Waltorious Writes About Games

Game-related ramblings.

Category: Uncategorized Page 42 of 61

Burn, Baby, Burn: Little Inferno

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On May 7, 2016

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As always, you can click on images to view larger versions.

I’m way behind on this one. Little Inferno, released in 2012, is the second game by the creators of the acclaimed World of Goo. Well, sort of. World of Goo was made by 2D Boy, consisting of Kyle Gabler and Ron Carmel, but only Kyle Gabler was involved in Little Inferno (along with Allan Blomquist and Kyle Gray). He was the designer, artist and composer for World of Goo, however, so most World of Goo fans were excited to try Little Inferno.

And most were disappointed, judging by the reviews I saw at the time. By all accounts, Little Inferno was a smaller and less interesting endeavor, which is probably why I skipped it at the time (looking now, however, it looks like it got a lot of praise; is my memory faulty?). Having acquired it since in some bundle or another, I gave it a go, and liked it more than I expected. I think it was simply ahead of its time.

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Console History: Final Fantasy

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On April 17, 2016

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This is Console History, a special sub-series of my more general History Lessons series, covering console role-playing games, action role-playing games, Metroidvanias, and action-adventure games in nominally chronological order starting in the late 1980s. The chronology is garbled in the beginning as the scope of the series expanded, but it gets more organized later on. As always, you may click on images to view larger versions.

I’ve written about a lot of Japanese-style role-playing games on this blog, but most have been smaller, free offerings created with a tool like RPGMaker. I haven’t really dug into the big names, in part because they’ve traditionally been tied to console systems that I do not own. And when trying to take a historical look at games like Final Fantasy, the first entry into the phenomenally successful and long-running Japanese role-playing game series, this leads to another problem: while console games are often re-released so they won’t disappear along with the older consoles they ran on, they are often modified significantly in the process.

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History Lessons: Call Of Juarez: Bound In Blood

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On March 14, 2016

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If you haven’t yet, you should read my History Lessons post about the original Call of Juarez first. Other History Lessons posts (including my Introduction) can be found here. Lastly, and as always, you may click on images to view larger versions.

Back when I wrote my History Lessons post about the original Call of Juarez, it was already a bit of a stretch; the game was only seven years old at the time. But that game was fascinating in how it straddled different eras of first-person shooter design, so I found myself interested in its historical context as much as anything else.

I did not originally intend for my post about the prequel, Call of Juarez: Bound in Blood, to be another History Lessons post, even though I took so long to get around to it that the prequel, itself, is now seven years old. As I played it, however, I realized it’s a perfect illustration of all the design tenets that have become commonplace in first-person shooters since the original game, making it an excellent counterpoint. In short, I was once again interested in its historical context, so here we are.

Before I continue, I should restate that this piece will be making numerous comparisons to the original Call of Juarez, so you really should read my History Lessons post on that game first.

Finished? Read on.

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More Magical Misadventures

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On February 21, 2016

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Readers unfamiliar with roguelikes (or should I say deathcrawls?) may wish to read my introduction to the genre first. I’ve also posted about Dungeon Crawl Stone Soup a lot, so you might want to read those posts too, but keep in mind that the game is continually updating so the older posts may not reflect the current state of the game. Lastly, as always, you may click on images to view larger versions.

In my last real post (no, I’m not counting the obvious filler) I wrote about my first, clumsy attempts to seriously play a magic caster in Dungeon Crawl Stone Soup. I was even gently mocked for my ignorance over at the official forums. I don’t blame them; it’s kind of ridiculous that I’ve played the game for so long without ever learning the art of spellcasting.

To be fair, however, there is a lot to learn. And once I finally started to learn it, I was drawn into the game more strongly than I’ve been for a long time. I kept playing new Conjurers instead of finishing the other games I’ve been meaning to write about. So I decided to write about the things I’ve learned about magic in Dungeon Crawl Stone Soup, and the story of my latest Conjurer, who came painfully close to winning the game.

This post will have spoilers (although not as many as Urist Redbeard’s epic saga), so players who are new to the game and wish to learn about magic themselves should probably skip this one.

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The Name Game: Resetting The Reset

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On February 7, 2016

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I have several posts I want to write, but simply have not had the time. This is what we call a “filler post”.

