Thalen

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AggroChat #74 – Force Binds Us

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swtor 2015-09-12 19-22-10-93
We start of this weeks show by talking about our continued adventures in Diablo 3, and while a some of us have slowed down our progress Grace talks about falling back into the familiar rhythm of chilling out in solo play. With the upcoming September 29th release of Wildstar Free to Play she also talks about spending a lot of time on the test server, and the recent hoverboard racing event testing. Thalen this week spent time venturing into some single player games that had never got around to playing. First we revive our discussion of Wolfenstein New Order and why you should play it for so many different reasons. In a shocker we find out that Thalen never actually played Fallout New Vegas, which spawns a discussion about our appreciation of the game.

Kodra on the other hand spent his week mostly playing a bunch of indie titles and talks about Circa Infinity and The Magic Circle. Magic Circle being the game that he spent a significant amount of time at Pax talking to the Dev about. Additionally we are all jealous of him as he talks about his experience playing Mario Maker, which is essentially Infinite Mario. This spawns a discussion about each of our early attempts at creating content for our friends to play like Excitebike, Wolfenstein, Doom and Descent. Related to Magic Circle, a seperate discussion breaks out about the Stanley Parable and what it says about gamers themselves.

Ashgar is still heavily involved in LBX: Little Battlers Experience and has even gotten in his model kits from last week putting at least one of them together. He helped to clear up some of my confusion that there is in fact a Roleplaying game there, and it is very similar to the style of game that Pokemon is. We also get into a length discussion about Pokemon Go and how the Ingress type game is likely going to change what we are playing next year. There is really no way this is not going to be a huge title, and for the most part we agree that Ingress has been a tech demo leading up to this.

Finally several of us have spontaneously gotten sucked back into Star Wars the Old Republic. Right now it is impossible to go anywhere in the world without being bombarded by Force Awakens merchandise, and after a point I simply could not resist the pull of nostalgia. The best thing about coming back to a game after years of being away is the huge backlog of content available to be played. The current twelve times experience bonus for subscribers helps as well, because you quite literally only have to focus on your class story to get leveled which was always the best part of the game. Ash, Bel and Tam are all caught in the gravity well of this game for the moment, and it sounds like some of our other hosts might have gotten the bug as well. We will have to see next week if we are still talking out it, or if we have gotten it out of our systems.

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Thalen Reads The Shepherd’s Crown

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Mind how you go. - Terry Pratchett
This was a really hard book to read. Not because it was bad, or because I didn't want to read it. It was hard because for over twenty years I've been either reading a new Discworld novel or looking forward to the next one. And now that's over. Today's book is Terry Pratchett's 41st and last novel of Discworld, The Shepherd's Crown.

Thalen Reads The Shepherd's Crown

I've been a huge fan of the Discworld for the majority of my life, ever since a friend handed me a copy of Guards! Guards! and told me I should read it. Terry Pratchett was on the very short list of authors whose books I always bought on the day of release, sight unseen. I have long been of the opinion that the worst of Pratchett's works is still well above the average and entirely worth the reading.

The Shepherd's Crown is not Pratchett at his height. How could it be, when he was no longer capable of writing and had to rely on an assistant to put his words to paper? Some transitions are a bit rough, some scenes don't quite seem to fit. But the overall story is strong and moving, and the scenes that really matter are deftly written. I was in tears almost immediately on starting the second chapter and by the end I was sobbing. I can't recommend The Shepherd's Crown to new readers, it's both not Pratchett's best and very reliant on what's come before, but for those already invested it's a good and appropriate ending to one of the longest running fantasy series in history.

MASSIVE SPOILERS FROM THIS POINT ON

Although it was the third Discworld novel, an argument can be made that Equal Rites was where Discworld truly began. It's where Pratchett shifted from parody to satire, and it's where he really found the tone and feel that he would retain for the remainder of the series. Equal Rites was a story about a girl who wanted to be a wizard; and it was the first book to feature possibly Pratchett's greatest character, Granny Weatherwax. Fitting then, that The Shepherd's Crown introduces a boy who wants to be a witch, and has us say goodbye to Granny.

In the second chapter, Granny Weatherwax dies.

It's something I've been half expecting for a while now; the obvious final challenge in Tiffany Aching's career, the loss of her mentor. Chapter two is probably the best (and simultaneously most heart-breaking) chapter of the entire book as we follow Granny making all the preparations for her passing (witches and wizards get to know when they're going to die a little early so they can be ready).

Granny's death is what sets the rest of the book in motion, with Tiffany having to deal with suddenly being Granny's chosen successor (witches don't go in for leaders, but Granny was the witch they looked too to not lead them.) Also, with Granny gone, the elves (nasty pieces of work indeed) see the opportunity to make another attempt to break through from their parasite dimension and have free reign on the Disc.

Mostly this is a book about things changing. Steam engines and locomotives have come to the Disc, and technology continues to advance. The elves are remnants of the old times, and they no longer have any place there. It's telling that the ultimate fight against the elves is very one-sided; they never stand a chance. Their time is done. New ideas are embraced and Tiffany realizes that she can never be Granny Weatherwax, but she shouldn't try. She has to be Tiffany Aching.

Like Granny Weatherwax, the Discworld is dead. We'll never see another book, and we'll never know where Pratchett might have taken it next. But also like Granny, the Discworld isn't gone. It's memory stays with us through our fandom, through the books and through the adaptations to screen and stage. Terry Pratchett is dead, but he remains with us through his writing and the lessons he's taught us over the years. Farewell once more, Sir Pterry. Mind how you go. 

