Thomp's Picks for 2013 and Beyond

The Preamble

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All has been quiet on the Thomplog front for quite some time now, and for that I apologize. The Thomp has recently started working in the games industry with an awesome company here in the Seattle area. While I am thrilled to have the job, and am enjoying it a ton so far, my spare time has been severely reduced. I've been playing a smattering of games in the mean time, but none to completion, and none enough to write any meaningful critique of.

But all of that being said, 2013 has been an exciting year for gaming. We saw a plethora of AAA gems rush in at the end of the generation, as they typically do, as well as countless indie masterpieces. It has been, without a doubt, a year to remember, and has set us up for an amazing looking 2014. So without further ado, let's get to the picks...

The Picks

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Pick of the Year

Bioshock Infinite

Let's not bother with this "save the best for last" nonsense. If you play one game from 2013, it should, without a doubt, be Bioshock Infinite. Superb characters, fantastic FPS gameplay, a story that will twist your brain into a knot, and a world that will keep you awestruck with every corner you turn. Don't question it, just play it. 

Runner Up

Tomb Raider

I know most people won't agree with me on this one, but when it comes down to it, I had more fun with Tomb Raider than any other game this year, outside of Bioshock Infinite. The eerie, dark atmosphere, the fantastic cinematic gameplay, everything shined about this game. I will undoubtedly be picking this up for another play through soon.

Honorable Mentions

The Last of Us

The stealth gameplay wasn't exactly my cup of tea, but there's no question that the character development and storytelling in The Last of Us broke new ground this year in the medium, and for that I want to give at least an honorable mention. It is a fine game, and a must play for anyone who wants a deeply moving storytelling experience.

Grand Theft Auto V

The controversial beast came back to us this year in it's fifth installment. While I didn't enjoy GTA V as much as some, it deserves a mention, as it definitely brought some new and exciting things to the franchise. And of course, blew people's socks off with how absurdly offensive it manages to be.

Indie Pick of the Year

Rogue Legacy

Created by the brothers Kenny and Teddy Lee, who make up Cellar Door Games, Rogue Legacy came out of nowhere for me. I came across it by word of mouth when it released, and was instantly addicted to the soul-crushingly difficult platforming fun. With a near perfect mixture of difficulty and progression, Rogue Legacy stole my heart this year. I can't recommend it enough to gamers far and wide.

Runner Up

Antichamber

Alexander Bruce sunk well over four years into this non-euclidean, first-person, mind fuck of a puzzle game, and it shows. Antichamber is incredibly well thought out, and it possibly one of the most difficult, mind bending puzzle games I've ever played.

Free to Play Pick of the Year

Path of Exile

Simply incredible. That's what comes to mind when I think about Path of Exile. It is mind blowing that this nearly perfect action RPG, that surpasses the likes of Diablo 3 and Torchlight with flying colors in my opinion, is somehow free to play. It has arguably, the most liberal and fair free to play policy ever introduced in a game, and there is so much community support from the developers that you have to wonder where the hell the money is coming from. I can't speak highly enough about this game, I've sunk so many hours into it this year, and I suggest any other ARPG fans out there to do the same.

Runner Up

Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft (Beta)

This is kind of cheating since this isn't even in open beta yet, but it's really that good. I've sunk countless hours into Blizzard's new F2P collectable card game, and I will sink countless more. Blizzard has hit the nail on the head once again with this one. Hard to tell how obtrusive the pay model will be yet, so time will tell in that regard, but so far, it's looking pretty damned good.

Worst of the Year Picks

Aliens: Colonial Marines

Not only did the marketing for Aliens: Colonial Marines flat out lie to consumers, showing "gameplay" that wasn't actually from the game, but the game was blatantly unfinished. Gearbox and all associated parties really let fans of the franchise (and of gaming in general) down with this release. Because of the shameless deception from the developers and publishers, and the overall disappointment as a result, Aliens: Colonial Marines is easily my pick for the worst game of the year.

