surprises here. And everyone is human. Forget your elves and gnomes (thankfully).

Crafting. I thought they were a little light on crafting info so I have some hope it will be a little more exciting than what they have shown. I quite like crafting and this looks dumbed down.

Group encounters. They even still call them ‘dungeons.’ They have bosses, the boss fights have phases. Tank, DPS, Heal. Lewt. Same

Achievements. Tick. As you can expect, a ridiculously long list of things to do to take your mind off the fact that you have reached end game and might be bored already.

Don’t hate me. I’m still going to play. At least for the story…but when the story has finished what then? What else is going to keep you playing?

Related article:
A letter to FUNCOM ~ The Secret World

Sugar-free Snack Bars

2012-03-11T15:30:00.000+13:00

You may recall, I don't eat (fructose) sugar anymore. What that actually means I keep my sugar intake down to the bare minimum, ie. bye-bye sweet food forever.

I still struggle with finding good snack food. My baking attempts have been disastrous because they've not only been sugar-free and bland but often gluten free giving them a terrible texture as well. It's enough to drive someone to a bar of chocolate.

BUT THEN I BAKED THESE YESTERDAY

And they are good. Like better than edible, like you actually want another piece as soon as you’ve finished the first one!

Making me a happy sugar-free snacker.

My gym trainer gave me the recipe, or rather a version of it. She’s such an awesome trainer! She listened to my sugar-free woes and produced a recipe from some sort of nutrition book for ridiculously fit people (not something I would EVER pick up). And I just substituted the evil sugary parts for non-fructose versions.

Now this isn't the sort of blog you'd expect to see recipes because I'm quite terrible in the kitchen. Honestly. BUT I could not, not share this healthy sugar-free success story. And if I can make them, anyone can!

Sugar-free Snack Bars
makes at least 20

1 cup desiccated coconut
1 cup rolled oats
1 cup unsalted cashew nut pieces
1 cup sunflower seeds
1/2 cup sesame seeds
1/2 cup pumpkin seeds
1/2 cup rice syrup*
1/4 cup dextrose*
125g butter

Preheat oven to 180C/350F Line a 27cm x 18cm (or thereabouts) tray with baking paper.
Combine coconut, rolled oats, nuts, seeds in a large bowl.
Place rice syrup, dextrose and butter in a small saucepan. Bring to the boil, stirring. Simmer for 5 minutes, stirring. Add to dry ingredients, mix well.
Press the mixture evenly into the baking tin. Bake in preheated oven for 18-20 minutes until the top is golden brown.
Cool and cut into bars. Store in an airtight container.

*The original recipe used liquid honey and raw sugar instead of rice syrup and dextrose. I’d never cooked with dextrose so I was a little nervous but it seemed to substitute 1:1 for sugar perfectly.

Related posts:
I'm sweet enough already.
8 weeks. No sugar. Beat that.

Crusader Kings II – No Room For Modern Love

2012-02-26T18:22:00.000+13:00

Duke Murchad I of Munster

Duke Murchad I of Munster reigned until 1083. Within that time he took 3 wives and had 6 children. His eldest son, Duke Brian II, succeeded him. All up I thought it was a pretty successful reign, largely peaceful punctuated by a couple of prepared land grabs.

I’m playing Crusader Kings II, a game mentioned previously in my High Five 2012. After a few false starts, I settled on the Duchy of Munster situated in the south of what we now call Ireland as my starting place. I wanted to start on an inconspicuous edge of the map so I could learn the ropes of dynasty building in relative peace. Duke Murchad I, of the Ua Briain dynasty, (descendants of the modern day O’Briens) was the ruler at the start line (1066 AD) and didn’t seem to present too many debilitating traits, although gluttony proved to be a constant sore point with the ladies.

I started the game with an urgent note to find a wife. I’ve no idea where his current wife ended up as he already had a son, the aforementioned Brian II. The family trees in the game seem to be complete, including deceased ancestors, but Brian’s mum was conspicuously absent from both Murchad and Brian’s family trees. I can only assume they deleted her to allow me to pick my own wife from the get-go.

No Room For Modern Love

I made a promise to myself that I would do my utmost to make the most harmonious marriages during my rule, none of this marrying someone half my age or importing some poor teenage foreigner from the Mediterranean to live in the cold, unforgiving Irish climate. How naïve of me. While I started off well-intentioned, it became apparent that my modern sensibilities had absolutely no place in the medieval world of dynasty building. My first wife was a good match for age but was whisked away from her homeland in France. In my defence, I truly scoured the lists for a match from closer afield, Irish, Scottish or even English, but there was not a single lassie available, low-born or otherwise. So looking abroad, I picked up Adela of De Guines, daughter of the Duke. Nice work.

After that, more than one family member looked with envious eye upon Murchad’s comely bride and sought their own. And because the work of a liege lord extends to the well-being of all family, no matter how far removed or grotesque they are, it was upon Duke Murchad (and myself) to use such diplomatic connection as he had and find an agreeable match. I began the match-making process with the same lofty standards in mind but when forced to scrutinise the Duke’s male family, they seemed a sorry bunch. Take for example old Tadg MacToirrdabach, balding with an angry temperament and renowned cruel streak. How to find a suitable match for that which would award prestige to both families? Needless to say, even with a modest-sized family as the Ua Briain, it was not long before court was full of wives with less than charitable thoughts towards their liege lord. Mostly this seemed to be because they were no longer in their sunny climes but I daren’t look any closer at the opinion they bore their newly wed husbands, lest my match-making efforts be shown up as less than sincere.

