Tag Archives: gaming

April 27, 2023 · 23:41

Slapping a giant

Yup, that’s me, but not in the way that we saw in comic books. This is real. I set up the setting for Microsoft to lose out a few times. And with Amazon staying asleep at the wheel, the option is now with Tencent technologies in one direction, but there are a few more directions to consider. So now it is time to take care of Bethesda, or hat was Bethesda, it is now Microsoft. I saw the claims that it might come to PS5, it might not, yet the reality is that this is stalling technique. It is not the first time that Microsoft did this. They made similar settings in the 90’s. As such some developers out there will have the option to grow in amazing ways. You see, it is time to create two new games. The first is already on my blog. Search for “lawlordtobe + RPG” and you will get most of it immediately. There is one condition, the simple fact that the game will be made for PS5 and Amazon Luna only, optionally later on Tencent, but that is still some time away. You see Microsoft paid 23 billion for Bethesda, as such making them bleed is a nice present for messing with gamers. 

The RPG game
A lot of it is already on this blog, yet I considered a few more items. One setting is that you could get a lot more out of a new era. Between 1568 and 1748 the Dutch had over a dozen wars which involved Spain, Germany, Portugal, England, Sweden and Austria. It would also involve the Golden age of the Netherlands. People like Rembrandt would show the world what the Dutch were capable of. 

My issue here comes from a setting in the Ezio collection. Ubisoft was great in those days and I just replayed these games learning that they are still massively good. But there are issues, nothing against Ubisoft on those titles. But the setting of Brotherhood gives the stage a much larger setting when you apply those graphics to Dutch settings and adjust it for the 17th and 18th century. When we consider that outfits were merely cosmetic, that could alter. You see someone in German garbs would be massively distrusted, but not in Germany. The same for the Spanish but not the French. Outfits matter and that gave me the idea to have tailors with several layers. Three levels of tailor and you could help these tailors out to gain a level. They could only gain ONE level, as such choices become important. Yet a level two tailor would not talk to you until you are dressed as a level 2 person (and live in that city, or have fame). The same for weapons and in some places you cannot walk with a sword, but you could have a dagger. All things that were assumed in Assassins Creed, but now the systems are powerful enough to deal with it (the Xbox 360 and PS3 could not). It allows for new kinds of stealth. Yet line of sight is important, but so is minimal distance and unless you are correctly attired you get all the attention that you never wanted. Also there was no ‘police’ or protection in every corner. There were a lot more in high society places but that was about it. Still the police was not the worst opponent. Cutthroats were that and now we have an entirely new kind of stealth. When we apply that to an RPG it becomes a challenge, no doubt about that. And when you apply this to cities in the Netherlands it matters. You see, the big places were Utrecht, Deventer, Zwolle, Kampen, Haarlem, Leiden, and Amsterdam. The Hague would not get its city rights until 1800. 

Yet this setting towards an RPG would create a new era of gaming. Like the other settings I mentioned you get to have the first two games with similar mechanics, merely a totally different side towards gaming. The Dutch side is often ignored because of its size, yet they had a war that lasted 80 years, in those days that spanned 5-6 generations, then Napoleon made a mess of things and that setting reflects into a nice setting to RPG gaming with optional stealth settings. 

As we start the game we get an choice of three

The initial option is Killer, Soldier and Thief. Each with strengths, but there are three more. You can grow in both sides, so the thief can also become a Brigand or a robber (they are not the same and as you can grow to lets say 5 degrees in the first choice, you can only grow 3 degrees in the second and third options. It allows for a lot more playability. But a good RPG game will have limitations. For example, the Thief will never be allowed in the Merchant guild, as such he cannot grow shops, but he can steal art and become really wealthy that way. The brigand has opportunity there as a smuggler, the robber does not. It is that interaction of styles that allows for the play style a person prefers, or they can really leave their comfort zone and do the opposite. The thief robber and brigand will have much better stealth options than the other styles, the soldier side will have better weapon skills and the killer will be equal if not better with some weapons and have better stealth than the soldier, but less resistance to attacks. That is merely one side. The Dutch had the golden age and as such they had all kinds of art and in those days it was very cheap (by our standards). As the Bethesda games have their own niche, the time to create a new niche becomes important. From a Bethesda point of view the time is right, no matter what they claim, they have time restrictions and Microsoft is making it harder for them and there is the option for the new developer and when you get it right with Sony, you get a new hardcore fan group with up to 32 million fans, no matter what some Microsoft driven guru states. This game was played before and you will have to stick to your guns. The options are clear. Are you a real developer or a wannabe? These ideas are free for exclusive Sony and Amazon Luna developers. 