Runner Up

Defiance

I was initially excited for Defiance, not only as a third person shooter MMO, but as a new bridge between mediums, tying in a game world with an ongoing television series and having both affect one another. Unfortunately, I was disappointed on both fronts. The game had a decent enough backbone, but lacked a usable UI and almost all the social features that are so key in an MMO. Pair this with the fact that there was literally no effect on the TV show, or vice versa, despite being told that would be the case, and we're left with a smoldering disappointment. It was a nice idea, but unfortunately there was zero follow through.

Most Anticipated Games of 2014

Let's end on a nice note, shall we? We are at the end of 2013, and man do we have a big year ahead of us in gaming. With a new generation of consoles upon us, and numerous Kickstarter projects slated to come to fruition, we have a lot to look forward to!

Destiny

Bungie's ambitious new sci-fi FPS MMO, Destiny, is officially slotted for 9/9/2014, and it has started to generate a lot of hype. Being a long time Bungie and Halo fan, Destiny is at the top of my list for upcoming games next year.

The Witcher 3: The Wild Hunt

After playing through The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings earlier this year, and enjoying it more than any RPG I've ever played before, I am genuinely stoked for CD Projekt's new addition to the franchise. Last I heard, this was slated for a Q2 release in 2014... I'll be waiting with bated breath.

Star Citizen & Squadron 42

I kind of doubt that we'll be seeing Star Citizen released this year, but since it was originally slated for 2014 in its Kickstarter campaign, I'm putting it down anyway. I'm super excited to see what Chris Roberts and his team will accomplish, and can only hope that we'll get our hands on the beast that is Star Citizen and Squadron 42 in 2014.

Project Eternity/Pillars of Eternity

Obsidian's Kickstarted "Project Eternity" is scheduled to hit shelves in Winter 2014. Like Star Citizen, not sure how confident I am in this releasing on time, but I sure hope it does. Obsidian seldom disappoints, and the cRPG style they're employing with this game has my mouth watering. Keep your fingers crossed that we get our hands on Pillars of Eternity this year.

The Conclusion

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Well, that's it folks, my picks for 2013 and beyond. I want to sincerely thank everyone who has decided to read over the past year, I'm forever grateful for you taking some time out of your day to hear my opinions on gaming. I've had a great time writing, I've learned a lot, and I'd like to think that I've improved a bit.

I'm not sure how active the Thomplog will be in 2014. As I mentioned in the preamble, I've recently started a job in the games industry, and we have a significant release coming up this year. I'm anticipating a lot of work, and not a lot of down time. That being said, I'll undoubtedly still be gaming, and if I get the chance to share some thoughts, I plan to do so, so keep an eye out just in case!

Happy Holidays and New Year to everyone! 2014 is gonna be a doozy!

Thomp out... [drops proverbial mic]

Thomplog Retrospective - Week of 4/8/13

The Preamble

Welcome to the first of many Thomplog Retrospectives! The purpose of these posts is to give me a chance to tell you what I’ve been playing on a week to week basis (because I know you are dying to find out). Many of the games I like to play are too long to finish in a week (at least when working full time), so rather than go on with month long review droughts, I thought I’d give a weekly update on what I’ve been playing, and current thoughts on the games.

My general approach to reviews is to not start writing them until I’ve completed the game, so this kind of thing will be nice for games that can’t be “beaten” in the traditional sense (i.e. MMO, Multiplayer, etc), and also for games that are beatable, but I likely won’t officially “beat” them (i.e. Racing, Simulators, ARPG, etc).

The tl;dr of it is, this is a facade for allowing me to ramble and share my experiences with games some more. Hopefully you’ll enjoy these extra (questionably relevant) nuggets of gaming goodness.

Defiance

I spend most of my weekday evenings gaming, and last week, that time was almost entirely spent with Defiance. You can read my first impressions of the game here, if you haven’t checked them out yet.

Since I posted my first impressions, I’ve sunk close to 20 more hours into the game. In this time I’ve been leveling up (or EGO’ing up, in Defiance terms), getting a better feel for the game, and exploring more of what it has to offer.

