Last night, after some solo work up to level 7 and far too many trips to the hospital, I grouped up with three friends. Caly sidekicked me, bringing my effective fighting skill from 7 to 12, and they all offered me some of their less powerful enhancements (which were all more powerful than the ones I'd been using). Then we tromped into Perez Park and beat down some nasty swamp slime beasties. After that was done, we found some trollkin and smacked them down as well. It was a good night.

As an MMORPG, CoH is fairly one-dimensional. Which isn't to say this is a bad thing. It is something that needs to be kept in mind, though. You can't go in expecting to craft or be a merchant or even deal with political machinations. It's nearly all about the fighting (though there is the fun of exploration and, of course, role-playing as well).

Yesterday my wife kindly got me a copy of City of Heroes, a new MMORPG where players take on the roles of superheroes in a troubled futuristic city. This is, in fact, the very first MMORPG I've played since the Ultima Online beta test, and it will be the first one I've ever paid for.

Character creation in this game is quickly become famous for its degree of customization. Since it's an online game, it's understandable to see why you can't upload your own graphics and such. Even so, the number of choices are astounding. Last night I created my account, logged in, and created my first character: Dark Affliction, a magic-based blaster (ranged attack archetype).

So far the game has been good fun, but I don't want to start really getting into dissecting it because I've only played it for one day. Tonight I hope to get into some real team action, since I've been going solo so far (except for when passing heroes generously jump in and help out). Criminals... eat my justice!

Happy Easter!

Yesterday, I finished the latest game on my retro kick -- Dungeon Master: Chaos Strikes Back. Unlike the first DM, this one I'd never before finished, and with good reason. This game was considerably more difficult and complex than the original. I doubt I would have been able to finish it without the detailed map info available from the net (at the very least, it would have taken much longer than the many hours it already took). With the maps, though, it's a great game to play, even after all these years. For information, maps, and downloads, check out Dungeon Master Information.