One
thing I realized off the start was that Fallout 3 does not use cloud
saves of any sort so all of my past adventures are long gone. I had to
start back out at the beginning which is literally as a baby coming out
of my mother. Then I explored the vault as a toddler > teenager >
young adult before finally heading out into the wasteland.
Once
out into the world I had to admit myself the game graphics feel dated.
It is amazing to me how games that looked "amazing" 10+ years ago just
don't hold up anymore. That is both a good and bad thing I suppose.
Good that we've seen such amazing progress in graphics but bad in that I
don't get the same sort of nostalgia hit from a Fallout 3 as I do from a
stylized graphical game like a Super Nintendo RPG.
I made my way
to the first town in the game which is named after the nuclear bomb at
it's center: Megaton. This is where my journey ended for now as I have
to contemplate how I want to solve this particular puzzle :) Anyone
that has played the game knows what decision happens here.
The clever way that Fallout 3 has you set your starting stats via a children's book... while you are playing as a toddler.
I've been invited to the next Pax Dei alpha test entitled "Wilderness". This will be my first time testing the game and I am looking forward to this one. Part survival, part builder, and an MMORPG - right up my alley!
Some more info on the Pax Dei Wilderness Alpha
What can you expect in this Alpha?
For this second large-scale test, we’re going on an adventure!
Our team has been hard at work on every aspect of the game related to challenges, and we now want to test that foundation with our community.
We hope you will have a great time, and we are looking forward to your feedback.
Gear up. We have revamped and introduced new statistics for all gear in the game. With hundreds of items for mixing and matching, you will have no lack of choices in crafting your own role.
It is dangerous to go alone. Denizens of the world will now present a real challenge. Don’t wander away from home without a party and the proper equipment.
Master your weapons. We’ve added new spells, combat abilities, and weapon types. Keep an eye on their durability, you don’t want them to break when you need them the most.
Welcome to Fight Club. Divine peace doesn’t extend to Lyonesse, our new province. Enter here at your own (mortal) peril, if you’re willing to try out our first iteration on PVP.
Build & craft away. We've made multiple changes to the peaceful aspect of the game as well, be sure to check our release notes for a comprehensive overview.
The Fallout series on Amazon is all the rage and rightfully so as it recreates not only the theme of the games but also the quirkiness. I am one episode in and even I, the can't-ever-seem-to-play-single-player-games gamer, am contemplating a jump back into the Fallout games.
I was reading Tales of the Aggronaut and the post from Belghast: Radioactive Nostalgia. Both in title and content the post was spot on. The Fallout TV (is it really TV?) series is spot on translating the game to the screen. From the look of characters to the well-placed medpacks on the walls everything just feels right in the first episode and I can't imagine it gets too far off later in the season.
It is so good that it has many players such as Belghast back and playing the Fallout games. Even I'm considering going back to Fallout 3 or 4 which I never finished. Or maybe like Belghast I revisit my favorite in the series: New Vegas. Regardless of my decision the SteamDB charts don't lie: lots of folks are returning to Fallout games with the popularity of the TV series (see charts below). You might say there is some fallout... to the Fallout.
The season of MMO tests marches forward! Anvil Empires moves into it's next major testing period on April 18th. I have not posted about this game before but it caught my attention for a few reasons I'd like to share.
First, the game is from the same developer as Foxhole and while I never got deep into Foxhole the promise of the game was amazing. Foxhole is a WW2 themed game where everything must be created by the players; every bullet, gun, vehicle. Not only that but they must all be transported to the frontline and the frontline isn't static. Players can dig and build and then destroy anywhere. Frontlines form naturally where force meets force. Foxhole is a big sandbox.
Second, Anvil Empires features an isometric view which always has my nostalgia ringing for the days of Ultima Online. The view evokes something deep inside of me that I can't explain; like a gamer looking down upon a tabletop game and imaging all of the possibilities.
While I like the isometric view that was not the case for Foxhole where I found it very limiting for the context. In Foxhole I have a gun or a vehicle with a gun but I can't see more than a little bit in front and behind me which made it very hard to get a broader sense of the battlefield. While this was all part of the design and gave value to certain things it also felt constraining to me as a player.
In the medieval context of Anvil Empires I think the view will work better. There is more melee scrums than there will be long range warfare. The view supports that action better.
On top of the view and pedigree of the developers other hit there is a lot of depth to the game that has been announced so far. There is homesteading so you can make your mark in the world all the way up to empire building to dominate the world. And that world is persistent so should minimize how much instanced content there is.
If the team can deliver Foxhole but in a fantasy/medieval setting then I'm sold.
Hiding the UI in New World used to be Alt+H, but after Season 5 it was changed to a default of F10. That's it. That's the post. You can change the key bind in settings if you want.
Came across this New World PvP build from TrickTrick and figured I'd share for anyone looking for a meta build for S5. This is also very capable in PvE. The build is Venom Bunny so expect a lot of hopping and get your rabbit facemask skins ready.
I watch a lot of build videos but what I like about this one is that it has mostly named armor pieces and weapons which are more reasonable to acquire. Yes, many of these are PvP track named items which can take time to unlock in the tracks but that is probably faster than getting the gold for crafted pieces. If you PvP frequently then you have probably got a copy of these named items (assume you horde gear like I do).
Even the weapons are named. Venom is the new spear artifact from the Siren Queen's arena which, while group PvE content, is dead simple and lots of groups are currently doing it. The sword options are also named drops that most players probably have salvaged copies of many times before (hoping you saved one in your stash of gear for a rainy day).
