If there is one RTS series I love, it would be that of AoE. It provides a great outlet for my militaristic and economical mind in a historical setting. Sure, Civ2 is the pinnacle of empire-building, yet Age of Kings: The Conquerors and AoE3 are something else. I have consistently enjoyed playing them back since the old days of playing AoE1 on a neighbour's computer.
When fighting a scenario, I am always sure to assign the same old hotkeys to units and buildings, even if they already have them. What I speak of is clicking on unit(s) and buildings you control and clicking Ctrl + a number. So whenever you press one of those numbers, you can zoom straight to the selected unit or building!
1. My 'pride and joy' forces - usually a collection of 40 fully-upgraded Paladins or Unique Units such as Cataphracts or Samurai. I send them into the brink despite their sheer value and often don't think too hard on it - they'll fight their way through!
2. Again with the armies. This can take the form of Cavalry Archers, a huge naval force of Galleons or another 40 Paladins/UUs.
3. My final military slot, typically composed of supports such as Cannon Galleons, archers or, if I'm very expedient, another 40 Paladins/UUs.
4. This slot became the dedicated Mill slot. There are four words in 'Mill', so I figured why not. Same for 'Farm' - four words. My first building is usually a Mill anyways, so this is often the first to be Ctrled. Close to my Town Center and early foragers, it later becomes the place where I buy the Farm Reseeds. Farms can be unlimited so long as you have Wood and rebuild the Farm every time it becomes barren... or you can queue up a load of Reseeds at the Mill :)
5. My Town Center is in the exact centre of my empire and it is useful to zoom to there if I need to make more Villagers or buildings. Also handy if I need to ring the Town Bell in the event of an unlikely attack :O
6. This is the first of the wild cards. It can be anything from a crew of Bombardiers or Trebuchets w/ Repairers and guards, my so-called 'Army of Engineers' or a number of Villagers I send from one resource to another when the others slow down. It could also be a number of Moks, or a fleet of Transports. It is not so random as to be other than the things I listed there, but it can be just about anything as an empty key. It has also been used for Blacksmiths and for mass Barracks/Stables/Archer Ranges, in the event of war.
7. The Market is the absolute backbone of my Empire, at least in the darker days of careful resource management and early booming. It is not so important in the late game, but is crucial for me to get there. Gold is the essential factor, with Stone being sold early for it and Food and Wood being bought with it. That is all typical of the fairly early stages, while later on it is simply used to sell any resource for a bit of Gold for my own flagging supply.
8. This is less a wild card and more just an empty field. The only times I would use this are for Docks, emergency defences or just navies. In Islands, Archipelago and the like, Docks are crucial. For that reason I need to keep tabs on this building so I can manage my seapower. Emergency defence is something I wouldn't waste my time with anymore, but when I was younger and more naive I may have invested in Champions that would stand and guard my Town Center in the expectation of being useful. Now I know to never plan for that - when you have do, you've lost!
9. Among the first keys I assign at the start of the game, alongside the Town Center and the Mill. The Scout Cavalry/Eagle Rider you get free to use automatically becomes number nine. He erodes away the fog of war, checking out my friends and marking my foes. He is always in a defensive stance, as opposed to 'standing ground' - the default stance of your free scout. Very rarely comes a time I will make more number nines to go with him... he usually ends up on the sidelines by the late game as the map is discovered more by roaming armies.
Alright, that concludes my useless information dish!
28 September 2009
16 September 2009
Star Ocean: The Last Hope - 'First Impressions'
After finishing Star Ocean The Second Story - a game made of win - for the 3rd time, I decided I wanted to own as many RPG games as possible. RPGs are the only place I can tinker with stats like Strength and Constitution - y'know, intellectual stuff :P
I ordered SO:TLH and Eternal Sonata off Amazon.co.uk as the first in line for my RPG spree. SO arrived first today after a mere 5 days wait, so not too bad. I was surprised by the sheer weight of the package; the box itself had several discs and a hefty enough instruction manual. What is the feeling of foreboding...
