Roleplaying sessions are back: Alternity
Thanks to my friend Vicente, last sunday we had a 4 hours roleplaying session of Alternity, a sci-fi RPG from the late 90s.
At first it looked to me as a crossover between Cyberpunk 2020 and the Star Wars movies, but I was very wrong: The game uses a more or less simple d20 throwing system based on modifiers (which usually means additional dice, from d4 to d20 always, but sometimes a pure +/- modifier).
Combine that with 3 ranges of ok roll results (normal, good amazing) and an interesting combat system (with three levels of damage, and stun hits always present no matter how good the armor is), and you get a nice mix to enjoy futuristic adventures and alien combats.
The play itself was like a mini-adventure (that we managed to finish, albeit some catastrophic rolls :) and was quite funny (being 7 people allows for variety of decisions, opinions and ideas).
The only "negative" point was that the adventure had some similarities to a past Warcraft RPG adventure we played.
The setting and some of the races brought to me the sensation of being playing Mass Effect: the weren are so similar to the krogan, the psyonic magic...
Really fun and nice playsession, now the idea is to keep at least one session per month (one each 3 weeks would be great if we all can make it).
Oh, and as an extra, here is the image of the 8th misterious player... She didn't say anything but was willing to play:
Finished Mass Effect
Finally, and after almost 33 hours of gameplay, I've finished my first run of Mass Effect.
At the end, I've done almost all sidequests (excepting two of collecting data), explored (I think) all the galaxies and planets (you can see a list of what I've explored here), and this were my stats:
Gel: 999 (max)
Money: nearly 1.5 million
Level: 47
Class: Soldier
Alignment: Paragon (Good)
Specialization: Shock Trooper
I acomplished the romance sub-plot (with the Asari girl) and completed tons of encycloapedia entries.
Now that a Hardcore difficult level, level cap of 60 (instead of 50) and more important, the option to start a new game with the inventory and experience of the previous game, I'll probably do a second run, this time being a renegade (Bad) character, and trying to get to level 60.
Overall, it is like playing "KOTOR 3" but without jedis. The engine has some flaws, some parts of the game seem a bit unpolished, but anyway it is one of the best 360 games in the market, has some cool replay value, the graphics are fantastic and it's an RPG :)
Time to go for The Witcher too at last!
P.S.: A guide I've found that contains all the missions and submissions can be found here at GameSpot. Is not complete but you can do every primary and secondary mission.
The Galaxies of Mass Effect
I've fallen in love with Mass Effect... Even thought is not as incredible as KOTOR was, the game still has me hooked to it.
The graphics are awesome (some aliens just appear to be too real to be computer generated!), the sound is fantastic (I got the game soundtrack) and it's quite big...
So big I'm going to list all the planets I've travelled. Not all are explorable (in fact, from each 5, an average of 4 are either non-explorable or only surveyable), but they add atmosphere to the game's huge space feeling. And exploring the planet with the "buggy" is fun too (but the big and nasty earth worms are very silly).
So... this are the Galaxies, planetary sistems and planets (or ships sometimes ;) :
- Serpent Nebula
- Widow
- Citadel
- Hawking Eta
- Century
- Tamahera
- Tharopto
- Klendagon
- Presrop
- Canctra
- Argos Rho
- Hydra
- Theyar
- Metgos
- Varmalus
- Canrum
- Syba
- Phoenix
- Sylsalto
- Vebinok
- Patashi
- Tuntau
- Kepler Verge
- Newton
- Ontarom
- Klencory
- Sesmose
- Juncro
- Herschel
- Tungel
- Clobaka
- Matol
- Clugon
- MSV Fedele
- Armstrong Nebula
- Gagarin
- Rayingri
- Junthor
- Sogelrus
- Antirumgon
- Pressha
- Tereshkova
- Hunsalra
- Solmarlon
- Mawinor
- Antibaar
- Thegeuse
- Patamalrus
- Hong
- Theshaca
- Matar
- Casbin
- Pomal
- Treagir
- Vamshi
- Maji
- Almos
- Pregel
- Grissom
- Benda
- Zaherux
- Notanban
- Solcrum
- Voyager Cluster
- Amazon
- Agebinium
- Sonedma
- Derneuca
- Sybin
- Tremar
- Yangtze
- Binthu
- Dregir
- Patajiri
- Renshato
- Alrumter
- Columbia
- Ontaheter
- Clojiia
- Gromar
- Nepheron
- Hades Gamma
- Antaeus
- Vemal
- Ploba
- Hunidor
- Edmos
- Trebin
- Ageko
- Dis
- Gremar
- Klensal
- Raysha
- Nearrum
- Jartar
- Farinata
- MSV Ontario
- Thunshagon
- Juntauma
- Nepneu
- Gemini Sigma
- Ming
- MSV Worthington
- Antiroprus
- Parag
- Altanorch
- Han
- Huningto
- Mavigon
- Paravin
- Patatanlis
- Farcrothu
- Artemis Tau
- Sparta
- Altaaaya
- Tremanre
- Alsages
- Edolus
- Ontamalca
- Knossos
- Phaistos
- Armeni
- Therum
- Zakros
- Archanes
- Athens
- Pharos
- Salamis
- Nausicaa
- Circe
- Proteus
- Macedon
- Fargeluse
- Patavig
- Porolan
- Sharjila
- Attican Beta
- Hercules
- Xathorron
- Syided
- Eletania
- Zatorus
- Feros
- Quana
- Logan
- Sytau
- Sharring
- Ferosja
- Exodus Cluster
- Utopia
- Xanadu
- Nirvana
- Arcadia
- Eden Prime
- Zion
- Local Cluster
- Sol
- Mercury
- Venus
- Earth
- Luna
- Mars
- Jupiter
- Saturn
- Neptune
- Uranus
- Pluto
- Maroon Sea
- Matano
- Supay
- Inti
- Apo
- Chasca
- Illapa
- Vostok
- Clomarthu
- Alko
- Pataiton
- Nodacrux
- Caspian
- Farnuri
- Clotanca
- Antida
- Almarcrux
- MSV Cornucopia
- Horse Head Nebula
- Fortuna
- Amaranthine
- Maganlis
- Wentania
- Therumlon
- Strenuus
- Xawin
- Yunthorl
- Antitarra
- Trelyn
- Thesalgon
- Pax
- Svarog
- Morana
- Veles
- Noveria
- Sentry Omega
- Hoc
- Prescyla
- Cloroplon
- Jarfor
- Nemata
- Virmire
- Pangaea Expanse
- Refuge
- Agetoton
- Zafe
- Ilos
I'll keep searching if there are additional galaxies I missed up.
Update: Added all remaining galaxies from my complete first game run.
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