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Cliffnotes version : ultimately, I was a little dissapointed. It just doesn’t have the open ended feel of Dragon Age 1. Origins felt like an adventure. This, felt like…something else. The cliffhanger ending did little to redeem it. Overall the combat is cool and fun, but everything else is a step backwards from it’s predecessor.

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So I quit my job about a month ago, and tomorrow , 14th of April, will be my last day.

Not sure how long I’ll be offline/out of commision at the new job. I have few illusions that I’m going to be very, very busy for the next few months, possibly more. It’s an exciting change, and a huge challenge. It means I probably won’t be blogging much, though I can’t say for sure.

Until I’m back to posting, then : Peace out.

One thing I completely fail to see the point of  : Romance in these games. It was a bit of a novelty back with Mass Effect 1. Controversial, I suppose. But after ME2 and DA:O, and now DA:2, I kind of… don’t get it really.

Probably the biggest bit of confusion about the whole thing, is that love affairs in Bioware games feel like a schoolboy’s interpretation thereof.  Seriously, the pick up lines in DA2 are some of the cheesiest I have ever heard. I cannot imagine this actually working in real life. And it’s all either a little bit too perfect, or it’s crass and vile. Last night, for eg, my character bedded a poor naive elf girl, and then kicked her ass to the curb, since I’d decided to pursue Isabela as a long term romance. It was brutal, and for the sake of lols in a computer game, I did it.

But it’s all a little too… boolean. Too logical. Romance in reality is a complex mess of emotion. Which is why these romance options in Bioware games feel false. Stilted. Calculated. That’s the very nature of a CRPG, though. You’re always metagaming. Trying to find the best gear. The most money. XP. And so, when faced with which lover to take, you don’t think with your heart. But your head.

And that’s just not how love works. There’s no logic involved. It just.. happens. Or it doesn’t. And there are ups and downs, not fairytale perfection.

Granted, perhaps that’s the point. RPG’s are basically us living vicariously through a heroic version of what we’d like to think of as ourselves. So while building the perfect avatar, we also make the perfect choices, including finding the perfect mate.

I can’t help but feel it’s all a bit ridiculous. Unreal. Goofy. Another conquest notched in my belt, rather than any kind of semblance whatsoever to true romance. And, perhaps, it’s for that reason I don’t really see the point anymore.

Particularly since they don’t seem to show enough T&A anymore.

The question everyone seems to be asking, though, is : Is This Dragon Age?

Well, yes and no.

About 10 hours in and the answer is : in terms of world, lore and myth, this is Dragon Age. Thedas is lovingly rendered, and the game is replete with all the darkness and violence that made the first game so popular. If you, like me, loved the world of Dragon Age but were frustrated by the implementation, Dragon Age 2 might be exactly what you’re looking for.

If, on the other hand, you enjoyed Dragon Age: Origins’ tactical, stop-start micromanagey combat, Dragon Age 2 may dissapoint. It suffers somewhat from the Mass Effect 2 syndrome, where a deep, rich predecessor is ‘dumbed down’ to make it more accessible to the masses.

The difference is that Mass Effect 2 was, first and foremost, a console game. Even the first one was essentially a 360 core title. Dragon Age 1, on the other hand, was clearly a PC game that had been ported to the Xbox.

But Dragon Age 2 feels like some kind of… middle point. It both is, and isn’t, a PC game. It both is, and isn’t, a console game. The interface and graphics are slicker, but the engine still feels a tad like Dragon Age 1. You can still directly control each character like DA1 as opposed to Mass Effect where you always control Shepard and simply issue teammates commands… but in 2 you might not find yourself actually bothering to do so, since the AI appears to be much better and the overall difficulty taken down a notch. You can still modify tactics, but you probably won’t do so because the presets actually work well, as opposed to the first game. And while you can still carefully construct all characters’ attributes and skills, your companions are now preset – you can’t train Bethany to be a Blood Mage for example. And outfitting your teammates is a little more limited.

There’s a fair amount to be said about the actual storyline too, which feels a little disjointed and not quite up to the starting experience of Origins. Early impressions are that Hawke is purely out to make a bit of spare change, which isn’t quite the same as trying to stop an Archdemon and his army from obliterating an entire continent. Perhaps things will pick up. I’m certainly hoping so.

