Massive Chalice EP26 - Enforcers Suck

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The sad news is that enforcers, just not good enough compared to the Hunters and Trickshots, they basically only deal comparable damage with close range shot, which is exactly where I don't actually want my hunters to be.

Give me a trickshot with the ability to hit multiple enemies with the same attack or the hunter with follow up any day over an enforcer.

I guess it is worth noting that I am comparing these guys when fully kitted out with the best weapons, armour and equipment that I can possibly have, but from what I have seen on the doublefine forums, enforcers only really become useful when using one of the cadence bows. Weapons which for the most part are significantly outpaced by relics, so I am not so sure it is worth the effort, especially with the other hunter bloodlines and relics I have available to me.

Massive Chalice EP25 - Revisiting the Marshlands

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Back to the same map as last time, but from a different angle and against different opponents. As a cost saving approach I like it, the maps do feel different enough, as long as you don't see them back to back anyway.

I really enjoyed using kill rage here, if I could get a bit more damage up I would probably use caberjacks a lot more. Maybe I should think about using that Winter's Bone relic for a while.

This series will end on Friday week. If you have any suggestions as to what you would like to see me play next, please let me know.

My Favourites of the Games I Finished in 2014

I realise that I have left this almost through to the end of January, but this year I actually have something resembling data.

During the year, when I finished games I ranked them on my games spreadsheet, because apparently I am that kind of person. I didn't allow myself to reorder games, it was always about slotting in the current game somewhere in the ranking, but I also lacked any firm criteria. Rankings were very much a gut feeling and I probably wouldn't have kept the same ranking were I to do it from scratch again now.

Because I ranked them when I finished, or in some cases decided I was done with the games. It also is a bit biased towards games that pack a good emotional or narrative punch towards the finish. I can't say I really feel that this is a problem.

I am going to continue trying to rank these things as I finish, I am not sure that it is at all helpful, but this year I think I am going to have two lists, one that I can reorder and one where entries are fixed when they are entered. I wonder how much they will diverge.

Well without any further delay, my top 5 games for last year were:

5. Wolfenstein: The New Order

One of the first games I played once my desktop arrived in Sweden. This was very much a purchase made from nostalgia, I spent a lot of my childhood playing through Wolfenstein 3D and Doom which gives this series an appeal it probably doesn't really deserve.

MachineGames did a great job building a lengthy imaginative modern take on Wolfenstein, the idea of taking the setting into a full blown retro scifi alternate universe allowed them to make some really eye catching levels and show a surprising amount of heart.

4. Call of Juarez: Gunslinger

This bite sized entry in the Call of Juarez series was a great mix of experimental story telling and satisfying gun play mixed up in a western setting that I must admit I am not too familiar with.

I tore threw it in a fairly short time and then went back for more. It is one of the few games this year that I replayed and even tried showing to friends via streaming.

I am a bit of a sucker for the unreliable narrator and I love the way this game uses it to play around with levels and scenery. I also enjoy how the tale gets taller and taller as the Silas get further into his drinks.

3. Shadowrun: Dragonfall

The eagerly awaited DLC for Shadowrun Returns. With this Harebrained Schemes managed to address most of the criticism that Dead Man's Switch (the original campaign) received.

It increased opportunities to access the matrix, added a persistent team of runners for you to use and had a much less linear structure. I became very attached to my little Kreuzbasar.

2. Hate Plus

Though a lot of reading, this game is very tense. It is a prequel/sequel to Analogue: A Hate Story and again Christine Love nails the ability to convey a tragedy.

I played this over the course of three days, as intended. But I continued from the impossible ending which did avoid one of the darkest parts of the game.

I can't say I am too upset by that, reading through the slow downfall of a society along with the hopes of the characters I liked being slowly crushed as they lost against the forces moving against them was bad enough.

1. Shadowrun: Dragonfall - Director's Cut

I guess this is a little unfair, but the director's fall of Dragonfall is a separate title and I did play both this and the original DLC. For the director's cut they expanded the
story, tuned up the interface and allowed it to breathe free of the constraints and stigma of downloadable content.

The new character missions were great, allowing us to see more of the world and learn to never ever ever let Blitz plan anything.

My favourite aspect was the expanded end content, you can argue with the bad guy now. You can even side with him if you are sufficiently swayed by his arguments, which is really cool and gives you an awesome semi-playable epilogue. SPOILER: It does not end well, there are horrors. But Sydney and the manastorm there are mentioned!

