This is a test, more than anything else. Once upon a Time Ashgar acquired ashfang.com because he couldn’t get ashgar.com. Then as he got older and figured out that some things can be obtained for money, he also got ashgar.com.
It’s about time I set up something here that isn’t a redirect.
I’ve talked about quite a few things that I experienced at Pax South, and this mornings post is going to do some more of the same. I feel like this year more than others I walked away with a treasure trove of things I wanted to talk about. I guess in theory it is because I approached the convention significantly differently than I have in past years. In the past I largely only stood in line to play the games that immediately seemed to be in my wheelhouse, and as a result I am sure I robbed myself of a whole slew of interesting things. The game I want to talk about this morning is a prime example of not being able to rely on our instincts and tastes. If you have read my blog for any length of time you will know that I do not handle “finger wigglers” that well… or to clarify my own personal slang… spell casters. So when I walked past a booth demonstrating a game where the main character is slinging spells left and right, my first instinct is to keep moving. However as a group we stopped and listened to the intricate tale that CEO Louis-Félix Cauchon had to weave. Admittedly what make this game so interesting is just how detailed the spell system is. We got to watch a twenty minute demo covering nothing but how the spell system works, before even getting into the awesome pedigree of the storytelling.
Functionally your character has four spells, which in itself doesn’t seem like a lot. However each spell can be modified with what I have been generically calling “mutators” to change the way it responds. So you might have a spell that at face value is a small point blank spark, however by equipping a a behavior you can make it fire out like a fireball… or by equipping an augment you can make it veer to the right after firing it. If you suddenly decide that you don’t want to throw fireballs… but instead iceballs, you can simply go in and change the base element of the attack. Over the course of this demo of the system we got to see personal shields turn into charge attacks, and glorious cascades of rock from the ceiling in place of a traditional blizzard spell. Now you might ask yourself why on each you would need this level of detail for a spell system apart from the simple “wouldn’t it be cool” aspect. Functionally the magic not only serves as a weapon, but also as a complex puzzle system. So there might be switches that you cannot reach unless you modify your fireball to arc in a certain way in order to hit the trigger. The spellbook also allows you to save off several different configurations of a spell, and in the final version you will be able to give them unique names allowing you to quickly recognize which version of a given spell is your avalanche and which is your frost barrier. The only immediate limit to building insane combination spells is your imagination, and of course your mana bar. Each trait that you give a spell increases its cost, and while it was described that this matters less and less as you go through the game… it does limit your early tinkering. Additionally as you play through the game you find modifiers along the way, meaning your palette of abilities starts small and grows as you progress.
Up to this point we have literally just talked about the technical spell casting system, which in itself is a pretty amazing game. On top of this however they have added what is sure to be a pretty great story. Ed Greenwood of Forgotten Realms fame has penned the story for this game about epic spellcasters, which only makes sense given that he gave us the character of Elminster. Functionally I heard the game described as Harry Potter meets Zelda and that seems fitting, with a huge alteration in that there seems to be a lot more physical puzzle solving with your spells. I find it so bizarre though that I am looking forward to the release of a game about magic users, and that includes absolutely zero armor clad characters for me to bash baddies in the head with. At face value this game is traditionally far out of my wheelhouse, but it was also quite possibly the freshest feeling game concept I saw on the Pax floor. We’ve done so much for martial combat and making it feel interesting and nuanced, but have done so little to bring that same level of nuance to weaving complex spells. Most games give us the option of push button throw fireball, or push button create bubble… but this is the first that I have seen that lets you take that bubble and then project it outwards or trigger another spell after the bubble casts. I have this feeling that in many ways it will have an almost metroidvania feel in that each time you unlock a new ability to give you spells it is also going to open up new ways to solve puzzles and allow you to move deeper into the content.
