Lately, I’ve been playing WARDOGS. I’m lousy at firefights in FPS games, but this one is so much fun. I spend a long match finding enemies, marking them for teammates, and taking shots with a sniper rifle. I thought I would get bored after one match, yet I keep wanting to play again. ...
The party wipes on the same mechanic for the third time. In FFXIV, a total party defeat that forces everyone to restart a fight is called a wipe. The cause should be clear, but nobody speaks. Eventually, someone says, “Let’s go again,” and all eight players begin the countdown with the same uncertainty unresolved. At a moment like this, is player skill really what is missing? Even when everyone understands their own movement, the group will get stuck in the same place if they use different reference points for their positions or cannot admit a mistake. In FFXIV, a static is a group that tackles high-end content such as Savage and Ultimate fights with, in principle, the same members over time. Difficult mechanics are not the only thing that stops a static’s progress. Small gaps in understanding among eight players can cause repeated wipes too. How can a group find those gaps early and correct them on the next pull? This article looks at situations that commonly arise in statics. ...
Lately, I have been playing Splatoon Raiders. Before its release, I thought it would be like a Splatoon Hero Mode with loot-driven action RPG elements. I also enjoyed playing ELDEN RING NIGHTREIGN, so a game where I could grow stronger while picking up weapons and gear sounded like something I would enjoy. That expectation was not wrong. But once I actually started playing, I found that growing stronger was not the only fun part. Combining weapons and gadgets lets me do things that were never possible in previous Splatoon games. ...