re: Social traffic

hi
enquanto-isso_21.htmlnoreply

here it is, social website traffic:
http://www.mgdots.co/detail.php?id=113


Full details attached




Regards
Jude Jacobo  












Unsubscribe option is available on the footer of our website

Domain Authority 50 for your website - Guaranteed Service

We`ll get your website to have Domain Authority 50 or we`ll refund you every
cent

for only 150 usd, you`ll have DA50 for your website, guaranteed

Order it today:
http://www.str8-creative.co/product/moz-da-seo-plan/

thanks
Alex Peters

9Th Ed. 40K And How It Affects All Eldar

Bring on 9th Edition.

It's about that time folks. If you guys have been following 40K news in the last couple of weeks, you'll know that 9th Ed. is right around the corner. For a quick recap of everything that's been going on, I suggest you go to Auspex Tactics and catch up. Yes, I'm plugging that dude's channel because he's insanely active and posts updates literally minutes after articles themselves get released. I'd rank him among the top dudes I watch on YouTube.

Without too much mumbo-jumbo, let's get right into it. I'll lay it out the best I can in the only way I know how: As real as it gets. I will warn you ahead of time though, I think Eldar (all races) are not going to do too hot come 9th. There's a lot of rules here that'll take away from the Eldar identity and give it to the other races and are generally harmful to the playstyle of the army. Now, before you get super triggered and go off on me saying that the book's not out yet and we don't see all the rules, I promise you: I don't need to see all the rules to see where this is going. We have a lot of information in front of us already and I've been playing this game for over 20 years now. While the Eldar will get some noticeable benefits, they will be challenged heavily with some pretty stark negatives. Just a head's up, I don't plan on covering Ynnari as I don't consider them a full army yet with just WD rules.

Overview of the Eldar races

Before we go too deep in the pond of negativity, I think its important that we frame the discussion. First, we have to understand what the Eldar is and what they offer. I'll start with Craftworld Eldar (CWE) and then go into Dark Eldar (DE), before talking about Harlequins (Harlies). When it comes to CWE, they are a lot more durable compared to the other Eldar races. They are also much more specialized and depend a lot on psychic abilities to maximize their damage output. When it comes to their specializations, what I mean by this is that they have specific units in the form of Aspect Warriors and Exarchs that do a very specific job. For example, Dire Avengers kill infantry, Fire Prisms kill vehicles, Crimson Hunters kill Aircraft, and there's generally a bit of a blend when you mix in different weapon types. Another gimmick that the Craftworlders have is their Wraithbone constructs. They're beefy, have high toughness, multiple wounds, and have good armor saves. When complimented with psychic abilities, you take this to the next level. My closing statement is: Specialized, durable, psychic.

Next on the list is the Dark Eldar, better known as the Drukhari now for the newer players. They're pretty fast, generally faster than CWE but a lot more fragile. A lot of their units have below-bar toughness from their infantry to their tanks, but they do have beefy elements in the army like Wracks for Troops and Talos for monsters. When you take them with Prophets, you can build yourself a wonderful Meat Mountain to pulverize your opponents. These guys have no psychic abilities, but generally bring a lot of high AP, high-damaging shots like Dark Lances and Disintegrators to eat through enemy armor and kill high-value targets like Primaris. The Dark Kin are actually 3 different army books in one, each representing a unique fighting/play style of the army. The Kabal brings a lot of firepower and vehicles traditionally (how I play), the Wych Cults bring fast, paper-thin close combat and hit and run tactics, while the Haemoculi Covens bring the meat via durable troops, monsters and a lot of FNP. My closing statement here is: Fast, squishy (unless Covens), a lot of firepower.

Lastly, we have the Harlequins. They're like a mix of CWE and DE, but have their own gimmicks. They're very fast, hit very hard, but die to a soft breeze, even more so than the Dark Eldar. Sure, they have 4++ saves and a bunch of negative hit mods, but their Troupes are still T3 models with 1W. Their biggest strength is in their bikes and their heroes, especially since their latest WD drop made their heroes sing even louder. When you get charged by these guys, you most certaintly feel it. There is a lot of damage potential from this army, but their biggest weakness for sure is their fragility, and the fact they rely so heavily on not being hit and rolling invulnerable saves. Closing statement from me is: Close combat, hit mods and invul saves, hero-focused.

Changes coming to 9th

Now that that's been said, I'll start off by listing a lot of the changes we know about the core mechanics of the game:

In no order whatsoever:

• The game boards will be shorter; changing from a 48"x78" table to 44"x60".
• Detachments cost command points; promoting single-detachment armies and 12 CP at 2000 points.
• Points are going up across the board. We have seen 18 to 20 point Intercessors (+10%) and 4 to 6 point Cultists (+50%).
• Command Phase means CP is gained per turn. 1 CP per turn, unknown how generators will work.
• Strategic Reserves means you can reserve unit(s) by Power Level to be brought in from flanking positions or Deep Strike starting from T2.
• Blast weapons coming back to fight against hordes.
• Characters and Look Out Sir! changing so you have to have the character nearby something.
• Non-infantry move and fire Heavy weapons without penalty i.e. Monsters and vehicles.
• Vehicles and monsters fire non-blast Heavy weapons in close combat.
• Modifiers can never get more than +1/-1, rolls of 6s always hit.
• Obscuring terrain blocks LOS minus titanic units, things above 18 wounds or aircraft. There's also different terrain keywords that do different things.
• Overwatch is now a strategem for everyone except for Tau.
• Multi-charge has changed so if you don't make all your declared charges, you fail to charge.
• Morale system changed so you can't kill off huge units by doing a crap ton of damage to them.
• Units with Fly can no longer shoot after Falling Back.

Keep in mind that this is not all the changes, but just the changes that I think will have the most impact for Eldar. Without going into the different Eldar races quite yet, I think we can pretty much compartmentalize these changes into a few buckets. These buckets, based on the changes we see so far, can really paint a clear picture where the game is going in terms of meta, effective unit choices and what the future of 40K holds. Yes, I wholly understand that the one of the biggest unknowns right now is unit prices, but GW has had a balance trend in multiple CAs to buff crappy units instead of nerfing good units. They do, however, go after the good units when they start taking over the meta. Unfortunately, they always seem to be late to the party on the latter.

Yes, this might happen in the very-near future.

Scoping out the meta

OK, so back to buckets to paint the meta with:

Melee edition:

• Smaller board sizes means shorter distance to get your opponents in melee. This also means opponents have less room to maneuver aka hit and run so melee can catch them.
• Strategic reserves coming in from board edges and essentially anywhere. Plus, you can put anything into reserve by paying CP according to Power Level.
• Overwatch is now a strategem means you'll be able to force out one OW before you go in there and tear them limb from limb. You can also bait them out with a Rhino.
• Morale system means that if your opponent means that if you kill off a huge group of units, the rest of your guys won't all run away.
• Obscuring terrain means you can now officially, without ITC rules, hide your more vulnerable melee units behind things instead of horrifically dying from being shot off the board.
• Units with Fly can no longer shoot after Falling Back is huge for melee armies. Once you tag a flying unit, you pretty much disable them unless they want to stay in there with you.

