Well, the latest dreamblade is an expansion and shows me that Wizards of the Coast hasn't changed at all when I thought maybe they were making a solid game and not a total money sink.
I'm becoming enamored of Shadowrun 3rd edition again and am finally getting my local group going. 4th edition is a horrible change and both the new edition and the upcoming video game seem determined to do away with anything which made Shadowrun a success previously. Fanpro also can't keep their sourcebook material straight, I bought Shadows of Asia and realized that not only is it nonsense and has nothing to do with the middle east of folklore, ancient history, or probable future but it is totally inconsistent with established SR3 canon as well.
Oh well, there is no shortage of good SR3 material and I could probably happily play one of the best genre games of all time for a lifetime with what is currently written. It is just a disappointment that the franchise is abandoning both its strengths and also it's storyline continuity (one of its greatest strengths).
IMHO Microsoft and FASA should yank their respective franchise licenses from current developers and give them to people who will take the franchise to be an industry leader and money making success that it should be.
Monday, January 22, 2007
Wednesday, January 17, 2007
Civ IV
Yesterday turned in a snow day, and because of it a Civ IV day with a friend I gave my old copy to. It is a worthy successor to the civilization franchise and the best of the bunch so far, but as a strategy game and even more so as a history game it always lets me down.
They always mess up the history and it isn't even possible within the game to recreate it as it should be, this bugs my desire to setup historical reenactments. At least this game was religion adverse, but buddhism being essentially always the first religion discovered ruins any immersion as a history sim.
I wish instead Firaxis had made this quality of a sequel to Alpha Centauri. Now that was a great game where you designed all your own units. Firaxis is also getting better with "social engineering", or declaring your fictional society to have certain attributes. It has been the most fun part of all these games lately.
But the biggest letdown to all these games is the challenge curve. Generally if I get a solid lead on the computer opponents in the early game I can't be beaten and if they get a lead then I can't come back. These games need to have more ways of bringing challenge and intrigue back into a long campaing game.
Now it is time for me to play Galactic Civilizations 2, or as I call it "Master of Orion 3 as it should have been"
They always mess up the history and it isn't even possible within the game to recreate it as it should be, this bugs my desire to setup historical reenactments. At least this game was religion adverse, but buddhism being essentially always the first religion discovered ruins any immersion as a history sim.
I wish instead Firaxis had made this quality of a sequel to Alpha Centauri. Now that was a great game where you designed all your own units. Firaxis is also getting better with "social engineering", or declaring your fictional society to have certain attributes. It has been the most fun part of all these games lately.
But the biggest letdown to all these games is the challenge curve. Generally if I get a solid lead on the computer opponents in the early game I can't be beaten and if they get a lead then I can't come back. These games need to have more ways of bringing challenge and intrigue back into a long campaing game.
Now it is time for me to play Galactic Civilizations 2, or as I call it "Master of Orion 3 as it should have been"
Friday, January 12, 2007
Dreamblade match-off
Tonight was a Dreamblade night.
Played against my new and now usual partner. It is a fun game, I just hope WotC doesn't ruin it like usual in their pushes to make everybody blow a lot of money on new product. I also hate that after a little while 99% of their product is garbage as you sift for a few good pieces.
But for now it is still a really good game and I'm sure people will buy what I have for a good price if I get tired of it.
Played against my new and now usual partner. It is a fun game, I just hope WotC doesn't ruin it like usual in their pushes to make everybody blow a lot of money on new product. I also hate that after a little while 99% of their product is garbage as you sift for a few good pieces.
But for now it is still a really good game and I'm sure people will buy what I have for a good price if I get tired of it.
Thursday, January 11, 2007
What I'm playing now
I've been trying to get this blog going but I spend too much time gaming and working these days. So to keep it a brief start here is what I'm playing these days:
Dreamblade (miniatures game)
Shadowrun 3rd Ed. (P&P roleplaying game)
Beta testing under Non-Disclosure agreement a MMORPG game
Galactic Civilizations II (A turn based strategy game)
and I'm hoping that I may start beta-testing Tabula Rasa soon. I think this is the most promising near future for MMO games. The MMO I'm beta testing now is great and likely to be a big hit, but I'm just tired of high fantasy genre games using the same old class based system found in most MMOs. Been there, played that and looking forward to something new.
Dreamblade (miniatures game)
Shadowrun 3rd Ed. (P&P roleplaying game)
Beta testing under Non-Disclosure agreement a MMORPG game
Galactic Civilizations II (A turn based strategy game)
and I'm hoping that I may start beta-testing Tabula Rasa soon. I think this is the most promising near future for MMO games. The MMO I'm beta testing now is great and likely to be a big hit, but I'm just tired of high fantasy genre games using the same old class based system found in most MMOs. Been there, played that and looking forward to something new.
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