It just doesnt have the soul that FFXI has, the deep rooted cannon that makes FFXI so enjoyable. This "sequel" feels lifeless and forced.
Wish them luck and hopefully a bit more attention to its Beta tester this time around.
I feel almost bad for Bioware.
WoW has had close to a decade to evolve and if you do not have your business plan based around that you are in trouble. You have to from the starting gate not only have all the features that WoW has today, but also offer much more. SWTOR from the drawing board of course, planned its model based on that understanding, ie. offer players what was everything else was lacking.
A tiny text box for a quest? Lets do fully cinematic voiced over quests instead.
Mundane Solo content structured on being... solo? Lets have the player interact with companions instead.
Tedious gathering based crafting? We'll fix that!
Recycled End game encounter mechanics? How about solving a puzzle during a boss fight, bet you didnt expect that one.
From the get go SWTOR had to not to only live up to years and years of WoW's progress, but also deliver at release something that could even compare, sounds easy but its not. There are a ton of issues at the moment, but when I look back at over a decade of playing MMOs, this is the first one that I cannot actually compare to others in terms of progress. I think that is the problem, people forget that WoW shipped with nothing to do at 50 and instead judge SWTOR based upon WoW's 3 expansions worth of content. To put that in perspective, WoW has I think if I did the math right close to 100 dungeons. It shipped with only 10 and shitton of problems of its own.
Looks like an installation by the famed light artist Dan Flavin (RIP).
You can see his works here.
You can see his works here.
I did NOT know that Youngblood was even part of the team! Thanks for the heads up, I am even more giddy now!
We had a ton of problems with our first Operations (Raid) run. We spent more time dealing with those than actually clearing the instance.
The worst was Boss two of Eternity Vault that had our members being one shotted while out of the instance. The Final boss as well, has a mechanic that if it hits your tank tends to just reset the entire fight.
I won't even start ranting about the automatic loot distribution. Yet to put it shortly, I am DPS and it decided that I needed the Tier 2 tanking Saber... Our Tanks get healing gear and our DPS gets Tanking gear. Quite rude....
I am loving the game and the end game show a ton of promise, but they need to really iron out these issues before thinking about new content in my opinion.
These Firefall guys are actually turning out to be quite awesome. I love their emails and they have great updates about their game.
If you havent signed up for their newsletter do so!
Finally found a reason to post this!
Nadia Grell has an interesting side of her that you can direct in certain ways. She was my favorite Companion on the ride to 50, although Tharan Cedrax is just hysterical at times.
Really some wonderful writing done with these companion storylines.
I Tipped this a few months ago. The folks at Relicnews were on top of it in an instant and I caught it by chance swinging by there as the rights for Homeworld had just gone into in flux. The exciting news is that a ton of the original Homeworld team is on board it seems, including concept artists. I am guessing they said forget waiting around for the IP to release from the jaws of lawyers and lets go with something new.
Can't wait!
I know plenty about you after having to listen your whining about multiplayer games and MMOs outside of Kotaku for months via various Chats. Its the typical "I hate relying on others!" argument that dedicated JRPG players tend to cast on anything that requires other players to accomplish. Hey, thats fine, I love RPGs too, but not enough to plaster a gaming blog with my willful ignorance on a genre I refuse to participate in.
SWTOR is bombarded by comparisons to World of Warcraft. Yet, what is interesting after playing both MMOs, is just how adamant Bioware has been about redirecting the focus onto the single player experience. There are flaws with the game of course, but the grouping and raiding aspect are not one of them. In fact, fixing the issues with "raiding" adhesion among the playerbase seem to have been a key point of concern throughout the development of the game. We have smaller group sizes (4), a loot structure that allows everyone to walk away with something, companions (NPCS) that can fill a spot if you are shortmanned, bolstering of stats in PvP so level 15s can play with level 50s and still melt faces, crafting that actually helps you compete in the gear department. Really its the first Single Player MMO I have played and I am enjoying the hell out of it. I had to play it first though, thats an important part of criticism isnt it?
