Hi everyone! My name is Anthony, but all of you can refer to me as MisterSmi13y. I have been given the opportunity write for Videogames and Other Vices. I myself am about to graduate and continue my education through graduate school in Religous Studies. However, what is more important for this blog is my experience with games and well, other vices.
I first started playing games back in the day of the NES, mind you I could barely remember what I played. It wouldn't be until the N64 where I would truly begin this obsession. I grew up mainly playing Golden Eye, Tony Hawk's Pro Skater, and a stupid amount of Mario Party. In fact, I still have scars from that damn game.
Those were my humble origins, but where am I at now? As of lately, I do play a lot of shooters. However, I have been diving pretty deep into the indie scene as of lately. I have a fairly large knowledge of various genres and such, but what my forte is theoretical gaming. New ideas, new ways to play, and all things meta. Some may laugh, but my favorite developer is Peter Molyneux. Though the guy talks out of his ass, his ideas are unique and very much different from the rest of the industry. Well that is all for now, I wanted to keep this short.
I hope you enjoy what I will bring to the table, but for now, Smi13y out.
Thursday, November 29, 2012
Wednesday, November 28, 2012
Work in the Shadows
We really suck at keeping this updated but here is another attempt at just that.
A long long time ago I had a ridiculously involved conversation with Darth_Marth about ways that Ubisoft could improve its Assassin's Creed franchise. We talked about adding reconnaissance missions to figure out your target's routine, map out points of entry, plan out an escape route, chart NPC movements, even find places to conceal yourself. In this ridiculous conversation the use of a sniper rifle and making the the map large enough that you have to plan out your transportation to and from your base and target location. This conversation consequently reminded me that my favorite game genre involves a methodical approach, and an almost obsessive level of planning. Although you could get away with a more loosely structured style of gameplay, you will still want to make a plan for the situations you come across.
Stealth Action games are almost exclusively my favorite genre of videogames although Survival (Horror) are a close second since they require almost as much planning as the former. I treat Stealth Action games like Real Time Strategy games which is funny since I actually despise RTS games and I just cannot stand playing them at all. (Well, back to my original point sometimes I get lost in my own thoughts.) I treat my Stealth Action games like RTS games because I obsessively manage all of my resources whether it's currency, bullets, aid items, or special powers.
Dishonored is an excellent example of this, you get these snazzy powers that allow you teleport directly behind an unsuspecting enemy or summon a swarm of rats to devour all that stand in your way and many more powers designed to make short work of your obstacles. The thing is they use up your magic (mana) and unlike some games where it recharges over time like in Skyrim the only way to recharge your gauge is to use up potions. Or to use special non-magic using abilities that allow it to recharge magic and health with kills. That is a huge problem for me because I always want to hoard my potions because I never know when I am going to get myself into a situation where the shit has hit the fan. However, that never, ever, ever, ever happens to me because I always skulk around the levels so methodically that I never end up using any of the cool powers. Then i get to the end of the level without using any of the powers and not killing anyone which in its own way is pretty fun but I am also missing out on the cool mechanics that these awesome game companies spent so much money and time on.
This pretty much rings true for any game that is at all Stealth Action oriented from Skyrim to Metal Gear Solid and everywhere in between. Since it isn't just about the special powers and potion hoarding. I am also guilty of counting bullets in such awesome games like Hitman and Crysis. Maybe I have gamer-hoarding issues I need to deal with or maybe it's just that I hate going into boss battles completely unprepared. It may also contribute to why I sometimes find that games bore me towards the end; because I am so over prepared for everything and there is no challenge anymore. That however is a tale for another time.
Shadow hide you,
toodlekittens
post script
You didn't really think that I was going to be gone forever did you? This blog may have kept getting pushed aside and kept getting shoved towards the back of my to-do list but I have made a glorious return.
A long long time ago I had a ridiculously involved conversation with Darth_Marth about ways that Ubisoft could improve its Assassin's Creed franchise. We talked about adding reconnaissance missions to figure out your target's routine, map out points of entry, plan out an escape route, chart NPC movements, even find places to conceal yourself. In this ridiculous conversation the use of a sniper rifle and making the the map large enough that you have to plan out your transportation to and from your base and target location. This conversation consequently reminded me that my favorite game genre involves a methodical approach, and an almost obsessive level of planning. Although you could get away with a more loosely structured style of gameplay, you will still want to make a plan for the situations you come across.
Stealth Action games are almost exclusively my favorite genre of videogames although Survival (Horror) are a close second since they require almost as much planning as the former. I treat Stealth Action games like Real Time Strategy games which is funny since I actually despise RTS games and I just cannot stand playing them at all. (Well, back to my original point sometimes I get lost in my own thoughts.) I treat my Stealth Action games like RTS games because I obsessively manage all of my resources whether it's currency, bullets, aid items, or special powers.
