Preorder goodies. Especially if they add something to the experience and enjoyment of the game. Art books, soundtracks, a wee comic of sort. I've liked figures before, if they're well done. If you can't afford to do an extra right, please don't do it. A metal box to hold the game in doesn't cut it for me. So, it's a nice metal box. But, the game lives there. It's not like you've given me, say, a piggy bank or anything I could hold something OTHER than the game into.

Download Content Privileges. I do not like David Braben's unique box code to stop people from selling their used games. But I DO like it for letting the developer know that I bought the game new. Kick a little discount my way for some DLC, or maybe *gads* throw a little freebie my way, maybe?

Or maybe we all just need games that we can print on demand. Best of the digital download world and the physical store! Nintendo did something like this in Japan with Nintendo Power. Yes, I know you guys think of it as a magazine, but over there, it was a machine that wrote games to a cartridge. If you had a small game, you could write more than 1 to the cart to boot.

DVD burning is getting fast and cheap. I can't say that about Blu-Rays, but for a regular DVD game, sure! Then have a manual sheet printed and sent to you if desired. I like having a disk. It's comforting when the DRM rights for various companies is totally ass-backward, and console reliability is disappointing.

Heck, maybe even let people phone ahead if they're worried about waiting for the disk to burn then have it ready as soon as they arrive, fresh outta the oven. Oh wait, that's cake. But same concept!

What's with the hate?!

Seriously! Not all developments are equal. Castle Crashers has been going for a while, there's a ton of gameplay for your point here. Remember Guardian Heroes for the Saturn? Think of that, online multi-player with even MORE customization options! Animal orbs! Special weapons!

I know I'm in the market for a good, primo game for about $20-$40 download game that has better production values than the $5-10 games but gives me a savings on the $60 full price games by going digital. I wouldn't be shocked if graphics took a technical hit(lower poly models, lower res textures) but hopefully they'll make up for it with slick style a-la No More Heroes.

One thing that does piss me off about this is adding points. I can add 500, 1000, 2000 or 5000 points. I know it's a goddamn plot to hang onto a bit of my money to keep me adding and spending more. I HATE THAT CRAP. Let me just buy my game and let me get on with it. I really don't like the fact I've currrently got 600 points lingering in my box. Seriously, that's a few day's of home made sandwiches. I'm a poor gal, I budget like crazy, let me just buy what I want and leave my purse alone!

After my previous post, yeah, this place may not be the greatest destination for hoity toity stuff, but sheesh I was getting sick of writing that way anyway. It started making my brain seriously hurt, hence the need for the move.

Between all of you out there, you must get some hard core man-hours in of game playing. Which all makes you ripe to be my non-scientific survey experimental subjects! MWA HA HA HA HA! And so I will unleash my first upon you.

Making items. They're part of just about every MMO(pseudo or otherwise.) So what are the good ones out there?

It's pretty important to make a good one since you make items long after you max out your character's levels. Even your level 70 Tauren Shaman needs better stuff! If you can't better your character, it's the thing to improve.

Do you like it when you've got to put skill points towards a crafting skill that could be going to seeing more massive numbers when you thwap things?

If you mention EPIC levels of item crafting, the first thing that comes to my mind is Gust's RPGs like Mana Khemia. Now that game's cute. The trees for powering up items, creating them and the sheer amount of potential surprise and delight it offers is staggering.

And seriously, what's with items like swords having "recipes" as opposed to crafting plans? Recipes make me think of tasty foods. Like cookies. I'll gladly post a recipe for cookies if y'all want!

But seriously, what item systems out there do you all like? Thanks for reading, good gaming!

I currently have a main game design blog elsewhere on the internet.
I'd like to make it easier for other people to post comments and interact with me. After all, interactivity is the business I'm in.

I'm tempted to move it here, but I'm not sure. We'll see....

Nothing that says one can't enter multiple times, especially since each entry is quite an effort.

And so it continues...

