Multiplaying : 023 : 02.05.10
Feb 8th
Multiplaying : 023 : 02.05.10
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Coming out of the cloffice
On the Show: Jason, John, Russ, Shannon & Steve
Topics (in no particular order)
- Mass Effect
- Global Agenda
- The Cloffice
- Morph Vox software
- Hot Mess
- WAR
- Old Cell Phones
- WoW
- DJ Hero
- PS3 game downloads
Site of the Week:
- THIS WEEK: Escape Hatch http://esc-hatch.blogspot.com/
Music : The Triptones : www.thetriptones.com
Contact Info : Questions, comments, feedback, errors, voice messages in mp3 or wav format, etc. can be sent to multiplaying@gmail.com. We invite you to write a review on iTunes and visit our website at http://www.multiplaying.net. We’re a part of the Dead Workers Party Network. Find great podcasts at http://deadworkers.com/network/
Slurms’ ½ assed review of Mass Effect
Feb 8th
Be advised, there will be end game spoilers from my experience after you get past the italics. But I will say this; if you haven’t played the first Mass Effect, I highly encourage you to. Regardless of the title “RPG” it tells a fantastic story and brings a new science fiction universe to life. One that I would gladly spend more time in regardless of the media by which is it presented.
So my marathon-like run of the first Mass Effect is complete. I knocked the game out in about 20 hours, knowing there were at least a few side quests that I skipped. I’m never much of a completionist in games. My wife even noticed that while I was playing New Super Mario Brothers Wii. She asked why I wasn’t getting all the coins. I told her because I didn’t “need” to, and she thought that it was odd to be playing a game and not trying to go 100% on it. It’s true with me though. I hardly ever complete a level or section of a game to its fullest. So it’s no big surprise that I rarely complete a game at all. But Mass Effect was one of those games that I just couldn’t put down. I had to complete it.
You may know from my last Mass Effect post that I was at a crossroads of losing one of my, and many others’, favorite companions, Wrex. I played the game nearly full Paragon, yet was missing the Charm option of the dialogue which would keep him from getting shot down. It turns out that all I had to do in order to get my extra dialogue was, embarrassingly enough; put more points into Charm (thanks Pazz!). From that moment in the game on, everything that had been building up in the story seemed to unfurl like a rose. Wrex would live, Ashle-er-Toiletface would die (no, I tried to save her I swear…), and Shepard would get it on with a hot blue alien. Oh yeah, there was also some things that happened at the Citadel with an alien invasion blah blah blah.
Seriously though, the ending was phenomenal, but I’ll say that I was a touch let down due to already knowing that Shepard lives and has a Captain Awesome moment where he reappears after he was thought to have died. Was a bit anticlimactic. But just the way everything worked out was stellar. From the huge ass battles with the Geth on Ilos, to the Mako meeting its demise after being used as a battering ram, then the “outer space” fights while watching the Citadel be attacked by Sovereign was some truly great action sequencing. Then even more so with the epic “reincarnated Saren” fight. One thing that impressed me was how part way through the firefight with him, they broke to the space battle to show what was going on, further increasing the tension that you had to kill this guy in order for everyone else to succeed.
If you listen to the podcast, you know that I’ve experienced a few bugs with the game; mostly with a lack of sounds during some of the cut scenes, and a couple of instances of bad AI. But those problems are quickly overlooked by the time you get to another part of the games story arc, and they will inevitably be thought back on nostalgically like you do many classic video games.
I have Mass Effect 2 loaded on my computer as of last night, and look forward anxiously to being able to fire it up. Like I said in my preface to this post, I am falling deeply in love with the mythos that BioWare has created with Mass Effect. I look forward to see what they do with the series, and have a huge hope that they one day allow me to live in this world by other means, whether that be via book, movie, or MMO. (hint hint BioWare)
I’m A Loser
Feb 7th
Its Amazing How Focused We Are On Losing
Then it hit me, an epiphany of sorts, why is it that I’m so focused on losing? It was only ten minutes ago that I was King Emperor Decimatron Omega 9000 VI, yet I’ve already lost that sense of accomplishment and pleasure. I noticed the same thing happens when I play League of Legends. I can rickroll people until they /surrender, but the only games I actually have vivid remembrance of are when I’m dead for half the match. Doesn’t that just seem stupid? I wouldn’t call myself a pessimist by any means, but losses just seem to impact me more than victories do. Why is it that humans, not just in the gaming world but in life as a whole, only seem to focus on the negative? Is there a way to stop ourselves from doing so? I mean sure, I could through sheer willpower force myself to find every silver lining, but why can’t I just do that naturally? Have you come across this feeling lately? If so, how did you handle it?
Why didn’t I write that?!?
