Paladins, A Discount Overwatch? Or Nah

Overwatch has made a big influence on the fps gaming market. However, Overwatch couldn't be so great or successful without Team Fortress 2. We have to give full credit for the hero shooter genre to Vale's Tf2. It's such a great game that spawned all these other cool shooters. A lot of Paladins players have been saying its a lot like Overwatch and Hi-Rez COO Todd Harris addressed the matter, in a statement provided to IGN.

"While Overwatch is a fine game, it was not the inspiration for Paladins," Harris wrote. "Game development is an interactive process with ideas coming from many past projects. For the hero shooter genre, the game that deserves the most credit is Team Fortress 2." Harris notes that, if anything, Paladins is a "fantasy version" of the studio's own class-based shooter Global Agenda, which itself was influenced by Team Fortress 2. According to Harris, "of the approximately 85 combat abilities currently in Paladins, the vast majority are from the game Global Agenda we made 10 years ago."

He continued: "Given the marketing of Overwatch many people do not even realize that some of our champions, like the mini-gun mech (Ruckus) and the ice block character (Evie), were available and playable in the Paladins Beta long before similar character abilities were shown in Overwatch. And specific features, such as Chests, were also demonstrated in Paladins ahead of Overwatch. People who are interested can see all this early gameplay footage on YouTube and come to their own conclusions." Todd Harris later took to Twitter, promising that he'd "post a bit more history / details tonight on Paladins subreddit." He's already done so, and it makes a strong case for Paladins being an evolution of Global Agenda, rather than a hasty Overwatch cash-in. (PcGamer)

I wish I could say a lot about Paladins but I'm currently having problems getting it to work on my computer. It's in open beta on Steam and anyone can download it whenever they want. I have played a few games from when it was working and I thought it was pretty fun.

The graphics are cartoony and colourful. That usually isn't my thing in games but Overwatch and Team Fortress 2 made me rethink that. The actual shooting style is not as polished or fluid as Overwatch. It feels more janky and less "weighty". For example I played as this ranger girl with a bow and her arrows didn't seem to have any heft when I pulled the bow back for shots. The actual gameplay itself is super fun! I had a lot of fun playing the closed beta and I wish I could get the game working again so I can play it.

Do I think this could be as successful or popular as Overwatch? Yes. Just for the fact that the beta is open now means that everyone can try it and the community can grow super fast and the devs can respond to problems and make changes accordingly. I also think this game should go the free to play route instead of the $40 pricetag that Overwatch wears. I don't think this game is worth $40 because it needs a lot more polish to have that extra shine that Overwatch has. There's also the fact that it gives Overwatch fans a taste of something different yet familar.

So if this game goes f2p (free to play) I think it could become as successful as Overwatch. Only time will tell. But generally Hi-Rez Studios makes great games that become popular in the esports scene. Can't see how this game would be any different in that regard.

