Talking About Tactics Games

A little bit of a departure, though very much deserving of a post on this blog. I'll come back to more Windows 8 review in a while; I figure I'd do more of a "1 month later" review and cover a few more topics I think are important as far as navigating around and playing with an operating system. Today, I wanted to get a little bit of an idea out there on the topic of tactics games. I'm sure you've all played them, or at the very least have heard of them. For reference, some of my favorite tactics games out there (though the list of which I've gone through is far longer than this): Disgaea, Final Fantasy Tactics, Ogre Battle, Vandal Hearts, Suikoden, and Shining Force.

Just a few broad ideas to be thrown out here, and I'm curious to hear your ideas too. So shout out in the comments if you feel like talking about this. I was just recently asked to name one thing I love about tactics games they all have in common, one thing I really dislike about them, and one thing I wish they could implement or improve on when it came to tactics games. So here that goes. After the jump.

Pretty damned ashamed I didn't include a picture of Shining Force II before this edit.
My bad, favorite tactics game of my childhood. My bad completely.

Windows 8 First Look Review - Part 1

Yes yes. In a land of the internet where everyone has opinions and reviews, mine is coming sort of late. But that's ok, because I know that only a small portion of my friends have Windows 8 and the larger majority of them probably haven't even bothered to think about upgrading their OS yet. I sort of did it at a whim and I wanted to give myself a full 10 days or so before I gave my full-out opinion on it.

Now, before I begin, let me explain how I generally use my computer. When I'm at home, I generally am not so much a "power-user". That is to say, I don't do any hardcore benchmark testing, I don't do graphic design work, I'm not programming anything, there are no models rendering in the background while I'm doing other things. No. I very much do "normal" stuff. I'll watch some movies. I tool around on youtube. I watch streams on twitch.tv. I jot down some mental notes on notepad or Word. I keep track of deck ideas for MtG in excel. I game. I game on Cockatrice, MtGO, and any other game I feel like playing at the time whether it's some MMO, FPS, RPG, or what have you. And then I surf through facebook and check emails and listen to music on Spotify. I feel like I'm a fairly average geek-type normal computer user. More of the review to follow after the jump.

Salami Tactics

And here is where I start to blur into a slightly different topic of my interest that many people may or may not know about me. Social engineering. Now, before I go any further here, let it be known that I write this post with a decent amount of hesitation. And here's why. It's not like I'm any sort of a social engineering expert. Not by a large margin. But I'd argue that among my group of friends, I'm probably the most qualified to give it a shot. Second, a lot of you gamers out there who I essentially intend to be my target audience for the most part likely don't care about this topic (though I will be tying it into gaming so don't you fret). And lastly, the more I actually reveal about social engineering, the more people can start to really understand how I interact with people. Not to say that I'm trying to manipulate all the time, but every interaction I have with anyone else is admittedly a calculation on my part that can be broken down and analyzed. That's just how I am and to have people understand that side of me leaves me pretty vulnerable. But on the flipside, this one blog post isn't going to be totally self-revealing in any such way so it's only a small sliver of a bigger picture.

Now, if I'm right about the demographic of people that would generally be viewing my blog anyway, I'd say that most of you gamer geeks out there could really take something out of the discussion of social engineering. Don't lie. Though the stereotypical geek has come a heckuva long way from even half a decade ago, there's still this stigma that's attached to a very real (mostly intrinsic) feeling that a lot of geeks are only comfortable around other people of the same geekdom caliber. Out in public where not everyone knows what a Magic card is, how exactly they should prioritize rotation to maximize dps, or even who shot first, some geeks have a hard time fitting in. I think my biggest pet peeve are those that are entirely socially inept. This is probably because since high school, it has always been my goal to be something of a social chameleon, which is likely too far to the opposite side of the spectrum that most people care to be on.

If everything I've said so far is complete jabberwocky, then feel free to stop here and go about your day. Otherwise, talking about salami tactics and what it has to do with gaming after the jump.

Not A "WoW Killer"

I was thinking about this recently. Any time another somewhat-innovative MMORPG comes out, it automatically gets put up into this virtual cage match with the current heavyweight champion that's held the belt for a decade now. tSW, LotRO, DDO, SWtoR, and now ESO - Elder Scrolls Online. Will it be the next "WoW Killer"? We use this term as if to say that in this cage match, only one game comes out on top as the new champion while the other limps back from the bowels of game design where it came from, bleeding and shaming all of the developers that put hours of work into the game. Realistically though. Honestly, no game is ever going to be a WoW Killer.

