Blogging the experience of gameplayhttps://www.gamelog.cl/gamers/GamerPage.php?idgamer=1642https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=5630Monster Hunter Tri is the third installment of the Monster Hunter series. I would personally classify it as a three dimensional third person hack and slash with rpg elements. The player plays the role of a hunter who is tasked with fighting monsters, many of which resemble dinosaurs, to save an island village. As the player progresses through the game, he or she can upgrade weapons, armor, and different aspects of the village. ==Story== The game starts with the player arriving at an island that is suffering from frequent and abnormal earthquakes. The villagers ask the player to help them stop the earthquakes by hunting the monster they believe to be causing the earthquakes, the Lagiacrus. The Lagiacrus is an electric sea dragon that is capable of walking on land. Being a relatively new hunter, the player must first hone their skills by completing quests and hunting other monsters before being able to hunt the monster believed to be causing the earthquakes. The village will help the player along the way and provides the player with a fishing fleet and a farm which both help the player collect different types of items. There is also a trader that will come to the village occasionally to make trades with the player. After the player completes the mission to hunt and kill the Lagiacrus, the player learns that the Lagiacrus was not causing the earthquakes. The village continues to suffer from earthquakes, and the player must now find the cause and try to stop the earthquakes. The player eventually learns that the real cause of the earthquakes is an underwater dragon called a Ceadeus. Unlike the Lagiacrus, the Ceadeus is unable to come on land. The quest to hunt the Ceadeus is the final story quest of the game. After the player completes that quest, additional quests will open up that allow the player to test their skills. ==Upgrades== As the player kills monsters in the game, he or she is able to collect different items from the monsters by carving up the corpse. The player can also collect different types of plants and bugs and mine for different types of ores. These items the player collects can be used to forge new weapons and armor or upgrade current weapons and armor at the village blacksmith. Each upgrade typically has some type of benefit that comes with it. Sometimes it is just a regular increase in the power of the weapon, but occasionally it will add an elemental aspect of damage to the weapon. Different weapons also have different durability ratings that are affected by upgrades. The player is also able to upgrade the fishing fleet and the farm in the village. The farm provides four facilities that are able to produce different types of items. These facilities are the field, shroom, beehive, and insect box facilities. The player is initially provided with just the field and shroom facilities. By collecting items while out hunting the player is able to unlock the beehive and insect box facilities. The player is also able to upgrade each facility which will increase the crop yield. The fishing fleet consists of up to three boats that the player is able to send out on short term trips with the objective of fishing, finding treasure, or hunting monsters. The player initially starts out with one ship but is able to unlock other ships and upgrade the ships already owned by collecting certain items throughout the game. Both the fishing fleet and the farm help the player acquire items which can be used to upgrade the player's equipment. ==Hunting== Hunting typically consists of accepting a mission to kill or catch a certain type of monster and then completing the mission. In Monster Hunter Tri, the player is able to choose from up to seven weapon classes: sword and shield, great sword, hammer, lance, bowgun, switch ax, and long sword. The long sword is not unlocked until later in the game. Each weapon class has its own fighting style which allows the player to choose how to fight the monsters in the game. For example, while the sword and shield is a fast striking weapon, the great sword is significantly slower but makes up for that slowness by having a very powerful attack. Hunting is typically done on land against dragon or dinosaur type creatures, of which there are a few that can fly. But Monster Hunter Tri introduced an underwater fighting aspect of the game that is more difficult than fighting on land. The water limits the movement of the player and can make it difficult to fight. A player can also participate in a “free hunt” mode, in which the player exits the village to explore the island. While the player is exploring, certain monsters can appear that the player is able to kill. This allows the player to collect resources from these monsters without having to do the quest again. This is beneficial because, during a quest, the player is limited to 50 minutes instead of an infinite amount of time like during a free hunt. Another benefit is that if the player is defeated by the monster there is no penalty like in a quest where the player would fail