Gotta Catch ‘Em All

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By now I'm sure most of you are aware of Pokémon Go, the recently announced ARG being developed by Niantic. If you've previously heard of Niantic it's probably due to their current game / tech experiment Ingress. Where Pokémon Go will have you traveling to various locations to catch Pokémon, Ingress has you travel to locations to capture portals and establish territorial control fields by connecting them.

I played Ingress for a while, starting last year when I first got a smartphone (yes I'm a late adopter). It's a fascinating and compelling game, but in the long term there wasn't all that much there. Part of the problem is that where I live is not at all a pedestrian friendly city, so playing required driving around to get to various portals. The other problem, which ultimately was why I decided to stop playing, is that Ingress is an entirely PvP game. Players are all on either a blue or a green team and compete to control territory. In practice, one team seems to dominate in most areas with the other scrabbling for resources. A PvP game that requires traveling to real life locations also opens up the possibility of stalking and actual conflict; a combination of serious players being serious and stories of real life altercations between players was part of what led me to stop playing.

Gotta Catch 'Em All
Having a portal by my house sounds like an utter nightmare.

I'm hoping that Pokémon Go will be more of a fully cooperative game. Obviously there will have to be some sort of duel mechanic, but if Niantic avoids players having to compete over resources I think it will be for the best. I'm actually curious if there will be resource requirements to catch Pokémon. Will it be necessary to find / purchase Pokéballs, potions, and so forth? It seems like a logical part of the game; we'll see if an how its implemented.

The thing I really liked about Ingress was how it led me to discover interesting places that I never knew existed in my own hometown. Pokémon Go has the opportunity to do the same for a wider fanbase. In Ingress portals are supposed to be associated with unique points of interest. New portals get submitted by players, and there's some gaming of the system that goes on. I know of a 'memorial wall' portal nearby that's really just a wall near enough to where a number of serious players work that they can guard and collect resources from the portal throughout the day. In Pokémon Go I would assume that Pokémon will simply be placed by Niantic; hopefully a lot of them will be in places that are interesting in and of themselves. Not having the territory control aspect would also remove a major limit on placement; there's no real downside to having a lot of similar Pokémon all near each other.

One of the fascinating things about Ingress is how popular something that is ultimately an ongoing experiment in gamifying Google Maps has become. The fact that it's free obviously doesn't hurt, but there are massive community meetups and events, and many players travel hundreds or thousands of miles to capture out of the way portals. Imagine now combining that with a proven IP with tens of millions of existing fans. If done well, this has the potential to be the new biggest MMO ever.

I'm hoping that Niantic has learned the proper lessons from Ingress and that, combined with the greater resources associated with a true commercial game using a proven and massively popular IP, they'll put together something truly impressive. For now I'm cautiously optimistic, and I'll definitely be keeping an eye on the project. Maybe a year from now I'll be out catching Pokémon.

Bullet Hell

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Back when we played Astebreed for the Aggrochat Game Club, Ashgar also recommended the game Jigoku Kisetsukan as a more traditional example of the bullet hell genre that was free on Steam. Last night, staring at Steam and not wanting to start up anything requiring serious thought or time commitment, I decided to try it out.

I'm not entirely new to bullet hell shooters, though I'm nowhere near the aficionado that Ash is. There are quite a few examples of the genre on Kongregate, and I've played a number of them over the years, though never with any real focus. The gameplay is generally pretty similar throughout; you have a primary shot (often upgradable), a special attack that clears out all the bullets on the screen, and a button to slow your movement for maneuvering through tight spaces. That last one is crucial as the real challenge of a bullet hell shooter is dodging the insane storm of projectiles that get thrown at you. Most of the time in a boss fight my focus is squarely on my character to the point of having only the vaguest idea of where on the screen the boss is.

Bullet Hell
This is the second boss. On easy. It gets much, much harder.

The available characters in Jigoku Kisetsukan each have different attack styles that necessitate playing them somewhat differently. For instance the catgirl has a wide but short range shot that forces you to play further up the screen to keep enemies in range. The alien girl has a constant laser that narrows and powers up when in focus mode, so you have to pay more attention to where enemies are to keep damage on them. The starting character, some sort of minor forest deity or something, has a good middle of the road shot (wider than the laser and able to hit from the length of the screen) and gains homing shots when powered up. Those homing shots are especially useful since they let you focus entirely on dodging bullets and still be able to do at least some damage.

The story has something to do with trying to stop some sort of incipient darkness. I didn't really catch it. Mostly the motivation of the characters other than the primary one seem to be 'wander around and get into fights with other beings that look remarkably like teenage girls due to misunderstandings'. The story's not the point anyway; the point is to try and advance further through a combination of quick reflexes and pattern memorization. Much like a rhythm game now that I think about it; just themed as a shoot-em-up rather than a musical game.

Bullet Hell
Here we see an immortal diety and a centuries old extraterrestrial being.

Overall, it's a fun game with decent, if somewhat lo-fi graphics, (when you can actually look at them) and a catchy chiptune soundtrack. I would consider it worth the cost for a couple bucks, so for free I definitely recommend it if you have any interest in bullet hell shooters at all. And really, how many other games let you fly around blasting robots with a cat on your head? Actually, knowing Japan, probably quite a few.