The Name Game has not had cause to mention Hard Reset, Flying Wild Hog’s cyberpunk first-person shooter game inspired by the old-school classics of the genre, until now. That’s because Hard Reset is actually a great name. But it has come to our attention that Flying Wild Hog have decided to release a revamped edition of the game, which they are calling Hard Reset: Redux.

Do you hear that sound, Flying Wild Hog? That’s the sound of everyone at The Name Game collectively sighing and slowly shaking our heads. You had a golden opportunity, and you let it slip through your fingers. Clearly, the name you should have gone with is:

Hard Reset: Soft Reset

You’ve let us all down, Flying Wild Hog. Please consult The Name Game before any future naming decisions.

Some posts with actual substance are coming! Stay tuned.

Roguelike Updates: Square Dancing On Stilts

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On January 11, 2016

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Readers unfamiliar with roguelikes may wish to read my introduction to the genre, and possibly peruse some of my Roguelike Highlights posts. And maybe read about why we might want to start calling them deathcrawls instead. Also, as always, you can click on images to view larger versions.

I haven’t had as much time to play roguelikes as I’d (rogue) like, so this coverage of recent updates is far from comprehensive. But I have managed to follow the latest developments for Dungeon Crawl Stone Soup, Caves of Qud, and Approaching Infinity. Read on for some thoughts.

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The Name Game: Hard West

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On December 29, 2015

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I won’t get around to playing Hard West for a while, although I’d like to as its mix of cowboys, demons, and turn-based tactical gunfights a la XCOM (the new one, not the original) sounds interesting. What I can do now, however, is have some fun with the name. Not to suggest an alternate name — because Hard West is actually an excellent name — but rather to suggest possible titles for my eventual post about the game. There are so many options! See some below.

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History Lessons: Divine Divinity (part 2)

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On December 8, 2015

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You should read part 1 first. New readers may also wish to read my History Lessons Introduction before proceeding. Other History Lessons posts can be found here. And, as always, you can click on images to view larger versions.

Well, this didn’t go as planned. After writing part 1, I was ready to finish the game and share my final thoughts with part 2, but then I found myself without the time to continue playing for nearly a month. I did finally get back on track, however, so here is the belated post.

I’ve covered a lot of things already, but I wanted to go into a little more detail about developing my character, the combat that is so prevalent throughout, and how the story and later stages of the game shape up. Read on!

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Out There Ω Edition Is A Great Reason To Get Back Out There

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On November 17, 2015

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As always, you can click on images to view larger versions.

Longtime readers may remember that I quite liked Out There, honoring it as one of the two mobile games I’ve covered on this blog so far (the other being Super Hexagon). At the time, the new fancier Ω Edition was in beta, promising more things to find out in space, some fancy new graphics, and a release on PC, Mac and Linux in addition to mobile devices. Well, the full release happened many months ago, and since I owned the original game I got it for free. I eventually got around to playing it, and now I’m finally getting around to writing about it.

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History Lessons: Divine Divinity (part 1)

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On October 18, 2015

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New readers may wish to read my History Lessons Introduction first. Part 2 can be found here. Other History Lessons posts can be found here. And, as always, you can click on images to view larger versions.

If you’ve read my posts about the Witcher games, you may be wondering why I haven’t had anything to say about The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt yet. Well, it’s because my computer can’t run it. Or rather, it can run it, but only at low settings, and it’s a game I want to experience with maximum prettiness enabled. I hope to upgrade my hardware soon, but in the meantime I needed another big role-playing game to play, so I decided to pluck one from my backlog.

When I wrote about Torchlight, I discussed how the action role-playing game (commonly abbreviated as ARPG) genre, begun with Diablo in 1996, takes inspiration from roguelikes. While some games broadened the scope somewhat beyond Diablo’s single town and huge dungeon, the focus remained on fighting lots of monsters and finding loot, with little else involved. I always wondered why no one thought to use the real-time combat systems of these games and fuse them with a more traditional Western-style role-playing game, where characters explore a large world and talk to people and do quests in addition to fighting lots of monsters.

Well, it turns out someone did do this, back in 2002, with the absurdly named Divine Divinity.

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