the quest. The game does limit what monsters can appear during a free hunt. The player is not allowed to fight a monster during a free hunt that they have not already killed during a quest. The game also only allows certain types of monsters to appear in the free hunt area. ==Problems== Although I love the Monster Hunter series, there are a few things about Monster Hunter Tri that I dislike. One aspect of the game that I do not enjoy is underwater fighting. The camera controls can sometimes not act like you would expect them to, especially if you're near the surface of the water. It also seems that, while the water severely limits your ability to move and fight, the monster you're fighting seems to be moving easier than when fighting on land. I also dislike the trader who comes to the village. There are some items that you can only acquire from him, but the items that he will accept as trade almost never show up. This makes it very difficult to upgrade some of the farm facilities or your fishing boats. Despite these two minor problems, I still enjoy the game very much and would recommend it to almost anyone.Tue, 16 Apr 2013 23:36:32 CSThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=5630&iddiary=9913https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=5588realMyst is a 3D remake of the original game Myst. Myst and realMyst are first person puzzle exploration games for the PC. While the original Myst was a 2-dimensional flat game where the user explored by clicking to move to different frames, realMyst is 3-dimensional with updated graphics. The story is still the same, but movement and interaction with the surrounding environment is different. In realMyst the player starts out on a deserted island called Myst with no back story, no hints as to what he or she is supposed to do, and no real idea what the game is about. The player must explore the island and solve various puzzles to advance to the next stage of the game. Unfortunately for the player, the game does not really tell player what is a puzzle. The fact that certain things in the game are puzzles is just another puzzle for the player to solve. By solving puzzles on the island the player is transported to other worlds called "Ages." Each Age requires that the player solve additional puzzles to return back to the island. In these Ages the player will find pages of two separate journals that he or she must collect and bring back to the island. As the player progresses through the game, parts of the back story are pieced together to figure out what is going on. I was actually unable to finish the game. When I first started playing, it took me about a day and a half to figure out what I was supposed to be doing. The main puzzle on the island of Myst from what I could figure out was showing you where to go to get to the other Ages; but to actually get to a different Age, I had to solve another puzzle. The first Age I was able to get to was a world called Stoneship. The world had a boat that seemed to have been built into a giant rock in the sea. Exploring the world and solving the puzzle to return to the island took me days. After I got back to Myst, I solved a puzzle that allowed me access to the Age called Channelwood. I was never able to solve all of the puzzles of Channelwood and was unable to return to the island to continue to progress through the game. The puzzles in the game are quite difficult, and the player is not really given any direction in how to go about solving them. This caused many instances of frustration and me having to walk away from the computer for a bit before being able to continue on. In the two Ages I was able to get to, there were some interactive elements of the Age that did not seem to have any meaning to the Age I was currently in. I could not tell if they were there as hints for other Ages or to give me some idea about the back story of the game. There were also interactive elements of the game that did not appear to have any effect. I'm also not sure what the journal pages that I was collecting were for. The controls of realMyst were also kind of complicated. The left and right mouse buttons could be used to move forward and backward, but the left mouse button was also how the player interacted with the environment. A player could also use the w key to move forward and the s key to move backward, but the a and d keys did nothing. The mouse was used to move the camera so the player could look around. While not impossible, moving around and exploring the world were difficult. Even though I would get frustrated while playing and was unable to complete the game, I did enjoy playing. Puzzle and exploration games are two of my favorite genres. Unfortunately, there were some aspects of the game that were disappointing, such as the interactive elements that did not seem to do anything and the controls.Thu, 28 Feb 2013 11:57:25 CSThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=5588&iddiary=9880https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=5551Magic: The Gathering: Jan. 18, 2013 - February 2, 2013 Session 1: Jan. 18, 2013 Sessions 2-3: Jan. 25, 2013 Sessions 4-5: Jan. 26, 2013 Session 6: Jan. 