I spent a good deal of time running co-op missions, which are about 20 minute long, instanced events that you play through with 3 other people. There are bosses at the end that pose a significant challenge and upon defeat, drop some nice goodies for the group. These are fun, and it’s nice that Trion implemented the “queue” for this out of the box so you can find a group quickly (especially since chatting in-game is impossible).

I also sampled the PvP scene, trying out the Deathmatch mode. I only played a few matches, so it’s hard for me to judge too much, but my cursory conclusion is that the matches net you a ton of XP (even when you lose), but you’ve really got to be on top of your game as far as skill and weapon choices go. Also, lag sucks...

As I mentioned in my post last week, I’ll likely do a Defiance Part 2 post outlining my experiences with co-op and PvP in more detail, as well as the effect of the TV show (which premieres tonight!) on the game and vice versa.

Far Cry 3

I dove into this game right after I finished BioShock Infinite and immediately loved it. Far Cry 3 provides a bright, beautiful island to play around on, along with a surprisingly compelling main story line. I don’t know how long that sentiment will hold, but for now, it’s been keeping me going.

You come across many beautiful sights throughout the island.

I’ve put about 21 hours into Far Cry 3 so far and I think I’m about halfway through the story line. The time might sound inflated and that’s because I started out doing every single side quest and collectable. I stopped doing that this weekend, as this is a very time consuming thing to do, and honestly, gets old after a while. In Defiance, there are a similar number of extra things to take part in (side quests, challenges, dynamic content) but there’s a more measurable reward for your time (XP, currency, gear), where in FC3, there’s barely any incentive aside from the fun of actually carrying out these tasks. I don’t want to discount that fun either, because it is fun, but it’s fun that I feel like I can go revisit any time. With that, I’ve decided to go full throttle on the main story missions in the game, and leave the side stuff for a later date... or maybe even never.

Long story short, I’m enjoying Far Cry 3 a lot so far but there’s an immense amount to do. I’m going to focus on the main story line now, and hopefully get a review out to you within the next week or two.  

Torchlight 2

I ended up booting TL2 back up this weekend for an hour or two. Recent interest from my roommate and the new support from Steam Workshop is what compelled me to do such a thing.

Torchlight always benefited a lot from the modding scene, and it appears TL2 is no different. Steam Workshop wasn’t super populated with stuff yet, but I did check out a sizable mod called Synergies Mod which adds a TON of stuff, including respec potions, fully functional Necromancer class, and two nearly finished classes: Paladin and Warlock, just to mention a few. I think I will be diving back into this game once I finish up some of the other stuff I’ve been playing.

The Necromancer class in action. Did I mention they upped the difficulty?
This is one  of the first encounters I ran into at Level 3...

SynergiesMOD

Steam Workshop

Chains

Basically, since the Humble Bundle group released their first uber successful bundle of indie games with the ‘pay what you want’ model, there have been a plethora of bundle sites that have popped up, all with amazing deals. I, for one, have a terrible time resisting the urge to pick these up. A dozen games for $5? SOLD! So now I have hundreds of these indie games, most of which I’ve never even touched.

I’m attempting to at least try out one of these games every week to evaluate if it’s something I want to sink more time into. This week, I chose Chains.

The gist of the game is that you link together bubbles together by their color... and that's really about it. It sounds simple, but mixing physics and speed tests into the mix can make for some very tough challenges. I don't want to talk too much about it because I've only played 5 levels or so, but at the very least, here’s a video of one of the early puzzles (this level made me realize that this game is going to kick my ass).

When I first started I was pretty skeptical, but with each new level, it revealed new and interesting challenges. I'm not confident I'll be able to beat it as it seems to have a fairly steep learning curve (I had to retry the above level from the video at least 10 times before beating it), but I think this will be one I stick with, at least to the point of being able to give it a real review.

Stay tuned for more info on this one.

Check out the BundleStars Catnip Bundle to get your hands on Chains now!

