|
| |
The PalinDrome: Palin's Thoughts for October 27, 2007:
Initial Thoughts To
Online Play
Sorry for the lack of a post yesterday. I was looking forward to writing
about the online play, but by the time I actually managed to get on, it was
getting rather late. So, I'm going to talk about it today.
I have to say, I'm somewhat disappointed in the online battling portion of
the site. I was under the impression that there were no downloads, which was
great because I'm not a Windows user (I have it, I just don't use it much
because I don't like it). And I know it's possible to do online battling via
Flash or even Java applets, because I've seen it done before. So when I found
out that I'd have to download a program and keep it running while I'm on the
ChaoticGame site in order to play, it seemed rather ridiculous. And it isn't
like the program is even very good. So far, I've had it close unexpectedly a few
times, and had it log me off for no reason a few other times. All of this
happens while I'm battling, leaving my creatures commander-less while the
opponent just beats up on them for an easy win. And, while I understand that it
is beta, if you're going to delay a game for almost a year in order to get the
online portion straightened out, it'd better work when you do release it.
I have a smaller complaint about the challenge system and it's companion,
the tournament page. I was expecting more of a room-based system in which one
person creates an empty "table," which broadcasts to the other players that that
person is looking for a game. This system is used by most other online, two
player games (like those on Yahoo Games and Pogo). I don't like having to
challenge a specific person, because there's no guarantee that they'll accept,
and if they do accept there's no alert to inform you of it. This leads to yet
another situation where you can lose a game without even knowing it. Also, while
I like that there's a button on the ranking page that lets you challenge people,
there's no indication as to whether or not they can accept challenges
[challenges only go through if a) they're logged on to the site and the game, b)
they're available, and c) they're not in another game].
That said, when everything works, the game is pretty fun. It's easy to
attack (just click the card you want and then press "Play"), and the chat isn't
too bad either (it has its kinks, like a backspace that works but doesn't show
that it's working until you try to type again). I really like how the strikes
are timed, because I was worried that some unscrupulous players might just stall
until their opponent gets bored and surrenders. The small images above the chat
window show which attacks were last played (though I would much prefer a
text-based indicator right in the chat window of who played what and how much
damage it did). It's fun as long as you can get it working.
Finally, the Card of the Day for today is a Battlegear called Stone Mail. I
imagine this getting some use in 1v1 matches (I already played against one
person using it, and only managed to win because I got some lucky draws). It has
a number of effects, the most important being that the Creature equipped with it
gains 50 Energy. However, it comes at a price: the armor is so heavy that the
Creature wearing it can't move or use any activated abilities, and it takes 5
extra damage any time it is hurt. However, moving isn't terribly important in a
1v1, and most activated abilities on Creatures aren't all that useful at this
stage in the game. And although you take 5 extra damage every time you are
damaged, the 50 extra Energy offsets that a great deal. If you ever find
yourself in the possession of a Stone Mail, you should try it out. I don't think
you'll be disappointed.
--Palin (formerly Dangeresque)
PS: One more thing. I was reading the ChaoticGame.com Knowledge Base a few days
ago (it's under the "Help" portion of the site), and I learned something
interesting regarding the effect "Element X." It turns out that a creature
doesn't need to have the same Element as the Element X type in order to benefit
from it. For instance, if I were to equip my Rellim (a Water type) with a
Viledriver (gives Fire 5), and then try to use Steam Rage (5 Fire, 5 Water), it
would still do 10 damage even though Rellim doesn't have Fire. This is because
Fire 5 affects Fire-type attacks, not Fire-type creatures. Steam Rage, being
both Fire and Water, does 5 Water damage, and then does an extra 5 damage
because of Fire 5. This means that creatures that lack a certain Element can
still benefit from attacks containing that Element, and can do it for the entire
match (as opposed to if you equipped them with something like a Pyroblaster or a
Diamond of Vlaric, which only lasts the turn you sacrifice it). Nifty, huh?
|
