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Rao Dao Zao

Rao Dao Zao

https://www.raodaozao.net 36 From Scotland
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  • Rao Dao Zao
    I had a lot to say about RTS Dawn of War and its three expansion packs, but I still enjoyed enough of it to want a sequel. Except... the sequel is an action-RPG?!

    raodaozao.net

    Blog 976: Dawn of War II

    In the grim dark of the future, there are only White, Green and Blue rarity items.
    raodaozao.net raodaozao.net
    Wazzz
    Wazzz
    I remember being very surprised by the direction of the campaign in this game, especially since the multiplayer still upheld the idea of some measure of RTS, although this time without the base building. They seemed to want to emphasize tactical combat and squad development, and the campaign instead focused on individual hero units?
    I had a friend who did a playthrough where he insisted on investing in the weakest options for each character, making some of the boss fights take forever (we're looking at the Assault Marine and Force Commander using their Pistols, iirc, or whatever equivalent each had, while the Devastator used his melee, that sort of flavour), and he could still beat the game on what may have been the highest difficulty. It did not sound like an enjoyable experience to do it that way lol.
    Rao Dao Zao
    Rao Dao Zao
    Haha, yes, the upgrade path for each hero was incredibly obvious -- they might as well have been WC3 heroes, each completely locked on a specific track barring some item choices. Probably would have been better if they embraced that to be honest, if they'd given them all a few more active abilities... I only really had trouble with one boss (the optional Ork Warboss), so I guess I must have made a small mistake somewhere. (Normal difficulty of course.)
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    Rao Dao Zao
    Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire has its moments, but it's mostly a heady cocktail of "dull" and "condescending". Why did I play it all the way through? Very good question, glad you asked.

    raodaozao.net

    Blog 974: Pillars of Eternity II

    Pillars of E2rnity. Pillars of Eterni2y. PiIIars of Eternity.
    raodaozao.net raodaozao.net
    Rao Dao Zao
    Ten years after launch and the only time I've played it before, I took the fancy that I should give Pillars of Eternity another try. How much do I even remember? Spoiler: not a lot!

    raodaozao.net

    Blog 971: Pillars of Eternity

    “We have the Infinity Engine at home.”
    raodaozao.net raodaozao.net
    Rao Dao Zao
    And so I arrive at Dawn of War's final expansion pack, Soulstorm. Are we going to end on a high note or will it be another slug-fest against overwhelming odds?

    raodaozao.net

    Blog 970: Soulstorm

    Oh Sisters of Battle, don’t cry for me. Oh Sisters of Battle, it’s all alright for me.
    raodaozao.net raodaozao.net
    Rao Dao Zao
    The problem with developing a lengthy RPG map is that you have to endure lengthy test runs to make sure it all works. And then, sometimes... it does not.

    raodaozao.net

    Blog 968: Let’s Play

    Somebody call the QA department. Oh wait, that’s me.
    raodaozao.net raodaozao.net
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    Rao Dao Zao
    Rao Dao Zao
    It's a skin I've loved since I first set eyes on it, but I never quite found a place for it back in the day. Now the plot demands that Henrik needs a disguise, it's been the perfect opportunity to finally roll it out. :infl_thumbs_up:
    Shar Dundred
    Shar Dundred
    Yeah, I know and use the skin, it is great.
    Tag me when you release btw, interested to see that release one distant day.
    Rao Dao Zao
    Rao Dao Zao
    Don't worry, it will be publicised.
    Rao Dao Zao
    Dawn of War: Winter Assault may fulfil its cosmic destiny as the Obligatory Snowy Expansion Pack, but it's also more exhausting than fun. Brrr.

    raodaozao.net

    Blog 967: Winter Assault

    I’d still rather control those troops individually.
    raodaozao.net raodaozao.net
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    Evilhog
    Evilhog
    Sometimes I feel that RTS games where you capture and hold control points do not lend themselves well to anything other than skirmish and multiplayer.
    I enjoyed the campaigns in DoW and Winter Assault, but in the end I will always return to classic Warcraft/Starcraft and C&C-style RTS games for story and mission-based campaigns.

