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Viewing 1 - 4 out of 4 Blogs.
First, a little about my background. I started gaming with the D&D red box Basic set during the 80s with a little dabbling in AD&D 2nd edition. During the 90s, I migrated away from D&D and into other games, particularly Rifts, Shadowrun and the World of Darkness. I very much became a D&D hater. Then 3e came out and I loved it. However, after a couple of years of running D&D, I began to burn out. Creating adventures became more of a chore to me than anything fun. I completely quit D&D again, selling my 3.0 books but got back into it when 3.5 was released. The burnout feeling came back again, quicker than before. Once 4e was announced, I once again cleared my shelves of D&D. (Yes, I still gamed, just not D&D) I watched daily with anticipation every little tidbit I could find on 4e until I finally got hold of the books. And now, once again, I love D&D. The books are organized, the characters are heroic in statue and skill, the monsters are pretty awesome (even low level ones). Designing adventures is EXTREMELY easy in comparison to previous editions. Heck, I could even DM it off-the-cuff, which is something I couldn't really do before (treasure tables, I'm looking at you! Or, well, I would be if I still had any of my 3.x books). Combat is fluid and casters aren't the only ones with kewl powerz. Is D&D more video-gamey? Is it more anime? Is it more super-heroy? Does it make hamburger out of several previous editions' sacred cows? Does it have a little "trading card game" feel? Yes to all of those questions, to varying degrees. That's not, IMHO, a bad thing at all. The players' characters get the chance to really shine, and everyone can do something cool, often every round. So, in a word, I find D&D to be: Awesome. I look forward to making posts regarding how our campaign is going.
Tags: D&D 4e Dungeons & Dragons
I own an online gaming store. I'm hoping this series of blogs (which will be updated in a very non-scheduled manner) will help give some insight into the industry... It's really more of a hobby. I don't make a ton of money off of it, certainly not enough to quit my day job. I do it because I love gaming. It supports my own gaming habits, and I suppose that's part of the point. Despite the fact that I own such a store, I still support my FLGS. Thanks to certain publishers' rules regarding needing to have a brick and mortar store (WotC, WizKids, I'm looking at you), there are products I can't buy. Also, I don't stock comic books. I could, but since I don't get the volume of, say, an Amazon.com, it's not cost effective. Among the publishers, it seems that online-only stores get something of a bad rap. I don't really understand this. Yes, we can sell things at a discount because our overhead is quite a bit lower, but I fail to see where this makes a difference to either the distributors (who get the same amount of money) nor the publishers (who get the same amount of money). In fact, the only person that takes a hit is the online store owner. The argument that FLGSes "grow the hobby" is somewhat valid, however, in the modern age it's not as valid an argument as it was, say 10 years ago. Don't get me wrong, if I had the capital, I'd start up an brick and mortar store (with a heavy online presence) in an instant. The atmosphere of a FLGS beats the cold, hardness of an online store anyday. I just don't see the argument against distributing to online-only stores. The only thing the publishers and distributors are really doing in this case is shooting themselves in the foot. Yeah, many online stores might not have the purchasing power of many of the FLGSes behind them, but even if such a store only orders, say, $1,000 worth of products a year, that's a $1,000 they're not making by refusing to sell to them.
Let's see, the upcoming D&D 4e adventures...96 pages for $29.99. Wow. Seriously? This makes me so glad I don't buy pregenerated adventures. That's..ah...pretty darned steep for 96 pages, WotC...
OK, I'm about 3 hours into the game. So far, I like it a lot. The language isn't as rough as it was in San Andreas. Don't get me wrong, the game's definitely earned it's M rating, but San Andreas made even me go "Damn, dude," with all the profanity and extensive use of the ol' "n" word (if you've never played the game or have been living in a cave, it's essentially set in the early 90s gangsta style culture). The game probably still averages one profanity every minute or so, but that's a huge difference compared to San Andreas. I do miss the "roleplaying elements" San Andreas had, though, where you had stats that levelled up and such. I know lots of fans of the series didn't like it but....screw them. IV is much more in line with the original III and Vice City as far as that goes. Graphically, it's impressive. Sometimes the lighting is a little TOO realistic, and it's difficult to see in areas with no or little light. However, I got to experience some rain last night and it is utterly awesome looking. The AI seems pretty whacked out (in a good way). I've had some really random things happen... --Some guy just handed me a $100 bill for no reason. --I accidentally caused a traffic pile up which ended in a huge like 9-person firefight between the people that were in the pile up. --One guy started beating on me just because I stood there looking at him for too long. The cops came and busted it up. You can visit various clubs and watch various routines. I watched a magic show (and the magician screwed up and dropped his assistant he was levitating) and a lounge singer act. I hear they have some big-name comedians actually doing routines in the game as well. So far, I've found a pool minigame, a dating minigame and a bowling minigame. Should be darts too. I also hear you can drink and drive. :-P Right now, Niko (the main character) seems to be doing what he does for the right reasons (except when I go on a killing spree or accidentally carjack someone by hitting the wrong button at the wrong time); to protect his cousin. As a result, he comes across as more likable than characters in the other GTA games. I've already died once and been arrested twice. :-P When stealing cars that aren't being driven, it's not always guaranteed that you'll be able to get it easily. The car might be locked, which makes your character have to smash the window (and also means a greater chance of an alarm). You also might have to hotwire the car, which takes time. So far, I give it a 4.5 out of 5. As I get into it, that score might go up.
Tags: GTAIV Video Games
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