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<a href="/">home</a> <span style="color:gray"> / </span>
<a href="/misc.html">misc</a> <span style="color:gray"> / </span>
<span style="color: black;">video games</span>
<!-- <h2>Good Office Products<span style="font-family: helvetica;">.</span></h2> -->
<span style="font-size: smaller;">
<h2>Memorable <span style="color:gray;">experiences</span></h2>
<h4>2024</h4>
<a style="color: black;" href="https://store.steampowered.com/app/213670/South_Park_The_Stick_of_Truth/">South Park: The Stick of Truth</a>,<span style="color:gray;"> Obsidian Entertainment, Ubisoft</span></br>
<h4>2023</h4>
<a style="color: black;" href="https://store.steampowered.com/app/1017900/Age_of_Empires_Definitive_Edition/">Age of Empires Definite Edition</a>,<span style="color:gray;"> Ensemble Studios, Forgotten Empires, Tantalus</span></br>
<h4>2022</h4>
<p>
<a style="color: black;" href="https://store.steampowered.com/app/1794680/Vampire_Survivors/">Vampire Survivors</a>,<span style="color:gray;"> Poncle</span>
<h4>2021</h4>
<!-- <a style="color: black;" href="https://store.steampowered.com/app/1296360/Archvale/">Archvale</a>, <span style="color:gray;"> idoz & phops/Humble Bundle</span><br> -->
<a style="color: black;" href="https://store.steampowered.com/app/246420/Kingdom_Rush___Tower_Defense/">Kingdom Rush</a> & <a style="color: black;" href="https://store.steampowered.com/app/458710/Kingdom_Rush_Frontiers__Tower_Defense/">Kingdom Rush Frontiers</a>,<span style="color:gray;"> Ironhide Game Studios</span></br>
<a style="color: black;" href="https://store.steampowered.com/app/609320/FAR_Lone_Sails/">Far: Lone Sails</a>,<span style="color:gray;"> Okomotive/Assembly Entertainment</span>
<h4>2020</h4>
<a style="color: black;" href="https://store.steampowered.com/app/283640/Salt_and_Sanctuary/">Salt & Sanctuary</a>,<span style="color:gray;"> Ska Studios</span></br>
<h4>2018</h4>
<a style="color: black;" href="https://store.steampowered.com/app/504230/Celeste/">Celeste</a>,<span style="color:gray;"> ExtremelyOK Games</span></br>
Titanfall 2 (Campaign Only),<span style="color:gray;"> Respawn/EA</span></br>
<h4>2017</h4>
<a style="color: black;" href="https://store.steampowered.com/app/304430/INSIDE/">Inside</a>,<span style="color:gray;"> Playdead</span></br>
<!-- <h4>2016</h4>
<a style="color: black;" href="https://store.steampowered.com/sub/94174/">Dark Souls III</a>,<span style="color:gray;"> FromSoftware</span></br>
<a style="color: black;" href="https://store.steampowered.com/app/271590/Grand_Theft_Auto_V/">GTA V</a>,<span style="color:gray;"> Rockstar Games</span></br> -->
<h4>2014</h4>
Battlefield 3 (Campaign Only),<span style="color:gray;"> DICE/EA</span></br>
<!-- <a style="color: black;" href="https://store.steampowered.com/app/220240/Far_Cry_3/">Far Cry 3</a>,<span style="color:gray;"> Ubisoft</span></br>
<a style="color: black;" href="https://store.steampowered.com/app/489830/The_Elder_Scrolls_V_Skyrim_Special_Edition/">Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim</a>,<span style="color:gray;"> Bethesda Softworks</span></br> -->
<a style="color: black;" href="https://store.steampowered.com/app/33230/Assassins_Creed_2/">Assassin's Creed 2</a>, <a style="color: black;" href="https://store.steampowered.com/app/48190/Assassins_Creed_Brotherhood/">Brotherhood</a> & <a style="color: black;" href="https://store.steampowered.com/app/201870/Assassins_Creed_Revelations/">Revelation</a>,<span style="color:gray;"> Ubisoft</span></br>
