Concluding Thoughts

From this gameplay, I have learned games are a great form of entertainment. I enjoy playing video games and they are especially fun when you play with friends. I learned that I should play games only when I've finished my homework as sometimes my priorities were out of order. I think video games are time well spent only if you do not play too much as then it could take too much time out of your life. If you have nothing better to do, video games are a great way to past time as they are fun. If I were to design a game, it probably won't be nearly as good as the ones I play as they are produced by huge companies like Turn 10, Microsoft and Blizzard with many developers. Although I didn't learn much from video games, it certainly gives me more ideas for developing a simple game for my ISU.

Super Mario Sunshine: Overview

Super Mario Sunshine was one of my favourite childhood games. It was the first game I got with my GameCube which was a long time ago. This is an adventure game that is part of the Super Mario series that was released back in 2002 and it was the second 3D Mario game, the first being Super Mario 64. This game takes place in a fictional island called Isle Delfino. The story begins with Mario, Toadsworth, Princess Peach and five toads arriving in Isle Delfino. Shadow Mario is the villain and left graffiti all over the island. When Mario arrives, he is already blamed for the vandalism since he closely resembled shadow mario. Mario is responsible for cleaning up the mess throughout the island. He finds a device called F.L.U.D.D which is a water squirting device which can be used with multiple attachments. The spray nozzle is mostly used for attacking enemies and cleaning up graffiti and the hover nozzle allows Mario to hover for a short period of time. Later on, Mario will obtain the rocket nozzle which helps him jump high distances and the turbo nozzle which allows him to run really fast. There are many beautiful places on the island where Mario will fight monsters and occasionally battle bosses and shadow Mario. Every time you beat a stage, you will obtain a shine sprite and you'll need 120 shine sprites to beat the game. The game is moderately difficult as it contains a variety of challenges and puzzles that sometimes took me a week to figure out. Back then, I wasn't aware of online guides and i found that games are more fun if you try figuring out by yourself instead of relying on answers online. At the end, you'll fight Bowser like most other Mario games and save Princess Peach.

World of Warcraft: Dungeons and Raids

 In World of Warcraft, dungeons are instances where five people group up to defeat common enemies and bosses. Usually, a dungeon group will consist of three damage dealers, one tank and one healer. Dungeons have ideal level requirements which ensures that people are in the dungeon that is designed for their character level. Dungeon units are mainly elites which are harder than normal units and have a gold dragon around their portrait to indicate that they are elites. These units are difficult to kill alone but not as challenging when engaged with a group. Lots of quests are associated with dungeons that give good rewards for different tasks such as killing a final boss in a dungeon. "Trash mobs" is a term used for units in a dungeon that aren't of any importance and usually drop uncommon gear. Bosses in dungeons usually drop rare gear that is far more powerful. Each boss has unique spells which make each boss fight different and challenging.

Illidan Stormrage - The final boss in Black Temple

Raids are basically big dungeons that require either 10 or 25 people to complete. They are a lot harder than dungeons and require more communication and skill in order to defeat the bosses. These bosses have a lot more spells that require a lot more awareness. Since the chance of obtaining gear is slim when the number of players increase, justice points are rewarded to every player for defeating bosses and they can be traded in for equally powerful gear. Raids vary in difficulty and they are usually completed in a specific order. Gear from lower difficulty raids must be obtained before moving on to a more difficult raid or the group will be under-geared and have a slim chance of successfully clearing the raid. Raids often take a long time and are often done with a guild to ensure good communication since communication is key in order to successfully clear a raid.

World of Warcraft: Classes

Character creation screen

There are ten difference classes to choose from in World of Warcraft but some classes are unavailable to some races. The class determines what gear you can wear and what role you have when in a group. Some classes can be multiple roles depending on their talents. Each class has it's advantages and disadvantages to partially balance the game.

Druid: A druid is a versatile class that can become any of the four roles through shape shifting. In Cat Form, a druid is takes the role of melee damage and has skills similar to a rogue. In bear form, the druid can take the role as a tank as it has increased health and armor. In Moonkin form, a druid can take the role of ranged damage as it uses spells instead of melee attacks. Druids have the unique ability to resurrect people even while in combat through the spell Rebirth. Druids can wear leather armor and primarily use two handed weapons.

