Games and I: Part 4
A New Empire
With the advent of FPS, the twitchers took over the multiplayer gaming scene at the CyberCafes and tactical and strategic thinkers like myself retreated into the realm of singleplayer gaming; venturing only on some rare occasion to relive the wonderful days of multiplayer RTS. As people were running amok on CS (CounterStrike) and Quake 3 (which I was truly dissapointed, as the previous Quake games were story-based games, not mindless arena frag-chasing idiocies), I took the time off from competitive gaming with new genres or newer line up of RTS from little known publisher/developers. Most people do not really recall or have indulge in RTS games such as Total Annihilation, Dark Reign, Dark Colony, Mech Commander I or KKND (Krush Kill N Destroy).
As this coincide with my end of schooling years, it was initially a retirement of sorts from multiplayer gaming. From then on, I was no longer the competitive, aggressive gamer that I used to be in matches of Starcraft and C&C series.
In between my time finishing school and joining MMU, I was in a perpetual limbo where without a PC I can rely on, I was largely cut off from gaming as much as I used to, and for the time being devoted myself to my artistic pursuits instead. Additionally, falling in love with a chick can help time pass away as well.... sigh.
MMU began for me like many other places I've been to, full of uncertainty yet failed to impress me. What I began to realize a little later was that here, PCs are a common commodity and that friends are more likely to let you use their computers than certain siblings. Let's not be coy, my brother hogged the PC as much as he can at home, lining it up with passwords and stuff to reduce my usage of it, and at times even when I am on it, used a pretext of important work or necessary technical operations to get me off the PC, and later when said work is done, he will queitly start gaming and then I'd have better luck waiting for chickens to hatch from their eggs than getting back on the PC anytime soon.
The first years had little multiplayer gaming for me, and followed a trend of completing single player games more often than competing against other people. The network in campus however was a heaven sent thing, despite its usual lagginess. Following CS-craze, that was the popular platform for multiplayer gaming on that network platform. But it did instill the idea or the possibility of using it for other purposes.
Fast forward a year or two later. A friend had his own apartment, and now networks are localized and connecting small groups of PCs, all belonging to people we know. Warcraft 3 was out, and multiplayer was a blast. I remarked around then how rusty I was at multiplayer gaming by then, having been in relative retirement for a few years. It didn't help that as I've found out, Warcraft 3 had a tendency to be somewhat of a micromanage-twitching hell for me; to be very adept at it, one has to do something like this in the outset of battle when your little army group encounters the enemy army group... "select group> target enemies >TAB> second subgroup of units in group highlighted>Cast spell> target at enemy>TAB>Cast protective/Buff Spell on allies>TAB>Select fighting mode etc>Select Group 2>Target Enemy>TAB>Cast Spell/Buff>Target enemy>TAB> secondary spell caster group if any> Select Group 1 again"... and likely repeat all. Said process seems required to be done within 2-3 seconds at MOST, because apparently in Warcraft 3, even 0.5 seconds can make a difference.
I feel fatigued and stressed just recalling that.
It had its fun moments, but it wasn't all that for me. Better yet were the bouts of RedAlert 2 and their ridiculous units and funny vids, though somewhat of an old school vanilla RTS, at least I didn't need to handle the controls like I was playing the accordian.
All this was still a precursor of sorts to the next gaming empire, so to speak.
It began (and somehow, appropriately, ended...) at A3-3-3.
For me, A3-3-3 gaming was divided into 2 eras, named after the occupants of a particular PC spot in the house who somehow was always the IT/PC tech guy of the group. The Ash Era and the Raj Era was distinctly marked by our tendencies for certain genres.
I recall Ash as a type of SteamRolling Power player in RTS. The simplest and direct methods are his preference to get things done. Ash Era was strongly emphasized on RTS games like C&C: Generals and Warhammer 40k: Dawn of War. While there are a smattering few bouts of UT2004, CS, Quake 3 and such FPS (They probably played a lot, but I chose not to join as much). Also worth noting was that at this there was little to no CyberCafe gaming at all; the house was the only arena. Under Ash's preferences we loved "big things that go boom". C&C: Generals catered to this, for the most part. An official add-on and a few mods later, Generals became an exercise of fireworks for us, we as a team worked to produce the most awesome fireworks display possible, on the enemy AI of course.
A notable event would be the few times we did a PvP match up on Generals. Based on written facts, if any can be said as such, would say that most of the matches results in Ash or whatever side he is with winning the game. In fact, I got into one such match myself and my side lost to his. Whining and shifting blame seems like the unspoken anathema of the house eventually, but on my opinion, it had nothing to do with Ash superiority at all; he was usually fighting inferior people anyways, and in my 2 on 2 match up, it was hardly a fair thing, because 3 of 4 players had strengths to rely on, superior defense and sneaky tactics for me; strong, fast offense on one side, and the deadly steamrolling on Ash's part. The 4th player was a weak link, and given the nature of the people of the house, I know for a fact that certain people have been singled out as such, and the better ones usually don't like having these 'lessers' on the same team as they are. In short, being not a true occupant of A3-3-3 I am one of those usually getting stuck with such sort on my side. Oh well, nevermind, the 4th guy did not contribute much, and against strong ground and air offensives, I cannot hold. But that's not to say I did not accomplish much at all; I raided the airforce base, had a few buildings taken down, and I stole a Nuclear missile silo belonging to Ash, right under his nose.
