Audiosurf seems most perfectly suited for electronica. I mean this is sci-fi stuff right? Flying a space ship on a course created by the music. A steady beat makes for a simple track though. More complex layered songs like those of the Chemical Brothers or Ladytron (featured below) make for a fascinating trip through rythm and space! (and it can get pretty frantic too!)
Here’re vids of surfing a couple totally schweet trax off of Ladytron’s latest album Velocifero:
One of my guild mates in Warhammer Online is also creating an actual play storytelling-esque blog over at Da Waaaagh Korrespondent. Harlequin does a great job getting in to the Gobbo-voice, and it is well worth the look. I hope it continues to grow, and I am glad to see other blogs like this one out there.
Mythic gave the closed beta testers a few extra days before Warhammer Online Open Beta. Most of us were unsure as to whether our characters would get wiped, and my guild (Xen of Onslaught) was having a tough time deciding which server to use. So, I had an idea from one of Josh Drescher’s (Mythic developer) interviews. In it, he was challenged to play only RvR to see if it would work, and he said he was amazed that he could. I decided to try the same with a Goblin Shaman.
The first hitch, and a notable one that I have seen through countless first impressions, is without prior knowledge of the game, RvR-only would be impossible. You have to know how to queue up for Scenarios. You have to know how to get to your first warcamp. You have to know how to use Renown advancements. There is a lot of required knowledge to be able to pull off RvR-only in a fun manner.
Luckily I did. I hopped on and immediately entered a Scenario Queue and started the 5-10 minute run from the Chapter 1 Greenskin area to the Tier 1 Greenskin Warcamp: Screeb’s Stunty Killin’ Camp. I made it to about midway between Chapters 1 and 2 before getting thrown in to a Scenario. When it was over I was Rank 2 in Character and Renown (even though we lost). Along the way I did about two more scenarios, and I am pretty sure I was Character Rank 3 by the time I got to the Warcamp.
In each Tier 1 Warcamp there are quests to scout out the Battlefield Objectives in the Tier 1 RvR-zone. Doing all of these is crucial to fast leveling in RvR-only mode. If you are lucky you can find a group heading towards an enemy controlled Battlefield Objective to knock out two birds with one stone. Also, while you continue to do Scenarios keep getting the repeatable quest that requires you to complete the Scenario. It is a great way to get a tad more experience and some gold to boot.
All in all, I had a pretty good time. My guildmates told me that it was much faster to level by staying in a Public Quest and do Scenarios, but in this game I am not worried about speed. You can RvR and “raid” at every Tier. So to further answer the question: can you just RvR/PvP in WAR? I would say resoundingly “yes.”
It’s hard as hell to explain Audiosurf to someone. I mean, it’s easy to sell them on it, because if you just tell them the pieces they’ll expect awesome. The game takes a song from your own music collection (mp3s on your hard drive) and forms a track out of it that you race a little space ship along and collect colored blocks. Most folks will be on board with this simple description.
But nothing can can express the experience that goes beyond the simple facts. There’s listening to your music, there’s watching your music, and then there’s RIDING your music. It’s intense and passionate and a blast!
A simple demonstration is a poor substitute for the real thing, but here’s a taste. What’s a more appropriate soundtrack to zipping along in your space ship than some old school Floyd?
(Don’t forget to comment and “like” the vids! ;-})
My Black Orc from closed beta was erased for the Warhammer Online preview weekend (8/22-8/25); so I decided to really bounce around trying new classes. For some reason, I gravitated towards the ranged DPS classes. The first one I tried was the Dark Elf Sorceress. She was pretty fun, and had that glass-jaw nuker feel.
The first Public Quest for the Dark Elves is the Spires of Narthain. The first phase has 30 Narthain Towerguard running out of the tower while a Dark Elf Black Drake fights a Sun Drake on the spires overhead. Most players, especially Sorcerers wil stand right where the High Elves exit and AoE nuke them as they run by. The phase is over very quickly. The second phase has you killing 15 Narthain Towerwatch, which are I believe Sun Mages. They are spread out and trying to kill the Black Drake (which happens when time runs out), but this phase too ends very quickly.
The final phase beings with Sunlathair, the Sun Drake, killing the Black Drake on the spires. She then drops down to continue the battle with the Dark Elves. While she flies down, she can be hit with long ranged attacks. Luckily for the low-leveled Dark Elves, Sunlathair is incredibly wounded from fighting the black drake. After a bunch of Sorcerors chewed her up with Doombolts, the Sun Drake drops from the sky to be set upon by Disciples and Witch Elves. A fine time, and a great way to show off the Public Quest system.
After messing around with the Dark Elves, I decided to flop on to the Order side of things. The Dwarf Engineer was not to my liking. It was too slow and toolkit-y. I would probably love it (or the Magus) once I got into PQs or RvR, but not solo PvE. I decided to go back and try the High Elves this time with their ranged DPS, the Shadow Warrior. I got her almost through all of Tier 1, and it was a great time.
My final stop was in Altdorf, the huge capital city for Order (right now), where I just ran around confused as to what was so neat about the “living city.” Honestly, I was not impressed. It seemed little different from WoW’s Stormwind, but I guess I had to dig deeper because there are dungeons and other things involved. I think mainly the living city is going to be most apparent when we burn down our enemy’s, otherwise at scratch-value it seemed no different from any other huge MMO city. I think they need to make the map a little clearer as to where the “cool stuff” is in Altdorf.
I am taking a long (Mythic imposed) break until Open Beta starts 9/7/2008, but I highly suggest Warhammer Alliance or WARdb for some great information and impressions.
Game Scribe 