1up up has an article up about the first graphical MMO. I had never heard of it, apparently it came out in 1986 (!?!) and played a lot like King's Quest meets Ultima Online. Another more academic article with a screenshot here.
Mirkwood may be a lot of fun, but the last two nights I've actually been playing Wizard 101. Huh, almost broke into poetry there. In any case, it's hard to say what I find so compelling about the game. One major element is definitely the strategic feel of the combat. Last night for example, I figured out a new simple four turn strategy with my existing cards that made a spell that I thought was nearly useless shine. Then I got a new spell that forced me retool my deck and drastically changed my basic combat strategy once again. I also like the "buy hunks of content and own them forever" business model. I tend to play the game in randoms bursts, usually involving a new alt, so it's nice to "own" access to the first three worlds.
The 3.3 patch in WoW has been getting fairly rave reviews. I'm considering firing up my account for an experiment that involves trying to level up as much as possible entirely in single party instances. Would it be fun, or would the average inhabitant of WoW turn out to be such an asshat that I'd quickly get turned off? I know how I think it would go, but I'd love to be mistaken. . .
I have my main gaming rig back online again. I have to say, being able to play anything I like at a good frame rate while running i-tunes in the background is ten kinds of awesome. Although it makes the fact that I'm playing so much Wizard 101 (which runs fine on most pocket calculators) a bit ironic.
That is amusing that your awesome computer is now putting Wizard 101 through its paces. I guess I need to log in again myself. Darn you, Yeebo!
ReplyDeleteI tried Wizard 101 out after reading some of Stargrace's articles in Becketts, but I didn't enjoy the combat system (which is odd as I was an avid Magic the Gathering player for quite a while).
ReplyDeleteThe WoW 3.3 patch does seem to have lots of people excited. I actually haven't had any impulses to resubscribe and check it out. Partly because of the high asshat percentage from the last time I played, but mostly because the last time I did a retry month I realized I just didn't enjoy the combat system when compared to my current games. It used to just be burnout, but I think the game might just be getting too old. I'm really curious to see if I'm tempted at all when Cataclysm comes out.
@Anjin: going back and forth between Wizard 101 and LoTRO is a lot like eating salty and sweet snacks in succession. They complement eachother well.
ReplyDelete@Blue Kae: Just out of curiosity, how far did you get in Wizard 101? It's pretty mindless the first few hours you play.
The idea of being able to jump in and out of instance groups in WoW intrigues me. However, it certainly won't change a lot of the things I dislike about the game such as the community, the sub par crafting, or the fact that the solo content is too easy to be fun.
Yeebo, I think I played for three or four hours one night and that was about it. If I'm remembering correctly (since this was maybe six months ago) I was okay with the card playing mechanic itself but the pacing just felt very slow.
ReplyDeleteI may come back to the game in the future, once my son's old enough where he can direct me and I run the keyboard for him.
All this WoW talk, arghhhhh, must...resist...
ReplyDelete