Man! I am loving me some
Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning Achievements. This game is awesome! I am about twenty = hours in so far and loving it. I’m not going to do a review because that’s been done before, but I thought I’d highlight some areas they got right.
Leveling Up: When did RPG’s start forgetting that just because a number besides your character’s name increases, and he/she is leveling up, if you can’t feel a change, the number is meaningless? Leveling up should be fun, it should mean something. It should give you access to better weapons and armor, it should give you new skills, and allow you to do cool new shit. You should want to level up, and you should get something for it, otherwise it’s boring and meaningless. This was how The Witcher 2 felt to me. Level one felt pretty much like level 10. I didn’t get any real thrill leveling up. I was never quite sure what level I was, because it really didn’t matter.
Map: Finally an easy to read map. Why do video game designers have such a problem with this? Also, it seems the map is one of the items first on the chopping block when games are ported from PC. If a map was half decent on PC, it will look like a 5 year old with a box of Crayolas drew something when it makes the jump to console.
Little Details: Attention to detail. Like when you’re fighting and you get pushed into crates the break. It’s a small thing, but it makes the world feel so much more real, not like you are just fighting on a stage with a painted backdrop.
Simplicity: Make it easy to see my HP, Health, how far I have to go to the next level. This gives me something to strive for. Sometimes in Western RPG’s, you have to hunt for this info. Make it simple initially, and add more features as we go: Also, don’t fucking overkill me. Have you looked at the skill tree in Witcher 2? It’s like a road map through some backwards ass third world country. Who the fuck can understand that thing?
Combat. The combat in this game is SO GOOD! I don’t even know where to begin. So I won’t. Take my word for it, awesome. Just awesome.
And now for something completely different.
Have you noticed there are just not enough games that embrace old time American virtues like Racism and Segregation. I mean seriously, what are the options left these days for exclusionist gamer? I used to play the Tiger Woods franchise after the inclusion of Augusta when I was in a particularly misogynistic mood. But then they had to spoil it this year by letting women in. Plenty of games with Nazi’s in them, but you never get to play as one. Luckily I found this:
I thought it was some kind of a joke when I first heard about it. I mean really? Black College Football Experience? It had to be some sort of Urban Legend. No one could really name a game this in this day and age right? But no, it exists. And man is it bad….
J0HHNY FRIENDLY: My blog is crucified
A couple of blogs ago (#69) I posted a blog with the title “Shut Your Whore Mouth!” It was a typical J0HNNY FRIENDLY blog. If you read it, you would have seen that the “whore” in question was me. I was referring to myself as an achievement whore. It also had a photo that I found when searched Google images under the heading “milk on face.” The blog was up for less than an hour before it was removed. Excised from the front page, removed from the recently posted blogs, hell, there wasn’t even a link to it on the blog leaderboard. I was concerned. This is the second time (that I know of) that my blog has been pulled.
I wrote a PM to Rich. He said he didn’t get involved in the pulling of blogs, but OBTW, it was pulled because it had the word whore in the title. He suggested I contact a mod. I went into the chat room to ask who specifically to contact. Deathly quiet as soon as I entered. I literally could hear crickets chirping. I asked the same question in there: “Who do I contact about my blog getting pulled?” “Talk to a mod,” they said. But no one has ever been able to tell me who specifically to contact. I ended up pulling a mod name out of a hat and PMing him since there is no mod with the job title of “Deals with complaints when you feel like you are being selectively persecuted for daring to criticize TA and experiencing backlash from the site.” This staff member wrote back that my blog was probably pulled (he didn’t pull it) because I used the word “whore” in the title. And that if I posted blogs of a less adult nature I wouldn’t have to worry about them getting pulled. So, once again, no one takes responsibility for pulling it. Seriously, who am I supposed to deal with over this?
Here’s a fun fact. Soon after I had written a couple blogs complaining about the witch hunt that is the Investigations team, guess who got investigated? Yay! Me! I got the nasty gram saying a complaint had been filed against me. There were three achievements in one game on my card that looked suspicious. I responded, gave my evidence and waited to hear back. I figured the case was small so it would be resolved pretty quick. THREE WEEKS LATER and one day, that’s 22 days for those of you that are math deficient, I was cleared. And I am absolutely positive that the Investigation timing was in no way motivated as an act of retribution by staff for some of the things I’ve written critical of this site. Yeah. In no way.
So what motivated this. Why am I writing this now? Hypocrisy man. Selective enforcement. Today a blog was posted with the title: “What made me a whore.” It was at the top of the blog feed this morning. I thought to myself “Hmm, this will be a good way to see if TA really pulls all blogs with “whore” in the title, or just mine.” So I waited, and watched. And guess what? It’s still up. It was never pulled. So the bullshit about “your shit was pulled because you used the word “whore”” All lies. Truth is, I write something some staff member doesn’t like, it gets pulled. I wish someone would man up (or woman up) and admit to me face to face that TA fucks with me because they don’t like me and what I write. I could have more respect for them then. That’s the reason I write the stuff I do, so there can be at least one swinging dick who points out that the politics on this site are bullshit.
You may not like what I blog about, may not think it’s funny. Whatever. So don’t read it. And don’t stray too far from a couch so that when you read my “Shocking, Adult Content” you have something soft to land on when you get the vapors. You seem to feel the need to pull my stuff because YOU personally don’t like it. I didn’t know only blogs you liked or agreed with were allowed to be posted. I didn’t know blogs had to conform to some unwritten standard of TA correctness. I wasn’t aware that we were 12 years old on this site and I’m supposed to wash my blog out with soap because I’ve been bad. But it sure looks like that way lately.
Let’s face it. The enforcement of blogs is selective. Many of the staff here are rude and condescending. But I love getting my stats tracked, the solutions and guides and a lot of the stuff TA has to offer. It’s a great site. The people behind it are a little lacking, but oh well. I wish they would stop fucking with my blog, but it seems like when you get a few followers and smallest smidgeon of popularity on this site (and aren’t a staff member) but are critical of it, you are in for a bumpy ride. Kind of like when a girl sees me naked for the first time.
Stay Thirsty my Friends