Vehicle/monster edition:

• All vehicles/monsters being able to fire heavies on the move without penalty. This immediately increases the damage potential of all vehicles/monsters in the game.
• Vehicles and monsters can also fire weapons out of combat while engaged. This means that a Grot can't tag your Leman Russ any more. This means your biggest guns can always fire.
• Obscuring terrain also benefits monsters because most of the vehicles/monsters in the game are <18 wounds. This means you can now hide effectively from being shot off the board on the first turn.
• A lot of heavy weapons will have Blast rules, so certain heavy weapons will be much more effective killing infantry while you can move around.

Quality of Life changes:

• Mono armies are back because detachments cost CP now. This gives mono-armies like Custodes a huge boon and severely punishes detachments for trait/CP benefits heavily.
• CP is gained every game round automatically. If you want to maximize on CP, you will most likely take a generator on top of this automatic gain, and a single Battalion or even a Brigade.
• Strategic Reserves for everyone is just good. It increases the diversity of list building and breathes life into units that might not see play.
• Characters and LOS! rules is just clean. No more not being able to shoot a character out in the open just because some unit is closer.
• Modifiers being capped at +1/-1 means that you will never see a -2 To Hit flyer again. You can still use traits or strategems to mitigate your opponent's advantage, but you're still capped.
• I'll say this again: Obscuring terrain is the single biggest change to hit this edition as it's applicable everywhere. It's one of the best rules for ITC and I'm glad its here to stay.
• Units with Fly can no longer shoot after Falling Back.

Not so sure changes:

• Points are going up across the board. Just for practice, I've been building all of my lists at 1500 points just to see how much I can retain. Using the Intercessor and Cultist example with a range of +10-50% increase, who knows what we'll see? This will make some units either really cost effective or straight trash.
• Not sure about multi-charges failing the entire charge, but we'll see how it plays out. I guess you just have to be much more selective of what you charge so you can't play charge/tag shennigans.

General Meta Predictions

Now that that's done, let's quickly sum up what we think the meta is going to be: Melee, vehicle, monsters Edition. That is my prediction.

More specifically, I think the meta will swing towards small (MSU-style), durable, multi-wound melee units that are not as vulnerable to Blast (since it only starts kicking in at 6+ models). Do we know any armies like that? Custodes, GK Paladins, Tyranid Warriors, smaller units can also hide behind obscuring terrain better. Fast units like Smash Captains will still have a place as long as they're next to other units and hug obscuring cover. Monsters that can melee and shoot instantly got better as well. If you use the chart I laid out above, the more benefits you have combined, the better your unit just got. That means things like Wraithlords and Dreadnoughts who can both melee and shoot instantly went up in value.

Divining the future of the Eldar.

Eldar Ramblings

Now that we provided as much background, context and predictions into the greater meta, why is this necessarily bad for Eldar? All the races of Eldar have some pretty solid vehicles and melee right? We even have Wraithlords and Talos who can melee and shoot from combat! Yes, yes, that is true, but let's get right into it again and I'll provide some reasoning. This time, I'll list out the most dramatic things to happen to us in order of importance with some reasoning.

In order of importance (most dramatic effect):

1. Obscuring terrain blocks LOS minus titanic units, things above 18 wounds or aircraft. There's also different terrain keywords that do different things.
• This is the single biggest change, in a positive way for all Eldar. Virtually none of our units have 18+ wounds (except for the damn useless Wraithknight) and are extremely fast to take advantage of area terrain the prevents you from being shot while still coming to a firing solution. It prevents your more delicate models from being shot from DE/Harlequins, gives you a place to hide artillery units like Nightspinners and allows you to decimate armies through firepower with Kabal vehicles. I have entire articles written about how to take advantage of cover and terrain.
2. Units with Fly can no longer shoot after Falling Back. Still no word on how this is going to work with Open-top units want to shoot from inside.
• This is the single biggest change, in a negative way for all Eldar. Not being able to hit and run if you get tagged without a stratagem is straight trash. It doesn't even make sense, especially when it comes to the Eldar playstyle. Sure, you can sit still in combat and shoot away, but that's something that I can see for Imperials. I don't like this at all from a thematic perspective nor a gameplay perspective. Not being able to effectively hit and run on a smaller board just screams short-sightedness when it comes to game design. Hell, even Eldar bikes get hosed. Boo-hiss!
3. The game boards will be shorter; changing from a 48"x78" table to 44"x60".
• This is the single biggest change, in a negative way for all Eldar. Less room to kite, generally worse for Eldar outside of specific playstyles. The improvements with melee and strategic reserves means that there's just less places to fly, more ways to get ambushed and fewer chances to score last minute objectives. Smaller boards means that effective 24" firepower is more important and controlling the middle of the board will be pivotal. Eldar generally wants to be a non-attrition army (meaning they suck at it), having less room to maneuver for a race that really depends on it can force the races into limited playstyles i.e. Meat Mountains.
4. Modifiers can never get more than +1/-1, rolls of 6s always hit. This translates to Lightning Fast Reflexes being not cost-effective most of the time, and you going from "can't be hit" to get hit, and get hit more.
• Harlies - This is the biggest negative change that they have. My reasoning behind this is that the majority of the points factored into Harlequins, their psychic abilities, their strategems, and therefore, the durability of Harlequins has always been around stacking hit mods and improving their invul saves. With hit modifiers being capped, Harlequins just lost a HUGE chunk of their survival rate. I would go as far as saying that if the army goes up even a medium range of points, they're entirely dead in the water. The Harlequin army was designed AND priced at being able to modify hit mods and improve invul. Otherwise, no amount of damage is going to offset their squishy nature.
• CWE - This only really affects Alaitoic CW stacked with Flyers. Towards the end of the Psychic Awakening/Marine meta, most competitive CW players was moving away from Alaitoic anyway to take advantage of Expert Crafters + something like Masters of Concealment (i.e. my Yme-loc CWE). However, this firmly sunsets the days of Alaitoic due to the fact that you can no longer mix detachments without paying CP.
• DE - Not really concerned overall, minus the fact that it's not really worth paying Lightning Fast Reflexes (applies to all other Eldar too) for 2 CP on most targets. You certainty wouldn't bother casting it on your planes now either considering capped hit mods and the fact you already have a base 5++.
5. Points are going up across the board. The only reason I'm not ranking this at the very top is because it's also the largest unknown.
• Harlies - Like I said, if the points go up too much, the army is effectively dead. The fact that you can no longer really splash them without taking a CP hit is a considerable weaknesses. While their bikes are still considered amazing units, I don't really don't know about this army. Even with the buffs to melee and reserves, taking a Patrol of them with a fat-stack of Troupe with a Troupe Master/Shadowseer is questionable.
• DE - I'm worried for the DE when it comes to points. I am hoping that they won't get points increases across the board because realistically, they stopped being highly relevant for a while now. Since Knights, DE have struggled and with Marines coming online, it's only gotten worse. Psychic Awakening didn't really give much benefits to DE as well and the same Kabals/Covens are still being played (Black Heart and Prophets).
• CWE - I think this is actually tied with DE. A lot of the changes that made vehicles and monsters good benefits this race a lot, but a lot of it depends on how much the units will cost. I am hoping that GW realizes that they've way over-indexed on imperial effectiveness the last couple of months, supplements and CAs. It doesn't really help Eldar if the good units go up in cost substantially out of purchasing range, and GW has a problem nerfing units that they consider too good when the meta has already past them i.e. Crimson Hunters Exarchs or lol Ravagers.
6. Non-infantry move and fire Heavy weapons without penalty i.e. Monsters and vehicles.
• CWE - Being able to move and shoot with heavy weapons without penalty certainly has the biggest impact on Craftworlds. A ton of their units like the Wave Serpents, Falcons, Nightwings, Vypers, War Walkers, Wraithlords..etc all benefit from this. Even Crimson Hunters received virtually free Hawkeye on top of PA Exarch abilities which is really huge. What can I say? This is a really huge boon for Eldar, especially when most of those vehicles can take Crystal Targeting Matrix.
• DE - This is where I'm a little salty, namely because they took one of the biggest faction identity traits of the DE and gave them to everyone else. The ability to move and fire heavy weapons on the move was something that DE was known for. In fact, it reads: "Change this weapon's Type from Heavy to Assault if it is equipped on a VEHICLE". This change literally does nothing for DE except for taking away their faction identity and give it to everyone else in the game. I really hope they give DE something to compensate for this technology theft.
• Harlies - Nothing, I got nothing.
7. Vehicles and monsters fire non-blast Heavy weapons in close combat.
• DE - Talos are going to be really freaking good man, that's all I have to say. They've already been good for multiple years now with Prophets as the best Coven, but being able to continue to shoot Haywires in a soon-to-be vehicle-heavy meta is going to be amazing.
• CWE - Wraithlords will get some new life, being able to cleave things in melee while shooting two Eldar heavy weapons.
• Harlies - Nope, still nothing.

