Yes, I know that for a large portion of us older gamers, this word is considered obscene.
But hear me out for just one moment. Listen to my plea.
There had to be some reason that so many of us committed hours upon hours of our youth to this game.
And I think I know why.
All in all, Runescape is a wonderful introduction to the realm of MMOs. It's like a gateway drug: cheap, easy to learn, and all-consuming. The desire to make more money, buy better gear, and level up skills can devour hours of time on weekends. Its simplistic, non-linear nature is easy to follow, and there are enough possible things to occupy oneself with at any point in time that it rarely gets excessively boring for those with a desire to advance in rank.
Starting off as a level one in almost every skill, one can decide what exactly they're going to pursue. Want to start any production skill? All you have to do is make some cash and buy the item that correlates to that skill. Nodes to acquire resources are spread throughout the world and are relatively easy to access, and as long as the server isn't too populated, there's little contest to gain maximum output.
If production isn't your thing, you can begin in any of the three disturbingly simple combat trees. Simply find or acquire a weapon (a sword, bow + arrows, or some basic runes), and you can begin fighting monsters and leveling up.
The lack of complexity makes this game incredibly attractive to young gamers who have little to no exposure to the procedures of an MMO. And leveling up is fun! Rewards are tangible or noticable, and progress always results from time commitment. The amount of profit directly correlates to the amount of time put in - no skill is required to click on a tree to chop it down.
As many of us grow older, however, we come to realize how tedious this game truly can be. Sure, you can put in tons of time to cut down half a million trees and reach level 60 woodcutting...but after that many point-and-click repetitions, things become unentertaining. We realize that the acquisition of resources - whether they're wood, minerals, or cooking items - takes so long that it isn't near worth the commitment. Combat becomes a repetetive point-and-click drawl as well, with little variation besides 'oh no, I'm low on health, let me click on this food'. The repertoie of available quests is dull, and they lack variation: "Run around the world for X hours, doing pointless tasks, and you can prevent yourself from spending 10 gold every time you want to cross through this gate," or something similar. After the novelty of material progress wears off, the lack of depth and intriguing new content drives many players away.
Becoming a member lengthens entertainment for a short amount of time: sure, there are more places to travel to, and more skills to advance, but they're essentially all the same thing: point-and-click for X hours until you reach the next level.
While RuneScape was fun for a couple of years, I haven't returned to it since...it's grown old, and needs to grow up or accept its demise.
Have fun, good gaming, and remember:
don't feed the trolls.
-Toast
Thursday, February 2, 2012
Sunday, January 15, 2012
League of Legends: Details 03
Now, I'll cover the basic purpose of Abilities in League of Legends.
There are three ends that an ability can serve:
To deal damage to enemies;
to disable enemies;
and to assist allies.
There are quite a number of ways that all of these ends can be accomplished in each category, and many abilities fall in to more than one, if not all three, categories. I'll begin my dissemination by detailing damage-dealing abilities.
Damage can be dealt in one of two basic ways. Either champions can poke their enemies down slowly but steadily, employing a disable to prevent their escape and finish the kill; or champion nukes can drop every heavy-hitting ability they have at once for a devastating health drop, hoping that it will finish their enemies off in one blow. These two different characteristics correspond to the statistics discussed previously: Attack Damage, Attack Speed, and Ability Power. Nukes and pokers can use either of these statistics to their advantage. Determining which to use is merely a matter of finding out which develops (or 'ramps') your damage output capabilities more effectively. After discovering this, one simply must find what item effects benefit that character's ability set, and they're ready to play well.
Abilities that disable enemies come in quite a few different varieties. Skill shots depend on the aiming capabilities of the player: they fly along a straight path the player chooses. Area of effect disables are much easier to land, but are generally less potent than skill shots. Disables come in quite a good variety themselves. Stuns and slows are the most common, but characters can also knock enemies into the air, bash them into walls, and simply trap them with impassable land. All of these abilities can be used in any fight to drastically reduce the viability of an enemy character, and generally they are focused upon squishy, easy to kill characters to prevent them from dealing damage and remaining present for any extended encounter.
Assist spells are much less prominent. Characters that have assists can boost their allies' movement speeds, heal them, shield them with extra health or protect them from spells, or buff any of their offensive or defensive characteristics. Though these may seem crucial, they are much less prevalent in champion selections, as they tend to lack the potency required during an extended encounter.
