GoodPointJoe's 2024 In Review - Games

Games are a little tougher to judge, because frankly I play a lot of games that I don't finish, but often I don't finish them like, at all. And not finishing a game is sometimes part of how you assess it, right? If the game didn't draw me in enough to get me to play it through, that says something about the game. Or it could, at least.

Anyways, I did put together a list of games that I think is pretty representative of the new gaming experiences I had this year. Obviously I also played a ton of tried and true games as well, Rocket League, Recettear, Raft... probably some games that don't start with the letter R as well. And I'm withholding judgment on a few games that I dabbled in, but don't have a full opinion on yet. So if you saw me playing Escape Academy for 12 minutes with Chip that one night, sit tight, we're not settled on that game yet.

This year's games list is right below, with a #1 I would've never guessed!

1. Resident Evil - I've given it a full review previously, but suffice it to say, the Resident Evil experience was a delightful one. Hopefully this year I actually follow through on my claims to want to play more of them.
2. Hades - A great recommendation by my brother, Hades was competitive for the top slot. I still haven't come close to finishing the game, but one of the great things about Hades is that you can play as much or as little as you want at a time. It's always there for you to dip in for 5 minutes or luxuriate for 5 hours.
3. Dead Rising Deluxe Remaster - If it were the first time I went through the game, it'd probably be #1 on the list. But it's mostly just a freshened up version of the original, with updated graphics and some (admittedly crucial) quality-of-life upgrades. Another great time, and I'm glad to say that the top three games were all streaming experiences.
4. Helldivers 2 - I would've liked for Helldivers 2 to be even higher on the list, but at this stage in my gaming life (and regular life), I have a bit of trouble trying to rally a full squad to even purchase the game, let alone play it together. It's still an amazingly good time, it just didn't crest into that upper echelon.
5. Half-Life: Opposing Force - My favorite of the three Half-Life games I played this year. There were a lot of cool stretches in the game, like an underground monster-riddled labyrinth, a point-to-point tactical advancement through a storage facility, or the final boss battle, where I totally realized right away that those lasers were important, and not just decorative.
6. The Break-In - This is almost an incomplete rating, because I'm sort of hoping (against my better judgment) that the game will continue to get updates. Right now it's fun and quirky, kind of a mix between Payday and Phasmophobia, except less serious than either of those games. But it seems like it's got a lot of as-yet-undeveloped design space, and I'm hoping it's not another of those early access games that never actually gets fully completed.
7. Half-Life: Blue Shift - It's a quick final foray into the Half-Life realm, in an adventure that feels human and self-contained. I liked it a lot.
8. Papers Please - I only had one real sit-down session with this game, but after about two hours I do think I have a sense of what the game has to offer. It's a fun, interesting experience, but I'm not sure that it's something I'd be willing to put in the time it would take for my brain to pick up on all the necessary details to execute the game well enough to 'win.'
9. Football Manager 2024 - I was delighted to get the game for free, as Chip and I have been fiending for another "GM in the same sporting world" opportunity. We used to do the same in playing older versions of FIFA and NCAA College Football and Madden, and the hope was to rekindle some of that magic. It's fun, but it's incredibly complex. And for a guy who isn't exactly deeply-versed in soccer parlance (since, you know, I call it soccer), the game is pretty heavy. Still, I've enjoyed it, and will likely keep playing.
10. Half-Life - The premise of Half-Life is really cool, and the way it tells a story through active gameplay is really innovative. There are only a handful of moments where you lose control of your character. But, it still suffers from some old-school control difficulties, an issue exacerbated by some obnoxious jumping puzzles, especially in the alien world segments of the game. Plus the final boss was just a pill. It was good, and I'm glad I played it, but the expansions were better.
11. Secret of Mana (2018) - This game has been an interesting playthrough so far (I haven't quite beaten it yet). There are quirks about it that I had forgotten, like some of the slow travel nuisances in the mid-game, and the relative uselessness of magic unless you grind like crazy. But the story is still really fun, the music is great, and it's fun just how many bosses there are to fight. Now that I think about it, not a bad idea for some D&D inspiration.
12. Zen Chess: Mate In One - This is one of those games that just is what it says it is. After watching Queen's Gambit, I dove into my Steam library to see what sort of chess-related games I had, and this is a simple puzzle game where (predictably) you try to find a mate in one move. It's uncomplicated, but a good time.
13. N++ - The newest iteration of the classic "N" flash game, it's basically just another round of puzzles for your stick figure ninja to traverse. It's perfectly fine, but there's not a lot of space left to explore with this premise.
14. Train Valley 2 - A lighter version of the original, but still not the relaxing train-management experience I was hoping for. Still, as far as puzzle games go, it was alright.
15. Train Valley - The simpler and less forgiving original, but not a bad little puzzle game.
16. Barro - An utterly simplistic racing game. It's fine that it exists, but it seems more like a proof of concept than an actual completed product.

And that's our list! Thanks to everybody who hung out during streams, who helped direct my gaming experiences, and who partnered up for some quality multiplayer. I look forward to another year of collaborative gaming goodness. See you soon!

One Good Point (Video Game) - Helldivers 2

Over the past two years, I've bought two sequels to games whose originals I haven't played: Baldur's Gate 3 and Helldivers 2. So at this point, I feel pretty silly for putting off playing games like The Witcher 2.

Early in 2024, there were a couple of games that took off like a rocket, and Helldivers 2 was one of them (the other one was Palworld, which I've never played). I had it recommended by a friend whose gaming taste I trust implicitly, and I also heard a rousing endorsement on a media podcast that I trust less, but still trust some. I waited a full month to see if a discount might drop on Steam, but I finally pulled the trigger at full price (which at $40 is still perfectly reasonable).

And I gotta say, this game met all of my expectations and then some.

I remember the first time I opened the game. I watched the intro movie and was tickled by the Super Troopers hyper-patriotic vibe. That vibe continued just as strong into the tutorial, with fantastic humor in addition to helping you get acclimated to some of the game's unique mechanics, which brings me to the first, most important point about this game:

It's fun.

Sometimes you can play a game and find certain mechanics disjointed from the rest of the game, or half of the game is fun, but then there are some tedious escort quests, or it takes way too long to progress and expand your abilities. Helldivers 2 seems to be a game designed solely with "fun" in mind, and the strategems are the best example of this. You immediately get access to a destructive orbital cannon and a machine gun, but you also verrrrry quickly begin to unlock other options. Exploring new weapons and utility items becomes a natural part of the game's progression, and the pace is well-constructed, doing a great job of empowering you with new options at a pace that is neither too fast nor too slow.

But the game also has a number of long-term goals to pursue. You can upgrade modules on your ship to improve your various strategems, unlock new primary and secondary weapons to take into the field, and gain access to special boosters that apply not just to you, but to your entire team, increasing your survivability, stamina, vision, and more.

And that's one other vital part of this game. It is utterly and completely a team-oriented experience. Your group gains exactly the same experience, medals, requisition slips, samples, all the various things that you accumulate, you accumulate together. You get bonus XP if you get your team out alive, but your mission is a success if you accomplish your goals, no matter how many of your Helldivers make it out alive... even zero. But by the same token, friendly fire is permanently enabled. Cooperation and coordination are essential to a positive gaming experience, and while you do get the occasional knucklehead, my experience has been overwhelmingly positive. Your fellow Helldivers want to be victorious with you.

Does the game have long-term staying power? I believe it does, as long as "long-term" means "a couple years" to you. There's a plainly untouched 1/3 of the galactic map that clearly beckons a new enemy faction, and there's a broad base of strategem and weapon/equipment ideas that could definitely be implemented still. Based on the fun-first outlook that I believe the developers take when working on this game, I expect they'll continue to offer interesting twists and new opportunities to fight for managed democracy and defend Super Earth.

Helldivers to hellpods!

Click here to buy Helldivers 2 on Fanatical today!

One Good Point - Resident Evil HD REMASTER

So far I've talked about a few movies that haven't really lived up to my hopes (or for which I didn't have much in the way of hopes, and matched that lack of excitement). Well, it's high time to talk about something that lived up to my hopes and then some: Resident Evil.

I've never been much for scary games, scary movies, scary anything really. I can appreciate some compelling horror/thriller content, and I do very much like monster movies, but spooky creepy stuff doesn't usually do much for me. But I have to say, after getting past my initial jumpiness at turning corners and finding zombies, the core gameplay of Resident Evil was a ton of fun. I enjoyed entering this mansion and slowly peeling back layer after layer, finding out new pieces of the story with each unlocked door and solved puzzle. As I played through it, I found myself already thinking about whether I might enjoy playing it again.

