Game #2: League of Legends

What it is:
http://signup.leagueoflegends.com/?ref=4c32f7450e35d


League of Legends is a MOBA developed by RIOT Games.  For those who have played the Warcraft 3 Map "DotA", the controls and layout should seem very similar.  A couple differences are in the fact that it promotes more aggressive play style and can't be carried by a single champion nearly as easy.  The game is completely based around online multiplayer and offers both 3v3 and 5v5 modes.

This game is free, but offers several micro-transactions that can be used to buy champions and new textures for the champions. It has its own in-game currency as well, which is awarded after each game that can be used to purchase champions as well as some stat altering items called runes.

The basic objective of the game is to move from your side of the map down lanes filled with minions, destroying turrets as you go, to go and kill the home base of the other team.  Sounds easy enough, but when faced against 5 other players, games can rage from 20 minutes to well over an hour.

This game can be found and downloaded for free at:

http://signup.leagueoflegends.com/?ref=4c32f7450e35d

And a video provided by riot as a small tutorial: 

 

What I Liked:

• Game is free! You could play for 10 minutes and get your monies worth.
• Updated often, Riot releases new skins and champions about every two weeks.
• Tons of unique champions, not quite as many as DotA, but will soon be beating them in numbers.

What I didn't Like:

• The one thing I didn't like about the game was the large portion of games I played involved a lot of blaming, flaming, trolling and the sort.
• Unstable servers / I had problems inviting friends to custom games.

Overall Grade so Far: B+

Chronicle...Need a better word.

So I was thinking about the title of my blog and it definitely needs something more catchy. Pinto's Gaming Diary sounds to girly, and I have no idea what other kind of word would be appropriate :(

Gonna do some serious brainstorming today!

UPDATE: Thanks for the input, "Pinto's Gaming Portal" is now up and running :).

Of course, if you think you have a better word, feel free to leave input below

Game #1: Caves of Qud

What it is:

Caves of Qud is roguelike still in beta set in a post-apocalyptic world where you character is able to travel through ruins, complete quests, and fight for survival against a vast array of enemies. You can play as either a mutant or a normal human.  Both follow the same basic storyline, but humans get more stat points and better gear, whereas mutants start out with a choice of several helpful mutations (Night Vision, 2 heads, pyrokinesis, etc). Allowing for a very customizable experience.

It uses a ASCII interface, so if you are a graphics nut with no imagination, this is not the game for you. Different from other roguelikes similar to it, Caves of Qud has a great and easily to use inventory system and water based economy.

For more information or a free download of the game, feel free to go to the website:

http://forums.freeholdentertainment.com/showthread.php?10-Welcome-to-the-Caves-of-Qud-beta

For a more visual reference, a link to a Let's Play from JefMajor's youtube channel (not me, but it's how I was introduced to the game):

What I Liked:

• Highly customizable character and skill trees.
• Great time killer, can seriously lose hours to this game.
• Huge game, lots of quests, random encounters and more items than I can count.
• Mutants are awesome.
• Strategic turn-based gameplay

What I Didn't Like:

• Unforgiving gameplay, 1 life, no quicksaves. Sometimes a single button press can mean life and death.
• The beginning quests are the same every time, and since you will be dying a lot, you will be doing them a lot.
• Keyboard only, and really tough to play unless you use the num pad.

My Opinions:

I am certainly no expert on this game, but I've started to get a hang of this game. It is very addicting, and if I find myself with any spare time, this is what has been filling it up.  My best character thus far has been a mutant warden with double muscles, regeneration, phasing, night vision, and an evil twin (muahaha). Managed to get him to level 11 before dying inside a wall with a miscalculated phase (mutation that allows you to walk through walls for a limited amount of turns).  There are some points where it just feels like playing ASCII whack a mole with some of the enemies, but the randomly generated dungeons and the large inventory system certainly make up for it.

Overall grade so far:  B-

Later this week I'll either be going to this game more in depth, or more likely be picking up a new game to look at.

Thanks for reading!

-Pintos

A Little Background.

About the Blog:

Figured I'd do a written documentation of all the games I play during the week. This blog will include:

• What I like
• What I don't like
• Background information on the game.
• What I did / How I played during the week.
• Anything else I found interesting or needed input.
• A letter grade giving my opinion of gameplay thus far.

Hopefully over time this blog will help me (or even others) break down what makes a good game, and what aspects of games I find could use improvement. As well as see how my method of purveying my thoughts developes over the time this blog evolves.

About me: 

My name is Kevin, I am 20 years old, and I am currently going to school for Game Design.  I live in New York and often use the handle "Pintos" or "PintosGoBoom" in online gaming.  I play all types of games, but lately have been really into FPSs, Roguelikes, and RPGs. I primarily play PC games, but generally play online FPSs on the console. To give a little insight into my gaming prefences, my top 5 favorite games currently include (in no particular order):

1. Elder Scrolls III: Marrowind
2. Fallout 3
3. Star Ocean: The Second Story
4. Baldur's Gate
5. Call of Duty 4

So as you can see, huge RPG fan, but I do drop money on the yearly CoD installment.