General gaming

General gaming

Why I'm Supporting the Republique Kickstarter

Posted: 10 May 2012 05:04 PM PDT

The rule about working in the gaming press is that you're supposed to maintain a façade of impartiality about games -- though that standard has faded recently as people realize that the folks covering games all just people, too, and we carry the same biases and preferences as any other human. Still, even in this new age of relaxed subjectivity, the rise of Kickstarter raises all kinds of tricky questions. At what point does coverage of an appealing Kickstarter project become advocacy? If we contribute to a Kickstarter to fund a game, have we abandoned our claim to objectivity? The fact that most Kickstarters are attached to individuals -- many of whom are acquainted with the folks covering their projects -- makes it all even muddier. Where do we begin to draw the line?

I can't even begin to unravel the answers to these questions myself. However, after watching a number of interesting Kickstarters come and go over the past few months (some successfully, some not), I'd rather not just sit on my hands and watch as an impartial observer. Camouflaj's freshman venture, Republique, looks intriguing and fun. With less than 24 hours left before the project's deadline, it's inching ever closer to the $500,000 goal that initially seemed so unreachable. I want the game to succeed, so I've contributed to its Kickstarter. Does that invalidate my writing about the game? Maybe, but my desire to play what Camouflaj is putting together outweighs my determination to play a passive, detached role.

Battlefield 3 Relying on its Community to Pay for Servers, Much to Players' Chagrin

Posted: 10 May 2012 01:43 PM PDT

Battlefield 3

The ability to rent dedicated Battlefield 3 servers for use in the console versions of the game was a welcome addition back in March. Unfortunately, playing on these servers appears to have become the only option for playing online multiplayer, a development which understandably has fans of the game frustrated with Electronic Arts and DICE.

As outlined in this thread on the official Battlefield forums, many players are upset that EA- and DICE-operated servers have almost entirely disappeared. These servers were the only ones available prior to the rent-a-server option becoming available on consoles, and were to be complemented nicely by the new custom servers which allow for their owners to establish communities of sorts with rules, options, and admins they decide.

Unchained Blades Gives First-Person Dungeon Crawlers a Boost of Adrenaline

Posted: 10 May 2012 10:38 AM PDT

The title "Unchained Blades" doesn't sound like it belongs to a first-person dungeon crawler, though this misleading title may be intentional; XSEED's upcoming PSP/3DS eShop RPG offers much more attitude than the likes of similar games such as Etrian Odyssey. Where Atlus' own take on the genre has your party of wide-eyed warriors creeping through somber (and deadly) labyrinths, Unchained Blades adds significantly more personality by focusing on a protagonist who seeks nothing more than revenge via ass-kicking. The game throws you into the role of a former Dragon Emperor cursed to walk the Earth in human form after riling up a wish-granting goddess atop a lofty tower. And what plan could be smarter than immediately setting out to repeat your past mistakes? Essentially, the story follows a video game character retracing his steps from an unseen previous adventure, which I find deeply hilarious for some reason.

The game's unruly anime teen vibe may feel a bit immature, but UB's over-the-top antics don't amount to simple set dressing; they extend to the mechanics themselves for an RPG experience that adds some spice to the typically methodical process of mapping out each and every square of a dungeon -- and don't act like you're not compelled to do the same. A few of these ideas may seem ridiculous in the context of a Wizardry clone, but developer FuRyu (made up of Lunar and Grandia vets) has thrown together a memorable assortment of RPG systems that should impress dungeon crawlers who think they've seen it all.

Civilization V: Gods & Kings & an Antiseptic Approach to Religion

Posted: 10 May 2012 10:00 AM PDT

Religion and civilization have gone hand-in-hand throughout human history, with gods and their mouthpieces alternately hindering and inspiring humanity every step of the way. That's why Civilization V felt a bit off when it hit us about a year and a half ago and was missing a few things we'd come to take for granted in the previous iterations. Religion and its best buddy subterfuge were either absent or folded into the Piety branch of its social policy tree, with temples and whatnot contributing to the ever-more-broad "culture" statistic. Religion always existed in the background of Civ V, from cathedrals to a huge number of biblical verses doled out for researching everything from animal husbandry to frickin' laser beams, but it was no longer present as a distinct element of strategy. When it came to religion as a tactical tool, the relevant quote seemed to be, "God is dead."

Well, now we're getting a chance to make him in our own image. Faith is the new currency, and once we have enough we're given a Great Prophet. The first one we're graced with can found a pantheon, be that a war god that grants more faith when we win battles, a namby-pamby healing god that restores units that end a turn next to a friendly city, or a whole slew of other crazy stuff people are raring to fall on their knees in front of. Our second prophet can turn that half-assed belief into a true religion, tacking on tenets like tithing (if you're into accumulating more gold) or holy warriors (which grant the ability to purchase pre-industrial land units with faith). Followers passively pressure neighboring cities to join their particular theological club, but for a more direct approach we can send those prophets and missionaries to neighboring cities to directly convert the population. Nobody really likes that, so expect diplomatic repercussions, and prepare your own cities with inquisitors to keep the faith pure... or just fill the besandaled heretic with arrows when he starts down the palm-leaf-covered road to your own holy city. It's an act of war, sure, but at least the simulation isn't detailed enough to take martyrdom into account. That'd really make a mess of things.

Posted by Shri Krishna

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