One particularly unexpected turn was that I actually enjoyed combat in the game. I've watched streams of Resident Evil playthroughs, and I had briefly played Resident Evil 5 at a friend's house, and I remember being frustrated with the controls. Having to stand still while shooting is not what I'm used to at all. But after just a handful of encounters in my first playthrough of this game, I felt the game provided a harrowing and enjoyable twist on combat, a stark contrast to most of the other modern adventure games I've played (Dead Rising, Grand Theft Auto, etc). The "clunkiness" of the controls are one of the prime examples of something being "a feature, not a bug." You're supposed to find the combat uncomfortable and frightening. That's the point.

I'm sure it's far too late to be able to offer much in the way of meaningful recommendations for this game; it's been out forever, and if you were thinking about playing it, chances are you already have. But on the off chance you haven't, I strongly endorse this game, and I'm looking forward to giving future games in the series a shot.

Click here to view this game on Steam!

Click here to view this game on Fanatical!

2023 In Review - Video Games

So as many of you know, I play games at my own pace. That usually means that A) I acquire games and don't play them, and B) I neither acquire nor play big time releases until they've been out for a while. This year was an exception in both regards, to an extent. I didn't acquire nearly as many games as I have in the past, and those I did acquire, I was more likely to play. And, I ended up picking up three different games right around their full release date: Diablo IV, Baldur's Gate 3, and Starfield.

I also spent more time on my Steam Deck this year, trying out some of the many random games I've accumulated through my love of a gaming bundle. In the end, my best guess is that I played 20 new games in 2023. What did I think of these games?

Well, let's rank them and find out!

#1 - Baldur's Gate 3

I've played a ton of role-playing games over the years. I've played hundreds of hours of D&D over the years as well. Baldur's Gate 3 arguably does both of those experiences as well as anybody could hope. Decades after playing games like Curse of the Azure Bonds and Dark Sun: Shattered Lands (both legends in their own rights), BG3 captures that same beautiful combination of exploration, adventure, growth, and challenge. This was deservedly my most played game in 2023, and I expect it'll be right up there in 2024 as well. Now, who wants to play coop?

#2 - Raft

Raft is an interesting game. I really enjoy a lot of the experience; there's a certain satisfaction from collecting goods, putting them to work, researching new technology to do a more effective job at collecting goods, and so on and so on with that cycle. But I'm not totally sure that the gaming experience is like, meaningful. Still, it's a low-stress way to hang out with friends, and that's worth something on its own, even if I'm being tricked into chasing dopamine bursts every time I kill a pufferfish.

#3 - Risk of Rain 2

I'm only like 90% sure that I started playing this game in 2023, but I've decided to include it regardless. I was a huge fan of the first Risk of Rain game, played the hell out of it, never got amazing but still enjoyed it from start to finish. It was always good for a quick cooperative multiplayer game too, the sort of thing you could jump in and out of on a whim. RoR 2 goes from 2D to 3D, but actually does a good job of keeping the same essence of the original game, which is no small task. The last fight is a little more chaotic, and a bit less forgiving, but it's still very fun. And I dare say the different characters feel more unique and interesting for the most part. An excellent follow-up to an excellent original.

#4 - Diablo IV

The story in Diablo IV was absolutely tremendous. I haven't finished it yet, but everything about Lilith is compelling, much more so than the primary villains in previous games. And Diablo IV felt truly fresh, whereas Diablo III felt awfully similar to Diablo II. And bonus points to Blizzard for avoiding a disastrous repeat of Diablo III's launch.

#5 - Starfield

I was so hyped for this game that I blogged for the first time in like, years. I wanted so desperately to have a whole Mandalorian/Firefly type experience, and I convinced myself with the pre-release materials that that was what I was going to get. But it wasn't that at all. We got the same mild-mannered NPCs that previous Bethesda games have offered, space travel is essentially just fast travel, and space combat feels incredibly clunky. Plus I can't even figure out how to become a megacorporation. I enjoy the non-ship combat, and I'm open to finding expansions and mods that improve the experience, but so far it's been a big disappointment.

#6 - Alien: Isolation

Still early in my gameplay, but so far the game has a lot of potential. I'm not usually one for horror-style games, but I'm a sucker for established IP, and famous monsters draw me in even more. I can only rate this on what I've played so far though, which has been pretty simple and straightforward.

#7 - 80s Overdrive

There are a lot of pixel-graphic games out there that lean on old tropes and established nostalgia, but this one hit me just the right way at just the right time. The gameplay is fun, the music is great, and progression feels earned. One of the most pleasant surprises among my many "I'll try this random game on the Steam Deck" choices from 2023.

#8 - Moonlighter

I grew up on Recettear. I've played and replayed Recettear (and am currently doing so again). You, Moonlighter, are no Recettear. It's actually still pretty fun, but adding meticulous inventory management to the hybrid adventurer/shopkeeper base is not an improvement.

#9 - Red Dead Redemption

I bought the original RDR something like 10 years ago. I got a whole Game of the Year edition, including something called Undead Nightmare, which I have yet to play. But I played the base game a bit, and it definitely has the feel of GTA in the wild west, which is what they were going for, no doubt. The game didn't feel particularly dated, which was a plus for a ten year old AAA game. But I didn't feel drawn in by the story, and the few sandbox opportunities I came across didn't suck me in either. I may go back to it at some point, but I got RDR 2 for Christmas; I'm much more interested in the broader, newer, fancier option.

#10 - Suriving the Aftermath

I played this game exactly one time in 2023, for 2-3 hours. Chip and I both acquired the game for free from Epic, and we were both feeling kind of low energy, so we decided to play solo games independently. It was pretty relaxing, mildly interesting. I could see playing it some more, but the fact that I haven't played it since that night might be telling.

#11 - Out There Somewhere

This is a quirky little game, and it was very hard to rank. At its core, it's got the guts of something cool: limited but interesting mechanics, with the potential for a lot of different ways to deploy them. But the game was so short that it was a bit of a letdown to finish it. If a sequel comes out, one that promises to expand on the premise and have a more robust and extensive experience, I'd be interested.

#12 - Dead Island 2

I can't tell if the game is kind of boring, or if I'm just supremely bad at it. There is, of course, the potential that both are true. I'm hopeful to get a chance to try out the cooperative mode this year, maybe that'll add some fun to the experience.

#13 - Splendor

This is simply the video game version of a board game I enjoy. It's an effective representation of the board game, and it translates pretty well to the digital medium.

#14 - Little Racers STREET

Little Racers STREET is essentially a modern twist on RC Pro-Am, the old Nintendo game, but it's got none of the charm. It's perfectly fine, but I found it very forgettable.

#15 - Turbo Golf Racing

I only played the tutorial and a couple of single-player levels. It seems like it could be a fun game to play with other people, but that opportunity hasn't presented itself as of yet. So for now, it's just kind of a weird little driving game that I'm pretty bad at.

#16 - Marvel's Avengers

I've been interested in this game since it came out, so when it dipped to $5 this year, it was an easy pickup. But a long tutorial and ungodly load times kept me from spending much time actually playing the game. I might play it again sometime, but the motivation isn't there.

#17 - The Political Machine 2016

I played a couple games of this, and I feel like I got everything I was going to get out of it. It was fun enough for a quick dip, but I was hoping for a little more of a simulation experience, and not quite so much of a board game experience.

#18 - I, Zombie

It's an interesting little puzzle game, but as the difficulty increases, it becomes less rewarding and just more frustrating. I'd compare it to herding cats professionally.

#19 - Hero of the Kingdom

I can't say for sure that it's a game. So far, it seems to be basically just follow the directions and click where you're instructed to click. I didn't get terribly far in the game, and I don't expect to.

#20 - Ultionus: A Tale of Petty Revenge

You remember how there were some old NES games where you walked pretty slowly, and jumped pretty slowly, and just everything went really slowly? This game is kind of like that. I'm sure that people who've gotten good at the game find it more compelling, but the gameplay was just a non-starter for me.

Four Things I Hope I Experience In Starfield

(This post was started in August; I lost direction for a while, and obviously we've got some new information, a la the actual gameplay, but I wanted to get this finished and posted. Who knows, maybe I'll do a follow-up and we'll investigate how well Starfield measured up to my hopes!)

