What I Played Today: April 27

Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World, Cards Against Humanity, Ascension, Spaceteam, Artemis, Trivial Pursuit

Hanging out with some old as chums today, got to play some cool games. Played a few moments of Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World, which was a weird game to pull out, but hey, I still like it. Apparently it's easier now, I should finish that game...

Then a very long game of Cards Against Humanity! We laughed at awful things! There was a terrible Trayvon Martin reference! There was a quick game of Spaceteam in there while someone went to the bathroom! I like Spaceteam!

Then a few of us played Artemis, which turns out is surprisingly fun once you figure out what the fuck you are doing. There was probably a full hour of trying to get it set up and trying to figure out what on earth we were doing, but we eventually managed to fly through space without too much trouble. I got to play the captain as well as Communications, which is nice, so I got to tell people "Hey, go over there and shoot that spaceship." Pretty fun. We completed one mission successfully, then tried another and ended up dying when the program crashed. The program is very crashy on the iOS versions, but now that I know how to play, I want to do it again.

Then played a new Ascension, which is pretty neat! It has a new resource to gain, which allows you to get benefits if you have enough of it on a given turn, and the majority of the time, it doesn't choke up your deck. The way you get the treasure needed to gain the new resource is a bit slapdash, but it really makes the game a bit more interesting.

And then an endless game of Trivial Pursuit, using the original Genus set. Guess what doesn't exist anymore! That's right, Western Germany.

What I Played Today: September 23

Devil Survivor, Gears of War, Ascension, Harvest Moon: Animal Parade

I brought my DS onto the train, and played a little bit of the Devil Survivor. It’s infinitely easier than I remember, although I did have a bit of trouble with the boss fight, having one of my teams die to the big bad yeti. But I am a bit further, and should be in the clear to get through the next day. They still haven’t unlocked demon combining yet, I remember it happening sooner last time I played.

Also tried the Gears of War board game again, and again lost about halfway through the game. I really don’t want to hate this game, and I’m pretty sure I don’t, I just wish there was something that I could possibly do to prevent the game from ending suddenly and angrily. You think everything is going well right up to the moment where suddenly you get a shit roll that knocks out all your cards without even asking. It really should be easier to resist outright dying if you’re in complete cover against one of the stronger enemies. The fact that there’s a 50% chance that a defense dice will be useless just makes it too easy to get headshot, and while in the video game it’s a case of “well, that’s too bad, reload,” in a board game it’s a bit brutal.

A couple of games of Ascension, which continues to be just right. I really don’t know why I hated the very idea of this game at first, it’s not bad. There’s a nice give and take, and the fact that there are two different means to victory and it’s hard to tell who’s doing well makes for some tense battles. Sure, it’s pretty random, but I’m starting to notice that there’s a weird flow to the center row, and being able to predict that can really swing the game. For example, if the early game has a lot of monsters, than chances are the late game isn’t going have very many, and going whole hog with Heavy Infantry will just slow you down in the end. Of course, this didn’t actually help me in the one game where I noticed it, as I still lost, but hey, at least I noticed it.

Also more Animal Parade. I don’t remember exactly what I did, because I’ve played at least five more hours since this point of my life I am chronicling, so…read tomorrow’s entry.

What I Played Today: September 6

Ascension

A couple games of Ascension with the whole deck, which has some really interesting dynamics. There are a lot more mechana artifacts in the main box, and I primarily latched onto that to set up some wicked combos, in which I'm drawing a ton of cards every single turn. This strategy worked great the first round, not so great the second, when I just couldn't keep pace with my opponent, who was slaughtering monsters left and right. But I like the expansion a lot, it really opens up the brainspace and allows for a lot of interesting things to happen on the table.

What I Played Today: September 5

Ascension, Rift

My friend purchased the new Ascension, because he likes the game a lot, and I got to play the expansion a couple of turns. I quite liked it! Mainly because I got into some good grooves and managed to win handily twice. Mainly it was helped by Mechana constructs, which really helped me get a lot of cards into hand, and the Asha Tutor, who allows you to trash the jerk Apprentices and trade them immediately for Mystics, so my card had no trash in it. I also managed to hide a lot of points in the deck itself, as each time, my gained honor from monsters was less than half what my opponent got. Anyway, the new set is pretty good.

