Keen: Smite, Lego Batman 2, (see image below)
This week was all over the place for me. The image below isn’t totally accurate as it doesn’t include games played yesterday, or betas like Smite, but it gives you an idea. I played lots of Smite. A couple of days this week were pure Smite. I’m enjoying the feel of that game. I like how matches can go much quicker than a traditional LoL/Dota2, and I like how with a little team work a match can be turned around. I still hate how, inherent to all MOBAs, one bad player can ruin an entire match. I play Vamana almost exclusively.
Lego Batman 2 is a lot of fun. A common sentiment going around is that this is the best Superman game out there. Yes, that’s right, Superman. Lego Batman 2’s full title is “LEGO Batman 2: DC Super Heroes”. Playing Super Man is awesome because he flies, he’s impervious to just about every attack, and he has laser eye and frost breath.
I’m also giving the TERA seven day trial a go. We’re only about two hours in and just messing around. My thoughts haven’t changed on it at all since my original verdict, and I still think this game is beautiful.
Rounding out my time was Age of Empires Online. I log in and run a few quests, empty my workshops, and mess with my city. I’m working on my review of the game now that the big summer patch is here and the game is “truly free to play”. Look for it to come this week.
Graev: Kingdom Hearts Re:Coded, Lego Batman 2, backlog stuff
I’m working through my backlog again. KH:Re:coded needs finishing so that I’m ready for Kingdom Hearts 3DS. I played the demo and think KH 3DS is going to be great. I’m also trying TERA with Keen. It seems pretty cool, but I don’t think I can run it well enough on my computer to get it.
Smite is fun. I play Agni and combo with Keen a lot. He sings ‘They See Me Rollin’ when we do well.
I really like Lego Batman 2. We need to put a lot more time in, then we’ll give our review.
In Smite, I enjoy playing Anubis, but for the life of me, I can’t seem to get the hang of Hades. As it’s an early beta, very much looking forward to how the game shapes up over time.
Hades is considered lower tier by those who would categorize characters. His ult is what makes him even worth using, but it’s so easily countered by purification beads, an ability you can buy from the shop that breaks CC then makes you immune for 2 seconds. I’ve had games where I curse his name (mainly b/c of his ult), and games where he’s nothing but fodder.
I’m also looking forward to the future for Smite. They have a really good foundation already.
Age of Empires Online appears to be abandoned. Every time I sign on, I go through the chat tabs looking for people to talk in the channels and I see nothing. Anyone else notice this? Perhaps I’m just on the wrong server. (Marathon server btw which according to several forums used to be the most populated.)
@Steeldragoon: That’s really weird. The channels move so fast on my server I can’t keep up and stop paying attention. I’m on Alexandria. I know they’re going to merge all the servers down into a couple in order to make the experience more ideal — as it stands now you can transfer for free anywhere at the click of a button for free.
So glad you mentioned Smite on your site, because I probably wouldn’t have known about it otherwise. Loving this game. Gave me brother a beta key and he is loving it too. Smite is a keeper for me, and something I see myself playing for quite a while. Hoping it has alot of success, as I’m really impressed with the quality and fun factor it has.
@Keen – Do I need to be a certain level to see chat? I performed a transfer to Alexandria and played for a couple hours looking for anyone to say something in chat whether it be general, trade, or LFG and nothing. So it has me wondering two thinks. Is it a level issue? Or was it just busy at the time you were playing it for review reasons?
@Steeldragoon: I made a new account and right from level 3 (skipped tutorial, it put me at level 3) I could see the chat just fine. It’s -always- busy when I play. There are a lot of people playing. Now… that doesn’t necessarily mean there’s going to be enough people playing to always do the kinds of things you want. Part of my review coming soon deals with queues for matches.
Anyone have any spare SMITE Beta keys? I actually live in the Atlanta area, but I can’t go to the studios—wife is 36 weeks preggo. My email is [email protected] if anyone has one. Thanks!
@Keen – Alright, so I must be doing something different. I do not know how different launching from steam versus launching directly from Live is for chat. I am launching from Steam, however. If that is done the same, I will have to do some searching on the forums. Firewall settings, game installation issues, etc. It doesn’t make any sense that you can see people talking in chat, and I cannot see anyone talking in chat. :-\
I still hate how, inherent to all MOBAs, one bad player can ruin an entire match.
Inherent to the genre, and why I feel I will never be able to lose myself in it. I’ve been to lv30 in LoL twice, and played the hell out of DotA back in the day, but it’s a genre that doesn’t ‘stick’ for this very reason. No matter how great you do as a player or how cooperative etc, that one bad apple ruins your time, your effort, your fun.
The matchmaking system prevents any sort of ‘stick’ between players, and to allow players to ween out those who don’t match their own playstyle, and settle ‘amongst ones own’. If it did allow this, it would feel more like an RPG. Then, however, it would feel like a lobby-based RPG as each game session exists in a vacuum. Knowing this, I’d just as well stick with RPGs and MMORPGs that have the ‘stickiness’ in question.
@Steeldragoon: I’ve played through STEAM and just the client itself. It’s the same. You must have the chat disabled via some parental setting.
@Keen – found it this morning. Xbox live settings apparently affect AOE online. I had it to where only friends could chat with me and I had to change it to everyone. Go figure. 🙂
SMITE is absolutely fantastic. It’s crashing like crazy on my computer but I love it.
EDIT: Figured out my crashing. My computer was overheating playing this game. I read it’s crazy CPU intensive. 1 min with a leaf blower and PC was good as new and running perfectly!
Graev’s computer sounds like a jet trying to take off when he plays Smite.