World of Warcraft has made its claim on the territory of gaming in the MMO world. When WoW came out, no one had to explicity say - "Is this going to be the Ultima Online Killer?" Or "Is this going to be the Everquest Killer?" It actually just wasn't a big deal. These games were niche games and the following has embedded into the population of gamers that already knew where their loyalties were. That being said WoW has experienced, at it's peak, the highest level of unique subscribers out of any MMORPG ever created - and this number has beaten out the next competitor in line by at least double. And what we're hearing now is that some people are saying that "WoW is falling." WoW is not falling. WoW now just caters to a completely different crowd than it did during it's first initial launch.

And so we come to the crux of this post's title. Realistically, most everyone who is actually interested in having whatever next game come out be a WoW Killer is already not playing WoW. Most gamers that have recognized the flaws in the WoW design and development over time have already jumped ship. Everyone knows it, and it isn't exactly the smallest and most quiet elephant in the room as proved by the falling subscription numbers for the game. So what are these gamers looking for? Not a WoW Killer. What they're actually looking for is the next WoW. Sure, perhaps some people actually have some deep-rooted hatred for what WoW has become and actually want to see it burn and crash. But for most of us, we're good with just letting that body rot slowly and moving on to the next best thing. We want a game that feels new and exciting and challenging, while immersing us into the game the same way WoW originally did when it first came out and all these gamers started playing it.

So to those of us who are still saying on a whim that ESO is going to be a WoW Killer -- and this even included me this morning -- let's take a step back and realize that WoW's not going anywhere. And that we should be ok with this, because at it's core it isn't trying to take over the gaming world. WoW isn't evil. It just isn't for us anymore. And for those of you who still play and love WoW, I'm ok with that too. No hard feelings, it's just not where a lot of us are spending our time anymore; Azeroth be damned. And honestly, as a gamer, I'm not even sure if I care to have whatever game I play be a heavy-hitting champion. I'm happy so long as whatever game I choose to spend my time on is a good game. A game that I enjoy and get entertainment out of. For those that are interested in what game(s) these are, I'm currently getting more and more stoked seeing content coming out of ESO from reviewers and youtube videos. And I'm currently still playing The Secret World. Feel free to shout out in the comments.

ArcheAge? Should We Bother?

Today I'm going to talk about a sandbox MMORPG that got put on my radar. ArcheAge. Haven't heard of it? Fantastic, have a gander here before you keep reading.

Now. First thoughts? Worth it? Worth it to even keep on your radar? Leave your thoughts in the comments. My opinion after the jump.

Magic Phantom Events

I'm back. I can't necessarily explain to you or describe exactly why I went on a long hiatus; I think that can literally take a post all by itself. Most of it though is just that it isn't important... or at all interesting. So instead, I come back with some controversial idea. Not so much the idea itself being controversial, but just something that I myself haven't been able to peg my own feelings about.

 
First and foremost, let me say that this topic is based around an event that happens on Magic Online. There's already a garbage ton of content I can get into regarding just paper magic versus Magic Online, but that's not really what I'm here to talk about, because I've already talked about it. There are already enough reasons to love/hate Magic Online. Let's say, just for the sake of argument, that we're all ok with Magic Online and it is an avenue that we can walk down without shoving one another around. Next topic.

Phantom Events. Now, there's a plethora of "stuff" one can do on Magic Online. For the most part, you can partake in as little or as much content on Magic Online as you can do in paper magic, but the potential to play whatever you feel like whenever you feel like playing it sort of jumps through the roof. I'm not going to go much further down this line of thought, because that just pushes us into sounding like I'm giving pros/cons about MtGO. Now, on modo (I guess the 'hipster' way of spelling and saying 'MtGO', but everyone does it, so there that is) you can spend a heckuva lot of money doing pretty cool things. Let's say you're into limited formats. Well, drafting or playing sealed can happen pretty much any time of day, firing off on average every 10 minutes or so. Yeah. That's a lot of Magic happening. It's also a lot of money, if you think about the cost of 3 booster packs and a $2 entry fee every time. Worse is when you want to play sealed, using 6 booster packs. Overall, every event has a cost and everyone has different reasons for playing in different types of events, not only for what the event is, but cost evaluation and fun to be had as well as prize layouts, etc.

So now, let's back up to this idea of Phantom Events. Basically, it is this. What if I said to you:
Hey! Guess what? For $4, I can get you into a sealed tournament. That means you get 6 booster packs to build a deck out of and then play against other people in this tournament of 8 people. There will be a total of 3 rounds. The only catch is that you don't get to keep any of the cards from the packs after you're done with the tournament. Instead, the tournament pays out prizes like this. If you win 2/3 rounds, you get 1 booster pack. If you win the tournament (3/3 rounds), you get 3 booster packs.

