Batman Arkham Origins: Over-Analysis Part 4

By Shamus Posted Monday Dec 16, 2013

Filed under: Batman 54 comments

Yes, we’re still talking about Batman. Remember that it’s not a horrible game, I’m just magnifying its flaws. In fact, I’m not even sure this next bit is criticism or not. There’s something off with the art, and I don’t know if the art is of lower quality, if they shifted the art style, or if I’m just picking up on old existing problems because I’m looking at the game more closely.

I leave the final judgement on this up to the reader. Let’s talk about…

Art Style

I am ANGRYFACE BATMAN.

Really good artists are hard to find. If the style your concept art calls for is (for example) “slightly Frank Miller-ish comic-book with a dash of Bladerunner”, then you need a team of accomplished artists to pull it off. Art teams these days are big, and the larger the team gets the harder it is to get enough people that can nail a really specific point on the stylistic spectrum. It’s even harder when you consider that most artists are youngsters who are paid crap. (I’m not suggesting this is the case with WBGM. I know nothing about the inner workings of the company.)

But while stylistic nuances are hard to get right, just about all the artists at least have technical proficiency. They might not be able to create “an Arabian Nights-themed techno-fortress of the future”, but if they know how to use their tools they should at least be able to make basic real-world stuff.

This is probably why so many games are ending up in the photorealism rut. While Rocksteady gave the first two Arkham games a slightly comic style, I think WBGM has moved closer to reality for Origins. Compare Bane:

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Aunty Paladin: Games List, Contest Winners

By Rutskarn Posted Sunday Dec 15, 2013

Filed under: Tabletop Games 12 comments

Rutskarn here–I’ll keep this brief, because I am up to my unmentionables in equipment to unpack, characters to roll, and AV systems to set up for this year’s grueling Aunty Paladin. Just thought I’d pop in and whet y’all’s appetites for the live gaming goodness to come.

I’ll get to the winners of the choose my character/design an adventure contest in a minute. First, a short (and totally incomplete) list of games I’ll be running or participating in with some idea of when they’ll happen. We can’t schedule accurately too far in advance, so if you want specific details on when some of these adventures are going to run, stay tuned to the website or the twitter feed (@AuntyPaladin).

Return to the Tomb of Horrors: A handful of foolhardy men and women go up against the sequel to the most dangerous module ever published. Starts at 7PM PST every day of the marathon until we win or die, whichever comes first. Spoiler: it’s the first one.

Aunty’s Little Helpers: We’ll be running a Pathfinder dungeon playing characters (created by other cast members) based on ourselves. The drama! The pageantry! 4PM PST Monday, Wednesday, Friday.

Highlander FATE: A Fate game based on the Highlander mythos, complete with flashbacks, immortal duels, and drama, drama, drama. Time not yet determined, probably later on.

I’ll Never Love Again: A grim, noveau-western drama of convicts and pastors set in an unnamed small town in the American south. Designed by Rutskarn to use the Fiasco rules and playsets. Time not yet determined, probably Thursday.

Durance: This story-heavy narrative game gives each player two characters: one part of a ruthless prison planet’s administration, the other a beleaguered and dangerous inmate. One character will be towards the top of the hierarchy; the other, that many steps towards the bottom. Each character has one rule they’ll never, ever break; the game won’t end until half the character have broken those rules or died. Runs after Return to the Tomb of Horrors Monday night, probably around Midnight PST.

Unrest: An official (but non-spoiler and non-canon) game based on the upcoming CRPG Unrest. Run by Rutskarn, the lead writer. Look for this one some time Wednesday.

Paranoia: Everyone’s favorite mandatory fun-time dark humor dystopian roleplaying game. We won’t spoil anything, but let’s just say we hope you have your papers in order. Time TBA.

The Official Sailor Moon Roleplaying Game: Fuck you, Kamen. Time TBA.

Aunty’s Revenge: Nick’s put us through a lot of RPG-related misery. This year, we found the most confusing (but innocuous) clusterfrag of a system the internet had to offer, and come Thursday AM he’s going to have to learn the rules and run it for us with very little preparation. What system is it, you ask? Stay tuned. We’ll spring the system on him at 12:45 AM PST, then we’ll play something else while he pores through the document, descending deeper into madness with every baffling table and block of unreadable flavor text. Character creation begins at 4:00 PM.

…and many, many more.

Now for the contest winners:

Continue reading ⟩⟩ “Aunty Paladin: Games List, Contest Winners”

 


 

Hangout BEGIINNNN 12/13

By Mumbles Posted Friday Dec 13, 2013

Filed under: Notices 16 comments

It’s time for a hangout. We’re probably playing Chivalry!