Thing is… I welcome some of the streamlining and simplification. What I enjoy about RPG’s are 3 things:

-Story
-Characters and development
-Murdering baddies

And ‘Dragon Effect’ nails the latter. It’s too early for me to tell how the story pans out, but it looks promising. And the characters..well they’re a mixed bag. Some are brilliant – Merril for example is a must-have in your party. She’s an adorably naive elf mage, and when you hear her wondering why they call the Blooming Rose a brothel – ‘does it have something to do with broth?’ – in her absolutely endearing accent, you’ll probably fall in love with the character too. But others are a bit drab. Your sibling, for example, appears to serve purely as a placeholder. Whether that be Carver or Bethany, I never got the feeling that Bioware injected any heart into them.

My first impressions are that Dragon Age 2 is the better game in terms of  combat (which is really fun, whichever class you play) and playability. There’s less painful minutae to micromanage. But some people liked that minutae. So it’s worse as a ‘PC’ game, compared to it’s predecessor. If you enjoyed agonizing over stats, spending hours space-pausing and co-ordinating your party rather than rushing in headlong, and fiddling with making potions and poisons and managing inventory and all that jazz, you might feel hard done by this simpler, cleaner game.

As a game that’s a little but deeper than your average console RPG though, it’s a clear success. If you feel that there was nothing wrong with Origins that needed fixing, though, then DA2 might be a victim of it’s own success.

But if you can enjoy it for what it is and enjoy it on it’s own merits, rather than pick it apart compared to it’s daddy, you’ll find a great CRPG.

I got the game on Thursday of last week, and finished it 3 days later. Which is a credit to the game in itself, because I usually give up on games within a matter of hours. Inevitably with FPS shooters, I’ll play for a bit and sooner or later, my interest will wane. The reasons can vary. Uninteresting premise, dialogue, plot, setup. Boring graphics. Dreary gameplay. Dragging development.

Bulletstorm has none of these things.

more after the break…

It isn’t a terribly long game, probably because it moves at blazing pace. Type of game you can’t put down until it’s finished. I’d estimate no more than a dozen hours. But man, what an amazing 12 hours.

I really have to comment on the polish and quality put into this thing. I was expecting Serious Sam 2011, but it’s so much more, like Duke Nukem on a rollercoaster that’s had the brakes cut.

One caveat – it’s terribly linear, the epitome of corridor-shooter, but those corridors are oh so pretty and, really, the point of this game isn’t navigating maps, it’s blowing seventeen thousands types of crap out of everything that’s gets in the way on route from point A to B. Often using the most ridiculous and innovating ways one could possibly think doing so. (like, srsly, pulling a guy to you with the ‘leash’, setting him on fire, then kicking him in the air, shooting him in the groin and finally impaling him on a handy nearby cactus. Why? Just because you can.) The game fuses shooter gameplay and melee expertly, rewarding you for inventively kicking, throwing and tripping enemies into the air while shooting them in a vareity of different ways and with an arsenal of brilliant weapons. Even the way the game implements sniping is genuinely awesome – you can steer the bullet as it approaches it’s target! Charge up your sniper rifle, and you can shoot an enemy,  steer his carcass around to some nearby bad guys, and then blow him – and them – all to hell. In slow mo! It’s ridiculous. It’s bad ass. And it’ll make every shooter you’ve played before seem tame in terms of innovative, gory, absolutely mad fun.

Factor in some incredibly designed bosses, battles with hordes of enemies that can feel absolutely overwhelming, and beatifully rendered maps and crazy setpieces that have you regularly sitting back and going ‘whoa!’. Just when you think you’ve seen the most amazing thing ever, Buleltstorm goes and ups the ante again.

Surprisingly, the storyline is pretty cool too. Lots of dialogue layered throughout in-game cutscenes – thankfully each one brief enough and to the point – really kept me interested without dragging things on unnecesarily. Grayson’s one-liners and repartee with his half-robot buddy Ishi, and other periodic companions, really adds to the atmosphere. Some of it’s a little cheesy, but who really cares when you have a dinosaur the size of a skyscraper chasing you.

It’s worth commenting on the spoken dialogue -which there’s a lot of – specifically for a second. You’ll notice it pretty early on, and it only gets more brazen. Everyone swears a blue streak that would shame a grizzled sailor – and I loved it. The insults that the characters sling around constantly are inventive and funny, but wear headphones if you have sensitive folks in the house.