Wasting little time, I set into it and am immediately treated to a nice opening movie. Graphics look good and there is a bit of backstory left open, so plenty of motivation. Then the start menu came up and instead of clicking 'new game' I went into the Battle Sim. Not sure what got into me, just the option of fighting a battle appealed from the outset.
One thing struck me from the start - the abstract battle screen. SO games have Active Time battles, but this battle was fought in a very unusual sphere of space or something, no scenery or anything. That'll probably change ingame as I move from place to place. As for the fighting, it seemed quite tedious to feel just one enemy; either these bots had a lot of health or this was a genuine reflection of the main game. I pray it is the former.
Starting up a new game after the sluggish battle , I watched a cut-down movie again except with the main character's dialogue illustrating the history of the game world - Earth. Post-WWIII and the bombs have been dropped - seemingly everywhere. Even Greenland was firing a few, according to the animations. Sneaky Danes!
I got to take control of the main hero, Edge, after a short chat with the main heroine (I assume). I forgot her name and intend not to Google it now! Edge decided to pop into the Battle Sim again, to relieve himself of some angst. I was surprised that I lost horribly, and my strike seemed to be even more ineffectual second time round. Thankfully, the story just moved on from there. I set out on the start of my adventure, wandering about the Earth-orbiting space station I'm on.
That was it for the moment. I'm a poor person when it comes to gaming-sprees. Unless it is tried and tested (by me), I won't buy into it. Unfortunately, I paid good cash for this game and thus intend to beat it. Two complaints register thus far - signs of tedious battles and the tiny
dialogue boxes. The latter are really worrying as I like to sit really far from the screen, on the leather couch against the wall. I don't want to go back to the old neck traumas of sitting on a chair in the centre of the room, looking up at my T.V. on it's perch. Sigh.
Well I'll just have to make do. I presume this is all the slow first hour of plot and linear-ness. Afterwards, perhaps I'll get a nice overworld and some characters to meet and monsters to kill. I'll post another retrospective soon - perhaps SO2? Or maybe my life as a GM and Player in the world of RPGs? One thing I do know - I'm back blogging. 'Coz its fun.
I ordered SO:TLH and Eternal Sonata off Amazon.co.uk as the first in line for my RPG spree. SO arrived first today after a mere 5 days wait, so not too bad. I was surprised by the sheer weight of the package; the box itself had several discs and a hefty enough instruction manual. What is the feeling of foreboding...
Wasting little time, I set into it and am immediately treated to a nice opening movie. Graphics look good and there is a bit of backstory left open, so plenty of motivation. Then the start menu came up and instead of clicking 'new game' I went into the Battle Sim. Not sure what got into me, just the option of fighting a battle appealed from the outset.
One thing struck me from the start - the abstract battle screen. SO games have Active Time battles, but this battle was fought in a very unusual sphere of space or something, no scenery or anything. That'll probably change ingame as I move from place to place. As for the fighting, it seemed quite tedious to feel just one enemy; either these bots had a lot of health or this was a genuine reflection of the main game. I pray it is the former.
Starting up a new game after the sluggish battle , I watched a cut-down movie again except with the main character's dialogue illustrating the history of the game world - Earth. Post-WWIII and the bombs have been dropped - seemingly everywhere. Even Greenland was firing a few, according to the animations. Sneaky Danes!
I got to take control of the main hero, Edge, after a short chat with the main heroine (I assume). I forgot her name and intend not to Google it now! Edge decided to pop into the Battle Sim again, to relieve himself of some angst. I was surprised that I lost horribly, and my strike seemed to be even more ineffectual second time round. Thankfully, the story just moved on from there. I set out on the start of my adventure, wandering about the Earth-orbiting space station I'm on.
That was it for the moment. I'm a poor person when it comes to gaming-sprees. Unless it is tried and tested (by me), I won't buy into it. Unfortunately, I paid good cash for this game and thus intend to beat it. Two complaints register thus far - signs of tedious battles and the tiny
dialogue boxes. The latter are really worrying as I like to sit really far from the screen, on the leather couch against the wall. I don't want to go back to the old neck traumas of sitting on a chair in the centre of the room, looking up at my T.V. on it's perch. Sigh.
