So I've decided my weapon choice at least to start out as and try to master. It shall be… the Switch Axe! Why?
Well for one I like the dual functionality a lot, really allows for adaptive play and gives me a lot of options so I don't get bored doing the same thing over and over. Two in axe mode you have more mobility and some good move that feel similar to longsword while in sword mode you have some other nice slashing moves that feels like a combo of greatsword slow movement and power with sword and shield slashing. In any case I played around quite a bit last night with it and I'm finally sold. I know in this game you will be able to switch but due to the amount of time I have to dedicate I'd like to just get really good with one style and focus my time and energy on creating equipment to optimize that style. Also for the first time in the demo I finally killed that second boss using switch axe so that was a nice touch.
Friday, April 16, 2010
Wednesday, April 14, 2010
Monster Hunter Tri Weapons
So there is a new game coming out for the Wii on April 20th that seemed pretty interesting. It's called Monster Hunter Tri and its a online multiplayer game that basically has everyone in a main town hanging out, then partying up in groups of four to hunt epic monsters. I have the demo and its single player but still pretty fun so I'm considering getting the actual game. I have been mulling over which weapons I would like to use so I thought I'd detail some of my findings so far in what I think and which one I might choose to be my main. Keep in mind there are no classes or levels in this game, the only thing that determines how your guy plays is weapons type, and gear. So here's my thoughts on the choices:
Sword/Shield
Animations and looks are very nice. High mobility. Nice options for different types of slashes or shield hits. I actually found this set is pretty fun and dynamic to play but has one massive drawback keeping me from it. It has the lowest damage of any of the weapons (I'm not sure compared to bowguns but all the other melee weapons at least). That means it takes a hell of a long time to kill with it in some cases. Still it has a lot of plusses going for it anyway, just not sure if it can overcome that damage deficit to make me want to use it as my main choice. I'm already a limited time gamer as it is, don't want to prolong that by choosing something that takes me twice as long to kill with.
GreatSword
Animations also nice. Very strong damage hits. Charge up is super strong but takes some real good aim and knowing where monsters will end up to hit with it. I need to test it again as a possible choice for me. Seems fairly basic in you hit, roll, hit, roll so I'm not sure the dynamics will work well for keeping me interested. But you never know. Obvious drawback to this weapon is the super slow swing speed.
Lance
Honestly lance is a great weapon choice that is strong in both offense and defense. However it lacks the ability to roll and maneuver very well when you have the weapon drawn which for me is probably too big of a drawback. It does have a lot of variety in the abilities which is very cool though. Has a nice charge run attack and can block attack as well. Only drawbacks are in combat maneuverability and the fact that visually I'm just not impressed with the way the lance looks. The demo is supposed to have epic versions of the weapons and the lance one sure doesn't seem all that special to me.
Hammer
Hammer probably has two of the most fun specials so far, the charging whirl move and charging ground pound. That being said I'm not super fond of the rest of its normal moves and doing the charge moves too often results in some pretty boring game play. Also something I'm thinking of as I play a little longer with it is I am not really enjoying the smashing part of a hammer as much as the slashing of the other weapons. I was leaning towards using this one but now not so sure.
SwitchAxe
I really haven't gotten enough play time with this yet. The axe is pretty strong and the sword part has a interesting slash move. I might be leaning more towards using this on my next play test and maybe going with it if I like it enough. Nice part is there is extra variety in using it since it is essentially 2 different weapon types you can switch around. I like the look of it a lot, just have to figure out whether I like its switching capability or not. Its basically somewhere in between the greatsword and the long sword.
LongSword
This weapon I like the moves of however the looks of the weapon kind of kill it for me. I'm actually not too fond of the thin long blade look (and I've read this is one of the most popular weapons which is also a turn off for me). It has some fun things and animations fairly decent, probably won't be my choice though.
BowGuns
These are all fun weapons for a short time. Just no interest for me to main any of them. It just doesn't feel like as epic a fight if I'm plinking away at the beasts and managing the different shots plus ammo reloading just isn't what I want right now. I could see these actually being pretty cool just not for me right now.