I talked about one side and gave you another. Yer when you do the search I stated at the beginning you get a lot more and it all fits together in a few ways. When we connect the points you see so much more and you got it without investing time or money. As I stated before, lets collapse Microsoft before December 2026. Lets show Ubisoft that the claim of every year an Assassins Creed game is a BI setting and not an art setting. Is a game business intelligence of art? I see it as art with added mathematics (at times). Let’s teach some of them a lesson by yanking away their markets and in case of Microsoft, who just (apparently) lost their Blizzard/Activision deal. Lets show them that messing with gamers and yanking away gaming pleasure for $7,500,000,000 comes at a price, one they never counted on. The shareholders meeting of Microsoft could end up being massive fun in 2024/2025.

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March 29, 2023 · 23:46

By Jove, I did it

This is not how it started. It started with me being mad at Microsoft. The question is whether I had reason to be mad at them. They bought Bethesda (and stopped Redfall for PS5), now they are out to buy Blizzard and I am seeing the most BS issues get to the front of the line. OK, I can do something about that. You see, my imagination is a good one and I am going to make sure that this $65B investment is the one they choke on. There is also another part. Here we are sitting and we get the line ‘Microsoft says 10 years is ‘sufficient for Sony to develop Call of Duty alternatives’’ Wrong! I finished it today and it is a nice challenge, one no one never saw before. It will be exclusive to Amazon Luna and optionally Sony as well. A game where Microsoft is not welcome. The fun part, they do not have to pay 65 Billion for it. If Amazon buys the other IP (which bags them well over 50 million subscriptions) they get this one for FREE! It becomes their IP and I hope they share it with Sony. I know it is their call at that point, but to see Microsoft fall and implode by 2026 will matter to me (loud evil laughter to follow). 

I had part of the idea and then today, the other parts started to connect. The challenge, the levelling, the area, the environment and a few other parts. The price? Well the other IP is set to $50 million post taxation and a few extra’s, and that is one hell of a long way away from $65,000,000,000. For the non calculus people among us, it is less than a mere 0.1% of the amount, that is how you drown a corporation, by making them drown on their own futility and that is what I set in motion, a new way of gaming, a new challenge that no game streamer has ever seen and there is no cheating here. Any cheater will become a pig faced player (quite literally) and its pig appendages cannot hold a weapon any longer. It can merely run and oink a lot. So the CoD cheat people will run into the light and wonder what is happening. This game will be different and it is no easy reward either. It becomes you against 880,000 others (not all at once mind you). It felt good, to suddenly connect the pieces of the puzzle and let Microsoft eat crow. Yes, I knew I had it in me, yet in all honesty I expected it to take a little longer, optionally a few weeks longer. But there I was, it was a little past 16:00 and the puzzle was ready for presentation to Andy Jassy. The question becomes ‘Is he ready to take Microsoft down a few pegs?’ He might not be, and when that happens, it will be up to Sony, but to be honest. I prefer Amazon as the other IP can be qualified with a dollar value much faster and they would get this solution for free. A win-win I would say. 

What a lovely way to start Thursday!

Have a great day, dream big. Especially if it is about kicking Microsoft in the testies.

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March 25, 2023 · 21:50

Another promise in the works

It was a mere 15 hours ago when we were given ‘UK regulator no longer thinks Microsoft is buying Activision Blizzard to make Call of Duty exclusive’, which might be true, but Microsoft created waves when we were told that Redfall was made an exclusive the moment Microsoft bought Bethesda. Now this does not mean that Call of Duty is becoming an exclusive, but there are other things that Microsoft could do and over time we have seen them do similar actions and they have made a $68 billion wager on ‘their’ success. As such I feel that I need to counter the setting by creating a new IP, never seen before and it will be an Exclusive for Sony and Amazon (well optionally whomever buys it will have it all to themselves. Yet the idea of slamming Microsoft in a few ways is oddly satisfying. The IP is at present set to counter whatever Bethesda and Blizzard have in the works. Of course there will be a time of growth and there is a timeline. Only stupid people think that they have a solution ready of the bat. I already created IP to counter Bethesda’s Elder Scrolls with IP that was actually meant for Bethesda, but when they became part of Microsoft, that went into the drawer. Now it serves my need to drown Microsoft in their own arrogance. So in the net IP instance, I focussed on an First Person game, the reason that CoD is First person, but there is a rather large need to go in another direction and I think I achieved that. I looked at combat, I looked at healing parameters and I looked at some of the weapon settings. Two elements I solved and even as you can collect some things, the aim of collection is set to a more redundant stage. A world with 800K opponents does not need to rely on weapons, it needs to rely on favours and I think I set that in a new limelight. The idea of blending favours and favoured weapons is something not done before (as far as I could tell) and in this world we all adhere to one master, well two if you are a proclaimed master of self. Then I considered the world of income and I discarded it in this case to a much larger extent. There will be options for barter, but bartering will be set to other needs (not missions). Then in light of my everlasting need for replayability I set mana to a different score, to the enhancement of passive abilities. There will be melee, ranged and weapons of reach. And your first choice matters, there will be no real switching in the initial game if you want to stay alive. You see in the old days people could hardly afford one weapon, let alone several. So I decided to set the combat to knife, dagger, gladius, sword, axe, club, mace, pitchfork, spear, bident, trident and a few more. But the game needs to be a challenge and there we have the larger stage (which will be revealed to some extent at a later date). As my mind sifts through challenges and opportunities it is important to keep this an open sandbox game, to give the people choice to go in any direction and to consider the realm they are in. I wanted more than a simple game with trigger points and that is where I found myself. There will always be people that prefer CoD, but when you consider what they achieved in NEW innovations, I feel I have a chance to make Microsoft regret their choices. If this game gets its own following and merely persuade 10% of the gamers to try something else than CoD, my job is done and when Microsoft has to do a Ubisoft and sell the game at 50% less (or more), that additional $68B anchor (in addition to Bethesda) it becomes a $100B chokehold and as I wrote 2 days ago in ‘One thought counters another’ (at https://lawlordtobe.com/2023/03/23/one-thought-counters-another/) the simplified quote “To merely break even Microsoft will have to exceed 72.8 million of PROFIT every day between now and 31/12/2026 and that is merely to cover the last three spendings, not all their waste.” As such I ignored a few items, but the short and sweet became that they need $72.8M a day to break even, so when my IP allows Amazon Luna and Sony to diminish that to a mere $32M a day with the added thought that in gaming they have no chance of getting anywhere near that $72.8M a day, especially with GamePass in play, they stand to lose more and more money. The added benefit of IP that is there not for Microsoft products, Amazon will grow (still hoping they buy the other IP which would land them well over 50,000,000 subscriptions)and Sony will grow a little more too Sony might not grow too much due to me, merely because they have an amazing lineup of games already. But I am adding them to make sure Microsoft gamers will see that there is more out there and the CoD fans will stick with Microsoft, I get that and they are ‘devoted’ fans, but when they merely get more of the same and they seek out other shores, Microsoft will truly be done for and at that point the Exclusive needs of Microsoft are merely nails in their expensive coffin. 

