Retro Gaming Podcast
Archive for April, 2015
Episode 3: You’ve Encountered A Podcast!
Apr 17th
You’ve encountered a podcast! In this episode, the Good Ole Gamers discuss their favorite RPGs such as the Fallout and Mother series. Give us a listen, you’re bound to level up!
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Review: Gauntlet
Apr 15th
If you’ve been a gamer for any considerable length of time, you’ve probably at least heard of Gauntlet. If you immediately start to think of how Gauntlet Legends or Gauntlet Dark Legacy were your favorites, then you can fuck right off. This Gauntlet game was designed for badass curmudgeons that wasted too much time grinding pointless dungeons for pointless treasure to give their pointless life a point. This latest iteration is an ode to the Gauntlet games of old, and though a bit short, it doesn’t fail to deliver.
Gauntlet, for those unfamiliar, is a dungeon crawling hack and slash game with the ability to play in a party of up to 4. Parties can be formed online, or if you’re the type of loser that has real life friends, they can join in on local co-op. The player(s) are sent through a series of dungeons where they dodge traps, take down hordes of monsters, and kill the big bad evil guy at the end, just to do it once more in a different dungeon. Much like the original game, the player(s) can select from 4 characters (5 with DLC): the Warrior, the Valkyrie, the Wizard, the Elf and (as DLC) the Necromancer. These characters vary from each other much more than the original Gauntlet, and are designed to support each other’s romp through the dungeon.
Not all characters are created equal for solo-play, however. The Valkyrie is far and above the easiest to go solo with, as she sports a handy shield that can deflect practically all damage if she faces the source of the damage. The Wizard is the Batman of the group, as he has an answer for nearly any situation. While taking considerably more skill than the other characters due to a unique spell system, a good Wizard player can be nearly unstoppable. Lastly, the Elf and the Warrior lag behind in the solo play race, though it’s entirely possible to solo the entire game with them, their skills just don’t lend as well to it.
Players can spend their well earned gold on relics that can be used for various abilities during play, such as summoning copies of one’s self or stopping all enemies from attacking briefly. These relics can be used by consuming potions, and thrifty use of these potions can make or break a successful dungeon run. On top of that, each character has a few special abilities that they will rely on; for example, the Valkyrie has an awesome Captain America shield throw and the Elf can drop bombs that do considerable damage to an area. The Wizard is the top dog in this area with the aforementioned unique spell system; much akin to Magicka, a Wizard player can combine two elements together to create spells.
Difficulty is no stranger to those who are fans of the older Gauntlet games, and this iteration is no different. While you can choose your difficulty to match your level of manliness, Gauntlet’s “Unfair” difficulty is beyond brutal. Be ready to bring a group of hardened friends into the game with you if you plan to play on this difficulty, as the name doesn’t do it justice. In fact, the difficulty is where the replay value lies in Gauntlet; a determined player can breeze through the easier difficulties in a matter of hours. To reward your efforts in these higher difficulties, you can find much more gold and unlock… costumes. Yep, it’s not much of a reward, but being manly is its own reward.
Gauntlet’s graphics are somewhat basic, but given the sheer amount of enemies that can be on the screen at once, it is a necessity. That doesn’t stop the game from looking good though, the art style is spot on and everything looks and feels as a deadly dungeon of death and dungeoniness. The sound effects really add some umph to the skills as they mow down hordes of skeletons and mummies, and the special effects are subtle enough not to take from the action and yet pronounced enough to easily spot in the chaos.
To help remedy the problem of a short lived story mode, Gauntlet now has a Colosseum mode, which is currently in it’s 3rd season. The Colosseums are special single room arenas where players are faced with waves of enemies, and the reward for defeating a 6 wave arena is, yep, you guessed it, a costume piece. Colosseum arena scores are tracked on a leaderboard as well, so if you and your friends are bad enough dudes, you could end up claiming a spot at the top. Season 3 was just released as of April 1st, 2015, and it appears that Arrowhead Game Studios intends on releasing several more before all is said and done.
Ultimately, Gauntlet can provide a difficult old school dungeon romp at a low retail price of $19.99. Not only can you have a blast by yourself, you can join others online or invite some buds over and play some local co-op while drinking the night away. If you’re at all a fan of the original Gauntlet game, you owe it to yourself to play this game.
Pros:
- Great local and online multiplayer.
- Tried and true original Gauntlet style dungeon delving.
- Difficulty ranging from easy to rage induced stroke.
- Relics and achievements that add some progression, but nothing relies on items/loot.
Meh:
- Classes aren’t all suited for solo play. While certainly possible with all classes, some are easier than others.
