Back from the Trollshaws
Well, I just got back from an extended vacation out in the wilds of Northern California. There is really nothing quite like crapping in a bucket and dodging feral pigs out in the wilderness to really bring you back to down to earth.
I also once again personally proved the effectiveness of FPS games as firearm trainers, despite barely ever firing a handgun I was pleasingly accurate. With more real-life practice I could be a fair shot. Thanks, Counter Strike.
The funniest thing was the terrain - I could have sworn up and down I was in the Trollshaws of Eriador. Minus the beech trees and adding madrone, among others of course. The cattle country on the way in also reminded me precisely of the Barrow Downs - if I were going to film a theatrical scene in the Barrow Downs, it would make a really good location.
So for the past few weeks, I have been living without the Internet but with electricity thanks to Honda and their handy generators. So I spent at least some of my off-time playing through Torchlight on my trusty laptop. And I'm still playing it now that I am back. I was never a huge Diablo/Rogue fan, but something in Torchlight really caught me.
Yesterday I logged back in to LOTRO, after roughly a two-month break. I think with the fresh perspective I understand the major drawback that game has for me - quests. WoW-style quests, I mean. I can handle "kill ten rats" to a certain degree, but elaborate quest chains and travel quests friggin' kill me.
On the same topic this is ultimately why I'm not playing Fallen Earth and why I have no plans to do so in the near future. I played through the first 10 levels or so and had my fill of the exact same style of advancement I was (subconsciously) fleeing in basically every other MMORPG I have played. Dealing with quest logs full of largely unrelated quests is enough to turn me off completely to a game these days - regardless whether I can solo them or not.
So for now I am satisfying my MMORPG cravings with DDO, which does not suffer from quite the same problems as the traditional model descended from DikuMUD. I may resubscribe to LOTRO simply out of love for Tolkien and to hang with my Landroval kinship Tirn en Taur. Money is only getting tighter in the coming months, though, so we'll see - fortunately $10/month is doable.
One thing I am still not doing is buying/playing Dragon Age. Which is strange considering that I've been waiting forever for it to come out. Basically it comes down to an EA issue for me. I don't want to be nickel-and-dimed and I especially do not want to be forced into marketing channels like Games For Windows Live. So I am going to wait and see and do more research before I start laying out nearly $100 for a semi-static single-player game I may never even have the time to really play. Oh well.
Torchlight Commence
Well, I went and did it. I pre-ordered Torchlight on Steam.
While I'm sure it's going to be a great game, I'm a little concerned the Diablo-style ARPG gameplay won't hold my attention. Then again, at only $18, it's not that big a deal.
I'm playing DDO more lately, though two weeks ago I was uninstalling it and cursing Turbine. What can I say? So their customer service sucks, the game is pretty good. I just wish I didn't feel like such a sheep, but then again what happens if you have an argument with your DM? Drop out of the group for good or kiss, makeup and keep the adventure alive?
At the moment I am playing with a Drow skill-heavy adaptation of the Exploiter Ranger (18 Ranger / 1 Rogue / 1 Monk). Skill heavy in the sense I plan on investing the extra skill points in Lock-picking and Disable Traps and as a Drow also I will be focusing on rapiers and/or short swords rather than khopesh.
So far I am enjoying this build. I started as a Rogue and will take four levels or so of Ranger before taking the level in Monk. I think after I have my way with this build I am going to start a Divine Archer (Elven/Drow Favored Soul-Ranger).
I am still logging into and playing Fallen Earth a bit, but I am thinking more strongly about canceling. I don't know if it is just me or I am being influenced by other people's opinions, but it seems like FE does have more of a themepark feel the farther you advance. Maybe it is a side-effect from the heavy design reliance on questing. Maybe I have not advanced enough. (After all I am still only level 10.) Still, this game has real potential, so even if I do cancel now I can see myself picking it back up down the road.
I am still experiencing angst over LOTRO. I don't have the time to play it, even if I was so inclined, but geez I miss Middle Earth - even a crude video game rendering of it. I should have become a lifer last year when I had the opportunity, it's just $200 all at once seems so exhorbitant a price. But I have spent at least that much on my sub even at $10/month since then, so looks like I missed out.
I am really jonesing for some Tropico 3 action, but I just can't justify it as an expenditure. I'll wait until its on sale.