Feb 7th
Haven’t done one of these in a while, and I noticed that as I went through my reader’s backlog of posts, I keep seeing the same blogs over and over. I love what I’ve got on there, but I think it’s time to expand a bit. So, does anyone have any blogs that you don’t see on our blogroll (the dropdown thingy on the top bar of the website) which I should be reading? I’m open for all kinds of gaming blogs, even game specific! Drop the links in the comments and I’ll check them out. But enough of that, now is the time for some blog love!
Syp collects a freak show of MMO player races
Dickie likes being an asshole Recon in Global Agenda!
Rog talks a bit about WoW clones
Keen points out a problem Cryptic has
and finally, Syncaine gives his one year review of Darkfall
Enjoy!
Good or bad, I want to go back to Rapture
Feb 6th
There are a handful of games coming out or are already out this year that I am extremely excited about. One of them hits stores (and Steam) next week and that’s Bioshock 2. With trying to finish off Mass Effect before picking up Mass Effect 2 in between play sessions of Global Agenda, I have a bit too much on my gaming plate to pick it up at launch, but I intend to as soon as I can. I absolutely adored the first game. The environment and story were like rich chocolaty blinders to the rough nougat center of game play. Oh so tasty, but would have been epic if that nougat was replaced with smooth caramel. Mmmmmm.
I’m not big on games that try to scare you or creep you out, but Bioshock, whether 2K Games were trying to or not, was able to do both at times while still keeping me glued. Even with the less than perfect ending to an otherwise brilliant game, it seemed odd to most that they would revisit it. I’ll admit, there was a little nerd rage in the pit of my belly when I found out they were making a sequel. But the more I see of Bioshock 2, the more I want to step foot back into Rapture. My love for the game’s setting overpowers any thought of how it might be butchered. It’s one of those titles that I’m a complete sucker for, and even if the second title turns out to be awful, I’d still buy a third. But, I can understand why some people may be miffed. Jordan Thomas recently spoke with Destructoid about this, and here’s a slice of what he said:
“Well, since the early days, I’ve been candid with the team about the fact that no matter what we finally produced, we had to be comfy with the idea that a lot of people would disagree with our core creative choices — internally and externally,” he explains. “For a lot of people, the idea of a sequel to BioShock will always be an abstract ideal, against which any physical experience (with realistic limits) must pale. It’s the nature of fan enthusiasm, I think, to hold a special place in our hearts for things that are novel, and originality certainly drove the first game’s success.
I especially love the last sentence of that statement. It really applies to any form of entertainment doesn’t it? You can play game after game, read book after book, watch movie after movie but when you find that one that really strikes a chord with you; you don’t want to see anything happen to make that experience become impure.
You can read the rest of Destructoid’s article here.
Another great video from Aiiane!
Feb 5th
In this one, she demonstrates the Robotics class playing a round of Demolition, otherwise known as “capture the robot”. Great stuff again Aiiane!!
Global Agenda Tips: Assault Class part 2
Feb 5th
Back by popular demand (okay, just Dean), it’s another episode of GAT! Where I wax intellectual about how I play Global Agenda. Last time, I dropped some mad knowledge of pretty standard stuff I do which can be applied to pretty much any class, thus making the title of the last article pretty pointless. But this time I have a few quick tips that really only apply to the Assault class. Again, these may be things you already do, or they may not even help you. They’re just a few things I do that help my game. I’m like a shitty magician giving away his secrets….before being mauled by the tiger.
Prepping the minigun (and being prepared to bail) – If you are using the mini (or chain) gun with your assault class, you’ve noticed by now that you have two ways to fire the thing. The primary fire (left click) allows you to move, but at a slower speed, and a sacrifice to the amount of power it consumes. The alternate fire (right click) makes you stand in place like a turret, but it heavily reduces the amount of power consumption, allowing you to fire for quite a while. I rarely use the primary fire. I almost religiously use the secondary fire and I do so for two reasons. First, I can get more shots off. Secondly, if I get into a situation where I need to remove myself from the action, having more power will allow you to move further with the jetpack. There’s rarely been a situation where being able to move with the mingun has outweighed the risk of not having enough power to bail out on a sticky spot. Now, one little trick with either firing method is charging the gun. Like in any shooter (and in real life) the chain style weapon has a charge time. What I do is start the charge while in cover (if applicable). I’ve noticed from the moment you begin to hold down on the trigger, you can walk about 3 or 4 steps before getting either slowed by primary fire, or stuck in place by the secondary fire. So with practice, you can time your steps right and begin firing as soon as you show your presence around a corner. This comes in handy a bunch with the next tip.