Party Members
Front Row: Riese(Dark Hunter) Elrick(Protector)
Back Row: Haruna(Alchemist) Atani(Survivalist) Pico(Troubadour)

The Guild Master signed up for a notably challenging Explorers Guild Trial - Spend Two Weeks on the 8th floor of the Labyrinth. Word has it that absolutely no party has survived this ordeal, and the challenge was going to be shortened to 5 days. The reward of 3000 En was too tempting to pass up.

"No pansies! We're gonna get rich!" Riese ran off ahead of the party leaving them in the dust. Riese's contagious excitement hit Pico quickly, who hopped after the drill-haired Dark Huntress clapping her hands as she pranced.

Elrick scratched his head. The mute Protector diligently checked his equipment and strolled after the 2 fanatics. True to his title, he would allow no one in the guild to venture into the maze as long as he lived. Full plate armor made it impossible to run.

The two remaining sane members of the party shopped for a few additional revival medicines before regrouping at the Geomagnetic Field and descending to the 6th floor. Several shortcuts had the party on the 8th floor within a day. A member of the Explorers Guild wrote a time and date marking the start of the challenge.

"Where's the challenge in this? There's a healing spring! This alleged 'challenge' is pathetic." Riese and Pico practiced some fencing moves on each other chiding about the experience.

The first day passed rather uneventfully. A few packs of Sleepgels and Venomgels dared to attack but were dispatched quickly. The party spared no TP in combat, with a trip to the Healing Spring a short walk away.

The second day went by the same as the first. The party continued to indulge in the Healing Spring's pure, clear water. By the fifth day, the party had undergone a change. The jungle heat had made everyone sweat profusely. Drinking sludgy tea made from Thick Leaves and feeding on bitter Star Seeds has taken a psychological toll. A low growl rumbled across the party's collective gut, followed by a silence broken by a creepy uttering: "M, m...Meat!"

The 4 party members capable of audible speech stared at each other, eyes darting back and forth. Then, they heard it again. A trembling voice, seeking to consume the flesh of others. "Wait a second, Haruna's anemic. Stay here, I'll get you some meat!" Riese, Elrick and Pico ran off, leaving Atani to tend to the hungry one.

Meanwhile, Pico started getting a little loopy. She began alternating ever other line of her song between the proper words and random gibberish.
"Braavely rode Sir Elrick! He rode from Etriaaaaa...
Fnord quat pim da foom she doop, nooo braaave Sir Elriick!"
Riese began swinging her sword more violently to drown out Pico's...music, not that it kept her from continuing: "And his head crunched in and his eyes pulled out and pinkies removed and..."
Pico suddenly fell over. A nasty lump formed on her head with a distinct groove on it. Riese looked back. "Did he...? No way, he's lived his life to never see harm done to women..."
Pico stood up, nearly falling over again.
"Aaaaaaaaaaaall ways mook an the braaight side of..." Pico speech was slurred completely into gibberish from that point.

The hunting party hacked through hordes of various slimes and bugs. Gem Cores-though high in mineral content-were not food that could placate anemia. Luck hit the hunters when a Firebird attacked. The party made short work of the creature, then brought back its carcass. After roasting it on an open fire, Riese lunged at the bird.
"I killed it! I cooked it! It's MINE!" She proceeded to devour the meat, only to be overpowered by the hungry Alchemist. "Whoa, didn't know you had that in you..." Riese yielded the bird to the normally composed lady cramming meat into her mouth and getting the grease all over her glasses.

"I think it would be in our best interest to cancel this challenge," Atani spoke, matter of factly. "We have one more week of this. I can't take this any more. I've been roughing it as long as I've ever known and my body is crying for a bath. I can't put up with the feeling of my clothes sticking to my skin. Or the stench of Elrick's feet for that matter..."

Riese was about to object on the grounds of having put up with this nonsense for a week already, but took in a whiff of the air. "Oh gross!" Elrick sat on his feet, but it didn't make any difference. Riese grabbed all of the sprigs of Scent Wood and began shoving them into his boots. A minor improvement, but it only took hours for the Scent Wood to lose its effect. Wandering around and killing off Petaloids kept the supply of Scent Wood fresh, but it became time consuming to change.

