games

Remember when you guys thought I should have just gone ahead and bought Fate instead of dicking around with WildCoins?

I’m glad that I didn’t listen to you. I finished it later two games later, and have moved on to other games. Didn’t even finish my WildCoins, but I’ve found other places to spend those.

I’ve been playing a lot of games the last few weeks. It’s a nice, mindless activity. Mindlessness is a welcome state these days.

Right now, I’m waiting for this to finish updating:

An original Neverwinter Nights Diamond edition. Rin gave it to me earlier this year. I knew the gang talked about ordering some games but I declined because I didn’t think Dante* could handle anything new. It runs on XP. I’ve since acquired Marley** and he runs on Vista.

NWN doesn’t run on Vista, but I’ve read up on forums and apparently it can be done. So I’m giving it another go. I’ve installed it on Dante but it was slow as hell. On my dad’s computer, it runs better but is still too slow to be worth the time. We’ll see how it goes, but for now, let’s move on.

I’ve reinstalled Puzzle Pirates but have not gone as far as subscribing. I love the game but once you’ve set off on a pillage, there is no pause button. Not great if you get bored or want to go to the loo. I played a couple of times and noticed that my main problem is that I get bored. Playing loads of new games seem to fix that. Here’s a bunch of short reviews on WildGames I’ve played and recommend.

Home Sweet Home
This should appeal to people who enjoyed arranging furniture in The Sims. An interior decorating game where you need to interpret what the client wants and decorate accordingly. Once the plan is done, you have to direct three builders to put everything together within a certain time limit.

The Nightshift Code
Obviously playing off another famous Code. You are a museum guard who surprises a cat burglar. She departs with a tantalising comment - she knows where your missing-presumed-dead father is and she’ll help you find him if you’ll help her track down the treasure that’s probably why he disappeared in the first place. The code-cracking wasn’t as hard as I thought, and the hidden object search is devious. So devious that when I give up and hit “Hint”, it reveals the item right under your nose, hidden in an obvious place. This game is a lot better than G.H.O.S.T. Hunters The Haunting of Majesty Manor, which is of the same concept but strikes me as lazy on the developer’s part because you end up picking up the same items from the same rooms more than twice.

JoJo’s Fashion Show
This was what I ended up spending most of my coins on. It’s one of those put things-together-quickly games which revolves around fashion. You have a few seconds to assemble clothing on a catwalk model according to specific themes. The fashion ranges from stunning, quirky and eh? Those of you who love fashion should find this fun. On a related theme, Vogue Tales plays less on fashion and more on assembling orders from clients. Also fun if you enjoy Diner Dash style games.

Ciao Bella
This is the first game I installed after Fate. It’s a girly game where you play Elena, an Italian woman who juggles family, work and romance. It combines puzzles, problem solving and one or two arcade games. The aim of the game is to get the hot Italian stud to marry you. Not the kind of sentiments I agree with, but since it’s a game and I’m an adult with very specific ideas on life, I’ll let it slide.

Kudos
You play a character and control every aspect of their lives - what they do with their time, what lessons they take, who they hang out with and where they work. Everything affects the other. Certain jobs require certain skills which you study. Less time with friends and you lose friends. New activities raises skills and occasionally makes you new friends. Too little exercise and you get fat. It’s all about juggling your life. There are many directions you can take. The aim of the game is to see how successful you are after 10 (game) years.

Kudos - Rock Legend
From the makers of Kudos comes a more interesting twist to the game. You front a rock band. The aim is to gain fame and fortune after 5 years. You get to pick band members, compose songs, book gigs, and make all sorts of decisions while keeping everyone happy. I’m still playing this one because I’ve not hit upon the right formula to win.

The thing about most the games above is that if you’re obsessive enough, you can finish it within one or two of the few free trials they give with every game. I normally finish it in one… which is why I have 3am bedtimes for the last few weeks!

There we have it. Now go play some games!

Edit: NWN works on Marley! Which means you won’t see much of me now. There’s my character in the game, the rogue Tarlia, who is always my good old standby in all games although her class changes from game to game.