The year 2023 might go down as one of the most hype-saturated years in recent memory. As I've mentioned several times to my gaming friends of late, I hardly ever pre-order games, or pick up games at release. But so far this year I've already pre-ordered Diablo IV, and then purchased Baldur's Gate 3 right as it left early access (verdict so far: Diablo IV was okay, Baldur's Gate 3 was tremendous). And while I don't own a Nintendo Switch, The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom was a massive release as well.

But arguably the most hyped title is still yet to drop: Starfield. Starfield is the newest release by Bethesda Game Studios, the company that brought us The Elder Scrolls: Skyrim, a game that's featured prominently on any list of "Best Games of All Time" that you can find. I've got 320+ hours of time in Skyrim, and honestly, it could've been a lot higher if I didn't get so overwhelmed with mod options while trying to turn the game dirty.

Unlike the medieval fantasy setting of Skyrim however, Starfield takes place among the stars. Instead of imagining ways to incorporate Tryndamere from League of Legends into my Skyrim game (mission accomplished, by the way), Starfield invites inspirations from the great science fiction media of the past fifty years: Star Wars, Star Trek, Guardians of the Galaxy, Halo, and on and on. And the features that are purported to be available in Starfield sure *sound* like they're going to be an incredible amount of fun.

All of this hype, all the discussion, and the ideas I've had over the past few years of watching sci-fi TV shows and movies, it's got me super excited for this game to come out. And there are a few specific experiences I'm hoping to have as I play through Starfield. Let's chat about them!

I Hope I Fall In Love with My Ship

One of the tropes of any good space adventure is that somebody is gonna fall in love with their ship. They'll talk to the ship as if it's a person, coaxing the ship through tough times, pleading for help, "just one more time and I'll never take you for granted again." While I don't expect to anthropomorphize my ship in this game necessarily, I want to get emotionally attached to my ship.

Whether it's Han Solo whispering encouragement to the Millennium Falcon or Captain Jack Sparrow's refusal to acknowledge Barbossa's command of the Black Pearl, some vessels become more than just a useful tool to transport people and cargo from A to B. They become indelible parts of the fabric of an adventure, and a window into the way their captains treat the people they love. Han is willing to let the Falcon be put in harm's way, as long as someone (usually himself, occasionally Lando) is looking out for her.

So what do we have to look forward to in Starfield? Well, the customization options look to be extensive, with more than a dozen components and considerations, each of them impacting not only the look of the vessel, but how it functions in the world. Early indications are that ship customization is something that becomes more prominent deeper in the game, after you've accumulated some wealth. Does this mean that we'll have tens or maybe even hundreds of hours to get attached to an early model of our ship, to the point that we become reluctant to make wholesale changes? As anyone can attest who watched me stream Grand Theft Auto and stick with my black and orange armored delivery van despite acquiring tanks, hoverbikes, and rocket cars, I goddamn hope so.

I Hope I Run Away, and Have Fun Doing It

The second of two ship-based hopes for this game, this one is less about the emotional beats related to a long-term relationship with my ship, and more about the strategy of staying alive. I've been playing a lot of Baldur's Gate 3 recently, and while I'm loving it to the depths of my soul, there's one thing that adventure and role-playing games very rarely are able to capture: choosing to escape. There are plenty of situations in Final Fantasy, Resident Evil, and Assassin's Creed games where you encounter a set piece whose solution is to run away. But it's extremely rare to find a game that truly encourages you to see discretion as the better part of valor.

But this deprives players of unique and cinematic opportunities like those we've seen in popular culture. The aforementioned Millennium Falcon made its hay by running away from Imperial pursuers on multiple occasions. Thor:Ragnarok sees Heimdall working to help Asgard's people escape Hela's clutches, rather than facing off against her in what would no doubt be an epic clash. The entirety of Jurassic Park is built on seeing something you can't beat in a fight and getting the hell out of there.

I want to find myself confronted with impossible battles, ones that I have to work hard to escape. I absolutely love Skyrim. But there's very little nuance in trying to avoid a dragon or other dicey encounter. You basically run in one direction as fast as you can, pop potions when you need, and hope you're fast enough to make them lose interest. Space combat in Starfield looks far more complex. I'm hoping that, with speed and maneuverability being key factors in building your ship, evasive action becomes something meaningful in the gameplay. I look forward to deciding to high-tail it, and live to see another day.

I Hope I Feel Compelled to Do Bad Things

Listen, deep space is no place for the faint of heart. And it's also a place that you would expect to attract the most morally bankrupt sorts of folks you can imagine.

I spend most of my gaming time acting appropriately, heroically. My Baldur's Gate 3 experience so far has been about what you would expect: protecting refugees, standing up to bullies, rescuing damsels. Basically, if Captain America had a tiefling fantasy counterpart, that's who I'm playing in BG3. And that's a ton of fun!

But sometimes, you just wanna be the worst. You want to rebel against the system, you want to find angles to exploit, you want to maybe, maybe lose your temper and blast somebody who's giving you a hard time.

In Elder Scrolls games, this sort of behavior became problematic. You'd get caught doing a little crime in one town, and you'd incur a massive bounty. So your option became to either pay the outrageous penalty, serve some jail time, or reload your game because you lose your temper and resist arrest and murder the whole goddamn town...

...ahem.

I would like to see this game do a better job of accommodating moderate criminality. The far reaches of the galaxy should be places where a bit of bad behavior can get lost in the deep emptiness of space. Planet-specific bounties would be a small part of that, sure, but I'd like to see something more robust than just a segmenting of accountability. I'd also like to see a broader set of options for bad behavior. Smuggling, fraud, digital theft, give me some new age crimes for this intergalactic adventure!

I Hope I Lose A Companion, and It Fucking Hurts

My standard modus operandi in games like these is to leave any companions at home, "saving" them for a moment of dire need. But I never really get to the "dire need" moment, and in the end I just have some followers who never see the light of day. Is this a flaw in my own personal gameplay habits, a result of my aversion to expending resources, and a fairly common happenstance among gamers, who I know match my tendency to hoard and hold and end the game with twelve hundred potions? Yes, I'm sure it is.

But that doesn't mean it's all my fault!

I'd like to find the benefits of companions to be pronounced, both with combat and storytelling. I'd like the teamwork to be noticeable; let me and my companion become a well-oiled machine, a Cap and Bucky (or, if the aforementioned criminality works out, Joker and Harley) for this new interstellar environment. I want to feel compelled to bring a companion along on my adventures.

And then I want them to die.

Now, I don't mean that I want to lose companions in meaningless situations where they keep walking over the same pit of acid because the AI pathing system is flawed (BALDUR'S GATE I'M LOOKING AT YOU). I want to be in a pitched battle where success is not guaranteed, and my companion goes out in a blaze of glory. And I want to care that that happened. I want companions to feel powerful, meaningful, and vulnerable. I want a fight to go sideways once in a while, and for that to occasionally (but not always) end up with someone not making it out alive.

I'm looking for very rare cinematic sacrifices to be a part of my gaming experience, but not just in cutscene situations. I want it to happen out in the world. Heck, if you want to give companions specific lines for their dying moments, I'll eat that shit up.

I'm hopeful that Starfield ends up being the sort of Mandalorian-type adventure game that I've been hungry for. I want to have a cool ship, assemble a dynamic crew, and find myself narrowly eluding death, occasionally to the detriment of that dynamic crew. We'll find out!

GoodPointJoe's Top 5 Gaming Bundle Sites

Seven years ago, my friend Anthony brought to my attention a promotion called The Humble Indie Bundle. It was a collection of games from small-time developers that I had mostly never heard of, and the proceeds would be split between the developers and a couple of charities. This of course spiked a conversation about the concept of charity and whether anyone could be truly charitable, but dmore importantly, it started my journey into bundle-shopping.

That first bundle included six games: Aquaria, Gish, Lugaru HD, Penumbra: Overture, Samorost 2, and World of Goo. In what would set the tone for my next seven years (plus) on Steam, I have only played two of those games (stay tuned to find out which!...just kidding, World of Goo and Gish), but I was hooked on bundles.

Since then, some bundle sites have come and gone. Indie Royale always had some really interesting games, but their prices tended to be higher than most of the other sites. Blink Bundle had great bundles, but seemed unable to keep their business model afloat.