27, 2013 Session 7: Feb. 1, 2013 Magic: The Gathering(MtG) is a trading card game set in a fantasy world full of monsters and magic. Players build decks to summon monsters and cast spells to fight against eachother. The world of MtG has five colors/elements: white/plains, blue/islands, black/swamps, red/mountains, green/forests. The different colors each have their own style of play that is best suited for them. These styles and colors can be combined to create interesting decks and combinations that can be very fun to play. This analysis will contain a very brief overview of the game due to the fact that the game can be very complicated to explain fully. ===Formats=== MtG has different formats that determine how the game is structured, but the way the game is played typically stays the same. The format of the game determines the card pool from which players get to build their decks and the number of cards their decks require. In the constructed formats players are required to have a minimum of 60 cards in their decks, while in the limited formats only 40 cards are required. Another difference between these two formats are what cards can be in a player's deck. In constructed a player builds his or her deck ahead of time and brings it to the event to play. In a limited event a player has a very limited set of cards to build a deck from. For example, in a draft each player opens a booster pack containing 15 cards, picks a card they want, and then passes the pack to the person on their left. This continues until all of the first packs are empty. It then happens again with a second pack that gets passed to the right and a third pack which gets passed to the left again. Players then get to build a 40 card deck from the cards they chose. In addition to these limitation, players are also limited to what cards they are allowed to use. There are time-based formats that determine what cards are allowed. Some of these formats are standard, modern, and vintage. Standard includes the most recent two blocks and the most recent core set. Modern includes all sets all the way back to 8th edition. Vintage goes even further and includes all sets ever created. In constructed formats players are typically limited to a 4 copies of a card(except basic land cards) in a deck. There are some cards that have been restricted or completely banned. Restricted cards have a lower limit than 4 and banned cards are unusable. ===Game Field=== During a game of MtG, there are certain areas/zones of the game field. These are not always very well defined. The main zones during a game are the library, graveyard, battlefield, hand, and exile zones. A player's facedown deck during the game is called their library. A player is not allowed to look through their library unless they cast a spell that allows them to do that. The graveyard is where creatures, spells, and any other cards that are removed from the battlefield go. Most spells go to the graveyard after they are cast and do not remain on the battlefield. The battlefield is where creatures are summoned and where a player keeps their land cards they use to summon creatures and cast spells. A player's hand is the cards they draw throughout the game that they have not played yet. A player may not know what is in their opponents hand unless a card allows them to. The exile zone is where cards that are removed from the game go. Through gameplay some cards will get removed from the game and not be allowed back in until the game is over. ===Gameplay=== To start a game of MtG each player needs a deck that follows the format of the event. The decision of who plays first is made by whoever wins a dice roll typically. Once it is decided who plays first, each player shuffles his or her deck and offers it to their opponent to shuffle. Each player sets their life total to 20 and then draws 7 cards as their opening hands. If a player is unhappy with their opening hand, he or she is allowed to mulligan but is required to draw one less card each time he or she mulligans. A player can mulligan until their hand is completely empty. Once both players have decided to keep their hands, player 1's turn starts. He or she skips their draw step, plays what they can, and then ends their turn. Players take turns summoning creatures, casting spells, and attacking eachother until someone wins the game. In order to cast spells and summon creatures, a player must have a resource called mana. Mana is produced by land cards which a player is only allowed to play once per turn, unless otherwise stated on a card being played. In order to produce mana, a player must turn a land card sideways(called tapping). Each land card can only produce certain colors of mana, and most spells require a certain type of mana be used to cast them. Win conditions can vary depending on the cards being played. Typically one player wins when the other player's life total reaches 0, but there are alternate win conditions. For example, if a player must draw a card when their library has no cards in it, they lose the game. When playing MtG in an officially sanctioned event, two people play for a best 2 out of 3 games. Each 3 game set is called a match. ===Sessions=== Each of these sessions consisted of a 4 round swiss style event. Each round was a match against one opponent. Winners and losers of each round typically only get paired with people who have one the same number of matches as themselves. --Session 1-- Session 1 was a standard constructed event held at a store called Heroes and Dreams in Flowood, MS. I played a black red zombie deck that a friend of mine had built. I chose to use this deck because I was unfamiliar with the deck, and I thought it might allow me to better analyze the game as a whole. 