The University Gaming Club

[Ardreas]

Apr 4, 2014 13:21:21 GMT -5 Benevolent Thomas said:

...I've even heard that pre-orders can join whatever faction they please in spite of race which kind of defeats the whole purpose. I hope this isn't true, otherwise I can see this game going Free to Play and full of micro-transactions very soon.

Apr 4, 2014 15:08:45 GMT -5 Benevolent Thomas said:

Yeah, I've been looking for a WoW replacement for years. I quit that game back in like 2006 I think and I haven't found a good MMORPG to get rooted in ever since. I thought TOR was the answer, but the end game was just so bad.

Interestingly, I just read about some cool stuff that takes place after you reach level 50 (max level in ESO). You can enter a stage called "Veteran Ranks" where you get to return to Coldharbour and then play through a sort of alternate-timeline of events where you can experience the quest lines and adventures in either of the other 2 factions. So basically, when my Dunmer gets to level 50 I can go back as a Veteran Rank 1 character and play through the Daggerfall Covenant or Aldmeri Dominion. For the purposes of PVP, I'd still be Ebonheart, and I could return to Morrowind whenever I want, but I'd get to experience the other faction's stuff too, as a Dunmer. So esentially this will deal with the preorder ability to play as any race in any faction, by allowing all players who've reached the endgame to quest through the other factions if they want. So I'm looking forward to that.

Additionally, there are heroic versions of all dungeons, kinda like how WoW had heroic dungeon modes for end game. And there is what is called "adventure zones" which are like endgame raids. I don't know a whole lot about them yet, I still have a ways to go. But yeah, lots of stuff to look forward too.

[Benevolent Thomas]

So I've played a little bit of ESO tonight... pretty good. Might have to invest in actually getting a computer that can handle gaming.

[Ardreas]

Oh ya? What's your name? I'll add you to my friends list and we can do stuff, if you're in the Ebonheart Pact. Otherwise.... look for me on the field of battle.

Kidding, my guild's a pretty sweet place to hang out, and we've even allowed in a few Aldmeri scum members. There's no language barrier in this game like WoW has, so anybody can be in a guild together.

[Benevolent Thomas]

Well its not my game so that would be pretty difficult I was just giving it a spin last night.

[Ardreas]

Ah, ok. And regarding computers, mine is actually 4 years old. I need to upgrade it, but I have other expenses clamoring for my attention at the moment. But even my old dual-core machine can handle ESO at medium graphics (which are what my screenshots are in). I get a bit of lag from time to time in crowded areas, but mostly it's not bad. So I'm sure you can work up something that doesn't cost too much.

[Benevolent Thomas]

Lets see... I have about $200 in the disposable income department. I'm going to need like $650+ to build a decent gaming computer... $60 for ESO, $70 for Destiny when it comes out on the PS4 and like $40-$60 for when Beyond Earth is released. I'm going to have to at least quadruple my stack if not even more :/

[Ardreas]

[Ardreas]

Back to the discussion about Beyond Earth. Ars Technica just posted a really good interview article about it. Soooo looking forward to this. I'm a major Alpha Centauri junkie, and even with a different name slapped on it (for copyright shrubbery), this is the game I've been waiting for for a decade now. I have high hopes that it will be awesome.

[Aersoldorf]

I really want to start playing ESO, but I don't think it would be possible at this time. I don't think my computer could handle it.

[Witchcraft and Sorcery]

That's the same with mine. I don't really have the money right now either.

[Benevolent Thomas]

I used to play games on my younger brother's computer just a few years ago. It ran games like SWTOR and Civ V on high settings. It can only run ESO on low-medium settings efficiently. Its hard to keep up with computer gaming hardware since it updates so frequently. But it will be on the consoles... I may get it on PS4 if it looks alright. I actually kind of regret getting that PS4. There hasn't been that many newer games out on it and I could have put that money towards a computer >.>

[Aersoldorf]

We actually held out on the PS4 for just that reason.

[Witchcraft and Sorcery]

I'm going to get a PS4 In a couple years maybe, probably when I go to college and when there's a much better selection of games to play. For now I have an Xbox 360 and I'm happy with that.