The game right now is targetted for PC, Playstation 4 and Xbox One and does not have a firm launch date… but we heard March or April mentioned which I largely translated into a “Spring” launch window that might be plus or minus a month. They are doing something extremely interesting to get us into the world ahead of the launch by releasing a comic that updates Tuesdays and Thursdays and explains the world and setting. I love it when I experience a game like this, not necessarily because “woo spellcasters” or anything of the sort, but because this is clearly the love child of a bunch of folks who care deeply about it. Talking to Louis-Félix Cauchon within second it was clear to see just how passionate he was about this game, and the work and imagination that went into creating it. That in truth is what makes the convention experience special. You get to meet the creators face to face and see just how much they love what they are doing. In many ways it feels like Pax South recharges the spark inside of me each year, and gives me fuel to keep going throughout the year. We spend so much time on the negatives, the little details that bother us about this game or that. However seeing a game like Mages of Mystralia shows me instantly that there very much still is magic out there… pun only slightly intended. I would definitely add this to your watch list and check it out when it ultimately releases. I find it so bizarre that of all of the games I have experienced, this one ranks insanely high on the list of “wish I had early access” titles, if for no reason other than to play with the spell crafting system. This is the first release from Borealys Games, but if they can pour this much passion into every project they are going to be a studio we see lots of amazing things from in the future.
Whoops I posted in a new month without going over my gaming goals first. Let’s remedy that, shall we? First, a look back at January’s goals
January Goals
WoW: Get that starbunny pet. Nope. I didn’t solo a single raid or even look for pets on the auction house. My WoW time took a nosedive last month, and I’m taking it off the goal list for February.
Diablo 3: Get all the cosmetic goodies from Season 9. Yes! And I got my stash tab! This is the closest I’ve ever come to finishing the season journey entirely, since I got 3 conquests done without too much trouble.
Get all the goodies and achievements from the Diablo anniversary event. Yes! It took a couple evenings of farming temporal priests and named monsters but I got it done before the event ended.
Destiny: Run some strikes with friends. Nope. Barely played Destiny at all last month.
Justice Monsters V: Clear the normal quests on Master difficulty. Nope. I discovered another round of quests past the 10-x series that have dual elemental focus so I’ve been working my way through those.
WildStar: Play once a week. Yes! I’ve actually been playing a little here and there and really enjoying myself again. It turns out that leveling a new alt was just what the space zombie doctor ordered.
February Goals
FFXIV: Finish the available Main Story Questline and see the new-to-me raid content. This is all locked behind an item level requirement of 230 or 235 so it means a bit of grinding but I’m sure I can get there.
FFXV: Pick this back up and play at least 2 chapters. The game is great and for some reason I dropped it suddenly. I need to make progress on it so I can eventually talk about it on the podcast!
WildStar: Keep playing once a week, and get my new esper alt to level 30. I’m keeping these goals modest because I don’t want to wreck a good thing. I’m just happy to be back in the game and see some of my old friends again.
Justice Monsters V: Clear all of the quests on any difficulty. I’m revising my goal from last month since there’s a bunch of quests I didn’t know existed then! I’d also really love to upgrade one of my monsters to legendary before the game ends, but without pouring money into a dying game that seems unlikely to happen.
What has been bizarre to me has been just how different the three years of Pax South have felt personally. During year one I was completely overwhelmed and did my best to hit as many panels as I could while also making a bunch of media appointments. During year two we had roughly sixteen people roaming around in groups of various sizes, so my focus was to spend as much time as possible with as many people as possible. I was also overwhelmed but in a completely different way, with trying to juggle meeting up with folks while also hitting scheduled media appointments. Year three I completely cut the whole parking debacle out of the loop which greatly relaxed the entire experience. Additionally we went from having sixteen to roughly seven… with two pairs of those largely roaming together and leaving me with a semi regular group of three people. This opened up so many doors because three is not an unreasonable amount of people to sit down and demo something together with, and as a result I played way more games during the course of the show. So many that I never actually made it off the main floor or attended any panels. In truth this felt like the best possible thing because it gave me lots of interesting experiences to come back and shamelessly milk for blog posts. It also let me spend maximum time with my friends while attempting to extract the maximum enjoyment. It did nothing for my longevity unfortunately with me making my way back to the hotel around 6 or 7 both nights to hang with my wife and decompress from the days event.