Well I'll just have to make do. I presume this is all the slow first hour of plot and linear-ness. Afterwards, perhaps I'll get a nice overworld and some characters to meet and monsters to kill. I'll post another retrospective soon - perhaps SO2? Or maybe my life as a GM and Player in the world of RPGs? One thing I do know - I'm back blogging. 'Coz its fun.
19 June 2009
Final Fantasy Rating System Beta
I have completed Final Fantasy IX and thus I have finished every FF I own: 7,8,9,10 and 12. I beat them in this order: 10, 12, 8, 7, 9. Beating 10 and 7 were simple affairs - my characters were so appallingly powerful! 8 was manageable, but I do recall fighting Ultimecia with just Squall on critical health, dealing out Renzokukens every four seconds. 12 was a bitch as my characters were levelled well enough, only at one stage of the final battle I spent about five minutes with two characters dead and the other trying to revive them, only to succeed and then die themselves, repeating the cycle. 9 there was after an intensive speed-run, playing 13 hours a day of my 17 hours awake! Kicked Deathguise' ass, did the same to Trance Kuja too. Unfortunately, I had to fight Necron and in the end three of my four characters were Petrified and only Zidane was left - on Berserk! He counter-attacked and then normally attacked, defeating Necron and allowing me to enjoy the ending, which was heart-warming to the last.
The next game I want to play is 12. I have beaten 8 and 10 twice, the others once. After beating 7, I went back and played 8 again, then moved on to 9 very recently (after a LoZ marathon, actually).
Now, to reviewing.
I always got caught out if someone asked me what my favourite FF was, or which was the best. I readily told people '7 had the best story; 8 was short, fun and easy; 9 is consistently action-packed; 10 has Auron; 12 has a great setting and look. X-2 does not exist.' Phew! After playing through them all (the ones I own) I want to apply some sort of score to them and an in-depth review of all of them. The headings that follow will help me stay focussed while writing the review and give a general lowdown on what the game was like to me. I think I'll establish the system and then look at FF9.
It is all down to 5 categories with 2 subsections each. The total mark is out of 10.
Plot and Music
Characters and Character Development/Consistency
Combat and Enemies (monsters, villains)
Micromanagement (Materia, Junction, Abilities, Sphere Grid) and Equipment
World/Setting/People and Extra Stuff (sidequests, mini-games)
Alright. Too tired to finish this, will make an explanatory post soon.
The next game I want to play is 12. I have beaten 8 and 10 twice, the others once. After beating 7, I went back and played 8 again, then moved on to 9 very recently (after a LoZ marathon, actually).
Now, to reviewing.
I always got caught out if someone asked me what my favourite FF was, or which was the best. I readily told people '7 had the best story; 8 was short, fun and easy; 9 is consistently action-packed; 10 has Auron; 12 has a great setting and look. X-2 does not exist.' Phew! After playing through them all (the ones I own) I want to apply some sort of score to them and an in-depth review of all of them. The headings that follow will help me stay focussed while writing the review and give a general lowdown on what the game was like to me. I think I'll establish the system and then look at FF9.
It is all down to 5 categories with 2 subsections each. The total mark is out of 10.
Plot and Music
Characters and Character Development/Consistency
Combat and Enemies (monsters, villains)
Micromanagement (Materia, Junction, Abilities, Sphere Grid) and Equipment
World/Setting/People and Extra Stuff (sidequests, mini-games)
Alright. Too tired to finish this, will make an explanatory post soon.
20 December 2008
Goldeneye retrospective
Myself and the Ladz, in this case Formosus and majk, congregated at my house just like old times last Thursday at around 5. We were fully geared for a Halo2 romp and that's exactly what we did. Two games: up to 100 random weapons in Lockout (just like old times) and up to 50 standard slayer in Terminal (again, like old times). It was a laugh riot and a load of fun, I was glad to be a part of it! It was almost 7 and the lads had to go soon, so I insisted on breaking out Goldeneye for the N64. This is what leads me to a multiplayer review, with hindsight and nostalgia firmly in the balance.