[Ardreas]

I was thinking about getting a PS4, but then I asked myself: "why?" I don't have to get a new console just because it's new and my friends are doing that. There aren't even a whole lot of games for it yet. But I wanted to get into console gaming more, since I'm primarily a pc gamer. Then I saw gamestop was having an awesome sale on last-gen consoles. So I got a 320gb PS3 slim and a free game for just $150. And 2 more games for 20% off, plus a free year's subscription to game informer. So that was a pretty nice jackpot day. Really, for me, it's only important to stay on the curve with pc gaming. Consoles don't change as much so I'm fine with waiting until the prices come down and the libraries build up. That's the same way I got my PS2 back in the day. I waited until the last end-of-generation sales and picked up a bunch of stuff from it. Still play those occasionally too. I just don't like how the ps2 controller can't be inverted for a lot of games like the ps3 can. I mean, pushing the stick forward should make you look down, just like flying an airplane. Why would that make you look up? Crazy!

[Witchcraft and Sorcery]

I still stand by that the best first-person shooter I've ever played is Star Wars Battlefront II for the PS2. My friends and I would spend whole days playing that game with no sleep at all. Apparently it's backwards compatible with the Xbox 360 from the original Xbox, I just need to find a copy...

[Benevolent Thomas]

First SW battlefront was better. Pure FPS with no heroes/villains. The maps were also far superior.

[Witchcraft and Sorcery]

I'll look into both of them. I'm saying this as currently, as I've never played the first.

[Benevolent Thomas]

You haven't lived until you've played the Bespin level with the platforms. It contained one of the greatest bottlenecks I've ever seen in a video game. You spent most of the match fighting for a couple of feet at a time. And if you broke through, you better capture that outpost, otherwise you'll be right back into the bottleneck by the time you respawn.

[Witchcraft and Sorcery]

That sounds really awesome. That sounds like something I would have fun with, especially as someone who likes to play sniper in every FPS except CoD.

[Benevolent Thomas]

So I've been making money like a mo-fo this week. This computer idea just got a hell of a lot more realistic.

Sid Meier, I'm coming for you my love!

[Ardreas]

Woohoo! Civilization 4 and Alpha Centauri are the best TBS games every invented! Gods I hope Beyond Earth does them justice.

[Aersoldorf]

Apr 30, 2014 10:11:05 GMT -5 Witchcraft and Sorcery said:

That sounds really awesome. That sounds like something I would have fun with, especially as someone who likes to play sniper in every FPS except CoD.

I liked being a sniper in Battlefront as well, but I've never gotten into CoD

[Witchcraft and Sorcery]

I dunno what has made me play CoD: Ghosts so much lately. I enjoy it, mostly because it's a lot more frenetic and fast-paced than many FPS's (I won't say all of them, I know that's not true), but I don't snipe except in Search and Destroy on any CoD. Snipers in that game are so judgmental and their attitudes are, for the most part, really poisonous.

As far as sniping in Battlefront - that was so much fun. My favorite sniper map was Kashyyyk by far. You could just hang out in one spot and pick everything off as they rushed you, and I loved that.

[Benevolent Thomas]

Apr 30, 2014 15:55:03 GMT -5 Witchcraft and Sorcery said:

As far as sniping in Battlefront - that was so much fun. My favorite sniper map was Kashyyyk by far. You could just hang out in one spot and pick everything off as they rushed you, and I loved that.

You're not a true gamer unless you've done this dozens of times.

[Ardreas]

Hey everyone, happy Monday morning to ya all. It's been a while since I updated you on my ESO progress, so... picture time!

It's been awesome. I think this game is getting better the farther I go. I spent most of the weekend in Black Marsh, and guess what they have (other than a bunch of swamps)?

Ayleid Ruins!



Man it felt like I was playing Oblivion again. Crazy! I found myself looking for Varla Stones...

And I found one!



Too bad I can't pick them up though. They're just light sources here, but still, they look awesome. Also, in case you noticed, yes that's a different character. I am leveling 2 characters together. Tyroq, my DPS, is the one you saw before. This one is Orealis, my tank. It's fun to experience the game in different roles, plus it's useful for my guild to have different toons to be on for dungeons. Anyway, speaking of Oblivion related stuff, guess who I met?