I haven't talked much at all about Cities XL. That's because I don't think I'll be buying that one at all - from what I've been reading the single-player seems milque-toast and the multi-player not worth the money. That could all be wrong, but I have more than enough to hold my attention with the various historic city builders I've been into lately. Maybe someday down the road I'll give it a shot. Or maybe someday my not-so-favorite Republican Will Wright will finally make Sim City 5 and make it non-sucky. And seriously, how does one have the insight and intelligence to create Sim City and the Sims yet be duped by the mouth-breathers that would make an utter lackwit like Sarah Palin Vice President? How does that happen?
Anyway, now I'm getting all political so I will end this here. Except to mention that I have delved deep into the world of Regular Expression for my work on project WOTAN, and I have been chilled to the bone by the horror of it all. Oh well, it is my destiny to either become a regex ninja or die trying.
I am hellbent on mastering regex because aside from the fact that it is extremely useful to know in general (technical) situations, I am writing my own form of BBCode to supplement my wiki markdown so I can start adding html elements (mainly forms) directly into the wiki pages. Currently I have things like the character stats and inventory displaying directly through echo in their respective class methods, which works great and all - I am actually debating a bit with myself whether I should leave it as-is because it is more secure but unfortunately far more unwieldy and pasta-like.
GAMING ROOOOUNDUPPPP!!!
The older I get, the more and more amazed I am at how time flies. Combined with my penchant for history it is easy to see what people mean when they say tempus fugit.
In the past two weeks I have been doing naught more than usual, with one exception - I decided to give Fallen Earth a shot. Sorry Ryzom, I'm sure I'll return someday (because you are a genuinely good game) but there is just too much going on right now. On top of Fallen Earth, Torchlight is coming out in 10 days and Dragon Age not long after that. And of course, most of my free time is being spent working on my own RPG project, WOTAN.
Fallen Earth
What can I say? If I was going to spend $50 on an MMO I should have got Darkfall. Seriously, though, Fallen Earth is a great game so far despite its warts. I am currently level 9 and doing my obsessive compulsive rounds of all the starter towns looking for the bonus AP missions. If you are not familiar with FE, that is I am trying to complete all the missions (quests) that award bonus skill points which are used to raise my character's skills.
FE has no classes, only skills, and so far that is my favorite aspect of the game. It is a marvelous antidote to the cookie-cutter EQ/WoW/etc. model where customization is done secondarily through "talents" or "traits" or whatever semi-arbitrary label they are assigned. I am focusing predominantly on crafting, which basically means I am by default a melee character, as melee and crafting have stats that overlap the best.
And that is fine with me as future wasteland ninja. Or, well, maybe. I am already fidgeting around with the cancel subscription button. But it is not because of any problem I have with the game, though the game does need some work - in my opinion it should have a more advanced economy, free-for-all zones like EVE's 0.0 space and there are lots of glitchy little bugs that need to be squashed.
But I, perhaps oddly, am not worried about any of those things. So far Icarus has been one of the more communicative studios I have seen, even going so far as to have a GM active on their global help chat channel all hours of the day. Wouldn't it be nice to live in a world where that was considered normal? I also like that at least one more game has come out that isn't a generic class-based themepark grinder.
This is going to likely be the only time you ever see me mention the game Aion on this site. I don't bear it any animosity, but I also have absolutely zero interest in that game. It is practically by definition a themepark grinder. I have no desire to even participate in a free trial of that game, were it available.
This is maybe why even though I am not sure FE will hold my fickle and buffeted-from-all-sides attention, I have no regret at least giving it a shot. If the Aion bug had crawled up my butt, I think I would be singing a different tune, however.
Torchlight
I am not a huge ARPG fan, but when the 'ol repetitive-stress-injury isn't agonizingly inflamed I enjoy a little Diablo/Titan Quest action. Of course my tendons are soon fire within minutes reminding me why I play those games only very rarely.
Tennis elbow aside, I was really, really, really looking forward to Mythos. So much so I was practically on an Internet candle-light vigil trying to get into the beta. Of course, that game was canceled around the same time flagshipped became a verb. So it wasn't meant to be.