Overwatch hype and other gaming news

     Hey, its been a long while since I've last written. I've been busy w/ the daily life grind-making money, resting, and repeating. It's been good working hard but I've also been having fun too. Work has become somewhat of a fun place with great people and attitudes. I've been gaming and playing a lot of guitar. This simple ritual I do everyday makes up most of my life at the moment. I wanted to talk a little bit about some of the hype gaming news that has been percolating the media recently.
     Overwatch has been getting all the hype recently. Its the main and probably most popular game to come out of the brand new "heroes moba first person shooter genre", even though the game hasn't even come out yet. It launches May 24 but it already has such a big business model (pre-order anyone?) going for it and its super popular because Blizzard has released all these animated shorts (which thankfully are free) and people are all goo goo about the game's lore and heroes. I played in the closed and open beta and I can say that the game is interesting enough for me to buy it and keep playing it, at least for a while. We will have to see how good the game is on the long term but usually when these brand new fps (first person shooter) games come out they are fun in the beginning but they don't usually last. Hopefully that's the case with Overwatch.
     I only played a bit but from what I remember Payload is the main game mode. Its pretty much the exact same idea as Payload from Team Fortress 2 but Overwatch stands out from Tf2-it is by no means a Tf2 clone. Overwatch is visually more busy than Tf2, has more variety and more heroes, and costs $40 for the basic build, or $60 for a bonus edition w/ cool character skins and stuff. The only similarity (which is good btw) between Overwatch and Tf2 is the graphics (which are cell shady and cartoony), the idea of character hero classes which are all different, and some of the play style is similar. However, in Overwatch its only 6v6 pvp battles. Tf2 usually has more players.
     Anyways, Payload doesn't stand out in Overwatch by any means but the game is fun. Don't trust my judgement? Just buy the game when it launches on the 24th, you will see how good this game is. The game doesn't push the envelop in terms of play style or anything new but it keeps the player engaged on a purely fun level. In addition, the game has a steep learning curve. It's easy to get into but hard to master. I can see this game going places in terms of esports as well. Players were already great players in the beta but once the game is released and fully polished w/ more maps and heroes it will turn in a competitive fps gamer's paradise. I might be pushing it saying that but I do believe its true. This game is literally a game changer.
     I wasn't really that good when I played the beta but I still had fun because Overwatch focuses more on team based objective game-play, rather than picking an assassin and seeing how many rambo kill shots you can get. Don't get me wrong. When the game comes out there will probably be tons of people playing it like Call of Duty rambos but once the game gets going long enough it will be great. Anyways, enough about Overwatch, its already been hyped enough since like BlizzCon 2015.
     In other news there's supposedly another Smash 4 patch coming out soon-1.1.6. I think its going to come out overnight. I don't know the details but I heard about it from the SoCal Smash Group I'm in on Facebook. They usually know whats up. However, I don't know when the patch goes live or how long the servers will be down. I think the game needs another patch because some of the low tier characters could be better and of course some of the high tiers should be nerfed a bit. It's always hard to balance a fighting game because just changing one thing causes a chain reaction that changes everything. But its a necessary act because it keeps the game evolving-something Smash desperately needs. I haven't played Smash at my house in so long but I still play a lot with my friends. It's the main game we play competitively and although I haven't been practicing or going to tournaments (b/c of work) I feel like my playstyle has changed for the better, especially with Bayonetta. I've also improved by leaps and bounds with Fox, who used to be my original main before I played Zero Suit and Bayonetta. Even before Fox I used to main Shulk. Good times :D
      Lastly, a new hero came out for Heroes of the Storm today. I was off today so I got to check out this new hero in-game. She's a time manipulator (named Chromie) sorta hero from World of Warcraft, she's a gnome. I feel like the whole time thing is played out because Tracer is in Heroes too but its cool. She's not the coolest hero but I do think some of her abilities are flashy and she has some cool aoe's (area of effect: like slowing people down). I've become a high level player at heroes and I try to focus on playing ranked matches when I do play. I still focus on mastering support healing characters but I'm also great with dps and tanks too. It's a free to play moba game by Blizzard and if you haven't already been playing this gem you should definitely go install it on your computer right now. Right now, this game is that good. It has that League of Legends moba vibe but its such a better game. I can see it becoming just as popular if not bigger than League and Dota.
     There's still some other cool gaming news. Battleborn was released recently, its another one of those moba fps games. I'm in the beta for another game like that called Paladins (developed by Hi-Rez Studios, which brought us Smite), its okay but its no Overwatch. There's also the reveal for the Pokemon Sun/Moon starter Pokemon, which all looked hella lame to me. Dark Souls 3 came out recently too. And finally, the new Doom game will be released soon. That's a lot of new gaming content that's already out/will be coming out. As I said I'm really excited and focused on Overwatch. I just hope that it lives up to the hype that it's had. First person shooter games seem to be a big let down sometimes, especially when there's not enough maps or engaging player modes. We'll just have to wait and see.