Heroic Dreams - All Things Medieval

I frequently check out a lot of stuff on the Amazon.com website. And I always look through a lot of different lists like their bestsellers is science fiction & fantasy and their best sellers in toys. One game I have noticed has been  on the best seller list for a very long time is Settlers of Catan. Its a hex style game that is about trading and building.

 Anyhoo, I might give it a try and if you have played it let me know what it is all about. It sure has gotten a lot of rave reviews on the amazon site -we are talking hundreds of reviews and it has been named game of the year in the US and Germany. It has also grown into a whole series of games.

You can check it out on the amazon.com website here:

The Settlers of Catan  

 Karos Online - A Free MMORPG

There has been a lot of growth in the online gaming industry. And there are all kinds of choices we now have when it comes to these games. There is the straight up Warcrafts (which I used to play a lot) in which you pay a monthly subscription fee and get unlimited play.  And there have been some moderately interesting free MMORPG’s which have been very interesting.

But, what I really want is a free online MMORPG that has the look and feel of a paid game. And there is a game that has just came out that might fill this requirement. It is called Karos Online and it is pretty intriguing. They are following an interesting business plan that just might work.

The game is 100% free to play. So how do they make their money?

They make their money, it appears, by selling additional items that you can use in game.  And not only that but they have an interesting way of doing this. A lot of the items have time limits on them. For example: The game has fishing and mining so you can purchase a lucky fishing rod or a lucky mining pick. These lucky items, depending on which type you buy will have a chance to increase your yield. And they will last a certain period of time say 7 days or 30 days. It is an interesting concept in which you can shop in degrees. Spend a little to get a little extra; spend a little more and get more. You can even purchase items that will give you a 50% experience bonus toward leveling up. The potion only lasts an hour but you can buy them in quanitities.

This kind of set up is rather appealing to me. Why?

Because being an adult and having discretionary income I can improve my position in the game by spending a little money. And you have to consider something. There will be an awful lot of players that just play the free version. So if you are going to spend a little money you are going to have a marked advantage.

If you were to buy software for a new game how much would you spend? $50 or $60. That probably goes a long way in this game. And if you compare this to subscription games that you pay 10-20 a month well then I would imagine that 10-20 a month in this game would get you a nice advantage.

Getting in on the ground level

The game just launched in the US (April 9th) which means it is a wide open world and an opportunity to get into the forefront of things. I guess you could call it a land grab of sorts where the first in do have a distinct advantage.

Classes: They seem to have a nice assortment of the classes you would expect like paladins, healers, warrior types, tank types, rogue, sorceress etc.

I have more stuff including lots of screen shots on my website here: About Karos online

I am probably going to sign up and give this game a try. If I do, I will let you know how it is.

I spent a lot of time creating content, articles, videos and all kinds of interesting stuff. i often don’t schedule myself time to take care of the products on my websites. Although this can be rather fun because it allows me to check on what new stuff that is out. Anyway, I have spent the last couple of days updating a lot of the products on my various medieval sites.  Here is a look at some of the things I have found.

Medieval Swords

My medieval swords website has been updated with a lot of new stuff. This is a quite popular little site that gets good ranking in the search engines and gets a good amount of traffic. You can see some of the swords that I own and read about them. You can also see some of the interesting sword topics like swords that are in video games (Which you can actually buy replicas of) and swords from the movies. One nice discovery I made is that the Assassin’s Creed Sword is available as a replica. Assassin’s creed is a terrific game that stays very true to the Italian Renaissance and this includes the reproduction of weapons.  I have a very interesting review of the architecture and design of this game here: About Assassin’s Creed

Medieval Toys and Games

I have also updated the section on Medieval Toys and games. These are the types of modern games that are available, not actually the games they played in the middle ages. The theme is on medieval and the section includes board games like Carcassonne.  I am currently working on a section of one of my websites that is all about the types of games they played in the Middle Ages. I will update you when it is complete. That will be an interesting thing to take a look at.

And Chess Sets of Course

When it comes to medieval toys and games Chess is a bit of a timeless anachronism. It is something they played in the Middle Ages and it is still very popular today. There is a tremedous variety of beautiful chess sets themed as medieval, king arthur, and Renaissance. You can see a selection of them here: Medieval Chess sets

I bought my son an Xbox for Christmas. You may have seen the youtube videos about this.  How to make an Xbox for Christmas. Well, the first thing he did, was to go out and get the Game Assassins Creed II and I spent a few hours yesterday watching him play it. And frankly I was stunned. THis game is remarkable for a few different reasons.

First off, it takes place in 15th century Italy which was smack dab in the middle of the Renaissance. So, did the developers of the game take advantage of this fact? Darn right they did.  Italy of this time is wide open to you - from Venice to Florence, Tuscany and much more. This is great but there is so much more. I was stunned by how much research Ubi Soft did for the making of this game. The weapons, and armor are all accurate to the time and place. There were plenty of Glaives, pikes, warhammers, and battle axes. Everything is just so amazingly accurate in the game. And, the various weapons and armor are all affected by the opponents weapons and armor. Battling a well armored knight? Better put away the dagger and use a warhammer on him.

But the game goes well beyond just the weapons and armor. It also delves deeply into what Italy was like during this period of time. While playing we stumbled into a character named Leonardo and accompanied him to his workshop (DaVinci of course). And while riding on his horse drawn wagon I noticed a very familiar looking piece of equipment hidden in the back. Looked to me like it was the famous DaVinci flying machine and I have a hunch that it will come into play later in the game.

But also, there is an important plot point in Venice where we have to get into a  church called “Santa Maria dei Frari. And of course this church is a beautifully rendered exact  model of the actual church in Venice. You can learn about it in the game - it gives you the history of it and tells you a little bit about it. Which is just amazing. Supposedly there is a burial tomb inside that we need to get into.

I also learned about a new weapon. My son purchased a weapon called a Metal Cestus.  It is a metal glove similar to a brass knuckle. He asked me if this too was real to the period and I had to admit I didn’t know for sure but judging by the rest of the game I figured it probably was a real weapon of the time period. Looking it up I found out that it sure is. Cestus Battle Glove

All in all I was simply stunned by the beauty of the game, the realism of game play and the careful attentioin to detail that Ubi Soft put into it. It is really wonderful to learn a little bit while playing

In february a new video game is being released called Dante’s Inferno and it looks like it is going to be a terrific game. It is based on one third of the Triptych poem by Dante, the Inferno (Hell). One of the most interesting things about this video game is the ease of creativity that came with it. It is almost as if Dante were designing a video game when he wrote the Divine Comedy. And it is easy to see how the story could be adapted to a video game.

First off it has an overarching theme “Beatrice has been kidnapped to the depths of hell and our hero “Dante” has to enter and rescue her. - pretty much a perfect overall theme.

Secondly, Hell is broken down into nine levels. Hmmm… can it get any more video game than that? Nine levels to battle through and each level with it’s own theme like Lust, Gluttony, Wrath, Violence etc.

Finally when you are making a video game a lot of thought has to go into the environment or world that the game takes place in. Will it be set in a medieval world? A far-off planet? In the case of this game it takes place in what might be the best environment of all - Hell! Does it get any better than that?

An awful lot has been made of Joseph Campbell’s Heroes Journey. And well, it’s a great idea and a near perfect formula that just about every epic fantasy book or movie follows. Heck, even stuff that is not epic fantasy follows the Heroes Journey. But, it seems to me that Dante had this formula figured out a full seven hundred years earlier!