Meat's back on the menu boys!

Things that have a lesser effect listed here. I won't say as much here but will leave a blurb or two:

• Detachments cost command points; promoting single-detachment armies and 12 CP at 2000 points.
• Less room to customize your army to min-max your detachments. For example, I could take extra range + durability by mixing Obsidian Rose troops inside Black Heart Raiders aka my Black Rose, but that's no longer a thing. Same could be said about min-maxing Alaitoc Flyers with Expert Crafter Nightspinners. However, this is not a clear disadvantage to everyone in the game because everyone suffers from this.
• To note, I am really interested to see what they do with DE's Raiding Force rule. I really hope they don't forget about it.
• Strategic Reserves means you can reserve unit(s) by Power Level to be brought in from flanking positions or Deep Strike starting from T2.
• A lot of Eldar units are expensive to ambush in via CP by a PL basis. Maybe that's why we have the Webway strategem? Overall, I wouldn't say there's a clear plus or minus just yet as I can see some practical use out of the new reserve rules, especially when it comes to flexibility of what you can actually reserve.
• Characters and Look Out Sir! changing so you have to have the character nearby something.
• Those hidden Rangers really helped shield those Skyrunners when you needed them to.
• Command Phase means CP is gained per turn. 1 CP per turn, unknown how generators will work.
• Good for me, good for you. All three Eldar factions have ways to generate CP outside of the standard 1 per Command Phase.
• Morale system changed so you can't kill off huge units by doing a crap ton of damage to them.
• This might actually be OK for Eldar against specific high-value armies like Marines. CWE has things like the Hemlock, DE has Phantasmal Grenade Launchers (PGL), while Harlequins are just loaded with leadership-shocking abilities. Since failing morale instantly nabs a model now, this might be OK for armies that have these abilities. However, the weakness comes in the fact that if we shoot up a lot of hordes, we won't be able to kill nearly as much.
• Blast weapons coming back to fight against hordes.
• Until we see weapon profiles, we're not sure enough just how many things get Blast. We know from a preview that Nighspinners are still good, but we don't know nearly enough about everyone else. I would think that you can guess which weapons can be Blast based on previous editions. Just remember which ones had blast templates and use your imagination.
• Overwatch is now a strategem for everyone except for Tau.
• Good for melee, further pushing the notion that Meat Mountains are going to make a comeback (as if they ever left?). A lot of Eldar armies in the current and previous metas were much more focused on shooting with a central melee unit like Shining Spears. This doesn't really change anything for those armies.
• Multi-charge has changed so if you don't make all your declared charges, you fail to charge.
• This is bad for Shining Spears or things like Wraithblades that might make an appearance, but is a boon for not getting your flying vehicles combo-charged.

Conclusion:

If there's anything to take away from this analysis is the fact that Harlequins get almost nothing when it comes to firing heavy weapons or vehicles/monsters. In fact, I would one of the biggest problems they'll run into is not being able to survive through any kind of game. I'm seriously hoping that we'll see some buffs or cost benefits come their way, otherwise, they're in some serious trouble. Otherwise, I firmly expect to see CWE/DE players trying out their more shooting-effective vehicles, but this is offset with their inability to fall back and fire now. This points the finger at a possible Talos/Wraithlord meta possibly, but that will all depend on the price you pay. In fact, the price hikes that are sure to follow will firmly determine the future of the Eldar race. I just hope they give something to Harlequins because they are not looking good at all.

Eldar Meta Predictions

With the meta swinging into smaller, MSU, more elite-type units in both durable, melee-focused infantry, or vehicles/monsters, I think Eldar will need to adapt to win. I do not foresee most Eldar armies to play an infantry-based or melee-based route, but more towards the vehicle and monsters. With a shorter-board to play on, I think the value of mid-game, mid-board control will be heavily emphasized in each game regardless of mission. Therefore, you need units that can stay alive in the center of the board to better play the objective game.  I also think that because melee will be so strong that there will be a heavier emphasis in being able to effectively screen as you don't want your vehicles to get tagged.

Breaking it down a bit, I foresee 2 key archetypes to come out of the Eldar meta.

