PixlBit

(The Depths)

If you aren't an MMO player then you probably don't care at all for the information that was announced today during SOE Live event regarding the latest EverQuest MMO game title "EverQuest Next". So much information was released that it would take quite a bit of time to sort through it all and condense it to a few paragraphs. So I won't try, but I'll give a short impression.

I've played quite a few MMOs, and still do quite frankly. Currently I'm playing a little SWTOR, LOTRO, The Secret World, EverQuest II, Guild Wars 2 and Final Fantasy: A Realm Reborn. The MMO closest to release is A Realm Reborn and while that game is full of improvements from the last version 1.0, it is still very much in the category of "last of the old generation of MMOs" in terms of game play. Although, I do think that what I played of A Realm Reborn and will be playing in the future was great, it doesn't really do anything new to evolve the MMO formula which is basically grind, grind, grind, fetch quests,walk, grind, fetch quest, level up, repeat. Most of the MMOs I've mentioned still use hotbars with actions that require cooldowns before reusing, and you are usually stuck with one class to level throught the game, unless you start an alt or new class from the beginning.  The Secret World and A Realm Reborn allow you to use all the different jobs in game by swapping weapons and have dynamic world events, but even this isn't really new any more.

So on to EverQuest Next. First it's "voxel" based. Meaning the entire world is destructible. Think of Minecraft or Terraria which has more of a sandbox environment to build and destroy. Most MMOs have static worlds that you can explore and items to interact with, but destroying the world is pretty new. In a demo of gameplay a Warrior and Mage blew up a bridge to keep a mob of orcs from reaching them, in another a the Mage used an Area Effect Spell that dug a whole into the ground and you can see a cavern open up beneath the ground.

Second. The game has layers. In most MMOs currently, crafting involves equipping the proper tool like a pick axe and interacting with certain parts of the environment for gathering or farming. In EQ Next, you can literally dig into the ground below until you reach these materials, actual mining. A map of the overworld was shown of Norrath and you can see the top layer and all the caverns underneath it as well as a core area made of lava.

Third. Free Running. This doesn't seem to exciting, but basically you can slide down hills, grab and pull yourself on ledges, jump over obstacles like fences and have more overall interaction with the world. Most MMOs today have limited running/walking animations and sometimes rely on mounts or other transportation to get around. Here there is more of a fluid and natural movement throughout the world. 

Last, Multiclassing. This isn't exactly new as you can do this with other MMOs, but in EQ Next you don't have to create alt characters to try different classes, simply look for trainers of other classes in the game and equip their weapon. There is also no leveling, so the growing in the game seems to revolve around leveling classes or weapons.

There is some other fun stuff regarding AI and world events that permanently change the world, basically enemies don't necessarily respawn from given points, the roam around the world freely and act depending environmental changes or pressure from NPCs that you alert. Alerting a NPC guard of the nearest city about Orcs harrassing travelers on the road for example might cause more patrol guards to secure the route. In game earthquakes and othe natural dissasters will affect the game permanently, so the game will look entirely different one to two years after launch. All interesting stuff.

Another thing I should point out about the combat is that in the demo videos, I didn't notice any hotbar actions and the game seems to have more of an action RPG feel. I'm not sure about this but it seems to be following the direction of Elderscrolls Online which is also supposed to be more of an action type game.

Over all I'm very excited about this game. I like the colorful cartoony look and feel of the characters and world too. Too much darkness all the time in Fantasy games is a bad thing. That's all from me.

 

There was so much hype for this game on WiiU virtual console, and now that it's here...crickets!?
I've never actually played this game so I was curious to get some thoughts on it.



 

I've been creeping my way through Darkroot Garden stabbing and poking plant-men and dodging and evading sword slams from stone giants before entering The Depths. The interesting thing is that I've gotten to the point in the game where the seemingly large and dangerous overworld that I slowly crept through in the beginning has now become smaller and less hazardous as I double back through old territories, which is good. However, after entering The Depths and falling through a floor trap of some kind I was unpleasantly cursed by a slimy frog of some sort. If you don't know what this does, then allow me to explain. Carrying a curse status cuts your total health bar in half! So where you had a nice advantage in a full health bar before, now you have to either go out of your way to farm for souls to buy special item to remove the effect, or keep on moving forward half the man you used to be making the game a hell of a lot more tedious. So I decided to take a break from the game for a while. It's so interesting how you can effectively master a game but then suddently get thrown a curve ball making you question your skills with one pitch. Am I bad ass enough to venture forward somewhat disabled, or do I tediously run around farming and buying items to fully recover? I'll decide whenever I start the game again, but not tonite.

 

Who the hell decided it would be a good idea to put a kitchen in the sewers? No wonder I was immediately infected. This butchers work space does not look sanitary. 

[This is more of an inner monologue that goes on as I play through Dark Souls.]

It's been a while since I've posted anything about A Realm Reborn on here. Truth is, I've been playing other games in the mean time until the next open beta phase- which I can't wait to get back into. I've already managed to spend  a little bit of game time with a couple of pixlbit members in A Realm Reborn, so in a way it was the "First Contact" moment  with this community so to speak and I hold the game in high regards for this reason, among many other reasons of course. I just wanted to highlight this article posted on IGN which I think people interested in the game or hesitant about it should read. The writer is very critical of the orignal FF XIV release and notes all the changes in the new game and has a positive impression about it, which is in fact a new game and not an expansion which some people might be confused about.

I do highly recommend reading this article. It basically reflects my impressions so far and it saves me trouble of having to write up another whole blog about XIV.  


http://www.ign.com/articles/2013/07/23/final-fantasy-xiv-a-realm-reborns-jedi-mind-trick

I'm Tired of Fighting

I meant to blog about the dark side of social gaming but I’ve decided not to after getting into a huge flame war over the weekend, and I’m not talking about ‘Chivalry Medieval Warfare’ either. The battleground is a comment section under an article proclaiming ‘A Realm Reborn’ having a lot of good new content, which of course drew out the veteran, hardcore, and old WoW players in a game of siege against the author and anyone who enjoys the game in any way arguing that the content is poor quality because [insert all the reasons why it’s not World of Warcraft or FFXI], and I’m mentally exhausted from defending. I actually woke up tired. Geez! And the war still rages on...

Just a reminder that this will be the final weekend for Phase 3 Beta test- ending early Monday morning.

Phase 4 open beta will be approx. 1 week long and will include extra content not available in Phase 3, like voice acting for example, and other things. Open beta content is expected to carry over to launch, assuming testing goes well- it is beta after all. Open beta Phase 4 start date will be announced in the near future.

After open beta concludes we will wait some time before launch and early access for those who pre-ordered special editions. Launch is late August.  

Suggestions for Beta testers.

You should at the very least play around with the character creation features before commiting to the game during launch as you will not be able to change your features in game after the fact.  

I might jump in again this weekend and test some more things out. I'm pretty much satisfied with the beta at this point and finished like 4 dungeons and finished the story already, shortened beta story of course.

My Server: Gilgamesh
My Char: Harry Dresden
You can send a PM or /tell in game.  

So I went ahead and created a new group on Steam called "Pixlbit". 
Go to our official group page to join here

http://steamcommunity.com/groups/pixlbit 

or search for "pixlbit" in steam group search.

All you need to do is click the join button on our group page and that's it.
Also, don't forget to send friend invites once you're in the group, otherwise what's the point? 
Don't be shy. There is a discussion forum available and event announcements for future game nights, hopefully!

Also, you don't need to go around pixlbit searching for Steam Id's.
Enjoy the summer steam sale!!!