Any of these abilities can be thrown together to make a champion whose abilities are different than another's. However, there are some champions who have abilities unique to themselves that allow them to teleport, summon non-player allies, and even duplicate themselves. These unique abilities tend to be devastating when used correctly. Take Kassadin for example. His Riftwalk ultimate allows him to teleport within a short range of himself, dealing damage and setting up subsequent teleports. This allows him to pursue enemies more effectively than most champions, and can deal substantial damage on its own. Lux or Ezreal's ultimate allows them to shoot a powerful, long-range beam down any direction, hitting any enemies it encounters and dealing massive damage. And the grand Tryndamere ultimate allows him to survive after his health falls to zero and continue battling; this often allows him time to escape and heal with his other abilities.
I've scratched the surface of abilities in this blog...next time around, I'll cover map control and team fight dynamics.
Have fun, good gaming, and remember:
don't feed the trolls.
-Toast
There are three ends that an ability can serve:
To deal damage to enemies;
to disable enemies;
and to assist allies.
There are quite a number of ways that all of these ends can be accomplished in each category, and many abilities fall in to more than one, if not all three, categories. I'll begin my dissemination by detailing damage-dealing abilities.
Damage can be dealt in one of two basic ways. Either champions can poke their enemies down slowly but steadily, employing a disable to prevent their escape and finish the kill; or champion nukes can drop every heavy-hitting ability they have at once for a devastating health drop, hoping that it will finish their enemies off in one blow. These two different characteristics correspond to the statistics discussed previously: Attack Damage, Attack Speed, and Ability Power. Nukes and pokers can use either of these statistics to their advantage. Determining which to use is merely a matter of finding out which develops (or 'ramps') your damage output capabilities more effectively. After discovering this, one simply must find what item effects benefit that character's ability set, and they're ready to play well.
Abilities that disable enemies come in quite a few different varieties. Skill shots depend on the aiming capabilities of the player: they fly along a straight path the player chooses. Area of effect disables are much easier to land, but are generally less potent than skill shots. Disables come in quite a good variety themselves. Stuns and slows are the most common, but characters can also knock enemies into the air, bash them into walls, and simply trap them with impassable land. All of these abilities can be used in any fight to drastically reduce the viability of an enemy character, and generally they are focused upon squishy, easy to kill characters to prevent them from dealing damage and remaining present for any extended encounter.
Assist spells are much less prominent. Characters that have assists can boost their allies' movement speeds, heal them, shield them with extra health or protect them from spells, or buff any of their offensive or defensive characteristics. Though these may seem crucial, they are much less prevalent in champion selections, as they tend to lack the potency required during an extended encounter.
Any of these abilities can be thrown together to make a champion whose abilities are different than another's. However, there are some champions who have abilities unique to themselves that allow them to teleport, summon non-player allies, and even duplicate themselves. These unique abilities tend to be devastating when used correctly. Take Kassadin for example. His Riftwalk ultimate allows him to teleport within a short range of himself, dealing damage and setting up subsequent teleports. This allows him to pursue enemies more effectively than most champions, and can deal substantial damage on its own. Lux or Ezreal's ultimate allows them to shoot a powerful, long-range beam down any direction, hitting any enemies it encounters and dealing massive damage. And the grand Tryndamere ultimate allows him to survive after his health falls to zero and continue battling; this often allows him time to escape and heal with his other abilities.
I've scratched the surface of abilities in this blog...next time around, I'll cover map control and team fight dynamics.
Have fun, good gaming, and remember:
don't feed the trolls.
-Toast
Thursday, January 12, 2012
Retro Gaming 04: Custom Robo
One evening, I was talking to my friend Christine on the phone, and I mentioned the game Custom Robo in passing. It was my favorite Gamecube game ever, and it consumed hours upon hours of my childhood, but I never really owned it - I always borrowed it from my friends down the street.
This past Christmas, that same friend bought me Custom Robo. I practically died of happiness on the spot - I hadn't played it in almost 4 years. That same night, I was planning on heading to a friend's house, and I remembered at that moment that they had the Gamecube controller and memory stick that I needed to borrow. I couldn't wait to get home afterwards and pop the game in...
and when I did, it was even better than I remembered.
