Things that have pleased me of late.
Posted 8th December 2008 at 07:46 PM by Moridin
It's been too long since I've done a blog entry, mostly because I've just been too darn busy to find the time for it. When leisure time has been found, however, it has been filled by many fun new things. Here are some things that have pleased me of late:
- My Star Wars: Legacy Campaign: In the last few weeks the heroes have conned the Galactic Alliance into buying weapons that the party stole from them in the first place, rescued an Alliance ambassador from Mandalorian bounty hunters on the Wheel, traveled to Socorro to offload the goods, and survived an ambush set up by the ex-pirate Rav only to discover that he wants to hire the party to kill their current employer, a Toydarian crime lord named Gnat. Along they way they've also tangled with the Imperial Knights and fought their way past the forces of the Empire in space, while repelling boarders from their own ship. It really makes me wish I had time to run the game one night a week instead of one day a week during lunch, as there's been a lot of excitement. I've also been doing a lot of fun, experimental stuff (like converting all the stat blocks to the "tell you what every ability does" style over the light-on-information style in the core rulebook, and I've been using skill challenges, getting the skill DCs from the chart in Scum and Villainy). It's been very satisfying, and I think it's really taught me a few things about adventure and encounter design in Star Wars.
- Gears of War 2: Liked the original, like this one too. Horde mode (5 player co-op) is the best way to play this. I haven't played the single player, since I've been waiting on my brother to pick up a copy so we can play through cooperatively.
- Left 4 Dead: Thankfully, since I've been holding off on GoW2, I've had time to play this game with Derek and the rest of the guys. I'm also pretty much convinced that this game should come with a warning that if you play it you will be prone to outbursts of profanity that come in short, uncontrolled bursts. In fact, I think I'm going to rename this game to "Screaming Profanities into your Xbox Live Headset" instead. It's a lot of fun, and the AI "Director" keeps things interesting on multiple playthroughs. The biggest disappointment I have is that the first scenario is way harder than the other three, though I think I would prefer it if they were all of that difficulty. The first scenario also seems a lot more polished. I also am beginning to suspect that the replayability will go down over time, as four scenarios aren't really enough to keep me coming back. One thing that Horde mode (in GoW2) has going for it is that the randomization of enemies means it's never the same game twice. L4D can make the same claim, but I think it's harder to notice that difference in game play.
- The Force Unleashed: Highly underrated game here, one that I think a lot of people overlooked this year. It's a very raw, visceral action game that really puts a lot of power into your hands. Solid voice acting and a decent story actually make this one I recommend. Plus, it gives you a chance to really explore new worlds in the SW setting, and in many places the graphics are gorgeous. Sure, it's still a beat-em-up game, but I've had a blast with it. Additionally, it doles out new powers over the course of the game at just the right rate, so I'm always left wanting to play the next level to see what kind of power I am going to get. I recommend you at least give this one a look when it drops in price, as I've enjoyed the raw power it puts in your hands.
- The Black Company: Enough about console games, the thing I have spent more time on over the last few weeks than anything has been reading. I went through a dry spell this summer where I didn't do a lot of reading, but this fall I've been back at it with a vengeance. My latest book devourings have been the first two Black Company anthologies by Glenn Cook. I'm almost done with the second anthology, and I like it a lot. It's gritty, but I don't get the sense that it's really that low-magic, at least by my standards. I think it could very easily be a D&D setting (apparently, so did Green Ronin!) and the biggest change I think I'd make would be just cutting down on the number of magic items and stripping out divine magic. Good stuff, nice bit of gritty fantasy that I don't think goes too over the top. I am not much a fan of the "so dark and gritty it fills you with self-loathing" style of story, and the Black Company books never go that far. It has heroes you cheer for, villains you love to hate, and is very much fine fantasy with a nice martial overlay.
- Battlestar Galactica: The Board Game: I got this a few weeks ago thanks to a buddy of mine at Fantasy Flight, and I think it's very solid. There are definitely strong influences of Shadows Over Camelot in this game, but it's a bit more complex. They got the economy of actions mostly right (a challenge in any cooperative game), though there is some funkiness with the bouncing back and forth of "give someone two actions" cards. However, where this game REALLY shines is in its traitor mechanic. The best aspect of this game is how it handles the "Cylon" characters, who are similar to the traitor in Shadows Over Camelot in a lot of ways. However, BSG ensures that there will always be a traitor, and that MOST of the time there will be at least two traitors (and sometimes a sympathizer, who helps balance out the teams), and the game effectively becomes a team-vs.-team game. More than that, though, the game changes at its mid-point, and formerly loyal humans can become Cylons mid-game, changing their strategy. It's got a lot of GREAT aspects that really add to the tension (for example, you cannot reveal a Cylon, they can only reveal themselves, meaning that you never REALLY know when someone you think is a Cylon is guilty), and often the Cylons don't know who else is on their side. The game's progress and resolution mechanics are good, though nothing revolutionary, but the best thing about the game is that it absolutely nails the traitor element. My one disappointment is the rulebook; there are a lot of rules that are tucked away and easily missed, and it took us a while to really understand the way the game was supposed to be played. Still, it's not a terribly complex game, and after one 4-hour first game we understood the rules well enough to play a second game in about 2 1/2 hours.
- Dominion: This new card game from Rio Grande is pretty fun, though I have some mixed feelings about it. I enjoy the game at its base, as it combines both strategic play AND deck building into the game itself. However, I was a bit disappointed with how the winning strategy in some setups seems to be "dominate the economy of actions" and that when a certain combination of cards is in play you should do everything you can to obtain that combination for yourself. Anything else becomes a losing strategy. Of course, Mearls loved that aspect of it, whereas I though that it made the game tedious for the other players. Also, the game is somewhat inefficiently packaged, and organizing the game in a Magic fat pack deck box seemed to make it much more manageable. Still, the sheer variety in the game is great, and it's a fast game (~30 minutes). Definitely a recommendation, and you should try it out if you get the chance. I'd buy myself a copy immediately, but this close to Christmas I've had to stop buying for myself.
- Power Grid: I'd had this game for a while, and had put off playing it for no good reason. For some reason the game reminded me a lot of Ticket to Ride, but the mechanics aren't really anything similar (maybe it's just the art style). Still, it's got a fun auctioning element, a small amount of randomness, a fun theme, and a nice game mechanic that requires you to balance your ambition with your resources. I'm hoping someone in my family will buy me one or two of the expansion boards for this off of my Amazon Christmas Wish List, as the game already has 6 more boards you can use.
- Pandemic: I played this game back in the spring during our Blaine board game weekend, loved it then, and still love it. I got lucky and my buddies found me a copy at Uncle's Games in Bellevue (I'd begged off of the trip due to a bad case of survivor's guilt), and I couldn't say no given that I'd been looking for the game since May. Pandemic is a great cooperative game that plays super fast and has very easy-to-understand rules. I can't recommend it enough. Probably my favorite co-op game right now, and I think it's just about the perfect storm of cooperative play, challenge, speed of play, and a fun theme. Also, Stephen Radney-MacFarland posted an extremely interesting seminar given by the game's creator, which I'll link to here. It's absolutely fascinating, and I think anyone who designs cooperative games (or games in general) should give it a watch. It's long, but the seminar itself is about 30 minutes (and the Q&A afterwords can probably be skipped) and well worth a watch. There's definitely a lot in there that is applicable to roleplaying games, which are (typically) cooperative efforts. I especially appreciate his discussion of the flow of the game, as well as his attention to peering at the basic underpinnings of the rules and then refining the game in smaller ways once that is solidified.
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