Now imagine my joy at hearing about Torchlight, which is essentially Mythos reborn. And it's a single-player game priced under $20? I am so on this it isn't even funny, to use a favored turn-of-phrase of an adolescent Fortuente. If you read the link, apparently the Torchlight single-player will also be released with full modding tools intact.
Dragon Age
I have considered this a must-buy for quite some time now. Like since 2003. That said, the more I have been thinking about it, the stronger I feel that I am actually going to take a pass on this one for now.
WHAT?!? YOU ARE GOING TO MISS OUT ON THE BIGGEST FANTASY RPG GANGBANG SINCE BALDUR'S GATE 2????
Yes, I actually am. I have my reasons, and they all revolve around perception.
Perception 1: Money. It's expensive. Is it going to break my bank? No, but is $60 still a sizeable chunk when I am already throwing around $20 here and $30 there and even that $50 on Fallen Earth? Yes. It is going to be Christmas soon, after all and I have a child as well as utility bills.
Perception 2: Electronic Arts. Do I really need to elaborate on this? Bioware may be good 'ol same as always (which is doubtful regardless as both they and the industry have grown a lot in the past 12-odd years), but it's a simple fact that they are now an EA brand. And EA is on a weekend bender of a downloadable-content binge the likes of which might make Charles Bukowski proud.
Which means probably having to deal with some sort of asinine EA download manager or even having to use the wretched EA online store. No thanks.
So I am adopting a wait-and-see approach, perhaps even a wait-and-yarrr approach if I have the extra time. If I yo-ho-ho and the game turns out to be a genuine work of genius, I would probably feel compelled to fork over the cash out of respect, even if I continued to use the swashbuckled edition. More than likely, I will probably just pass until it has been out a few months or so.
DDO
OK. I had some issues with DDO. Namely, the Turbine customer service department could not service their way out of a wet paper bag. Or something like that. Whatever the reason, be it drastic overwork, incompetent management, utter lack of morale, plain laziness or all those things (can you tell I have worked in customer service in the past?), they are not getting the job done.
Basically I had a ticket on hold for about a month. All I wanted was for the points I purchased during the summer beta to be applied to my original account. I mean, really. No response for a month. If it wasn't for my increasingly incessant bitching, I can guarantee you I would still be waiting.
In true comedic fashion, the first time they "resolved" this issue also, I was not awarded the points I paid for but rather a large number of points - for being a founder account or somesuch reason - which I had no idea I was entitled to. Alas, in my hasty reply was elicited the mighty F-bomb. However I am confident the reason my actual purchased store points were alotted to my account was due to my having the original transaction IDs. PayPal +1.
All of that being said, it is partly DDO's fault I am considering leaving Fallen Earth. Damn Dungeons and Dragons with your complex, gamist character system, marvelously atmospheric dungeons and interesting, semi-twitch combat.
Wait, Fallen Earth has all of that too (after some fashion)! Oh the conflicting emotions! Wait, no. Fallen Earth has a $15/month subscription and DDO no longer does. I guess we have found out together the mystery of why I'm willing to cast Fallen Earth to the side though I basically enjoy it.
Grand Ages Rome
Ah, City Builders, my true (and truly nerdy) love.
Grand Ages Rome continues to prove itself to me as an interesting side-track from the traditional city-builder formula while still keeping a lot of that formula intact. The thing I enjoy the most by far is the horde-less resource system. What I mean is that the lack of warehouse or stockpile which is in virtually every historic city builder, at least every one I can name off the top of my head.
Managing resources as a streaming figure changes the game up in a refreshing way, though it's not necessarily something I would studios other than Haemimont try to copy. Because I do find myself missing the need to manage roads and resource transportation. But it's OK.
I never mentioned it before, but I play the game at the highest graphic settings and the textures they use are friggin' exquisite. I sat with my three year-old today for a while zoomed in on the city I was working on (Cyrene free-build). I invented dialogue and little stories to go with the various citizens going about their virtual lives and he ate it up.
LOTRO
I basically unsubscribed in a fit of pique relating to the DDO debacle related above. I thought I had uninstalled it as well, but it was still on my computer. Strange, as I am certain I didn't imagine that. Perhaps Gandalf snuck into my interwebs.