The graphics might be terrible compared to modern games, and the plot is sub-par, but variety in gameplay is absolutely insane. It's called Custom Robo for a reason - there are hundreds of parts to choose from, with each part serving a different purpose and producing a different effect in the arena (or Holosseum, if you use in-game jargon XD ). There are 5 parts that are customizable on your robo: the body, the gun, pod, bomb, and boots. The body determines the base defensive, offensive, and movement capabilities that the rest of your robo possesses. There are many different classifications of body, each of which providing a subtle difference in abilities. The gun part's purpose is rather obvious: it's the primary weapon your robo uses in battle. Bombs and pods supplement this, and can be used to stun or otherwise disable your opponent. Finally, boots augment the movement capabilities your robo already has.
The sheer amount of customizability in this game can not be overstated. Each part has distinct features, and can be used in conjunction with many other parts to produce a specific effect. To comprehend how complex part selection is, one must first grasp the dynamics of battle. There are a good number of battle arenas to select from, each with different terrain. Some contain moving parts that propel your robo in a specific direction, while others have dangerous pools of lava that can spell out instant doom for any foolish enough to fall in. Maps have obstacles (destructible or indestructible) that are essential to dodging gun, pod, and bomb blasts. The final, and most important variable to take into account when going into battle, is the air-to-ground and ground-to-air dynamic. Robos can have varying capabilities, from flying to dashing almost uncontrollably quickly around on the ground, and analyzing your opponent's movement tendencies can spell victory out relatively easily. Remain ignorant, however, and you'll most certainly be crushed.
I honestly think that Custom Robo deserves another blog post...
I'll continue this in a second blog.
For now,
Have fun, good gaming, and remember:
don't feed the trolls.
-Toast
This past Christmas, that same friend bought me Custom Robo. I practically died of happiness on the spot - I hadn't played it in almost 4 years. That same night, I was planning on heading to a friend's house, and I remembered at that moment that they had the Gamecube controller and memory stick that I needed to borrow. I couldn't wait to get home afterwards and pop the game in...
and when I did, it was even better than I remembered.
The graphics might be terrible compared to modern games, and the plot is sub-par, but variety in gameplay is absolutely insane. It's called Custom Robo for a reason - there are hundreds of parts to choose from, with each part serving a different purpose and producing a different effect in the arena (or Holosseum, if you use in-game jargon XD ). There are 5 parts that are customizable on your robo: the body, the gun, pod, bomb, and boots. The body determines the base defensive, offensive, and movement capabilities that the rest of your robo possesses. There are many different classifications of body, each of which providing a subtle difference in abilities. The gun part's purpose is rather obvious: it's the primary weapon your robo uses in battle. Bombs and pods supplement this, and can be used to stun or otherwise disable your opponent. Finally, boots augment the movement capabilities your robo already has.
The sheer amount of customizability in this game can not be overstated. Each part has distinct features, and can be used in conjunction with many other parts to produce a specific effect. To comprehend how complex part selection is, one must first grasp the dynamics of battle. There are a good number of battle arenas to select from, each with different terrain. Some contain moving parts that propel your robo in a specific direction, while others have dangerous pools of lava that can spell out instant doom for any foolish enough to fall in. Maps have obstacles (destructible or indestructible) that are essential to dodging gun, pod, and bomb blasts. The final, and most important variable to take into account when going into battle, is the air-to-ground and ground-to-air dynamic. Robos can have varying capabilities, from flying to dashing almost uncontrollably quickly around on the ground, and analyzing your opponent's movement tendencies can spell victory out relatively easily. Remain ignorant, however, and you'll most certainly be crushed.
I honestly think that Custom Robo deserves another blog post...
I'll continue this in a second blog.
For now,
Have fun, good gaming, and remember:
don't feed the trolls.
-Toast
Tuesday, January 10, 2012
Leauge of Legends: Details 02
To continue my League of Legends mini-series, I'll now dive into the many different statistics that influence the performance of a character.