Fire Emblem: Awakening

I started this back in March on my way to PAX East and have been slowly making my way through it. My save file says I’ve logged 15 hours, but I think it’s probably been more like 20 or 25. For those who aren't familiar with Fire Emblem games, they're tactical turn based strategy RPGs. Sort of like the most recent XCOM, but with ridiculous anime characters, and its own set of kooky rules and quirks.

I decided initially to go with the permadeath mode of the game. Meaning, if any of your squad dies during a battle, they are gone forever (in regular mode, they revive at the end of the fight). There’s one way around this, and that is to shut off your 3DS, and retry the battle from the beginning.

Seeing as this is my first Fire Emblem experience, this was tearing me up at the beginning as I was figuring out combat strategies and how to play the game in general. I was shutting down my 3DS left and right, retrying missions 4 or 5 times before completing it without losing my most vital characters.

At any rate, I finally got the hang of it, and am now in a position where my squad of Shepherds are unstoppable. I’m now enjoying this game a ton and consistently look forward to playing it, which I normally do before I go to bed.

I’m looking forward to writing a review for this one, and it will likely come alongside the Far Cry 3 review in the next couple of weeks, though it may not be until later (15 hours in, I’m not even halfway through yet, you can do the math).

Pending

I finished BioShock Infinite 4 days after it released and I still haven’t posted a review yet. I’m working on it! The review has been in progress for a long time now, but for some reason I have not felt compelled to work on it. I think it’s partly because of the massive amount of hype the game has gotten since it came out. You know what my review is going to say... The game is amazing. It’s not hard to figure that out. Surprises aside, I plan to post that review for you this week sometime.

Lastly, the PAX East 2013 Day 3 post! I’ve been a little slow on getting these out (there’s too much gaming to do!) but the wait will finally come to an end this week. I will post Day 3 this week, I promise!

To whet your palette for the BioShock Infinite review...

Early Impressions - Defiance

Defiance

Trion Worlds

Windows, XBOX 360, PS3

MMO, Third Person Shooter, RPG

April 2, 2013

The Preamble

It happened again... The MMO itch. Everytime I quit playing an MMO I tell myself I will never play another one again. Silly, silly, Thomp. I ought to know better by now.

At any rate, the itch has been lingering for the last several weeks. I’ve been fighting it off with moderate success, playing the closed beta of Marvel Heroes when I can to subvert the voice in my brain telling me to pick up a real MMO.

Well, the voice won. I picked up Defiance on Tuesday evening.

I thought I'd give a cursory overview of my thoughts so far. I’ve really only scratched the surface of the game, having not even tried the co-op missions or battleground-like PvP.

I’ve sunk about 5 hours into the game so far and while I have some gripes, I’ll definitely be continuing on this adventure through Defiance.

The Overview

For those who aren’t keeping their ear to the ground in the MMO space (I don't blame you), Defiance is a recently released MMOTPS (massively multiplayer online third person shooter) developed by Trion Worlds (creator of Rift). Money wise, Defiance uses the Guild Wars model of paying full price up front for the game and then letting you play it forever without any monthly fees. There is a micro-transcaction store (again, like GW/GW2) but the items you buy are almost exclusively cosmetic, so it’s reasonable.

The game is set in a post-terraformed San Francisco Bay area, several decades in the future. A number of alien races have come to Earth to make a new home for themselves, not realizing that the planet was already inhabited. This led to a war (what a shocker), but a war that has a semi-peaceful ending, leaving a large population of humans and aliens that become allies and attempt to live together in harmony.

You, the player, join in the story as an Ark Hunter about 20 years after the reconciliation. You crash land in the Bay Area with a mission to search out advanced alien technologies found in Arks that are scattered around the area (as well as crashing around the world map at random places and times).

The unique thing about this game is that the game world and characters tie into an upcoming SyFy television series entitled (you guessed it) Defiance. Supposedly, things that occur in the show will affect the game world, and events that occur in the game have the potential to make a difference in the show. I think this is the first time a multi-medium experience has been presented in this way, so it should be very interesting to see how things pan out. The show premieres April 15, 2013, on SyFy channel.