• First, do not play Harlequins. Until I see a dramatic reversal of the fates, they're dead to me.
• Second, I am seeing the return of durability and Meat Mountain-style lists. This means Wraithblades with psychic powers to make them near unkillable, Wraithlords that can shoot and melee, supported by some Eldar tanks now that you have an effective meat wall riding up the middle for board control. For DE, expect to see Wracks, Grots and Talos with Prophets with Urien in the middle. This style of list really wants to run some supporting firepower like Ravagers, so I'm expecting them to play with a few CP down just to take the extra firepower. I don't believe CWE needs to worry about splitting detachments too much.
• Third, I am seeing both vehicle-heavy mechdar lists from DE and Eldar to be effective. They won't be as effective as the MM or MM/hybrid list with vehicles, but they'll still have a place. Why? Because I think they'll be anti-meta. While everyone and their mother wants to shove elite and durable melee or vehicle units in your face, as a DE player you'll have 21 Disintegrators or a crap-ton of Poison shots for the monsters that they'll bring. Eldar can play this game as well, especially with their newly buffed vehicles/Heavy weapon rules. I just don't think they'll be able to play the game as well as their Dark Kin.

Phew, you made it through. With that said, I'll probably continue my spiritual journey playing games with the mechdar-style lists. I just don't get excited about playing meat mountains regardless of how effective they might be. What do you predict we'll see in the new meta? Do you agree with any of my predictions? What do you plan on playing? I know I'm going to be spending the next couple of days building 1500 point lists in preparation for the new price hikes. It's better to start lower to avoid disappointment in the future.

Men of War Assault Squad 2 Cold War CODEX Free Download

Men of War Assault Squad 2 Cold War CODEX Free Download PC Game setup in single direct link for Windows. It is an amazing action, adventure and indie game.

Men of War Assault Squad 2 Cold War CODEX PC Game 2019 Overview

The legendary Men of War RTS series has finally reached the cold war era. Take command of either U.S. or Soviet forces, fulfill mission objectives and claim victory!
Control vast armies of regular and specialized units, including support vehicles, light and heavy tanks, artillery vehicles, combat helicopters and game-changing jet fighters. Take to the battlefields of destroyed cities, fortified border zones, rural farmlands, destroyed airbases and sleepy winter villages in the latest installment of this classic RTS series, in which strong leadership and good management are the keys to success.
For the first time in the series, dynamic campaign generation makes its debut. Men of War: Assault Squad 2 – Cold War gives players nearly endless experiences in both singleplayer and cooperative campaign modes!

Key features:

* Pick your side: The United States of America versus the Soviet Union.
* Dynamic campaign generator makes singleplayer and co-op extremely replayable, with randomized skirmishes and custom army compositions.
* Competitive online multiplayer modes.
* Assault Zones mode: Capture and hold flag points using all military means possible.
* Annihilation mode: Dominate the enemy or capture their base; valuable resources can also be secured on the battlefield.
* Command large armies or control single units with the series-defining Direct Control Mode.

Technical Specifications of This Release.

• Game Version :
• Interface Language: English
• Audio Language : English
• Uploader / Re packer Group: Codex
• Game File Name : Men_of_War_Assault_Squad_2_Cold_War_CODEX.iso
• Game Download Size : 8.0 GB
• MD5SUM : 00096d23ebdf7c31483456c317482663

System Requirements of Men of War Assault Squad 2 Cold War CODEX

Before you start Men of War Assault Squad 2 Cold War CODEX Free Download make sure your PC meets minimum system requirements.

Minimum:

* Requires a 64-bit processor and operating system
* OS: 64bit – Windows 7, 8, 10
* Memory: 8 GB RAM
* Graphics: DirectX 11 compatible
* DirectX: Version 11
* Storage: 15 GB available space
* Sound Card: DirectX 11 compatible
* Additional Notes: Requires a 64-bit processor and operating system

Recommended:

* Requires a 64-bit processor and operating system
* OS: 64bit – Windows 10
* Memory: 16 GB RAM
* Graphics: DirectX 12 compatible
* DirectX: Version 12
* Storage: 15 GB available space
* Sound Card: DirectX 12 compatible
* Additional Notes: Requires a 64-bit processor and operating system

Men of War Assault Squad 2 Cold War CODEX Free Download

Click on the below button to start Men of War Assault Squad 2 Cold War CODEX. It is full and complete game. Just download and start playing it. We have provided direct link full setup of the game.

aDownload Link:::Link

Size:7.96GB

Price:Free

Virus status: scanned by Avast security

1500 google maps citations cheap

Rank the google maps top 5 for your money keywords, guaranteed

http://www.str8-creative.io/product/1500-gmaps-citations/

regards,
Str8 Creative

Alter Ego Progress

Alter Ego has been around forever, and it's about time I finished it up! In order to light a fire under myself to get it done, I actually hired an artist and graphic designer to start working on it...

So last week I brought Alter Ego out again with my playtest group. Looks like it's been about 2 years since it hit the table! I think the overall structure of the game is solid, but there are still a lot of details I think need work. Here's some stuff that's happened just in the last 2 playtest sessions:

Deck Size

I have always used a starting deck size of 12 cards -- 4 each of Job, Family, and Support cards. Actually, since I added "character" cards (each with a unique fight icon and a specific starting deck configuration), the decks started with 13 cards. The game takes about 5 rounds to play... I could lengthen it, but I think it would drag a bit. However, this means that you only add 5 cards to your deck, which isn't very many for a deck learning mechanism...

I don't have much in the way of deck thinning in this game. There are a couple of equipment cards that do it, but mostly I had decided that instead of thinning your deck, players could focus on Family, thereby drawing a ton of cards instead. This is equivalent in some way to deck thinning, and it means that if you want a "thinner" deck, then you have to focus on Family. If you focus on other things and neglect Family, then you will suffer from deck bloat.

I think I chose 4 of each card (plus or minus) so that you could reasonably have 3 of them at a time. If you play 1 Family card, you avoid a penalty and draw +2 cards next turn. If you play 2, then you draw +4 cards. But if you commit 3 of your 5 cards to Family in one turn, then you draw + cards AND you get a Teamwork token, which is valuable.

Similarly, if you play 1 Community card, you avoid a penalty and draw 1 extra henchman to choose from. 2 is a little stronger (draw +2 henchmen to choose from). 3 Community cards means you draw + 3 henchmen to choose from AND you get to call the police on one of the henchmen in play.

Job cards are a little different in that you gain $ tokens, which you don't have to discard. Playing 3 at once doesn't do anything too special, but most of the equipment costs about 3 to obtain.

Anyway, because of all that, I wanted to make sure players had enough cards to invoke those more powerful plays if they wanted to. However, I might try reducing the starting decks to 3 of each (10 cards if you include the character). Then if the game lasts 5 rounds, then at least a larger portion of your deck will be changed. Also, with the changes below, it's possible I could add a few rounds to the game, further impacting the amount your deck changes over the course of the game.

Villain Format

Since the games inception, the Arch Villains would sit there, out of play, until one (or more) of them were triggered to enter play. Part of the point of the game was to make sure the "right" one came into play, the one you'd have an easier time beating based on the cards you'd taken into your deck throughout the game.

