In a recent post on trying out Phantasy Star Online 2: New Genesis, blogger Virtual Bastion made the observation that the MMO offered “slick gameplay in a hollow shell.” It’s an interesting jumping-off point for a conversation about PSO2 and similar titles. Are they getting by on good looks alone?
“It’s a good game with decent combat in a pretty setting, but its lack of a driving narrative stood as a definitive void. There’s likely much more to that game than what I experienced in just a few hours, but, first impressions in a game like this are paramount. There simply has to be motivation to continue.”
Laurel’s LOTRO Den showed off some thematically amazing Farmer’s Faire outfits: “Much to the chagrin of Mama Hen, Mel has picked up Hobnanigans and has set her sights upon becoming a regional champion! With this in mind, she reckons she needs as much practice as she can get… hence, we can say she has earned the rank of nemesis of every chicken coop from Long Cleeve to Buckland.”
MMOQuests talked about struggling to settle down with an MMO main: “I can barely settle on who to play for a single day, let alone any length of time. With my limited play time, this is frustrating. It means I finish things very slowly, if ever at all. I still haven’t even unlocked all of the allied races because that would mean completing the story lines. I also don’t have any of my class mounts.”
MMO Folklorist finally made it to Star Wars Galaxies Legends’ Bespin: “I’m not terribly far into the main questline, but so far I’m having a blast. I’m astounded at the amount of detail that has been put into making the planet feel unique, but suitably fitting with the rest of the game.”
Gnomecore gave a FFXIV Lalafell fashion show: “Glamours, or transmogs, for Lalafell are tricky to an extent. The race is an analogue of gnomes by its height, being the shortest and the only ‘small folk’ of the game. Unlike gnomes, or other small folk in other games, Lalafell have no adult curves (like hips or chest, male or female) at all. By proportions and body type they remind a child or a doll, so making them look hot or badass is a challenge by itself.”
Chasing Dings reported back on Ship of Heroes’ housing beta: “Ship of Heroes’ housing is a lot like DCUO, though the base building is more restricted to one area. But SoH bases are also much easier to set up and decorate than DCUO bases, at least from what I’ve seen so far.”
Kaylriene doled out some tips for running dungeons in Eorzea: “FFXIV dungeons have something of a formula. You’ll hear people say it’s always two trash pulls, a boss, repeat 3x, and that is true, but then you might observe that it seems like there are typically four trash packs between each boss. You’d be right, but here is the rub: Single pulling is for chumps.”
Every day there are tons of terrific, insightful, and unusual articles posted across the MMO gaming blogosphere — and every day, Justin reads as many as he can. Global Chat is a sampling of noteworthy essays, rants, and guides from the past few weeks of MMO discourse.
