When we last left our heroes, the Dispensables were on their way to liberate the town of Drassen. It’s not far, but getting there turns out to be a bit more difficult than I expected. I very quickly spot one of Queen Deidranna’s patrols in the woods. Shouldn’t have stuck to the road, I guess.
The woods encounter has the potential to be a slaughter. My mercs don’t have nearly the weapons range to confidently take on a patrol in a relatively wide-open zone like these woods. Fortunately, the Dispensables sneak along the edge of the woods and make it to the next zone, a small farm on the road. No, it’s not particularly heroic, but don’t worry. We’ll be seeing this patrol again.
After the jump, a bloody harvest Continue reading →
A dictatorial queen has an iron grip on a small island in…um…actually, I have no idea. Not that it matters. Let’s say it’s in South Ameurafricasia and leave it at that. What does matter is that I’ve been given a fat contract and 32 grand to go in there and take Queen Deidranna out of power so the people of Arulco can be free at last.
This is a job for…the Dispensables.
At their disposal is the Jagged Alliance 2 v.1.13 “patch,” a user-created mod that adds new features, new tactics, and new guns. Boy howdy, does it add new guns.
After the jump, meet the Dispensables Continue reading →
Okay, it’s time to do some serious upgrading. Time to stock up on healing potions, grab a bed, and head back to the underground jungle. Time to explore the surface at night for fallen stars. Time to max out the health, get some mana going, and get some more great items. Because soon, it’s time to head to the Dungeon.
After the jump: it’s just a harmless old man, right? Continue reading →
It’s time to experiment with potions! I have a fair number of herbs and flowers saved up from my travels. What’s more, I have some seeds. The list of potential potions in the wikiis enormous. If Sir Digsalot is going to have enough herbs to continue to make potions, he’ll need to work on his green thumb. So after turning clay blocks into pots and building a little ramshackle greenhouse, I’ve got a little herb garden going. I even put a glass roof on the house, just for kicks.
After the jump: welcome to the jungle Continue reading →
First order of business in New Quarteria is to build a new base, and transfer all my loot from the old world. I think this time I’ll go for more of a tower design. It takes a few trips back and forth between New Quarteria and the old world, but I finally get my tower built. I’ve got a lot more storage room this time around. As the NPCs start to repopulate my world, I’ll do a little exploring. Sure, I could start digging a new tunnel downward. I could explore the surface. But no, Sir Digsalot has his sights set skyward.
After the jump: There’s plenty of air up there Continue reading →
The dragon that all our planewalker friends are facing in the above image is Nicol Bolas. Bolas is one of the “big bads” in the world of Magic, and has the distinction (as far as I can tell) of being the only non-humanoid planeswalker that Wizards of the Coast has created. Why is he the planeswalker subject for this article? I really don’t have a reason, other than I think the image is really nice, and its a group image. The grouping is important, because after comparing Duels of the Planeswalkers to a bunch of other CCG’s, it’s time to compare it to Magic itself.
After the jump, why do I still play Magic? Continue reading →
Plenty of health potions? Check. Nine sticks of dynamite? Check. Dapper top hat? Check. It’s time to bust some more shadow orbs. Sir Digsalot has his spawn point saved over by the corruption, and has fallen down one of the big crevices until he sees the shadow orb. I destoyed one a few days ago, so this will be the second. After the third, another boss will spawn: the Eater of Worlds. While I’m here, I’ll also collect some rotten chunks from the Eater of Souls flying monsters that float around (they’re easy to kill) and see about grabbing some vile mushrooms, which only grow in the corruption.
After the jump: Man, that’s a big worm! Continue reading →
Jace Beleren is a blue mage. From his picture, you can tell he enjoys both looking mysterious and magical glowy hands. From Duels of the Planeswalkers, I learned that he has fought with Chandra Nalaar, that he worked for something called the Infinite Consortium, and that he has visited the planes of Ravnica and Zendikar. Absolutely none of the above information has helped me in any way in the Duels of the Planeswalkers game, or in Magic in general. Why does Wizards of the Coast consider plot and characters such a selling point for collectible card games?
