What I Played Today: November 20

Oblivion, Rift, Thurn and Taxis, Thorough the Ages

I had downloaded the full Oblivion, mainly because of Elder Scrolls fever really sparking the Internet and the fact that the price was dropped to about seven dollars for a midweek sale on Steam, which is a great deal. Tried to get moving and man this is not an attractive game. I could not make a face that did make me mad to look at. I also died from an assassin right after the pivotal moment where Patrick Stewart gives me a necklace, and it didn't autosave any closer, so...I just quit.

Also logged into Rift; there's a whole new zone! That's exciting! I started playing that a bit, and it's pretty interesting, with spirits and big trees and a couple of new factions and I'm alright with it. I like that one of the rewards for one of the quests there was approximately 500,000 experience, that's pretty awesome. This should get me playing again.

I've also decided to start doing some online board gaming, because I have always wanted to play Through the Ages and I found out there's a site that let's you play it in JavaScript! Hope you know how to play though, because otherwise you are boned. I'm in the middle of three games right now, and I don't really know any strategies, so this'll be interesting. If extremely slow.

And in another services, I managed to play an entire game of Thurn and Taxis, managing to win after completely forgetting how to play! I figured it out, and managed to chain across the map pretty effectively. Yep.

Then I watched a guy play Skyrim, and now I want to play Skyrim. Although one thing I did notice that is just a little over the top is how wide open all the NPCs are with providing information. The innkeeper will tell you, before even saying hello, how she greatly wants to retire. That's nice lady, can I just get a room?

What I Played Today: April 20

Thurn and Taxis, Citadels

Board game night at the store, and I got to play a couple of simple but entertaining games. First was the Spiel des Jahres winner Thurn and Taxis. What’s that? What’s Spiel des Jahres? It’s the German award for game of the year, usually goes to the most euro game that came out that year. The most recent winner is Dominion, the game that has taken the world by storm. Thurn and Taxis won some four years ago, and after a while trying to track the game down, including getting very close to playing it at a convention six months ago (circumstances), I got down on the table, and turns out I like it a lot.

It’s a game of simple set collection, but it does a lot of interesting things, with choices each turn to figure out the best way to utilize your resources. You collect cards from six visible options and create a set based on pathways on the map, and when you choose to complete the set, you can put little houses on the map to try and complete another set of objectives to score points. It a low-scoring game, and although I got off a great play that netted me over 10 points in one go, it wasn’t enough win the game.

Then I played Citadels again for the first time in 10 years, and man, I remember it being a much more complex game. Each turn, you choose a role that gives a minor benefit, and then you collect some gold and pay for a card in your hand to collect a small tableau. Only about 20% of the cards actually do anything, and I didn’t draw a one. I actually did awfully, after having all my gold stolen and being shut out of a turn for what seemed like no reason at all. But it’s an easy game, with an enjoyable social dynamic.