But plenty of sites are still chugging along, offering multiple games at a minimal price. So, in the interest of continuing my tradition of doing a Top 5 list about anything, here are my Top 5 Gaming Bundle Sites.

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5. Indie Gala

https://www.indiegala.com/

Now don't get me wrong. Indie Gala is far from a perfect bundle site. In fact, if you said that you knew about Indie Gala and hated Indie Gala, I wouldn't fault you. Indie Gala puts out a lot of crummy bundles, sometimes even bundles without a single game that really deserve more attention.

BUT.

They generate a shit ton of bundles. And while a lot of them can be junky, they also occasionally put out a really solid set of games. Or, they'll put a gem in a bundle, and it makes you end up checking out a few games you might not have normally given a second thought. They do a good job of persisting in one of the most useful purposes of bundling games, which is to jointly benefit from the games' individual popularities.

Some Favorites from Indie Gala:

• Knights of Pen and Paper +1 Edition
• Jolly Rover
• Zombie Driver HD

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4. Go Go Bundle

https://gogobundle.com/

Go Go Bundle is an interesting site. They don't make any claims about the quality of the games they provide, they just promise a cheap set of games. The big difference for Go Go Bundle is that they offer a reduced price if you buy larger quantities of the bundle.

This might not seem useful if you're just a person who plays games, but if you're a person who plays games and streams them on Twitch, this can be very handy. The amount of discount you can receive on bulk bundle purchases is substantial; usually you can pick up 50 bundles for $20. This equates out to anywhere from 300-500 Steam keys, each of which you can use as a giveaway on your stream.

Sometimes the games are shovelware, sometimes they aren't. But most Twitch viewers who are turned on by giveaways don't mind if it's a no-name, unexceptional game. Intentionally or unintentionally, Go Go Bundle is helping Twitch streamers add another layer of fun to their broadcasts.

Some Favorites from Go Go Bundle

• 12 Labours of Hercules II: The Cretan Bull
• 12 Labours of Hercules III: Girl Power

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3. Bundle Stars / Fanatical

https://www.fanatical.com/en/

Bundle Stars recently rebranded itself, and the site is now named Fanatical. I haven't delved too deeply to see what's changed, but at first blush, it seems to have the same types of deals and bundles as it always did.

Bundle Stars had frequent bundles of varying quality, but overall I'd say the games they offer are of a higher quality than Indie Gala or Go Go Bundle. Additionally, they sometimes have excellent deals on individual games. I was able to scoop up the complete Shadow of Mordor pack for a mere $3.00 a couple months ago, and while I still haven't played the game, I know it'll be good when I do.

Overall, I like the games, the interface, and the overall vibe of Bundle Stars/Fanatical. While it's a little trite to say, it really does feel like a site that's been developed by gamers, for gamers.

Some Favorites from BundleStars / Fanatical

• Hoard: Complete Pack
• Pixel Puzzles
• Pixel Puzzles 2
• Trapped Dead

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2. Groupees

https://groupees.com

Groupees has this one weakness that keeps them from ranking higher on my list: the games aren't that good. While Groupees doesn't have noticeably worse games than a site like Indie Gala, nor do they have games that seem to be any better. They have their fair share of shovelware, and it's not often that they post a bundle with any sort of surprisingly good game. So why is Groupees one of my favorite bundle sites?

Music!

While many Humble Bundles and some of the other bundles include game soundtracks as part of their content, Groupees regularly includes actual music albums in their bundles. In fact, some bundles have only music, no games. And while lots of the music is conventional rock or hip-hop, a lot of the music feels like video game music. There are chiptunes (think original NES music), orchestral themes, electronic songs, and all other sorts.

Groupees also dives into comics as much as any other gaming bundle site other than maybe Humble Bundle, giving you some more media to consume. Groupees also offers you the option of contributing a portion of your payment to charity, if you're into that sort of thing.

Some Favorites from Groupees

• 8-Bit Adventures: The Forgotten Journey
• Party of Sin
• Payday 2 - Clover Character Pack (to troll Chip)
• Assorted chiptune albums

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1. Humble Bundle

https://www.humblebundle.com

Ahh, the Humble Bundle. The founder of the feast. The one who started it all. There's no question that Humble Bundle remains the biggest name in bundled games, and deservedly so. They frequently have high-quality games available, uncommonly bundled games, and interesting partnerships. And because a portion of their proceeds go to charity, they'll always be looked upon favorably.

Are they perfect? No, of course not. The Humble Monthly Bundle has been sort of hit-or-miss; I subscribed for a month and wasn't really impressed with my results. And unfortunately, most (or all?) of their mobile bundles have been for Android only; my iPhone sits unattended by Humble Bundle.

Still, when it comes to quality and variety, you can't beat the Humble Bundle. I'm tuned in every Tuesday to see what they've got brewing, and when they partner up with organizations like Awesome Games Done Quick, they've got my full attention.

My list below is by no means exhaustive. HB has provided me with a load of great games.

Some Favorites from Humble Bundle

• And Yet It Moves
• The Binding of Isaac
• BIT.TRIP.RUNNER
• Braid
• Defender's Quest: Valley of the Forgotten
• Dungeon Defenders
• Dungeons of Dredmor
• FTL: Faster Than Light
• Organ Trail
• Super Meat Boy

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Summary

The Humble Bundle has provided me with far more gaming entertainment than any other bundle site. In fact, I'd say that Humble Bundle rates behind only Steam and Blizzard in terms of the number of delivering enjoyable content to me. And Steam is cheating, since they're basically the hub through which half of my gaming goes.

But they're by no means the only game in town. I'm interested to see if Fanatical pushes out new and interesting ways to drop content, and if I ever get my Twitch stream going again, I'm sure I'll dabble into Go Go Bundle. And of course, every time Groupees releases a bundle full of chiptunes, they've got a customer in me.

My 2016 Games of the Year

For you longtime blog visitors (both of you), this will bring back memories. For the rest of you, here's a quick explanation.

I don't play new games all that often. So, rather than come up with my games of the year, evaluating the four actually new games that I played, I generate a list of the top ten games that I played during the previous year. That means that the games could have been released at any point in history (see #2), or are repeats from last year (see #1).

Anywho, here's my list. I spent most of the second half of this year playing D&D, and while I do love dungeon delving with the total freedom that D&D gives you, I kind of miss video games. We'll see how 2017 pans out.

I always put my lists in order, because I need to judge things.

10. Rocket League

Rocket League is an international sensation...which I find to be just decent. It's not that I dislike the game or anything. I get why it's fun, and I enjoy it from time to time, I just don't have the same excitement that it gets from a lot of other people. Specifically Scooter. Still, it's fun enough to round out my top ten.

9. Clash Royale

I'm not generally one who sticks with phone games. I get my fill and then move on, because none of them really ever have an "ending." You just keep going, keep building, keep leveling up, keep grinding, and never really "accomplish" anything.

Clash Royale has a lot of that same grind to it, but there's something gratifying about finding a deck that you can run well, and rolling over a couple opponents in a row. Combine that with a solid clan and regular splashy content, and I find myself consistently engaged by the Clash.

8. 4 Elements

So the funny thing about this game is that I only started playing it because I knew I wasn't playing many games, and figured I'd start towards the top of my games list. So, starting with the number "4" and 4 Elements, I fired up a new game. It's a simple puzzle game with its own twists of strategy. I wouldn't call it revolutionary on any level, but it's aesthetically pleasing and simple enough to pick up. I would just barely recommend it, if you're looking for something to kill a few hours.

7. Destiny

I bought Destiny basically because a friend told me to. I hadn't played an XBox One game in a while, and he had suggested it a few times. So I grabbed some pack off Amazon that included a couple expansions and fired it up. It's made by some of the same folks who made Halo, and it shows in a lot of the artwork and gameplay. That said, it doesn't really capture that certain something that Halo's campaign system had.

The game itself is fairly fun, it's essentially an MMO first-person shooter, but your experience is very rarely "massive," which is a good thing. You can do a series of solo missions (that you can bring friends along to complete as well), and you can also join a queue for dedicated multiplayer missions, missions that are considerably more difficult and require teamwork to complete. Overall, it was a pretty fun experience, and while I won't be paying $60(!) for a new expansion, I might pick it up down the road someday.