There are 6 base statistics that influence the entirety of a character's effectiveness. These statistics are (displayed in order, from top down when looking at the playing screen):
Attack Damage, Ability Power, Attack Speed, Movement Speed, Armor, and Magic Resist. To the right of all these stats is the Gold you have accumulated, beneath them is your total experience, and to their left is your level. Each of these numbers is integral in every session of LoL you play, and their purposes are all rather straightforward. Attack Damage is how much damage your character deals per basic attack, while Attack Speed is how fast these basic attacks are dealt. Ability Power augments the usefulness of Abilities for many characters directly (like Veigar, whose abilities are all significantly improved by ability power). Movement speed is exactly what it sounds like - how quickly your character can move around the map. Armor and Magic Resist are two skills that go hand in hand - how well you resist physical and magical damage. All of these statistics can be improved by buying items and gaining levels, which can be accomplished by slaying enemies - champions and minions alike.
These statistics divide damage-focused characters up into their general classes. There are AD characters, which focus largely on attack damage, speed, and critical hits. Mage characters focus on exploiting Ability Power for what it's worth, dropping enemy health by using their abilities. Support characters back up these other two roles with heals, large pokes, speed augments, or large enemy disables. Within damage dealers, there's a wide spectrum with two extremes: those that poke health down at a medium-fast to fast rate, drawing out battles longer to achieve greater damage, and nukes, who focus on bursts of incredibly large amount of damage all at once, hopefully to utterly destroy opponents. Characters can lie anywhere on the spectrum between these two points, and their play styles are largely based around this classification.
There are a few statistics that work behind the scenes, however. Armor Penetration, Magic Penetration, and Cooldown Reduction are not displayed directly on the statistics bar: instead, you must investigate overall character statistics. Though this may be true, these three elements can draw the line between a good character and a great one. Armor and Magic Penetration are both improved largely by items, and focus on penetrating your enemies' Armor and Magic Resist. Cooldown Reduction, essential for almost all Ability-based characters, cuts how long a player must wait before using their abilities again. All of these modifiers allow characters that employ them to deal enough damage to their opponent to gain the edge that they may need in team fights and one-on-one.
Next time around, I'll go more in depth with the wide array of Abilities available to players.
Have fun, good gaming, and remember: don't feed the trolls.
-Toast
There are 6 base statistics that influence the entirety of a character's effectiveness. These statistics are (displayed in order, from top down when looking at the playing screen):
Attack Damage, Ability Power, Attack Speed, Movement Speed, Armor, and Magic Resist. To the right of all these stats is the Gold you have accumulated, beneath them is your total experience, and to their left is your level. Each of these numbers is integral in every session of LoL you play, and their purposes are all rather straightforward. Attack Damage is how much damage your character deals per basic attack, while Attack Speed is how fast these basic attacks are dealt. Ability Power augments the usefulness of Abilities for many characters directly (like Veigar, whose abilities are all significantly improved by ability power). Movement speed is exactly what it sounds like - how quickly your character can move around the map. Armor and Magic Resist are two skills that go hand in hand - how well you resist physical and magical damage. All of these statistics can be improved by buying items and gaining levels, which can be accomplished by slaying enemies - champions and minions alike.
These statistics divide damage-focused characters up into their general classes. There are AD characters, which focus largely on attack damage, speed, and critical hits. Mage characters focus on exploiting Ability Power for what it's worth, dropping enemy health by using their abilities. Support characters back up these other two roles with heals, large pokes, speed augments, or large enemy disables. Within damage dealers, there's a wide spectrum with two extremes: those that poke health down at a medium-fast to fast rate, drawing out battles longer to achieve greater damage, and nukes, who focus on bursts of incredibly large amount of damage all at once, hopefully to utterly destroy opponents. Characters can lie anywhere on the spectrum between these two points, and their play styles are largely based around this classification.
There are a few statistics that work behind the scenes, however. Armor Penetration, Magic Penetration, and Cooldown Reduction are not displayed directly on the statistics bar: instead, you must investigate overall character statistics. Though this may be true, these three elements can draw the line between a good character and a great one. Armor and Magic Penetration are both improved largely by items, and focus on penetrating your enemies' Armor and Magic Resist. Cooldown Reduction, essential for almost all Ability-based characters, cuts how long a player must wait before using their abilities again. All of these modifiers allow characters that employ them to deal enough damage to their opponent to gain the edge that they may need in team fights and one-on-one.
Next time around, I'll go more in depth with the wide array of Abilities available to players.
Have fun, good gaming, and remember: don't feed the trolls.