This is seemingly becoming such a nice weekend. I will have a cheese sandwich and consider to meditate on an old expression of adding the angel’s share to the game. I could not find anyone who did the same ever.  A game with over a dozen unique parts never seen in FPS games before. It sucks to be Microsoft soon enough, for now lets see how arrogant they remain.

Enjoy the weekend!

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March 23, 2023 · 09:14

One thought counters another

This is a case we sometimes face. My thought counters theirs and their thought counters mine. There is nothing unnatural about it. In a setting where we applaud, respect or even merely accept the scales of balance, we see that one side counters another. Balance is natural and that is important here. You see, players like Microsoft have been fighting balance for their own selfish little needs for the longest of times. Now, this does not mean that Amazon, Apple, Facebook and Google are not like that, but they tend to go with the flow for most of the time (Facebook perhaps a little less than the other three). Apple might be the most in tune with the scales of balance, but that is from where I sit and might be incorrect. And this all started with ‘Microsoft says ten years is “sufficient” for Sony to create Call of Duty rival’, yes, I can do you one better. They can do it in half that time. More important it will not be some Call of Duty rival, it will be better. As Microsoft is becoming more and more of a hollow egg, the $69 billion more in the near future is also the face of a failing company. You see, You can buy all you like, but when the creative people walk away because they see the failing of a company who fails against Apple with their Surface, who fails with their Azure against AWS, who fails with their Bing against Google search is a company that is doomed and as I personally see it, it is in its last 1,375 days before it crumbles into a joke, that firm will lost a lot more soon enough. And it is not that hard an equation. To merely break even Microsoft will have to exceed 72.8 million of PROFIT every day between now and 31/12/2026 and that is merely to cover the last three spendings, not all their waste. That is why I know that Microsoft will fail. So I created in the past blogs the foundations of more RPG that I made freely available to people designing for the Amazon Luna. It is the final blow of failures for Microsoft. I don’t need to do anything for Sony. They have their horses in a row and they are ready to race. Nintendo has its own niche and they are doing fine. All settings that two gaming giants had racked up correctly. Microsoft betrayed their own gamers, blew its audience who is now taking a distance from Microsoft, and as such their population is dwindling down. Still think I was delusional?

It goes from bad to worse after that. Their own cornerstone is having more and more issues and people are willing to push away from that too. Microsoft office is too bulky and there is a lot of power in Open office and Google’s solution which apart from their spreadsheet is doing above OK, not to mention the fact that it is a free product. And in the graphic settings Adobe surpassed them in several ways all at once and in the age of Meta and their metaverse Microsoft will merely lose more and the need for the daily profit of 72.8 million that marker will merely bite more and more. With the Luna set to overtake (with a little help) the Microsoft streaming service they will get another opponent. It is Chinese Tencent who is already taking serious time to create Unreal Engine 5 applications. Another soft spot Microsoft was ignoring. Yes we are given all the spin in the media, but too many is created by ‘Microsoft Friends’ and we see AI claims all over and when we think things trough, we will realise that ‘their’ AI is data driven and they lack data. There is no way that some AI claim can create scripts. You see (deeper) machine learning can only react to data, react to events they HAVE and that means that they can copy and edit, but they cannot create. That is the first larger flaw. And now as I had another idea for Streaming gaming, there will be a much larger case for people to connect to systems that will deliver, not are bought and then altered to fit another need. That is a sure way to fail. One source (a few, but seemingly all from the same source) gave us “Redfall PS5 version was in development, but cancelled after the Xbox buyout”, so how does that align with a Microsoft statement that they would be everywhere? Now, lets be clear Microsoft is allowed to do what they do, they bought Bethesda, they are trying to own Blizzard. But what happens when we design new versions, new IP exclusive for Amazon Luna and Sony? What is their win when they spend $100,000,000,000 for a console that as some sources gives us 