In the Ash Era, Warhammer 40K: Dawn of War came about. This would be out constant gaming platform for a long time, and eventually outlived Ash's Era. There is too much to say of this game, it was intense, yet somehow balanced between management and action. It was neither too 'vanilla' like the C&C series, nor was it a concert of keyboard control tapping like Warcraft 3. Suffice to say that some of the most EPIC battles were fought here, and the constant add ons delivered for the game and the increasing number of factions kept the experience somewhat fresh all along. We played Dawn of War at A3-3-3 and beyond, eventually having played so at Cyber Cafes once A-3-3-3 was largely defunct.
I would like to think that the diversity (in total 9 playabla factions), enchanced combat system (squad based, equipment changes, cover systems) and bloody violence was the key to making it an excellent game, not to mention a degree of customization for individual armies. Ah, the days of me planting a flag bearing a raccoon on it, onto a strategic point.... or Ash's hot-chick banner.
Amazingly, in our time playing RTS and looking for EPIC fights, we managed to attain one such battle in a relatively average game; Empires: Dawn of the Modern World. Made up names as well as specific units like Longshanks, Battle for Cameron Highlands, Trafalgar Square, V2 Rockets, King Tigers, SAS would invoke memories of 4-hour long battles that lasted through the night, ending with satisfied exhaustion and retelling battle stories in the morning of the recent massive conflict. Truly, for me, this was an RTS milestone. In times of 30 minute matches, a 4 hour game is a testament to our pursuit of epic battles.
I can't be sure under which era does Act of War fall in, and awesome as it was, I still think that what Act of War did was not so much as an overall new thing, but rather a direction into which games like Generals could evolve into. Yes, it was awesome. Yes, it produced quite a few engaging memories.But ultimately, I felt that it was rather short lived, and a pity too, because I feel it should have been longer.
In anycase, the barrier which limited my experiences to single player on has lifted by then. Multiplayer was back....
With the advent of FPS, the twitchers took over the multiplayer gaming scene at the CyberCafes and tactical and strategic thinkers like myself retreated into the realm of singleplayer gaming; venturing only on some rare occasion to relive the wonderful days of multiplayer RTS. As people were running amok on CS (CounterStrike) and Quake 3 (which I was truly dissapointed, as the previous Quake games were story-based games, not mindless arena frag-chasing idiocies), I took the time off from competitive gaming with new genres or newer line up of RTS from little known publisher/developers. Most people do not really recall or have indulge in RTS games such as Total Annihilation, Dark Reign, Dark Colony, Mech Commander I or KKND (Krush Kill N Destroy).
As this coincide with my end of schooling years, it was initially a retirement of sorts from multiplayer gaming. From then on, I was no longer the competitive, aggressive gamer that I used to be in matches of Starcraft and C&C series.
In between my time finishing school and joining MMU, I was in a perpetual limbo where without a PC I can rely on, I was largely cut off from gaming as much as I used to, and for the time being devoted myself to my artistic pursuits instead. Additionally, falling in love with a chick can help time pass away as well.... sigh.
MMU began for me like many other places I've been to, full of uncertainty yet failed to impress me. What I began to realize a little later was that here, PCs are a common commodity and that friends are more likely to let you use their computers than certain siblings. Let's not be coy, my brother hogged the PC as much as he can at home, lining it up with passwords and stuff to reduce my usage of it, and at times even when I am on it, used a pretext of important work or necessary technical operations to get me off the PC, and later when said work is done, he will queitly start gaming and then I'd have better luck waiting for chickens to hatch from their eggs than getting back on the PC anytime soon.
The first years had little multiplayer gaming for me, and followed a trend of completing single player games more often than competing against other people. The network in campus however was a heaven sent thing, despite its usual lagginess. Following CS-craze, that was the popular platform for multiplayer gaming on that network platform. But it did instill the idea or the possibility of using it for other purposes.
