Another game night and another round of last minute drop-outs.
We went from a potential 4-6 people the day before to 4 people on the morning. By the time I arrived (first to arrive!), we were down to 3 and not long after, we were just 2. Unfortunately, I wasn't expecting just 2 so hadn't taken the right games. Still, I did have Yomi which is a perfect 2 player game so it wasn't all bad.
:)
Yomi
After beating my nemesis last time with Setsuki, I naturally picked Setsuki again. He, on the other hand, went back to Grave as he was hoping to get revenge on me for beating him last time when he was trying out Lum.
I promptly went on to beat him 4-2.
:)
To be fair, there were several extremely close games. The last game in particular stands out for me as I expected to get crushed. He managed to get off to an extremely good start as he managed to get in two throws with double King follow ups. Setsuki doesn't start with much health so that put me close to deaths door pretty early on.
I changed up my tactics and was able to dump my hand on numerous occasions to get back into the game. In the end, it came down to a final round where whoever won combat was pretty much going to get the win. I won. :)
The Agents
I had brought The Agents with me this time just in case we had dropouts. I didn't expect to be just 2 but we figured that we would try it with 2 players to see how it goes.
The game is still fun (managed to win both games!) but the limitations of only having 2 players really does start to show itself. Good as a last resort but I'll be honest and say that 2 player The Agents isn't my preferred choice of game.
Thursday, April 30, 2015
Thursday, April 23, 2015
Star Wars Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast
Despite my intention to play the Star Wars games in their correct order (ie order of release), I somehow ended up playing this game after playing Jedi Academy. In my defence, the naming conventions for these games is extremely confusing!
In any event, I didn't play this game until after Jedi Academy. Which is a bit of a shame as I think I would actually have enjoyed it more if I played it before Jedi Academy. But I am getting ahead of myself.
Jedi Knight II continues the story of Kyle Katarn from the previous Dark Forces games. You start off with no force powers as Kyle has rejected being a jedi and the start of the game actually has you playing it as a standard FPS. A couple of missions later, events transpire to force Kyle to take up the lightsaber again at which point you start to gain access to your force powers. Naturally, you start off underpowered and need to build up your levels again before you get access to the full suite of powers.
The FPS gameplay mechanics in this game are actually fairly solid and have held up well. What amazes me though is how difficult the game is. Not just in terms of how tough the bad guys are but also how rough the puzzles are.
Not long after I started the game, I had to actually stop and check my settings to make sure I was playing on the Normal difficulty (I was). I then had to stop regularly (once each level) to check an online FAQ to find out how I could make progress in the game!
It's been a looong time since I've had to check online FAQs. Not a particularly great feeling. :)
My next surprise was finding out that, not long after getting the lightsaber, I wasn't actually having much fun with the game. I suspect this was due to me coming to this game after playing Jedi Academy which seems to have a tightened engine - particularly in relation to the lightsaber combat. Possibly, it was also having to play the game with an "underpowered" jedi (in relation to my powered up character in Jedi Academy).
Ultimately, I didn't finish the game which is a shame. I understand the game was well reviewed when it came out and from my limited time with it, I can see that it is a good game. Just not one I had the drive to finish.
In any event, I didn't play this game until after Jedi Academy. Which is a bit of a shame as I think I would actually have enjoyed it more if I played it before Jedi Academy. But I am getting ahead of myself.
Jedi Knight II continues the story of Kyle Katarn from the previous Dark Forces games. You start off with no force powers as Kyle has rejected being a jedi and the start of the game actually has you playing it as a standard FPS. A couple of missions later, events transpire to force Kyle to take up the lightsaber again at which point you start to gain access to your force powers. Naturally, you start off underpowered and need to build up your levels again before you get access to the full suite of powers.
The FPS gameplay mechanics in this game are actually fairly solid and have held up well. What amazes me though is how difficult the game is. Not just in terms of how tough the bad guys are but also how rough the puzzles are.
Not long after I started the game, I had to actually stop and check my settings to make sure I was playing on the Normal difficulty (I was). I then had to stop regularly (once each level) to check an online FAQ to find out how I could make progress in the game!
It's been a looong time since I've had to check online FAQs. Not a particularly great feeling. :)
My next surprise was finding out that, not long after getting the lightsaber, I wasn't actually having much fun with the game. I suspect this was due to me coming to this game after playing Jedi Academy which seems to have a tightened engine - particularly in relation to the lightsaber combat. Possibly, it was also having to play the game with an "underpowered" jedi (in relation to my powered up character in Jedi Academy).
Ultimately, I didn't finish the game which is a shame. I understand the game was well reviewed when it came out and from my limited time with it, I can see that it is a good game. Just not one I had the drive to finish.
Sunday, April 12, 2015
Star Wars Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy
First off, a quick note to let you know that I will be changing my blogging schedule starting from next week. Instead of posting 3 updates across my blogs on Sunday, I will be using the below schedule. In brief, this will allow me to spread out my posts as well as work load.