As of June 2022, lifetime unit sales of Xbox One consoles in North America reached 31.58 million, while in Europe, lifetime unit sales surpassed 12.8 million with some partial addition of what was estimated that Microsoft had shipped at least 18.5 million units of the two consoles (series S and X) worldwide by December 2022. Now look at the Sony equation. PS5 sales have now climbed to 32 million, with 7.1 million consoles sold in the last three months alone, a dramatic increase over the 3.9 million sold in the same quarter last year. This means that the PS5 is almost equal on the Microsoft last 3 consoles, all whilst the PS4 has surpassed 117,000,000 consoles. Now they want to go to the cloud whilst their consoles are already doomed. So I am willing to set aside some creative time to make sure that they fail there too. 6 directions (tablet, SAAS, office, search, gaming and GAAS) where Microsoft fell short and keeps on failing, no purchase will counter that and the message merely gets to be worse soon thereafter. Now, do not discount some options. Microsoft will get some parts right, Starfield looks for all accounts amazing, but when there is an alternative people will go for the one solution that does not betray them. And should Amazon (or Apple) select my IP, they stand to get more than 50,000,000 more accounts making the failure of Microsoft even more dismal, especially as I predicted this setting for the better part of 2 years. No spin will work when there is a published article countering that. They are all about making a spin towards the future, but what happens when the ‘future spin’ becomes past and does not hold up to the numbers? That is the part Microsoft seemingly forgets about (again and again) and that wheel is merely spinning faster and not for Microsoft. They will merely lose more and more control. At some point they will need more money to repair the potholes of their shoddy road. Consider the Solarwinds issue and the fact that Microsoft was going to buy a cyber powerhouse (which became part of Google) and after that the media went dark, the spin failed, so darkness is all they had and the media complied. There were no questions on how Microsoft was going to deal with it after that. Weird he?

The list merely grows and at some point the media needs to do a 180 or accept that they are a Microsoft tool. So how many failures until the media actually turns on Microsoft? Perhaps the larger advertisement deals come through, but not for all and that is the counter that vanishes, especially when you consider that the world has 18,000 registered with the World Association of Newspapers (WAN). Some will lose and that is the beginning of a lot more pain for Microsoft. 

So whilst all of that is in play. I considered a new RPG, free for Amazon Luna and Sony developers. Consider the absolute hit the first 4 God of War games were. Now consider an RPG where Tartarus is actually mapped out. As such it is no God of War and you have no special powers, but a battlefield the actual size of America named Tartarus, the underworld where you need to keep standing, where you need to survive and each death restores you, but with the millions of opponents you cannot run into battle all the time. You need to find the relic weapons that have additional powers and perhaps you will at some point find an Olympian piece of armour or. weapon that gives you an edge. And it will be first person. So 9.9999 years before Microsoft imagined I gave Amazon and Sony a rival. That is the power of creativity, something Microsoft lacks, they surely lack it, because if blizzard is bought, many creative souls will retire with their part of billions and Microsoft end up with another near empty shell, product but without driving creativity. So how long until the makers at Bethesda will have had enough? How long until they think that Ubisoft is a better deal than Bethesda under new management? That is how I know that Microsoft is ticking away towards implosion and when that happens (within the next 1380 days) I will merely sit, sip a little Ice water and tell you ‘I told you so!’ Because I get to do that at that moment. Yay me!

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February 15, 2023 · 23:14

Evolving a game

That is the matter, it is part of any game if it was designed properly and I have to tell you that Hogwarts Legacy is a lot better than most reviewers see. There are a few good reviewers (except the one in Wired) and as I am not at 50% of the game at 30 hours of play with one character, I have to admit that this game has so much more than anyone realised. I do accept that like all RPG games there is a little too much fetch this, fetch that and go here, go there. But the way it is done, whilst giving you a choice of HOW you approach this game is brilliant. Avalanche software outdid themselves. But it is not about the now. My mind evolved this game into what is next. You see when you have a strong foundation and that is the golden bullet in any game. You see, we can consider what is next, some of the stories are just that good and even if it is not all about Hogwarts, you do get a larger setting to consider. 

