In the wild, mouse at the ready, hunting down links
Iton Vudtharlibash, expedition leader is throwing a tantrum! Iton Vudtharlibash, expedition leader has calmed down.
Iton Vudtharlibash, Glassmaker cancels Drink: Went insane. Iton Vudtharlibash, Glassmaker has gone berserk!
Alath Thakcatten, Fisherdwarf cancels Drink: Interrupted by Glassmaker.
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– Tuesday, September 21, 2010
When others play Dwarf Fortress, it usually results in epic tales of tragedy recalling Balin’s ill-fated attempt to retake Moria. When I play Dwarf Fortress, it generates surreal Beat poetry about animal abuse.
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– Wednesday, September 15, 2010
It’s a little known fact Panzer General, that classic turn-based PC wargame released by SSI in 1994, was actually inspired by a Sega Genesis game, Daisenryaku. In High Score! The Illustrated History of Electronic Games, Johnny L. Wilson noted SSI’s designers admired the Japanese console game’s fluid gameplay and the emotional hook of shepherding a core group of units from battle to battle. Those elements would naturally be emphasised in Panzer General then later refined in the 1997 sequel, Panzer General II. Both titles are not only considered classics of their genre but are among the best PC games ever released.
(Over a decade later, Firaxis will pay Panzer General the ultimate compliment by incorporating its gameplay elements into the latest Civilization title.)
The Panzer General games are primarily notable for being wargames for the masses. The grognards had computer equivalents to their impenetrable, persnickety boardgames, of course — players of Gary Grigsby’s Pacific War were known to consult a two-page checklist before making each move — but it took a while for wargames to become accessible enough to appeal to the mainstream gamer.
The Panzer General games were certainly easy to get into but crucially, this accessibility was achieved without making the game shallow. Fiddly, extraneous details may have been simplified, consolidated or expunged but make no mistake, punching through defensive lines to capture objectives deep within enemy territory will still ultimately require tactical nous and canny use of materiel.
Continued…
Posted in Games, Good Old Games.
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– Monday, September 6, 2010
You begin Oblivion incarcerated in a tiny cell in the Imperial City prison. What exactly were you guilty of? Pickpocketing? Bewitching merchants to get a discount? Disturbing public order by obsessively casting Bound Dagger in town in order to raise your Conjuration stat? No one seems to know and, oddly, no one seems to care.
The taunts of a fellow prisoner still ringing in your ears, you take stock of your situation. A thin mat on a hard stone bed. A jug and a cup, neither of which contains any Lipton Yellow Label. A battered stool and a small table. Some bones to remind you of your bleak future.
Ah, but what’s this? Three guards and an old man enter the cell. Wait, these are no mere prison guards; they’re Blades, members of that ancient and secretive order of knights sworn to protect … that old man … by the divines, is that the Emperor himself?
Continued…
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– Tuesday, August 17, 2010
Oblivion, like Morrowind before it, has a great modding community dedicated to altering and improving the game experience in a variety of ways. There are a great many mods to choose from. In fact, there might be too many. There’s more than one Oblivion mod specifically created to organise mods and there’s even an unofficial patch for the unofficial patch — yes, mods for mods — all of which must be carefully installed in a very specific manner to avoid sundering the ancient barriers between our world and the eldritch planes, resulting in a demonic invasion that will see the end of mankind, or more horrifically, game progress being lost in a crash to the desktop.
I was content playing the vanilla game for my first playthrough. Contrary to histrionic claims Oblivion was broken and needed mods to be functional, the game is actually perfectly playable without them. I finished the main storyline without any user-created content and was mostly satisfied with the experience. There are a couple of things the new player should be made aware of, however.
Continued…
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– Sunday, August 15, 2010