Massive Chalice EP24 - Keeps Exposed

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After the attack this episode I am left with all 5 of my keeps exposed to direct attack by the cadence. This, given that I now face only 3 region attacks, is the most vulnerable period I am likely to have remaining in this game. I could potentially lose most of my keeps over the next few episodes, which will greatly reduce my ability to gather reinforcements.

Fortunately there are only 40 years or so left in this game. My youngest heroes should see a day where either the cadence are defeated or the fight has been truly lost.

Either way, when this run ends I will move onto the next game, this series should finish up next week, I am happy to take suggestions as to what to play next.

Massive Chalice EP23 - BOOMstriker!

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Okay, Boomstrikers are a lot of fun. The high accuracy, free aim and area attack results in the ability to kill off enemies groups of enemies at quite a distance and they retain the alchemist's high damage.

They would probably feel a bit less awesome at lower levels due to the 5 flask limit, but at high levels they are really mobile from having free throw and boom and zoom, 2 high damage attacks in the same turn, with each success letting you advance or retreat as you please, yes please!

Definitely running out of things to say outside of the videos though, good thing I should finish off this game fairly soon.

Ranneko and Jarenth Play Star Realms

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Today I have something a little bit different for you. A multiplayer game of Star Realms with my friend Jarenth of Ninja-Blues. I have been playing this game every day for the past several months and been having a lot of fun and thought it would be cool to do a lets play of it.

Star Realms is a deck building duelling game it plays a little bit like the combination of dominion and magic the gathering. At the end of each turn you draw 5 cards, then during your next turn you play and use all of the cards in your hand, generating trade, damage and authority which you use to purchase more ships and stations (cards for your deck), damage your enemy, or heal (authority is the term for health in this game).

The trade row determines the cards you can buy and because their ordering is random every game plays out very differently but the game isn't so random that you can't develop a strategy and try to come out on top.

The digital version of the game is also played asynchronously, an individual turn typically only takes 30 seconds or so which means that there isn't a particularly large time commitment to play as long as you can find about 30 seconds a game every couple of days. I often will play a few turns on the bus or while walking to the shops. I note this aspect primarily to explain why in the video Jarenth and I both keep checking what cards each of us have, the game was recorded over the course of about a week and I would have played a good 10 other games of star realms in that time, I in no way try to keep the entire game state in my head.

Star Realms is currently part of the Humble Card Game Bundle, the digital copy is in the lowest tier and the game runs not only on your PC, but also on android and iOS.

Okay, that is all I have to say about the game, the rest of this post is going to be about the idea for the video and the thinking behind it.

I had this idea while I was back in Sydney, Star Realms was one of the games I was still able to keep going pretty regularly despite the fairly hectic schedule and making the New Years Eve death montage specials for Spelunky and Necrodancer got me thinking about other videos that would be interesting to do.

The idea of doing a lets play for Star Realms seemed like a good one, but I recalled listening to something about what had helped make TV Poker successful; the hole cam. The idea being that the audience getting access to that hidden information helps to build tension, where the audience knows who is bluffing and can try to see not just how well the bluffer is hiding this information but can try to see if their opponent is able to pick up on it.

So that is where I got the idea of having a 2 player Star Realms video, hopefully the access to both what we have in our hands but also what we are able to express of our thought processes and strategies will help make the video more engaging especially to people unfamiliar with Star Realms.

I hope at the very least you enjoyed this video, if you did then please let me know it will likely influence whether or not I do these kinds of things in the future.

If you want to read what Jarenth wrote about this whole thing, you can read it over at Ninja Blues here

Massive Chalice EP22 - Tricky New Hybrids

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I really like the different feel of the new classes, the Shadowjack being able to sneak up on enemies for massive sneak attack damage is great, though it does mean they can't get to the fight quite as fast as a regular caberjack.

The area effect of the Flash arrow does seems harder to use compared to regular flask attacks, because enemies only tend to cluster when they are charging and I try to avoid being visible long enough to let them do that and arrow are not free targeted, you must directly attack an enemy.

I am definitely approaching the end game and those 3 region attacks are going to start costing me pretty dearly. I am pretty sure those are all I will face until the end and as a result I am definitely going to start losing regions and most of my keeps are on the outer edge. If this happens too early I could basically run out of viable heroes before year 300 rolls around.

Only time will tell I guess.