6. Dead Rising 3

I love Dead Rising. If I had to pick one franchise that I think defines all that I like about video games, it's Dead Rising. It's got great weapons, a somewhat open world, and the the ability to render massive numbers of zombies inert. Eddie got me Dead Rising 3 for Christmas last year, and I dove into it eagerly.

And it was good. It wasn't the perfect sequel like Dead Rising 2 was, and it wasn't a revolutionary advancement like Diablo 2. It was a solid game with some interesting characters, and enough of the classic material I enjoy to keep me entertained. The one caveat I would give it is that, while the graphics are an "improvement" over the previous games, the extra layer of detail is a bit difficult on my eyes over longer gaming sessions. It became too much eventually and I set the game aside, but someday I definitely plan to get back into it and finish the story.

5. Heroes of the Storm

A repeat from last year's list, it's still a very solid game that has developed a lot over the past year. There are a ton of new heroes, though this year's crop is a bit less revolutionary than last year's; there's no hero like Cho'Gall or Lost Vikings this year. In that regard, it's getting a bit closer to League of Legends, but with the solid gameplay, the introduction of a similar "brawl" system to Hearthstone's, and the fact that the game continues to be completely free to play, it's still a winner in my book.

4. Lifeline

Anthony told me about Lifeline when it was free on iPhone for a couple days (or maybe is still free? I don't know). It's essentially a choose-your-own-adventure book, put into the context of you being on the other side of a communication device, trying to help a stranded space traveler survive on a moon or asteroid or planet. I don't remember the specifics, but I remember really enjoying the game. The way it presented the story was insanely entertaining, and while the finish was clearly built to encourage you to purchase a follow-up game, it was satisfying. Very well done.

3. Sid Meier's Civilization V

So I was a little late to the Civilization V achievement hunter party, but I did get there eventually. Over the past year, I nabbed a couple dozen achievements through considerable playtime, as I figured out what settings I needed to use on my laptop to make it work without crashing...often. The game is just really, really solid. Every time you play it's a new experience, and the maps and different civilizations provide nearly endless replay-ability. It'll be a while before I get the new one, obviously, but that's partly Sid Meier's fault. He made the previous version just too damn good.

2. Total Extreme Wrestling

TEW is a wrestling simulation game. That's right. A wrestling SIMULATION game. The game puts you into the role of a head booker at a wrestling promotion, and your job is to put on the best product possible to increase your popularity, generate income, and keep your job. You manage rosters, contracts, locker room chemistry, pushes, and all of the business aspects of how you put on a show.

It's the kind of game that appeals only to a narrow group of people, but I'm one of those people. I freaking love this game.

1. Dungeons and Dragons

I mean, what else is there to say that I haven't already said? I play D&D 2-3 times a week, which when you compare that with the 4 times a week I work, it takes up the lion's share of my free time. It's complex, it's cooperative, it's creative, and it's social. I say again, D&D is the perfect game.

Final Fantasy + Magic The Gathering: A Coalescence of Nerditude

I subscribe to a subreddit called "/r/custommagic," a group that focuses on amateurs generating their own Magic cards, mechanics, ideas, and even entire sets. I have a lot of fun doing some of their regular activities, such as trying to create a card just from artwork, or creating a mechanic to reflect some aspect of a movie, TV show, or video game.

Anyways, I made a passing comment in one thread about Final Fantasy X, and suggested that one of my fellow Redditors could make a whole set using that game world as a basis. He said something along the lines of, "If you think it's such a good idea, why don't you make it?"

And so, here we are.

I'm embarking on an effort to capture the essence of Final Fantasy X in a Magic set. This means developing 3-6 mechanics, a few tribal features, and one or more over-arching themes, all through the creation of about 240 Magic cards. It's a pretty substantial undertaking, but it's not altogether new for me. You may remember that I assembled a Magic set based on the worlds and characters in the first two Mega Man games for the Nintendo Entertainment System. It was a massive effort, but it was incredibly fun and rewarding, so I'm excited to try my hand at it again.

Assuming that anyone who's gotten this deep into the post has some level of interest and/or understanding of Final Fantasy X and/or Magic, let's get into the specifics. Here are the aspects of Final Fantasy X that I want to try to capture in some manner, and, if I have any, some of my initial thoughts on how to convey them.

IF YOU HAVE FEEDBACK OR IDEAS, TELL ME.

Summoners & Aeons

At the heart of the story in Final Fantasy X is the battle between Spira's summoners and Sin. In a general sense, I want to make sure that summoners and aeons are broadly represented in the set; I plan on including Yuna and Yunalesca, of course, but also Belgemine, Dona, and Isaru, though probably in non-specific forms, so that I don't have to represent them with Legendary status.

As far as aeons go, there are a couple of aspects that I wonder about. First, aeons don't ever exist in the game without being summoned. So should aeons only be available if you control a summoner? Additionally, if your opponent has summoned an aeon, you cannot summon the same aeon. I'm not sure how to handle that; Magic's updated Legendary rules allow for two instances of the same singular character, so I don't think I'll try to re-complicate things by bringing that confusion back.

Sending Fiends

That's fiends, not friends. The creation of enemies throughout Spira relies on regular folks being "unsent"; that is, not being provided with a postmortem ceremony to control the magical essence that is release when a person dies. Within the realm of Magic, I'm thinking that this could be captured by having creatures with death triggers.

The two possibilities I can think of are:

1. grant a Fiend token or tokens to an opponent when your creature dies, or
2. do the same thing, but allow the prevention of it if you pay some amount of mana when your creature dies, to "send" it.

Flexibility

The main character progression feature of Final Fantasy X was the sphere grid. Using the grid, you could give any character any set of spells or abilities, with enough time and energy. Kimahri was the main beneficiary of this, in that you chose very early in his progression which of four directions he would progress.

The initial way I've been thinking that I might capture this facet of the game is by using hybrid mana in this set. For those unfamiliar, when a card has a hybrid mana symbol, you can use one of two different kinds of mana in order to cast spells or summon creatures. There's also three-color hybrid mana and colored/double colorless hybrid mana, but I have very little personal experience with those features. I'm not necessarily married to this idea, but it does incorporate the concept of flexibility, which is one of my goals for this set.

There are other things I want to figure out. The Al Bhed's contraptions (or "machina") should have a presence, as should the four main magic elements from the game (fire, blizzard, water, thunder). The standard races will be replaced by Ronso, Guado, Al Bhed, etc. I'd like to find a way to mention blitzball if I can. And of course, capturing the essence of Sin is going to be a considerable challenge.

Your feedback is great, and any comments will go straight into the brain bank for processing. In the meantime, I'll be watching some cutscenes and working on getting all the screenshots I'll need to get it done.

Re-Podcasting

As some(/most?) of you know, I've made a triumphant return to podcasting.

Previously, the other Joe and I ran the show called "Joe and Joe Sports." I did a couple dozen episodes, many with Joe, some featuring other sports-knowledgeable friends. That was followed by a show I ran on my own, called "...and Joe Sports." That had maybe a dozen more episodes before it faded into antiquity.

If you'd like to revel in the past, you can find the entirety of our old radio shows here.

Recently, I found myself pining for the days of yore, when I'd produce marginally interesting content and have a buttload of fun doing it. So I talked to a couple of friends, thought up some topics, and set out to start podcasting again.

Of course, I wasn't really podcasting "again." I was podcasting for the first time.

When I used to work on TalkShoe, they had their own recording system, their own call-in feature for guests, and their own listening mechanism. I simply recorded the material and presumed people would listen at their leisure. And I suppose they did...the four people who ever listened. We never publicized our radio show beyond mentioning it to a few close friends. And so, unsurprisingly, it never got much beyond an in-house experiment.

This time, I'd like to push that boundary a little.

It was an arduous process, but I finally got my first two podcasts posted to iTunes. I won't share the details of the process, but suffice it to say it took me nearly a week (with time doing other things, obviously), and about ten different failed attempts along the way. Anyways, as I said, there are two shows available right now. You can view them (and the channel itself) at The GoodPointJoe Podcast.

The currently listed shows are a 2-parter on the rest of the NHL regular season this year. I imagine many of the shows will be about sports, since sports offer so many opportunities for discussion, debate, and opinion. I hope to also include shows about video games, movies, board games, and anything else I feel like talking about. But in general, expect more sports shows than anything else.