Emp + minigun = dead turret – One part of my arsenal that I sometimes sweat over until the cooldown timer is done is the EMP grenade. I rarely use it against people though. I almost exclusively keep it around to take out robotic turrets. These things are a huge pain in my ass. I’ve gone some missions doing almost nothing but pissing off Robotics players. So how do you take down a turret? Well, how do I at least? If you see one in a spot that you can’t drop in behind (they can’t see you coming from the back) then pop in, toss an EMP grenade, and get ready to prep your minigun. Once you see the damage numbers flash on your screen, indicating that your nade went “boom”, start moving back around the corner and concentrate your fire on the already wounded turret. Yes, sometimes a robotics player will be able to heal their turret back up. But I’ve found that nine out of ten times, they won’t. This may change over time as more Robotics people learn the class, but for now, I’m happy to be taking out turrets and making their lives hell.
People Watching
Feb 4th
Do you ever people watch? You know, going to the mall and while you are taking a seat while your kids drown themselves in the fountain collecting money for daddy so he can play at the arcade, you take notice of others actions? From the outset, that seems kindof creepy, I know. Maybe it’s because I used to work at the mall, and during slow times, I would have little else to do but watch the mall traffic through the store windows. It was occasionally a nice self check. You could see someone airing their grievances, whether verbally or physically, in the public domain and consider how that looks to others, thus maybe preventing yourself from doing it later in life.
Now, have you ever people watched in game? Sitting in a major city or hub and watched as other run about or yell profanities at each other, kind of the same thing as real life right? I’ve noticed in Global Agenda, I have less time to sit and people watch, and when I do, there’s really not much to look at, other than the one difference that online people watching has with real people watching; Names. In real life, you don’t know everyone’s name; you just see these nameless collections of cells and synapses. Everyone, well, mostly everyone, is at that place in time for a purpose, and how they all move about and react to their environment is based on needs or wants and social experience (or lack thereof). In gaming, quite the same, but people are tagged. By themselves no less.
So it has made some of us here at Multiplaying very curious, when in a game like Global Agenda, when you are stuck with the one name you choose across all your characters, why you would make certain choices. When the only interesting thing to watch about someone in a game is their title, you start to take notice of the pseudonyms used. Some names are rather unoriginal (like Slurm) while others are just a mish-mash of alpha-numeric characters that make no sense. It can be rather amusing to sit back and read the names some people come up with, and makes me wonder how our social interactions would change if people in real life had their given names spelled out for all passers by to see. Would certain names prompt reactive feelings based on previous experiences? Would this evolve into a society where we name ourselves at some point in life as to not be stuck with a socially unacceptable name?
I think I would like to be xXSlurm68+1Xx…..yeah, looks good on a business card.
Mass Effect: Trying to keep my homie alive
Feb 3rd
So, this past weekend I got to a point in Mass Effect where Wrex, the loveable rascal, gets a bit huffy with a decision I made. Something about a cure for his dying race blah blah the guy we were trying to kill has a cure yadda yadda, whatever. The problem is, I like Wrex. I’m playing through Mass Effect much like the white knight I am in real life (sarcasm!). Nearly full Paragon (“nearly” meaning I made some smartass choices that knocked my Renegade status up a notch). That means I’m the classic “good guy”. The typical hero, the Captain Kirk, the Michael Knight, the Hermes Conrad….if you will. Wrex is the Billy Badass of the bunch. He doesn’t like taking crap from people, and would rather shoot his way through most situations. He’s my complete opposite in every way but he completes me. He’s like my wife.
So after getting him all riled up, I attempt to bring him down, but fail to the point where Ashley (who will be from here on out known as Toiletface) has to step in and shoot the guy in the back like the coward she is.
Now this brings up two things. First off, my optional responses after Toiletface puts a cap in Wrex are hilariously awful. I can either say, “Yo, bout time”, “Oh snap, thanks for getting my back, I ‘bout went to see Elizabeth”, or…and this is the worst of all, “Why the hell did you do that?!” The third one isn’t bad from the initial response, it’s bad because the aftershock response that Shepard gives after Toiletface explains it was either Wrex died or he would’ve shot me is classic Brady Bunch: “Ok, just don’t do it again”. What the hell?!? She just up and blasted the dude while I was negotiating with him and the worst reaction I can give her is “Just don’t do it again?” Okay sir, I won’t shoot Wrex again…damn you Toiletface.
The second thing this brought up is a personal choice I had to make. Do I go on and live out my choice, or do I go back and try to save him? I was torn, but I knew that if I had the option to somehow keep him alive, I would’ve taken it. After looking it up online (which I hate myself for), I found out my problem was simply not doing enough side quests to boost my paragon to the level which would allow me a secondary chat option that would’ve kept my homeboy alive.
So that’s where I’m at with this game that everyone has moved on from at this point. I’m sure you were interested to hear about it. I’ll be covering how I made it through the really hard parts of Tetris next.
Aaahhh blocks falling from the sky….
Run…
