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Showing posts from December, 2020

Whoa, oh, oh it's Magic (The Gathering)

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 Playing collectible card games on the computer I graduated high school in 1993, the same year Magic: The Gathering was released, and I’ve been intrigued by the collectible card game ever since. I bought some of the cards – though I didn’t really have anyone to play with back then – read some of the comics and novels, and really enjoyed the idea behind the concept even if I didn’t really play.  Several years later I’d make a friend who was really into the game. He helped me build useful decks from the random cards I’d collected over the decade since the game launched, gave me some strategy pointers, and really helped me understand how nuanced the game could be.  I’d also play several different video game versions of the game, starting with the PlayStation 3 version of Magic: The Gathering – Duels of the Planeswalkers . I found that I actually preferred playing against a computer opponent rather than a flesh and blood opponent. The thing is, there aren’t t...

Pillars of Eternity

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 Modern old-school RPG free on Epic store this week Obsidian entertainment are hardly neophytes in the gaming industry. The studio has worked on a number of licensed RPG (role-playing game) properties since opening its doors in 2003, including Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II and Neverwinter Nights 2 , both sequels of BioWare games; Fallout: New Vegas , a spin-off of the Bethesda properties released between Fallout 3 and Fallout 4 ; and South Park: The Stick of Truth , an irreverent turn-based RPG title published by Ubisoft.  In 2015, however, the studio was looking at developing its own original IP (intellectual property) and turned to Kickstarter to fund it. The resulting game – Pillars of Eternity – was a smash hit, earning a Metacritic score of 89 and spawning expansions and sequels of its own. The real-time turn based RPG, with its overhead isometric view and gameplay that allows you to pause the action while you issue individual orders to your party,...