T w e n t y S i d e d
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Please talk among yourselves. I’m sure you can find something to say about this part of the game.
Ruts vs. Battlespire CH25: Things to Do Before You Die
For your next weekend getaway, consider the Chimera of Desolation.
From its charming villas, kept exclusive by a thoughtful plague infestation, to the cozy view distance maintained by a romantic fog, the Chimera of Desolation can be described with one word: exclusive. Get ready for star treatment, because no matter where you roam helpful attendants will be there to personally murder you.
There’s too much in the Chimera to experience in one lifetime–trust us, we’ve tried!–so you better start planning your vacation now. Let’s count down our Top Things to Do While You’re Briefly Surviving Level 5.
Continue reading ⟩⟩ “Ruts vs. Battlespire CH25: Things to Do Before You Die”
This Dumb Industry: 10 Things to do in No Man’s Sky
“There’s nothing to DO in this game!”
People have been saying this a lot about No Man’s Sky. Aside from discussions about the numerical significance of the game’s 18 OMGillion planets, it’s probably the most common comment about the game. I don’t actually want to argue with these people. If you’ve played the game and don’t feel at all compelled to engage with any of the game’s systems, then the game has failed you. That sucks and I’m sorry you’re out sixty American dollars, but that’s not something I can help you with in the space of this column.
Having said that, it does seem like this idea of “There’s nothing to do!” is spreading to people who haven’t played the game. It’s being said often enough that I’m worried people will start to think it’s literally true, that this is nothing more than a game where you walk around and stare at scenery until you get bored. The sad thing is, I think if that were true the game might actually be more fun. The problem isn’t that there’s “nothing” to do, it’s that there are several sets of mechanics to engage with, and none of them really work on their own and their shortcomings often compound one other.
So in the interest of painting a more accurate picture of things for the uninitiated, here are 10 things you can do in No Man’s Sky:
Continue reading ⟩⟩ “This Dumb Industry: 10 Things to do in No Man’s Sky”
Diecast #166: Turing Test, Obduction, Epistory
Hosts: Josh, Rutskarn, Shamus, Campster. Episode edited by Rachel.
Show notes: Continue reading ⟩⟩ “Diecast #166: Turing Test, Obduction, Epistory”
Shamus Plays WoW #1: It’s an Imp’s Life
This series was originally written and published on The Escapist back in 2011, just as World of Warcraft was transitioning to the Cataclysm expansion. World of Warcraft was six years old at the time, which is way past the point where most online games have gone free-to-play and had their player base gradually bleed away. But instead WoW was (and still is) still top dog and outstripping the competition by an order of magnitude.
The Cataclysm expansion wasn't just a couple of new races and a smattering of high-level quests. This was an ambitious re-working of the entire game. It was a chance to update and re-work some of the early zones, which hadn’t really changed since the game launched in 2004. Blizzard had learned a lot over the previous six years, and they were using this update as a chance to apply some of those lessons to the rougher corners of the WoW experience.
Quests were changed, graphics were touched up, and some balance changes were made. The old World of Warcraft was wiped away. Forever. For everyone. If you didn’t get the expansion you couldn’t play as the new races, but you'd still get the new Azeroth.
These first few entries will show WoW just before the update, and then we’ll jump into the Cataclysm version of the world.
In the past I've written these things from the perspective of my character. But this time, we’re going to see the gameworld through the eyes of everyone’s favorite oppressed minorities, demons…
A lot of people have this twisted view of demonic existence. Like, supposedly we sit around all day eating lava and making big piles of skulls. But the truth is that we get to do some pretty awesome stuff and there are a lot of really interesting arts and crafts you can do with skulls. I might be biased, but I’d say mortal worlds are a dump compared to the demonic realms. Check it out:
Continue reading ⟩⟩ “Shamus Plays WoW #1: It’s an Imp’s Life”
Rutskarn’s GMinars CH6: The Gamesbow 1-4
Rather than come up with more fictional tabletop games to explain mechanical paradigms, why don’t we just look at real ones? For the next two weeks I’ll be drawing up a spectrum of RPGs ranging from the rigid and traditional to wobbly and intangible.
Don’t take these as suggestions, per se–I include all of these because they make for a good sampling, not necessarily because I adore them. Whenever available, I’ll include links for legal purchase and download.
MOST TRADITIONAL
1.) BattleTech/MechWarrior (Introduced 1986)
This is the endgame; as far as I’m concerned, this system represents the tip of the creaking, painstakingly riveted tower of objective design. Very little in MechWarrior’s sundry editions is left to the imagination of the storyteller. You will not have to guess where your rocket lands or imagine which systems it damages, or how; all of that will emerge conclusively from an exhaustive cross-referencing of dice and rulebook. RPGs exist that are more minute than this franchise, but I’ve never seen anybody play them on purpose.
It’s not that anything in MechWarrior is particularly realistic. Nothing featuring giant chickenlike mechs is going to pass the snarky twitter test of verisimilitude–and frankly, even if the rules were meant to be realistic, they’re frequently incomplete and confusingly presented. Classically, striking a man-sized object with a mech’s melee weapon is nearly impossible…while stomping on them is an automatic hit and kill. And don’t even think about trying out a character who isn’t perpetually wrapped in Mech–the designers realized halfway through they had to make rules for people like you, and, also, that they really hate you.
Continue reading ⟩⟩ “Rutskarn’s GMinars CH6: The Gamesbow 1-4”
Fallout 4 EP36: Mumblo Number 5
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At nineteen minutes, Rutskarn is quoting Deus Ex: The Recut, which I’ve nearly committed to memory from repeated viewings. It’s one of those things where I’m not even sure why it’s funny. Like, even the parts where they simply repeat Deus Ex dialog verbatim take on this strange sense of deadpan madness.
From The Archives:
Playstation 3
What was the problem with the Playstation 3 hardware and why did Sony build it that way?
Top 64 Videogames
Lists of 'best games ever' are dumb and annoying. But like a self-loathing hipster I made one anyway.
Pixel City Dev Blog
An attempt to make a good looking cityscape with nothing but simple tricks and a few rectangles of light.
Silver Sable Sucks
This version of Silver Sable is poorly designed, horribly written, and placed in the game for all the wrong reasons.
Starcraft: Bot Fight
Let's do some scripting to make the Starcraft AI fight itself, and see how smart it is. Or isn't.
Linux vs. Windows
Finally, the age-old debate has been settled.
Mass Effect Retrospective
A novel-sized analysis of the Mass Effect series that explains where it all went wrong. Spoiler: It was long before the ending.
Starcraft 2: Rush Analysis
I write a program to simulate different strategies in Starcraft 2, to see how they compare.
Spoiler Warning
A video Let's Play series I collaborated on from 2009 to 2017.
The Best of 2019
I called 2019 "The Year of corporate Dystopia". Here is a list of the games I thought were interesting or worth talking about that year.