I am not sure what my future with LOTRO holds. On one hand I am not excited with the themepark structure of the game - and increasingly so - and I am just not of the mind with all this subscription stuff. In addition, I am yet more fearful of the potential introduction of a "LOTRO Store." While I think the RMT business model naturally works out well in DDO, I really do not think it would work in LOTRO (or many other games like LOTRO).
I'm also not terribly taken with the idea of the Adventurer's Pack. It bears the hallmark of crappy marketing. Plus the Mirkwood "expansion" sounds thoroughly underwhelming. But that is all my opinion. More objectively speaking, they are doing what they have always done which is to make WoW for a different crowd. They did it well and I have no doubt Mirkwood will continue that trend.
I myself am just past that style of game for the most part. Of course this saddens me a bit, because I have a really big boner for J.R.R. Tolkien just like any other fantasy nerd with plastic pointy ears. More internal conflict ... all these emotions over ridiculously abstract things like online video games. Well, no matter. My subscription runs out on December 18th, so we shall have to see what the next two months hold in store for yours truly.
That sounded ominous for some reason.
Status Update
Well it has been about a month now since my last post, so I suppose I should make a record of my pernicious and insouciant behavior over the past month:
Game Making
Hard to believe, perhaps, but I am still latched on to my ideas for pot farming games. I am still working on the details of Grow Tycoon as a mod for Civ4 Colonization. I have delved into the SDK, toyed with .py files and even managed (with a lot of help) add a basic zombie into the game.
The current path of learning I am treading is to figure out how to add these zombies into a simple modcomp where they will be generated randomly and automatically at the start of a game. This behavior is very similar to how Barbarians are handled in Civ4, so I may try to re-add Barbarians into Colonization. I figure (assuming it is feasible) this will be a great way to become more familiarized with both C++, XML and graphical elements at the same time.
As I continue to get better at PHP, I am looking more seriously at my capability of producing a Browser Game. The deeper I delve into mod-making for Civ4, it almost seems like it would be easier. That is probably the me-trying-to-get-used-to-Blender talking, though. After all, you don't have to worry about site hackers or bandwidth limits with a Civ4 mod.
While my vision of a pot-farming browser game is more along the lines of Travian than an xRPG, I was hopefully in search of potential travian-like frameworks but instead found and installed World of Phaos on a test server to have a go with it. So far I am enjoying myself quite a bit with its basic setup, and it looks like it both requires the code love and has the ability to be easily modded that may make me want to stay with it. I've always wanted to do my own RPG, perhaps this can provide the basic framework for it.
But maybe not as I have been none to keen lately on making a multi-player for some reason. For an RPG I was considering adapting the Tunnels and Trolls PnP system or even Dungeons and Dragons (basic 1981 version) to a simple php single-player game system. The php would only really be used as a glorified character sheet and dice-roller, perhaps with the ability to save character and location information to a persistent cookie or as a text file. Not really sure why I'm not feeling the multi-player browser game love at the moment.
But if I decide to rework World of Phaos and get something interesting going, I'll put it on a public server so anyone can play. And did I mention something about a test server? That is right - this past month I finally got off my ass and repurposed an old computer as a web server so that I can avail myself of the joys of CLI with SSH tunnels and whatnot. Thanks go to Verizon FIOS for allowing the ability to create remote access to it as well. But if you think I'm linking it here for everyone to see, forget about it - my security skills aren't good enough yet to lead the world to my door.
Game Playing
I have been playing a lot of Lord of the Rings Online lately. I've fallen out somewhat with the MMORPG genre this past year, but still LOTRO keeps me coming back. Even with all its warts (like the dreaded pathing system) Turbine really did a quality job with this title.
I attempted to get back into World of Warcraft again, and just couldn't do it. I don't know why I even try to rekindle the passion, that game is utterly dead to me. If I were playing any other MMORPG right now, it would probably either be Dungeons and Dragons Online or Vanguard.
I have been playing a lot of Colonization and a bit of Civ4 lately, as working with the modding requires it. I have been playing mods, both official and not, a lot more and I can't believe how rich and diverse the modding scene for Civ4 is. Playing the mods made by other people as well as attempting to come up with my own has really rekindled some of the passion I have held in the past for the Civilization franchise.