That's a Phantom Event. You don't get to keep the 'ghost cards' after the event is done. So. With that being said, what do you think? More after the jump.

Magic the Gathering Online

EDITOR'S NOTE: I haven't actually really given much thought about this blog for a long time... And upon coming back, I've noticed that I had this old post that I never actually published. So... this is coming from you from way back in September. But I liked it enough to not just scrap it, so... here it is!

As I live fairly far away from my friends now, one of my most time-consuming hobbies has essentially come to an end. And not just due to distance and proximity, but also due to some financial status as we all know hobbies of any sort tend to eat up. I can strictly say that while I've taken a hiatus from Magic for a full six months now, that I know deep down I'll never ever be "done" with the game. It's not a game I really feel the need to "quit forever." I don't think it is a hobby which depreciates any part of my life and even though I am married, I don't feel like it is an activity which takes time away from my responsibilities and priorities. My wife will always come first. I understand that, and it is not a dispute I would ever question.

I miss the game. Luckily for me, more than the game itself, I love game theory and strategy. So I can still partake in expanding and growing myself through reading articles whenever I feel like. Still, reading about the theory and strategy behind plays goes only so far, until the need takes over where you really want to sit yourself down and apply that theory and strategy to the game itself. One of my good friends Dylan, whom I talk Magic strategy with said to me the other day: "The game's already played in the theory 90% of the time". I love that. I don't know how much I can attest to that, but just that thought makes me smile as I can probably write a long post on that quote alone.

So with all of that aside, I think I will slowly get back into the game. And all the while, I'm thinking to myself that I really need people I enjoy the company of to play the game with me. Not that I have a shortage of friends who play the game, but I do have a shortage of friends *nearby* that play the game. There are plenty of players out there who seemingly don't care about the social aspect of the game and enjoy the game for just the challenge and the plethora of obstacles the game itself can produce for personal growth through playing it. I don't think I am one of those people. Yes, I love the game, but no, I would never play the game myself with none of my friends participating, in a tournament where I knew no one. Sure, I'm charismatic enough to make friends as I go, but that's not quite the point.

I fell in love with this game for multiple reasons, some of which I've already covered. I've made a TON of friends through Magic, and friends that I don't doubt will remain my friends long into the future. I play to experience playing with friends. Which brings me now back to the original topic at hand. I'm trying to talk as many of my friends into playing MtGO as I can. There are a lot of pros and cons of course to playing online, but I figure I could close the distance issue if more people I knew were willing to sling Magical cards online instead of in person.

Pros:

• You never have to sort your cards out. Ever. The interface does it for you. Your entire collection, sorted as you like. Filtered as you want to, whenever you want to.
• Single cards are cheaper online than they are in real life. Even when comparison shopping over multiple Magic sites, the digital online version will be cheaper usually by around 15-25%.
• Regardless of how many of the card you have, it can go in multiple decks. That playset of Snapcaster Mage? Put it in 10 decks, without ever having to rip any of those decks apart to get the cards from one into the other.
• Play any time you want. Can't sleep at 1:30 am? No problem. Fire it up and have a game.
• Events going on all the time. Even if you want to get into a draft at 3 am, you can. Tournaments ongoing any time of day, any format you can think of.
• Deck templating and playtesting made very easy. Play a few games, try a different sideboard. Maindeck a few different cards. Repeat. Any time.

Cons:

• If you play Paper Magic (I like "Paper Magic" so much better than "Magic IRL" as far as nomenclature goes), you are essentially splitting your costs of playing and dividing it to Paper Magic and Magic Online. Magic isn't the cheapest hobby out there as it is.
• Depending on how you want to play, there is the hump of the initial investment to get a deck you want to play with.
• Money spent can be deceiving. Whereas participating in a tournament or a draft at a brick and mortar store, you can participate in many different drafts/tournaments in a day, and the expense piles up quicker than you may realize.
• Digital cards you own obviously cannot interact with your paper cards and vice versa. You will own two separate card collections.
• You lose a lot on the social aspect of things. There's no one sitting across the table from you. You don't joke around in the same manner, and you're never playing on the kitchen table with a buddy, sharing some beers and a pizza.
• You lose knowledge in terms of playing across from a human being. Bluffing doesn't work in quite the same way. Facial expressions are lost. It is just you, your plays, and your opponent's plays.

Here's my suggestion for those of you willing to part with some of your Magical funds from paper to digital. Keep in mind how much money you spend on Magic in general. A month. And be honest with yourself and your available funds.