To see this I need to take you to another game. A game masterminded by Richard Garriott. He created Sosaria and he mapped it, more important the map was basically the same in Ultima 3, Ultima 4, Ultima 5, Ultima 6 and Ultima 7. The graphics were upgraded and Ultima 7 was as perfect a game as any RPG every released. It is one of the few times I gave a game a review of 100%. 

But that never left my mind and it is time for Hogwarts to consider the next step. You see it will be soon when some want a DLC and that is fine, but what happens when they release the next version, something of bolster Hogwarts legacy? For example Hogwarts learnings? The map perhaps a little larger but with a part of France now added with the Académie de Magie Beauxbâtons? As the main character you become an Auror and how you get there is how you played the first game. With added places like London and Paris (these are always played at night), and a new story as an Auror. As this game is around 20 years AFTER Hogwarts Legacy and long before the Potters became a thing, or the events that started the Chamber of secrets. Different environments, different creatures and different challenges. If they can produce a capturing storyline they have a setting that could be big in 2024/2025. And the way the people embrace this game, it has every chance to do so again, especially if the second run is 4 times the size of this one. We forgot about evolution at times, it happens, because most of us see games as they used to be, a once off event. But games evolve and the gamer that embraces a franchise evolves too. And perhaps it is not France, but wherever Durmstrang is, or its American equivalent. There are a few options and perhaps Portkey games embraces these options, or perhaps they will not, but they have the option and they have it as they made heads turn. I am still a realist, so far I have found half a dozen glitches, only one annoying and I crashed once, but that is it and for a game of this size that is quite the achievement. Especially compared to a game playing in France filled with dozens upon dozens of bugs (not glitches) as such these makers did an amazing job. I cannot wait until I get more done in the game. I stopped because I remember the impact of non-stop gaming and I did 8 hours today. Tomorrow I can do more, so far this is the best investment in gaming I have made in at least two years and I do not regret buying the other games. But that is excellence for you. 

Have a great day and remember to embrace the games you really love, no matter what game it is.

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February 13, 2023 · 07:01

Media bullshit

Yes, that is what it is and I have had enough of some of them. As I personally see it, it is not voicing opinions, it is catering to bullies. All the anti UK messages when the UK wanted out, the irresponsible acts by the media on haunting Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman al Saud without evidence, yes without evidence and now we see more irresponsible acts, but the acts is growing to more and more media and they are all whoring for digital dollars, that is the extent of their existence. Flaming to get more dollars and we are all in this mess because we are allowing for this. 

The anger has been with me for a while, but it took new proportions when I saw 

So Wired is now a bully? Well fuck them too. You see when I see “The story is rooted in anti-Semitic tropes. The gameplay feels dated. The graphics feel like they’re a couple generations behind. All the characters are one-dimensional. It doesn’t stay true to the established lore. Every character feels like an off-brand version of the characters we know and love. There’s no sense of place. No magic, no heart” I see nothing less than the validation that Jaina Grey should be seen as nothing more than a piece of garbage. Like others she makes zero mention of Avalanche software, she makes no mention of what they achieved, she merely uses Wired as a channel for Rowling hate, like any bully she lost the right of life, it is that simple. Fell free to disagree, because that is YOUR right. Agree or disagree these are the choices. Some will do neither, that is fair. Either they do not care (valid enough), or they honestly do not know where they stand (also very valid). We do not need to have some feeling of knowledge, the world is too big for that. This is bad news for the digital dollar prostitutes, but that is life. I think this is also the first time I think I have anti-transgender feelings. If they want to rely on bullies, their rights of life are made forfeit. It is not nice, but that is how it is. I truly deeply hate traitors and bullies.

So where were the anti-semitic tropes? This is about a wizard boy (or girl) facing a goblin extremist who gets ‘assistance’ from a dark wizard named Victor Rookwood. In this we also meet our share of ‘friendly’ goblins and we see early on in the game, any goblin not on his side is an enemy, which seems to connect to the Taliban and Al Qaeda (and many others), as such where is the anti-semitic side?

The graphics are great, they might not be completely next generation, but they are valid and more important, they bring the atmosphere to the level it needs to be. The game gives us magic and the game gives us character. I am not entirely opposing the one dimension character mention. You see like the US around 1800, the US had John Adams and they were killing native Americans, but perhaps the writer identifies with them. They killed 56 million indigenous people over about 100 years in South, Central and North America. Isn’t that the one dimensional people you mean? Americans murdering native American landowners? Wasn’t it all good for progress? 

In the end, what I stated remains. We all have our own opinions on gaming and certain titles, but to attack Avalanche because you hate Rowling is the act of a bully and bullies have no right to life as I personally see it. The editor of Wired better clean up this mess and be bloody quick about it. So how about that Gideon Lichfield, you ready to do your job yet?

Oh and for my view? I have had a better feeling playing this game the last 20-40 hours than I have had for almost a year. Other games like God of war: Ragnarok might be graphically superior, the music sounds better and they were fun too, yet this game was a lot more fun to play. The fun of gaming, who remembers that? Avalanche delivered the goods, it is time for the media to stop sucking (whatever) and do their jobs. I get that not everyone will love the game, but reviewers need to remain neutral and someone giving this game a 10% rating lost the plot a long time ago.