Lastly, I bought Defense Grid: The Awakening on Steam a week or two ago (when it was on sale) and it was more than worth every penny. I truly enjoy this game, I only wish I had more time to really crack-out on it. I enjoy the progression also, making it a game that is easy to learn and play, but very difficult to master. I'm not really a tower defense afficianado so I can't really compare it to anything else, all I can say is I really enjoy playing it.
Happy 4:20:09!
Just making a short post to wish everyone a happy 4/20!
Unfortunately for me, I shan't be celebrating my favorite day too fully owing to a rather large number of chores I have amassed over the past couple weeks. Idleness is its own punishment, I suppose. However you can bet I am on an extended break as I write this and plan on enjoying a small morsel of time in honor of my favorite plant. And true to style as well - a pipe in one hand, cup of coffee in the other, a pastrie on deck and eyes glazed over and planted firmly in front of a computer monitor.
Well, I am off to do my thing before I am presented with the horreur that is folding laundry and dusting picture frames. I will leave you, as I did my fellow Landrovalians, with a quote from one of my favorite fictional characters, Gandalf the Grey from Tolkien's Unfinished Tales. He is addressing Saruman who has just upbraided him whilst showing contempt for his smoking habit:
You would not wonder, if you used the herb yourself. You might find that smoke blown out clears your mind of shadows within. Anyway, it gives patience to listen to error without anger.
What I’ve been up to lately
I haven't made a post in a little while, so I want to catch up my multiple personalities (and anyone else who is interested) on what is going on with my hobbiest/permanent vacation lifestyle.
Strategy Gaming:
I still consider myself to be working on Grow Tycoon, my pot-growing Colonization mod. I have also taken on the duty of rewriting the Civilopedia for the Colonization mod Mare Nostrum. It's a (relatively) simple reworking of Colonization to fit the world of the Mediterranean Sea around roughly 700-300 BCE (if I remember correctly).
Right now I am basically copying Colonization's civilopedia into spreadsheet form, listing important XML files and tags with their appropriate entries. I figure having this will streamline the actual editing of the XML files and help ensure consistency for both these and any future mods. Of course, I am making these available to anyone who wants to use them via Google Docs.
I am slowly becoming addicted to both Nile Online and Ikariam. For someone without a desk job, I am spending far too much time obsessing over my monument's limestone production and the technology levels of my colonies' phalanxes.
I've also found myself craving sessions in Hinterland and Disciples 2. I had almost forgot how much I love Disciples ... I wonder when the new one is coming out?
MMORPGs:
Not much to report here, really. I am still playing Lord of the Rings Online and I still don't have a level 50 (not to mention 60) character, though I am a bit more focused on that as I really want to finally get down into Moria. Or maybe I'm a little afraid of those drums in the dark and I am subsconciously keeping my leveling at a snail's pace. Naaahhh. I'm a friggin Elven Lore Master from Mirkwood, what do I have to be nervous about? Right?
I have taken up playing the MUD Lusternia: Age of Ascension. Talk about a steep learning curve ... but then again I quite literally haven't seriously played a text-based game since the 1980s. Man, have I been missing out.
This is my first "real" MUD (or MUSH or whatever), and I am having a pretty good time with it. I think a lot of it is nostalgia for my textual childhood combined with the appeal of a modern MMORPG - in fact, the only thing Lusternia (or any of the various other popular MUDs) lacks is the graphics. Everything else - titles, achievements, crafting, pvp, housing, cosmetic clothing, etc. - is there with far more to boot.
In fact, in Lusternia I have finally found a game that not only lets my character smoke, and not only lets various herbs and pipes give him buffs, but even to a degree requires him to smoke to take advantage of those buffs in combat. Any game that lets me have a pipe hanging out of my mouth while I am sticking my claymore through an orc is sure-fire winner in my book.
I allowed my Star Wars Galaxies trial to lapse. I think it probably still has the best crafting in the MMORPG genre, but sadly it is a game that reeks of death. I found the animations poor (and not because they are old, just poor - like when a mob starts running to you, disappears then reappears dead at your feet).
There also seems to be a prevailing opinion amongst (some) players that the optional trading card game and the in-game perks you can win by buying virtual decks will ruin crafting and is a cynical attempt at "RMT" - even worse, since buying a pack of these virtual cards won't guarantee you an item. Therefore there will be plenty of players with uber gear - the same players who can afford to lay out hundreds of dollars on starter packs to find that one random item.
