Megrimlocke - MeGrimlocke

Series: The Secret World Impressions

Firemuscles made some friends over the weekend, which is to say that I pretty much didn't go out.  Seemed sensible, going out at winter is tantamount to "spend money" and I just had to replace my car.

Moment of silence for the 05 sunfire.

Anyway, Delving deeper into the Secret World was a fun way to pass the frozen hell of a weekend, and Firemuscles made some buddies while investigating the depths of Kingsmouth.

Before I get into the group play discussion however, I want to touch on what I experienced in terms of puzzle solving.

So there were two puzzles that I had to suss out, and as I hate strategy guides as a solution to such games, I had to pound my head against it the hard way.  Ultimately, I did go to google, and the creators of the game intend for this.  I did not, however end up looking for a strat guide.

TSW plays like an interactive creepypasta.  You'll want to have a google on another tab so that you can look up the clues and hints the game throws, because there doesn't seem to be any internal resource.

That's right folks, Firemuscles had to try out his thinking muscles to get to the next stage.

You'll end out googling exactly the kind of stuff you'd expect: composers, bible verses and other things that secret societies would use for passcodes.  The game includes its very own google scavenger hunt, which is a bonus for me but I'll understand if you prefer to keep a strat guide tabbed on your computer.

On to playing with groups.

I play on an RP server so it's not hard to get involved with other people.  No one really minds if you drop out of nowhere to help them wipe out the seven or eight zombies they've attracted, and they're often more than willing to team up for as long as you're in the same area.

Because zombies.

While the game does have some progression to it, for the most part it's access to spells and powers that seem to govern how quickly you can take out a monster, and as such how dangerous the area is.  The more of you there are, the more areas you can navigate without being killed.  Especially if your friend is a blood mage, they have the healing spell.

Since Firemuscles uses elemental magic, he's popular for his ability to damage crowds, and between that and the blood mage I met we made a bloody mess of the coastal area.  Spoilers: I punched a lot of things and lit them on fire.

It's -30 outside tonight. I'm gonna just close my eyes and pretend for a while.

Series: The Secret World Impressions

I punched that motherfucker. Then I lit him on fire. My organization sent me here to find out why the island had been lost. What no one told me was that the entire island from the woods I came through when I arrived to the seaside town were overrun. Sitting down to play The Secret World is a lot like sitting down to a game of VTM:Bloodlines or Deus Ex: Human Revolution. However, ammo isn't a concern, the model is third person instead of first, and now instead of a vampire or a cyborg, you're a gunslinging wizard. My character doesn't actually sling a gun just yet. Firemuscles chose to learn how to use fisticuffs to defend myself, fisticuffs and fire spells. I might have gone with another name, but among he other antiquated things in TSW is that you can only have a unique handle. I was going to be Nightfire, Whitefire or several other cool handles for a fiery wizard. All taken. So fuck you, RP server, fuck you and say hello to the reckless Firemuscles. The game launched into dx11 which tore my graphics card to shreds, but reverting to 9 looks just as sexy to me, and it's actually playable. But, as I was saying, island full of zombies. Zombies who are getting punched and lit on fire. The mission I chose was to look for missing persons. I found one of em alive, in bye church, where the local priest had hallowed the door- the flesh bags running after me were slain promptly upon crossing the threshold. I was glad to see that, we're dealing with monster and magic and nothing we were ever trained for. I don't need or want a mutagenic virus. Being Firemuscles is pretty cool. When you shoot a firebolt at a rotting, flesh eating monster, you get a Fire point. Your Fire points are used to make your bigger, badder cookouts happen. One has to build one's way up to a cataclysmic fireball. Same goes for punching zombies. After Firemuscles beats on theme enough, he works up a little rage meter. His other, heavier punches deal damage governed by how much "fuck you" bar he's worked up. The missions make sense, and there's enough grim and shadows to keep you on edge, even as Firemuscles. Eventually, I ran into bigger, beefier zombies- the fire station was crawling wit buff zombies with fire axes. Naturally, Firemuscles had to show them both who was bigger and badder as well as who really controlled fire. These zombies had a special attack and were harder to kill, learning how to fight them was a treat. I made my way through the town. Most if he people I went in to rescue had been turned. It was more of a mercy killing mission than a rescue, and that felt appropriate, but I kept holding of hope I'd find more survivors. I didn't. Then, I got down by the coast. There was a thing there. Humanoid, but not a man, nor do I think it ever was one. In place of an arm, it had on one side a wicked spike. I threw fire at it, and to my surprise it shot purple bolts back at me before closing the distance. So I punched that motherfucker. Then I lit him on fire.