Last week I tried a slightly different format, which I think has a lot of good things going for it. Instead of being "out of play," the three Arch Villains could be in play the whole time. When henchmen come into play, they are placed in front of their affiliated villain, in a way protecting them. During the game, you can't attack an Arch Villain if there are henchmen in front of them. Theoretically, this could lead to more interesting decisions about which henchmen to defeat (you want to save certain colored civilians so you don't lose, you might want particular trophies, you might want to defeat what you can afford to defeat, and you might want to "dig" toward one of the Villains in particular). This way you could also have to face decisions mid-game such as "do we defeat this henchman over here, or do we hit that villain while we have the chance, since he has no henchmen in front of him?"

This format seemed to work, though it'll require some tweaks and changes to fully implement. I think it feels more like a real game this way. It might mean cutting the few henchmen that are affiliated with multiple different villains, and I'll have to decide if unaffiliated henchmen are in front of no villain, or all villains.

Turn Structure

It had come up before, more than once, that the turn structure was not intuitive. I have considered changing it, maybe even tried changing it once, but never liked the results. After playing a couple games with my regular testers, I finally conceded that the turn sequence needed to be different. What I had was this...
1. Income phase: collect $ based on what you have in play
2. Support phase: draw cards based on what you have in play (now you have cards in play, a hand of cards, a draw pile, and a discard pile)
3. Patrol phase: draw henchmen based on what you have in play
4. Fight phase: spend icons in play to defeat henchmen. Once in a while you maybe have a card you can play from your hand, but mostly you have a hand at this point to help decide what to do this turn based on what you could maybe do next turn.
5. Recoup phase: discard everything in play, play new cards from hand to use next turn, then discard hand.

The long and short of this was that players were having several problems:
* Confusion between the hand, draw pile, discard pile, and display
* Planning the turn, then having to re-plan the turn once new henchmen were revealed (in the patrol phase, right before fighting)
* Confusion between cards in play that they could use this turn, and cards in hand that they can't use until next turn

There had been suggestions of putting the Support phase right before Recoup, so you draw cards right before using them. I think I even tried this once, but it didn't really solve the problems, and I didn't like it.

I have finally decided to re-organize the turn to actually address those problems. The new sequence is:
1. Support phase: draw cards and play some of them into your display
2. Income phase: collect everything you collect ($, teamwork tokens, penalty tokens)
3. Fight phase: use icons in play to defeat henchmen currently in play
4. Patrol phase: NOW bring new henchmen into play
5. Recoup phase: note how many cards you're supposed to draw, then discard EVERYTHING, hand and display.

So now you still technically have a hand, display, draw pile, and discard pile, but you don't access them at weird times. You draw cards ant the beginning of the turn, use them during the turn, and then discard them at the end of the turn.

Putting Patrol after Fight means you only have to plan each turn once. This is not only less confusing, but it speeds things up quite a bit, and makes a lot of sense. It also approximates other cooperative games in which players get a turn, then the AI they're fighting against gets a turn.

So we tried that a couple of times, and it definitely seemed smoother. I personally sort of missed the ability to know what you would be able to do next turn, but I also didn't have a problem with the old turn sequence. Other players weren't using the info about next turn, and were getting confused, so the obvious right thing to do seems to be reorganizing the turn like this. Also, while you don't know exactly what you'll be able to do next turn, you DO know the general contents of your deck, so you should know what's likely or possible.

On the down side, this new structure introduced a new issue. Now you plan out the turn at the beginning, and then you resolve it. As nothing changes between when you play your cards and you resolve them, there was something a little off about the very end of the game. When you could win, you would know it during the planning stage, and that felt bad somehow. You're sitting there figuring out your turn, making your plans, etc, and one of the other players just says "GG guys, we win this turn." So anti-climactic.

Sure, at SOME point in every game there will be an instant when you've realized you will win. But that should really be you're resolving the action, not when you're planning it. What really ought to happen is that you play the cards, then something happens such that you don't know for sure whether you'll win or not. In the old format, you'd plan your turn, maybe see that you can win this turn, then you had to add new henchmen which might lose you the game before you resolve the fight phase. that wasn't perfect, but it was enough to counter that anti-climactic feeling which appeared as soon as I changed the turn sequence.

So, how to solve this problem, while keeping the improvements of the new turn order? Well, I need something that happens between card play and resolution that could change or foil your plans...

Villain Events
Fortunately, there's something I've been meaning to add to the game anyway: effects each villain could have, which make the game harder, and make the villains feel more different from each other. I hadn't designed those, but I had a few ideas for some effects. For example, the Sadist could kill civilians (you don't get them back when you defeat henchmen), and the mastermind could block access to some of the rules (no calling the police, for example).

So I made a small deck of cards for each villain with some effects on them. At the very beginning of the Fight phase, before anything else happens, you'll flip the top event card for each villain. Their effect will occur, which may be immediate, or may be a static effect that stays active until the next turn's fight phase when a new card replaces this one. These effects could very well foil your plans, making them exactly what I need to keep the game interesting. For example, if you plan the turn and decide that you're able to win this turn, and then all of a sudden, the Anarchist makes you draw new henchmen, and they happen to go in front of the villain you were going to defeat, then you'll have to wait until next turn. Or perhaps the villain you were after suddenly requires 1 more Strength icon to hit -- can you still afford it? Or perhaps they take an extra hostage - can you hit them one more time? Maybe next round...

Further, I wanted to make sure it wasn't all about picking 1 villain, and just piling up the other two with henchmen while you beat up the chosen one. Therefore I put 3 effects on each card, each more severe than the last. The effect in play depends on the number of henchmen in front of that villain. The first tier is currently "no effect" for 0-1 henchmen, but it could also be some small, mostly insignificant effect. This way, if you have the villain's henchmen mostly under control, then the event won't hinder you that bad.

The 2nd tier (2 henchmen) is a bigger effect, often local to the villain and his henchmen. Things like "my henchmen cost an additional Smarts to defeat" or "I cannot be attacked". This has the potential to mess with your game, but not in a huge way.

The 3rd tier (3+ henchmen) is an even bigger effect, often global, affecting all villains or henchmen. Things like "ALL henchmen cost an additional Smarts to defeat" or "no villain can be attacked this turn".

I brainstormed enough effects to make 5 cards per villain:
* The Mastermind effects mostly limit your access to rules (can't call the cops, can't use Teamwork, Equipment costs extra to buy/use).
* The Sadist mostly deal with henchmen and hostages (bring new henchmen into play, rescued hostages are removed from the game, remove civilian tokens from the game, take extra civilians hostage).
* The Anarchist has wild or chaotic effects (players take penalty markers, players draw fewer cards, players draw fewer henchman to choose from)

This is just the first draft, but I'm excited to try it out tomorrow. Assuming the structure works, then I think a little testing and development of those abilities will really make this game feel like a proper co-op.

