Sunday, December 14, 2014

Game of Thrones: Ascent

What can be said about Game of Thrones that hasn't been said already. It's brilliant and I love it. The title has, naturally, spawned a number of video games. The official, console-ready version is probably the most familiar, but then there is the browser-based, free to play GoT: Ascent, distributed by Disruptor Beam. Ascent is more a social-type game, and doesn't share all the bells and whistles of it's other namesake, but this game is rock solid.
In Ascent, you get to choose your character's house and history upon their creation, and even the banner they raise. You have your own lands that you need to develop and defend. You have your own story, which blends remarkably seamlessly into the GoT's own lore, which I find impressive, because that could easily have become jumbled and confusing. That is to say, more confusing than the original story can already be at times.
Overarching over these is the world event, a weeks long competition between alliances, with some noteworthy swag as the prize to the victors. As of this writing, we are in the midst of the Valyrian Cycle, a quest to discover and attain mythical Valyrian dragon armor. There are a number of phases in a cycle, which culminates with the apply titled world event, where every player in the server is brought together and brought to bear, either against one another or against a common foe.
When there is a lull in the action, you have you're own lands to fret over. There are building to be built, and in these building there are various items and persons that you can have commissioned to be created. These, in turn, are given to yourself or your sworn swords, which I suppose can be considered your generals. They execute missions, and dole out your justice when need be.
There's loads more to be discovered. A slew of achievements, a robust talent system, tons of items, some with Diablo-style prefixes and suffixes, and a wealth of story I've only begun to scratch the surface of.

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