Everything seems so well designed and put together. I was really surprised, because I’d read and heard virtually zilch about this game prior to it’s release. It really came out of left field.

Honestly, this is probably best shooter I’ve played in years – or at least it feels like it, with the market being so saturated with dreary ‘move and cover’ military-shooter clones.  Bulletstorm has no cover system, though you can crouch to avoid some fire and recover health. Instead, it’s about pure balls out carnage, and reminded me what I enjoyed about the genre in the first place – more Doom 1 and 2 and Duke Nukem, more alien/mutant/robot hordes and epic set pieces, and less ‘ololz im sneaking around in the dark and sniping Nazis/Al Quaeda woo’.

Dragon Age is clearly a callout to the game that kickstarted it all for Bioware – Baldurs Gate. The engine feels the same, the gameplay is all but identical – just with 4 party members instead of six – and it’s easily as huge as it’s ancestor. It took me 44 hours, and that’s without doing all the sidequests and exploring all the areas, or finishing any of the DLC bar Shale.

And while I was a huge fan of Baldurs Gate, Dragon’s Age left me feeling a little… empty. Oh, granted, it’s an epic yarn, one which you get to weave – I have yet to play an RPG which allows one to alter the world so sognificantly, and in that alone it deserves accolades. But what made Baldurs Gate so absolutely enthralling, was it’s incredible storyline. The dialogue, the twists and turns, the emotional tugs… Dragon’s Age doesn’t quite live up to daddy’s legacy.

Despite that, Dragon’s Age was eminently enjoyable. I found myself caring about my teammates, and the game’s finale was satisfying as a result. Although the storyline was ‘flat’ (summarised as, ‘persuade a lot of people to help you, then go beat down a dragon. You win.’), and although it had a few minor twists and plot points (such as Morrigan saving you from having to sacrifice yourself, if you so choose…), I am left missing some of Dragon Age’s mechanics rather more than the narrative it told.

As a scene-setter for the upcoming sequel, I’m glad I played it. I’m guessing dragon Age 2 is going to follow a lot more in Mass Effect 2′s footsteps, building a more human tale, with more emotion. For that reason alone, Dragon Age is worth a playthrough.

Whether DA:O will be remembered as a classic homage to Infinity-Engine dungeoneering, or simply the scene setter for ‘Dragon Effect’ remains to be seen. I enjoyed it for what it is, and for that it deserves a thumbs up.

Why?

I’m not excited about Rift, as many of my mmorpg playing peers are. I’m still keen on The old Republic, but increasingly for the storyline aspects and less for the multiplayer. I think mmorpg’s are still great, of course, but every person goes through phases in their life, and mmorpg’s are one such phase. And here it is.

They’re the Jersey Shore of gaming.

Everybody trying to one up each other. To get with the in-crowd. To have the best ‘do’. That’s what it is. That’s what drives people who play mmorpgs. It’s about my gear/achievements/guild is better than yours. It’s about the accompanying drama and snarkiness. It’s about brandname purple handbags and dps-meter e-rep and hanging around in cliques badmouthing other cliques. That’s it. That’s everything about the entire genre in a nutshell.

I realised I wasn’t having much fun with it anymore. I enjoy some of the story aspects that mmorpg’s have, and WoW has come a long way in that regard.. but once you ding 85 and hit endgame, the story dries up, and is replaced with dailies and endless raiding tedium designed to keep us competing with all the other fabulously dressed online Snooki clones.

I miss what attracted me to MMORPG’s in the first place. Online worlds of wonder and exploration. Unfortunately, they’ve come to mirror the real-world and all it’s faults. What was once different, dangerous and filled with adventure has become the same, safe, and full of boredom.

They’ve become the online haven of e-guidos.

And it rarely matters which one you pick. They’re all the same, whether WoW or LotrO or Aion or Rift.

All you can do is try and play the games to experience content… and when that’s no longer enough, either embrace your inner guido, or move on. Sometimes a reroll staves off the content-boredom, but eventually you hit a point where even rolling a new character isn’t enough anymore. Where even an alternative mmo isn’t good enough anymore.