-Toast
Saturday, January 7, 2012
I Cast Magic Missile (A DnD Blog): Gameplay 03
In the last edition of I Cast Magic Missile, I covered the most basic part of character development: personalization and attribute determination. Now, I'll cover health, Armor Class, Initiative, Grapple, and Saving Throws.
As always, each of these characteristics varies from DM to DM, but for demonstration, I'll describe what I normally do when creating a new character.
Health is relatively easy to determine. I use Dungeons and Dragons Player Handbook, edition 3.5 as a reference for classes, and simply look up their hit die, and add the Constitution ability modifier. Armor Class might be a little more complex. This statistic is used in combat almost every round to determine whether a melee or ranged attack hits a character, and maintaining a good Armor Class can be the difference between life and death for characters that take the most damage. The base Armor Class for all players is 10, with their Dexterity bonus added. When characters don armor, however, this rises with how strong the armor might be considered. Some armors might limit Dexterity bonuses, but at level 1, this is generally insignificant. Therefore, the generic formula I use to quickly determine Armor Class is 10 + Dexterity Bonus + Armor Bonus. Things might become more complicated when you take player character attributes into account, however. When players' sizes vary, their Armor Class might be augmented or diminished: smaller characters are harder to hit, while the opposite is true for larger characters. Also, if structured correctly, the Monk class gains bonuses to Armor Class when no armor is worn, which technically counts as an auxiliary bonus. When taking these factors into account, changes must be made, however small they may be, as a minor fluctuation in AC for low-health characters can mean a ton in combat.
Initiative is incredibly simple to determine. This statistic determines who goes first in combat - who has the most initiative to act. This statistic is the Dexterity modifier, plus any auxiliary bonuses that characters might have (which are rare at level 1).
Grapple is similarly easy to determine. This stat is used when players wish to grab opponents, allies, and sometimes even inanimate objects, in any situation. Add the Strength modifier to the Size modifier, and you have the Grapple stat.
The final statistic I'll be explaining tonight is the Saving Throw.
There are three different kinds of Saving Throws:
Fortitude, which is used in any situation that might require endurance of some sort;
Reflex, when characters might have to quickly respond to any event;
and Will, employed when the mind of a character might be influenced.
I use the base additions for each of these from the 3.5 Player's Handbooks for each class, and then add Constitution ability modifiers to Fortitude, Dexterity modifiers to Reflex, and Wisdom modifiers to Will.
Now that you know how to determine the most basic attributes of a character, I'll move along to the more complicated topics: skills and spells.
Have fun, good gaming, and remember:
don't feed the trolls.
-Toast
As always, each of these characteristics varies from DM to DM, but for demonstration, I'll describe what I normally do when creating a new character.
Health is relatively easy to determine. I use Dungeons and Dragons Player Handbook, edition 3.5 as a reference for classes, and simply look up their hit die, and add the Constitution ability modifier. Armor Class might be a little more complex. This statistic is used in combat almost every round to determine whether a melee or ranged attack hits a character, and maintaining a good Armor Class can be the difference between life and death for characters that take the most damage. The base Armor Class for all players is 10, with their Dexterity bonus added. When characters don armor, however, this rises with how strong the armor might be considered. Some armors might limit Dexterity bonuses, but at level 1, this is generally insignificant. Therefore, the generic formula I use to quickly determine Armor Class is 10 + Dexterity Bonus + Armor Bonus. Things might become more complicated when you take player character attributes into account, however. When players' sizes vary, their Armor Class might be augmented or diminished: smaller characters are harder to hit, while the opposite is true for larger characters. Also, if structured correctly, the Monk class gains bonuses to Armor Class when no armor is worn, which technically counts as an auxiliary bonus. When taking these factors into account, changes must be made, however small they may be, as a minor fluctuation in AC for low-health characters can mean a ton in combat.
Initiative is incredibly simple to determine. This statistic determines who goes first in combat - who has the most initiative to act. This statistic is the Dexterity modifier, plus any auxiliary bonuses that characters might have (which are rare at level 1).
Grapple is similarly easy to determine. This stat is used when players wish to grab opponents, allies, and sometimes even inanimate objects, in any situation. Add the Strength modifier to the Size modifier, and you have the Grapple stat.
The final statistic I'll be explaining tonight is the Saving Throw.
There are three different kinds of Saving Throws:
Fortitude, which is used in any situation that might require endurance of some sort;
Reflex, when characters might have to quickly respond to any event;
and Will, employed when the mind of a character might be influenced.