Nolan and Irisa (main characters from the TV show) taking a rest at a local watering hole. 

The Good

• Multiplatform! Defiance was released on Xbox 360, PS3, and PC, and while it’s not cross-platform (PC players can’t play with console players), it’s a step in the right direction. This doesn’t affect me too much as a PC gamer, but I’m happy to see MMOs moving toward the console space. There are very few MMOs on consoles, so props to Trion for widening their horizons and releasing this on some other platforms.
• Episodic missions. There are quest (mission?) lines that intersect directly with the show’s storyline and characters. It’s hard to say exactly how this will work, but it looks like more of these missions will open up as the series goes on. This is yet another cool and unique aspect to the television tie-in mechanic.
  

  
  

  
  
• An MMO that requires some skill! You’re not going to find yourself spamming frostbolts on auto-targeted enemies like in most traditional MMOs. You’ll have to actively fight and dodge attacks in real time, and while the AI isn’t great, the game poses a significant challenge to players, especially when solo’ing.
  

  
  

  
  
• Tons of dynamic content. Rift was one of the early adopters of this mechanic (Guild Wars 2 also employs it), and it’s definitely prevalent in Defiance. Arkfall events are occurring all the time, letting you team up with a ton of people and fend off a small alien invasion, resulting in a good deal of XP, gear, and fun! Also, as you run around doing the plethora of side quests and challenges, there are all sorts of small dynamic events that you can take on in a solo or duo group that provide a good deal of XP and fun. (See Extras for extended Arkfall video.)
• Early vehicle access! Just wanted to note this, as I personally hate the grind to get a mount. Defiance throws one at you free of charge when you’re about an hour into the game. Bravo Trion!

The Not So Good

• The AI is bad. This is a weird criticism for an MMO since mob AI is almost always terrible, but it seems somehow more apparent in a shooter setting as opposed to RPG.
• The interface is awful. I guess the problem with bringing an MMO to consoles is that you have to dumb down the UI to the point of being able to use it with a controller. As a result, it’s pretty horrible for PC players. On top of this, Trion does a terrible job of explaining the damn thing. I did a lot of fumbling around and googling before I felt comfortable with it, and even now, it’s only tolerable.
  

  
  

  

  That's right, no dragging and dropping.

  
  

  

  The dreaded wheel. This is the sort of thing I hate about console-ifying interfaces. 

  
  
• I’ve never played an MMO where the chat channels are so vacant of discussion. It’s so weird, I don’t think I’ve seen a single line of text in chat since I started playing the game. I don’t know what the deal is, but it makes it extremely difficult to group up with people.

The Verdict (sort of) 

Massively multiplayer online games are unique beasts in that they each have their own evolutionary paths. Defiance adds the television tie-in element, which will bring about a new evolutionary track for the game world that other MMOs haven’t explored yet. I guess what I'm getting at is, the game has barely been out for a week. There's a lot up in the air right now.

It's really impossible to come to a verdict for an MMO so early, especially after only 5 hours of gameplay (a piddly amount for an MMO). What I can say is that I have some gripes, but overall, I'm very enthusiastic about this game and I'm looking forward to exploring and uncovering more of what Defiance has to offer.

There are many things I have yet to explore:

• PvP
• Co-op missions
• End game content
• Significance of TV show tie-in (the show hasn’t even started yet!)

I’ll be sure to post again with more details about the bullet points I’ve mentioned above, as well as the general state of the game as time goes on.

For now though, I think that if you like shooters, especially in the vein of Borderlands, and you're fond of MMOs (you know you feel that itch!), then I'd recommend picking this up. It should be an interesting experience playing the game along with the screenings of the show.

The Extras

Here's a longer look at what sort of dynamic content you can encounter in Defiance. I'm on my way to an Arkfall event, and find an abandoned vehicle on the side of the road that turns into a mini-event. Anyway, it's not a lot, but gives you some idea of what you can expect to see in the game.