3 of the 4 people I played against that night were running similar if not the same decks. This is a result of how the game has changed in recent times and will be discussed later in the conclusion. I ended up winning 2 out of 4 matches that night. --Session 2-- Session 2 was a modern constructed event held at the same store as session 1. I had never played in a modern event before this, and didn't really know what to expect. I once again played a deck that a friend built, but this time it was because I don't have enough older cards to build a decent modern deck. The deck I played was a very fast mono-red goblin deck. Since modern allows for older cards there are some combos that can be rather crazy. Matches 1 and 2 were straight forward and did not contain any crazy combos that would confuse me. My third match however is a different story. My opponent admitted before we even started that he had found the decklist online and had decided to build it. I should have known that wasn't a good sign. Game 1 ended by turn 4 when he dealt me a total of 20 damage in one turn by casting spells that increased how much mana he had and then casting a spell that had an ability called storm. Storm allows a player to copy a spell for every time another spell had been cast before it. So he managed to cast 19 spells before casting the one with storm and was able to copy it 19 times. Game 2 ended when he used the storm ability to get 14 1/1 goblins on the field by turn 3. There was only one card in my deck that could let me survive that, and I didn't draw it. Match 4 was similar in that my opponent once again found a deck online to build and bring to the event, although I don't remember what deck he played. After winning my first two matches, I went on to lose the next two for a record of 2-2. --Sessions 3, 4, 5, & 6-- Sessions 3 through 6 were all prerelease events for the new set that was coming out called Gatecrash. 3, 4, and 5 were at Heroes and Dreams, while 6 was at a shop called Van's Comics and Cards in Ridgeland, MS. Prerelease events are a limited format called sealed. Each player receives 6 booster packs and builds the best deck they can that has a minimum of 40 cards. In limited events like this the game is based more in luck and a player's deck building skills. In these 4 sessions luck was not on my side, and my deck building skills are not the best. While I didn't win any of these events, I did manage to accomplish some things I've never been able to do before. I drew a match against the highest ranking MtG judge in Mississippi; and I finally beat the guy who taught me how to play in a game, although I still lost the match. --Session 7-- Session 7 was a Gatecrash draft event at Van's Comics and Cards. This event was by far the best for me. I enjoy drafting more than any other type of format. I ended up building a great deck and only lost one match to the guy who taught me to play. One of my matches really stands out because I was playing a kid in junior high who was still somewhat learning the game. Some of the things that would happen during that match made the entire table laugh. ===Conclusion=== While I enjoy playing MtG, there exists a problem with the game that has started happening relatively recently. I alluded to this problem in my discussion of sessions 1 and 2. The problem occurs because people can go online and find decklists for the top decks at recent large events and build those decks to use. This wouldn't be such a huge problem if those decks wouldn't cost upwards of $500. It essentially boils down to people who can afford the best decks always win. There is very little creativity in the deck building process anymore. This is why I enjoy limited events over constructed events. With limited events, it's not about who can afford the most expensive cards. It becomes about who can build the better deck given limited resources. Another problem that I've found with the game is how complicated it has become. It can be very hard for new players to get into the game. There are so many rules and complex interactions that I've met judges who couldn't answer questions with 100% certainty. When teaching a new player the basics of the game, I've found it's easier to jump right in and play a game except with revealed hands to help them grasp the basic concepts of the game. Despite these problems, if you can find a group of friends to play with and get a handle on the basic game concepts, Magic: the Gathering is a fun way to spend a night with friends.Tue, 05 Feb 2013 00:44:36 CSThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=5551&iddiary=9847