    Dark Crusade's and Soulstorm's campaigns fit DoW's gameplay formula better than those in the base game and it first expansion, but every mission in their respective conquest modes is just a skirmish with little plot or variety in obje...
    //This traitor was executed for heretical thoughts and bad taste. For the Emperor!
    Rao Dao Zao
    Rao Dao Zao
    Oh don't worry, I'm currently playing Dark Crusade and I have opinions.
    Rao Dao Zao
    You're right, I should have stopped playing SpellForce ages ago rather than forcing myself through its third expansion pack. What can I say? I'm there for the... uh... one good level.

    raodaozao.net

    Blog 964: SpellForce: Shadow of the Phoenix

    As a bird that is permanently on fire, is it even possible for the Phoenix to have a shadow?
    raodaozao.net raodaozao.net
    Rao Dao Zao
    I'm only still playing SpellForce because I want to like it, not because I actually do -- and first expansion pack The Breath of Winter has merely clarified the game's myriad flaws.

    raodaozao.net

    Blog 962: SpellForce: The Breath of Winter

    Dale Icewindton’s Supermarket Sweep.
    raodaozao.net raodaozao.net
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    Shar Dundred
    Shar Dundred
    Did you also know you can rotate buildings to save space? :p
    That one definitely was in the tutorial.
    You're not wrong about bases needing quite some space, granted. Especially with trolls.
    Retera
    Retera
    Everyone knows the whole point of Spellforce is to have pictures of skimpy outfit warrior ladies back in 2004 before League of Legends made it culturally acceptable. In terms of actually playing the game... like... why not just go back to Warcraft III?

    Spellforce the Reforced is a different story, though. After Warcraft III: Reforged, far as I could tell they renamed one of their games to Spellforce III: Reforced. When I think about mucking up Warcraft 3 to have realism and just literally not be Warcraft III, it's hard to imagine doing that better than the Reforced. Reforced even used PopcornFX emitter tech, like Reforged, but unlike Reforged it gives credit to the PopcornFX company in the loading screens and stuff.
    I played Reforced definitely more than Reforged in terms of social settings where I actually felt like I was playing games and having a good time. It might be one of those cases where if you inspire young men with the women in scantily clad outfits like what we have on the original Spellforce, it causes them to grow up and later one day create something like Reforced that's just actually a good game. (once they get over themselves)
    Rao Dao Zao
    Rao Dao Zao
    You say the point is women in skimpy outfits, but there's only one faction of women in skimpy outfits and you don't even get to play as them that often. Why not play Warcraft III? In that case, why play anything? I'm curious. I'm interested. I want to experience new things. I'm also a game designer, and I want to understand 'how' and 'why' so I can do better myself. There's enough here that I want to explore it fully despite the parts I disagree with. (Besides, I don't 'like' Warcraft III either, I was only ever here for RPG maps. History may just be repeating itself.)

    It did take me a while to discover building rotation, but the collisions are so spotty I'd still say it's not much of a help. If they'd just made the resource deposit points a bit smaller than the resource nodes they collect from (more like AoE 2's camps), I think that would go a long way. The human Quarry is just ridiculous.
    Rao Dao Zao
    I should have played SpellForce at the time. I got it for crimbo but the disc was dud and it wouldn't install -- it has sat on my shelf all that time, taunting me. No more!

    raodaozao.net

    Blog 959: SpellForce: The Order of Dawn

    Nobody likes being forced to spell.
    raodaozao.net raodaozao.net
    Rao Dao Zao
    For years, every time somebody's mentioned "first-person fantasy melee combat" (usually in the context of complaining about Skyrim), somebody else has said "Dark Messiah". As usual, I am late to seeing it for myself.

    raodaozao.net

    Blog 956: Dark Messiah of Might and Magic

    Alive and kicking.
    raodaozao.net raodaozao.net
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    Greedy Procrastinator
    Greedy Procrastinator
    Hell yeah, I forgot that I downloaded it in december, thanks.
    It's basicly Arx Fatalis but ubisoft wanted to juice money of heroes of might and magic franchise so after heroes 5 was out they hired arx fatalis 's devs to do the job. But they originally were planning on giving it to heroes 5' s dev team (they were from russia). They even wanted to make it RTS, ugh, because it was popular then.

    Speaking of fantasy melee combat, you haven't reached the third person Blade of darkness, yet?
    Rao Dao Zao
    Rao Dao Zao
    No, I've done enough action games for the moment so heading into RPGs and RTSes for a bit. Current queue is SpellForce (+expansions) then WH40K: Dawn of War (+expansions). After that, possibly the Pillars of Eternities, we'll see.
    Greedy Procrastinator
    Greedy Procrastinator
    Nice. I'm very much fan of the last one. Have fun!
    Rao Dao Zao
    I may be old and jaded, but I still make sure that Santa brings me at least a little Lego for crimbo... though this year's haul was perhaps a bit late.

    raodaozao.net

    Blog 955: 25 Years Later…

    Slizer? I ‘ardly know ‘er!
    raodaozao.net raodaozao.net
    Greedy Procrastinator
    Greedy Procrastinator
    Happy new year, have you ever played No one lives forever 2? Its like deus ex but more satire and its quite old but gold.
    Rao Dao Zao
    Rao Dao Zao
    I've played the original NOLF and I didn't rate it much, but people I trust have said 2 is much better. I tried to pick up a copy once but the seller sent me another NOLF1 and I couldn't be bothered chasing them up. Might try again at some point though.
    Rao Dao Zao
    When I play a game, I take a lot more screenshots than ever make it into the obligatory blog post. So I thought for the obligatory end-of-year round-up, why not share a few more from the games I'd never played before? Video games are pretty.

