Progress Report: World of Warcraft - Eastern Plaguelands

Reporting on games as I play them

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The Eastern Plaguelands counts as the first zone that Eastern Kingdoms questers will encounter where both Alliance and Horde players will encounter the exact same zone as there is not a single quest in the zone that is specific to either faction, nor even any real members of either faction. Continuing from the first considerable interaction with the Argent Crusade in the Western Plaguelands, the Eastern Plaguelands has the players encountering and joining Fiona's caravan as they make their way across the Eastern Plaguelands, working with the Argent Crusade to fight off the remnant of the Scourge that still infests the land.

The storyline both benefits and suffers from the effective removal of faction conflict as it helps the zone really focus on its own story, providing some real characters who actually develop a little. However, it effectively removes your own character from being anything more than someone who is watching the story of Fiona's caravan and participating by running errands. Furthermore, just like the Eastern Plaguelands, there is a little bit of a disconnect in having the Forsaken work so willingly with the Argent Crusade, if you're coming from that storyline. Other than that, the introduction to the characters and their particular story, simple as it is, is probably the best thing in the Eastern Kingdoms since Kingslayer Orkus in the Hillsbrad Foothills, with some of the interaction and storytelling on the wagon rides between Fiona, Tarenar and Gidwin being modestly amusing, but having tons more character than anyone following Orkus.

Because of the focus on the Crusade versus the Scourge remnants, as well as how Tarenar and Gidwin are trying to join the Crusade, even most of the side quests actually feel fairly woven into the story and the whole zone's episodic nature as the caravan gathers some allies gives it almost a feeling of being in an interactive fantasy-set Cowboy Bebop, although the quality of storytelling is leagues behind the legendary anime. But even compared to the disjointed Western Plaguelands, the quality of storytelling in the Eastern Plaguelands is vastly improved. The variety of gameplay is a little weaker, with most of the quests tending towards kill and fetch quests, although you have some company in the form of some of your fellow caravan travelers joining you on some of them, and that does make the Eastern Plaguelands a little weaker and several of the storylines could use a lot more grounding, especially around the fate of the Scarlet Brotherhood. Plus, the post-Death Knight Scarlet Brotherhood area is completely barren and could use a little something, perhaps like continuing combat between the two factions and having some Death Knight representatives to quest for and interact with on their side of the field.

In terms of the environment, the Eastern Plaguelands is probably the most distinctive in comparison to the mostly forest-hills themes that we saw in the previous lands simply because the land has been corrupted, turning a sickly brown and red with giant mushrooms all over the place and once you reach Plaguewood, that gets even more sickly and purple. The zone also plays host to the dungeon Stratholme, which is just slightly higher in level than its surrounding area, but isn't otherwise poorly placed and is certainly thematically correct, even if no longer really feeling woven into the questing and leveling experience.

This level range means that the final types of rewards for questing are starting to show up here, like upgraded armor types and trinkets, meaning that the 40's are the conclusion of the introduction to the world of Warcraft. When you finish enjoying the modest story of the Eastern Plaguelands, some goblins offer you a rocket-ride to the Badlands as the next stop for Horde and Alliance characters questing in the Eastern Kingdoms. As far as the zone goes, the Eastern Plaguelands are certainly more rewarding than the previous three zones and probably sits alongside Hillsbrad Foothills for the mixed up degrees of fun and storytelling. The Argent focus does help the story be much tighter, but it also really pulls away from feeling much of the "war" in Warcraft as there's little to distinguish an Alliance or Horde member in these parts and you don't see any of the story relating to your respective factions or races, leaving a sad disconnect from the larger story that was being told. Furthermore, with the threat of the Lich King gone, the stakes simply don't seem very high for the zone, with the Crusade being all over the place, making it feel more like a clean-up operation than a trembling defense of the last vestiges of free life in the area.

But it's still a step up from what we've been seeing. I'm hoping the Badlands, with its goblins will be able to keep up to its level or exceed it.

Links:

• Game website

Zone Index:

• Tirisfal Glades
• Silverpine Forest
• Hillsbrad Foothills
• Arathi Highlands
• The Hinterlands
• Western Plaguelands
• Eastern Plaguelands

Inbox: Final Fantasy II

New for me

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My first experience with a game called Final Fantasy II was what turned out to be the American port of what was Final Fantasy IV in Japan. That was a rather momentous occasion for me, cementing my interest in role-playing games, but when I discovered that the US had missed two whole Final Fantasy games and that they simply weren't getting ported, I was devastated. What had I missed?