<h4>2011</h4>
<a style="color: black;" href="https://store.steampowered.com/app/204030/Fable__The_Lost_Chapters/">Fable - The Lost Chapters</a>,<span style="color:gray;"> Lionhead/Microsoft</span><br>
<a style="color: black;" href="https://store.steampowered.com/app/22000/World_of_Goo/">World of Goo</a>,<span style="color:gray;"> 2D Boy </span><br>
<a style="color: black;" href="https://www.xbox.com/en-IN/games/store/dantes-inferno/C0X6N5963CTW">Dante's Inferno (PSP)</a>,<span style="color:gray;">Visceral Games/EA</span></br>
<span style="color:gray; font-size: 18px; ">Only playable/available to purchase on Xbox Series X/S in 2023.</span>
<h4>2009</h4>
<!-- <a style="color: black;" href="https://store.steampowered.com/app/900883/The_Elder_Scrolls_IV_Oblivion_Game_of_the_Year_Edition_Deluxe/">Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion</a>,<span style="color:gray;"> Bethesda Softworks</span></br> -->
<a style="color: black;" href="https://store.steampowered.com/sub/817628/?snr=1_5_9__403">GTA Vice City & San Andreas</a>,<span style="color:gray;"> Rockstar Games</span></br>
<h4>2008</h4>
Pokemon Emerald,<span style="color:gray;"> Gamefreak/Nintendo</span></br>
<h4>2007</h4>
<!-- Age of Empires II: The Age of Kings,<span style="color:gray;"> Ensemble Studios/Microsoft</span></br> -->
Need for Speed II,<span style="color:gray;"> EA Canada</span></br>
<h4>2006</h4>
<a style="color: black;" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Recoil_(video_game)">Recoil</a>, <span style="color:gray;"> Zipper Interactive/Westwood Studios, EA</span></br>
<a style="color: black;" href="https://store.steampowered.com/app/2300/DOOM_II/">DOOM II</a>, <span style="color:gray;"> iD Software</span></br>
<h4>2003</h4>
Toy Story 2: Buzz Lightyear to the Rescue,<span style="color:gray;"> Traveller's Tales/Disney Interactive</span></br>
<h4>2002</h4>
<a style="color: black;" href="https://www.gog.com/en/game/speed_busters">Speed Busters</a>,<span style="color:gray;"> Ubisoft</span></br>
</p>
<hr>
<span style="color:gray; font-size: 14px;">The "year" is when I played the game, not necessarily the release dates of titles. Also, I have been <a href="/vg-log-Sept23.html"><i>keeping a log</i></a> of played/quit/backlogged games.</span>
<h2>Bittersweet <span style="color:gray;">memories</span></h2>
<p>
☹ <b>Clash Royale</b>, iOS/Android, Supercell.</br>
<span style="color:gray; font-size: 16px;">This was my go-to game (though mobile) for years.</span></p>
<p><span style="color:gray; font-size: 16px;">Impeccable game design kept every new battle fresh, quick responses and strategy ensured victories and a simple clean UI was tailored for touchscreens. Very well optimized to run smoothly even in lower end phones and a well engineered netcode to work in low speed internet connections. The billions they raked for years showed the success. This was the best online-only game on iOS/Android if you enjoyed real time strategy.</span></p>
<p><span style="color:gray; font-size: 16px;">What happened? Business decisions on greed. The game was free and still is free. Free to play, not to progress. To understand better, let’s understand the core loop.