As you know if you read the last post, I was considering pre-ordering Darkfall. Well, if you have followed that game's launch at all, you will understand me when I say I am very glad I decided against it. Though I will point out it is not simply because of what the various users of MMORPG.com have to say about it (I believe Obi Wan would refer to that site as a "hive of scum and trollery").
The poor launch does not irk me in the least, strangely. And I say that even considering if I was one of the lucky few to pre-order. Aventurine's utter lack of any meaningful public relations is annoying and precludes me from finding them really trustworthy, but at the same time I can understand it as a tactic if they are purposely trying to keep the game small and want to turn people away without appearing to be turning them away. Bad way to do it, but I can understand.
I am bothered by the reports of botting, speedhacking and macroing. If the game is truly as PVP-focused as it is said to be, then this cheating can and will truly kill it dead. In the non-MMO world a single cheater can cause an entire server to clear out and constant cheating will earn the server a reputation that ensures nobody will ever want to play on it again. But even this, at this point, doesn't make me not want to get the game (it's still too early to really tell).
Overall, I think it's the players. Considering the type of posts one can expect to read on the Darkfall Forums and taking into account the stereotypical player of a heavy-pvp game, I'm not sure if I will ever play this game.
Ahh, who am I kidding? But I'm definitely waiting for the jury to be out on this one.
Everything Else:
I took advantage of Steam sale on Lost Planet: Extreme Condition. We'll see how that goes, as it is not my usual sort of game. But hey, it was $5 and lets you blow apart monsters in an arctic wasteland. Thanks to its handy tool, I already benchmarked it and get passable frames-per-second (~85 snow, ~45 cave) at 1440x900 resolution with 2xAA. I'll have to fiddle with some more settings.
I am still a Team Fortress 2 addict. TF2 has, by this point, become one of my all-time most-played games. A legendary list, to be sure, and a list which it shares with such luminaries as SimCity and SimCity 2000, Might and Magic 2, Civilization 3, Baldur's Gate 2 and World of Warcraft. For better or worse, I have put literally hundreds of man-hours into each of these games. Comprised as a whole, they would represent a pretty decent chunk of this life I am existing in. Fun!
Pot Growing Games
First I want to send out a thanks to the reddit community - my Pot Grower Tycoon post was submitted and got some great comments!
So I just wanted to use this time to post a couple links to pot-growing games some of the redditors posted. I'll be checking some of these out for fun. If any of the games are good I'll post a review later on.
First up is Highgrow. On first look, it appears to be a cheesy, but hopefully decent, gardening sim that focuses on the illegal nature of growing our favorite maligned plant. I'm going to download it and check it out, but sadly my expectations are not too terribly high (pun intended) given the lame nature of the advertising on the site. I mean, everyone know that "legal buds" are a rip-off, right? Well, if you didn't know that - don't get suckered into wasting your money.
The next link provided by the good reddit community is to a list of pot games at Concept 420. Some of these look pretty decent, and sadly it appears like there are some pretty dead links on the list also.
I noticed some of these games are also merely drug-dealer strategy games. I'm really not into the whole "gangster" GTA/Scarface genre so I can't say I will bother with these. I like pot - I like smoking it, I like pot artwork, I like reading about pot. I prefer to leave meth, cocaine, heroine or the other illegals out of the equation.
I also actually used to play Ganja Farmer several years ago and it is a pretty fun game if you are into the classic Galaxian-style arcade games. Definitely not a Sim or Tycoon game, though.
I downloaded Virtual Grow 2, which Concept 420 apparently hosts themselves. I haven't played it yet, but I wanted to mention that I scanned it and it appears to be virus/trojan-free. I think of all the games, though, this one sounds like it could be closest to being the sort of game I was describing in my original post.
I also found Dope Farmer through the reddit comments. It looks fairly promising as a pot-farming sim, but I don't know how I will react to it, as apparently one of the goals of setting up a successful grow operation is to then make your own meth lab.
Even though it seems innoccuous enough, this is one of the aspects of the failed Drug War that really gets my blood boiling. Why must drugs like meth-amphetamines always be lumped in with marijuana? Of course the ignorant drug "warriors" will tell you it is because pot is a gateway drug. But no, it is because pot has been lumped in with these dangerous substances and has to share its subculture with them.