And then, the original Final Fantasy II finally showed up on the Playstation in a multi-game remake called Final Fantasy Origins, but by that point, I wasn't invested in the Playstation platform and let the game slide by for a while. However, having recently gone back and played Final Fantasy, starting with the Dawn of Souls version, but skipping along to the PSP remake, I kind of wanted to go back and check out the game that I missed so long ago and picked up a copy of the PSP version.

The PSP version (also available on iOS) is essentially the same as the Dawn of Souls version, but with cleaner, prettier graphics and another dungeon with more loot and enemies. Being on a UMD, the game does suffer from a little lag due to loading times compared to the fast-as-can-be Game Boy Advance cartridge, but I found it bearable and the higher resolution graphics were quite pretty, considering the age and format of the game. Not having played the original Famicom edition (available on Wii's virtual console, for those interested), I don't really have a point of reference to compare the remake to as the GBA and PSP versions are similar in terms of gameplay, so I'll just stick to that experience.

Final Fantasy II is actually a substantial upgrade from the original Final Fantasy in terms of story and gameplay. On the story front, the game actually features characters with personalities, however limited they might be, three of which are with you throughout the game and the fourth is a guest character that is determined by the story and will swap in and out as the game goes. The story itself is event driven and linear, although the game is still open world, so you're able to explore (if you can survive that is) and features a story about an evil empire that's trying to take over the world a small coalition of forces trying to fight back. It's very simple stuff compared to modern day RPG storylines and even quaint, but in the world of old school, early Japanese RPGs, it's exceptionally deep, especially compared to its rival series, Dragon Quest, at the time. It's not quite enough to be compelling, but it at least has one interesting twist and establishes some themes that get revisited in future titles in the series.

In terms of gameplay, Final Fantasy II respects the turn based style of the original, but guts the class and level-based system of the first and replaces it with a system that is focused on skills and stats, which increase as they are used. So, if you get hit, you have a chance of your HP and stamina going up, casting a lot of the spell "Cure" will cause it to level up, and swinging an axe will make the character's axe level go up. It's an interesting change of pace, but one that results in a bit of time being spent fighting simply to improve your characters' stats and doing some rather illogical things to achieve that, like having your characters fight each other instead of their enemies. Furthermore, it still encourages grinding and lends a bit towards making every character a super-character, strong in both magic and fighting in order to reduce weaknesses in your team and that reduces the distinction between your characters as well as guest characters, kind of making things bland from a gameplay perspective.

In terms of art, FFII isn't much of a stretch from the original in terms of style of complexity, and with the remakes, this is especially true since they were kind of built together. The PSP edition's graphics are crisp, clear and well defined, benefiting from the newer display technology, but still based on icons and so nothing that's going to take anyone's breath away. Musically, FFII continues the series' high standards for music and it's a mix of the foreign and the familiar, certainly sounding like a Final Fantasy should without overly re-treading the same music, but it's still a nice point in this version of the game.

Final Fantasy II does feel kind of unique as far as the series and even early JRPGs go, simply because of its character system, but that's not necessarily a good thing, since the system, while interesting in intention, ultimately doesn't significantly change overall gameplay. The game is also notable with the scope and execution of its story, in context, but isn't exceptionally compelling as its characters don't really have particularly interesting stories nor are they developed. Some of the guest characters are interesting, but don't get enough face time to be anything more than a tiny spark. At least the remake provides some solid graphics and sound that helps pretty up the aging game underneath. Final Fantasy II is a noticeable step up from the original and might be ahead of the pack for its era, but all the remake polish in the world don't stop the game from feeling a bit quaint and dated throwback. One that I enjoyed simply because I like these old-school style games, but I think that's the only class of gamer that will still want to go back and play this, remake or no. 7/10.

Links:

• Available at Amazon and iTunes

Progress Report: World of Warcraft - Western Plaguelands

Reporting on games as I play them

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After the rather unexciting zones of Arathi Highlands and The Hinterlands, the Western Plaguelands helps a little to make up for the deficiencies of the former by adding a little story, some callbacks to past experiences and a few varied experiences to help tie it together. The zone still suffers a little from a lack of cohesiveness, especially on the Horde-side questline, due to some of tenuous alliances that are made, given the nature of the Forsaken in the area. However, the conflict between the Horde, Alliance as well as the Scourge make this zone a bit more interesting, even if not as impressive as the Silverpine Forest experience or as affecting as the Hillsbrad Foothills one.

