D&D 4e

So, this last Tuesday I had an opportunity to play Dungeons & Dragons, 4th edition for the first time. I have played D&D since very late into 2nd edition, but I had heard exciting things about the new version and was looking forward to it. Overall, I was surprised at how much fun it was, even at 1st level, and look forward to playing more - though there are some parts from the old editions I will definitely miss.

First off, I haven't had a chance to memorize every rule, monster, and spell yet - so if I miss something obvious, cut me a little slack. Also, I got to play in a different setting than I usually play in. I usually play with a group of friends I know personally, for no real reason other than enjoyment. This time, I went to an RPGA meeting - a continuous world consisting of hundreds of campaigns across the country all set in the Living Forgotten Realms world. The idea of the RPGA is that characters are transferable across games, and larger games have the ability to affect each other. For example, the RPGA will give out a large quest that culminates in the destruction of a god of evil, then that act will be reflected in other games across the country. It's a neat idea to create a shared world - something MMO's don't get into very much.

I played a first-level wizard. In previous editions, this is a pretty boring part to play - you can cast 1-3 spells that actually do anything, then you're done until the end of the day, which is usually the end of the adventure. However, 4th edition changes the game a LOT for wizards. Instead of picking out spells at the beginning of the day, then losing them once they're cast, you pick spells when you level up. There are three kinds of spells - at-will (which you can cast every round, if you like), per-encounter (which you can cast once per fight) and per-day (your biggest and nastiest spells, which hearken back to the old system).

This means every round, I have a couple different options I have to pick from. And I never have to choose "Do nothing, save my spells for the big bad guy." Wizards spent significant time doing nothing at lower levels in the older editions.

From what I saw, fighters have the same sorts of choices to make. All types of warriors - from sneaky rogues to spiritual paladins have abilities that let them target certain enemies, move around the battlefield, and affect the encounter. No longer are fighters condemned to "I hit him with my axe" every single round.

Also, certain new mechanics (Healing Surges and Second Wind) allow all characters to heal themselves somewhat, so the cleric is similarly not confined to "I heal whoever's hurt" every round.

So, even though it was a low-level adventure, it FELT like a higher-level adventure in 3rd edition. I read interviews from the designers of 4th edition where they stated that 5th to 8th level was "the sweet spot" in 3rd edition, and they really tried to make the whole game play more like those levels.

Overall, it was a very fun experience. I intend to go back this week, and may start DMing 4th edition in the near future. Probably more updates to come in the future.

Xbox Live Things

It's a good week for downloads. I have had very little downtime, and what time has been available has mostly been eaten by Dexter. But I got a little chance to play some games, and man this is a good week for downloads.

Firstly, Geometry Wars 2! Considering the first Geometry Wars was half the reason I bought a 360, I'm pretty excited about the new one. I got a chance to play the demo this week, and it is amazing. Video demo here. After playing the demo, I found it manages to retain the core gameplay (Robotron-style arena moving and shooting) while introducing new elements that radically change the tactics and strategy. With stuff like the shot-reflective barriers, new enemy types, and more vicious black holes, this is definitely an updated experience. Also, the graphics have been upgraded to be EVEN SHINIER and more epileptic-seizure inducing. I will buy the full version soon.

Secondly, one of my favorite classic arcade titles has received a massive update courtesy of Capcom. 1942: Joint Strike is an HD update of one of the original scrolling shoot-em-up games. From playing the demo, this is definitely an impressive shmup. Powerups are helpful and unique, enemies swarm with steadily increasing viciousness, and the boss fights are suitably awe-inspiring. The 'escape sequence' after the boss in the demo was unexpected and harrowing - one of those moments that racks up the tension and makes playing shoot-em-ups a blast. Preview video here.

Then there's Braid. The only game here I haven't played yet. This is an indy game now being sold on the Live Arcade for big money - 1200 Microsoft Points (around $15). For anyone who liked Odin Sphere, the appeal will be immediate and obvious - 2d scrolling action on beautiful pastel-looking sketches. Though I haven't played it, reviews are universally good, especially from Giant Bomb and GayGamer.net, my usual trusted sources on this sort of thing. Read the developer's blog here.

Finally, as I've twittered in the last day or two, Rock Band has put out some wickedly awesome music lately. Less pop, more industrial and metal, groups like System of a Down, Dream Theater, and Megadeth have been released in the last two weeks, much to my delight. I have played the guitar parts (which make me happy), and need to try out the drums - Megadeth and Devil Driver are not shy about using double bass pedals on their drums, and I want to see how Rock Band has compensated for the lack of one on their drum kit (oh, nevermind - they just don't have you play the actual drum strikes anymore). Needless to say, good songs for those who appreciate the challenge.

So, anyone want to play online?

Guiter Hero IV: Rock Band Knockoff

This is stupid:

Guitar Hero IV will follow closely in the footsteps of Rock Band, offering new instruments including a bass, microphone, and six-piece drumset that includes two cymbals. It is unknown whether or not the Guitar Hero IV instruments and Rock Band instruments will be cross-compatible.

The only thing Guitar Hero had going for it, and Activision just has to wreck it.

Rock Band is a four-piece music game. Guitar Hero is a one-piece music game (two, if you count the bass). In order for Guitar Hero to avoid the inevitable comparisons to Rock Band, it has to differentiate itself - it must seem like a different sort of game to people, otherwise feature-matrices will be lined up, and Guitar Hero will seem lacking. I felt like Guitar Hero 3 tried to do this - maybe they didn't pull it off perfectly, but it was Neversoft's first Guitar Hero, so I cut them slack. They had three big things that Rock Band did not have - guitar battles, licensed characters, and guitar songs. The guitar battles and licensed characters didn't overly concern me, but it seemed like having guitar songs was a major point of differentiation between Rock Band and Guitar Hero.

Rock Band, being a four-piece game, has to have four-piece songs. Stuff like "Orange Crush" or "Don't Fear the Reaper" is a perfect fit for it. You cannot put "Cliffs of Dover" or "YYZ" in Rock Band, because there are no vocals. You also cannot put stuff like "Through the Fire and Flames" and "Laid to Rest" on Rock Band, because the single bass pedal on the drum kit will not support death-metal style drumming. Also, Guitar Hero 3 seemed to take pains to make the expert guitar parts unnecessarily hard - for example "The Number of the Beast" by Iron Maiden. I doubt all those triplets were entirely necessary.

So it seemed Guitar Hero was differentiating by focusing on crazy-ass guitar playing, and leaving the "other instruments" to Rock Band. But now, they're stripping that point of differentiation, and making it basically the same game as Rock Band - and that makes me sad. I am not as good at vocals or drums as I am at guitars, and I liked the impossibly difficult guitar songs. Rock Band's songs seemed much more generic and pop-ish by comparison.

However, the song creator and character customization in the aforementioned article sound really freakin' cool, so it shouldn't be a total loss. Sounds like I'll buy it.

Desktop VR

This will blow your mind.

How come all the cool stuff seems to be happening at Carnegie Mellon?