Sword/Shield
Animations and looks are very nice. High mobility. Nice options for different types of slashes or shield hits. I actually found this set is pretty fun and dynamic to play but has one massive drawback keeping me from it. It has the lowest damage of any of the weapons (I'm not sure compared to bowguns but all the other melee weapons at least). That means it takes a hell of a long time to kill with it in some cases. Still it has a lot of plusses going for it anyway, just not sure if it can overcome that damage deficit to make me want to use it as my main choice. I'm already a limited time gamer as it is, don't want to prolong that by choosing something that takes me twice as long to kill with.
GreatSword
Animations also nice. Very strong damage hits. Charge up is super strong but takes some real good aim and knowing where monsters will end up to hit with it. I need to test it again as a possible choice for me. Seems fairly basic in you hit, roll, hit, roll so I'm not sure the dynamics will work well for keeping me interested. But you never know. Obvious drawback to this weapon is the super slow swing speed.
Lance
Honestly lance is a great weapon choice that is strong in both offense and defense. However it lacks the ability to roll and maneuver very well when you have the weapon drawn which for me is probably too big of a drawback. It does have a lot of variety in the abilities which is very cool though. Has a nice charge run attack and can block attack as well. Only drawbacks are in combat maneuverability and the fact that visually I'm just not impressed with the way the lance looks. The demo is supposed to have epic versions of the weapons and the lance one sure doesn't seem all that special to me.
Hammer
Hammer probably has two of the most fun specials so far, the charging whirl move and charging ground pound. That being said I'm not super fond of the rest of its normal moves and doing the charge moves too often results in some pretty boring game play. Also something I'm thinking of as I play a little longer with it is I am not really enjoying the smashing part of a hammer as much as the slashing of the other weapons. I was leaning towards using this one but now not so sure.
SwitchAxe
I really haven't gotten enough play time with this yet. The axe is pretty strong and the sword part has a interesting slash move. I might be leaning more towards using this on my next play test and maybe going with it if I like it enough. Nice part is there is extra variety in using it since it is essentially 2 different weapon types you can switch around. I like the look of it a lot, just have to figure out whether I like its switching capability or not. Its basically somewhere in between the greatsword and the long sword.
LongSword
This weapon I like the moves of however the looks of the weapon kind of kill it for me. I'm actually not too fond of the thin long blade look (and I've read this is one of the most popular weapons which is also a turn off for me). It has some fun things and animations fairly decent, probably won't be my choice though.
BowGuns
These are all fun weapons for a short time. Just no interest for me to main any of them. It just doesn't feel like as epic a fight if I'm plinking away at the beasts and managing the different shots plus ammo reloading just isn't what I want right now. I could see these actually being pretty cool just not for me right now.
Tuesday, April 6, 2010
Starcraft 2 the protoss rolls on
Had a rough week but last few nights got to get into the action more once again. I'm still focusing on protoss and having a blast. Here are some things that stick out in my mind from the past week or so.
--Chrono boost is a huge part of protoss game play, for those that don't know your nexus can cast a spell that causes buildings to build I think 25% faster. So early on you can make probes faster or zealots, then later upgrades or other units. Forgetting to cast this slows down production a lot and remembering to boosts you a lot. I don't use it nearly as much as I should but I'm trying to remember more and more to cast it and its nice.
--I've seen some replays of fast zealots or building a pylon near the enemy base and dropping in warpgate units but I'm just not all that great at it yet. It looks fun though but whenever I think I'll try it I usually opt for something more familiar instead.
--I am growing fond of what I call the Immortal push. That is I build 2 gateways, and just keep producing a mixed army of zealots/stalkers/sentries then two robotics facilities and as soon as 2 immortals come out of those I push to the enemies expansion. Most often they have it up and running but just barely and my superior army owns them. I keep the immortals in the front and use the sentries to either choke off their units if they are up a ramp while i kill their expo for free or split up there army with them. If I dont think forcefield has a good spot to go I cast their defensive shield spell which always helps.
