6 April 2011 | |
pixiestixy
Here’s my usual setup while playing WoW: WoW is displayed on my large monitor hooked up to a powerful desktop for extra visual fun. My wimpier laptop sits to my left at my desk — playing music, skyping, playing videos, or simply staying available for my occasional trip to WoWhead for quest help without the need to tab out of the game. But I’ve now found a far superior use for that laptop, and it’s the game Shakes & Fidget.
Like most of you, I was skeptical about this game when I first signed up. It’s a browser game — no downloads required — and has a real-time aspect that translates to spending a lot of time in-game simply waiting around to finish a quest, complete a work shift, battle the next dungeon monster or get your arena on. But that’s also the same thing that brings beauty to the game – that you can set it up and leave until you are ready for the next task.
Between quests while playing WoW, I can queue up my S&F character for her business. I refocus attention back on the main screen until I hear that unmistakable “zing, clack, whirr” sound of battle starting on the laptop. I don’t have to actively participate — but I want to at least watch to see how my character performs with the latest attributes that I’ve leveled. Continue Reading
23 October 2007 | |
LHStaff
A few months ago I was reading my PCGamer, the Starcraft II issue (August), and there was a interesting article by Ultima Online creator Richard Garriott, aka “Lord British”. It was basically about the growth MMORPGs have had over the last decade and how he expects the growth to continue. However, towards the end of the article he mentioned how a new MMORPG he was developing was going to change the MMORPG genre, Tabula Rasa. Having recently quit Lord of the Rings Online, I have been looking for a new MMO to play and decided to look up more about this game. Basically from what I read around, the game is an attempt to create a MMORPG with little down time and a whole lot of action.
Two of the big things that stuck out was travel time and the fighting system. Traveling has been minimized in 3 ways. One, the world map is much smaller than todays MMORPGs. No more riding 10-20 mins to just get somewhere or meet up with someone. Second is that all characters, regardless of class, have travel skills, so they can port to other locations in the game instantly. Finally, quests from what I read are all instances, so you don’t need to travel to some far distant corner of the map to get to it. They will be assessable from any major “hub” in the game. Hubs are what towns and cities are called in Tabula Rasa.Aside from short travel times, the fighting system has also been revamped. No more clicking a button and just waiting for your character to kill whatever your fighting. Fighting will be more involved and hopefully less boring. Boss fights shouldn’t be the only enjoyable fights in the game, so with a revamped fighting system hopefully regular monster should be fun to kill again.
This is one game I am definitely keeping my eye out on. Recently I quit LOTRO so I’m looking for a new MMORPG to pickup and this one is on the top of my list.