I find solace, now, in real life pursuits and singleplayer gaming. I’m enjoying my romps through games like Dead Space 2. I’m replaying Dragon Age:Origins – this time with the intent to actually finish it – in anticipation of Dragon Age 2. I’m looking forward to Duke Nukem Forever, and Max Payne 3… where once all I could look forward to was the next piece of epic lewtz. And i feel relieved. That this time, the need to fit in has finally passed, and I can just be me, and do what I like, enjoy what I enjoy.

And I enjoy nothing better than a good story.

I’m at a loss how to approach this.

DS2 is one of those games that gets it all right. The funny thing, though, is that it does this without deviating whatsoever from the formula of it’s predecessor. DS2 is the same game as Dead Space 2, but it’s so much better.

How can this be?

And yet it is. Chalk it up to a better budget, perhaps, but there are moments in DS2 that are superior to the best that Hollywood has to offer. Calling the game a cinematic masterpiece would be a case of shortchanging it. The setpieces are superb. The artwork is stunning. The running plot is sublime, and flows seemlessly. The challenge is just right, and the gameplay feels ‘chunky’. This game oozes quality-of-design from every pore. It’s a testament to what can be done if your graphic and level designers and programmers are some of the best in the business and are given the resources and time to perfect their art.

EA and Visceral knocked it out of the park with Dead Space 2. This is, without a doubt, the finest game I’ve played since Mass Effect 2.

My new year’s resolution was to get proper fit. Not ‘gym’ fit, but lean fit. Cardio fit. So Operation Avalanche (aka Skurm Cycles To Work) is in full swing. Bought a mountain bike and have been commuting to work. So far, so good. Traffic’s still a little bit intimidating (in darkest Africa, the taxi drivers don’t give a rat fuck about some random cyclist) but I mean, if you never take a risk in life because you’re too afraid, you’ll never accomplish anything meaningful.

It’s a blast though. Actually look forward to it. Cycling is far more fun than being stuck in traffic behind the wheel, that’s for sure. And if you don’t live too far from work like I do (a couple km’s only), the time taken to commute to and from work is roughly the same as driving. Sure, I get to the office a little sweaty, but the aircon in here is set to what feels like ten below zero so after a half hour of settling down to read the morning emails and whatnot, I’m cool and collected and definately invigorated. Early morning excercise makes all the difference. Highly reccomended – though it has to be something you enjoy. Forcing myself to cycle on a stationary bike upon waking just wasn’t working for me. It has to be something you look forward to. A hobby rather than an obligation.

WoW has taken a bit of a backseat, and I’m not certain I’ll be able to motivate myself into playing much of it ever again. Cataclysm is a beautiful game ‘n all, but the endgame barrier-to-entry is high, almost BC-level high, and while this is a good thing for the die-hard fans, the more casual players have been feeling a little left out. I’ll probably level an alt one day, but I think I’m finished with raiding and all that.  Level 85 is no longer the casual ‘log in and farm stuff on ez-mode’ game that Wrath of the Lich King was, and as much as people might have derided Wrath’s simplicity, it was also a great way to blow off some steam and just relax while farming a few instances for emblems or whatever. This is gone, now. Instances are long, and tough, and just don’t cater to the working plebs that make up the bulk of this game’s subscriber base. My guess is social/fun guilds will laregely die off. Maybe there will be levelling guilds again, but casual raiding will likely become a thing of the past.

Beyond starting cycling and ‘quitting’ WoW, I haven’t got much else going on. 2011′s started with a bit of a whimper as far as my personal life goes. Lots of stuff going on with the weather and crazy shit going down in the Middle East though. “Interesting times”, indeed. Plan this year is simple. I have no great aspirations. I’m sorta happy with where I am. Sooner or later you realise that while you may not be living the dream… ‘this’ isn’t so bad. We’ve all got stuff we need to work on, whether advancing your career or studying more or losing weight or quitting smoking. Which is good – everyone needs a goal. Mine are simply becoming…simpler. Easier. Actually attainable. And it’s great to see efforts bearing some fruit, rather than setting yourself impossible goals resulting in failure after failure.

Baby steps, y’all.

Which is a pretty big deal when you have third-world internet. 512k ADSL means I get about a gig and a half, maybe 2 a day. Which means I’m basically out of commission for about a week. Judging by how fast people have been hitting the level cap (world first was a pally, in 6 hours…lolwtf), by the time I get to play everyone might have already finished the game.

Guess you gotta look at the bright side, it’s a week longer of having some kind of a life in the real world.