I use the base additions for each of these from the 3.5 Player's Handbooks for each class, and then add Constitution ability modifiers to Fortitude, Dexterity modifiers to Reflex, and Wisdom modifiers to Will.
Now that you know how to determine the most basic attributes of a character, I'll move along to the more complicated topics: skills and spells.
Have fun, good gaming, and remember:
don't feed the trolls.
-Toast
Friday, January 6, 2012
League of Legends: Details 01
Continuing a brief overview of an intensely complex game I introduced forever ago, I'll now dive into the details concerning League of Legends.
In original PvP, which is available from level 1, two 5-person teams are set onto a relatively large battlefield in opposite corners behind their Nexus, in the shop. This location is central to the entirety of the game: the Nexus is what connects you, the Summoner, to the character you control ingame. As stated earlier, if either Nexus is destroyed, the battle is over, and the team whose Nexus remains wins the match. The shop also plays a large part in gameplay, combining with experience (mentioned later) to form half of the RPG portion of LoL. The shop is where you buy items for your champion that improve his/her various statistics, such as ability power, speed, and attack power. Though bonuses are small in the beginning, eventually items and their use makes a huge impact in deciding the outcome of the match. The other dynamics in the RPG aspect of LoL are the characters you control and the experience they gain. Each charater has a set of four skills which generally compose of three common-use skills and an 'Ultimate' that takes time to cool down but is extremely effective. Characters that break from this form are for advanced players only and are challenging to play and even harder to master. Each character falls into any number of different categories that define what they do on the battlefield - for example, mage, assassin, or tank. Experience is exactly what it sounds like - how 'experienced' your character is on the battlefied. In each new match, all characters start out at level 1, with one ability point to spend on a skill. This first point can often determine who gains the lead in the beginning, as it gives you the one ability you can use early-game. As characters advance in level, they gain more points to allocate, and by level 18, their first three skills are maxed at 5, while their 'ultimate', or last skill, is maxed at 3. Each skill point drastically increases the power of an ability, and this leads to drastic differences between characters within three levels of each other. When a character playing a lane alone (these characters advance much more quickly in level) moves to a different lane to assist the players there (this is referred to as a gank), they can devastate their enemies, generally advancing the team's goal of gaining gold, gear, and time.
To be continued in League of Legends: Details 02.
Next time around, I'll elabourate upon different abilities, and I might begin describing skills (no promises!).
Have fun, good gaming, and remember: don't feed the trolls.
-Toast
In original PvP, which is available from level 1, two 5-person teams are set onto a relatively large battlefield in opposite corners behind their Nexus, in the shop. This location is central to the entirety of the game: the Nexus is what connects you, the Summoner, to the character you control ingame. As stated earlier, if either Nexus is destroyed, the battle is over, and the team whose Nexus remains wins the match. The shop also plays a large part in gameplay, combining with experience (mentioned later) to form half of the RPG portion of LoL. The shop is where you buy items for your champion that improve his/her various statistics, such as ability power, speed, and attack power. Though bonuses are small in the beginning, eventually items and their use makes a huge impact in deciding the outcome of the match. The other dynamics in the RPG aspect of LoL are the characters you control and the experience they gain. Each charater has a set of four skills which generally compose of three common-use skills and an 'Ultimate' that takes time to cool down but is extremely effective. Characters that break from this form are for advanced players only and are challenging to play and even harder to master. Each character falls into any number of different categories that define what they do on the battlefield - for example, mage, assassin, or tank. Experience is exactly what it sounds like - how 'experienced' your character is on the battlefied. In each new match, all characters start out at level 1, with one ability point to spend on a skill. This first point can often determine who gains the lead in the beginning, as it gives you the one ability you can use early-game. As characters advance in level, they gain more points to allocate, and by level 18, their first three skills are maxed at 5, while their 'ultimate', or last skill, is maxed at 3. Each skill point drastically increases the power of an ability, and this leads to drastic differences between characters within three levels of each other. When a character playing a lane alone (these characters advance much more quickly in level) moves to a different lane to assist the players there (this is referred to as a gank), they can devastate their enemies, generally advancing the team's goal of gaining gold, gear, and time.
To be continued in League of Legends: Details 02.
Next time around, I'll elabourate upon different abilities, and I might begin describing skills (no promises!).
