Pathway - review-ish

Some quick thoughts about Pathway by Robotality.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/546430/Pathway/

http://pathway-game.com/

I'm all about these types of games: renowned explorers:international society, faster than light, the curious expedition, slay the spire etc. The format is solid and we know what to expect as soon as we see the interface.

Pathway is fascinating because the progression is so linear.  Other games (that I've played) of this type usually rely on some kind of combo building to make it interesting.  Pathway doesn't really have that at all.  It's very similar to renowned explorers but lacks the bosses and semi-static events (maybe i just havent played enough) for high-score runs and team customization.

For me, the play has basically come down to find party members, find fuel/ammo and then outwit the AI during combat because the behaviors are very consistent.  It's almost like playing gloomhaven. Plenty of potential here, but I feel like it falls flat on the rogue-like stuff.  Things that I would like solved.

• Static inventory makes it too "easy" and allows the player to play the same every time
• More use for AoE.  Maps are too small to consistently bunch enemies up.
• Somewhat consistent events to boost different stats so that I'm ecouraged to play differently
• Stores that matter for something besides fuel/ammo. All the good loot falls off of quest completion. (or just dont let me keep items between games)
• More enemies and mixed enemies (why not combine nazis/undead?) so that I have to think differently
• Allow knife throw/pickup
• Multi-point movement to avoid those pesky overwatch snipers.
• Dogs/cultists are just armor/health taxes.  I think I'd just appreciate it if the event made me lose health/armor before the round starts. It's just frustrating.

But as general input, it feels like a bean counting game with 3 metrics (fuel, health, ammo) and when either category is flush (4 extra pairs of armor in inventory, 4 large boxes of ammo at the store, max fuel from consecutive stores, amazing sniper rifle etc), it definitely starts to feel like a chore.

Diablo 3 - wrapping up

Back from my hiatus. I'm going to be trying to work on a game so I think I need to at least be able to ship a few hundred words every now and then.

I haven't paid that much attention to Diablo 3 in a long time. With the Nintendo Switch version incoming and maybe something else, I felt like I should address this game one more time before I move on. 

I'm now comfortable with this game being very casual in nature. Log on, beat on some monsters, call it a day.  I think going in I really wanted a tight ARPG that had a lot of mechanics and build options to play with but I think it might be too tall of an order to find some kind of balance between fun, loot pinatas, build options and optimization.  As a disclaimer, I haven't touched this game since before the Necromancer update, but if this is the direction this series goes maybe there's no point in following it anymore.  With these very static systems in place, there isn't much room for discovery or experimentation.

I hope I have to eat my words.

This might just be me being bored with what is there but I'm not sure it is.  I'll leave a few thoughts here because I'm currently pondering them.

1. Don't let me ignore mechanics unless there's a really good reason and/or a penalty to go with it.  Making me think less doesn't make the game more fun.
2. Let's stop it with basically spammable CC. See item number 1.
3. More treasure goblins or treasure goblin-like things.  Chasing things is fun (let's not go crazy though.. here's looking at you monster hunter) and it's something different
4. Instances (essentially, like a boss room) that are designed to make you or your group cry a bit.. randomly generated.  You have xyz skill/gear.. fight these things that cleanse themselves of DoTs or something.. whatever

Diablo 3 - quality of life suggestions

Item Modifier Ranking

Actually, this one is something I'd like to see all games (if applicable) adapt.  We're always fighting for space in the UI and trying to deliver a depth of information and simplicity.  Now.. the loot pinata that Diablo is.. I'd like to see a way to determine how good each roll is without remembering or referencing the item at the mystic or online.. D-C-B-A-S-P ( P for perfect ) and then we could just see the grades when an item drops and, of course, active only for level 70 (or max level whatever that may be) items

Kadala

Kind of at the point where I'd rather just get back mats or set/unique items only.  Having to free space to gamble when magic/rare items are never going to be good is a bit annoying. 

Diablo 3 - 2.3 and 2.4 - the beginning of greatness?

Forgot about this blog! But this is a good time to start since D3 was the reason why I started it to begin with, and now is an exciting time.

With a little less than a month until 2.4.0, I'd just like to put a few thoughts here.

What's great?

Scaling

To those complaining about the number scaling.. you really have to take a step back and see what is actually happening.  That team is committed to scaling the base skills with gear to control the multiplicative nature of the beast and introducing the Legacy of Nightmares set to bring skills up to par (kinda) based on damage alone.

I think it's slightly misguided to keep trying to control the top end meta but I think it's also a really good way of finding what is actually fun for players. And.. in the future, I can see them adding the scaling in by default and focusing on augmenting the skills which is far more intersting.

Kanai's cube

First. RIP.

Second, I like that we've gotten a way to extend the number of "skills" we have with the cube and legendary gems.. at this point I'm definitely feeling like we should remove the accessory socket requirement and put legendary gems just as additional powers.  The game is probably in the right spot right now to do that since we're re-establishing baseline defense and offense and we can mitigate the 3 additional stat slots.

What's the same?

Channeling

Channeling should probably just be removed at this point.  I don't think the dev team knows how to make this mechanic interesting and even though they're making the numbers better.. i'm not sure that standing somewhere and holding down a button should be good except in specific circumstances.

What could we do about it?  I'd like to see a completely new approach to channeling (although no idea if it's technically feasible). So stuff like, buff/debuff ground pools that widen as you cast, regeneration/resource regeneration, access to different skills while channeling (archon)

Just as an example.. say mirror image, could be a "channeled" ability where you get to summon 3 clones based on the direction you're facing, you get a new set of "skills" where 1 is cancel, 2-5 will swap the real you to the corresponding position, all copies (including you) are gimpy and do 10% damage and cast random stuff but most importantly.. they dont move

Definitely excited to see the final patch notes for 2.4.0!

Diablo 3 - breakdown - overpowered

There seem to be a few warring philosophies to the current conversation around d3. One side seems to think that exploits and mechanics should just be left alone, that broken overpoweredness is what it's all about, and the other side of the coin is the people more interested in balance.

 Now, I'll start by saying I'm on the side of balance. But there's a reason why we all should be very interested in basic mechanics that are balanced.

The heart of d3 is the skills system. When I first read about how skills will scale in d3, I immediately knew this would be the loot pinata dungeon crawler of all time. This game is essentially an orgasm of math and scalability. The devs basically said.. 'screw it, we're going to throw away anything that corresponds to "sense" and make this game capable of scaling up and down based simpler math'.  What does this mean for us?

Each skill can be balanced.  Note that I said.. can be.. some skills are clearly superior to others based on factors outside of the numbers on skills.  For instance, the demon hunters grenades are ridiculously hard to use solo.. and practically useless against fast enemies because of the casting animation and the time it takes to actually explode (at least in the current meta)  The problem with skills like this is that there's probably a very specific build or group composition that can take advantage of the skill, but you need either or to make it worth taking. That's something of a problem but it also gives people a reason to group or swap whole skill sets..

For the sake of fun.. we want to tune all the available skills so that they are worth taking and at the same time.. are soft counters for elite/champ affixes so that we can gear to. Why do we want to do this? For the simple fact that although nephalem valor is completely OP, sometimes that calling for progression is too insistent to quit and restart the run.

Diablo 3 - breakdown of awesomeness

After being on the very poisonous main diablo 3 forums for some time and browsing through people's opinions, I decided to write a bit about the good things (amazing things really) about the game, its potential and its relationship with issues games are having, in general, in the 21st century. Not quite sure how many parts this series will be.. but here goes nothing.