Grisix's HomeGrisix's Games
 
This page regroups the ancient part of my gaming history, screenshots, games I played along the years, and links to the various resources linked to my gamer tags. With the development of social sites for gamers like raptr, my most recent gaming activity can be tracked there, and this page will just remain as is, like a museum for my early gaming life.

 
Dungeons & Dragons
5th Edition

Official Site

My Campaign

 

Thanks to the persistant efforts of Jared, I have returned to dungeon mastering for RPG, with 5th Edition. 

I have been very impressed by the work done to restore D&D after the fiasco of 4th Edition, that transformed D&D to a tactical encounters game.

5Th Edition is a great edition, and the flavor and feel of D&D has returned! 
 
 
 
 

 

 

About me

Gamer since 1981..

Started with Dungeons & Dragons 1st Edition, and then a variety of other Role Playing Games when 2nd Edition came out(Rolemaster, Runequest, Space Opera, Pendragon, Reve de Dragons...). I started computer games with Arcade games like Space Invaders, Asteroids or Lunar Lander, and then Apple II games, like lode Runner or Prince of Persia.

Played a lot of boardgames during my college years (Sword and Sorcery, Freedom in the Galaxy, Cosmic Encounter, Warrior Knights, Talisman...) as well as RPGs.

Founded a RPG Gaming Club at Universite Jussieu in Paris (Les Seigneurs de L'Astrolabe, and later created a RPG fanzine named Le Farfadet).

Later, with RL obligations, had to drop out of gaming for a while. Wife and 2 kids... you know.. Still managed to sneak a few games here and there, playing from home, including the awesome Ultima Online Beta, or F15 Strike Eagle, Counterstrike, Warcraft, Starcraft, or Ghost Recon... I mean, the kids were growing older, so I had more time, right?

Thanks to Magic the Gathering, Wizards of the Coast brought me back fuly into gaming, and then to the United States to work there.  Beyond Magic itself, I played a lot of video games like Warbirds II, IL2, , or NeverWinter Nights, on which I spent two years coding a team-PvP Mod called NWTactics.

In the last 10 years, the games that got me hooked online were World of Warcraft,  Company of Heroes, Eve Online, Battlefield II, COD Modern Warfare 2 while I was resuming playing D&D PnP, first under 3.5 then 4th Edition, as well as boardgames like Twilight Imperium, and more recently Star Wars: Rebellion.

Still playing today, of course
   
Star Wars Rebellion

Official Site

Production Calculator App

For many years now, my main gaming platform has been on computers, for ease of access mostly, but also because I played a lot of Eve Online. This boardgame brought me back to the gaming table. As one of the best 2-player boardgame out there, together with Lord of the Ribng Stratego-style Confrontation, Star Wars Rebellion is a modernized version of Freedom in the Galaxy meeting Twilight Imperium. I quickly found out that having a little app to determine production faster would be great, so I just created a Production calculator tool with Filemaker.
 
 
 
 

'); w.document.close(); w.focus(); }

Civilization

Official Site

I have played multiple versions of Civilizations, the more I played so far has been Civ 4 with the Warlords and Beyond the sord extensions. I did not dive into Civ 5 as the new hexagon system turned me off, but I opplunged in Civilization again with Civ VI and I have been playing quite a few games since it released. A great evolution of the game!
 
 
 
 

Dragon Age

Official Site

GrisX

I am a fan of Bioware products, and Dragon Age is an exceptional game. I'm not usually into computer RPG (I *used to* believe nothing beats a good PnP RPG around a table with friends and a Dungeon Master). But I played Dragon Age straight as a Human Mage and finished the game through the end. First time I commit the time to do so on a game that does not have a multiplayer/PvP component!
 
There is also a Pen and Paper RPG game from Green Ronin...
 
 
 

Eve Online

Official Site

Gris X (Pilot)

Minarchist Space

As I was leaving WOW, I was looking for some other MMO-type game and a friend (C Monster) hooked me up with Eve Online. I liked the skill based system, and the fact that you do not have to grind to increase your capabilities (skills are just obtained over time), and the risk in game of losing your asset to PvP and other players. As I am a big PvP fan, the perspective of space ships fighting was a big draw and I was especially attracted to the promising idea of bounty hunting.. I couldn't really join a regular corp because of my schedule and realized after a few months that Eve can't be played alone. Either you join a Corp/Alliance, and/or you get multiple accounts. In fact I even believe than 2 or 3 account per players is the norm.
The strange thing about Eve is that it is compelling, because of the risk of losing your assets, and can also be very irritating at the same time, because of the prevalence of meta game information. killboards' bragging rights and the rules favoring the larger numbers in combat.. I am still playing to this day with multiple accounts, and have spent some time trying to influence the metagame with Borat Guereen, a rebellious solo player candidate for the CSM. Even if I have been disappointed by a very poorly designed bounty hunting system (that hopefully will get fixed in the future)   and the dychotomy that the design pushes you toward joining groups of players while making it easy to scam and betray others, for me the game is more about growing my assets base and exploring new areas of space, knowing that behind every gate or wormhole another player intent on destroying me can lurk. Eve Online is also the first of open world sandbox MMO that I believe will change games. I am looking forward to test Crowfall, or Albion Online, while I avoided spending any money on the Star Citizen kickstarted vaporware that abuses the interest of players for this kind of games (the main risk to see this new genre fail).  

