Amplitude, a french company I stumbled upon last year, is cranking out another turn-based 4x that will surely be worth digesting.
Comments closedAuthor: Leprekawn
Having witnessed it's glory days ago, I now hold the Malformed Fork and it's wisdom should be spread.
Here’s a shocker, two posts in the same week. It’s like i’m trending with updates!
Capy has a new game coming down the pipe. Similar in graphical grain to Super Brothers: Swords and Sworcery (the misspell is intentional). Below looks to follow a similar style line and provide a longer adventure experience. I’m only guessing, i haven’t looked at it beyond a 30 second video.
If you’re familiar with the Rogue-Like genre of “play game, die in game, restart game” themes there’s a new one coming called Infinite Space III: Sea of Stars. Some sampling of Infinite Space (the first) suggests I might put this one under my belt of side amusements whilst I struggle with committing to all the MMO’s that currently hound me for attention.
That’s it this time. Thanks for reading.
Comments closedThis is a story I wrote in the throes of adrenalin and anxiety following a narrow capture at a gate-camp in EVE Online.
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Coming into k-space I was greeted with comm signals of various positions. I was in w-space for less than 24 hours and it had taken it’s toll. The quiet darkness, the solitude. A cargo of precious salvage I intended to market in my hold I spun up the warp drive and plotted a course to Amarr. I had choices. 31 jumps, 9 through dangerous null- and low-sec space. Or 29.
The lesser of two evils and a gamblers choice. I plotted for Amarr on the shortest run and punched it. Two jumps saw me exit Solitude and begin a 9 jump run through Null Sec. Dread turned to curiosity as jump after jump saw nothing on the local channels. Nobody. It was as though I was once again in the ‘hole. I had begun to wonder at the truth I’d heard, that Null-Sec was safer than Low. This bubble of curiosity popped as I reached the last jump. A location I feared would have a gate camp and would spell an expensive end to my route, 20+ jumps from somewhere I could call home.
As my ship aligned, it’s drive charged and spun to action, I spotted a warp dispersion bubble, mobile and placed along the route from one gate to another. A derelict of a previous battle? A trap waiting to snare travelers? My ship readied, it raced past the bubble, unaffected and unhindered.
A brief hiccup of curiousity radically changed to fear as I came out of warp 50km from the gate, mired in another such bubble and facing two ships and a handful of drones. Seeing my day ruined, I began an attempt to escape. Reversed course to crawl out of the bubble, I warped to the first planet I lay eyes upon, not the first in the list. Looming full in view I raced away as my would-be aggressors finalized their targeting locks.
Escape! Several seconds of safety I opened my mind to the escape approach and made another rush at the game. Thinking i could find a crack I tried again. No luck. Away and back again. Curiously, they planted 1 bubble entering the system from Null Sec but three from High. No crack but I started to see an opportunity. Where there was two ships and drones before now there was none. Wait!.. sensors picked up a ship appearing.. not from warp. It was decloaked.
I raced away to a nearby planet’s farthest belt. My thought, if i can cut an angle wide enough I can shoot past the narrow window between two bubbles. Using unconventional estimation and no math I pushed out to 50k from the belt and tried again. I hit the local grid at 50k, on the edge of the bubble. Giving in to my understanding I punched the afterburner and raced for the exit.
A Purifier decloaked and locked on, his missiles hammering me as I closed the distance to the gate. I closed closer and his missiles continued to hit me. I cleared 15k and I started to see the end. Shields down, armor at 5%, structure holding.. I expected the next hit to be the last..
Nothing. 10k, I started hammering the navigation control. System response reminded me we weren’t close enough. I didn’t care. Fear had gripped me. The ship, the bomber who threatened to end me, remained. But no death came. I cleared the critical distance and jumped out-system. I was free. Nagamor 1, Pirates 0.
This is the beginning of a new chapter. I’m no longer afraid to be captured and run to ground by people better prepared than I. The tables have turned and I’m starting to face into the darkness with a gleam.
Comments closedI had a plan, y’know. Figured I’d dust off a game I rather enjoy and put some hours on it. Distant Worlds is a personal favorite right behind Space Empires and I’m loathe to admit how much time I’ve given Space Empires.
But something happened in my week of vacation. I played a lot of Elder Scrolls Online. In fact I probably gave it 40 or so hours from Sunday to Wednesday. That being said it’s a good game that I’m nearing the endgame ideas, I’m not seeing compelling reasons to carry on but as I say this I’m also seeing blog posts from their dev team about future updates happening in May. I have one or two more videos planned out. Something now and something with the “Tada! You’re done” bits just to capstone the whole thing. Later, if I feel so inclined I might give you a 1-50 character run if only to give you a complete experience..
..right, something happened. I had stumbled on some ideas in my time alone, thinking, that I might like to spin up EVE Online again. A passing comment last night between myself and my old salvaging partner sparked that last step and I reactivated.
I’m not sure how deep I’ll go. I have this plethora of time now that I fill as whim finds me.
I happened through my living room as my roommate was firing up Odd Thomas (the movie). I stuck around and I was pleasantly entertained.
Comments closedAnd you shouldn’t be surprised. A science fiction teevee show on Fox gets cancelled in it’s first season just about 100% of the time. Next time vote with your wallet and watch some other show on some other network. Supernatural has what you could call abysmal ratings and it was renewed for an 8th season.
