Houkago Game Time

RNG, Data, Guesswork, and Optimization

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“RNG is bad” is a sentiment that most competitive gamers seem to be unanimous on. But if all RNG is stripped from a game, it tends to feel dry and predictable. A lot of competitive games implement some small RNG into their design to spice things up a bit, e.g. Dota2 has damage ranges on normal attacks, and RNG-based abilities like Ogre Magi’s Multicast. Some people even complain that the fog of war makes the game too unpredictable. But I think there’s a big difference between something like multicast trigger RNG and fog of war. This article aims to articulate that difference, and outline why “RNG” is bad for competition, but “Guesswork” is very good.

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Why I think quest-based systems in MMORPGs suck

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MMORPGs were, for a long time, my favorite genre. The only thing more appealing than a good RPG, was a good RPG with the dialogue swapped out for multiplayer mechanics. Even today, I find it to be an amazingly cool concept. I was completely taken by games like Ragnarok Online (RO), Lineage II, Final Fantasy XI, Dark Age of Camelot, and Ultima Online. Naturally, I identified myself as a heavy MMORPG player. That’s no longer the case.

It seems that one day, all MMORPG designers woke up, and collectively had the same thought – “WE NEED QUESTS!“

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Main reasons I love tri-Ace

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I have played a lot of RPGs lately that I didn’t enjoy. I only recently picked up a PS3, and I feverishly bought all the games I had been missing for the last half-decade: Final Fantasy XIII, Trusty Bell, Atelier Meruru, Atelier Ayesha, Dragon’s Crown, Senjou no Valkyria, Demon’s Souls, Tales of Graces f, Cross Edge, Ni no Kuni, and Trinity Universe. I had some other games on Xbox 360, and I did enjoy them, but that is besides the point.

Among all of the aforementioned game soft, only Cross Edge, Dragon’s Crown, and Demon’s Souls managed to hold my interest for more than 20 hours. The rest were dropped within the first 15. This left me desperately searching for RPGs on the 3DS or Vita in hopes to find something that I could sink my teeth into. Pocket Monsters X has a popularity that I do not understand; I find it to be one of the most unrefined and poorly paced Pokemon games since the abysmal generation 3 games. Bravely Default is okay I guess, but it’s a predictable and ultimately easy game. Kakusei is an SRPG, so while fantastic, it doesn’t count.

As I was hopelessly browsing 3DS titles in Famitsu’s database, the cover of Labyrinth no Kanata caught my eye. It wasn’t until I was already invested in the idea of purchasing it that I noticed it was developed by tri-Ace. Yup, instant buy from me. Now, I’ve just put my 3DS down after my first playthrough, and am feeling highly satisfied for the first time in awhile.

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A Quick Analysis of Sakura Kyouko

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It’s come to my attention that some jackasses don’t know anything about the character
「佐倉杏子」 (Sakura Kyouko). I will spell out some quick basics here for the total idiots.

This article obviously contains MADOKA SPOILERS

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Best Games Ever: Ragnarok Online // 라그나로크 온라인

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Developed by: Gravity
Platform: PC
Genre: MMORPG

A quick write-up of why Ragnarok Online is one of my favorite games. Or, a certain period of it was, anyways.

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