It reminds me of stories I've heard from both friends and strangers of smart kids with problems like dyslexia getting forced into classes with the "slow" kids. They don't belong there, but because of the short-sighted and ignorant nature of the school administrators they are forced into it. Always a shame.
Anywho - apparently my Pot Grower Tycoon game doesn't exist or still has yet to be uncovered from the deep sands of the intertubes. I'm still thinking about it and I'll post more of my ideas later. Maybe I should start learning game design so I can make it myself! Settlers 7 - Rise of the Rastafarians LOL.
Pot Grower Tycoon 2: What if?
OK, picture it with me ...
Deep in the woods of Northern California you have just inherited a large plot of land from you aunt. So you do what any red-blooded American does: you immediately set out to make millions of dollars with a banned substance!
In Pot Grower Tycoon you must create the ultimate secret pot farm and build a black market distribution network to spread your green love throughout the land, all the while avoiding the government, armed thieves and international gangs. Manage your farm the way you want - focus on the growing the best bud and rely on secrecy and prayer to get you through, or build up an arsenal and gun down anyone who sets foot on your land. Buy off the local sheriff and grow acres of bud or set up entire fake houses to conceal indoor farms.
Are you a ruthless capitalist or a peace-loving hippy? Pot Grower Tycoon allows you to choose between indoor and outdoor farming with customizations like soil and hydroponics, chemical and organic fertilizers or green and dirty electricity. Leave no trace or rape the land - it's your decision.
So how does it sound? I so want to play this game - maybe I'll attempt to create it. It might work as a browser game. Maybe not. I'm not sure I would really want to play a themed Travian-like, let alone attempt to develop my own.
But I am enjoying the pvp-lite Nile Online - it just seems to me like at least the threat of violence would need to pervade the game. Lol, getting busted could send you to Prison Tycoon.
It would have to be more than just Plant Tycoon, but implementing some simplified elements similar to this game could make for an interesting minigame - crossbreeding varieties on your farm to achieve the perfect "pineapple express." And doing so, as with the original, to be able to fetch higher prices for your product.
UPDATE: Thanks reddit! I have seen a lot of comments about this post and I appreciate all of them. I just wrote a follow-up here.
In First for the New Year
First in on the New Year thread! Oh, wait ...
So I hope everyone has enjoyed their holiday celebrations, whether that be time spent with family or time spent completing Festivult quests (hopefully both!).
Personally, I have been continuing on my Team Fortress 2 compulsion, racking up more hours in that game then I have since the beginning of the year. Yet still I am only ranked in the 40's on Newbs - lol, it's no surprise as a lot of genuinely good players call Newbs their home and I still don't play that much.
The only other game I have been playing with any frequency is ... Vanguard! That's right - I am about two weeks into the free gametime for veterans and simply loving the changes Sigil-SOE has made to the game, specifically the Isle Dawn.
Honestly, I think if there were some sort of contest for most improved noob starter area in an MMORPG, DDO would win hands-down with Module 8. However, Vanguard's Isle of Dawn is a solid and well-designed starting area for such a massive and complex game. From the moment I stepped into the game, the experience flowed perfectly and before I knew it I was a level five adventurer and well on my way to the same rank in diplomacy.
Which I love. It seems like I heard a lot of people disparaging the diplomacy mini-game back when Vanguard first came out, and I can't understand why. I mean, sure, some people won't like it - that's just life. But so far I have had a tremendous blast with it. And the fact that you can use your diplomatic skills to create zone-wide buffs for yourself and other players is the icing on the cake.
I am also quite fond at this point of Vanguard's crafting system. Like diplomacy, it is a viable and fleshed-out alternative to adventuring (i.e. questing and killing). So far, I find it by far the most interesting and engaging crafting experience I have had in an MMORPG.
Of course, Vanguard being Vanguard there are still some ... issues. So far I have tried out a Raki Ranger and a Thestran Bard. I almost fell through the world with the Ranger; when I was swimming up onto land in the noob swamp and swam through and under the island. But I didn't fall through, thankfully I was righted and popped out on top. The most annoying bug I've noticed so far is that frequently I have melee weapons disappear out of both characters' hands. I think they are still equipped, but who knows?