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February 8, 2023 · 22:28

When the pool is too deep

Twi days ago I wrote Brain switch, it was me on a joyride through my brain as I was reengineering  IP over and over and it went faster and faster. I got a handle on it by playing Hogwart Legacy. You see gaming is more than an escape for me. It is a passion that allows me to take my mind away from things and that is at times a good thing. It allowed my subconscious to work on Engonos, the story of the grandson of Hades. Weirdly enough I was inspired by Neil Gaiman’s Sandman. Or better stated, he gave me the idea to take a trip to the right. In part I was already doing s in another way, but I suddenly realised that I could enhance one character to get a lot more out of the whole. It is in part a little bit of a drag. You see, I can go memento on that character to keep the story in line and not give away too much, but that too has its advantages and drawbacks. The advantage is that two characters are drawn into the story, one makes sense already, the other one does not on the surface of things, but in Olympian lore it does. As such I tend towards that part of the solution, even though one of them already has a larger role to play and I set that in motion. Now that these roles are staged and partially set, I need to build the background stories for all involved. As such the memento approach, the other one is a historic jump, it seems cleaner, but it opens up too much mesh. A combination has benefits, but at that point I need to be cautious how I approach the matter and I need to script some elements, but that is not a problem. One lesson I learned a long time ago, when a problem is too big, chip it into smaller manageable pieces. That was all good and fine, but that suddenly gave me a few more ideas towards some RPG designs I was entertaining, to be made freely available for exclusive Amazon Luna materials.

I get that this does not make sense, but the reason is simple. Microsoft made valid steps in gaming, we might not like them, but they did what any corporation did, set yourself apart. Yet they did so by buying Bethesda and making parts exclusive to the Xbox. This is a valid, but unappealing approach. This setting changed when Avalanche launched Hogwarts legacy and they set the bar way higher than Skyrim ever was, making it a problem for Microsoft. You see if Starfield and Elder Scrolls 6 are on par with Hogwart Legacy, Microsoft loses a lot more than they bargained for. Now if I can add to that pain by giving Amazon Luna developers a sight to more software that is close to on par with Microsoft (not an easy task) they will feel even more pain and that is what I had been after. I expected this to be a lot harder, but Avalanche gave me a trump card, they surpassed Bethesda (what they had up to now), this is not unexpected because Skyrim is 11 years old. Yet it makes my work a little easier. The RPG has storylines, it has a balanced economic system and it has evolution, I only need to set a new stage that has a new kind of nemesis system. Not some copy of Shadow of Mordor, but something new, something we haven’t seen before. I want to counter grinding to some extent. I have one side which is a much larger map, the other side is a new kind of adversarial system and I want to add to that. But it needs to enhance what is, not replace what could be. This is hard to explain for now, but it is in the works, in the meantime, those thoughts are helping me to give larger rise to Engonos, which was what I had in mind all along. Cogs within cogs, not the most elegant of explanations, but it will do for now.

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February 8, 2023 · 00:16

Wands, Witches and Wizards

To get to the good stuff, that yummie chocolaty centre we need to make a small detour and it matters.

Prelude
I have been a huge Skyrim fan. I bought the game on 11/11/11 and to the best of my knowledge it is pretty much the best RPG ever seen. I played it on Xbox360, Playstation 3, then the Legendary edition on PS4 and Xbox One and the Anniversary version on PS5. The game is close to perfect. This matters because it took someone 11 years to get there and surpass it. Avalanche got there and had room to spare. They upped the bar for quality gaming by a lot. 

Start
The previous part is important. This is not a Harry Potter game, it is an open world RPG with a wizarding world theme and they did one hell of a job. As stated it plays a century before the boy who lived came into the picture and what was done is as close to perfect as I have ever seen it. I am not fussed about the 1-2 second delays with some of exit parts of Hogwarts, it is a lot better then anything else and this matters. So far I played 10 hours and I got 4% done. This game is huge, the castle is huge and you will get lost there, but there are options (censoring spoilers). The world outside of Hogwarts is huge, optionally larger than Skyrim, but it is not a comparison, Hogwarts is so large it will strike you in many ways. I started as a Ravenclaw student (I like blue), but I already know that I will play the game three more times to see everything, Gryffindor most likely last. What does matter is that you will recognise parts and classrooms as you saw them in the movies, but that feeling of discovery does not wane and it merely improves and gets larger as you see more and more. Weirdly enough I lost my life three times and got to redo the fight. The game is invigorating and it leaves you with a sense of accomplishment as you progress. The game has puzzles, some are simple, some are devilishly evil and never boring. This game is for anyone who loves RPG and even more for those who love the (Harry Potter) wizarding world. 

