The Elder Diary: #20140418
As my spare time becomes more scarce and I prefer to write fewer blog posts but with more interesting content (at least more focused and containing less offtopic clutter), it's been quite a few months since I posted something about my painting progress or CRPG related entries.
As a summary, that I will probably do again in the future, this is more or less all what I've been doing:
Boardgames
D&D Castle Ravenloft: Not much to say, we played the first missions, it is interesting but hard to win the bad guys!
Our ongoing Risk Legacy campaign: Finished battle 9, really cool how the game develops, and still way to go until the map "becomes fixed".
Descent 2nd edition: I liked it so much I bought the base game. Expansions seem a bit meh, until I get tired of the base game I doubt will buy anything else.
Flash Point: A collaborative game where up to 6 firemen try to save 7 people from a house while fire and smoke spreads and causes explosions.
CRPGs
Braverly Default: I'm loving it. Same as Final Fantasy series are dead (last games being a disgrace), this is a nice spiritual successor, combining Final Fantasy III job system with summonable friend special moves and combat tweaks, plus configurable difficulty setting and encounter %. And lovely graphics. Did I already say I'm enjoying it a lot?
Zelda: A link between worlds: I was reluctant to play this because the 2D Link wasn't appealing, but I tried and I actually like a lot the puzzles, but I agree on the general consensus that it is quite easy. I haven't finished it yet, but due to lack of time.
Project X Zone: More tactical than RPG, it's very similar to Final Fantasy Tactics but with simpler "fighting-like" battles.
Diablo 3 expansion: Now it finally is a roguelike and action house went to hell, so has become what it should have been two years ago.
Warhammer Quest on iOS: Along ALL expansions, and now I'm playing the additional characters, so you can imagine how much I like this game. One of the best purchases for my iPad, it's so great to have a "portable WHQ" even for holidays.
Space Hulk: One of my big dissapointments, and not due to the game itself, because the mechanics are so nicely replicated, but due to the mess of technical issues and bugs that come and go on most game updates. From neverending turns to glitches, sound muting or crappy 3D performance (I recently updated my graphics card, which makes the situation even more absurd), if the game worked tecnhically correct it would be great.
Also the DLC plague made it a "just buy the basic game, and if on sale, better" approach.
Shadowrun Returns: After finishing the main game, how with the Berlin campaign/addon free for being a backer I'm having more netrunning and turn-based combat. I still have my hopes in the fan-made content for the long term, but even without it is a nice old-school like RPG.
Fire Emblem: Awakening: This was a cool strategy-RPG mix, that hooked me to my 3DS for weeks. I pumped 30+ hours to finish the main story and didn't managed to do every side-quest and character sub-plot, so it can become a really long game if you want.
RPGs
Not much, although I'm reading a lot of Warhammer 40,000 codexes for the lore and background (literally skipping the rules). I must have read around a dozen codexes, along with companion books (new Games Workshop way of squeezing more money, put half of the lore in another book), and of course the books which I still do reviews here.
But no pure RPGs since a while...
Painting & Assembling
I'm still assembling all Deadzone minis, plus a cool Imperial Knight and some unexpected things; GW's new website and the exclusive minis touched my collector weak point so I grabbed my wish list and now have a few more things to take care of.
I'm currently painting the Imperial Knight, and had some started minis pending (some old Rogue trader-era MKVI Space Marines and some Necron basic troops) also on the queue for whenever I want to change a bit.
As usual, with my rate of painting It'll take weeks, but I prefer to go slow but leave it in a decent painting level (decent for my skills, not for normal standards which are way higher).
Apart from normal miniatures, I've finally started painting a Star Trek Enterprise model I had from my trip to Australia a few years ago. I expect to finish it soon as I don't want to ad too many details.
Tags: Boardgames Deadzone Final Fantasy Miniatures Offtopic Painting Risk Legacy Roguelike Shadowrun Space Hulk Videogames Warhammer 40000
Playing Roguelikes and other nerd stuff
Apart from lots of other things, like playing again pen-and-paper RPGs or finishing at last some CRPGs, I'm trying some "different" computer RPGs, Roguelikes.
They will probably scare a lot of people for their text-mode graphics (excepting a few ones), but if you've ever enjoyed Diablo or any other action-RPG, you have to try roguelikes...
I'm amazed how complex are them. Anyone is much better than the overall pc action-rpg, and some of them just deserve money investment and graphic artists to become a commercial-like quality game.
Curiously, the last game I've tried is the first one I've read about... Unangband. A fantastic RPG ambiented in Tolkien's world.
A curious set of "remakes" are the following three games:
Diablo RL: Same gameplay as the original Blizzard's game, but in text mode.
Doom RL: This one is quite fun, after having played and finished a few times Doom RPG.
Aliens RL: This is the best of the three for me. I love Aliens films, and this actionRPG is fantastic. The line of sight is quite well done, inventory management is easy... You should try it!
Dwarf Fortress is the last and more complex one of all my recent discoveries. The game is a 2x1: You can build and manage a dwarven fortress like in a strategy game with multiple levels, complex conditions as humidity and hostile civilitzations, or you can play as an adventurer and explore the huge world (almost 20kx20k squares!!!).
Seriously, I've discovered an amazing new world of entertainment... much better than commercial, mindless hack'n slash "RPG"s.
Tags: Roguelike Videogames
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