Anyone else try this yet? Got it on the Steam pre-order for 18$.

Only played it a bit (along with some more CoH) but got to level 10. My first impressions? Great. I’m enjoying it a lot, especially the Diablo 1 feel mixed with Mythos-esque art. The initial offerings seem kinda small… three classes with three skill trees a piece and a couple pet variations (dog or cat)… but each skill tree has a different take on the main class (similar to Diablo 2 or even WoW) and there seems to be 100 character levels (found that info in the game’s forums, so I’m guessing it’s true) with 4 or so difficulty levels and hardcore mode. Plenty of content in the base game for 20$. To make the deal sweeter Runic Games is going to be releasing their modding tools soon… this could extend the game’s worth leagues and bounds past the original (great) deal.

If you’re a fan of action RPGs and Diablo in particular — pick this game up.

As to what I’ve liked about it so far: the combat is nice and familiar (click, click, click) — but is also flashy (screen shakes when shooting and blowing enemies away, particle effects, etc), the graphics are very simple and low end but the art is great — the game looks better then you’d think (that seems to be a staple in games made by these devs), the pets! they’re not really controllable but they do follow you around and help out — they’re not a nuisance — they have backpacks that allows you to store extra goods in them and *send them to town to sell stuff* without you having to break out a town portal or stop the action — incredibly simple and awesome feature, and all the great Diablo staples are in: TP’s, gambling merchant, unknown items, etc.

A newer feature that hasn’t been seen in a game like this (that I’ve seen, at least) is the fishing. This is a mini-game that you play by finding a fishing hole in the caves/crypts and clicking on it. A fishing lure button surrounded by circles (water ripples) will appear, once the outer ring moves on top of the inner one you click the lure — time it right and you’ll catch a fish. Fish have varying effects, mostly involving transforming your pet into various nasties to help destroy other nasties. Cool stuff.

Spells are also done differently. If you remember Diablo 1 had spell tomes that you could use to learn spells — these work similarly, but any class is limited to some 4 spell slots. You can unlearn and relearn whatever you want — provided you match the spell’s use criteria.

And that’s just what I’ve gotten out of it in a few short hours of play… Like I said, pick it up if you like action RPGs — or even if you just want a good, cheap game.

It has been a busy time for me recently and the gaming has suffered. Recently I’ve reactivated my City of Heroes account as a friend jumped back into it. This has allowed us to level pact!

Champions Online is still going, too. Lifetime subscription and all. So, what do I think of the two after playing them side-by-side?

The obvious winner of the two: City of Heroes. Why start with that? because I can! CoH should be the winner, anyway, as it has been out longer and had time to balance/develop more content. The difference between the two is like night and day — CO still has a long way to go.

This isn’t to say CO is terrible and not worth playing — I wouldn’t have a lifetime subscription if it weren’t — it’s simply new and a bit different. CO is suffering from a lack of content at the moment, and the developers are trying to remedy that. The graphics are wonderful — CoH’s are definitely dated and old — and the custom frameworks are great. I like the customization. The downside is that most of the powers right now are DPS oriented… Celestial will help change that.

Grouping seems to be far less in CO than CoH… Even after all these years I still get group invites in CoH within minutes of logging in — even at *3 A.M.*. That’s awesome. One thing that I’ve noticed in CoH that helped me understand CO’s patching direction and the developer’s comments — the nerfs to various powers, the inclusion of Celestial are there to try and get more grouping. CoH is a pain in the ass to solo in when you’re a Defender… At least as my Archer/Empathy that’s totally group focused. I literally can’t do anything solo, but I get group invites all the time so it doesn’t matter. The difference between the two games when it comes to grouping? Classes. With the customization and the ‘individualization’ that can be done in CO comes a complete lumping together of players in the eyes of grouping — everyone’s pretty much the same, you just need warm bodies to do group content.

World layout is another aspect I noticed in CoH/CO. CO has varying climates and environments to explore, CoH has city districts that vary, but are still city elements. CoH, however, feels better laid out — a bit more… ‘natural’? When I run around I notice the zone content more, and the feeling of running/jumping/flying over various buildings, through various alleys and such is more enjoyable. I can’t really tell *why* it just is… Perhaps not a good reason or a positive/negative to either.

Leveling Pacts! This is what sealed the deal for me getting back into CoH. I had a good friend jumping back in and wanted to hang out with her — using leveling pacts we can keep the same level even if one of us can’t play as much. Leveling is a bit slower solo, but it’s fine when we’re both together. For couples/friends it’s excellent.

Missions. In CoH missions are almost all instanced and there’s many contacts to get them from — often you’ll never get all the contacts in one go through. Add in AE and paper/radio missions and you’ve got even more to do. Then slap on any task forces/midnight squad/what have you that’s ’special’ and you’ll have more missions than levels or time. The best part of these is that you can profit from them even if they’re not yours or you don’t have them. How cool is that? Never having to keep track of who has what or needs what done is excellent and *really* promotes grouping. CO should take note of this, and it seems they kind of have with the newer content being added to Monster Island — with the Lost Caves and whatnot.

One last aspect, the C Store. CO’s microtransaction store… I like it. They’ve added a few new costume sets and some account stuffs so far. The costume sets I’ve liked, and gotten. This really isn’t much of a surprise to me though as I’ve also gotten the costume packs that NCSoft sold for CoH. (those were a bit more expensive, if I remember correctly…) Looking forward to more additions.

Anyway, just a quick update while I have some downtime at work… I hope to get writing more in the coming weeks, if not this blog then at least NaNoWriMo stuffs.

Yup, my PC’s monitor died the other day… So, gaming has taken a steep dive down.

Until I can get a replacement I’ve got my Mac to game on — mostly CoH.

Having spent a lot of time in a different superhero themed MMO (CO, of course) it’s nice to see the differences first-hand. The graphics are certainly aged, but the world design is still superior to me. The city feels a bit more like a city than MC does in CO. The always available content is great too. I *never* run out of stuff to do in CoH while leveling up. If the game had custom power sets, faster game play (it was pretty fast back in 2004, but it feels really, really slow compared to CO) and improved graphics — it would continue to dominate the superhero MMO market.

Still, this gives me a good chance to get back to creating that AE map while my leveling partner is offline. I forgot how annoying it was to solo as a defender… Luckily, even at 3 in the morning, I still get team invites quickly. Grouping in CoH is still years ahead of CO.