Battlefield V - Review | Pro-GamersArena

Battlefield V - Review:

Battlefield V's (It's not Battlefield Vietnam which was released back in 2004) road to release hasn't actually been smooth, nor typical of an EA product. And to be honest, I didn't expected going in that playing Battlefield V's multiplayer would feel so much amazing and satisfying as Battlefield V doesn't feel like a complete experience at the launch. Battlefield V creates the impression that there's a sizeable number of modes and significant bug fixes still to be delivered. In this article, you're gonna hear from us about the Battlefield V Review. 


Quick Facts:

• Initial release date: 15 November 2018
• First released: 20 November 2018
• Engine: Frostbite
• Platforms: PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Microsoft Windows

Straight away, it worth focusing on that while Battlefield V is set during WWII, it doesn't feel outdated. Mechanically speaking, it's the absolute best-feeling Battlefield in quite a while. These short stories plan to tell the stories behind the soldiers that battled in the two world wars, with Battlefield V's selection highlighting some of the more dark records of World War 2. The three being referred to bring a profound jump into the British Special Boat Section, the Norwegian resistance during the German occupation, and the efforts of black West African soldiers in their offer to overthrow the Nazi reign in France. Additionally: for better and for more worse, the game doesn't retread familiar. ground. It spins around the period's lesser-known stories and settings, which can be at the same time reviving and a bit of disappointing, particularly for 1942 fans.

Over the majority of its current multiplayer modes, Battlefield V's default mechanics step toward the hardcore. Health recovery is limited, The time to execute is reduced, and the spotting system is almost entirely removed. And keeping in mind that a portion of these changes feel like a Band-Aid being ripped off, Battlefield V is a superior shooter as a result of them. All things considered, the revisions are more thoughtful than essentially adopting the majority of the hardcore rules. And, in lieu of the whole removal of 3D spotting, just a bunch of gadgets and certain battle characteristics would now be able to put that infamous red circle over enemies heads. This change will help you remain connected with Battlefield V's stunning surroundings instead of playing the HUD. In nutshell, these changes aim to underscore teamplay, fulfilling gunplay, and immersion and every one of them find their marks.

Here's an amazing gameplay by TheRadBrad.





Also Read: Overkill's The Walking Dead - Review 

Most important of all, the gun handling is fluid. Combat feels misleadingly easy, yet it's sufficiently layered to liberally reward skillful play, thoughtful strategies, or more all, teamwork. The maps are generally magnificent and advance shifted playstyles, from the flowing fields of Arras - a moment classic - to the omnipresent, all-knowing bridge of Twisted Steel. Wonderfully, every character class is impactful and enjoyable.

The incentives for coordinating with your four-person squad are borderline coercive. Lost health no longer again recovers past a specific point without a medkit, and ammo reserves are less abundant - most weapons are sustained by just two additional magazines to begin, making a Support partner an exceptionally welcome ally.

But there are many flaws which can't be neglected and need to be fixed as soon as possible like, at launch, Battlefield V was suffering from an unusually high amount of bugs and glitches which can possibly ruin a match. We've read reports of much further issues, but we ourselves have suffered with animation glitches that make pointing from turrets an impossibility, and the act of your weapon isolating from your character meaning you can't aim properly because the butt of your rifle is in your face as opposed to the iron sights. In addition, geometry in some cases neglects to stack in, leaving a church's bell tower suspended in mid-air, while trees and rocks don't show up properly, making them look like pixelated messes. The wonderful finish, however, was the point at which the 'Return to combat area' warning inaccurately showed up on our screen, which means we were killed following eight seconds for absolutely no reason. All of these issues is in all likelihood a basic fix via a patch, but they start to add up after occurring consecutively match after match to make an experience that you can't completely depend on to be reasonable nor stable.

An amazing video showing some funny glitches in Battlefield V by IGN.









Also Read: Cyberpunk 2077 | Release date, trailer, gameplay, news and more.



Battlefield V: Maps And Modes

Battlefield V offers eight maps at launch, and I felt all the maps to be quite enjoyable. Fjell 652 happens on a high-altitude Norwegian mountain overlooking the total of the Norvik map and is liable to exceptional and atmospheric snowstorms. Twisted Steel is built around a huge bridge that serves in as both a fabulous milestone and a functional mechanism to add a straight path to the map's familiar open environment speckled with rural villages.

And coming to modes, Shorter game modes, for example, Team Deathmatch, Domination, and Frontlines make up the numbers to give a multiplayer experience that will feel exceptionally familiar to returning players. Instead of update any of its online mechanics, Battlefield V refines and makes minor enhancements to the chaotic and tremendous battlegrounds it is known for. Despite everything you'll have those great Battlefield moments as you hold out against axis forces while your ticket counter drops to an alarming number, explode a rooftop to cut the rubble down onto your opponents, or you swoop in from the air and take out a target from a plane's gunner seat. There's no enormous disclosure to reveal, rather a stunningly better Battlefield experience to find.

Battlefield V: Company Coins?

Perhaps Battlefield V's greatest takeoff from what it's known for comes as its customization and cosmetic capabilities. Your Company enables you to kit out the four classes of assault, medic, support, and recon to your correct taste, with class particular weapons for each and a preposterous measure of customization to whack to finish everything. Specializations enable you to affect the stats of a weapon, choosing four of eight unique upgrades to better your odds of survival. And in addition that, you can give it an extension and add decals in five distinct territories, and after that, each weapon has its very own level progression to work through. And afterward, there's your soldier themselves, who can be kitted out with various headgear, outfits, and face paint to truly make them look like it. It's an astronomical measure of customisation, and it's everything fuelled by the in-game currency named Company Coins. 


Earned by leveling up and finishing day by day orders, the money can be spent on cosmetic items for either your solider or skins for your weapons. This extends the visual abilities beyond basic unlocks via progression and enables you to pick what you need when you need it. There is no real way to buy Company Coins by means of microtransactions, however, EA has expressed that a different paid currency will be introduced at a later date.


Also Read: Days Gone | PS4 Release date, Gameplay



The Verdict:

Battlefield V is going to be an extraordinary game, of that we're certain, but because of various glaring omissions at launch and one an excessive number of glitches, the final product isn't there just yet. The good news is that fixes are already taking off, and with a year or a greater amount of free maps and modes on the way, Battlefield V can just show signs of improvement from here. 

Domain Authority 50 for your website - Guaranteed Service

We`ll get your website to have Domain Authority 50 or we`ll refund you every
cent

for only 150 usd, you`ll have DA50 for your website, guaranteed

Order it today:
http://www.str8-creative.co/product/moz-da-seo-plan/

thanks
Alex Peters

The Summoning: Take That Pearl

Comments on the last entry have me paranoid about using pearls.

         

It feels eerily like some DarkSpyre developer read my review of that game, went back in time, and wrote The Summoning as a specific answer to my GIMLET for the first game. It's everything that I said I wanted, and everything that fans of this particular sub-genre said wasn't needed: NPCs, a better backstory, an ongoing narrative, an economy, and (as I understand it) quest options. For those reasons, I don't blame readers who suspect a relatively high GIMLET score for this one.