And in Rift, today we tried PvP! I hate PvP! Okay, I usually hate PvP, but this time I crafted a little role for myself that I reasonably want to play, control. I hate jackass rogues jumping around and killing me instantly with their backstabs and their combo points. But when I get a chance to slow their stupid antics and freeze them, letting my friends handle the rest? Kinda fun! I like having the ability to hit a lot of dudes and really trap a jerk with a flag or an important item. There were some keen moments, and the fact that a lot of the early PVP gear is both cheap and better than what I'm currently wearing? So, I'm going to work on that for a small bit.

I also got really sick of my outfit, with its big dumb shoulders and it's just huge swath of orange. I thought it might have been the resolution, so I tried turning off my low graphics renderer, which was a HORRIBLE idea, so instead I started looking around for a reasonable outfit. Because of the wardrobe ability, I could slot in anything and still get the benefits of my current gear, so I started looking around. I found a leather set I could craft that I thought would look nice, but it turns out mages can't wear leather, so that was a dud. Half the robes were either huge ugly blotches or revealed way too much skin (include a robe that comes with a chain mail bikini, the hell?), but I eventually found a robe that looked more like a nice vest, got some pants, and a single shoulderpad, and I finally look like an adult with matching clothes and everything. Sure, it's brown, but I'm not running around in my pajamas anymore. And...I'll look that way in all locations, including arenas, so no one will never know how powerful my gear is by looking.

What I Played Today: March 19

7 Wonders, Ascension, Battlestar Galactica, Taboo

Unexpected game day today, where I went to play with the Tuesday night group for the afternoon. We started with a game of 7 Wonders, which I like but hadn’t played in months. As it turns out, everyone else either had played it way too much (because it hosts a lot of players, so it was popular at the store) or didn’t like it much, but the game plays fast, so it was over quickly. I did not win, focusing on only building things that were free to me so I didn’t have to waste time collecting resources, but it didn’t work, and while I found a workaround that allowed me to build the best victory card in the game, it wasn’t nearly enough.

I also finally played Ascension, which is…fine. I really don’t understand why the first thing anyone says about the game is that it was designed by a professional Magic player, because the gameplay isn’t exactly revolutionary and frankly seems like it’s easily unbalanced. All the cards come from a common deck, and come out pretty much at random, so you have little control over building a strategy, because the cards that will be available to buy and the cards you’ll have in your hand are completely out of your control. The game looks great, and I like the different factions, but it doesn’t seem exceptional, and I’m confused why the designer’s “credentials” are so regarded.

Battlestar Galactica, baby! We set up and were ready to go. There was a lot of Cylon envy on the table, so of course we got the popular players, Baltar, a Cylon leader, and then I picked up Ellen Tigh, because she is the most destructive as a Cylon. So I was a bit guilty of it too. The game started fine, as it usually does, although the Admiral made a lot of strange decisions, including sending us to a destination I’ve never seen before, where you lose half your fuel but the next jump takes half as long. Neat card…if you can handle it. The Cylon leader jumped on board, and we immediately brigged her, because we couldn’t be sure. I wish we hadn’t, because she went into full aggro after that, being really mean.

Then the card flip, and I somehow didn’t get to be a Cylon, but only because there was one Cylon in the deck, and it went to the one person whose been a Cylon every other time we’ve played. She tried to play it cool, but made some really unfortunate decisions that made me certain she was evil, including refusing to be executed when the other option was much worse, and spending a turn in which we were in deep trouble scouting ahead, which was not at all useful. I tried to lobby to get her into the brig, but the quorum wasn’t convinced (because I have a reputation of not being trustworthy, wonder why), and she flips and we are in deep, being pushed back down the jump and then getting quite a few crises that didn’t move us forward, so we languished and died in space. The new expansion really requires you to have multiple pilots, because if you lose a pilot to the toasters, you’re pretty much guaranteed to have all the civilian ships get exploded. I tried to pull our bacon out of the fire, but no luck.

Then a game of Taboo, a game where you guess things. It went about as well as every guess things I’ve played, fun enough, but eventually it gets a bit nervewracking as you worry about if you’re going to get things right or not. There were some moments of culture clash with my partner where we weren’t on the same wavelength, but we eventually got it together. There was also a hilarious moment in which one team got the word “Joe,” which is the name of one of the guys playing with us. So the describer says to effect, “That guy over there.” The guesser misinterpreted the clue and assumed the describer was talking about her neighbor and guesses “Douchebag,” which was probably the worst possible thing that could be said that wasn’t actual profanity. The room erupts in laughter, and we have a story that she will be unable to live down. Hopefully nobody’s feelings actually got hurt.