Fast forward a year or two later. A friend had his own apartment, and now networks are localized and connecting small groups of PCs, all belonging to people we know. Warcraft 3 was out, and multiplayer was a blast. I remarked around then how rusty I was at multiplayer gaming by then, having been in relative retirement for a few years. It didn't help that as I've found out, Warcraft 3 had a tendency to be somewhat of a micromanage-twitching hell for me; to be very adept at it, one has to do something like this in the outset of battle when your little army group encounters the enemy army group... "select group> target enemies >TAB> second subgroup of units in group highlighted>Cast spell> target at enemy>TAB>Cast protective/Buff Spell on allies>TAB>Select fighting mode etc>Select Group 2>Target Enemy>TAB>Cast Spell/Buff>Target enemy>TAB> secondary spell caster group if any> Select Group 1 again"... and likely repeat all. Said process seems required to be done within 2-3 seconds at MOST, because apparently in Warcraft 3, even 0.5 seconds can make a difference.
I feel fatigued and stressed just recalling that.
It had its fun moments, but it wasn't all that for me. Better yet were the bouts of RedAlert 2 and their ridiculous units and funny vids, though somewhat of an old school vanilla RTS, at least I didn't need to handle the controls like I was playing the accordian.
All this was still a precursor of sorts to the next gaming empire, so to speak.
It began (and somehow, appropriately, ended...) at A3-3-3.
For me, A3-3-3 gaming was divided into 2 eras, named after the occupants of a particular PC spot in the house who somehow was always the IT/PC tech guy of the group. The Ash Era and the Raj Era was distinctly marked by our tendencies for certain genres.
I recall Ash as a type of SteamRolling Power player in RTS. The simplest and direct methods are his preference to get things done. Ash Era was strongly emphasized on RTS games like C&C: Generals and Warhammer 40k: Dawn of War. While there are a smattering few bouts of UT2004, CS, Quake 3 and such FPS (They probably played a lot, but I chose not to join as much). Also worth noting was that at this there was little to no CyberCafe gaming at all; the house was the only arena. Under Ash's preferences we loved "big things that go boom". C&C: Generals catered to this, for the most part. An official add-on and a few mods later, Generals became an exercise of fireworks for us, we as a team worked to produce the most awesome fireworks display possible, on the enemy AI of course.
A notable event would be the few times we did a PvP match up on Generals. Based on written facts, if any can be said as such, would say that most of the matches results in Ash or whatever side he is with winning the game. In fact, I got into one such match myself and my side lost to his. Whining and shifting blame seems like the unspoken anathema of the house eventually, but on my opinion, it had nothing to do with Ash superiority at all; he was usually fighting inferior people anyways, and in my 2 on 2 match up, it was hardly a fair thing, because 3 of 4 players had strengths to rely on, superior defense and sneaky tactics for me; strong, fast offense on one side, and the deadly steamrolling on Ash's part. The 4th player was a weak link, and given the nature of the people of the house, I know for a fact that certain people have been singled out as such, and the better ones usually don't like having these 'lessers' on the same team as they are. In short, being not a true occupant of A3-3-3 I am one of those usually getting stuck with such sort on my side. Oh well, nevermind, the 4th guy did not contribute much, and against strong ground and air offensives, I cannot hold. But that's not to say I did not accomplish much at all; I raided the airforce base, had a few buildings taken down, and I stole a Nuclear missile silo belonging to Ash, right under his nose.
In the Ash Era, Warhammer 40K: Dawn of War came about. This would be out constant gaming platform for a long time, and eventually outlived Ash's Era. There is too much to say of this game, it was intense, yet somehow balanced between management and action. It was neither too 'vanilla' like the C&C series, nor was it a concert of keyboard control tapping like Warcraft 3. Suffice to say that some of the most EPIC battles were fought here, and the constant add ons delivered for the game and the increasing number of factions kept the experience somewhat fresh all along. We played Dawn of War at A3-3-3 and beyond, eventually having played so at Cyber Cafes once A-3-3-3 was largely defunct.
I would like to think that the diversity (in total 9 playabla factions), enchanced combat system (squad based, equipment changes, cover systems) and bloody violence was the key to making it an excellent game, not to mention a degree of customization for individual armies. Ah, the days of me planting a flag bearing a raccoon on it, onto a strategic point.... or Ash's hot-chick banner.
Amazingly, in our time playing RTS and looking for EPIC fights, we managed to attain one such battle in a relatively average game; Empires: Dawn of the Modern World. Made up names as well as specific units like Longshanks, Battle for Cameron Highlands, Trafalgar Square, V2 Rockets, King Tigers, SAS would invoke memories of 4-hour long battles that lasted through the night, ending with satisfied exhaustion and retelling battle stories in the morning of the recent massive conflict. Truly, for me, this was an RTS milestone. In times of 30 minute matches, a 4 hour game is a testament to our pursuit of epic battles.
I can't be sure under which era does Act of War fall in, and awesome as it was, I still think that what Act of War did was not so much as an overall new thing, but rather a direction into which games like Generals could evolve into. Yes, it was awesome. Yes, it produced quite a few engaging memories.But ultimately, I felt that it was rather short lived, and a pity too, because I feel it should have been longer.
In anycase, the barrier which limited my experiences to single player on has lifted by then. Multiplayer was back....
posted by Raccoon General | 1:26 PM
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