As far as frequency, I haven't really decided. My short-term goal is just to get the next podcast done. But it's nice to think about what might come to pass down the road. Here are some random thoughts I have about what I'd like to look into as far as this new podcast:

1. How hard is it to generate content on my own? I can write a blog post without anyone else, but one-man radio shows are a trickier nut to crack. I imagine it'll take some practice before I feel confident in carrying a show on my own.
2. How challenging will it be to create non-sports content? I've listened to a podcast called Geek's Guide to the Galaxy, which focuses on various geeky topics. It's entertaining from time to time, but having at least 2-3 people on that show is a must, in order to keep the conversation lively.
3. Because of the value of guests, I'm going to have to start working on a network of people to draw from when I want to do shows.

No matter the difficulties, though, I'm looking forward to getting back into the game. I've been fighting a cold this week, but it seems to be dissipating a bit, and I'm eager to resume my efforts. So subscribe to the podcast, and stay tuned!

2015 Games of the Year

A few years ago, I did my own "Games of the Year" list, where I talked about not the games that were released in that year, but those that I myself played that year. A friend of mine suggested doing the same thing in an email thread that we share with some other gaming buddies, and so a few of us shared our experiences from 2015.

But for those of you who aren't on that email thread, I figure I spent the time writing up everything, so I might as well share it. Here's my list for 2015. Also, you can see on the sidebar that I'm trying to keep track of the games I play this year, in the hopes that I maybe do this kind of post again at the end of 2016.

Honorable Mention: Rock Band 4
The newest iteration of the Rock Band franchise was...fine? I haven't gone through the whole campaign, but after advertising it as a "Rock Band RPG," it strikes me as being pretty similar to Rock Band 2; hardly a role-playing game. If you're interested, I wrote about what I thought a true Rock Band RPG could be like on my blog.

10. World of Warcraft
So here's the thing about World of Warcraft. Before Warlords of Draenor turned it into a glorified smartphone game, it was already a glorified smartphone game for me. I'm not good enough to raid or PvP, and outside of that, it's just gold-farming. I don't dislike gold-farming per se, but as I play it more, I'm realizing that it's less of engagement and more of a habit. I'm thinking 2016 won't have WoW on its list.

9. Heroes of the Storm
If we were considering sheer volume of time, Heroes would rate higher on this list. I played pretty often with Chip and Nick, the quicker matches being less of a commitment than games like CS:GO or League of Legends. The lack of items and summoner abilities takes a layer of complexity off the game, but it does have some unique heroes like Cho'Gall, Murky, and The Lost Vikings. Heroes is good for at least an occasional diversion.

8. Card Hunter
If I had only played the first 5 or 6 levels of Card Hunter by the time I wrote this up, it'd be higher on the list. It's a fun card-based game that functions like D&D. The problem is that the game kind of over-complicates itself over time. While you start out with a weak 15-card deck, as your characters advance in level, the deck gets stronger, but also bigger. Anybody who's played any Magic knows that the smaller the deck, the happier you are. Still, it's fun enough that I'll keep it installed at least.

7. Creeper World 3: Arc Eternal
There were, apparently, two previous Creeper World games, but I never played them. This was an impulse purchase for I want to say like $0.79 during one of the Steam sales. It's not an overly complex game, but it does offer a new take on tower defense style games. I enjoyed playing it as much as I did, and I could see myself getting back into it. Unconventional tower defense games are almost as much fun as...

6. Defender's Quest: Valley of the Forgotten
...conventional tower defense games. Defender's Quest was another game I purchased during a Steam sale over the years. I began playing it before last year, but I jumped back into it when I had a stretch of regular Twitch streaming a little while back. It's a bit of a grind, but my kind of grind. I haven't finished the "new game+" yet, and it's an easy game to stream, so I expect to play it some in 2016 as well.

5. Counter-Strike: Global Offensive
There was a stretch there in 2015 when CS:GO was my game of choice. Missions were an interesting addition, and it swayed my focus on a day-to-day basis. As always, I watched for interesting investments, though the time of quick profits has passed. I haven't played it in a while, but it was a huge part of my year, and I'd be surprised if I didn't get back to it at some point this year as well.

4. Magic: The Gathering - The Deckbuilding
So here's the thing about Magic. I didn't play a ton of matches of Magic. But "playing Magic" means different things for different people. For me, deckbuilding is far and away my favorite part of the game. I bought some sealed content and spent time all throughout the year building and rebuilding decks. I love trying to figure out the interplay between the various cards, and talking about it with other people or reading about it. Magic was definitely a big part of my gaming 2015.

3. Dead Rising 2: Off the Record
I remember playing a demo of the original Dead Rising and running out to buy a used copy at GameStop the same day. I played the shit out of it, and I continue to play the shit out of Dead Rising games. I didn't buy Dead Rising 2: Off the Record right away, because it's basically a remake of the original Dead Rising 2 with different cutscenes. Still, it was a lot of fun.

2. NHL '16
I'm always a fan of NHL games. I actually played a fair amount of NHL '13 this year as well, but it seemed silly to include two hockey games. NHL '16 was part of the bundle I got when I bought my Xbox One, because I knew I'd play it. I haven't tried Franchise Mode (or whatever it's called these days), but the Be A Pro, Hockey Ultimate Team, and just exhibition games are all crisp and fun. Hockey is great.

1. Dungeons & Dragons
D&D is the best game ever. I've always liked cooperative games with a lot of freedom, and no game satisfies that hunger like D&D. It's a fun game to play with friends, it's a great environment for humor and creativity, and it still incorporates battle-based challenges. It takes more time to set up a game than other games, and requires coordination with your group in order to make things happen, but with Tabletop Simulator and now (the superior) Roll20, it's a great time to play D&D.

Podcasts: Is there anything they can't do?

Several weeks ago, I decided to watch the Acquisitions Incorporated series from the beginning up to and including the most recent content. For those of you unfamiliar with the series, it's a quasi-celebrity game of Dungeons & Dragons. The core group of players consists of three online comic writers: Mike Krahulik and Jerry Holkins, and Scott Kurtz, the writer for PvP. They have rotated in a few other "nerdy" celebrities, including Wil Wheaton of Star Trek fame, fantasy author Patrick Rothfuss, and former G4 host Morgan Webb.

As a guy who likes humor and D&D, this is basically right in my wheelhouse. I discovered it by accident some time ago while skittering around YouTube, and I was immediately enthralled. Obviously I enjoy the role-playing and fantasy aspects of the game, but what was most appealing about it was the way the players were able to play off of each other, and create not just a player-character but a true character in their roleplaying. And of course, these are all really, really funny people, so the humor is nigh-transcendent. I find myself laughing out loud more often watching/listening to them than with almost any TV show or movie I've ever seen. It's really, really exceptional.

Anyways, while I could go on and on about how great Acquisitions Incorporated is, there's a second part to this post. Acquisitions Inc. started out as a series on Wizards of the Coast's D&D podcast. The game was/is DMed by Chris Perkins, a longtime D&D creator and all-around nerd badass. So, in order to listen to these podcasts, I downloaded them through the Podcasts app on my iPhone.

Now, I've never been much of a "podcaster," or whatever the appropriate term would be for someone who listens to podcasts. There was always a lot of searching and file management involved, and I didn't want to to spend all that time and then find out whatever podcast I chose sucked. I am, by nature, very risk-averse. But now I had found a podcast that I already knew I would most likely enjoy, so it opened up my willingness to do the necessary work.

When I say "work," I mean such considerable tasks as finding an aux cable for my car, or searching for podcasts on my phone while I'm already sitting on my phone. You know, really challenging stuff.

So now we're circling back to the actual reason for this post: what podcasts am I listening to now? Well, there are four main ones I'm listening to somewhat regularly. Here they are.

Marek vs. Wyshynski
Hockey Talk

Every year, when the Capitals are eliminated from the playoffs, I find myself hungering for hockey discussion. As the playoffs progress, you get more and more invested and focused on what's going on, and then suddenly, when your team is eliminated, you're left with all of this focus and nowhere to direct it. I always end up diving into the upcoming offseason, looking at potential signings, releases, and trades that could fix whatever that year's "one big problem" was. This year, it was "skill right-winger," but that's not really important.

What's important is that there's a vacuum in my attention span, and a hockey podcast is the right thing to fill it. Local sports radio is 90% Redskins, 9% Nationals, and the remaining 1% is split between the Capitals and Wizards and whatever else is convenient that day. Marek vs. Wyshynski is a Yahoo-produced podcast that's run by a couple of die-hard hockey fans who manage to get some high-end guests to join them for reporting and discussion. It's a national show, but that's okay. I like to know what the national take is on the Capitals, and this is a perfect way to get it. They're fairly funny and pretty self-deprecating, a good entertainment combination.