Comments closedEpisode 2 of Leprekawn plays ESO went up the other day. Last week I think, I can’t keep track of these things. I digress. [embedyt]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JYVWf5pKR_0[/embedyt]
I’m finding enough momentum and entertainment to keep my wheels spinning for at least another week or two. You’ll see about one video a week as I document some moments in the game. Nothing special as I’m not recording everything and some things I encounter I think “Gee, this would look great on camera.” but alas, no camera is present.
I’ve come to realize one of the things I like about ESO is the pacing. World of Warcraft sorta makes you feel like Batman. You have a utility belt with so many powers you have to really know your class to use them all effectively. Here in Elder Scrolls Online it’s more about knowing how the game is played, knowing how fast you can put off attacks. When I swing my swords I really feel like those swords have weight. The draw of the bow is closer to reality making my arrows feel significant.
Comments closedWelcome back dear readers for another installment of MalformedFork.
You’ll see some more posts down the road and maybe an automatic relay for my YouTube project. Some preliminary evaluation has shown me two things:
1) Audio Quality is scratchy and craptacular. I’m going to fix that just as soon as I figure out how.
2) Game load times get wonky while my recording software is running. I’m testing on a second-drive solution but that’ll take time to complete migrating all my crucial data from the old Hard Drive to the new.
Katie of katili*made is hard at work tweaking the site and making it snazzy. Meanwhile I’m reinstalling some games that I think we should look at once more. Coming up is Distant Worlds as I can feel a 4x itch building.
I’ll have a dash of Minecraft recorded and maybe a few words after their next update: 1.8
Meanwhile I’m playing ESO, enjoying my romp through a fantasy wilderness rife with lore. If you find yourself out there look me up under @egoprovince
-leprekawn
3 CommentsI’m not far into the game so I can’t say much. (That usually means I’ll write two more pages..)
ESO is shaping up to be an interesting venture into the MMO marketplace. This comes from the same company that made the other Elder Scrolls games with each set in it’s own period of history surrounding an empire. I ventured into this world with Daggerfall and thoroughly enjoyed it’s deep and rich roleplaying experience. I skipped Morrowwind unlike many of my friends but I came back for Oblivion and then Skyrim to wander the land and hunt monsters and treasure.
ESO takes the single-player focus from Skyrim another notch, holding onto tropes they built into their past ventures such as a compass marker telling you where the quest objective is, while changing the completely open class-mechanic from Skyrim. Here like and unlike other games you’ll pick a base class with it’s own abilities and mix with whatever abilities you happen to cross. Heavy Armor Wizard? Done. Archer with a dash of magic? Done. There are limitations but the range of expression is there but there’s little hand-holding when it comes to The Trinity or pursuit. I’m leaning towards Argonian Sorcerer, or as I call it “Leezard Weezard”, much for my own drive to build a character who can nail down the opposition while someone else cleans them up.
Differing from other games you have to wear or use the powers and abilities and equipment you want to improve in. Experience rewarding activities improving those items you setup leaving unexperienced in things you never use. So, while I can pop on some heavy armor and go wade into combat with a greatsword, don’t expect it anytime soon.
I was caught right at start with the beauty and detail layered into the game. Things for you to loot, crafting materials and the environment is well-blended leaving me often just staring at a room without realizing i’m being attacked. Bottles and books and food and ingredients for various crafts are just laying around in plain sight. No sparkle, no magical highlight to draw my attention.
If nothing else this will prove to be a beautiful example of another game in the Elder Scrolls series though I expect so much more out of a chance to join other players like this. There are group dungeons and regions to explore, conquest to be had and stories to be told.
ESO comes in with a box price and a monthly subscription so while I would recommend this to anyone who enjoyed Morrowwind, Oblivion or Skyrim I would do so with some caution.
Stay tuned to my youtube channel for some footage of various characters as I try to zero in on my personal drive in this game.
Comments closedThe best part of waking up is coffee already made for you regardless if it’s Folgers. Or maybe it’s the warm shower. I digress.
The best part of having your own blog is the ability to plug your own ventures without shame. After all, it’s my blog, I’ll do whatever I please.
Starting very soon (Tomorrow, probably) you’ll see updates to a YouTube channel under my personal label: leprekawn
You’ll see videos of Minecraft, some Elder Scrolls Online and whatever else comes across my plate. I’ll even try recording one of our usual Sunday Night WoW Raids, but at 2.5 hours I might just record the highlights.
Also, while i’m plugging other sites, you can see some finely made hand-crafts from Katie Wagner at katili*made – Enjoy!
Comments closedOnce upon a time I was deep in a search for a class-less game system. Having spent years mired in D&D 3.5, with it’s level progression at the front of my personal annoyance, I was in the market for a game with similar ideas (magic, adventure, tombs to rob) and conducted not a little research in this pursuit.
It wasn’t until years later my good friend Scott convinced me and my roommate to play Dresden Files. At first I was caught relatively off guard. Unlike many games you make characters last. The people you’re about to play don’t come into the equation until after, as a group, you’ve talked about the game and the world and made decisions on key locations or people with which to interact.
So far I’m splitting my favor 50/50 with World of Darkness for ease of play. While it makes an interesting story-spin for the Dresden Files books (which I’m told are quite good) I find it’s potential for other games is an under-discussed point. You spend almost a whole session on building the world you’re about to venture into, why not sand off the minutiae of conventional Dungeon Plundering and weave a compelling story of adventure and high fantasy.
I’m not sure where I was going with this. Dresden Files is worth playing if you happen to roll dice on a regular basis.