Erathoniel's Musings

Ok, I've been playing a lot of awesome old stuff like Sonic Adventure DX (from Gamer's Gate), Gear Head, and Borderlands, so I don't really have a lot of review stuff, and indeed, I don't think I've played anything *new* this week enough to review it (though I did get Humble Indie Bundle 3, and I've been enjoying the horrendously difficult VVVVVV).

OpenClonk is probably the newest development I've seen, though. I've played it before, but not for a good while. It's gotten a lot better since, since I played it around the first announcement (at which it was just Open, and not really Clonk), and I have to say it's enjoyable. There's still some glitches, but you can play a tower-defense-sorta-kinda-maybe-without-the-towers-but-defending-windmills-with-bows-and-muskets multiplayer mode, as well as king of the hill and races (one of which is on rockets!). It's a lot of fun, though there's not much for single player. If you think you have what it takes, it is open source and it aims to be modifiable, so you could make your own levels

Unfortunately, I'm not gonna have much time to write this week, and I haven't had much time to write, so this is gonna be a little short.

I got Dungeons of Dredmor a while back, and I've been messing around in the dungeon and having a bunch of fun.

I'm a roguelike fan, so I'm used to all the challenges that come with them. DoD is pretty similar in terms of difficulty, but there are accessibility allowances like low difficulty or turning off permadeath.

There's no class system- you pick skills at the start. This is a little bit painful at the start because you don't know exactly what you're choosing, but it gets better later on as you've learned what works and what doesn't.

The graphics are reminiscent of old-timey games, and they're quite good if you overlook the fact that it's not 2560x1280 or some giant resolution with full anti-aliasing and bloom with high-poly 3d models. It's all pixel art, but it's well done. There's a focus on tongue in cheek humor that makes the game a lot more fun, and there's cultural references almost everywhere. The items and creatures you encounter often have some description that's amusing. Gameplay is a little simple for a roguelike, but there's a lot of numbers that come together to do the work, and there's obviously hidden details powering the system. You can enchant almost anything to make it more powerful, which helps make favorite items even more favorite.

Dungeons of Dredmor is one of those fun cheap games, and it could shine either as a coffee break game (should you have the appropriate amount of discipline) or one of those "9 PM-5 AM" games that keep you up overnight.

    I've been a long-term fan of the Mount & Blade series. I've played since the original game (IIRC, before TaleWorlds got set up with a publisher), so I've seen it all before. I've played probably dozens of mods, and enjoyed most of them. But that's aside the point.

    With Fire And Sword is the newest addition to the series. It's got a relatively simple premise- it takes place in a "historical fiction" world with superpowers fighting in Europe some time after the invention of gunpowder. Everyone worth their salt has muskets and fancy stabby stuff. It mandates a slight change in strategy from the earlier games. No longer does mid-range armor really make a difference (what's armor to a bullet?), though the really heavy stuff pays off quite nicely. Horses are useful, but with muskets you can't count on making it to the other end of the battlefield if you're facing a lot of foes.

    It's a lot like earlier mods that add in muskets, but as a general rule much better in quality. There's multiplayer, but for the most part it's a medieval Counter-Strike style thing. It's fun if you like the gameplay, and also if you've got friends (or enjoy bots), but it gets old quickly (though I did play a lot of Warband multiplayer). The advent of gunpowder means that multiplayer rounds end with you dead a lot more than they used to, because skill doesn't help you avoid bullets nearly as much as swords or arrows, meaning it's basically random chance who gets hit.

    That said, some of the new multiplayer mods sound cool, but evidently one of the latest updates really messed them up, so I haven't been able to try them.

    The graphics are a mix of good and meh, but there's not really anything eyegougingly bad, just some stuff that shows that the trees are still the same. Of course, the game doesn't run perfectly on my rather lackluster system, so it may look better on higher settings, but the gameplay really sells the deal here. I mean, it's not ugly, but the graphics are not necessarily top-budget blockbuster (which also helps them feel real, since evidently top-budget means brown). At least the graphics are colorful and inviting.

    The music is a mixed bag. There's a lot of stuff I've heard through more or less every Mount & Blade installment, so I'm not necessarily dying to hear it again, but there's a lot of new songs built around the same motif, so you know it's Mount & Blade but it's also got a new feel. I like it.

    There is a storyline, but I've never followed it. Apparently it's based off a series of novels (or a novel, I'm not quite sure). I've typically been more involved raiding, looting, and pillaging either on my own or as a Swede (which means no storyline, since only three of the five factions get one). However, you get a Steam Achievement for following storylines or conquering the whole world, depending on storyline availability, so that's fair.

    It's not too expensive, it won't break your budget, and it's really, really awesome. If you haven't played With Fire And Sword, you may wanna get it, though I haven't heard of mods for it yet, which is a disappointment since Mount & Blade as a s

Ok, I'm gonna finally get around to reviewing things this week (hey, at least it's the right day!). I've been enjoying both Lost Planet 2 for PC (yeah, I know, I'm like the last person on Earth to get games), and Part-Time Gods (unless they're tabletop, since I review for DriveThruRPG).

So, let's see here. Lost Planet 2. It's good, I like it. I've played through it on 360, so my review probably will miss out on some things.