The Dungeons & Dragons Podcast
D&D Talk

This was obviously going to be the first podcast I had exposure to, since it's the one where Acquisitions Incorporated could be found. But the reality is that D&D is one of the things in the world that draws my attention the most. It's cooperative, it's creative, it's got swords and spells and traps and dragons. There's a stigma out there, sure. But I'd venture to say that, with the success of the Lord of the Rings movies, Harry Potter, Felicia Day, YouTube, and Game of Thrones, we're entering a "golden age" for D&D. Or at least, that's what I like to believe.

Either way, it's got a fan in me. The D&D Podcast offers a behind-the-scenes look at all aspects of Dungeons and Dragons. Obviously this includes stories about the development of the game, the evolution of rules and classes, and general tips on DMing. But it's also got information about miniatures, marketing, cross-product integration, related products, and any other sort of secondary concept you can think of. As someone who likes the idea of board games in general, it's a great window into the minds of the people who made the world's greatest board game. It's very informative, and fairly entertaining.

Geek's Guide to the Galaxy
General Nerdy Media

I actually listened to a couple episodes of GGttG a while back, but forgot I had subscribed to it on my phone. Eventually, I had some update come down and my phone said, "You don't have enough storage space to download this update." After some searching, I realized I'd been downloading every episode of this podcast for like two years. So I went through and deleted the ones regarding topics in which I have little-to-no interest, and kept the ones that piqued my interest.

Anyways, the podcast. It's run by two authors who I know nothing about. They apparently do mostly short stories and anthologies, with some other composition mixed in there. They seem to have read most books between them, and obviously there's a lot of overlap as well. They're definitely nerds, and they have a style of laughing and talking that's somehow both awkward and condescending at the same time. It's like if you were to walk into a darts tournament and there were a couple of darts aficionados hamming it up for the general darts fans. It's like, okay we get it, you know a lot about darts. Maybe scale back the insane talk about release angles and whatever.

Anyways, while the guys are a little bit smug on certain topics, the topics themselves delve into a lot of content I love hearing about. From Game of Thrones to Star Wars to Left 4 Dead, there's a lot of stuff that's both nerdy and mainstream, and I enjoy hearing people tackle it. They are able to make a lot of nerdy references, many of which I get, and because it's a podcast, they can approach topics from creative angles if they choose. Overall, I do enjoy the podcast, though I think I'd enjoy it more if it were run by gamer guys instead of book guys.

Drive to Work
Mark Rosewater's Magic the Gathering Podcast

After I started listening to the other podcasts for a while, I knew there was one that I wanted to check out. Spoiler alert, it's this one. Many of my fellow "Good Point Bros" have mentioned the podcast in the past, and now that I was listening to some, it was finally time to check it out.

And I love it.

The basis for the podcast is that you're basically riding with Mark Rosewater (head designer of Magic the Gathering, basically the king of Magic) on his drive to work. He records the podcast literally on his drive to work, so every episode is about thirty minutes. Rosewater's passion for Magic is evident with every sentence, and his gift for working his passionate creativity into the structure of acceptable Magic cards has got to be one of the most important pieces of why Magic has grown so much over the years.

The content of the podcasts (at least so far, I've only listened to a few) focuses on Magic sets and concepts from the past, and talks a lot about the evolution of that particular set/mechanic/card. The second episode (which is when I knew I was hooked) was a quick run-through of the creation of Zendikar, possibly my favorite set. Rosewater talks about the original idea of the set ("lands matter"), and how that idea evolved into Landfall, full-art basic lands, Ally cards, and the specific equipment in the set. It's just amazing fun to hear the process from a guy who was there firsthand, and as someone who dabbles in game development, I find it inspiring.

What Else Should I Listen To?

Obviously I've only begun to scratch the surface of what's out there. A friend recommended RadioLab, a science-ey podcast that touches on a wide variety of topics. Another friend (or twelve) immediately suggested Serial. I know it was a phenomenon, so I suppose I'll check out at least the first episode at some point. And my cousin Mike is always trying to get me to listen to Comedy Bang Bang. From the few clips he's played for me, it does seem pretty funny, so maybe now that I've got the whole setup, I'll finally give it a whirl.

What else should I listen to? If you've got any suggestions, I'm all ears. Leave notes in the comments section below!

Living In the World of Warcraft

I've been debating for months about possibly getting back into World of Warcraft. There's a lot I like about the game:

I get a kick out of some of the quests in the game, and they're definitely a bit better than they used to be. Granted, plenty of them are still "Kill 8 boars," or "Gather five boxes," but there are others these days, especially into Outland and beyond, that have a bit more depth to them. And I enjoy unlocking new skills and shaping my character to be my own.

I enjoy taking on the instanced dungeons in the early, from Wailing Caverns to Shadowfang Keep to the Scarlet Monastery. And it's a fair bet that once I get to some of the later ones, I'll enjoy them as well. I also like how some of them have changed; SFK is much more interesting with the Worgen layer on top.

I like the organic economy that ebbs and flows in the game, and I like finding ways to exploit it to generate funds, which I happily use to further exploit market inequalities, or to buy things I want like gear or recipes.

I like collecting resources, and sharing them between my characters to really craft the shit out of the game. I haven't managed to get multiple characters to high enough levels to make a huge difference, but I've definitely put together armor, weapons, and potions for my guys to share.

So now that I've got a full-time job, what's been stopping me? Well, the thing about me, and it's different about me versus a lot of other users, but...

...I love the grind.

I feel like it's the grind that makes you feel like part of the world. The quests may not be amazingly crafted as far as lore, but they add little pieces of what's going on in the zone to your experience. Lots of stuff like this helps to explain why you might want to delve into a particular dungeon, like the quilboars being general assholes in the south Barrens, and how conquering RFK and RFD are your ways to strike back.


The grind also makes me feel like I own my character a little bit more. You used to have only certain weapon proficiencies when you started your character, based on your class and race. If you wanted to learn how to use other weapons that your class could use, you had to seek out weapons trainers and pay them a fair sum in order to learn how to use that weapon type. And you leveled up your use of that weapon just like any other skill, so your first few swings with a new weapon would be ineffective.

Was that "fun" for most people? Probably not. But it added a reason to search around the various capital cities, which made you learn more about them, which made you feel like more a part of the world you were living in. Now, you know all proficiencies just by creating a character. You also don't need an actual "fishing pole" to go fishing; once you've got the skill, you apparently have a phantom fishing pole that sprouts as needed. Which I guess whatever, but I liked that you had to commit a backpack slot to a fishing pole if you wanted to fish. Again, character choices.

In the end, because of the aspects I mentioned above that I enjoy, I'll probably still get back into the game (if I haven't already by the time this gets posted). But I think when people complain about the grind, it'd be important to remind them that the grind is there for a reason. When people complain about having to carry a mining pick around to mine ore, remember, it's there for a reason.

Immersion is a tough thing to achieve; I don't think we should so easily dismiss it.

Top 3 Skins (2013-2014) - P250, Dual Berettas, Desert Eagle

In the first leg of this journey, I looked at the three starting pistols in CS:GO. This time, I'll be looking at the three pistols that are always available to players for purchase, regardless of team or loadout: the P250, the Dual Berettas, and the big money pistol, the Desert Eagle.

P250

It's taken me a little while, but I've gotten to the point where I buy a P250 anytime I'm not buying a high-end rifle. It's low-cost, good rate and ammo and accuracy, and solid armor penetration, which is vital in those middle rounds when everybody's got armor.

That said, while it's an amazingly useful gun, the P250 doesn't have a whole lot of exciting skins. Here are the best of the bunch, but like I said, not that exciting.

#3 - Supernova

The Supernova skin is one that I think actually looks better the less you look at it. At first glance, it's got a cool color scheme and sort of an interstellar vibe (hence the name). But when you really stare at it, to me, it doesn't hold up. The sharpness of a lot of it seems counter to the theme. It's still a fine-looking skin, just not as good as it maybe could have been.

#2 - Nuclear Threat

The Nuclear Threat is probably the P250 skin I would want to use on a regular basis. While it's not as "attractive" as my #1 option, it's a bit more flashy in a smooth kind of way. It's also very distinguishable from the base option, which I do kind of like. Plus, Nuke is one of my favorite maps.

