Those that have known me for a while may remember that I wrote about this game a loooong time ago (well a long time ago in computer/game terms at least) on a forum for another game entirely. A Tale in the Desert is a game my wife and I first encountered back in early 2003 when it launched. Since then it's a game that we've returned to several times over the years and as such I've decided that it deserves some attention again.
A Tale in the Desert is a persistent MMO with a focus on social interaction, building and puzzle solving. A Tale in the Desert (ATitD for short) differs from most MMOs in a couple or ways. First there is no combat in the game. There is no 'threat' that your character is trying to overcome (There's a challenge, but I'll get into that more later) and you are not a 'hero' that is some how better than everyone else. Secondly there are NO NPCs* to interact with, you don't go out and get your loot and sell it to the vender for in game coin ... in fact there IS no in game coin either. (* - Note - there can be 'NPCs' but only in that the developers may spawn characters for story reasons, but such characters are being controlled by a Dev or GM at a keyboard, not interacting on their own via AI.) Finally, and probably the biggest thing, is that it is designed to have an ending.
Just because I say that there's no combat in ATitD, don't make the mistake of thinking that there's no conflict. I've seen as much if not more conflict and drama in ATitD than I have in some purely PvP MMOs. ATitD has a lot of competitive tests, and a lot of other issues (Pollution, resource availability, etc.) that can create conflict and drama between people. Additionally, there are player elected positions (Demi-Pharaoh), player proposed and passed laws, and the general social nature of the game that creates plenty of opportunity for debate and ... we'll call them 'heated discussions'.
Of course that plays into and is enhanced by the lack of NPCs in the game. ALL of your interaction is with other players. Now there are certainly things that you can go off and do on your own, but generally speaking one player isn't going to be able to do everything themselves. At some point you're going to need to trade for items that you can't find or make yourself, or need the assistance of other players to get some of those items. In many cases for the various Tests you will need other players in different capacities (to judge your art work, or puzzles, to vote for you or your law, etc.) This isn't to say that dealing with players is always bad, it's not. I have many great memories of group events over the various times that I've played, and I certainly wouldn't have those without the other players.
The biggest difference from most MMOs, however, is really the fact that it is designed to end. There is a point in the game that is meant to trigger the 'end game'. The 'goal' is to promote an Oracle in each of the 7 Schools of Man (Harmony, Body, Worship, Architecture, Art & Music, Leadership, and Thought) and build a monument to each of the 7 Schools before the end date. As part of the monument a new test is designed and 'inscribed' into the monument for future generations. At the end the server is wiped, changes made to various game systems and mechanics, and a new Tale begins with a new generation of immigrants to the desert lands.
At the time of this writing Tale 6 is drawing to a close and Tale 7 is being discussed and planned as the players start the push to build the 7 monuments and I find myself once more drawn to this social/building sandbox. A little history here, I played at the beginning of Tale 1 in early 2003, came back for the beginning of Tale 3 in mid 2006 and the beginning of Tale 4 in late 2008. You may notice on those dates that they all say 'the beginning of tale x'. Something (in some cases just deciding that I have stuff that needs to get done in real life) has always interrupted my involvement in a telling.
But why do I keep coming back? There's a lot I like about the game. First off, it's a sandbox. While there is the over all goal of the telling (get 7 Oracles and build the 7 Monuments) those are (particularly at the beginning of a telling) insubstantial goals and I can pick and choose my own goals. There's also the social aspect, and tied to it, the political aspect. The introduction of Levels in Tale 3 did kind of bottleneck things early on, but then really became meaningless and did, really, encourage me to try out other things in the game more.
There are also a couple of down sides. First it's not a game that everyone will 'get'. Some people aren't looking for a social/building game as they tend toward a slower more thoughtful pace and some people really do want the faster pace / more immediate gratification of an action game or more traditional MMO. The real down side in ATitD, even for someone like me that loves so many aspects of the game is that it can be a horrendous time sink, particularly early in a telling before the various automated techs are researched. There is so much to do, and since other players are involved in so many ways in this game, your schedule isn't always their first concern.
Tale 6 has gone free to play for the remainder of the telling, so if a social/building MMO sounds interesting, by all means check it out (there's a download link on their website - www.atitd.com) it's kept me coming back for over 12 years. If you have any questions you can shoot me a chat in game (/chat Tahrqa) and I'll get back to you when I can ... one word of advice though ... get a Hand Loom asap ... the Student Loom is a horrible torture device.