After marrying off a considerable number of male relatives, my aim to modernise medieval marriage had fairly eroded. It just didn’t seem realistic in this age and culture of patrilineal succession, where ambitions were bent on having the largest dynasty with the best titles or risk your family name dying out completely. And that is exactly what Crusader Kings II is trying to replicate, the strategy of building the most successful dynasty you can, back in an age where marriage was naught but a means to improve the chances of your dynasty's longevity and glory. Next time the people you know decry the fickleness of marriage today, you can remind them that marriage is merely an institution that changes to meet the current need. One could argue, we have no need for it any more.

Ye olde medieval marriage was a love-less business contract between families, which suited a world where there was a whole lot more of a reason to breed when your life and indeed whole families could be snuffed out rather quickly. A world where your quality of life depended on the favour and protection of those with better social-religio status than yourself, so the higher you were esteemed, the better chance you might have something of a fulfilling existence. And while the church might have tried (and still do!) to sanctify (i.e. control) and solidify marriage, if an arrangement didn’t meet the needs of the dynast, there were ways of dissolving it.

Take for instance when Murchad learns from his Spymaster (who was also his cousin) that Murchad’s wife, Adela was plotting to murder his first born. At the time I saw more reason to believe this than otherwise as his wife had much to gain with the three younger children she had to him, who were next in succession. It was a sorry affair, for up until now his wife had seemed dutiful enough, if a little unhappy. I had noticed Crusader Kings II provided the option to plot your wife’s death as soon as you were married, which seemed overly harsh and counter-productive, so I’d ignored it, until now. I made the decision with heavy heart but in the interests of dynasty, blood was thicker than water and the eldest son, Brian II, was the rightful heir. After considering the option of imprisoning Duchess Adela, I was worried it would only serve to turn her children away from him and so concluded that a swift ‘accidental’ death would set things right. The plot had no shortage of capable conspirators; all relatives of the Duke himself and judgement came swiftly to Duchess Adela.

Once you murder your wife, there's no going back.

My initial intention to imagine happy marriage was now an embarrassing joke; wives (and husbands) were just pawns to strengthen the name Ua Briain. So no surprise that I decided Murchad would take another wife, at the age of 50. I did not intend on more children, with 4 already, but rather to create a new political tie and (because I can’t help being a little sentimental) provide some comfort in his later years. The new wife, Gruoch, was aged 28 (gasp), but we’ve all readjusted our moral compasses for the time period, right? More wonderfully, she was a Scottish Princess, and it was my hope this connection closer to home would serve the Ua Briain well in the future

As much as I had (still) naively imagined that Murchad & Gruoch would just be drinking tea together and chortling over cream cakes, they ended up having 2 children. (At this point it’s easier if you imagine Murchad looks like George Clooney and not some smelly, lice-ridden, medieval glutton). Gruoch also took on the mantle as Regent following the Battle of Kilkenny in 1081 when Murchad was seriously injured and rendered incapable of ruling. She continued in this role until he died in 1083 and Brian II succeeded. The saga will continue as I play Brian II and so on until the game ends in the year 1466 and my dynasty score is tallied up. Of if, heaven forbid, I run out of heirs.

Before you denounce me as completely craven for failing to lead by example and bring the medieval world of marriage into the future, I’ll tell you right now that it really is harder than I thought. But the war is not over yet.

My Guide to Marriage in Crusader Kings II

or How to make good family connections without being too medieval.

Should you arrange marriages for everyone who asks? Yes, it makes them favour you, brings in more courtiers and it’s fun/ny.
Sort the list of prospective suitors/brides by Rank and work from the top to marry up the social ladder. This awards more prestige.
If you have a mind to connect to a particular dynasty, you can sort by that too. Some dynasty connections offer more prestige than others.
Ignore anyone under 16 unless you are arranging a betrothal for another child. This is because you have to wait until they are 16 before you can get married and have children anyway. But mostly because that is just gross.
Match culture and religion for an in-law more disposed to your ruler. Foreigners and heathens are simply harder to make friends with.
Look for those with an ambition to get married, they will favour your ruler if you make it happen.
If you want children from the marriage, avoid anyone with the trait of ‘Chaste’.
Try to find traits that are harmonious with both the prospective partner and your ruler.
Truth is you’ll be lucky to find the perfect match but that’s life, medieval or modern.

Is it all just about match-making marriages?

No, there are a bunch of other duties you must take on and master in the name of a successful dynasty. There is of course war, which can be as simple as pointing and clicking your army to the nearest piece of land you want to dominate. But you’ll need to have a good reason, or casus belli, to wage war. Or you can try your hand in assassination, excommunication, creating and bestowing land and titles, amassing wealth, becoming wildly popular, mentoring and shaping the children of nobles, throwing feasts, hunting stags, all that good ole medieval stuff. All tools to give your dynasty a leg up the ladder, if it all goes to plan...

The Duchy of Munster

Crusader Kings II is nicely designed to help you run the day to day life of your dynasty as simply as possible while you dig into the more detailed mechanics. Take a deep breath when you look at all the menus and onscreen information and trust that you don’t need to know it all to begin with. It has impressive replayability just with the sheer number of characters you can choose to start playing as and the gradual epiphanies you have along the way, as you start to understand how to more cleverly shape each part of your dynasty, keep you deeply intrigued in the learning curve.

It’s not a game you want to fire up when you have a spare 30mins, you will need your wits about you to keep on top of dynasty business and see your plans through to fruition (or disaster). I haven’t even finished a full game yet but just seeing my first ruler through a pretty successful reign (he went out with more than he came in with) felt like an achievement. It has been and will be a fun journey, no matter what score I end up with.

You can pick up Crusader Kings II from Steam for $US39.99.