You arrive in the middle of Andorhal, a fortress in the middle of the area that is currently in the middle of a three way fight between the Alliance, Horde, and Scourge and as a Horde, you assist your side. The zone returns to phasing allowing your experience to differ from Alliance players who would undertake the other side. Along the way, you discover that your commander is old war buddies with the Alliance's death knight commander and the Battle for Andorhal remains the central (and most interesting) storyline in the zone.

However, you also assist the Forsaken is beating away the remnants of the Alliance and are curiously then tasked to aid the Argent Crusade and Cenarion Circle by the Forsaken controlling the area, which is strange given the opposing aims of the Forsaken and the two neutral parties. That does lead to a little more varied gameplay, bringing back memories of the variety in Hillsbrad Foothills, but it doesn't quite have the same kind of continued storyline or urgency that the aforementioned zone does. However, there is a moment at a destroyed Scarlet Crusade camp that echoes back to your experience in Tirisfal Glades and that's a welcome experience. If only that story element were deeper woven into the story of the Eastern Kingdoms, at least as far as the Scarlet Crusade is concerned.

Western Plaguelands isn't quite compelling, I'd say, but it is a noticeable step up from the previous two zones, especially in that it reveals a thing or two about who the Forsaken are, continuing with some of the story elements introduced in Silverpine Forest and that gives the zone a bit of greater story weight that adds a little bit more to the epic feel of the zone, like participating in a real grand story.

That doesn't mean that the zone couldn't have been better tied together in terms of story and avoiding the strange experience of having the Forsaken in such cozy cahoots with the Argent Crusade, but it still remains an improvement in experience from the past couple zones. The zone also hosts the dungeon Scholomance, but like in most of the previous zones, the dungeons no longer seem tied to the quest leveling experience, which is a little bit of a shame, considering that it leaves a piece of the map unexplored. And when it's all done, you're asked to visit the Eastern Plaguelands.

Links:

• Game website

Zone Index:

• Tirisfal Glades
• Silverpine Forest
• Hillsbrad Foothills
• Arathi Highlands
• The Hinterlands
• Western Plaguelands
• Eastern Plaguelands

Played: Baking Life (Facebook)

Reporting on the games I've played

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Note: As of January 31, 2012, Baking Life has gone off-line and is no longer in development.

Casual social gaming has seen a meteoric rise in popularity over the past few years, especially with the rise of social networks like Facebook and the development of "new" mobile phones in the era of iOS and Android. One of the most popular forms of social gaming is the simulation game, like FarmVille, which is extremely popular on Facebook and I've had many friends try to coax me into playing. However, I've been pretty wary of the time commitments involved in playing these games, no matter how simple they seem, so I avoided them for a while.

Then PopCap Games, the maker of several puzzle and strategy games I enjoy (Plants Vs. Zombies, Zuma, Bejeweled, Peggle) purchased the company that made the simulation game, Baking Life. With PopCap pushing this game, I decided to see what drove so many friends to play these games and give Baking Life a shot. For the most part, after achieving a very high level, I wasn't particularly impressed, but I can definitely see the appeal.

The conceit of the game is that you own a little bakery and you need to bake stuff to sell to customers to make money to improve your bakery to bake more stuff to sell to more customers at greater cost so you can... you get the idea. There's not too much more to the game than there as there is really no end to the game. As you bake you will gain experience to gain levels which will let you bake a larger variety of baked goods which vary in selling price, cooking time and amount of servings. With the money you earn, you can buy different items to improve the variety of goods you can sell at once, sell coffee, and handle more guests.

The social aspect comes in that you can invite your friends to work for you for free (as your store grows you will need to hire more employees who take a cut of your profits) and friends can send you gifts from free servings of food to decorations for your store to components that you need to build or upgrade some of the equipment in your store. The more friends you have playing the more free stuff you can get. All that stuff and money comes in handy because the nicer looking your store, the more money you can earn per sale.