First off, a little history lesson. The N64 was my first console, Goldeneye the first game that came with it. My first multiplayer game ever was a 1 vs. 1 in Temple with my brother, Niall. Fun times - I trumped 'im! These were back in the before times, before any of the Ladz existed in my life. I had a different group of 'friends', all local boys. Conveniently there were 4 of us, so we played pretty much every N64 game at full capacity and as a result got the full experience. Goldeneye was the second favourite, next to battle mode in MarioKart64.
Goldeneye was an excellent game in it's time. We had never played a shooter before - this was before today's physics engines. There was nothing quite like playing Unlimited score, Power Weapons in the king of all levels, Library. Proximity Mines were another favourite. If you got hit, you ran away - the screen would flash and make a weird noise over the gunfire, while your character was hurled several feet. It was not unusual for the first person to shoot to win the ensuing firefight. That is, if you could catch the sucka.
When one got sick of just shoting all the time, you could always play some of the scenarios. There was no Capture the Flag unfortunately, but there was always Flag Tag. Much like a moving King of the Hill, a player would snatch up the flag and be forced to leg it. No weapons, gaining time with the flag to win. Other scenarios included having two lives (you only live twice) and one-hit kills (license to kill). Many of these were reviled and hailed at a turn, but the teams aspect most so. 3 vs. 1, 2 vs. 2, 2 vs. 1 (if one of us opted out) - all of these could make or break friendships if abused. We loved imbalanced teams, I mean to say.
A large degree of customization existed in Goldeneye, remarkable enough for a console game. A huge cast of character skins were on the menu. Many a time I played as the Arctic Commando, but the race for Oddjob always existed. The incredible cheats menu was always ready for perusal, but often only Radar Off was used. A health menu was always there to sort the men from the boys. I was always forced to take a -2 handicap to health, lame! Levels were easy to decide after several games. The usual suspects of Complex and Library were put against places like Temple and the Basement, which were always avoided!
Actual gameplay was, as I mentioned above, great in it's time. We are treated to the archaic notion of the camera going into the back of your characters heads to show you're controlling them at the start of the game. I think it's a classic. Music is randomly chosen from the game's soundtrack unless you're playing a level from the singleplayer, like Facility. Some themes are excellent, others are piss. You run around the map unarmed initially, which is a hopeless situation to be in. Most games today will give you at least a pistol to start with. Grab a weapon! Luckily there are guns and ammo boxes in most rooms of the level, but never enough to clog up corridors.
You can pick up all the guns on the map and maximum ammo too, so theres no pressure. People will quickly warm to certain weapons; I was always a fan of the Assault Rifle and Laser(infinite ammo!). Everyone loves the RC-P90, and why not? It's so overpowered it's excellent! I'm playing Goldeneye so long, I have names for some of the guns which have entered local archives - the DD44 Dostovei is the 'Milky Way' to me. It's a white pistol compared to the standard black of the pp7. Milky Way bars. No? Other weapons that everyone loved were the assorted mines; Timed, Remote and Proximity. Remote Mines blew up on demand, pretty cool but hard to judge when someone was near. Timed Mines were the least popular; they didn't last long. Proximity Mines blew up if anyone went near them and thus tight levels like Stack became deathtraps. This was exascerbated if you can't see the frickers. Why do you think the Basement level was so reviled? Dark and made of corridors. G'lame.
With all these fun aspects, why is Goldeneye not played to this day? The multiplayer is almost unplayable today. You have your weapon and your running along looking for another player. You see them and shoot; they shoot you back. Both players' screens flash in pain and the characters are hurled back several feet. The former point is forgivable. The latter aspect is condemnable. Back in the day, we were content to chase each other, shoot the crap out of the level and eventually kill. Nowadays we don't want every single fight to be a long game of cat and mouse. If you can't jump and you don't want to kneel you're left with fight or flight. Fighting is merely a collection of flashing screens, shooting sounds and eventual death. Flight means to fight again another day and stretch on the action - no wonder theres nothing above 'up to 20'. Thats why we selected up to Unlimited' - we just went up to 50 or so and ended the game there.