    

I do understand the opinion that these elements aren't strictly needed, and that DarkSpyre and Dungeon Master are perfect examples of their sub-genres, which focus primarily on mechanics rather than narrative. Then again, so is Tetris, but nobody would call it a great RPG. It's hard to determine where to draw the line between not including an element in a scoring system at all versus giving it a 0 when it doesn't have that element. But I feel that The Summoning shows that even unnecessary elements can enhance the game and thus justify a higher score. Neither the NPCs I've met so far nor the economy have been particularly compelling, but I still maintain that they improve upon not having them at all. 

   

The Summoning's NPCs add some flavor to the game that wasn't present in DarkSpyre.

         

Despite these additions, The Summoning remains primarily about its mechanics, and as such, it has a low BOTHR (Bolingbroke Outcomes-to-Hours Ratio), an acronym I introduced seven years ago and then never used again. In a game like this, once I have explained the mechanics, inventory, and combat systems, there isn't much to say about the next four hours except, "I did more of that, but with spiders this time."
          

Weighing down pressure plates with dead bodies.

           

I spent most of this session finishing the three "beginner" levels, which I guess I would have completely bypassed if I'd taken the alternate route from the beginning of the game. After that, I completed two levels called "Broken Seal." These five levels lasted long enough that if they had been the entire game, you would have called it a short game, but not impossibly so. The levels were bigger than the entirety of the Temple of Apshai trilogy, for instance.
           

It makes you wonder why an evil wizard's fortress would even offer levels explicitly for "beginners."

       

Enemies included mercenaries, giant spiders, skeletons, and poisonous things called "creepers." Early in the giant spider level, there was a room with antidotes for their poison, but I went right instead of left and ended up clearing the level without finding the anti-venom until the end. I had to reload every time I got poisoned because I otherwise had no way to cure it. Fortunately, the odds of getting poisoned on any one hit were low, and I just saved after every three or four spiders.

     

I've been dual-wielding most of the game, alternating maces, axes, falchions, and broadswords in both hands. I've already broken almost a dozen weapons, but I always seem to have plenty of backups. I'm up to "Stalwart" (6/10) with edged weapons, "Average" with axes (4/10), and "Novice" (3/10) with polearms. I'm not sure where maces get ranked in this typology.
          

Trading blows with a skeleton.

         

Despite the addition of "Poison" to my spell list, I've mostly saved my spell points for making healing potions, which use nightshade sprouts, which are relatively common, and each sprig seems to be good for endless potions. (If I just munch them, I restore spell points, but the nightshade is ruined.) I'm "Skilled" (5/10) at healing magic, "Average" (4/10) at wizardry, and "Novice" at the other two.  My character is a "Gallant" (7/12) overall. If I hadn't already heard that this is a very long game, I would suspect from these relative rankings that I was already half the way through. As it is, it suggests that either leveling slows down significantly or you reach your level caps well before the end of the game.
           

the "Magic Wall" spell requires four hand gestures.

         

Puzzles didn't get much harder until the end of the session. For the most part, they involved finding an obvious key to an obvious lock or pulling an obvious lever to open an obvious door. Early in my explorations, I did find a couple of rolling balls, and messed around with them for a while, thinking there must be some purpose to them, but I suspect it was just to avoid them.

     

Notable "beginner" encounters included:

     

• A room called the "execution chamber" with two levers and a skeleton on the floor. One of the levers caused four fireballs to shoot out of the walls and converge on the skeleton; the other reset the first lever. I probably could have taken advantage of this by leading enemies into the room, but they haven't been hard enough yet.

         

There might be some Eighth Amendment problems with this method.

        

• The "Lair of Spiders" (all of these room names are announced by talking skulls), which had about two dozen giant spiders, one of which had a round key I needed to progress.

          

Killing these giant spiders leveled me up.

         

• A "Mercenary Training Course" that consisted first of a corridor of rolling balls, and second a corridor with fireballs bouncing between side walls as they moved down the corridor. If there was a "third," I didn't note it. 

        

Just a matter of timing.

       

• A woman named Horsa who gave me the "Poison" spell and warned me to be careful who I befriend.

          

I forgot to use it when I was beset by thieves.

         

• A man named Shirvan, who gave me the same warning, almost verbatim. An ex-horde member, now too old to keep fighting, he set himself up as a trader, doing the most business when the horde marches past his part of the dungeon while on the way to war. He offered to give me runestones if I find black pearls for him. Apparently, if I gather raido, gebo, and thurisaz runes, I can make use of special teleportation destinations throughout the dungeon.

• I got a lead on a black pearl when I met an old man who was looking for his friend, Owen.  The old man said that a later part of the dungeon is ruled by an assassin named the Raven. Some thief managed to steal some treasure from the Raven, including a black pearl, and hid it before the Raven's men caught up with him and killed him. Owen recently learned the location of the treasure and set off to find it, but he hasn't returned.

• The visage of Rowena, or someone looking like her, appeared to say that the Council had managed to escape at the last second. The Council has learned that a wizard named Dustan has fallen into Shadow Weaver's hands. If I can find him and rescue him, he can probably help me.

          

I'm not entirely convinced.

          

• Althea, a healer, met me at the exit from the beginner's levels and offered to heal my wounds for a gold piece.

• This amusing sequence:

           

 

            
The only puzzle on the beginner levels that kept me occupied for a while was a room full of pits and pressure plates. Some of the plates opened and closed pits when depressed. Others opened when depressed once, then closed when depressed a second time. Some could be weighed down and others couldn't. The room actually wasn't very hard, but the final step--throwing an object to weigh down one of the corner plates and thus close a pit necessary to pass through the room--somehow eluded me for a while.
         

This room had an easy solution that for some reason came hard to me.

       
In a pit on the other side of this area, I found the body of Owen, including his black pearl. I returned to Shrivan and traded it for raido and a few other runes. I used raido right away and was teleported to the other side of a previously-locked door labeled "The Vault." The area had a bunch of useful items, including a spiked helm, a morning star, leather gloves, chainmail, an amulet of strength, and fehu and jera runes. The manual tells me that jera heals and fehu creates a random object.
            

Careful. I heard The Black Pearl is cursed.

          
The next area opened to a battle with four "creepers" and two skulls that said, "all bow to the power of Shadow Weaver!" The creepers kept poisoning me, so I took them out from a distance with flame arrows, gaining a "Wizardry" level in the process. A lever in the room wouldn't budge until I weighed down two pressure plates by dribbling dead creepers onto them.
            

My introduction to the post-beginner area of the dungeon.

            
I continued on, following the rightmost path (generally). In a nearby chamber, a warrior named Angus was lamenting that some thieves had broken his father's sword, knocked him out, and stolen it. He asked me to return the pieces if I find them.
         