</span></p>
<p><span style="color:gray; font-size: 16px;">You play a 3-minute match with another player using a deck of 8 troops which you can select from 104 + 5 (only one per deck of 8) cards, giving you $104 \choose 8$ + $\left( \binom{104}{7} \times \binom{5}{1} \right)$ combinations to play! This is an incredibly big number and while you could try out all the combinations, only sensible ones would win you matches at the medium-higher leagues. You and your opponent have three towers in parallel (two identical secondary and one main, which has higher hitpoints & damage), with the main tower a bit further deeper than the first two secondary towers - this ensured troops (cards) you placed couldn't directly attack the main tower and would have to destroy either secondary tower to be able to attack the main tower. Think of this formation as an isosceles triangle with the main tower at the top.</span>
<p><span style="color:gray; font-size: 16px;"> To win you had to destroy the main tower which instantly won you the game, destroy a secondary or both within 3 minutes or if this wasn't met, deal maximum damage. Your skills lied in careful strategic positioning of your troops, how to counter enemy attacks, min-max the game, etc.</span></p>
<p><span style="color:gray; font-size: 16px;"> Cards come in different rarity types (5 in total from normal to champion and exlixir cost (just another name for a timer which would increment by one roughly every 2-3 seconds, storing a maximum of 10 elixir or about 25s of not playing a card)), different types (troops, buildings, spells) and each have unique abilities, hitpoints and damage numbers that scale with the level the card is at - here comes the monetization part. To have a fair advantage at matches your cards levels ideally should be the same of the enemy else even if you are extremely talented, a difference of one-two levels higher would mean the match.
</span></p>
<p><span style="color:gray; font-size: 16px;"> You earned "lootboxed-chests" when you won a match - these chests used to come in many types, the common ones giving you a few cards of the same rarity, to the very rarer ones that would give hundreds of cards of common to rare types to a single card of the maximum rarity - champion. You would need a fixed number of same cards for one single card troop to upgrade to the next level. For example, if we label all cards like $A_1, A_2, A_3 \dots A_{109}$, you would need 100 cards of $A_1$ to level up the single $A_1$ card to a higher level which went up the higher the level you wanted to achieve. Rarer cards required less cards and common required many. To level up all 109 cards you would need around ~1,320,000 cards in total which is insane. Leveling up a card on the top of the number of cards required needs gold which again is earned from chest and clans in measly quantities of approximately 100,000 per month of regular grind and to max all cards you needed around 26 million! That is about 260 months or 21 years if you're a free player.</span></p>
<p><span style="color:gray; font-size: 16px;">You have two ways you can do this - either by paying real money or playing for free for decades. Initially this wasn't much of a deal as it was (and still is) a free game and a very polished one, free from any advertisements. The gold (and gems - paid currency that could be used to big, beefy chests full of cards or lots of gold) and cards you got playing free was adequate - the game was more fun to just chill for 15-20 mins, forget about it and go on with your work. It was the perfect "shitter" game you played while sitting on the toilet. You could maybe throw in $5 (use up your grandma’s iTunes gift cards) every now and then for a few cosmetics, holiday offers which give a decent amount of cards to upgrade faster - reach higher stages.</span></p>
<p><span style="color:gray; font-size: 16px;">Good things change, cue in 2023. The gold, gems and cards you got were very scarce, the economics and rarities were changed. The fun 2v2 mode that I enjoyed with friends was removed. The $5 that would give a decent amount of virtual currency for you to enjoy changed to a measly quantity. </span></p>
<p><span style="color:gray; font-size: 16px;">The developers do not listen or care what the community wants because even if the rich 10% dump in thousands of dollars, the game will still keep afloat just like a dead body. It irks me the most as this was a genuinely good game with a great core gameplay loop, quite crazy, unique and fun, polished to perfection. I <b>can’t recommend this to you in 2023</b> as it’s frustrating to play without spending hundreds of dollars to compete fairly, enjoy and progress. You could still play it for free but it’s rather wiser to get checked to a mental asylum for the breakdowns, trauma & poverty you would eventually be inflicted by this disgrace.</span></p>