Atani looked at the quest journal with a certificate of when the party had reached the 8th floor. The two weeks had passed! The triumphant party warped back to the town. The party's entrance to the Golden Deer marked a mass exodus of the rest of the patrons. The pub mistress handed the party their reward, then collapsed shortly thereafter.

Quinn from Radha Hall stood before the party. "Egad, that's a stench that would knock Cernunos off his feet! You are here by forbidden from entering the village until properly cleaned."
"We're going to the Inn for a real night's rest and you aren't going to stop us!"
"Now, now, this is official business, surely you'd understand..."
"Bring out the secret weapon! Take the Scent Woods out of his feet!"
"Oh no..."

When Quinn regained consciousness, from that day fourth, the Explorers Guild Trial was shortened to 5 days under mandate from Radha.

The End. This was a long one, thanks for reading!

Warning: This post contains spoilers for Etrian Odyssey for Nintendo DS!

Don't read if you don't want to know what happens on B20 and beyond.

Written in the point of view of my party. :3
Party Members
Front Row: Riese(Dark Hunter) Elrick(Protector) Dunnan(Landsneckt)
Back Row: Haruna(Alchemist) Atani(Survivalist)

The Endless Battle...
After being swept about the sands and dizzied around by mysterious warps, the party descended to the 20th floor. A seemingly dead end greeted the party, a foreboding sign of things to come.

The dead end was a "T" intersection; unsure of which direction to go, Atani pulled out a single En coin. Tales, take a left. Heads, take a right. The coin slips and drops into the sand where it is swallowed up, never to be seen again. Another ill omen, without a doubt. After much bickering, the party goes to the left.

Cruella, true to her name blindsided the party. The party stocked up on Therica Bs before heading out and a lone F.O.E. is tough, but not a cause for alarm. The siren duo guarding the exit to the previous floor fell swiftly. Cruella's curse landed on Leese, the sword specialist Dark Hunter. Riese scoffed at the curse, countering the ailment with a hard hit with her Drain blade.

The forest seductress' demise was eminent. Before the last breath of life could be taken from her by Atani's Apollon volley, along comes her Ogre boyfriend. He didn't find the treatment of Cruella amusing in the least. One swing of the Ogre's fearsome fists sent the mostly healthy Protector down the river Styx.

The fall of the defensive pillar sends the party into a panic. Everyone scrambles to retreat from the mounting threat. A Hunter joins the foray, further punishing the party with fierce claw attacks.

With quick feet, cool demeanor and the distraction of the other party members screaming in terror before being snuffed out like candles, Atani fled the battleground. She frantically looked through what remained of her belongings. Her bags were full of mysterious pieces of monster anatomy to be sold to Shilleka.

"Therica B, Therica B, Amrita, Medica II..." A look of abject horror beyond that of the Protector's, before the Ogre crushed his skull into his shoulder blades. "Where's the Warp Wire?" No Soma to revive Haruna and feed her the Amrita to power her Warp skill.

The Warp Wire was nowhere to be found. Atani bolted for the entrance, dragging the remains of the party with her. The string of F.O.E.s filed out from the shadows as Atani fled, making her realize how grave the threat was. The current party wasn't suited for a long lasting war of attrition. Atani inhaled the Medica II and sprinted up the stairs back to the 19th floor.

Atani trained for battle, not hiding. She swallowed her pride as she repeatedly ran from gangs of small fry that would be easily carved to bits if her companions hadn't collapsed. The pure, clear water of the Healing Spring of the 18th floor had a sweetness like never experienced before. The lone Survivalist took a second sip from euphoria, even if the water had done its job already.

Atani straggled into town and dropped 4 coffins on Ceft's doorstep. The Apothecary collected his hefty fee in reviving the party and an additional sum to replace all of the medicines the unsuccessful assault on the Forest Peoples' guardian army.

The Guild Master turned an angry eye to the party coffers. Reviving 4 high level adventurers and restocking the finest medicines available was no cheap endeavor. The entire guild looked at the paltry map of the 20th floor that was recorded before party fled. Everyone had one thing on their mind. Revenge!