The gameplay is pretty dry and mechanical otherwise. You can be kept on your toes because you have to take your products out of ovens before they burn and the quicker baking recipes, but it's generally the compulsion to buy newer and fancier stuff for your store that's going to drive you and the game resembles Animal Crossing as a result. Oh, it's also a freemium game, and so you can actually spend real money in the game (well, Facebook credits) to buy premium items or upgrade your store without needing a certain number of friends to join. There is a method of getting the "Zip cash" used to buy premium items for free, but you don't get much and it takes a long time, so the game puts the pressure on you to pay up if you want a really nice store.

Presentation wise, the game has bright, bold and colorful flash graphics with a lot of variety when it comes to how you can dress up your store and different seasonal and holiday items available at appropriate times of year. While the game can chug a little on slower machines, overall, it's still not a hugely taxing game. The game has music, but after listening to it for a good long while, I got tired of it and turned it off. I also wanted to turn off the sound effects too, as they are kind of loud and without internal controls to adjust volume, but I sometimes needed the heads up when a baked good was done, so I usually kept it on, to some amount of frustration.

Overall, after the initial expansion and spiffing up my store, the lack of any real development in the game left me quite tired of the game, although I did keep playing to reach the self-driven goal of baking every recipe in the game once. I also didn't appreciate how earnest the game was about trying to get you to spam your friends into playing it and spam your Facebook wall with posts about it. So, while the game might have been a little interesting at first, it's very limited in dimension and hardly interactive in a meaningful way. However, the game's colorful graphics and ability to build your store as you see fit would probably be a draw for more expressive players who love to customize things and don't mind dry repetitive tasks to do so. But that's certainly not going to be enough to impress me and the frustrating social and freemium aspects of the game took a lot away from its limited enjoyment.

This might mean I'm simply the wrong type of gamer for these social simulation games and my problem isn't with Baking Life in particular, but the entire model of business. So, PopCap Games or no, I can't endorse Baking Life (or any of its similarly oriented social simulation competitors, especially those that encourage spamming). There is a segment of the population that will enjoy this, but I'm not it. 4/10.

Links:

• Game Facebook

Progress Report: World of Warcraft - The Hinterlands

Reporting on games as I play them

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The Hinterlands lies just north of the Arathi Highlands and is the next area that Eastern Kingdoms questers will encounter. The Hinterlands was particularly less visited before the Shattering as those questing in the Eastern Kingdoms would get breadcrumb quests down to Stranglethorn Vale after completing Arathi Highlands, so it's a zone that I had little experience with, except during holidays when I would run up there to take care of whatever meaningless tasks I needed for the achievements. Although the revamp of the zone does improve its accessibility and flow, like the Highlands before it, it doesn't really have an interesting story or memorable moments and proves to be a rather dry experience.

The basic story in the Hinterlands is about trolls, especially if you're Horde as you align yourself with the Revantusk trolls as well as a group of Forsaken who are both battling the Vilebranch trolls. Along the way you do a lot of random killing and fetching for the locals and that's about it. There is a bit of story sprinkled into the region as the trolls in their huge temples are trying to call down the spider goddess, Shadra, and that's about the most interesting the region gets.

The problem with this is, that like the Horde presence in the Highlands, there's just nothing really compelling about what's going on in the Hinterlands, nor any connection between what questers experienced in the Highlands and what they experience in the Hinterlands, making it all seem even more like a bunch of randomly assembled quests. At least the conflict between the Horde and Alliance in the region (via their Wildhammer dwarf and Revantusk troll proxies) is actually seen a little, but for a contested zone, the Alliance and Horde are surprisingly at peace.

At least the zone doesn't feature any group quests as those made the rather dead zones of Hillsbrad Foothills and Arathi Highlands difficult to complete. However the Hinterlands does contain a rare world-drop quest that completionists might tear their hair out while trying to acquire, killing everything in the zone perhaps five times over to find. Although the final fight of the zone is mildly interesting, overall, the Hinterlands is much like the Arathi Highlands in terms of lacking flavor and story and is not a compelling experience. On the plus side, when you're done, you get sent right into a much more dynamic experience in the Western Plaguelands.

Links:

• Game website

Zone Index:

• Tirisfal Glades
• Silverpine Forest
• Hillsbrad Foothills
• Arathi Highlands
• The Hinterlands
• Western Plaguelands
• Eastern Plaguelands