The year of the Dra-… ARPG?

Inevitably I am going to buy Diablo 3.  Ever since watching the upper half of a player being bitten off and his body tossed aside, I knew I wanted to play it.  Is it a true continuation of Diablo 2?  Perhaps in story, but I feel the nitty-gritty, dark, horror-esque style has somewhat lessened.  Maybe Blizzard has spruced the title up a little too much?  Who’s to say?  Oh well.

Currently I am waiting to get into beta for Grinding Gear Games’ Path of Exile.  Perhaps I will or perhaps I will simply wait until the open beta starts.  The overall theme of the game is perfectly grim and despairing.  I feel the true spirit of Diablo/2 in this game.  Well… from the videos at least.  Still needing to try my hand.

After involving myself a bit in the community over at PoE, I was lead to other action rpgs on the frontier.

There is some excitement around the title Grim Dawn.  It is the second arpg to be developed by Iron Lore entertainment, the makers of Titan Quest.  If you enjoyed Titan Quest I would suggest taking a look at Grim Dawn, if you haven’t already.

It doesn’t hold the same atmosphere for me as PoE, but it does well at directing the focus and mindset in the game to that of a war-torn society.

…where iron has replaced gold as currency and the importance of salt as a weapon makes it far too valuable to waste on food.

Next up is R.A.W. – Realms of Ancient War.  Announced back at… E3 2011 I believe.  Just recently starting to increase their publicity.  It looks like it’s going to be a cross platform ARPG (PS Network/XBox Live/PC).  I don’t know all that much about it at the moment.  From the teaser trailer I gather there is going to be three classes (mage/warrior/archer).  The environment and combat pace looks remarkably similar to Diablo 3, maybe a little faster on the pace?  The video may just be sped up, so I can’t say for certain.

After Diablo 3 that’s three additional ARPG titles on the horizon.  Keep an eye on them.

GW2 release date… kind of

So, Arenanet decided to officially declare the release year for GW2.  I’m not really going to go into the whole “year of the dragon” thing.  I wouldn’t be entirely surprised if someone at Arenanet happens to celebrate Chinese New Year and commented “Oh, hey!  GW2 has dragons and this is the year of the dragon!  That’s neat.”  There is no actual “date” associated with the release period for the game.

This year, you’ll finally be able to immerse yourself in the vast, diverse world of Tyria.

That’s about it.  Somewhere between now and December 31, 2012 we will all be playing Guild Wars 2.  For a game that only really took interest in last year I am surprisingly hoping for a winter 2012 release.  Reason?  I want to play TERA for a while before playing GW2.  I would be quite perturbed if I had to choose between which game to play.  Or worse, having to playing them both and effectively diluting my involvement with the game.  Ideally I can get into TERA beta, buy the game on May 1st, and play for several months (7 or so would be perfect) before GW2 comes around.   I could then successfully devote solid “launch time” towards the game.  Besides, Christmas time is usually a profitable season for releasing games.

Side note:.  I’m trying to get a beta key (2 preferably) for Path of Exile.  If anyone knows (or has) a site that is providing these I would be glad to check it out. :)

 

 

Aspirations

What has Thrangis the red been up to these long, long, very quiet months?  Simple and very irregular posts about random things that I like were all this place has seen.  I was really treating my blog like a twitter account, which only assisted in proving I hadn’t died.

My goals for this blog originated in telling my own stories about games I play, reviews about games I play, and guides for games I play.  I lightly touched the last subject with Warhammer Online, but we all know how BiowareMythic is handling that ship.

At the moment I’m not really taking any of the games I am playing seriously.  My re-debut into game blogging will be with En Masse Entertainment’s TERA online.  I’ve wanted to play TERA since seeing the Korean version.  My anticipation for it has only grown after hearing the extensive “westernization” done by EME.

I hope to join the beta testing before it progresses to the open stage.  I understand there is an NDA on the current Alpha testing and that will probably continue over to the CB, but who’s to say for certain?

The biggest reason I want to play TERA is to provide first hand account on whether or not it will be the “asian-grind-fest” that everyone is saying it will.  I have many doubts it will fall into that category with EME at the wheel, but I have no personal experience to validate these doubts.  Only developer promises and speculation.

I also wouldn’t mind dabbling more into video production for the games I play.  Be them guides, tips, or pvp.

Of course, the biggest prize of all will be the awaited release date of Guild Wars 2.  GW2 is, by far, of the highest interest to me in the upcoming MMO market.  So many aspects of the game exude innovative design that I grow weary waiting for the chance to play it.

Perhaps I and many others take our expectations for the game to a higher than normal level, but is that really so surprising when you look at what Arenanet plans to do?

To bundle all of this up.  No, I’m far from dead.  Yes, I plan on talking about games eventually.

P.S. – I do plan on renovating the page at some point before TERA.  You know, to give myself a fresh start with a new look.  I’m sure my banner has had some people wondering “wtf?”.

- TTR

I need a time machine

To bring me forward one year so that I can see this… now.

ArenaNet has lost control of the Mesmer

It would seem this candid, yet obvious, information was meant to hit the internet come Wednesday.  There isn’t much surprise at the final profession being the Mesmer, however, the community grows hungry for the nitty-gritty bits about how the Mesmer will function in GW2.  There is a video out and it exists out of context.  That will be remedied in 2 days time.

As someone who has never really played GW1, I know practically nil about the Mesmer profession.  I understand the basic ideas of it being a master illusionist of sorts, but more than that.  From what I can gather in the video the professions seems able to replicate itself in the forms of other professions for a short while.  Also, the array of weapons available to the profession is very intriguing.  Caster with a greatsword?  Neat-o.  Maybe I’ll post something to follow this up when Anet condones the juicy details.  Maybe…

Still living,

- TTRed