Sheogorath! The mad god himself took me to the Shivering Isles and had me doing some crazy quests for him as part of a larger story arc (which I won't spoil for ya here). He was hilarious as usual, and a bit nutty.



I took down some Dark Anchors too, while adventuring around Black Marsh. Those are fun world events. I think I showed you a picture of one a couple weeks ago. Well you get some nice xp and loot from being part of a group that takes them down. Plus an achievement for the first time you do it.



Another view of an Ayleid Ruin, just because they're so cool.



And here's something interesting. Do you know what this is? It's the Hist Tree! That big sacred tree the Argonians are always talking about. Apparently they lay their eggs in the soil beneath it and each generation hatches with a special bond to the tree. There's a lot more to it than that, and apparently the Hist is even conscious. I got to talk to it at one point. But again, no spoilers.



Lots of ships along the Black Marsh coast. Not all of them friendly. There are Khajiit pirates that raid these lands, some of them privateers working for the cursed Aldmeri Dominion.



Anyway, speaking of tanking dungeons, here I am tanking a group through Arx Corinium. Now that is an awesome dungeon. It's huge and the fights are beautifully complex! No more blind button mashing. No more spamming abilities and burning down bosses. These mobs mean business and you have to pay attention to stuff. There's one syren that screams so loud she'll kill everyone if they don't figure out the correct place to take shelter. There's a huge Wamasu that electrocutes random group members and lashes them to the ground with electric handcuffs and they can't break free unless a party member comes over to help release them. And then there's the boss in the picture who electrifies the water around that island, so if you step into it you die. And she'll summon electric storms in random areas so you have to keep moving, plus she has a nasty scream attack that fires in a cone in front of her, so as the tank I had to keep her facing away from the group. Ah, good times.



So yeah, I'm still loving ESO. I just arrived in Skyrim yesterday. I'll have some pictures of that for you all later. But let me just say, holy cow! Windhelm. I mean seriously. Windhelm.

That is all.

[Ardreas]

Looks like it's been a slow week here on the forum. Oh well, I promised pictures of Windhelm, and here they are!

The Southern Gate is easily recognizable, and the general layout of the city is quite similar to what anyone who's played Skyrim would be familiar with. Architecture is a little different, but that's understandable, given that this is a very long time before the events of Skyrim.



But then turn around and look north... Could this be Candlehearth Hall? Holy crapazoids! It is, but it looks so different. It's beautiful and new, just like the whole city. Fresh and vibrant. Kinda make me feel a bit depressed, knowing how much the city will degrade by the time of 4th Era. But still, it's awesome to see it now. Very cool.



And then here is the gate to the Palace of Kings. Easily recognizable.



But who is this? A Stormcloak!? Now that is interesting. Looks like an old family, prominent in the city for a very long time indeed. I feel like the Doctor should pop out and say something about being careful not to mess with the timeline.



Anyway, here is the cemetary. It's a lot smaller in this time period. I guess not many people have had a chance to die yet. The Halls of the Dead is a tough dungeon though. Lots of Drauger and even some crazy Daedra.



To wrap it up, here I am south of the river looking north at the city and the bridge. It is very much the Windhelm that I know, and yet also a different place. I'm really enjoying it though. The more I explore Skyrim in ESO the more I find myself looking for familiar landmarks and remembering adventures I had in the game Skyrim. I can't wait to get to Riften. I wonder if the Thieve's Guild is active there in this time period, or if my house is there yet. What I really want to see is Whiterun, but that part of Skyrim isn't available yet. Maybe in a future patch.



And that's it for now. Until next time everyone, keep gaming!

[Ardreas]

Everybody give up gaming for lent or something?

Anyway, I've gotta share this. ESO really surprised me yesterday. Talk about grimdark. I just played through a quest series that felt like it should have been at home in Demon Souls or The Witcher, not an Elder Scrolls game. But it was really well done, and pulled me into full immersion. I don't have any screenshots of this one, but.... you won't need any.