    raodaozao.net

    Blog 954: 2024 In Screenshots

    Beauty is in the PRNT SCRN of the Beholder.
    raodaozao.net raodaozao.net
    • Wow
    Reactions: Greedy Procrastinator
    Greedy Procrastinator
    Greedy Procrastinator
    Nice, it's very useful to have the list of viewed games to see which ones you've passed, I started to forget when I finished some titles, I should acquire this habbit :D
    And thanks for reminding me to play Oni =)
    Rao Dao Zao
    Rao Dao Zao
    Yes, keeping a blog is very useful because I have an (almost) unbroken record of everything I've played since I started, plus whether or not I even enjoyed it. Also it's fun to write and it's healthy to organise your thoughts. Do it!
    Rao Dao Zao
    When I played Quake II RTX, I wondered why I had any fond feelings for the game -- it's just Not Very Good. RTX mode did not encompass its two mission packs, though, so perhaps those hold the key?

    raodaozao.net

    Blog 944: Ground Zero

    2Quake2Furious.
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    Rao Dao Zao
    Rao Dao Zao
    I know, and I have it, but I don't care about remasters. In my head it's no different than a mod -- it's not the original team/vision/constraints, it's somebody else's idea of how it should have been. That's perfectly fine but the fact that it's sold as "official" makes me quesy (exactly the same set of concerns I have about Reforged, among others), though at least this time the package includes the original unadulterated version as well as the remastered version so we can choose for ourselves.

    I probably will play the new campaign (and I'm curious about the N64 campaign too), but I prefer to judge the original works as they actually were.
    Evilhog
    Evilhog
    Have you tried YamagiQII? It's a conservative source port which preserves the original look and feel, though it has some useful features of its own.
    Rao Dao Zao
    Rao Dao Zao
    I don't need a source port, the original version still works.
    Rao Dao Zao
    I'm sure nobody needs another huge blog post about Mass Effect 3's plot blunders, but fuck it, I've got too many thoughts and I have to get them out of my system. (It's still a really good game.)

    raodaozao.net

    Blog 942: Mass Effect 3

    IT IS NOT A THING YOU CAN COMPREHEND.
    raodaozao.net raodaozao.net
    Rao Dao Zao
    A part of me is a little bit sad that Mass Effect 2 tossed the Mako out. There was beauty worth exploring in the uncharted worlds despite the tedium... Luckily ME2 had the Overlord expansion, which is about as close as we got to an ideal driving mission.

    raodaozao.net

    Blog 940: Overlord

    You drive me craaaazy.
    raodaozao.net raodaozao.net
    Greedy Procrastinator
    Greedy Procrastinator
    Have you played kotor then played mass effect one? There are many similarities between these two.
    Rao Dao Zao
    Rao Dao Zao
    Oh yes, I've done KotOR before. It's the missing link between ME1 and Neverwinter Nights, utterly fascinating... but also hilarious just how much of ME1's structure is cribbed from it. (I didn't actually enjoy KotOR all that much, but I did appreciate The Twist. Very well delivered.)
    Rao Dao Zao
    Sometimes I spend so much time working on gameplay systems that I forget how much fun it is to do narrative and level design. All the systems are meant to lead to this.

    raodaozao.net

    Blog 936: Same Old Story

    Moments caught across an empty World Editor.
    raodaozao.net raodaozao.net
    Rao Dao Zao
    I kept seeing screenshots for Oni and thinking "that looks well cool." Needless to say, there's only one way that me liking screenshots for an obscure old game can end.

    raodaozao.net

    Blog 935: Oni

    Better than a kick in the teeth.
    raodaozao.net raodaozao.net
    Rao Dao Zao
    Remember when "AI" meant "sparkling if statements that control game character behaviour" and not "environmentally-destructive grifty industrial plagiarism slop generator"? Those were the days... and I'm going back to them.

    raodaozao.net

    Blog 932: AI (No, Not That Kind)

    I’m never going to get back to level design, am I?
    raodaozao.net raodaozao.net
    Rao Dao Zao
    Needless to say, Fallout 4 is a big game and I'm still playing it... I can't shake this feeling, however, that some of the many missions it's been throwing at me don't really exist...

    raodaozao.net

    Blog 931: Radiant Quests

    Take 2d10 radiant damage.
    raodaozao.net raodaozao.net
    Rao Dao Zao
    At first, I thought "I've made a terrible mistake, Fallout 4 is awful". But after forging through and subsequently ignoring the base-building parts, it's actually... kinda good?

    raodaozao.net

    Blog 930: Fallout 4

    Skyrim with guns (and base building).
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