Of the really awesome games that I played, I think the very first that I sat down to play as a group is a card game called Wicked Apples. At first I watched a couple of my group play it together, and when they finished the first round got dealt in for round two. The idea is simple and the card game itself extremely small… I have not counted but it seems like maybe the card deck as a whole is maybe around 35 cards. What I like so much about the game however is just how quickly it can be played. One of the big challenges with most modern tabletop games is that they take a fair bit of time to set up, play and break back down. In most cases you need a dedicated hour or more to really feel like you have enjoyed the experience. At work I have been kicking around the notion of doing some tabletop gaming at lunch, especially since I have a coworker that is way deeper into the weeds than I am in the board gaming community. However the challenge that is what sorts of games can you realistically play in a 30-40 minute window and get enough hands in to make it feel like you actually accomplished something. When I saw Wicked Apples I immediately thought that this game would be perfect for this scenario because each hand seemed to last around ten to fifteen minutes depending on how much stalling from the players.
The game consists of barrel cards, wicked apple cards matching each barrel color, and an assortment of unique apple cards that each have specific effects on them. The game starts by dealing out barrels to each of the players… or in our case simply choosing whatever color you wanted to play. That player the is handed the wicked apple of a color matching their barrel, as well as three random apple cards dealt face down. The goal is to take these four cards and arrange them in any order in front of you face down… but at the same time memorize the position of each card. The goal of the game is not to eat a wicked apple, be it your own or another players. After setup the turn order is determined by the number on the players bucket from lowest to highest, but later in the game this will be determined by the top apple in each players bucket. Each player can take one of two actions: Peak or Pass. Peak essentially means that you can secretly check to verify what apple is sitting in a given slot in front of you, and Pass means that you can take any one of your apples and give it to any other player. After all players have either chosen to Peak or Pass, everyone has to choose an apple that they are going to eat that round. If you are doing this right then all players reveal their apple at exactly the same time… however we were pretty awful at doing this and wound up being a slow staggered reveal. The eating order is determined by the number in the top right corner of the card, and each player performs the actions on their card if possible taking turns in ascending order. The “if possible” is in there because there are situations where for example you have no apples… and as a result cannot say pass an apple as directed by the card.
The game carries on like this until one of two things happen… either only one player is left standing at the end of a round where in that case they are the winner. There is also the possibility that ALL players are eliminated in the same round, and essentially everyone loses. Whatever the case, once you know the rules of the game it goes extremely quickly and I could see playing a bunch of round rapid fire in a short period of time. There is functionally a lot of strategy and bluffing involved in what is essentially a game of memory. Do you pass a good apple to the player beside you and think that ultimately they are going to assume you gave them your wicked apple? Are you going to pass your wicked apple and then follow up by lacing it with the Candy Apple that forces a player to eat that apple next? I absolutely did that last move, while also passing the poison apple to another player that round functionally executing both of them. It is absolutely a game where you know every other players is going to back stab you and do so constantly, so the ramifications of this realization become greatly blunted and just part of the fun. The individual decks at Pax South were $15, and I went back and forth on Friday about picking one up. However one of the first things I did Saturday morning was run back and purchase one, and I am super glad that I did. It seems as though they sold their last deck sometime early Sunday morning, and apparently this was their entire current stock as there are zero available through the website either currently. So yeah… I guess it is probably cruel to tell you about a game that you literally cannot get at this very moment, but I still enjoyed it enough that I wanted to talk about it. Like I said before I personally plan on taking my deck with me to work and trying a few hands over lunch to see how well it works. It is easy to pick up and fast paced enough that I can see this doing really well with a wide variety of players. If you have the chance to check it out in any upcoming shows I highly suggest you do so.