Showing posts with label Indie. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Indie. Show all posts
Monday, July 6, 2015
Tuesday, January 13, 2015
Other Games
Well the point of this blog isn't just to talk about SOE, Landmark and EQ:Next, but games and game theory. So I'm going to step back and talk for a moment about a couple other games that I just picked up over the holidays and I've been playing a good bit of lately.
I'll start with One Finger Death Punch by Silver Dollar Games. Available on the XBox store and on Steam for the PC. The game is definitely 'easy to learn, hard to master' as game play is limited to 2 buttons (X and B on an XBox controller Right and Left mouse button if you're playing on PC without a controller. Personally I highly recommend a controller, however, as spamming left and right mouse buttons has never been comfortable to me).
The game adjusts to player skill to a degree. If you are doing well it will increase the speed of the opponents to give more challenge, if you're getting hit and/or failing it will drop the speed down until it reaches the base speed of the level (100%). There are also different types of opponents that require different combinations. The game does a very good job of increasing the base difficulty and teaching you what you need to know to play it effectively. Gameplay is addictive and fun.
Graphics are simple, but that actually helps the game. There's enough happening on screen to be distracting as it is. Sound effects are well done and 'sound' right for the game and the music track is solid. Controls are quick and responsive fitting the face paced gameplay. It's a fun game that you can load up and play a few levels quickly and satisfy the need for something 'action-y'. Be warned, however, the gameplay is addictive enough it can be easy to lose track of time too.
Definitely a game that I'd recommend to anyone that's looking for a fun, face-paced, action game.
Now lets slow down a little and talk about Endless Legend. A fantasy (kind of) 4-X strategy game by Amplitude Games. I am really enjoying this game - it's new, it's fun and it has what many 4x games have been lacking in recent years.
Having said that I'm going to start with a couple of things that I DON'T like. First, the graphics. Don't get me wrong they are beautiful, the game has a GREAT look to it. I love a lot of the unit designs and loading screens, it's a beautiful 3d world ... and there's the problem. WHY is it 3d? You can't rotate the map to look at things from different angles, and all of the 3d 'spiffy-ness' that they put into it clutters the map and more often I zoom out to get the simple stylized map, but that doesn't show all the info that I want.
While I'm talking about this in relation to this game specifically, I really feel that it's a problem in the strategy genre over-all. There's a place for graphics like this and, generally speaking, strategy games are NOT it. I need information, not 3d board pieces. It's a hex map and while 3d does play a combat roll, (bonus to troops on higher ground in combat) it's nothing that can't be supplied by a number in the hex or other cleaner indication. As it stands with the 3d map it can sometimes be HARDER to see the elevation change since we can't rotate the map.
It also serves to needlessly slow down the combat because those 3d models have to be animated, and since the developers have taken the time to animate the movement (and attacks and defenses of the units) then we have to see it in the battles and movements. When deploying troops at the start of a battle, for example, to move a unit I have to watch them move to the new starting place ... this is before combat even officially starts. Really I should just click the unit and click where I want it to be ... I understand once combat starts seeing the path that the unit takes, but during deployment it should really just teleport there.
My only other real complaint with it is that some of their descriptions aren't always clear in game. Though given that Amplitude Games is based in Paris some of that may be attributed to translation difference. Some of it, however, is in the way that the information is presented. For example city district improvement on one screen shows a -10 and a +15 city happiness modifier, but it isn't clear that only the level 2 version has the +15, the base level 1 modifier is -10 so at level 2 (max) the bonus is +5 to happiness.
Really, however, these are minor things in a game that shines. The factions feel and play different, though the AI can be a bit 'samey' and the AI responses while different for each faction, are the same response to any other faction that they meet when really there should be some variation depending on what faction you are when they encounter you. (For example, when you encounter AI of the Vaulter faction their statements are different then if you encounter the Cultists, but are the same no matter what faction you are playing.)
In my limited playing (I'm working on my 3rd game) I'm still learning, but I really get the feeling that each faction is going to require a different strategy and focus to play effectively, and you can't really ignore diplomacy. Knowing the strengths and weaknesses of the other factions is advised as well, and minor factions can serve an important role as well. The game balance has felt pretty good so far though and my games have been challenging learning experiences. The one match that I was just absolutely steamrolled was a combination of a poor starting location and me playing too conservatively. This game really focuses more on pushing toward your chosen victory right off the bat rather than maintaining a broad focus until the end.
Again this is a game that I recommend if you are a fan of the strategy game genre. It's well executed and balanced and a lot of fun to play. Keep in mind that it is its own game and while a lot of stuff will be familiar to players of the genre, you'll need to look at the strengths of your faction and develop your strategy to move forward as there's a good chance that your 'tried and true' may not be quite as effective.