- Only real rewards for difficulty completions are cosmetic.
Cons:
- Story mode is short, could easily be beaten in a long night of gaming.
- Static dungeons and brutal difficulty can lead to high amounts of repetition.
Review: Path of Exile
Apr 14th
Path of Exile is a free-to-play action RPG that plays much in the same manner as its Diablo and Torchlight cousins. Immediately one may be thrown off by the free-to-play tag, as that often comes with a pay-to-win downside. However, this is not the case with PoE; cash shop items are limited to cosmetics and a few utility purchases such as increased stash space. Boasting a number of different game modes, such as ladder and hardcore, PoE immediately looks like a great deal at a grand price of $0.00.
Anyone who is familiar with the Diablo style action RPGs will automatically be familiar with the basic controls of PoE. Movement and basic attacks are controlled by the left mouse button, special abilities are controlled by the right mouse button. PoE takes it a step further than it’s older cousins and allows for 6 more abilities bound to the middle mouse button, and the keys Q through T. Combat consists of taking down hordes of enemies, special variations of enemies, and bosses, all the while quaffing potions like an alcoholic at Margaritaville.
PoE fashions itself mostly after the likes of Diablo 2, and that’s not a bad thing. The graphics and environment have a much darker and malevolent undertone than its main competitor, Diablo 3. While a bit dated, the graphics lend to a smooth gameplay experience across many systems. If one takes the time to dig into the lore, Path of Exile is also much darker than the latest iteration of its cousin Diablo; your character has been exiled to what amounts to a hellish penal colony, Wraeclast, which is a small island that is rife with dark secrets. Despite what seems to be an excellent story, PoE falls flat on its face when it comes to storytelling; those accustomed to the Diablo series will notice this quite quickly.
Path of Exile uses the tried and true grid inventory system that is a staple of this game. It also has boiled stats down to 3 basic stats; strength, dexterity and intelligence. This is about where the simplified character building ends though; characters literally have the option to obtain every passive and active skill in the game. This is both good and bad, as a new player can be completely dumbfounded by the sheer amount of choices, while a veteran can tweak and min/max his desired build as he likes. Passive skills are tied to an absolutely gargantuan skill tree, where one’s starting position in the tree is the main characteristic of a class, and active skills are acquired as gems that can be equipped and leveled inside of pieces of gear.
The skill tree isn’t the only thing that Path of Exile has that is unnecessarily convoluted; the game’s currency system is just plain silly. NPCs typically buy and trade using Scrolls of Wisdom, which equate to Identification Scrolls in the Diablo series. There is no gold to buy and sell with; rather you’ll be sorting scrolls, scroll fragments, orbs, orb fragments, scraps, shards, and even more orbs. I’m sure there are some who would like this, but to yours truly I much prefer to wheel in deal in raw gold and equipment. For all the improvements that the Diablo 2 expansion Lord of Destruction brought to it, one fault I always felt was the needless sorting, crafting and grinding of runes; and PoE’s various currencies combined with skill gems absolutely dwarf that.
Though I bitched quite a bit about the needless complexity in some parts of the game, at its core PoE remains the same simple to play hectic loot filled action RPG that we all look for in this genre. What an older, curmudgeonly bastard such as myself sees as a convoluted mess, might be some younger whipper-snappers theory-crafting wet dream. Ultimately, it’s a solid addition to the genre at an amazing price tag, and it is going to suck away quite a number of hours from my future.
Pros:
- Great old school action RPG gameplay.
- Dark, foreboding and efficient graphics.
- An open ended skill system that allows for massive customization. (At the cost of a con, however.)
- Simplified stats over other games in the genre.
- Fair item drop rate and an active trading community.
Meh:
- The story of the game is poorly conveyed, but it’s there for those who wish to dig into it.
- The cash shop does offer some pay-for-utility items such as increased stash space – but is by no means pay-to-win.
Cons:
- Newb unfriendly. If you’re unwilling to do some out of game research, you are likely to end up with a sub-par character.
- Convoluted skill system. While it also is a pro, there is a seemingly needless amount of options that aren’t easily reversed.
- Currency system is a complete mess, to the point that I hesitate to call it currency.
Episode 1 And A Half: Origins Part 2
Apr 13th
Join the Good Ole Gamers for the second half of their retro ramblings! Light guns, the “Duke”, and Ron Jeremy, oh my!
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Episode 2: Adventure Into Adventure Games
Apr 10th
In this episode, the Good Ole Gamers visit adventure games, floppy MMO tits, and the plague that is DLC. Download now and begin the adventure!
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