Various MMORPGs have come and gone, trying to add spice, or trying to revolutionize some component of this age old formula. Mad World is no exception to this pattern, marketing itself as a game centered around its cross-platform capabilities. Written in HTML5, the Korean, browser-based MMORPG virtually has no barrier to entry, requiring only a device that can open a [...] 50km
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Media personalities are insane. They are digitized egos yearning for validation in the black hole of opinion. No light escapes, but sometimes there’s a paycheck—unless the writers busy learning to code. Video game critics (who will be called by their appropriate designation, “bloggers”) arguably exhale the largest gravity sucking spheres of nonsense. Either their editorial meetings race to the bottom [...]
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Beef-stick wrappers, two-ply paper towels, and a sticky beer can with fruit flies dancing on the rim. These were my high ilvl items while raiding Uldir in World of Warcraft: Battle for Azeroth. What a long disgusting trip it’s been. In the aftermath I feel squalid, having lived as a scavenger at the outskirts of civilization trying to what [...]
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As I considered entering a silent retreat to find Zen among cacti and burnt out hippies, a digital monastery rose out of my Steam library. I could find my center from the comfort of a chair designed for 250 and up. What was it? A game. Not just any game. But the kind of game that dances in dreams, tantalizes [...]
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Extra Credits posted a video this week about their take on the whole lootbox controversy and whether lootboxes should even exist in video games. I found their view to be a lot more closely aligned with my own, while also acknowledging the counter points brought up by notable gaming commentator Jim Sterling. While we discussed the lootbox controversy in some [...]
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There’s a lot of content to experience in Final Fantasy XIV. Having re-launched in mid-2013 under the tagline A Realm Reborn, FFXIV saw an almost phoenix-like rebirth from the ashes. What was once a disaster of a game turned into a critically acclaimed MMORPG, with a cohesive story, a fluid combat system, and a world that felt alive. Having recently [...]
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On September 14, 2017 Pearl Abyss, the Korean studio behind Black Desert Online, went public. Two weeks prior, the company held a news conference detailing their history and their plans for the future. As part of that conference, the company released a slew of interesting numbers pertaining to their business. These included revenue numbers, unit sales, staffing numbers, and so [...]
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We need more aspirational content in MMORPGs. Nowadays whenever new content is released for a modern MMORPG like World of Warcraft or Final Fantasy XIV it's typically cleared pretty quickly. Mythic Emerald Nightmare Xavius, the hardest World of Warcraft: Legion Raid at the time, was cleared a mere 18 hours after launch. Deltascape Savage 4.0 in Final Fantasy XIV was [...]
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Forcing players to complete tutorials are often a necessary evil from a game design perspective. I personally don't like these kinds of tutorials but I can see why games have them. When given the option to skip a tutorial, players may do so only to end up frustrated down the road. Anytime I run into a mandatory tutorial I typically [...]
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I’m a huge fan of cover shooters. I played through the first three Gears of War games as they were released—multiple times, even. I played through the first Kane and Lynch game within 24 hours and loved it, even though most people did not. I’ve played quite a lot of The Division over the past year, as well, even though [...]
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