*Spoilers (but nothing main-story related)*

So I am adventuring in the Rift now. That's the area of southeastern Skyrim where Riften is located. In ESO it's a level 38-43 zone. Anyway, as I was riding along the north road, looking for ore to mine or chests to unlock I came across an NPC who ran up to me calling for my attention. I stopped, dismounted and walked over to her. She was a dark elf, and I thought she looked familiar. As we talked she mentioned having been in Bal Foyen with me. That caught me by surprise because that was a long time ago, the first zone I went to after leaving Bleakrock island. I didn't really remember anything specific from back then, it's all a bit of a blur to me now, but I wasn't going to argue with her. Anyway, she asked me to help her scout a camp of Worm Cult followers and find out why they're here and what they're doing with people they've abducted. She said she would go and allow herself to get captured to find out information from the inside while I pretended to be a guard. Yeah, oldest scheme in the book, but hey this game is set hundreds of years before Skyrim, so maybe it wasn't such an old idea at this point? Anyway I agreed, put on a disguise she gave me, and went off to scout around the camp.

As I went, I found clues scattered about that painted a grim picture. Apparently the cultists were in league with a coven of Hagravens and were feeding prisoners to them in exchange for their dark magical powers. Some of the clues described really gross practices, such as allowing the Hagravens to suck out the eyes of helpless prisoners while they're still alive. That's disgusting, seriously. And then the prisoners would often be killed so their souls could be harvested as well. Talk about a run of bad luck. I mean damn, I could think of a hundred ways I'd rather die than that. Which reminded me, my fellow spy Tovisa got herself captured by these bastards to learn about their secrets from inside the camp. Oh, that's not good.

So now I had to go find her and give her my report so we could get out of there. Yeah, should be simple enough. I tell her what's up, we go back to the army and wipe these freaks out. Of course not so easy. Tovis isn't there. Another prisoner reported that she was taken with a group of prisoners into the mines to be sacrificed. Lovely. So now it's a race against time, I've got to locate her and get her out of there before she goes through that ordeal. I figured, hey it's an Elder Scrolls game and I'm the hero. I'll arrive just in the nick of time, save the day, and end this foul practice. Nope. I sneak my way into the cave, still in my disguise, and see Tovisa up ahead... with a bloody rag tied around her face. She's already had her eyes sucked out by the Hagravens and is just waiting to be killed. When I get to her, she recognizes me (presumably by my voice) and starts to sob. Well, not exactly sob since she no longer has any tear ducts. What would you call it? Dry sobbing? It was pitiful, in a really really sad way. She pleads with me not to look at her, like she's been violated in the worst way and can't bare for me to even see her like this. But then she, still thinking of the mission, asks me to go kill the Hagravens and make sure this evil cult is ended so nobody else suffers through it. Gladly I went to do that. I took off the disguse and slaughtered everything in that cave. I killed the 3 Hagravens, put their heads on spikes and wiped out the coven. There, mission successful. Saved the day. Yippee.

After escorting Tovisa back to the surface, she gave me my quest reward. My gold and xp and enchanted item. And as I mounted up to ride heroically into the sunset I looked back. Back to where she was hobbling down the road, led along by the other prisoner who could still see. And it hit me. As the hero I'm off to go adventure and enjoy fun times and dungeons and epic loot. And here this woman, who'd dedicated her life for the Pact and been every bit as heroic as I was... she'd never see again. She'd have to live out her life as a cripple, probably forgotten by everyone. After all she wasn't the one who'd stormed the cave and wiped out the coven and put an end to the Worm Cult's actions. No that was me. She was just the one who got herself captured for the cause and LOST HER f**kING EYESIGHT FOREVER. I think that was the worst I'd ever felt for being the hero. And I'm not going to forget that quest any time soon.

And people say there's no immersion in an MMO.

If genocide against hagravens was a crime, I'd be guilty. I killed more of them since that quest. And I don't expect I'll stop any time soon. Cruel freaks.

