Dungeon Fighter: Awakening the Male Brawler

Since i've still got nothing, guest blog from a friend of mine. - Sean

“Jupiter Jazz” doesn’t necessarily wish that was his real name, but he does like Cowboy Bebop. A writer of fiction, shitposter of forums and existential epithet of humanity in general, Jupiter Jazz enjoys spinning a good yarn as much as he enjoys playing (and nitpicking) various MMOs—among other things. Find his blog “Visions” at [inexosino.wordpress.com].

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A w a k e n i n g   t h e   M a l e   B r a w l e r

Beneath the proud dojos, the great fiery forges, and the hopeful cries of burgeoning martial artists, there lies a darker side of Suju—one lined in bloody grit, echoed with screams and taunts, and ruled by fists of steel.

Welcome, as they say, to hell.

Street rats perpetually flock into these underground arenas, ready to test their mettle. They seek respect, or riches, or power; what they find are their deaths. Only the strongest and smartest survive—and of them, only the most ruthless make it out on top. There is no chivalry, no code of honor; there are no rules, except for one: Fight, or die.

Bricks become bludgeons. Needles become knives. Fists and feet become unstoppable weapons—because where cunning fails, brute force excels. Those who laugh at such a sight, of two men improvising in a fight to the death, have obviously never faced a Suju Brawler in mortal combat.

Faris, champion of the Female Brawlers, sneers at these fighters. She calls them clumsy, oafish brutes who appreciate none of the finesse of poison or stealth. There is no technique, no methodical approach, no style or elegance—and in turn she, too, is mocked. “Technique?” they laugh. “Style? Elegance? You chose the wrong path, Faris; you ain’t a Striker!”

What exists is only cruel intelligence and wiry brawn. To these elite few—the strongest, the smartest, the most ruthless—underground brawling is not merely a sport. They breathe it. They lust for it. They live it.

This is why they call themselves the Streetlords, the undisputed kings of the underworld.

Some Arguments For Madred's Bloodrazor

I'm working on a very long blog post that analyses the culture behind gaming, much like most of my blog posts before this. But today, I'm going to be lazy. I'm going to write a blog post about a very specific part of a specific game. I'm going to write something that has a very narrow appeal, but hopefully it will be interesting to those who care. (WARNING: LEAGUE OF LEGENDS)

Madred's Bloodrazor.

This guy. Right here.

Stats: +25 armor +40 attack damage +40% attack speed UNIQUE passive: Your basic attacks deal bonus magic damage equal to 4% of your target's maximum health.

Cost: Madred's Razors + Pickaxe + Recurve Bow + 775 gold Total: 3800 gold.

This item is generally regarded as a very specific, very situational item that only works on certain champions in certain situations. It is, of course, an item that is only built on AD carries. It should only be bought, the metagame says, when you are so powerful that the opponents have started stacking armor to the point where you can't do damage anymore. When that happens, you're supposed to get a Bloodrazor so that you can continue to do damage. Because Bloodrazor's passive does magic damage, its not mitigated by armor.

My argument is that Bloodrazor is an amazing item on almost all AD carries, and even on other characters, such as certain top laners. This is because Bloodrazor's is cost-effective even when the target has a low amount of health. (Because of the passive, the more health the opponent has, the more damage is done.)

The Three Parts of a Gamer’s Psyche

I have played many great games, but my favorites all have a special theme. My favorite games are generally the ones that express story the best. I would definitely call myself a story gamer like Arin talked about in his blog. However there is one catch. I would never say I ONLY play games for the story. I don’t. In fact, I believe most don’t. Games provide 3 general forms of entertainment that every gamer enjoys to a certain degree in video games. They provide a story, interactive gameplay and social interaction. These reflect the reasons why we play video games in the first place. It allows us to explore the gamer’s psyche and why they play what they do.

Games entertain us by providing a story. The best provide a great story that carry us through an adventure and leave us wanting more. Games like Uncharted, Mass Effect, and Skyrim all do this and have been critically acclaimed for it. Interestingly, those games all do it in a different way too. Uncharted focuses on a treasure hunter who is not unlike Indiana Jones. As the player controls him from a 3^rd –person perspective the game presents the story like a movie. He says little quips about the situation and expresses himself in cut scenes. This is not a game of player choice. It is very linear and uses cut scenes and the environment to elaborate on the plot. You are the star of the movie, but not involved in the overall creation of it. Mass Effect meanwhile focuses on player choice. Mass Effect is about a human who must save the universe from an apocalyptic event while navigating through a complex galaxy-wide alien political environment. In this game series you shape the story. It is less like watching a movie and more like making one. You are the director. You can’t do anything you want- you are still restricted to the choices the game wants you to have, but you can mold your experience. You are not the writer, but you do have a creative impact. Skyrim is about a man with special dragon-like powers investigating the sudden resurgence of dragons. You have the most choice here. You mold the character you are to a high degree- you can’t even hear him speak his own words. You have to imagine it. There are more side quests and main quest material, you are encouraged to go off the more linear path and do your own thing. You are most like the writer of the movie here.