Death Knight: Currently, death knights are the only hero class in the game meaning they start off at level 55 instead of level 1 and come with gear. They also have their own specialized starting area regardless of race. Also, any race can become a death knight as long as they have at least one other character over level 55. Death knights can either deal damage or tank depending on their talents. Death knights wear plate armor and can wield two one-handed weapons or a two handed weapon.

Hunter: Hunters are the only class that focuses on ranged weapon as a primary source of damage. They can use all sorts of ranged weapons such as bows, crossbows and guns. They are also able to tame a pet which allows them to solo group quests easier than other classes. Hunters can tame different types of pets which have different abilities. Hunters can wear mail armor and use just about every weapon.

Mage: Mages are ranged damage dealers that focus on casting spells. There are three types of mages depending on your talent build and they are Fire, Frost and Arcane. They deal lots of damage and are very good at escaping with spells like blink which teleports them a short distance. They are also good at dealing damage in an area allowing them to kill multiple monsters at once. They wear cloth armor and can either use a main hand and off-hand or a staff.

Paladin: Paladins are holy crusaders who can either deal melee damage, tank or heal depending on their talent build. They have many holy spells which deal extra damage to undead or unholy units. They have special auras with different purposes that benefit everyone in the group. They wear plate armor and can use a main hand and a shield or a two handed weapon. This class used to be exclusive to the alliance but they are available to the horde since Burning Crusade.

Priest: Priests are arguably the best healing class in the game as they have many spells that either heal one specific person or the whole group. They have many useful spells such as Mind Control which controls an enemy unit or player and dispels which remove negative buffs like diseases and spells. They can also cast shields to protect players from damage. Priests can also deal damage in shadow spec but in shadowform, they lose the ability to heal. Priests wear the same items as a mage.

Rogue: Rogues are a stealth class that deal lots of damage but do not have much health. They are good at incapacitating their foes with skills like sap and kidney shot. They are also able to turn invisible until they attack something making them able to ambush their enemies. Rogues can dual wield one-handed weapons and use leather armor.

Shaman: Shaman are a versatile class that can either use melee weapons, heal or deal spell damage. They can drop down four totems that benefits the group as kong as they're in the radius. They are considered one of the best classes as they can adapt to different roles making them useful in groups. They wear mail armor and can use just about every weapon.

Warlock:  Warlocks are dark casters using dark magic and curses and have the ability to tame demons. These demons are combat pets meaning they fight for the warlock. They can either their talents to strengthen their pet, deal damage over time or deal burst damage. They wear cloth armor and main hand and an of-hand or a staff.

Warrior: Warriors are close ranged attackers that fill the role of dealing melee damage or  tanking. They are the only class capable of holding two two-handed weapons They are known for inflicting big amounts of physical damage as they have a lot of spells that reduce healing. Warriors wear plate armor and mainly use two handed weapons or a one handed weapon and a shield for tanking.

World of Warcraft: Introduction

World of Warcraft is a popular MMORPG which stands for Massive Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game which currently has over twelve million subscribers. This game has three expansions which are Burning Crusade, Wrath of the Lich King and Cataclysm. In Burning Crusade, the level cap was raised to level 70 from level 60, Wrath of the Lich King raised it to 80 and Cataclysm raised it to 85. Other limitations were increased such as professions. Like most MMORPGs, you create a character and you level him through completing quests. While questing, you will probably meet others as some quests will require teamwork rather than soloing. There is also pvp (player versus player) where you can fight other players instead of computer generated enemies. This game has two factions to choose from and they are Alliance and Horde. Alliance has six races that consist of Human, Dwarf, Gnome, Night Elf, Draenei and Worgen. Horde also consists of six races which includes Orc, Troll, Tauren, Undead, Blood Elf and Goblin. There are three types of servers: RP (Role Playing), PVE (Player versus environment) and PVP (Player versus player). RP and PVE focus mainly on killing computer generated enemies whereas PVP focuses on killing other players.

Most of the things in the game require more than one player so teamwork is essential. There are guilds which is basically a clan where people can chat or organize events such as completing dungeons and raids. Most of the challenges in the game are designed for groups especially end-game tasks. While questing, players earn money and experience. Money is used for regents for professions or items such as weapons and armor although high end weapons and armor cannot be obtained through money. This is because high end items are "bind on pickup" which means the item cannot be given to other players when it is looted. Most items of uncommon quality and lower are usually "bind on equip" which means the item cannot be traded or given to other players only if you equip it. When a character dies, it's spirit teleports to the nearest graveyard and must walk back to their corpse in order to resurrect.