Click HEEREEE TO WATCH

here have a sexy wrestler have three

 


 

Hangout December the 13th: FRIDAY THE 13TH OH NO

By Mumbles Posted Friday Dec 13, 2013

Filed under: Notices 35 comments

Tonight, December the 13th at 7:30 Pacific Standard (Californian) time, Josh and I will be doing a hangout. Who do I mean by I? Well, it’s me. Mumbles. There might be guest stars. There might be drunk gaming. The only thing we really know is that it’ll be a lot of making fun of Josh.

Come see what horrible shenanigans we can get up to on a Friday the 13th! Have a fun night of watching someone play video games whilst chatting with other video game enthusiasts. A post will go up when we start streaming with links, free food and pictures of hot wrestlers. Okay, mostly hot wrestlers.

 


 

Diecast #38: Frozen, No Man’s Sky, and Rambling

By Shamus Posted Wednesday Dec 11, 2013

Filed under: Diecast 138 comments

We usually do a little warm-up before the show. We talk for a bit and get our brains thinking about games. But about ten minutes into the warm-up we realized we were basically doing the show, so we started recording. No plan. No designated host. No timer. The result is two hours of rambling and confusion.

You’re welcome.

Download MP3 File
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Hosts: Rutskarn, Josh, Chris, and Shamus.

Show notes:

Continue reading ⟩⟩ “Diecast #38: Frozen, No Man’s Sky, and Rambling”

 


 

Batman Arkham Origins: Over-Analysis Part 3

By Shamus Posted Tuesday Dec 10, 2013

Filed under: Batman 61 comments

I want to stress that the game isn’t nearly as bad as it might seem in these first three entries. Remember that we’re deliberately zooming in on stuff that WBGM changed and seeing how it worked and how it compared to the original Arkham Games.

Last time we talked about a change that probably resulted from giving the same task to a different art team. This time we’re talking about a change that someone made on purpose…

Combat

A mook, thoughtfully telegraphing his attack.

The core gameplay of the Arkham series involves large brawls against groups of mooks. You hit a guy, then spin-kick the guy behind you, then punch the guy behind him, then stun a forth, then back to the first guy for a follow-up. The longer you chain strikes together, the faster you go and the more damage you do. If you stop moving or someone hits you, then the combo is broken and you have to start over. It’s trivial to build up a big combo in the early stages of the game when you can punch dudes in any order, but then you start running into special foes. A guy with body armor needs to be stunned before you can strike him. A guy with a shield can only be attacked by jumping on his head. A guy with a stun baton can only be attacked from behind. If you fail at any of these and attack somebody in the wrong way, your combo ends and Batman slows down.

And then there’s countering. In order to keep the combo going, you have to counter incoming attacks. When a mook is about to hit you, warning lines appear over his head. You have about a second to hit the counter button, which will cause Batman to block and counter-attack the mook. If you’re too slow, you get hit. Batman can do this counter at any time. Even if he’s winding up to punch some else, he’ll interrupt that attack to do the counter. One of the great achievements of the Batman series is that this transition looks pretty seamless.

Except…

Continue reading ⟩⟩ “Batman Arkham Origins: Over-Analysis Part 3”

 


 

Uncle Rutskarn Says: It’s Time to Get Hyped for Aunty Paladin

By Rutskarn Posted Monday Dec 9, 2013

Filed under: Tabletop Games 94 comments

Aunty’s Back With a Vengeance

Hey everyone, it’s Rutskarn, and I think we can agree I don’t spend nearly enough time sleep-deprived and humiliated in front of an international audience. This is a problem some of my cooler friends share, and the reason we’ve decided to hold the third annual Aunty Paladin RPG and Kid-Helping Extravaganza–the best reason to use the internet since Ebay ran out of Ernest Borgnine memorabilia. The stream launches at 8:00 AM PST, December 16th, and will be going until…well, that’s up to you.

There’ll be another post later on talking about some of the games we’ll play, but there are some orders of business to take care of right now. First I’ll explain what Aunty Paladin is, just in case this is your first rodeo. If you were around the past two years, you can skip that part. Secondly, I’ll announce the contest that all of you should be entering into right now. Thirdly, I’ll give everyone a chance to jointly and democratically screw me over in the manner of your choosing. Finally, I’ll tell you how to make me love you with undying, tender, optionally-platonic passion. And on that sobering note, let’s begin.

What is Aunty Paladin? Can I Eat It?

Continue reading ⟩⟩ “Uncle Rutskarn Says: It’s Time to Get Hyped for Aunty Paladin”