"And these developers expect me to pay EXTRA for the "privilege" of being forced to put up with that bullshit? Yeah, right."
Sounds like you don't like the premise of the game, because you might have to participate with other people. Perhaps you should reserve your judgement until you actually play it, but given how you proclaimed FFXIII was the most amazing RPG ever to grace anyones hands, before it was even released, I find that unlikely.
I just dinged 35 with my Jedi Shadow, while finishing Chapter 1 in fact and I have grouped only 3 times, by choice actually. The epic battle had me running through a Star Destroyer maiming charging droves of enemies and facing off a nasty Sith lord on the bridge. Alone.
Bioware has structured SWTOR on a single player story based framework, that aligns you with others that are doing the same thing, there are plenty of challenges for those that wish do so alone, but it offers even more for those that wish to answer the call to arms alongside fellow players. For people like you that wish to play a story alone in front of their TV, there is always FFXIII-2 I guess, but I won't knock that game as I haven't actually played it yet, imagine that.
Just finished Chapter 1 and am almost level 35.
It gets just better and better and better.
It gets just better and better and better.
Going to roll Smuggler next. Jedi Consular is sad to be the least interesting of story lines, which makes me even more excited to start a new class as I have found it to be excellent so far.
SWTOR grace period is no more.
What does this mean? Well, if your distributor of choosing is shipping you the game AFTER the release date you will have to wait to play. However, its a bit more distributing than that.
First off there are 2 editions:
1) Standard edition - Digital purchase and Retail box - $59
2) Collectors Edition - Retail box only - $150+
For the last 6 months this is how the launch was supposed to go:
[Early access code = 5 days pre-release playtime]-->[Dec 20 Launch]-->[Grace period for retail code - 1-2 weeks]
The idea was that if you got early access you would have a week or two to enter your retail code to give time for the box to ship which, has your retail code in it. Or in collectors edition folks case, wait for their $150 box to show up in the worst shipping period on the calendar.
Lets look at the official post that stated there would be a grace period posted in AUGUST!:
[www.swtor.com]
There will be a period after launch day in which those who have pre-ordered will be able to continue playing before entering their Game Code. More information on this will be made available closer to launch.
Now we get this TODAY:
[twitter.com]
"There will be no ‘grace period’ post launch in which those who are in Early Game Access will be able to continue to play the Game without completing the following required steps for launch:
1. Fill out your contact information
2. Set up minimum 3 - maximum 5 security questions to protect your SWTOR account
3. Redeem a Product Registration Code (This is different from your Pre-Order Code. Your Product Registration Code is the code tied to the official Game.)
4. Sign up for a recurring subscription or enter a Pre-Paid Game Time Code
Well. If you are one of the thousands of players that are getting their boxes shipped AFTER the holidays (Jan 2nd for me) that means that we will get to play for a few days then NOT be able to play for weeks. Logic fail?? Yes I think so. Official forums alight with Collectors edition rage? Ohhhh yes!
The rage has begun:
[www.youtube.com]
What does this mean? Well, if your distributor of choosing is shipping you the game AFTER the release date you will have to wait to play. However, its a bit more distributing than that.
First off there are 2 editions:
1) Standard edition - Digital purchase and Retail box - $59
2) Collectors Edition - Retail box only - $150+
For the last 6 months this is how the launch was supposed to go:
[Early access code = 5 days pre-release playtime]-->[Dec 20 Launch]-->[Grace period for retail code - 1-2 weeks]
The idea was that if you got early access you would have a week or two to enter your retail code to give time for the box to ship which, has your retail code in it. Or in collectors edition folks case, wait for their $150 box to show up in the worst shipping period on the calendar.
Lets look at the official post that stated there would be a grace period posted in AUGUST!:
[www.swtor.com]
There will be a period after launch day in which those who have pre-ordered will be able to continue playing before entering their Game Code. More information on this will be made available closer to launch.