Anyway, ESO is a powerful game. It continues to surprise me as I play. Yeah it's got its flaws here and there. It's not a perfect game. But it's a hell of a lot better than some people give it credit for. And the quests, the voice acting, the story, it's really good. It gets you emotionally invested in it, if you slow down and take the time to enjoy the story. Most people who claim that the game lacks depth are the ones skipping through the dialog and running about like headless chickens trying to power level to 50. They're the ones who miss quests like this and then complain that the game is bland and empty. Go figure.

So yeah, that's my story for today.

[Elite]

That's a pretty cool story. As for gaming, I'm having a break from it as I've missed a lot of school due to sickness and I need to catch up on mountains of homework (and I'm still sick).

[Benevolent Thomas]

Gotta love quests like those. Nice to see them outside of a Bioware game for once

I've done absolutely 0 gaming in the past few months, but I know I'll be back on the horse soon. September for sure

[The Candy Lane]

Has anyone used Vassal? I'm wondering if there's a way we can use this on/attached to our forum. www.vassalengine.org/index.php

This is a pdf of the games user guide, on page 12 (or 16, depending on how you count) it talks about play-by-forum set up.
www.vassalengine.org/mediawiki/images/8/8c/Userguide.pdf

Playing by Forum (PBF)
With more than 2 players involved, a PBEM game has the potential to become somewhat confusing. Since logs are
exchanged by email among multiple players, it may be difficult to sort out the correct sequence of logs, as well as which
logfiles have been reviewed. In addition, if a logfile is inadvertently mailed to the wrong player, it can cause a problem with
the gameplay sequence.

A Play By Forum game is similar to an email game, but is better suited for games with more than 2 players. Log files are
posted to a forum, where players can download them as required. The forum preserves the sequence of play, as sequential
posts are made to the forum. In addition, the forum ensures that log files are not lost or misplaced by accident or mischance.
The Vassalengine.com forum can be used for PBF games, or you can use a forum of your own choice that permits file
attachments.

To play by forum,

I. Starting a forum game:
1. Create a discussion thread on the forum of choice. (You can start the thread by posting invitations to
players.)
2. In Module Manager, in the Module Library window, double-click the module you want to play. The
Welcome Wizard opens.
3. In the Welcome Wizard, under Select play mode, choose Start a new game offline, and then follow the
other Wizard steps as the module requires.
4. Click Finish. Your module now loads.

II. Playing a forum game (first player):
1. With the module loaded, on the File menu, click Begin Logfile.
2. Execute your turn as usual. You can also enter chat text to communicate with your opponent. VASSAL
records your moves and chat to an encrypted log.
3. When your turn is complete, click File | End Logfile.
4. Name and save the log file. (VASSAL log files have the suffix .vlog.)
5. Create a post on the game discussion thread, and attach your .vlog file to the post.

III. Reviewing and responding to an opponent’s log (second and subsequent players):
1. The next player downloads the latest file attachment from the forum.
2. Launch VASSAL and then open the module you are playing.
3. In the Welcome Wizard, under Select play mode, choose Load a Saved Game.
4. Under Load Saved Game, click Select and browse to the downloaded log file.
5. Click Next. If this is your first turn, you may be prompted for additional Wizard steps. Follow the other
steps as required. Otherwise, skip to step 6.
6. On the Toolbar, click the Step Through Logfile button, to review your opponentʼs moves. Each click of
Step Through Logfile performs one move or displays one chat line.
7. When complete, you are prompted to start a new log file. Click Yes.
8. Name and choose a location for the log file.
9. In the Comments window, enter any comments you wish about the log file. This comment will be
displayed in the Module Manager. Game Play: Playing Offline
13
10. Take your turn as usual. VASSAL logs your moves and chat as you make them.
11. When done, click File | End Logfile. The logfile is saved.
12. Post the .vlog file to the appropriate thread on the forum.

Each player repeats these steps until the game is complete.

About PBF Logfiles
In every way, PBF logfiles are identical to PBEM logfiles. Only their distribution method is different. For more information
on logfiles, see About Game Logs on page 11.

To explain what this is about, I'm looking for a way to bring more Play by Post strategy games and other activities to our forum. This is part of an ongoing search for those things, and so far it looks promising.