You will see things, you will seek things and you will wonder and try to figure things out. The game is truly a step forward and I was speechless more than once. The important thing to realise is that I did not play it in 4K, I do not own a 4K TV and even then the game overwhelms. So, I reckon that once I have one of those puppies, this game will overwhelm even more. 

No matter how you slice it Avalanche software created something we all hope for and we never got it. Well, this time around this player (Avalanche) delivered. Avalanche created a new level gameplay so close to perfection, you are in for a treat. Any hater of this game is as I personally see it simple and stupid. People who dislike RPG’s might not go for this, but I urge them to try (if possible), If you disliked the Harry Potter movies, this game as an RPG is still fulfilling in several ways. This is definitely one of those must buy titles. But I do get that those who dislike RPG and Harry Potter will not go for it, but that should not make them haters, merely a gamer with other interests. 

Consequence
There is a consequence and it is for Bethesda and Microsoft. You see Avalanche has raised the bar after 11 years. Skyrim was the game everyone compared to and that is now no longer the case. It makes sense because it took 11 years to improve on it and Avalanche does pull that off. Yet for Bethesda and Microsoft it becomes a new issue. Starfield (which looks AWESOME) and whatever Elder Scrolls title comes next needs to be a lot better then this and that is a massively tall order. You cannot put them next to one another, but there will be comparisons and if these two RPG games fall flat next to Hogwarts Legacy their goose is pretty much cooked. I did not know what to expect but a game this good is a little overwhelming and possibly the other two titles will be better, but I have to say, it will be a herculean task for Bethesda. Avalanche the next generation of RPG that is never to be underestimated. 

Hogwarts Legacy is not merely a Harry Potter game, it is an open world RPG that will knock your socks off, that latter part I did not see coming. Well done Avalanche! And I would not be surprised if WB will turn this game into a TV series, the storyline is that good as are the locations (many we never saw in the movies). I reckon it will be a few months that WB will turn this 200 hour game (estimated) in a series with several seasons, but that is sheer speculation from my side.

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January 7, 2023 · 11:48

Slice stab and bake

In continuation of yesterday, another go at that new game. The new game IP is basically free for anyone making this game an exclusive Amazon Luna game. I am all for Sony, but Sony does not need my help, they are doing just fine, as does Nintendo by the way. But we need to show Microsoft as the losers that they are and also make sure that they realise that is it perfectly legal and fair to buy franchises, but then so is my approach to give free creativity to their opponents making sure that every billion they spend will be twice as expensive than they realised and when my RPG ideas (and a few other idea) become reality they will lose even more gamers than they bargained for, making the Sony-Microsoft race go from 2:1 into 3:1 and all others get to have a 2:1. So that Microsoft becomes the new wooden spoon owner in the console game, a price they thoroughly deserve. 

So yesterday I gave the foundation of Tall. A new game for streamers (in this case Amazon Luna), and in my mind I had three player choices, so lets look at that part.

Slice, dice and slam
The fighter is the first natural choice. A man (or woman) with a sharp sword to filet the goblin population. It is a melee player, which gives it a distinct disadvantage. To its merit is that sharp sword so that one hit kills 1 or more Goblins, but goblins have bows, so that shield is some protection. The fighter is decently fast, but with a raised shied it is 20% slower. The main streets has corners, so there are more benefits but that is it. Over the run of the game, the dwarves will hand this fighter a much better shield, or it will upgrade its current shield. More shields over the course of the game give more protection, at reduced movement speed. In addition, the dwarves have different support over time, they create barricades into the smaller streets, so that the goblins cannot run away, or at least have less options to run away. And there will be medical dwarves, healing the fighter, but these dwarves have no protection, so you need to get to them before the goblins do.

Stabby, Stabby, pierce, pierce
The archer is a ranged player. It can pierce from a distance and that has benefits, but there is a downside, the first thing to go is the goblin bow, so as that breaks that goblin will run and return later with a new bow. Then we get the stages. 75%, 50%, 25% and dead. So 5 arrows will be required to kill one goblin. As the archer progresses, it will get better arrows and what was first 5 arrows will end being 2-3 arrows. The archer is much harder to hit by Goblins, so there is a natural protection, as the archer is elvish (he or she), there is slow regeneration and food regenerates a lot more. The dwarves will create stronger arrows and more arrows to keep the archer in a killing spree. Its upgrade will also include larger quivers as well as a better bow, furthermore I want to give it one more weakness like stamina, if not the archer becomes too powerful early and overall the game will be too easy. If over the game stamina increases, the game is better balanced.

Bake Goblin, burn
In the final person we have a he or she magic user. With a fire staff the goblins get to learn respect for the flames. Like the archer the bow goes first, but flames are less then arrows, but multiple hits will increase the burn factor, so 3 hits will be like 5 arrows, but over time and if the goblin is ‘safe’ before he dies, it will come back. The flames have some area effect, as such the goblin next to the one you hit will take 25%-50% damage depending on the distance. The fire staff can be upgraded in two ways, the staff and the gemstone. Over time the staff will also give lightning, which will slow down the goblin be a fair bit. The flames are hotter so that in the end 2 hits ends the goblin, the wizard also has the chance to upgrade the clothes, to be better arrow resilient. In the end there is a few more things we can do like the hat being a shield, but that is how I initially see it, the dwarves here throw mana potions in the track of the wizard, but they can be hit by goblins, so you need to get to them fast. 