Have fun, good gaming, and remember: don't feed the trolls.
-Toast
Wednesday, January 4, 2012
Random Tangent! 03: Webcomics...
Today, I venture from the realm of video games to an entirely different part of the internet.
Yes, today, we're stepping in...
WEBCOMIC TERRITORY.
I know that many of you are not familiar at all with webcomics, and that some of you even despise their existence. I used to be the same way - I despised any comic that I saw online, and dismissed all of them as trivial or just plain stupid. But XKCD and Homestuck have completely changed my opinion on the webcomic scene...Now I can't get enough of them.
XKCD was what began it all, so long ago. I was attracted to it randomly from a different side of the internet, and I found myself unable to leave. It's silly wit, yet interesting concepts kept me returning almost every day for at least a panel or two...
Then came Homestuck.
A few weeks ago, my friend convinced me to begin reading. At first, I wasn't interested at all - in fact, I was rather confused. It made absolutely no sense...but at the same time, it had a strange sort of humor that appealed to me. I continued reading, and I was surprised as a rather contorted plotline unfolded before me, and I found myself more and more addicted, until I plowed through the last hundred or so pages before the end of the first act. By this point, I couldn't resist reading, and every day, I would commit at least an hour to reading, progressing ever deeper into the depths of obsession.
What caught me so off guard was the sheer intensity and intricacy of the storyline, and the humor that was included with all of it. The comic gets incredibly intense - the plot continues to unveil twists throughout every section, and no detail is insignificant, no matter how it may seem as such. Characters are deep enough to be interesting, but not insanely impossible to follow, and in conjunction with perfect placement of facts, each plot turn they go around makes (or eventually comes to make) sense. Yet through all the action, hilarity is present. No matter how dark the moment might be, it eventually is brightened with a silly little joke, or the faintest glimmer of hope.
Though this is all incredibly and undeniably vague, it would be foolish of me to even attempt explaining it. It's simply impossible with written word alone. Which is precisely why I recommend you visit the site right now:
www.mspaintadventures.com
and begin reading.
Give the comic a chance: get through the first act. It isn't even that long, really...and I'm willing to bet quite a bit that you'll be hooked by then.
Have fun, good gaming, and remember:
don't feed the trolls.
-ToastTe
Yes, today, we're stepping in...
WEBCOMIC TERRITORY.
I know that many of you are not familiar at all with webcomics, and that some of you even despise their existence. I used to be the same way - I despised any comic that I saw online, and dismissed all of them as trivial or just plain stupid. But XKCD and Homestuck have completely changed my opinion on the webcomic scene...Now I can't get enough of them.
XKCD was what began it all, so long ago. I was attracted to it randomly from a different side of the internet, and I found myself unable to leave. It's silly wit, yet interesting concepts kept me returning almost every day for at least a panel or two...
Then came Homestuck.
A few weeks ago, my friend convinced me to begin reading. At first, I wasn't interested at all - in fact, I was rather confused. It made absolutely no sense...but at the same time, it had a strange sort of humor that appealed to me. I continued reading, and I was surprised as a rather contorted plotline unfolded before me, and I found myself more and more addicted, until I plowed through the last hundred or so pages before the end of the first act. By this point, I couldn't resist reading, and every day, I would commit at least an hour to reading, progressing ever deeper into the depths of obsession.
What caught me so off guard was the sheer intensity and intricacy of the storyline, and the humor that was included with all of it. The comic gets incredibly intense - the plot continues to unveil twists throughout every section, and no detail is insignificant, no matter how it may seem as such. Characters are deep enough to be interesting, but not insanely impossible to follow, and in conjunction with perfect placement of facts, each plot turn they go around makes (or eventually comes to make) sense. Yet through all the action, hilarity is present. No matter how dark the moment might be, it eventually is brightened with a silly little joke, or the faintest glimmer of hope.
Though this is all incredibly and undeniably vague, it would be foolish of me to even attempt explaining it. It's simply impossible with written word alone. Which is precisely why I recommend you visit the site right now:
www.mspaintadventures.com
and begin reading.
Give the comic a chance: get through the first act. It isn't even that long, really...and I'm willing to bet quite a bit that you'll be hooked by then.
Have fun, good gaming, and remember:
don't feed the trolls.
-ToastTe
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