#1 - Cartel

In a vacuum, Cartel is my favorite P250 skin. It's sharp, uses blacks and silvers and greys, and overall looks fairly realistic. As I said, I think I'd prefer to play with the Nuclear Threat. But the Cartel has all the aspects I like in a weapon skin.

Dual Berettas

I do not enjoy using the Dual Berettas. While I appreciate that they've got a lot of ammo, and the damage is okay, I just find that the accuracy isn't great and the accuracy "feel" is even worse. I remember in the original Counter-Strike I enjoyed the feeling of wielding two guns, but in here, with a better appreciation for how well (or poorly) I'm playing, it's less appealing.

It's basically the opposite of the P250 though, because there are several Beretta skins that I enjoy. None of them is a high-rarity skin, since the gun isn't widely used. But as someone who appreciates a level of subtlety, the Beretta skins are right in my wheelhouse.

#3 - Panther

The Panther skin is the essence of subtlety. Black guns with red highlights just to give it enough character to be unique, that's what I like. They look good in-game, too.

#2 - Black Limba

Black Limbas look a lot like the base Beretta skin, but with a bit more severity, a bit more of a "criminal underworld" hue. I like the base skin a lot, so I like these a lot, but I like these more. And if I'm being honest, I occasionally buy Berettas in casual games because using this skin makes me feel like an outlaw.

#1 - Retribution

As much as I like the other skins I've mentioned, Retribution is easily my favorite weapon skin for the Dualies. When I was a kid, I played with a lot of G.I.Joe toys, and for some reason this skin reminds me of that. In addition to being a slick-looking skin, nostalgia puts it way over the top.

Desert Eagle

The Desert Eagle is the glamor pistol option. It's the most expensive and most powerful, but with its small clip, it's a high-risk, high-reward option. I hardly ever buy it myself, but if I come across one dropped in a pistol round or some such, I'll give it a whirl. I'll also occasionally buy it when my primary is a P90, to give myself a better option at range.

The skins for the Desert Eagle are all up and down the range. But because it's that "glamor" option, they tend to be a little higher on the rarity spectrum, which means they're often quite attractive. Plenty of good options, but here are my favorites.

#3 - Crimson Web

I find myself swinging a lot with regards to how much I like the Crimson Web skin on the Desert Eagle. Sometimes it looks amazing, first-rate. Other times, it looks unassuming and unspectacular. The particular image of it above is more the latter, but it still looks alright. I'd like a little more of a "webby" look, and less of a "fractured earth" look, but it's still nice enough.

#2 - Conspiracy

Conspiracy is exactly my kind of gun skin. Dark colors, highlighted by metallic accents. If the color scheme wasn't so close to the Pittsburgh Penguins' team colors, this might be my #1 skin. Alas, screw the Pens.

#1 - Heirloom

The Heirloom skin shares a lot of features with the Pilot skin from the Baggage Collection, so I excluded the Pilot from the list. No point in telling you I also like this other skin that looks like the one I just mentioned. Anyways, the Heirloom honestly looks the way I would expect a fancy base Deagle skin would look. I absolutely love it, and I'm glad I have my own version to use, even if I almost never use it.

Top 3 Skins (2013-2014) - P2000, USP-S, Glock-18

When Counter-Strike:Global Offensive was originally released, I was mildly interested. I had played the original Half-Life mod and enjoyed it somewhat, but I wasn't really any good at it. It was more, I appreciated the concept, and how it would be fun if engaged in with teammates and opponents of equal skill. I had occasionally read updates on CS:GO, and noted that it included a matchmaking mechanism that would theoretically set you up to play in games with people of similar skill. Still, I didn't rush to grab the game.

Then I heard about their skin system, and how some items were worth a considerable amount of money on the Steam Market, and I was all-in.

Now, while I still have a large number of small investments, and a number of mildly valuable skins (mostly less than a dollar apiece), I've bought into the whole concept of skins, and I find myself comparing new skins to previous ones on a basis of "coolness" rather than simply on investment potential.

In that vein, I'd like to now present the first in a series (yes, another series, relax jerk) of posts sharing my favorite gun skins from the beginning of their implementation in CS:GO through the end of 2014. The final collection included here would be the Vanguard Collection; the Chroma Collection (which looks solid though unspectacular) would be included in some future review.

This post will focus on the three starting pistols: the P2000 and USP-S (counter-terrorist team), and the Glock-18 (terrorist team).

P2000

The P2000 is a solid option as a starting pistol. It's got a fairly large clip with good damage. It doesn't have much armor penetration, but neither do any of the other starting pistols. That's why you buy P250s, obviously.

The P2000 hasn't gotten many flashy skins thus far, but in truth, I appreciate subtlety as much as anybody when it comes to skins. So I still enjoy the P2000 options as much as most guns.

#3 - Fire Elemental

The Fire Elemental is from the most newly released weapon case (Operation Vanguard), and is probably the flashiest P2000 skin available. Part of my appreciation for the gun probably comes from my years of playing fantasy RPGs, and having fond recollections of fire elementals in a variety of circumstances. Still, it's a nice, bold skin.

#2 - Pulse

Pulse is the kind of skin I enjoy almost unequivocally. Dark colors, sharp edges, a kind of electronic vibe. It's also not a high level skin, so chances are I'll grab one for myself at some point. For now, though, I've got way too many of my #1 skin to justify spending more money on P2000 skins.

#1 - Amber Fade

The Amber Fade doesn't look that exceptional in the market, but in-game, it feels like you're the man with the golden gun. It's from the Dust 2 Collection, which many investors including myself believed would be discontinued this past autumn with the new operation. Instead, the collection was made more available, so my stock of Amber Fade P2000s became less valuable. It's bounced back a bit, but it'll probably be a while before I can get my money back on these guys. In the meantime, though, sweet skin.

USP-S

The USP-S was added after the game had been around for a little while (along with the M4A1-S) to give counter-terrorists a few additional gun options. It doesn't have as much ammo as the P2000, so it's better for more accurate players (read: not me). But it's already got several attractive skins, including one of my "wishlist" skins at #1.

It also sounds amazing when you take off the silencer. Functionally it's worse in every way, but the sound, wowie.

#3 - Stainless

Stainless is a simple, classy skin. It looks how a real-life version of the gun might look, which I enjoy. It's just got a nice clean look, definitely one of my favorites.

#2 - Business Class

The Baggage Collection is full of quirky skins, and Business Class is one of the best. The skin really makes you believe in the altered texture of the gun, thinking that if you were to touch it, it would feel leathery, or soft like suede. A definite win.

#1 - Orion

The USP-S | Orion can actually no longer be pulled from the Huntsman Case. The original submitter of the skin had apparently stolen artwork on another skin, and as such got all of their skins removed from the case (six skins all told). But art theft aside, the Orion is a beautiful gun skin. It's got the dark, sharp colors I love, and possibly some subconscious Orioles magic in there as well. Orion, Orioles...can't be coincidence, right?

Glock-18

The Glock is the default terrorist pistol, and by far my least favorite of the three. I feel like I have no control over the Glock, even though I've seen videos displaying how it can be pretty accurate even when running. It also, for my money, has some of the weaker skin options. There are a few solid ones, but none of these top three would make either of my other two lists. Still, there is a noteworthy skin at #2, one worth talking (and reading) about.

#3 - Blue Fissure

This is a skin that looks a fair amount better in-game, actually. The fissures aren't quite so pronounced, and it looks more textured, less broken. This is another skin I think I'd like to own at some point.

#2 - Fade

The Glock-18 | Fade is one of the most famous skins in all of CS:GO. It was a top-rarity skin in the first group of skins released into the game, and its desirability and rarity make it one of the most expensive non-StatTrak guns in the Steam market. Personally, I think the style is pretty good, but not as amazing as others do. Still, among a fairly weak class, the Fade is a strong Glock skin.

#1 - Reactor

Introducing one of my favorite collections, the Cache Collection. Almost every skin in this set is appealing to me, and it tops off with restricted-level skins for the two cheap assault rifles, the Galil and FAMAS. And anyone who knows me knows I love me some Galil. The Reactor is a fine skin as well, a bit more subtle than some of the other options. I like the black base with the nuclear-feeling orange on top. Quite a solid skin.

That'll do it for the first round of reviews. Tune in next time when I get to some of the other pistol options, including a couple of market movers.