<p>
☹ <b>Runescape</b>, PC/Mac, Jagex.<br>
<span style="color:gray; font-size: 16px;">
I used to religiously enjoy this game during late the 2008-2010s. Drop my school bag, grab a snack and join friends online to journey to new lands to discover new stories and lore, train together, make money, upgrade gear, joke and make funny videos and chill. Buy iron ore from free servers for lower prices and sell it at a profit in members (paid) worlds. So many memes, so much fun, so much wow. </span></p>
<p><span style="color:gray; font-size: 16px;"> Recently I tried Runescape in 2023 as I had about three months of vacation. Bought a 3 months membership and played it quite regularly. Three months later, I came out broken, unsatisfied and $30 poorer. I was amazed how this game is profitable in 2023 and why would anyone play this?</span> </p>
<p> <span style="color:gray; font-size: 16px;">The nostalgic, iconic MMORPG still goes on, somehow. Mainly because it fills a niche area, it’s nostalgic, it's casual, is cheap (~$60/yr or you can also pay for membership using in-game money but I believe <i>time enjoyed</i> is more expensive than cash) and is available on all platforms. It’s the only game where you can grind for years to progress. It’s a great time waster and a life wrecker for the addiction it causes. </span></p>
<p> <span style="color:gray; font-size: 16px;">It’s a hallmark in game design to make the grind addictive and long-run to get constant monthly/yearly subscriptions. Runescape has near perfect reward systems that abuse your dopamine system - you level up in many skills, you see xp rates (You need 5.8 Billion XP! split evenly across 29 skills to max your character), you get new unlocks, you continue the grind for your brain wants more virtual, useless rewards, to feel accomplished. You feel like you have done something. The popularity seems to make more sense if you consider the pandemic that made everyone stay at home for years, often without a job, task or anything. Accomplishing something though virtually meant coping or being human during the tragic pandemic. </span></p>
<p><span style="color:gray; font-size: 16px;">Bad enough, the game relies on RNG systems to give you rewards/drops from various activities, boss monsters and chests. A player might get so much in-game money or a desired item in a day due to a good roll while you will keep grinding, slaying/engaging in rare, high drop activities for months to even get a fraction of that. This makes players keep playing and doing the same task again and again for "good loot". Devious game design that does not respect your time at all.</span>
<p> <span style="color:gray; font-size: 16px;"> Technically, Runescape is a glorified clicker, but a <i>good glorified</i> clicker due to years of content and variety of checklist tasks you can do, you can grind. The bosses do require quick reflexes and low ping but you still just can play the whole game using a mouse. </span></p>
<p><span style="color:gray; font-size: 16px;">
This is great if it was 2005 or even 2010, but no way in 2023. The gameplay is atrociously bad due to a very unresponsive laggy tick system. Every game has tick systems - that is updating the core game loop (update position, health, enemy etc). Modern games running at 60fps usually have 50/60 ticks per second which comes to a tick taking 0.02s, Runescape’s tick lasts 0.6s, ~30 times slower. </span></p>
<p><span style="color:gray; font-size: 16px;">Outdated gameplay aside, RuneScape (RS3) in 2023 is swarming with microtransactions, a pay to win battle-pass, loot-boxes scream every time you open, multiple fear-of-missing-out (FOMO) events running simultaneously. Years of storytelling is bludgeoned due to poor writing, plotholes, memorable characters retconned due to forced diversity. The community is an echochamber, the official chatsevers near dystopian, deleting your criticism, banning you for questioning. It’s terrible and terrifying. </span></p>
<p><span style="color:gray; font-size: 16px;">Thankfully, it’s on its deathbed, bleeding old players and not adding new. I’m doing my part and justice for <b>not recommending</b> you this abomination. Trust me, if you want a good life, don't touch this game.</span></p>
<hr>
<p> <span style="color:gray; font-size: 14px; ">I dislike online games as they are often plagued with issues ranging from toxic communities (echo chambers), unfair monetization, unjust moderation and poor balancing. </span></p>
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