* faithful old desktop PC of 8 years
** new Dell Inspiron 1420 note book

Popularity: 7% [?]

I’ve gotten around the playing Fate again. It’s a 3D slash-and-hack RPG, similar to Diablo. I stumbled upon it a couple of years back, played and got hooked, but didn’t finish because I am easily distracted. While sorting out my back-up CDs, I found it again and decided to reinstall and play.

The one I had was a *cough* cracked version, but there was something wrong with it. After 15 levels or so, the game shuts down. There is no way around it, and the same thing happens when I start a new character. So I actually considered buying the game because I want to finish it, damnit.

After some investigating, I found that Fate is available for purchase from the WildGames website at US$19.90. However, I noticed another payment option called WildCoins and checked it out.

Turns out that WildGames has something of a game arcade system. WildCoins are tokens which you can purchase in starter packages of 80 ($19.90) or 40 ($9.90), or even on a monthly subscription. You need 6 Coins to play Fate.

Since I wasn’t prepared to commit to buying the game, the WildCoins system seems like a good solution for someone who might wander off and not touch it again for months. I bought the smallest starter pack and it was game on again.

(The interesting thing about using WildCoins is that the more you spend on one game, the bigger the discount when you eventually decide to buy the game. I just found that I can buy Fate almost half the original price now, but I still have plenty of coins to go.)

Predictably, I got distracted when I got my new Dell notebook and stopped playing for about a month. A couple of days ago, I felt the yearn to play again and fire it up on the ole desktop.

Being old, my desktop seemed to be lagging worse than before. I spent much of last night working the sluggish mouse and keyboard, and clearing off a few levels. I was running out of Coins and I wanted to get the best bang for my buck while I can. After that was over, I installed Fate into my notebook and spent 3 of the 4 free plays figuring out how exactly I should transfer my saved game over from the desktop.

I finally figure it out this morning. The graphic is beautiful and fresh, and the controls aren’t so sluggish anymore. I bought another 40 WildCoins to celebrate, and since it was my day off, guess where I was the whole afternoon.

The above is my character, Nina. You only get to pick the gender, name, face, hair and whether you want your sidekick to be a cat or dog. If you’ve never seen a cat or dog that looks like what’s standing next to my character, well, that’s because it’s a Dire Unicorn. You pick up fishes in the game that turns your pet into another creature, complete with enhanced stats, for a certain duration. Or permanently, if you get a Flawless fish.

Whether your character becomes a warrior or mage depends on where you invest your stats. I’m primarily a warrior/rogue kinda player, but magic is incredibly useful to have because you can summon monsters to do your fighting for you.

The pet is useful for fighting in the early levels, but it becomes something of a pack mule when you have an entourage of monsters. It holds as much as your character in the inventory, and you can send it out of the dungeon to sell items.

I also found the Fate forum last night, and discovered that the game indeed does have cheat codes. And mods. And that it probably runs on for a lot longer and deeper than I originally thought. They mentioned “endless levels” and one forum poster said he’s seen level 100,000. At level 30, I’ve barely put a dent into it.

I guess I’ll be buying the game at some point in the near future. I mean, I should obsess over something else for a while. The Internet is getting boring.

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I’m working on a more substantial post but it’s taking some time because I have to dig for URLs and info. In the meanwhile, here’s a couple of other things that’s distracting me.

AMP
It’s like myspace music, except less annoying! It’s off to a good start as Asia’s music resource, serving as a hub for musicians to meet other musicians, and for music lover to discover new music. After creating a profile, you can add songs to your playlist. Here’s my profile and some of the songs I’m listening to.

ElectroCity
I’m so addicted to this game. It’s like SimCity with an environmental message and quite easy to grasp after a few trial-&-error games. Sez the website:

ElectroCity is a new online computer game that lets players manage their own virtual towns and cities. It’s great fun to play and also teaches players all about energy, sustainability and environmental management in New Zealand.

Dark Cities collide
Remember that anthology my short story was accepted into? Astro is launching the Dark City TV series tomorrow, but hold your applause… this is not related to the original book. As usual, Sharon Bakar has the story, so I will just direct you over to her entry.

Popularity: 10% [?]