Dishonored is an excellent example of this, you get these snazzy powers that allow you teleport directly behind an unsuspecting enemy or summon a swarm of rats to devour all that stand in your way and many more powers designed to make short work of your obstacles. The thing is they use up your magic (mana) and unlike some games where it recharges over time like in Skyrim the only way to recharge your gauge is to use up potions. Or to use special non-magic using abilities that allow it to recharge magic and health with kills. That is a huge problem for me because I always want to hoard my potions because I never know when I am going to get myself into a situation where the shit has hit the fan. However, that never, ever, ever, ever happens to me because I always skulk around the levels so methodically that I never end up using any of the cool powers. Then i get to the end of the level without using any of the powers and not killing anyone which in its own way is pretty fun but I am also missing out on the cool mechanics that these awesome game companies spent so much money and time on.
This pretty much rings true for any game that is at all Stealth Action oriented from Skyrim to Metal Gear Solid and everywhere in between. Since it isn't just about the special powers and potion hoarding. I am also guilty of counting bullets in such awesome games like Hitman and Crysis. Maybe I have gamer-hoarding issues I need to deal with or maybe it's just that I hate going into boss battles completely unprepared. It may also contribute to why I sometimes find that games bore me towards the end; because I am so over prepared for everything and there is no challenge anymore. That however is a tale for another time.
Shadow hide you,
toodlekittens
post script
You didn't really think that I was going to be gone forever did you? This blog may have kept getting pushed aside and kept getting shoved towards the back of my to-do list but I have made a glorious return.
Thursday, November 15, 2012
It's Go Time
Hello all,
It has been some time and I've been thinking about my first post here. I decided that I couldn't resist how awesome Star Wars: The Old Republic was since it is (as of today) free to play. So I set off on my adventure to download this game and get my money's worth from it (heh if I complain does that make me ungrateful?) Regardless I started the install and holy smokes was I in for a rude awakening. 25 GB of data had to be written to my poor C: drive which was already getting low on the space. And that thing took FOREVER. I pretty much packed my bags and went and found new things to do with my life and let my laptop just chug away. To make a boring story short I eventually signed and played that sucker on Low graphics quality (5 year old laptop is old) and I must say it was quite glorious. I got a bunch of my friends to get on the bandwagon too so I expect happy adventure time soon with them.
Moving on I don't have much in the way of homebrewing advice or anything right now because I'm working through recent creations of a Belgian Wit (NOT A BLUE MOON CLONE EITHER!), an India Brown Ale (there's a story for another time) and a Black Hefeweizen (oh yes. what a glorious homebrew concotion). But I can say this definitely, my next beer will be a SMaSH (that's single malt and single hop) with the glorious New Zealand hop strains I picked up. More to come folks so stay tuned!
It has been some time and I've been thinking about my first post here. I decided that I couldn't resist how awesome Star Wars: The Old Republic was since it is (as of today) free to play. So I set off on my adventure to download this game and get my money's worth from it (heh if I complain does that make me ungrateful?) Regardless I started the install and holy smokes was I in for a rude awakening. 25 GB of data had to be written to my poor C: drive which was already getting low on the space. And that thing took FOREVER. I pretty much packed my bags and went and found new things to do with my life and let my laptop just chug away. To make a boring story short I eventually signed and played that sucker on Low graphics quality (5 year old laptop is old) and I must say it was quite glorious. I got a bunch of my friends to get on the bandwagon too so I expect happy adventure time soon with them.
Moving on I don't have much in the way of homebrewing advice or anything right now because I'm working through recent creations of a Belgian Wit (NOT A BLUE MOON CLONE EITHER!), an India Brown Ale (there's a story for another time) and a Black Hefeweizen (oh yes. what a glorious homebrew concotion). But I can say this definitely, my next beer will be a SMaSH (that's single malt and single hop) with the glorious New Zealand hop strains I picked up. More to come folks so stay tuned!
Saturday, November 10, 2012
WTF Happened?
Well hello anybody that may be reading this. If you look at the date of the last posting it appears to have been awhile. Apparently the members I originally went into this with backed out (and I'm not sure why). So for right now I am taking full possession of this blog. I will continue with the same topics but I will have a good focus on homebrewing as a hobby. So think of "other vices" as homebrewing and you'll be good. I hope that some activity has piqued your interest and you will return to this blog. There's stuff brewing (heh) and more to come soon.
Hope to see you again!
Darth
Hope to see you again!
Darth
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