Also I'll admit this is the build I hate running into. Sword and shield/Spear is the bane of my Frigid Inferno heavy armor flamethrower build. Too many stuns and interrupts to be able to do any flamethrowing. Even if I can throw some flame; shield block is a winning defense.
The New World team recently started a new video series called: Eye On Aeternum. With the first one (see video below) the team gave a heads up to keep an eye out (ha!) for clues to future changes coming to New World (similar to how they hid a controller in the background of a video before they announced controller support).
For anyone not up to speed on the history of the hippo conversation: when mounts were announced there was a community question about whether hippos would be a possible future mount type. That idea was shot down but in being shut down the idea -- the possibility -- of hippos was born.
Personally my interest in hippos comes from the book series River of Teeth by Sarah Gailey. The book series is based on a "what if" scenario:
Years ago, in an America that never was, the United States government introduced herds of hippos to the marshlands of Louisiana to be bred and slaughtered as an alternative meat source. This plan failed to take into account some key facts about hippos: they are savage, they are fast, and their jaws can snap a man in two.
The book idea is based on a real historical proposal to do what happens in the book: bring hippos to the "new world". The book expands the idea where hippos become reliable companions/mounts. There is also the real example of the "cocaine hippos" in Columbia as well. So while hippos seem far fetched there is some historical context to play with when we consider Aeternum is an island that has visitors from many time periods. Hippos are also cool.
There is already a statement from the devs that the plush hippo was just forgotten on set but I'm not buying it. The same as I wasn't buying that the controller was "just there" in it's original video. What realistically could we get out of this in the game? My guess would be a pet system and a mini-hippo as a pet; or just a hippo pet as a housting decoration like we have dogs/rabbits/etc today. My dream though is a hippo mount!
Ghost is also a ghost no more as we actually get to see some early glimpses on what they are working on. For anyone keeping track, yes that is more information in a few months time than we've gotten in the years of Ghostcrawler when he worked on the Riot MMO. The Riot MMO is still a thing though apparently.
What I liked about this Milestone 1 update was that it talked about wanting players as part of the process while admitting the natural problems that arise from that such as "this game looks like garbage" when showing off early prototype content. It was reassuring to hear a developer talk through the reality of letting the players ride along with development. There is a good head on their shoulders here.
I also like that they went with UE5, a known game engine, instead of what every other "I quit my company and started my own MMO" project seems to do thinking they can build their own engine. UE5 is powering so many games so good to see another one on the list. It should help the team move along faster than some others in the past few years working on their own engines.
And proving it is helping the team along the post highlights some screenshots and feedback from early prototyping (note: this was using premade assets in the UE store so is not representative of the game). They want to focus on combat and their concept of red/blue zones (static vs procedural) and had both up and going in the prototype. It is refreshing to see a team that appears focused on a core idea and are "failing fast" through it.
Prototype gameplay with UE assets
This was a cool step of a game's life that we don't get to see all that often. This update was a fun read and I am looking forward to more. This game is years away but its looking to be an enjoyable ride to take along with the team. They also have a podcast, Word on the Street, that I' m going to check out.
1. Battlefield 2
2. Battlefield 1942
3. Battlefield: Bad Company 2
4. Battlefield Heroes
5. Battlefield 3
Since that is 13 years (yikes) old let me update it:
1. Battlefield 2
2. Battlefield 1942
3. Battlefield: Bad Company 2 4. Battlefield 2042
5. Battlefield Heroes
There. All is right with the world. The community has a different opinion with Battlefield 1, Battlefield 3, and Battlefield 4 being the top three. Personally, I didn't jive with Battlefield 3. I played a good bit of it but it didn't supplant the others. I never played Battlefield 4 (because of my feelings about 3) and originally the theme of Battlefield 1 was not attractive so I skipped it.
More recently I've had a side addiction to Battlefield 2042. I didn't get it at launch so missed all the launch drama and came in well after the game had significant changes to make it more Battlefield-like. I am in the minority listing this as one of my favorite Battlefield games. 2042 has a bad reputation from that launch drama. For me though it hits a sweet spot in theme (near future) and a good balance between infantry and vehicle. I really enjoy it and haven't enjoyed a Battlefield game this much since BFBC2.
Battlefield 1
On to Battlefield 1 then. I've put about 3 hours in so far and it is definitely a different experience than other Battlefields. Part of it is the setting being World War 1 but also that the game seems stuck between the old days of server browsers and the new days of "quick match" push button experiences.
Personally I couldn't get quick match to work as there was never enough players to start the matches. The campaign mode also didn't seem to work. This pushed me into the server browser and there were only a few servers to pick from with reasonable ping.
Once in a match the visuals are top notch. I grabbed some screenshots riding around on a horse as cavalry and for a game that is seven years old it looks pretty good. The maps are also visually stunning and some feature a grand scope. I stopped a few times to look at something.
I can't say I've ever played a WW1 themed game so some of the aspects caught me by surprise such as the horse cavalry, the biplanes, and coolest of all: the armored train! The first time I was on a map when the train came rolling through was pretty dang cool.
With those surprises it made me realize there is a lot I don't understand about this Battlefield. Sure there are points on the map to conquer and the classic Battlefield classes to pick from, but as far as how stuff like the train works I don't know. The maps are also proving difficult for me to grok and some rounds are really rough learning where you can and can't stick your head out.
I think I'll put a few more hours into the game but it's not grabbing me like 2042 did. Its a good break from the faster pace and more technically capable vehicles of 2042 though so has a slot currently with New World being on the slow down.