So a great amount of customization, lovely weapons and lovely levels. After all that preparation, you can't even play the shooter game for what it's made for - shooting things up. There are so many positive things about Goldeneye but this one fatal flaw. Back in the day, we thought nothing of it. Today, we can't play through one round without crying out for character models that don't recoil in the most painful manner. Despite this, many fun times were had. I was weaned onto the shoot 'em up multiplayer circuit by Goldeneye. The singleplayer is excellent in every sense of the word; I still play it to this day. Stealth, action, whatever your taste. I hope to refer to it many a time over the course of my blogging.
Heres a little redeemer for the multiplayer; the postgame comments! After the match is over, a postgame screen appears which has everything from how many kills you had to who-killed-who the most. If one goes a few screens to the left, you'll find interesting little comments; a max of two. My favourites from the halcyon days were 'Most Deadly' and 'Most Professional'. I still do not know the criteria for attaining these, but they always imparted a warm buttery feeling inside. Other ones included 'Longest Innings' and 'Markmanship Award'. Among the most entertaining (and most annoying) were the bad 'awards'. 'Most Cowardly' was regularly issued (hey, fight or flight, central theme of the multiplayer) alongside 'Where's the Ammo/Armor?' - run out of ammo in a firefight too often equals fail.
So that's a Goldeneye multiplayer retrospective. I hope I didn't cock up this whole thing too much by not maintaining a central plan while writing and writing it on two different days. I hope you do enjoy my take on videogames, there will be more to come alongside everything from ragging on Fianna Fail to food reviews. Cya around!
First off, a little history lesson. The N64 was my first console, Goldeneye the first game that came with it. My first multiplayer game ever was a 1 vs. 1 in Temple with my brother, Niall. Fun times - I trumped 'im! These were back in the before times, before any of the Ladz existed in my life. I had a different group of 'friends', all local boys. Conveniently there were 4 of us, so we played pretty much every N64 game at full capacity and as a result got the full experience. Goldeneye was the second favourite, next to battle mode in MarioKart64.
Goldeneye was an excellent game in it's time. We had never played a shooter before - this was before today's physics engines. There was nothing quite like playing Unlimited score, Power Weapons in the king of all levels, Library. Proximity Mines were another favourite. If you got hit, you ran away - the screen would flash and make a weird noise over the gunfire, while your character was hurled several feet. It was not unusual for the first person to shoot to win the ensuing firefight. That is, if you could catch the sucka.
When one got sick of just shoting all the time, you could always play some of the scenarios. There was no Capture the Flag unfortunately, but there was always Flag Tag. Much like a moving King of the Hill, a player would snatch up the flag and be forced to leg it. No weapons, gaining time with the flag to win. Other scenarios included having two lives (you only live twice) and one-hit kills (license to kill). Many of these were reviled and hailed at a turn, but the teams aspect most so. 3 vs. 1, 2 vs. 2, 2 vs. 1 (if one of us opted out) - all of these could make or break friendships if abused. We loved imbalanced teams, I mean to say.
A large degree of customization existed in Goldeneye, remarkable enough for a console game. A huge cast of character skins were on the menu. Many a time I played as the Arctic Commando, but the race for Oddjob always existed. The incredible cheats menu was always ready for perusal, but often only Radar Off was used. A health menu was always there to sort the men from the boys. I was always forced to take a -2 handicap to health, lame! Levels were easy to decide after several games. The usual suspects of Complex and Library were put against places like Temple and the Basement, which were always avoided!
Actual gameplay was, as I mentioned above, great in it's time. We are treated to the archaic notion of the camera going into the back of your characters heads to show you're controlling them at the start of the game. I think it's a classic. Music is randomly chosen from the game's soundtrack unless you're playing a level from the singleplayer, like Facility. Some themes are excellent, others are piss. You run around the map unarmed initially, which is a hopeless situation to be in. Most games today will give you at least a pistol to start with. Grab a weapon! Luckily there are guns and ammo boxes in most rooms of the level, but never enough to clog up corridors.