The roads are a different setting and there too I have some ideas, but my mind goes back to the 1914 painting by Mondrian (as a map). It is an idea, but we need to look at a smaller setting like this in earlier levels and some streets are only walkable by Dwarves and Goblins. The game challenge comes from limiting options, not leaving them open.

So in a day I got two parts done, so why does it take Microsoft forever to get anything done?

Just a thought to ponder

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January 6, 2023 · 15:15

In opposition, meet tall

I saw the message, or lets just say it is directed BS from Microsoft. The quote (see below) called out Sony.

They claim that Sony is keeping them small. I say ‘BS’, they kept themselves small through stupidity. They were once a contender with the Xbox360 and it was a good system, but the board of directors at MS were short sighted, they set out a path of limitations, because they were just gamers. They set hurdle after hurdle to get more revenue and now they end up with a system that is defeated by Sony PS5 by selling well over 2:1 against the Xbox series X. This is not merely about console technology. I personally believe that the Sony system is superior, but I do believe that the margin is not that great. They lost too much with the Xbox One because they were stupid, very stupid. In addition to that the lack of exclusive games did even more damage. And of course there is the lack of credibility due to stupidity outspoken by Don Mattrick on June 12th 2013 “we have a product for people who can’t get online, it’s called Xbox 360”. There it shows that Microsoft did not understand gamers, it did not comprehend its market and threw it all away on that setting. A real competitor was washed as a has been from that moment on. And the board of Micro$oft did not learn, they kept pushing Azure, they kept on going blunder after blunder and now whilst they are trying to adjust by buying the important software houses, they will lose even more. Lets be clear, it is not wrong to do this. Everyone has done it to some degree and they started this stretch in a good way by buying Mojang. They did however miss the target by buying revenue through the acquisition of Bethesda and now Blizzard, even if the last one is contended. They kept themselves small. They will have good days (Starfield) and they will have a few really good launches, but the people have already shied away from Microsoft and that will take a lot more and the insult in accusing Sony angered me. So I am now making a new stage. I made a few before and I handed that IP as Freeware to Sony and Amazon.

This time around this IP is exclusive to Amazon Luna and anyone developing for the Amazon Luna can have this IP FOR FREE. The rule is simple, it must be an exclusive Luna title. So Sony is out on this one. Just to show that Sony creativity will prevail and Microsoft, where creativity is at an all time low, they will suffer again and again, especially as they are in the process of spending a total of over $100,000,000,000 whilst the others get it for free, that is the harshest lesson of creativity. The imagination is creates without cost, it is a perpetual engine that Microsoft seemingly never understood in the first place.

Tall
As such I created the idea of Tall. It is an isometric game. The story is that the dwarves are on their last legs, they are overrun by the goblins and they have the dwarves painted in a corner. It is not going good for the brothers of Gimli, but on one faithful day, you (hero you) comes in and helps out the dwarves. And this sets a start in motion, a start where the goblins could be defeated, or at least diminished as they will not be able to overrun the dwarves. The setting is that you have a choice of three heroes A fighter, a wizard or an archer. The idea is that they all have a weakness and a strength. Wizard and archer have the ability of range, the fighter has power and instant kill. But it is not that simple. These three can only be on the main roads of dwarf locations, they are too big for the small streets. As such the goblins can retreat more easily. 

But it goes further then that. On your trip you find gold coffers, different sizes shapes and colours. Some are for you and the dwarves collect it all. And set it on the markers that they are meant to go, some are for repairs, some are for upgrades and some are for you. There are more stations but you need a start. As you pass the first stage you will get a first upgrade (all get the same first upgrade), an armour that bounces 60% of all goblin arrows. After that the challenge increases and the race is on. You will face several cities and there is the need to lower the goblin population, each city has a barrel line. A mine-cart with barrels called barrel-rail that the dwarves use to get around. It needs fixing, the rails need to be cleaned and it needs to be reactivated. As the dwarves can get to areas of the city, the goblins have less chance to escape, as you get more treasures, some will upgrade the Dwarf Defense League (a DDL need if ever there was one). And as they upgrade they can reach more places, more survive and more of that place will become safe. And in the end (after all the towns) an evil wizard called A. Unarms (first name Abbott), an anagram for Saruman comes out and it will be a fight where the dwarves become the better supporting fighter as you cleaned out the previous towns more completely. The first town cannot get 100% clean, but every town is seen as complete when the 80% marker is passed. There is of course more, but this is the start and I created it with my mind in under an hour. Microsoft failed its gamers to THAT degree.

Believe me, do not believe me, it is entirely up to you, but better believe me that Sony never kept Microsoft small, they did that to themselves. 

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