- Meister Hobbies - Sunday
- Meister Speaks - Tuesday
- Meister Games - Thursday
And now - back to your regular scheduled program!
After several negative posts about some of the older Star Wars games, I finally have good news! Jedi Academy is a great game.
Granted, as you would expect of an older game, the graphics are fairly basic. However, what works for this game is the feel of being a jedi which the game manages to capture really well. It's just a whole passel o' fun to run around with your lightsaber and block blaster shots while carving up stormtroopers.
The game also tries to mix things up by having a mix of puzzles and combat sections. The puzzle sections are fairly basic though which in this case, is a good thing. Basically, the puzzle elements do a good job of mixing up the gameplay so that you have a continuous cycle of ramping up the action before a brief pause to recover before the action ramps up again (which is a key element in designing a good game). This means you never get bored with constant combat but at the same time, the puzzles are simple enough that you never get stuck on them and can get back to the action quickly.
The only nitpick complaint I have is that the keyboard makes it hard to play with my force powers. I had the powers mapped to the number keys but in an action game, by the time I reached over to press the right number, the enemy had already moved out of my crosshair. In practice, this meant that, outside of Healing and Force Field (which are generally activated outside of combat), Force Push was the only ability I used as it is a useful ability when facing Sith and they combat grab you (Force Push can break the grab).
Overall, a really fun game and one I definitely recommend.
Sunday, April 5, 2015
Game Night! - 27 March 2015
Game Night again!
Unfortunately, we had a last minute drop out which impacted our plans a little. Luckily, I had a perfect 3 player game which was able to fill the gap nicely.
Yomi
As with last time, we started off with Yomi. There was 1 new player so we only played 1-on-1 games (with me helping the newbie playing with rules on the first game). I did manage to get in 2 games myself though - one against the newbie and the other against my Yomi nemesis (as he generally beats me).
I was playing Setsuki this time. Setsuki is a super fast ninja who benefits from dumping her hand which is a fairly cool concept. This really threw my opponents for a loop as my attacks being so fast meant that they could only realistically beat my attack by using dodge or block. Naturally, they then had to worry about me pulling a throw and dumping my hand on them again!
A couple of good reads meant that I won both of my games although it was a close thing in both cases.
The Agents
This was another game I got via Kickstarter. I didn't actually pay for the full game though. I only bought the PnP option. After getting the pdf files, I then cut them up and got them professionally printed online.
The final result is a close-to-commercial product which looks pretty good. Not perfect as the card alignment isn't perfect but pretty good quality none-the-less.
The game itself is a card game with a pretty unique mechanic.
Each card represents a secret agent and has a different top and bottom. Each time you play a card, one side faces you and the other side faces one of your opponents. This basically means that each time you play a card, you are benefiting one of your opponents as well as yourself. As you can imagine, this makes the game an interesting calculation of which side to play to maximise your benefit while minimising any benefit your opponent gets.
We only managed to get in one game but we had a ton of fun - with major laughs throughout the game.
The game had a really close finish too as all of us were within touching distance of winning. One of my opponents ended up 1 point short and he was desperately trying to figure out how to get that one extra point to get the win. Luckily for me, he didn't manage it and I was able to win on my next turn.
Booyah!
Unfortunately, we had a last minute drop out which impacted our plans a little. Luckily, I had a perfect 3 player game which was able to fill the gap nicely.
Yomi
As with last time, we started off with Yomi. There was 1 new player so we only played 1-on-1 games (with me helping the newbie playing with rules on the first game). I did manage to get in 2 games myself though - one against the newbie and the other against my Yomi nemesis (as he generally beats me).
I was playing Setsuki this time. Setsuki is a super fast ninja who benefits from dumping her hand which is a fairly cool concept. This really threw my opponents for a loop as my attacks being so fast meant that they could only realistically beat my attack by using dodge or block. Naturally, they then had to worry about me pulling a throw and dumping my hand on them again!
A couple of good reads meant that I won both of my games although it was a close thing in both cases.
The Agents
This was another game I got via Kickstarter. I didn't actually pay for the full game though. I only bought the PnP option. After getting the pdf files, I then cut them up and got them professionally printed online.
The final result is a close-to-commercial product which looks pretty good. Not perfect as the card alignment isn't perfect but pretty good quality none-the-less.
The game itself is a card game with a pretty unique mechanic.
Each card represents a secret agent and has a different top and bottom. Each time you play a card, one side faces you and the other side faces one of your opponents. This basically means that each time you play a card, you are benefiting one of your opponents as well as yourself. As you can imagine, this makes the game an interesting calculation of which side to play to maximise your benefit while minimising any benefit your opponent gets.
We only managed to get in one game but we had a ton of fun - with major laughs throughout the game.
The game had a really close finish too as all of us were within touching distance of winning. One of my opponents ended up 1 point short and he was desperately trying to figure out how to get that one extra point to get the win. Luckily for me, he didn't manage it and I was able to win on my next turn.
Booyah!
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