You can pick up all the guns on the map and maximum ammo too, so theres no pressure. People will quickly warm to certain weapons; I was always a fan of the Assault Rifle and Laser(infinite ammo!). Everyone loves the RC-P90, and why not? It's so overpowered it's excellent! I'm playing Goldeneye so long, I have names for some of the guns which have entered local archives - the DD44 Dostovei is the 'Milky Way' to me. It's a white pistol compared to the standard black of the pp7. Milky Way bars. No? Other weapons that everyone loved were the assorted mines; Timed, Remote and Proximity. Remote Mines blew up on demand, pretty cool but hard to judge when someone was near. Timed Mines were the least popular; they didn't last long. Proximity Mines blew up if anyone went near them and thus tight levels like Stack became deathtraps. This was exascerbated if you can't see the frickers. Why do you think the Basement level was so reviled? Dark and made of corridors. G'lame.
With all these fun aspects, why is Goldeneye not played to this day? The multiplayer is almost unplayable today. You have your weapon and your running along looking for another player. You see them and shoot; they shoot you back. Both players' screens flash in pain and the characters are hurled back several feet. The former point is forgivable. The latter aspect is condemnable. Back in the day, we were content to chase each other, shoot the crap out of the level and eventually kill. Nowadays we don't want every single fight to be a long game of cat and mouse. If you can't jump and you don't want to kneel you're left with fight or flight. Fighting is merely a collection of flashing screens, shooting sounds and eventual death. Flight means to fight again another day and stretch on the action - no wonder theres nothing above 'up to 20'. Thats why we selected up to Unlimited' - we just went up to 50 or so and ended the game there.
So a great amount of customization, lovely weapons and lovely levels. After all that preparation, you can't even play the shooter game for what it's made for - shooting things up. There are so many positive things about Goldeneye but this one fatal flaw. Back in the day, we thought nothing of it. Today, we can't play through one round without crying out for character models that don't recoil in the most painful manner. Despite this, many fun times were had. I was weaned onto the shoot 'em up multiplayer circuit by Goldeneye. The singleplayer is excellent in every sense of the word; I still play it to this day. Stealth, action, whatever your taste. I hope to refer to it many a time over the course of my blogging.
Heres a little redeemer for the multiplayer; the postgame comments! After the match is over, a postgame screen appears which has everything from how many kills you had to who-killed-who the most. If one goes a few screens to the left, you'll find interesting little comments; a max of two. My favourites from the halcyon days were 'Most Deadly' and 'Most Professional'. I still do not know the criteria for attaining these, but they always imparted a warm buttery feeling inside. Other ones included 'Longest Innings' and 'Markmanship Award'. Among the most entertaining (and most annoying) were the bad 'awards'. 'Most Cowardly' was regularly issued (hey, fight or flight, central theme of the multiplayer) alongside 'Where's the Ammo/Armor?' - run out of ammo in a firefight too often equals fail.
So that's a Goldeneye multiplayer retrospective. I hope I didn't cock up this whole thing too much by not maintaining a central plan while writing and writing it on two different days. I hope you do enjoy my take on videogames, there will be more to come alongside everything from ragging on Fianna Fail to food reviews. Cya around!
19 December 2008
House-warming
Well!
This is to be the place for me to bang on about thoughts and feelings, but besides that I hope to post general comments on everything from games to food to everyday life. If you want a blow-by-blow commentary on my life, you'll have to go to livejournal. This is the place for random and sometimes structured thoughts to go.
So kick back, grab some of our leftover Velvet Crunches and enjoy the squash - it's gonna be a good ride.
This is to be the place for me to bang on about thoughts and feelings, but besides that I hope to post general comments on everything from games to food to everyday life. If you want a blow-by-blow commentary on my life, you'll have to go to livejournal. This is the place for random and sometimes structured thoughts to go.
So kick back, grab some of our leftover Velvet Crunches and enjoy the squash - it's gonna be a good ride.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)