--I haven't done a cannon rush since I tried it a long time ago, I should go for that again sometime soon lol
--If there is one thing I'm not fond of for protoss its the templars. They take FOREVER to get and then by the time you get them are not too powerful for tier 3. In the right hands, I'm sure high templar with psi storm are amazing, but by the time you get them you better damn well know how to use them because they are fragile and have a super small radious on the storm cast. Definately seems like a pros only unit if that. Dark templar on the other hand are even worse. Melee only unit at the very end of the tier tree that has stealth? By this time in the game you actually get them it doesn't matter mostly. Also if you are playing terran they are a complete waste. Might be only useful vs zerg really and that is maybe only once in a blue moon if you can somehow surprise them with them super late.
--I have played a lot more protoss air and I love it. All the units in fact. Some on the forums have said they think Phoenix's suck but actually I like them a lot. They protect my air force and can do some great things to ground units. Did you know they can life up siege tanks? That's huge IMO and allows phoenixs to kill them even. There are lots of uses for the pick up spell and the unit itself is fast. I love void rays when you get a few going, they look great and do massive damage if you can sneak them in and attack somoenes main building, goes down pretty fast. And carriers are always fun if you get that far, just floating along dominating the sky with their little attack ships.
In conclusion for this week I'm really feeling strongly about protoss air and ground, and not liking templars much at all. Protoss is a well rounded race that has a lot of options at its disposal and that makes them fun to play. I should start to revisit the other races again now that I'm getting better at the game.
--Chrono boost is a huge part of protoss game play, for those that don't know your nexus can cast a spell that causes buildings to build I think 25% faster. So early on you can make probes faster or zealots, then later upgrades or other units. Forgetting to cast this slows down production a lot and remembering to boosts you a lot. I don't use it nearly as much as I should but I'm trying to remember more and more to cast it and its nice.
--I've seen some replays of fast zealots or building a pylon near the enemy base and dropping in warpgate units but I'm just not all that great at it yet. It looks fun though but whenever I think I'll try it I usually opt for something more familiar instead.
--I am growing fond of what I call the Immortal push. That is I build 2 gateways, and just keep producing a mixed army of zealots/stalkers/sentries then two robotics facilities and as soon as 2 immortals come out of those I push to the enemies expansion. Most often they have it up and running but just barely and my superior army owns them. I keep the immortals in the front and use the sentries to either choke off their units if they are up a ramp while i kill their expo for free or split up there army with them. If I dont think forcefield has a good spot to go I cast their defensive shield spell which always helps.
--I haven't done a cannon rush since I tried it a long time ago, I should go for that again sometime soon lol
--If there is one thing I'm not fond of for protoss its the templars. They take FOREVER to get and then by the time you get them are not too powerful for tier 3. In the right hands, I'm sure high templar with psi storm are amazing, but by the time you get them you better damn well know how to use them because they are fragile and have a super small radious on the storm cast. Definately seems like a pros only unit if that. Dark templar on the other hand are even worse. Melee only unit at the very end of the tier tree that has stealth? By this time in the game you actually get them it doesn't matter mostly. Also if you are playing terran they are a complete waste. Might be only useful vs zerg really and that is maybe only once in a blue moon if you can somehow surprise them with them super late.
--I have played a lot more protoss air and I love it. All the units in fact. Some on the forums have said they think Phoenix's suck but actually I like them a lot. They protect my air force and can do some great things to ground units. Did you know they can life up siege tanks? That's huge IMO and allows phoenixs to kill them even. There are lots of uses for the pick up spell and the unit itself is fast. I love void rays when you get a few going, they look great and do massive damage if you can sneak them in and attack somoenes main building, goes down pretty fast. And carriers are always fun if you get that far, just floating along dominating the sky with their little attack ships.
In conclusion for this week I'm really feeling strongly about protoss air and ground, and not liking templars much at all. Protoss is a well rounded race that has a lot of options at its disposal and that makes them fun to play. I should start to revisit the other races again now that I'm getting better at the game.
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