October 2008

It Really Depends on one thing – You.

stargrace October 6, 2008 4Comments

Prezzer from Going Nuts In Norrath made the following comment today on a previous post that focused on Vanguard (hopefully he doesn’t mind me calling him out this way):

“I’ve got an account for Vanguard but never tried it beyond a few minutes when it first launched. Never really had the time to devot to yet another MMO but… is it worth it? Should I try it? I’m already heavily into EQII, started to dabble with both LOTRO and am trying to get set up with DDO after discovering I have an open account for some reason. Am I going to find something in VG that will grab me?”

I tried to think of a simple answer for this and failed – there really is no simple answer. I can’t answer whether or not someone else will find something they enjoy and that will grab them in a game, any game. I can point out the aspects that I personally enjoy (and there are a huge amount) and I admit from the start to everyone that I am very biased towards Vanguard in particular. I never seem to have the number of problems that others have with these games, it runs just about flawlessly for me and when it doesn’t run a quick /flush all command takes care of the minor glitches I may have. I love how complex the game is, the three spheres, diplomacy, crafting, the ability to actually own a house. I love the brotherhood idea – and Prezzer if you’re going to give VG a try then by all means let me know and I’ll do my best to play too so you’ll at least have someone to talk to. I play on the Seradon server. 

I’ve never played LoTR – it released at a time when I was already knee deep in other games, and unintrested in adding yet another fantasy title to the list. I also didn’t personally see LoTR offer me anything that I wasn’t already seeing in my ‘other MMO’s’ and it didn’t grab me. Different things grab different people, and all I can speak about is my own personal preferences. 

I can of course give an opinion. If you’re heavy into PvP, VG may not be the game for you. If you find it hard to make friends, dislike feeling lost in a world, are unwilling to dload new maps (talk to Kasul who just grabbed infomap, he LOVES them, and they were very easy to install), don’t like to try to figure things out, you may not like VG. If you’re unwilling to set your feelings aside from over a year of bad reputation, that may hinder how you feel about the game as well. If you’re actively looking for each and every bug, rather then trying to just enjoy the game – then VG may not be for you.

If you’re interested in a world experience, an interesting combat method (actions, reactions, and rescues that trigger by in-combat events anyone?) enjoy a heavy quest-themed game, complex crafting, being able to experience classes in a ‘new’ method (remember how healers used to just heal and that was it? They’ve evolved over time into a hybrid dps / healer class and I personally first noticed it heavily in Vanguard) druids who are nukers and not healers at all, then maybe Vanguard could be ‘that game’. 

Remember. This is my opinion here. I haven’t played what everyone else has played, or experienced what everyone else has experienced. So the best advice I can ever give anyone, about ‘what should I play’ type questions – is how will you know, unless you give it a try. Once you try it if you hate it, then at least you know and you’ll know why.

Edit: I know the screen shot has nothing to do with VG, it’s from Guild Wars, which I was playing this morning and thought looked awesome, so there it is.

Little Big Planet – Preordered!

stargrace October 4, 2008 1Comment

I’ve never really been a *huge* gamer. There’s a few games I play with a fair amount of frequency and they all have one component in common. They’re typically ‘creation’ type games. Games where you can use your creativity to build in some way shape or form. I loved The Sims – and not because I actually enjoyed the game all that much, but because I could spend hours and hours building whole scenes and worlds, families, neighbours. Houses. Decorating. (wonder where my EQ2 passion of housing comes from hmm?) I love spore not so much for the gameplay (though I do love that too) but for the creation process. Developing your own creatures and watching them progress due to choices you make for them. Creating space ships and cars, houses. That’s what I enjoy. The same can even be said about Civilization which I enjoy a great deal. Watching a city or town grow and expand, evolve based on the choices you’ve made for them – even if there’s no real creative design aspect to the game, it follows a similar path. 

So I’ve been eagerly waiting for Little Big Planet for the PS3 to release. Today it was time for a trip to EBGames, to finally preorder the game. Traded in three others that were getting little to no use (and got $90 store credit) so the preorder is paid in full. You also get a code for a kratos costume (pictured above) for your little sackboy. I had read that you can actually have 5 of these codes to give away to others, so there’s lots of trading going on, but I haven’t managed to confirm any of it yet. I admit I’m not QUITE up to date on my Little Big Planet information. 

I’m eager to jump into a world that the players control (to some degree) – and my only concern is that SOE will decide to pump this full of ‘pay to access’ content. I don’t mind if the costumes are something you have to pay for, but I really don’t want to see building aspects to a game I paid $60 for to be included in that whole ordeal. I know some of you are shaking your heads and thinking ‘but it’s sony…’ and that I should know better. I suppose we’ll see though.

If you’re going to be playing, please add my playstation network ID, it would be fantastic to see what people I know are creating. It should be fun!