Now we get this TODAY:
[twitter.com]
"There will be no ‘grace period’ post launch in which those who are in Early Game Access will be able to continue to play the Game without completing the following required steps for launch:
1. Fill out your contact information
2. Set up minimum 3 - maximum 5 security questions to protect your SWTOR account
3. Redeem a Product Registration Code (This is different from your Pre-Order Code. Your Product Registration Code is the code tied to the official Game.)
4. Sign up for a recurring subscription or enter a Pre-Paid Game Time Code
Well. If you are one of the thousands of players that are getting their boxes shipped AFTER the holidays (Jan 2nd for me) that means that we will get to play for a few days then NOT be able to play for weeks. Logic fail?? Yes I think so. Official forums alight with Collectors edition rage? Ohhhh yes!
The rage has begun:
[www.youtube.com]
Level design sure, it was quite amazing the detail that was put in the dungeons I agree.
However, forcing a player to return the same locations 3 times is a no no. The classic "pass through and move on to the next eye-candy" was replaced with "lets reuse these assets, even if we have to put different monsters in them the second time through."
That was a corner cut that should never have been. If you want to direct players where to go next, thats fine, but forcing them to return to the place they were just a few hours ago was huge "miss" in my opinion. Even Windwaker which arguable has just as much explorable surface area on its world map as Skyward Sword, had much more variety than that.
Don't get me wrong, I loved the level design as well, just not enough to see it again and again and again.
However, forcing a player to return the same locations 3 times is a no no. The classic "pass through and move on to the next eye-candy" was replaced with "lets reuse these assets, even if we have to put different monsters in them the second time through."
That was a corner cut that should never have been. If you want to direct players where to go next, thats fine, but forcing them to return to the place they were just a few hours ago was huge "miss" in my opinion. Even Windwaker which arguable has just as much explorable surface area on its world map as Skyward Sword, had much more variety than that.
Don't get me wrong, I loved the level design as well, just not enough to see it again and again and again.
[Possible Spoilers]
Skyward Sword actually reminded me of what I loved most about the past Zelda games, because they were removed this time around in place of "Innovation".
Fishing was always a blast and something that I looked forward to in Skyward Sword only to see it no where in sight.
I was ecstatic when I saw a Harp as I knew that with the Wii there must be some fantastic music mechanic that will be used no doubt as well. Even possibly spawning another cult Ocarina resurgence with youtube videos of hipsters playing Zelda tracks on their homemade harps. What we got fell flat on its face and is questionable as to why they even added the Harp in the first place.
Instead of an expansive world to explore as we received with Twilight, we got three Zones that you return to, not once, not twice, but three times throughout Link's journey.
I do like Skyward Sword for its cinematic and narrative based approach to a seasoned Character development story, but I do not see the point of talking about Zelda's new direction, when they have in fact shed so much of what made this series great already in place of innovative features with its most recent title.
Skyward Sword actually reminded me of what I loved most about the past Zelda games, because they were removed this time around in place of "Innovation".
Fishing was always a blast and something that I looked forward to in Skyward Sword only to see it no where in sight.
I was ecstatic when I saw a Harp as I knew that with the Wii there must be some fantastic music mechanic that will be used no doubt as well. Even possibly spawning another cult Ocarina resurgence with youtube videos of hipsters playing Zelda tracks on their homemade harps. What we got fell flat on its face and is questionable as to why they even added the Harp in the first place.
Instead of an expansive world to explore as we received with Twilight, we got three Zones that you return to, not once, not twice, but three times throughout Link's journey.
I do like Skyward Sword for its cinematic and narrative based approach to a seasoned Character development story, but I do not see the point of talking about Zelda's new direction, when they have in fact shed so much of what made this series great already in place of innovative features with its most recent title.
Woohoo! I love it when my car makes a video game cameo!
Anyhow, I have very very fond memories of FunCom's early years. Anarchy Online still sits on my harddrive, played less often than in the past of course, but I still login once in a while to experience the sights and sounds of Rubi'Ka.
FunCom can build pretty expansive and interesting worlds. They have the talent to do that without question, the problem they have recently though, is maintaining promises and development goals to deliver a product as "promised".