Angus is a bit melodramatic.

          
I traveled through some teleporters, one of which required me to weigh down a plate with a boulder to activate. A skull told me I was in a "secret passageway." I found a book that caused me to level up in polearms; in retrospect, I probably should have saved it until I was already at a higher level. "Without this plate weighed down," a skull soon told me, "You will later meet with frustration." Fortunately, there was an enormous tree stump nearby to handle that task.
   
Eventually, I came across Darius, the lord of thieves who had stolen the sword from Angus. I used the type-in keyword "SWORD" to get him to talk about the theft, which he said was in repayment for a debt owed. He then threatened to imprison and torture me before deciding to simply kill me. I broke a couple of weapons in the ensuing combat, but I eventually defeated him. Angus's sword hilt was in a room past him (I had to push another tree trunk out of the way), and the sword blade was in a room that I unlocked with a jade key found in Darius's body. That room had four chests with a variety of treasures.
          

Darius has quite a few paragraphs of smack talk before I put him down.

           
By now, I was facing serious over-encumbrance--about 17 pounds more than my maximum.  A quick inventory showed that I had a morning star, a bow, 2 falchions, a scimitar, chainmail, a spiked helm, leather gloves, a quiver with 3 arrows, 2 bucklers, a vest and breeches, a +2 Amulet of Protection, 2 stones, 2 broken glasses, a palimpsest, the Eye of Sight, 3 Apples of Vigor, an apple core, an "Algit" potion (cure poison), 2 "Tejwaz" potions (restore endurance), 10 sprigs of nightshade, 6 empty flasks, 14 gold coins, a bloodstone, Angus's two sword parts, something called "seal six," runes of fehu, wunjo, tejwaz, sowelu, and jera, and parchments for "Poison," "Freeze" (2), "Flame Arrow," "Kano," "Liquify" (that's how the game spells it, and I had two), and "Restore." All of this was "organized" in 7 chests and 2 bags.
  
I used the jera rune to heal the damage from the battle with Darius, dumped the extra scrolls, tossed the broken glass and the apple core, reorganized enough that I could ditch three chests. This got me to a good place for now, but I suspect I'm going to be dealing with encumbrance issues throughout the entire game.
         

Even with all the containers, my inventory is getting out of control.

           

On the way back to Angus, I killed a bunch more skeletons and creepers and I ran across an impoverished nobleman named Augustus. For a gold piece, he told me things I'd already figured out about Darius.

Angus was happy to get his sword pieces back, and he rewarded me with a dagaz rune, which casts a spell of slaying, and a ruby. My plan is to save it for a difficult enemy and thus probably never use it. I left Angus wondering how he was going to get the sword repaired. Not long afterwards, I found a smith named Pandrake whose sole purpose seems to be to mend the sword, so now I wonder what Angus would have given me if I'd returned to him with the sword mended.
         

Pandrake makes it clear that he has only one purpose in this game.

       
Miscellaneous notes:
   

• There are 12 different hand gestures. Spells require between 2 and 8 gestures, and gestures can be repeated. This would give us 469,070,928 possible combinations except that apparently gestures are never repeated side-by-side. It took me a while to work out how many gestures to "subtract" based on this rule, and I came up with a final number of 199,000,032 potential gesture combinations, but I'm not 100% sure on my math. [Ed. The number is of course 233,846,052.] If you tried one combination every 5 seconds and never slept, it would take you 11,516.2 days, or about 31.5 years [Ed. based on the real number, it's 37 years], to try them all. Thus, I suspect you can't really "find" spells by trying random combinations.

• When you go to the game options screen (save, restore, etc.), there's a place to type in your own keyword, much like the dialogue screen. I wonder if there's ever any reason to use it.

            

This, alas, did not work.

          

• Amulets disappear within minutes. They're basically good for one battle unless you take care to take them off in between. I also don't care for the way the game interrupts combat to bring up the inventory screen and tell you when something is vanished or broken. It would be one thing if it brought up the screen, the screen paused the action, and then the game stayed on the screen so you can equip something else. But instead it brings up the screen, shows you the item blink away, and then takes you back to the regular window. That's just a waste of time.

    

It feels like I just put it on.

         

• A little ladder-climbing animation appears when you go up and down ladders.

          

A cute touch.

         

• I have tried using the Eye of Sight several times and I can't figure out what it does.

• Nightshades don't seem to ever run out of uses to make potions. Can I ditch most of these sprigs?

• If you walk into a wall, the game puts you in a "confused" state for a few rounds. Does it assume you're banging your head on the wall?

• The annotations on the automap are a bit small to read, but the map itself works very well to determine which areas I haven't visited.

           

I feel like we've been seeing a lot of competent automaps lately.

         

• I used a fehu rune at one point (which generates a random object) and got an odin rune. Supposedly, this powerful rune increases an attribute and rarely changes the character's sex. Well, every time I try to use it, it changes my sex, which I don't want, so I keep reloading.

    
I close having finished most of the second "Broken Seal" level. The goal here seems to be to collect six pieces of a seal, which will somehow let me out of this area.
          

This is my third.

           

Early in the level, I met a fighter who said his band had been slaughtered by a group of mercenaries led by "Kruk." I later encountered them and killed them all. ("Freeze" is a great spell to ensure that you only fight one enemy at a time.) Kruk dropped three pearls, one of which opened the way into the mercenaries' treasure room, where I found one of the seals and a perth rune, which automatically levels you up in one magic level. I also got the "Magic Wall" spell here and some Boots of Levitation.
      

Slaughtering a bunch of mercenaries.

         

I'm trying to figure out a puzzle on this level. It's found in a room full of glyphs on the floor that damage you when you walk over them. The Boots of Levitation are the only way to survive. This is clued by a nearby NPC named Mistral, who speaks of a pit that you have to open in the room. I found the boots and can thus survive the glyphs, but I'm trying to figure out what I need to do to open the pit. There are three pressure plates in the room that I imagine need to be weighed down. Regular items don't work; the plates require something very heavy. There's a tree trunk and a rolling ball that will presumably take care of two of them. I think the trick is to use the trunk as a kind of chock to get the ball to stop rolling when it reaches the plate, then push the trunk onto the second plate. I'm not sure about the third one; perhaps the "Magic Wall" spell that I recently found will do the job.
          

This room is going to take a while.

        
           

The Summoning is a decent game, but because it has such a low time-to-text ratio, I may delay further play for a couple of weeks. My life gets extremely busy in September, and I really need a story-heavy game where an hour of gameplay gives me enough material for an entire entry. It's too bad Matrix Cubed is wrapping up, because that would have worked well. I still have to write my final entries for that game, and then we'll see if the next one is more plot-heavy. Fortunately, even if I find I don't have time to play games at all, I built up a small reserve of one-off entries over the summer that I can burn through while waiting for the new semester to stabilize.
      
Time so far: 7 hours