After the jump, an example of when lore can matter in the play of a game Continue reading →
So I fire up Terraria to take Sir Digsalot and his fancy new phaseblade out boss-hunting, and what’s this? 1.0.5… a new version? The changelog is just crazy. 8 new enemies. Over 50 new items. Potions that give buffs. The guide now has a little spot you can drop an item into, and it will show you all the things you can craft with it. NPC shopkeepers have different inventories at different times. It goes on and on. Some of the new features won’t be seen unless I start a new world, because they’re set during world creation. This really isn’t a big a deal – Terraria is a game where you’re meant to start new worlds, and visit other people’s words, with your continuing character (hence the importance of the piggy bank). Sir Digsalot is kind of committed to this world right now, so we’ll be sticking with Quarteria for a while longer.
Minecraft and Terraria are perfect examples of the new attitude of many game developers. Sure, the games go on sale at some point, but they’re not really “done”. The developers view their game as a service more than a product, and just keep adding and fixing and tweaking, mixing their vision with the player’s requests and ideas. One day, you fire up the game and it’s twice as compelling as the last time you played.
After the jump, it’s finally time to kill that great big eye Continue reading →
I started this article after finally downing Karn (the “final boss” of Duels of the Planeswalkers) for the first time. Karn’s deck is a brutal artifact deck that in the first game wiped my board with Steel Hellkite’s special ability. That was rough, but fair. The second game, Karn used both a Mox Sapphire and a Tinker. And I now had evidence that Karn was cheating.
After the jump, Karn is cheating. But now, so am I? Continue reading →
A new day is dawning and Sir Digsalot is feelin’ pretty good about all the cool stuff he just found. It’s time to find some corruption to deal with! That means a bit of prep work. I have my grappling hook, but I’ll also need to make a bunch of lesser health potions and convert them to standard health potions. Last but not least: the portable spawn. That means a door and a bed. Any time you venture far from home, it’s a good idea to take a bed, door, and maybe a workbench (though you can always make one later). You can make a little room as a far-from-home spawn to save you a lot of time if you die. Then you use the hammer to pick it back up again when you’re done.
I run to the right all day, past vast deserts and a jungle and steep mountains, then make myself a little safehouse to wile away the night. I can always open the door and kill some stuff with arrows, then shut the door for safety. If I die, no biggie…
After the break, dealing with corruption Continue reading →
Chandra Nalaar saved my life yesterday, and I wasn’t expecting it at all. It was my first game of Archenemy mode, and I was going in blind. Chandra and Sorin Markov were my partners, and we were facing off against a powerful Koth. The first few events were mana and board sweepers, and my team was having trouble putting our defenses together. I took the brunt of the attacks, and my life total was falling fast. I was prepared to restart the match, when Chandra suddenly began picking off creatures that were attacking me. That help gave me the space I needed, and my team roared back and took down Koth’s 40 life.
After the jump, is Archenemy mode a great group game? Continue reading →
Sir Digsalot has a full set if iron armor, a silver bow, and 145 flaming arrows. It’s time to venture out at night and kill as many Demon Eyes as possible. Kill Eyes, get lenses, use 10 lenses to make the thing that summons the big eye boss. Of course, I’ll fend off lots of zombies along the way, and being out at night all that time will mean a few more fallen stars, too. I’m merrily running around the surface, waiting for the sun to set, when it happens.
After the break: Things don’t exactly go as planned… Continue reading →
Koth was a challenge. Between his Rockslide Elementals and his multiple copies of Spitting Earth, he was clearing my creatures off the table faster than I was able to play them. In the end, it took three tries to finish him off and unlock both his deck and the first upgrade to my own. That said, I didn’t care. An AI opponent to play against can sometimes be exactly what a collectible card game needs.
After the jump, why even the simplest AI can improve a collectible card game Continue reading →
Sir Digsalot has made his little stone fort and begins another night of digging beneath it before exploring the surface during the day. I head straight down to where the background changes, signifying that I’m in “underground” layer. That’s when I find a huge section of sand. Sand! You might think sand is useless crap.
After the jump, you’d be wrong. Continue reading →