Best of luck to them on this project, but I won't pick up another FunCom game until it has Anarchy Online II in the title.
Anyhow, I have very very fond memories of FunCom's early years. Anarchy Online still sits on my harddrive, played less often than in the past of course, but I still login once in a while to experience the sights and sounds of Rubi'Ka.
FunCom can build pretty expansive and interesting worlds. They have the talent to do that without question, the problem they have recently though, is maintaining promises and development goals to deliver a product as "promised".
Best of luck to them on this project, but I won't pick up another FunCom game until it has Anarchy Online II in the title.
This is very difficult to admit here, perhaps fear of guilt by association, but Kevin Hogan was my Crew Coach for 2 years. I cannot even begin to describe my shock by the news, as there was absolutely nothing about him that resonated anything other than professionalism at the time. In fact, we were the only high school crew that were taking medals from colleges when he took the helm as coach. We were a small outfit as well, 3 boats of 4s, never the less we dominated the Head of the Charles under his lead at one point, which generated a lot of hype in the rowing scene at the time.
Hogan actually was injured rowing singles in the Olympics at some point and if I recall correctly and was an assistant coach for the US Junior National team as well. This guy was an artist on the water. His fame extended to every shore, thus we had the Egyptian Olympic team visiting to row out of our boathouse under his guidance and some of our team went to Egypt the following year to row on the Nile to return the favor. He was pure rowing genius embodied in a quiet, yet profound man.
He taught English at my school and lived with his girlfriend who also taught something that I don't remember. This was a mid-to-high tier prep school in the East Coast as well, not cheap by any means. A lot of the "Whos who" of the East Coast privileged family contingent had their kids at this school. You needed to be smart, qualified and have impressive credentials to even step foot on the grounds as a professor. Hogan did not disappoint in his teaching with that in mind.
Now this is where it gets a bit odd. Hogan is not the first crew coach to hit the newspapers that taught at our school. In fact, our assistant coach who was a legend at Boston university for their crew, was formally indicted for having sexual relations with students at our school during his time there. Two Crew coaches, that were there at the same time, both household names in the sport, their careers ruined with scandal. Once again, the other coach was also an all around nice guy and there was absolutely no warning that there were any problems by anyone other than the accusers. There is a lot of information that came out between those of us that knew the other Professor, but one of the key factors is that he was "Outed" by a student that found his profile on a gay dating site and then somehow found in herself the reasoning to print 500 copies of his personal profile and distribute them in every classroom one morning. He was a broken man after that and the "accusations" by kids from very well to do families came quickly after. His case is still pending trial. Never once, and I mean that, not once, did this person's sexual orientation become apparent to any of us and he was my dorm's resident teacher for 3 years and also what I would consider a friend.
A decade after meeting Hogan I still often reminisce about the profound impact he had during my youth. As cliche as it sounds, he continues to remain one of my "Heroes". Hogan from the very beginning treated us as adults and had a clear vision for us to become Champions, he applied the same regiment of coaching and training to our misfit highschool crew as he did with the US National Team. An example would be Head Racing, which was a concept in crew that was never really adopted by highschools, but Hogan persisted with the idea and began to form a winning band of underdogs immediately. I will never forget the day of those try outs, when I was laying in bed with a mean case of Bronchitis and a crew mate bust open my door saying, "Try outs are in 5 minutes!!!". After a minute of staring at the ceiling, I tossed on some clothes and ran to the start of the 20 minute "Hill climb". The second I arrived the gun went off, so I never stopped and just kept running. I placed second and let loose my lunch on the side of the road afterwards. He took me to the front of the group and said, "This guy has Bronchitis and placed second, his rowing technique is way below par, but he wants it and thats more than enough to claim a seat in my book." I was number 10 out of 10 in the pickings and was overtaking baffled college crews on the Hudson River a month later.
I will dismiss what Hogan does in his free time, not to paint a pretty portrait of a personal hero, but because I firmly believe that what he does in his free time sexually has no bearing on his capability to lead youths struggling to find purpose to become something meaningful.