I'll start with One Finger Death Punch by Silver Dollar Games. Available on the XBox store and on Steam for the PC. The game is definitely 'easy to learn, hard to master' as game play is limited to 2 buttons (X and B on an XBox controller Right and Left mouse button if you're playing on PC without a controller. Personally I highly recommend a controller, however, as spamming left and right mouse buttons has never been comfortable to me).
The game adjusts to player skill to a degree. If you are doing well it will increase the speed of the opponents to give more challenge, if you're getting hit and/or failing it will drop the speed down until it reaches the base speed of the level (100%). There are also different types of opponents that require different combinations. The game does a very good job of increasing the base difficulty and teaching you what you need to know to play it effectively. Gameplay is addictive and fun.
Graphics are simple, but that actually helps the game. There's enough happening on screen to be distracting as it is. Sound effects are well done and 'sound' right for the game and the music track is solid. Controls are quick and responsive fitting the face paced gameplay. It's a fun game that you can load up and play a few levels quickly and satisfy the need for something 'action-y'. Be warned, however, the gameplay is addictive enough it can be easy to lose track of time too.
Definitely a game that I'd recommend to anyone that's looking for a fun, face-paced, action game.
Now lets slow down a little and talk about Endless Legend. A fantasy (kind of) 4-X strategy game by Amplitude Games. I am really enjoying this game - it's new, it's fun and it has what many 4x games have been lacking in recent years.
Having said that I'm going to start with a couple of things that I DON'T like. First, the graphics. Don't get me wrong they are beautiful, the game has a GREAT look to it. I love a lot of the unit designs and loading screens, it's a beautiful 3d world ... and there's the problem. WHY is it 3d? You can't rotate the map to look at things from different angles, and all of the 3d 'spiffy-ness' that they put into it clutters the map and more often I zoom out to get the simple stylized map, but that doesn't show all the info that I want.
While I'm talking about this in relation to this game specifically, I really feel that it's a problem in the strategy genre over-all. There's a place for graphics like this and, generally speaking, strategy games are NOT it. I need information, not 3d board pieces. It's a hex map and while 3d does play a combat roll, (bonus to troops on higher ground in combat) it's nothing that can't be supplied by a number in the hex or other cleaner indication. As it stands with the 3d map it can sometimes be HARDER to see the elevation change since we can't rotate the map.
It also serves to needlessly slow down the combat because those 3d models have to be animated, and since the developers have taken the time to animate the movement (and attacks and defenses of the units) then we have to see it in the battles and movements. When deploying troops at the start of a battle, for example, to move a unit I have to watch them move to the new starting place ... this is before combat even officially starts. Really I should just click the unit and click where I want it to be ... I understand once combat starts seeing the path that the unit takes, but during deployment it should really just teleport there.
My only other real complaint with it is that some of their descriptions aren't always clear in game. Though given that Amplitude Games is based in Paris some of that may be attributed to translation difference. Some of it, however, is in the way that the information is presented. For example city district improvement on one screen shows a -10 and a +15 city happiness modifier, but it isn't clear that only the level 2 version has the +15, the base level 1 modifier is -10 so at level 2 (max) the bonus is +5 to happiness.
Really, however, these are minor things in a game that shines. The factions feel and play different, though the AI can be a bit 'samey' and the AI responses while different for each faction, are the same response to any other faction that they meet when really there should be some variation depending on what faction you are when they encounter you. (For example, when you encounter AI of the Vaulter faction their statements are different then if you encounter the Cultists, but are the same no matter what faction you are playing.)
In my limited playing (I'm working on my 3rd game) I'm still learning, but I really get the feeling that each faction is going to require a different strategy and focus to play effectively, and you can't really ignore diplomacy. Knowing the strengths and weaknesses of the other factions is advised as well, and minor factions can serve an important role as well. The game balance has felt pretty good so far though and my games have been challenging learning experiences. The one match that I was just absolutely steamrolled was a combination of a poor starting location and me playing too conservatively. This game really focuses more on pushing toward your chosen victory right off the bat rather than maintaining a broad focus until the end.
Again this is a game that I recommend if you are a fan of the strategy game genre. It's well executed and balanced and a lot of fun to play. Keep in mind that it is its own game and while a lot of stuff will be familiar to players of the genre, you'll need to look at the strengths of your faction and develop your strategy to move forward as there's a good chance that your 'tried and true' may not be quite as effective.
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