Juxtaposed Life

Over this long weekend I had some extra gaming time, which then led to me commenting out loud (to no one) about the games I was playing as well as games I was reading about.  Talking to myself is bad enough, but not recording the conversation so I can listen to myself at a later date is just wasteful.

So, I decided it was time to once again put my thoughts on to virtual paper.

First up: My dead Xbox 360.

It went sort of like this:

• Sit down. Grab Controller. Turn on Xbox. Red flashing lights.  *sigh*
• Turn off.  Unplug. Cross fingers. Plug in. Turn on. Red flashing lights.  *Deep sigh*
• Turn off. Unplug all plugs.  Let sit.  Read support site.  *sigh* Plug back in. Turn on. Still red lights.  *tear for my wallet*
• Call nearby Best Buy. Out of stock of new 250gig model.  Target. Out of Stock.  Walmart. Out of stock.  3rd Gamestop called.  *yay* One left, but we close in 10 minutes.  Drive. Pick up. But no transfer cable. *sad*
• Start calls again. Yay. Best Buy has one. Drive across town. Pick up cable. Drive home.  *happy*
• At home. Unpack and set up new box. Shiny, quiet, lots of drive space.  *Very Happy*
• *wallet still sad*

Yes I could have repaired the old one, but it was going to cost $100+ and I would have still been left with a 1st gen 360 with a puny 20gig HD, and loud DVD drive.   I would have easily been able to wait if not for the upcoming Halo Reach, and Dead Rising 2.    Which leads to …

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MrAnderson EQ2, Final Fantasy, Free2Play, Games, LOTRO, Musings, XBox360 Dead Rising, EQ2, FFXIV, Free2Play, Games, Lotro, Musings, Xbox360

While I was thinking about a quick post about things I was playing, watching, listening to, all the talk about Lord of the Rings Online going F2P helped tipped my hand.   Thus here I am actually sitting down to type out words on the blog.

LOTRO F2P
I have not even started to read everything people have said about this move to F2p, but I see there is a lot of conversation about it.  From a quick glance there is some positive, some negative, some a bit crazy,  and a few of my friends believe its a sign of the future; F2P is the way “all” future MMOs will use.

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MrAnderson Free2Play, Games, LOTRO, Musings, World of Warcraft Free2Play, Games, Lotro, MMO, World of Warcraft

I thought a lot this week about my 2009 games of the year, as I saw gaming sites all over the internet posting their lists in various different formats.   I was going to skip the whole thing, because I did not want to be a “me too” poster.  Then I took a pause today and remembered this site is not for anyone else but me, and I a post about my thoughts on 2009′s game is something I would like to read later.  And thus I bring this post.

How this works is I am going to list games that I have memories of , along with a bit of commentary.  This is not a best of list by any means, just me thinking back on the year.  It’s also not in any particular order.

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MrAnderson Games, Musings Aion, Champions Online, EQ2, Free2Play, Games, Lotro, MMO, Runes of Magic, World of Warcraft

Free Realms

I have not had a chance to explore all that this game has to offer, but I have played enough of it to tell that the name most definitely does not refer to the cost.  I would go so far as to say that for the target audience this game is not free to play.

Ok, ok; that is not entirely fair you can actually run around and take part in many activities without spending any money. Yet, at its heart this is a game that so heavily tempts its target audience to pay, that I have a hard time believing it is free to play.  Three examples below after the break.

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MrAnderson Free2Play, Games, Uncategorized Free2Play, FreeRealms, MMO

Yesterday I stumbled upon a FlyFF and Rappelz, both of which are several years old and yet for some crazy reason I downloaded them. Today after installation and account creation I played both for a very short bit, during which I took a few notes.

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MrAnderson Free2Play, Games, Job Search, Runes of Magic Free2Play, MMO

Today marked the official launch of Runes of Magic; a free to play MMO that looks a lot on the surface like World of Warcraft.  I am not about to start a debate about how good RoM is or how it compares to WoW, I am just saying the developers made it a point to make RoM feel a bit like WoW.   Of course while it looks like WoW, it is not WoW and has several game mechanic differences some of which I have listed below:

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MrAnderson Free2Play, Runes of Magic Free2Play, MMO, Runes of Magic

I am trying to continue trying out some of the Free MMORPGs that are available; giving them all some time so I can have a better idea of what sort of games are out there. This week I finally got around to trying out Runes of Magic. More on it a bit further down the post, but first…

I need to admit I have played as much of Perfect World international as I initially wanted to. I had ever intention of giving this game several hours and enough to get a good understanding of what the game outside the “newbie” area is like. Alas though the lissues I have with the controls make it really hard for me to play the game. For the record the main issues are:

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MrAnderson Free2Play, Games Free2Play, MMO, PerfectWorld, Runes of Magic, Wizards101

I have been doing a bit of research checking out some of the free to play games out there. When I do I will try to jot down some thoughts and post them here in the Free Ride sections of my mind.

Yesterday, I downloaded and installed Perfect World International. Thus far I only have very short amount of time with it but I already have a few thoughts, presented below in super fast bullet point fashion.

• For a free game it looks pretty good and ran well.
• Some of the avatar customization options were not made clear to me.
• The quest system, actions and shortcut bar have a distinct “old school” feel to them.
• Lack of customizable key binds = bad
• no ability to invert the mouse = me sick
• left clicking to do most things + the left click to move = bad
• There did seem to be a good number of other players around that first city.
• It has lots of fantastical elements. Very over the top.

The lack of inverted mouse look and customizable keybinds almost enough to make me uninstall it. Yes, I am a “controls” snob, but I will try and give the game a bit more time. Yet I suspect it will not “grab” me, even if the setting and character design impress me, because usability, user interface, and user control are such sticky points for me these days.

Today’s test was Wizards101.

Another free to play MMO, this one obvisously geared toward the younger “Harry Potter” crowd. The setting and controls work well, and seem easy enough for anyone to figure out, though sadly no invert mouse look. What is it with companies I don’t care what your default is, but please make inversion an option.

Chat has two modes; menu and text. To have access (see and type) text chat you have to have parental permission or be over 13. If you dont have access to the text chat, the game has a series of “conversation” parts in a menu. The system works well,and allows a bit of protection for the kiddos.

As for the game play its a neat mix between old school turn based combat, and a collectible card game. Your avatar collects cards,and fashions them into a deck,and only the cards in your current deck are available during combat. Combat with “bad guys” starts when your avatar gets near a baddy, it then places all the combat participants around in a circle (the player, the bad guys, and any players that want to help). Each participant is given a chance to select a card to play, and the effects of those cards play out one after another, in standard turn based fashion. Reduce your opponents health to zero and you win; collect your loot and XP, gain XP to access new cards. I am sure there are a bunch of subtleties I have not picked up on yet, but that’s the base game play.

Overall I think the game works. It is a bit to simple for me and again the mouse look drives me crazy, but I would be happy to let my kiddo play it.

MrAnderson Free2Play, Games Free2Play, MMO