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I did not intend to go all radio silence here, but so it goes. I've basically been chilling and having the return of this magical thing called a "social life", which is quite nice. Especially since it basically translates to two of my biweekly gaming runs coming off hiatus (in alternating weeks even!). Well, one is still technically on hiatus, but the group decided to go start a new thing. That being pirates, using the FATE system. (Which is why I'm suddenly reading up on the merchant history of Venice. See, the things I do make sense, really!) The other is DnD 4E campaign where we're all up in Paragon tier. We are so amoral and snarky.
Speaking of amoral and snarky DnD parties, my DnD group convinced me to go read the Dungeons and Dragons comic published by IDW. I was pretty much sold on lines they dropped on me and further sold on the Amazon preview. When I finally read Fell's Five, I realized my group was right, and it really does sound a lot like us at the table. And then I finally realized it's written by John Rogers, which really does explain why the halfling rogue sometimes has shades of Parker. And moved the comic up from "awesome" to "holy fuck yeah!"
I was talking with my housemates today, and we got into a conversation about Neverwinter Nights, Mass Effect, and Dragon Age, and our individual playstyles. I rarely, if ever, choose to play as a mage if I get the choice. Yeah, they're DPS gods usually, but it's usually not my thing. If given the choice, I'm much more likely to play rogue. Specifically, rogue-assassin. I was blatantly that path in DA:O and in ME1, I took the path that got me Infiltrator, as sniper rifle proficiency is probably the closest thing to assassin in the ME'verse. What's really interesting is that I only really do this for video game RPGs. I've never played a rogue in a tabletop. Closest might possibly be the Ranger with 2 levels of Dread Commando in 3.5ed, but that's a stretch.
I've also been playing through a strange...action-adventure? game and am almost done with it. El Shaddai is a very visually impressive game. The art is fantastic. The plot is pretty standard "Japanese creative reinterpretation of the Apocrypha" fare, emphasis on the "creative". It's a bit odd at times. This time, it's the Book of Enoch, but apparently taking place before the Fall, sinceLucifer Lucifel is around acting as Captain Exposition and your save point...with god on speed dial on his cell phone. I told you it was odd.
One thing that's making me headtilt in a very amused way is that hit points are represented by armor. Get hit enough, and your armor breaks off. Yeah, health state is represented by clothing damage. Only this time, your protagonist is male and at 1 HP, he's walking shirtless. Turnabout is so fair play.
Anyway, where the plot sort of makes sense, some of the design decisions...well, the designers were clearly on the good drugs. The levels have gone from Okami-style line drawings in monochrome to psychedelic mutli-colored moving platform puzzles that make you wonder if you're staring at a Magic Eye puzzle and everything in between. (I'm still not sure why the game decided to make me race through a level in a TRON-sytle crazy motorcycle chase, but I will not deny it was cool.) I think I'm nearly done, but I need to somehow beat the fallen angel who changed form to a teleporting, giant, bipedal insect with a Megaton Kick who also shoots fireballs.
I said they were on the good drugs!
Speaking of amoral and snarky DnD parties, my DnD group convinced me to go read the Dungeons and Dragons comic published by IDW. I was pretty much sold on lines they dropped on me and further sold on the Amazon preview. When I finally read Fell's Five, I realized my group was right, and it really does sound a lot like us at the table. And then I finally realized it's written by John Rogers, which really does explain why the halfling rogue sometimes has shades of Parker. And moved the comic up from "awesome" to "holy fuck yeah!"
I was talking with my housemates today, and we got into a conversation about Neverwinter Nights, Mass Effect, and Dragon Age, and our individual playstyles. I rarely, if ever, choose to play as a mage if I get the choice. Yeah, they're DPS gods usually, but it's usually not my thing. If given the choice, I'm much more likely to play rogue. Specifically, rogue-assassin. I was blatantly that path in DA:O and in ME1, I took the path that got me Infiltrator, as sniper rifle proficiency is probably the closest thing to assassin in the ME'verse. What's really interesting is that I only really do this for video game RPGs. I've never played a rogue in a tabletop. Closest might possibly be the Ranger with 2 levels of Dread Commando in 3.5ed, but that's a stretch.
I've also been playing through a strange...action-adventure? game and am almost done with it. El Shaddai is a very visually impressive game. The art is fantastic. The plot is pretty standard "Japanese creative reinterpretation of the Apocrypha" fare, emphasis on the "creative". It's a bit odd at times. This time, it's the Book of Enoch, but apparently taking place before the Fall, since
One thing that's making me headtilt in a very amused way is that hit points are represented by armor. Get hit enough, and your armor breaks off. Yeah, health state is represented by clothing damage. Only this time, your protagonist is male and at 1 HP, he's walking shirtless. Turnabout is so fair play.
Anyway, where the plot sort of makes sense, some of the design decisions...well, the designers were clearly on the good drugs. The levels have gone from Okami-style line drawings in monochrome to psychedelic mutli-colored moving platform puzzles that make you wonder if you're staring at a Magic Eye puzzle and everything in between. (I'm still not sure why the game decided to make me race through a level in a TRON-sytle crazy motorcycle chase, but I will not deny it was cool.) I think I'm nearly done, but I need to somehow beat the fallen angel who changed form to a teleporting, giant, bipedal insect with a Megaton Kick who also shoots fireballs.
I said they were on the good drugs!
