Kevin's Watch

Pwhew! I just finished Far Cry. Great game! I'll replay some of it now without being scared shitless about being bitten by scary monsters. Visually it's fantastic, by the way.

After hearing a friend talking about it at some length, I decided to give Conquer Online a try. I've never played anything online before, ever. My friend kept describing CO as 'really simple', and this, added to the fact that it's free, made it seem the ideal place to start.

CONQUER


As it turns out, she was right about the simplicity, but only once you know what you're doing. The website is terrible, so unless you have someone to explain everything, you have to work it all out from scratch. Not easy. It probably helps to have some experience with this type of game, but I was completely new to it. Also, contrary to what you might think, I didn't have anyone to explain things; my friend, despite being a four-year veteran of the game with several guilds under her belt, was oddly reluctant to encourage me to play. I suspect it's because she's so established and senior, and she doesn't want a total 'n00b' badgering her with questions, even if said n00b is a close friend.

The game, once you've worked out what's going on, is basically levelling. You go out, you kill stuff, you head back to town and sell stuff. There are some extra bits too, of course; PKing is a perfectly legitimate (and even encouraged) route to take, as long as you're prepared to bear the penalties, and there is a weekly 'guild war' wherein guilds do battle for superiority. But the basic game premise is kill, sell, repeat.

Not bad, for a free game, but confusing as hell to start with. It can be found here.

Then came recollection.

I suddenly remembered that an acquaintance on another forum had tipped me off several months ago to a free MMORPG called Shaiya, saying that although he didn't have the resources to play it himself, several of his friends rated it. So two days ago I began playing Shaiya.

SHAIYA


This is more like the kind of thing I expect from this type of game. It's prettier than Conquer (not difficult) though not as pretty as something like Guild Wars (the other MMORPG I've been considering), but that's expected considering it's free. "You get what you pay for," as my dad always says. Still, it's already more immediate fun than Conquer. There are plenty of quests to give my grinding some direction (as opposed to the 'one quest every few character levels' system employed in CO), things run pretty smoothly, and the various instructional parts of the website, though conspicuously written by someone to whom English is a second language, are very clear and easy to understand.

My friend tells me that the reason she loves CO is because it's simple, and I can appreciate that it's easy to jump in and out of. It's not a bad game, and I've spent more hours than I would have expected just killing things for levels. But Shaiya seems more like a real MMORPG and has a greater sense of direction, which means that while it requires a more definite time commitment (if you exit the game during a timed quest, you lose access to the quest entirely) it's easy to spend hours on end in the game without any feeling of the time dragging. Shaiya can be found here.

If anyone fancies playing/already plays either of these games, give me a shout.

Just started Mario Galaxy on the Wii. And playing Rock Band 2. And I got a gift certificate for Best Buy to pick up Guitar Hero World Tour. I'll be busy up until the baby comes.

I've been playing World of Goo, a delightful physics-based puzzle that works a little like Lemmings. You're given a set number of goo balls at the start of a level and you have to get as many as possible out of the level through an exit pipe, which can be anywhere (including way up in the sky).

You achieve this by using the goo balls themselves to make structures for the other goo balls to move along, but these structures are entirely subject to the laws of gravity and tensile strength so if you don't build them right, or if you pull a goo ball out of the wrong part of a structure, the whole thing comes crashing down. The levels themselvs are varied and innovative, so much so that after finishing one level you feel compelled to try the next, just to see what it's like.

The game is available for $20 and is totally DRM free. Sadly, 2D boy have announced that only 1 in 20 copies in circulation has been paid for, which goes to show that the same PC gamers who bust a blood vessel over the OTT DRM on games like Spore and Mass Effect have no qualms about stealing unprotected software and thus making a stronger argument for DRM than any amount of 1-star reviews on Amazon ever will.

Company of Heroes: Opposing Fronts. I decided to try the British campaign as it's been a while since I played the SS one. It's more entertaining as the British have access to more artillery, which suits my style of playing.

I just found out that the game I've been awaiting so eagerly, Sonic Chronicles: Dark Brotherhood, hit the shelves a couple of months back. And...it's bad. All the reviews I've read agree on one thing: Sonic Chronicles is boring.

Ever since I found out about this game, I've said if anyone can pull off a Sonic RPG, it's Bioware. But no. Not even Bioware.

The question is, can anyone pull off a good Sonic game? The series has deteriorated steadily since the bliss of Sonic 2.

Loremaster wrote:Company of Heroes: Opposing Fronts. I decided to try the British campaign as it's been a while since I played the SS one. It's more entertaining as the British have access to more artillery, which suits my style of playing.

I haven't played "Opposing Fronts", but I remember the original CoH as being extremely difficult. A lot of fun in the earlier stages, but I thought it dragged a bit later.

I'm just finishing off Final Fantasy XII (and getting all marks and optional espers) then I'm going to start Tales of Legendia.

Just started Final Fantasy XII. So far, so boring. I know the very beginning of an RPG is rarely the most fun part, but good grief - being asleep is more exciting than this.

Finally going through Assassin's Creed. I am enjoying it immensely, bordering on obsessively.

CovenantJr wrote:Just started Final Fantasy XII. So far, so boring. I know the very beginning of an RPG is rarely the most fun part, but good grief - being asleep is more exciting than this.

Stick with it - it's well worth it. I think so, anyway. I'm sure others would disagree, but it's become one of my favourites.

I got The Force Unleashed from Gamefly about a week ago. Already beat it twice (first on normal difficulty, then on hard), and collected every item in the game.

I'm considering beating it on the hardest level, and killing thousands of guys in specific ways, just so it can be the first game I get 1000 XBox gamer points on. However, I also have Lego Indiana Jones, which is quite engrossing, so I might have to pass on that.

Rigel wrote:However, I also have Lego Indiana Jones, which is quite engrossing, so I might have to pass on that.

Myeh. It lost its appeal quickly for me. After playing it a few times, I realized I just wanted to watch the movies.

Finally got a 360. After dinner I shall start Mass Effect.

CovenantJr wrote:Finally got a 360. After dinner I shall start Mass Effect.

Hit me up like Donkey Kong, betch.

JazFusion wrote:

CovenantJr wrote:Finally got a 360. After dinner I shall start Mass Effect.

Hit me up like Donkey Kong, betch.

Just give me a minute to freshen up first...

Just acquired Too Human (despite mixed reviews, because I'm a fan of Silicon Knights) and Fallout 3 (because I've heard so much good about it). Once I wrap up Mass Effect, they're next. And if I can scrape together the cash to buy a wireless connector thing (£50?!) I might even get Live.

Dawn of War 2. It's very good, and nice to see that the Tyranids are in the game.

Grid came from Gamefly the other day. I've been playing Forza Motorsport 2 recently, so it's unfortunate as I'm starting to feel like another genre... still, it's a fun racing game; very arcade-y, not realistic, but fun

Before that, they sent me UT3 and Dark Sector. The first I loved on the PC (despite its many flaws), but it seemed to be lacking something on the 360. And, despite Live's huge client base, you STILL can't find anyone online to play with

Now, Dark Sector... was just plain awful. I returned it faster than any other game I've tried from Gamefly.