Eve/Korsairs.jpg Eve/2009.12.29.02.42.51.jpg

Empire Total War

Official Site

After playing a bit of Medieval Total War II, the campaign game attracted me. It is too bad that they did not release the multiplayer campaign game... Still a fun game for it's battle scales, but they botched the multiplayer connect and lobby system..
 
 
 
 
 

Warbirds

Official Site

The only MMO flight simulator... I don;t think it qualifies for the M for Massively though.. You fly 2nd World War planes in a Multiplayer Arena which usualy has between 30 to hundred of pilots, with flight models and planes that are historically accurate (albeit you can mix the time periods).

You fly to capture the airfields, but fundamentally capturing airfields is just an excuse for dogfights. Most of the players there are experienced pilots, and the game itself seems to be managed by an ex USAF Lt Colonel, and the company seems to be a spin off from the old Microprose. Anyway, if you hitch to fly a Spit, get on Warbirds, but be ready to die fast if you are not already with Flight Simultaion games. One note: the controls for this game are not as complex as the modern Flight Simulators like Lock-On. The trick is to know how to fly your plane, not which button to push... 

Company of Heroes

Ranking Ladder

Official Site

An excellent R.T.S, and a company that knows how to support Online games. The way THQ has managed to keep the various extensions compatible to play online with players without all of them is awesome. Many companies should learn from those guys at THQ... To that day, finding an opponent online for CoH is really easy.

Battle for Middle Earth I and II

Gamespy Profile

Official Site

I had a lot of great fun playing BFME I, even if there were some obvious balance issues. Then BFME II came out and I switched, though I kind of liked the enclosed castles from the first one. I think they split their multiplayer community and hurt themselves by not supporting backward online player matching compatibilities between the different versions. 

Battlefield II

Official Site

I started playing battlefield with the Desert Combat mod, and when Battlefield II came out BF2 became my main FPS game. I like the full battlefield feeling, with airplanes, choppers, tanks and GIs, as well as the command system where one player can lead his team to victory through dedicated leadership.
 
 
 
 

Lock-On

Official Site

I have played my first flight Simulator on the Apple II at a time where these games still only had geometrical lines. I remember flying low between two triangles..how exciting!
 
Nowadays I fill most of my Flight simulation urges with Lock-On. It is the best modern Flight Simulator, supported with multiple add-ons, the latest adding the ability to fly the Ka-50 russian attack helicopter.
 
 
 

World of Warcraft

Official Site

I got a late start, because I was fearing the time sink, but in the end I just couldn't resist trying it.. especially after having played so much of Warcraft, Warcraft II and Starcraft. I  dropped shortly after Lich-King,a s the omnipresence of Death Knights killed the game for me..

NWTactics, a PvP mode for NeverwinterNights

Official Site

Northpal Gamer tag
avatar.jpg
From the Magic card

For 2 years, I have focused my free time on maintaining and updating the code for this team PvP mod, using the Aurora engine provided by Bioware. The mod pitted  teams of level 12 characters fighting for their Dragon Lords against the other team.
 
This is an experience I remember with fondness, and it got me in touch with lot of players that helped the mod grow, like Blardov, Jumbi, Socks, Zelle, Anien, and so many others... ahh! good times!
 
I like to think that one day I will have the chance to tell the story behind the Dragon Lords.

NWTactics/nwtactics-logo.jpg NWTactics/nw_dragon.gif NWTactics/armor_or.JPG NWTactics/WallPaper_light_1280.jpg
NWTactics/WallPaper_fire_1280.jpg NWTactics/Apr_1A.jpg

Ghostrecon

My very first mod, Silver Bullet. A solo mission designed after seeing the movie Sniper...

Official Site

Ghostrecon! A game based on Tom Clancy's novels, that I do like to read from time to time. After Counterstrike, I was also attracted by the one-shot one-kill approach of Ghostrecon, and the squad order aspect of it! Couldn't get my friends to switch to it though...

GhostRecon/SilverBullet.JPG GhostRecon/missionpack9.jpg GhostRecon/missionpack8.jpg GhostRecon/desertsiege_screen002.jpg
GhostRecon/Mission_Pack14.jpg GhostRecon/MissionPack3.JPG GhostRecon/GhostRecon.JPG GhostRecon/BannerPDL.JPG

Counterstrike: Clan PDL

Official Site

PDL: A clan for Counterstrike and my first experience in fan site design...
 
The PDL hqve joined the UG (United Gamers)
 
Counterstrike is probably the FPS I have played the most ever. Source was a nice upgrade, and I still play it from time to time to this day.

Counterstrike/TITLEPDL.JPG Counterstrike/DEAGLE.JPG

Ultima Online Beta

Official Site

I was already a fan of the Ultima series. I could not not participate to the Beta... I wanted to be a archer ranger, and ended up as a tank mage, like everybody else!

Ultima/UltimaYSENGRIN.jpg Ultima/UltimaMarchHagen.jpg