All in all though, like a lovable alcoholic or a dim-witted but kind-hearted supervisor, Vanguard has reached the point where its strengths shine through its deficiencies. I might even subscribe if I can find a good guild to play with.
One last thing: THERE IS A HUGE SALE AT STEAM. Steam is having a new-year sale until tomorrow (Jan. 2) with some pretty massive price-cuts on certain games. Some standouts I noticed (regular price in parenthesis):
Bioshock: $4.99 ($19.99)
Portal: $4.99 ($19.99)
Warhammer 40K Dawn of War Complete Pack: $29.99 ($59.98)
Stalker: Clear Sky: $17.49 ($34.99) Note: contains TAGES DRM for limited activations
Mount and Blade: $14.99 ($29.99)
ID Software Super Pack: $34.99 ($69.99)
Silent Hill 4: $24.99 ($49.99)
Those are just a few of the titles that jumped out at me. There are more extremely good deals and numerous OK deals. So while the sale on top-tier titles that normally go for $50 like Left 4 Dead, Spore, Warhammer: Age of Reckoning and Fallout 3 are not extreme deals, you can still save yourself $12 or $13 by buying them through Steam today or tomorrow.
You probably aren't wondering what my personal favorite deal is, but I'll tell you anyway: Doom 2 for $.99 - I couldn't not get this piece of PC gaming history for less than a buck.
EA Hell Freezes Over and Other Stuff
Well, if you haven't heard by now you better get your ass over to Steam and take a look: verily Hell hath frozen over and Valve has announced that several more top-tier Electronic Arts titles will be coming to Steam. Among these games are the MMORPG Warhammer: Age of Reckoning, the much-maligned Spore and the upcoming titles Red Alert 3 and Mirror's Edge (to which I fist-stabbed the air and was like "YES!"). Some EA titles like Mass Effect and Crysis have already been available on Steam for some time now.
The real question which I think is on everyone's mind right now is will the Steam version of Spore have the infamous SecuROM included in it? So far, there is no mention of it on the sales page, however that isn't necessarily indicative of the reality.
Both the Crysis and Crysis Warhead Steam versions have SecuROM. Grand Theft Auto IV has it. There are probably more, but I can't be assed right now to look them up. In the past Bioshock had it, but now doesn't. I'm not sure if the Steam version of Mass Effect ever had it, but it doesn't now at least. And the Steam version of Fallout 3 has never had it.
So I expect that the status of SecuR(ootkit)OM on Steam's Spore will be confirmed in short order. Owing that my newish computer is already infected with the SecuROM virus (Neverwinter Nights 2 - thanks a whole lot Atari, you bastards) I am tempted to try it out and see if I can find it in the download. But probably not, I have a bunch to do and not all of it involves the following:
Vanguard is, right now as I type this, giving away a free month-and-a-half of playtime to former subscribers. That is right - from December 17 until January 31 the accounts of former subscribers have been re-activated. I was never really able to get into Vanguard, but I still have a soft spot in my heart for it owing to the sheer scope and ambition of the world. So a free month should be enough to install the 17-gigabyte behemoth on my hard drive.
Tabula Rasa has the rank stench of death hovering about it, but technically it is still alive and I have still have a couple free codes to give out. Why not join CJ McFee, Voyd and me and get yourself a free code so you too can emerge from Foreas with the aroma of a morgue clinging to you?
Can you believe I still have yet to get WotLK? I know, I thought WoW was all addictive and stuff. But here I am, barely able to fathom myself logging back into that crack-fest. But you know I will eventually. And now that Blizzard has introduced paid gender changes, I no longer have to live as a GIRL.
And finally for today, Steam's weekend special: Stalker: Shadows of Chernobyl for $4.99. Yes, you read that right, it isn't a typo - Stalker SoC for only $4.99. So if you don't already have this classic you better fire up Steam and get it!
Blogs I Read
- Brian Psychochild Green
- Elder Game
- Fabled Lands
- Kill Ten Rats
- Killed In A Smiling Accident
- OSG1 – Online Strategy Games
- Pumping Irony
- Ralph Koster
- Stylish Corpse
- Tish Tosh Tesh
- Troll in the Corner
Browser Games I Play
Fortuente Pages
Game Sites I Like
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