AggroChat #22 – Destiny of Poppy

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This week we welcome back Tam as well as the rest of the regular cast of Ashgar, Rae and Kodra.  We talk about what we have been doing in Final Fantasy XIV, and congratulate Tam on finally reaching Soot Black with his Chocobo.  We talk in depth about Destiny, and while I thought we were going to go into this discussion giving the game generally high marks, it turns out we too have some pretty serious criticism despite just how enjoyable the game is to play.  I talk a bit about the Rift Nightmare Tides expansion and the NDA lift, and finally we talk about the odd happenings in League of Legends.  This week Poppy saw competitive play for the first time, and we discuss what happens when a feature of a game is bad for the game itself.

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So Many Games

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Well, Destiny is out and it seems like everyone is busy with that. Apparently it’s already sold enough to turn a profit, so I’m sure we can expect to see a glut of class-based FPS MMO thingies in the near future. Me, I’m not all that interested. I’ve got more games than I know what to do with as it is, and shooters just aren’t at the top of my list. Ask me again if I ever get around to finishing Borderlands 2.

Hack ‘n’ Slash also launched, or at least came out of Early Access, and that’s much more my cup of tea. Even if I wasn’t an inveterate Double Fine fan at this point, a Zelda-like game where you modify the monsters and environment to solve puzzles scratches about three different itches all at once. I haven’t had time to actually play it yet, but I’m hoping to spend some time with is this weekend.

I haven’t played much Marvel Heroes the past couple weeks. Only so many hours in the day, and FFXIV has been monopolizing my online gaming time. I’m sure I’ll dial back on it here in a bit, but for now I have more leveling to do, and storyline to see. I still have an 8-man mission sitting in the road staring at me, but I’m sure I’ll get that done in the next couple of days.

Finally, I picked up John Scalzi’s new novel, Lock-In. I’ve been following his blog for years and moved from that to his novels, starting with Old Man’s War. He’s often compared favorably with Heinlein, and I can’t argue. He’s got a real knack for writing compelling science fiction that’s thoughtful without sacrificing accessibility and excitement. I’m about 2/3 of the way in, and there’s a good chance I may just have to power on through before I go to sleep tonight. Everything’s starting to come together, and I need to know how it all turns out.

I’m Back

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I didn’t specifically intend to take a break the last few days, but it turned out I kind of needed one.  I think going forward I may try for a weekday posting schedule.  We’ll see if that gives me sufficient time to recharge the idea tank from week to week.

The past few days have mostly been spent in Final Fantasy XIV, trying to get caught up with the rest of my Free Company.  I made it to level 50 in the bard job on Sunday, and have already upgraded most of my bard equipment to item level 90 gear with currency from daily and weekly hunts.  I’m at the second 8-man quest in the final bit of the storyline.  Another player in the company also hit 50 today, so I think we may try to do those quests as a company tomorrow.  We’ll see if that works out.  Tonight the rest of the company was busy running the Bahamut’s Coil raid for the first time, so I busied myself doing my crafting dailies and today’s hunts.

When I wasn’t playing FFXIV this weekend, I was reading through the Dungeons & Dragons 5th edition Player’s Handbook.  I’m going to be playing in a campaign with some friends from college to give it try.  Mostly it’s a bunch of the same people who participated in my first 3rd ed game back when that system was brand new.  Most of us are in the same area, but one’s in Shreveport and another’s way up in Delaware, so we’ll be using Roll20 or something like it to handle things.  Between the system looking really solid and the people I’ll be playing with, I’m really looking forward to it.  I’m betting I’ll get some amazing stories out of it too.

Source: Thalen Speaks
I’m Back

AggroChat #21 – Larva and Whales

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This week we are back to the original show cast of myself, Ashgar, Rae and Kodra.  We talk about all sorts of things from lots of Final Fantasy XIV, some Lego Minifigures, and Kodra regales us of his adventures in a quirky game called English Country Tune.  Similarly he has been working his way through his Blaugust prize Closure another interesting puzzle platformer.  Reacting to the news of Wildstar switching to a Megaserver infrastructure, we ramble on about the importance of servers in games, and how the server we are playing on Cactuar has definitely increased our enjoyment in Final Fantasy XIV.  Finally Rae is unleashed and there is much League of Legends drama discussion as I try and grok the difference between the LCS and the Challenger scene.

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