Hogan actually was injured rowing singles in the Olympics at some point and if I recall correctly and was an assistant coach for the US Junior National team as well. This guy was an artist on the water. His fame extended to every shore, thus we had the Egyptian Olympic team visiting to row out of our boathouse under his guidance and some of our team went to Egypt the following year to row on the Nile to return the favor. He was pure rowing genius embodied in a quiet, yet profound man.
He taught English at my school and lived with his girlfriend who also taught something that I don't remember. This was a mid-to-high tier prep school in the East Coast as well, not cheap by any means. A lot of the "Whos who" of the East Coast privileged family contingent had their kids at this school. You needed to be smart, qualified and have impressive credentials to even step foot on the grounds as a professor. Hogan did not disappoint in his teaching with that in mind.
Now this is where it gets a bit odd. Hogan is not the first crew coach to hit the newspapers that taught at our school. In fact, our assistant coach who was a legend at Boston university for their crew, was formally indicted for having sexual relations with students at our school during his time there. Two Crew coaches, that were there at the same time, both household names in the sport, their careers ruined with scandal. Once again, the other coach was also an all around nice guy and there was absolutely no warning that there were any problems by anyone other than the accusers. There is a lot of information that came out between those of us that knew the other Professor, but one of the key factors is that he was "Outed" by a student that found his profile on a gay dating site and then somehow found in herself the reasoning to print 500 copies of his personal profile and distribute them in every classroom one morning. He was a broken man after that and the "accusations" by kids from very well to do families came quickly after. His case is still pending trial. Never once, and I mean that, not once, did this person's sexual orientation become apparent to any of us and he was my dorm's resident teacher for 3 years and also what I would consider a friend.
A decade after meeting Hogan I still often reminisce about the profound impact he had during my youth. As cliche as it sounds, he continues to remain one of my "Heroes". Hogan from the very beginning treated us as adults and had a clear vision for us to become Champions, he applied the same regiment of coaching and training to our misfit highschool crew as he did with the US National Team. An example would be Head Racing, which was a concept in crew that was never really adopted by highschools, but Hogan persisted with the idea and began to form a winning band of underdogs immediately. I will never forget the day of those try outs, when I was laying in bed with a mean case of Bronchitis and a crew mate bust open my door saying, "Try outs are in 5 minutes!!!". After a minute of staring at the ceiling, I tossed on some clothes and ran to the start of the 20 minute "Hill climb". The second I arrived the gun went off, so I never stopped and just kept running. I placed second and let loose my lunch on the side of the road afterwards. He took me to the front of the group and said, "This guy has Bronchitis and placed second, his rowing technique is way below par, but he wants it and thats more than enough to claim a seat in my book." I was number 10 out of 10 in the pickings and was overtaking baffled college crews on the Hudson River a month later.
I will dismiss what Hogan does in his free time, not to paint a pretty portrait of a personal hero, but because I firmly believe that what he does in his free time sexually has no bearing on his capability to lead youths struggling to find purpose to become something meaningful.
To summarize.
That is actually being a Gallery owner.
Art School just produces more instances were I have to explain why I will not except work that involves recently killed Animals, finger painting with feces or a canvas that states, "Fuck Art Critics". Which is followed by, "..but Professor X of School Y, says I am as talented as Z!"....
Art School just produces more instances were I have to explain why I will not except work that involves recently killed Animals, finger painting with feces or a canvas that states, "Fuck Art Critics". Which is followed by, "..but Professor X of School Y, says I am as talented as Z!"....
Kind of difficult to take this opinion piece seriously when there is a BestBuy COD advertisement not even 100 pixels from its Headline.
Add me to the "Hates CoD" crowd. The pancake house up the street makes the most amazing Blueberry pancakes around, but the crowd there makes me hate the fucking place and I refuse to subject myself to it. Same premise.
Add me to the "Hates CoD" crowd. The pancake house up the street makes the most amazing Blueberry pancakes around, but the crowd there makes me hate the fucking place and I refuse to subject myself to it. Same premise.