A Newbie's Guide to Competitive Team Fortress 2

A Guide to Competitive Team Fortress 2

If you consider yourself a “gamer”, you probably are familiar with Team Fortress 2. The iconic class-based shooter can be seen across the Internet, from Youtube spin-off videos to Reddit trade forums to posts on this very blog. While this game is considered to be “casual” by many familiar with other first-person shooters, competitive gameplay in Team Fortress 2 is a refreshing and dynamic alternative to the comp scene of other FPS games, thanks to many of its unique game mechanics. In addition to the standard sniper rifle headshots, shotgun meatshots, rocket launcher gibs, and grenade blunders seen in most FPS games, one will also see Soldiers and Demomen jumping halfway across the map with their explosives, Scouts circling entire teams like sharks using their speed and double jump to dodge fire, Spies going invisible and flanking the enemy team to backstab their key players, and Medics giving their teammates invulnerability or one-hit-kill power. This wide variety is what makes competitive TF2 so fun to play, and it's also what makes it so fun to watch. Let's go over the basics of how comp TF2 is played:

I only play games for the story

                You don’t have to look very far nowadays to find a gamer who would proudly state this claim. In fact, I bet more than a few of you readers would agree with this to some extent.  As of late, there have even been more than a few figures in the industry speaking out on this thought from both sides  (for and against) Some series have been built around compelling storylines (see Metal Gear Solid) while others have not stopped to explain what is going on at all (i.e. Left 4 Dead). While story games definitely have their place in my heart, I’m here to argue that writing off games without story is simply foolish. And in some cases, pushing a story too hard is a major misstep.

Food For Game-Thought: The Game-Thoughtening

Growing up with video games has been an interesting experience for me.  I started out with a Super Nintendo and Donkey Kong Country when I was five, and was absolutely crazy about playing games until the 15 to 16 age range.  At that point, I started getting into online gaming forums, and split my time pretty evenly between talking about games and playing them.  Around college, that shifted more to talking about games in general and listening in on other people’s opinions about games.

It’s an interesting experience to talk about games when you’re a gamer. There’s a lot of sentimental attachment to it because the subject is so intimately tied with your childhood experiences.  For many of us, describing what games are good to play, why they’re good to play, and what it is to be a gamer are all very intimately tied in with a part of our personal identity.  We have a personal stake in these discussions because these discussions are about things that we grew up with.

It’s typical that we expect non-gamers to have misconceptions and biases about gaming, but it’s also important to remember that such personal stakes also make gamers very biased.  I’ve spent a lot of my past blog posts trying to pick out the little twists and inconsistencies in perceptions of gaming, within the gaming community.  It’s a bit atypical; gamers have had to deal with lots of bias and criticism from authority figures and from people who’ve never really been into games, but rarely does one of our own speak out against us.  

Is this so healthy, though?  Some statements are uncomfortable to hear upon first exposure, but these statements ultimately help us grow.  Being challenged by an opposing viewpoint is the essence of personal growth.  Though the final statement may not necessarily be the prettiest, the logic behind the statement is not necessarily so foreign.

In this blog post, I want to take the time to share some of other people’s thoughts and opinions that I’ve followed that have helped shape how I see gaming today.  Some of the content is going to be a bit dated, and it’s not even a guarantee that I’ll agree with the links and videos that I post.  I’ll provide context where appropriate.  I hope you’ll find these people’s stuff as interesting as I did.

 Surprise!  I'm completely unoriginal!

League of Legends: Laning

Hello everyone again. It’s that day every other week where I rant about League of Legends and maybe throw a coherent thought or two in there. IEM Hannover is coming this week and with it the chance to see the top LoL teams in the nation go head to head. Tune in to learn from the strategies the pros bring to play. Good luck to them all!

I plan to finish talking about the early game with this post. Now that we’ve covered the moments leading up to the game along with the first 3 minutes of a game, I’m going to talk about the next phase: early game (or laning phase). This includes aspects farming and zoning.

Goku vs Superman, by Kieran

Hello boys and girls! Today I'd like to tell you about a story. A story that begins with a picture.

This picture.

That is the picture that started it all. Before it was drawn, nobody asked the question, or cared about it. A picture of Goku and Superman locked in combat. The someone drew the picture, and someone asked the question.

It probably went something like:

"Hey, who do you think would win in a fight between Goku and Superman?"

And that's when all hell broke loose, and one of the longest and most bitter debates on the internet began.
And today I will tell you about both of these two fictional characters so that you can make an informed decision of your own about who would be the victor.
Then I will tell you who I think would win the fight.
Then you can tell me to go fuck off.