Gaming By Proxy
Posted by Mordiceius at 12:16 pm
I play a large amount of video games every year. After a while however, I can come to feel jaded with game. I have been gaming for so many years that I rarely get that "shiny new" feeling when I play a video game. Very few games do something that is truly new and innovative and with having gamed so much, I have seen so many of the tricks there are out there. Lately, I have been gaming by proxy.
I have really been enjoying see games through the eyes of friends and family that have never really had deep experiences with gaming before. The current target of this is my mother. While she grew up with me gaming in the household, she never really played many herself. And the game she did play were mostly throwaway games. When I moved out, I left my extra PS2 with her and she started buying games that she though she might like. One problem she had was the same problem many people new to gaming have. She thought "if the box art looks good, the game is probably good, right?"
Most of the gaming experiences my mother has had involve movie tie-in games. She has played games like some Nightmare Before Christmas games, some Shrek games, a Wall-E game. She would become frustrated with games since first of all she has never really worked on her gaming twitch reflexes and secondly, movie tie in games are mostly garbage that are overly punishing. Since she is a pretty new gamer, she has a tendency t0 panic in games. When a monsters come at her, while any average gamer would shrug it off, she panics. This causes many additional deaths. She also is not that good at jumping and platforming.
About six months ago, she picked herself up a Wii and WiiFit Plus. When she asked me if there were any good Wii games out there, I had to give her the unfortunate news that 99% of Wii games are pure garbage and the few that are of quality are mainly the first party games like Mario and Zelda and involve a good deal of fighting and platforming. She recently picked up a Nancy Drew game and a game that is a puzzle mystery on the Titanic and has been enjoying both of those. It warms my heart to say this, but her genre of choice is essentially point and click adventure games. Unfortunately, not many ones of quality exist on the Wii. I would get her to play some of the Telltale games on the Wii but she would not enjoy Strong Bad's Cool Game for Attractive People or the Sam and Max games. I might try to talk her into getting the Tales of Monkey Island from Wiiware.
There is one game of substance I did get her to start playing recently. After hearing high praises about it on the Game of the Year Giant Bomb podcast, I purchased Silent Hill: Shattered Memories for her. My mother loves horror movies. She has probably watched more horror movies than total movies I have watched. She uses Netflix and was at one point getting 8+ movies a week. To this day, I think she has over 15,000 movies rated on Netflix (whereas I am at around 2000). One problem for her was most horror movies do not really scare her anymore. Just as very few video games 'wow' me every year, very very few horror movies ever scare her.
I figured Silent Hill: Shattered Memories would be a perfect game for her because it had deep story, fun puzzles and there was no combat. Unlike previous Silent Hill games where you are given a gun and often have to shoot enemies, in this one you just ran away from them. At this point, she has had the game for about a week and a half and has not progressed more than about a half hour in the game. She has not even reached the point where she can save her game for the first time. She has played the game about six different times now, but she says every time she starts playing she is completely paralyzed with fear. She talks about how this is a kind of terror she has never felt from a horror movie and after about a half hour she is so completely terrified that she just turns the game off. She goes back to the game almost every day and every day progresses maybe five minutes deeper into the game but still has not reached the point where she can save (which is only a little more than a half hour into the game).
Talking to her on the phone about the games she has been playing is one of my new favorite things. I know not everyone enjoys listening to the the stories of other people playing video games (but if that is the case, why are you reading a blog? 
) but I am an often jaded gamer and she is still so new to gaming. Hearing her talk about the games with such passion and vigor helps me remember a time when it was all new to me.
Bioshock 2: Better Gameplay, Lesser Experience
Posted by Mordiceius at 2:05 pm
I managed to wrap up Bioshock 2 a few nights ago and I have finally compiled my thoughts on it. Overall, I am left feeling lukewarm. I guess it was a flaw on my part to hope this game would capture the magic of the first game again. I am a story freak. I love good stories. The game play can be terrible and I will still play it if it has a compelling narrative. I struggled through Bioshock 2.
In the end, the game is roughly 10 hours long. I started playing on launch day and only played 30 or so minutes a day because I just did not find myself interested in what was going on. The other night, I sat down and marathoned through the last half of the game to just get it done with.
The game play has been tightened quite a bit since Bioshock 1. Plasmids can be upgraded to have more effects and they can be dual wielded with guns. The gun upgrade stations are still in the game and I actually found them to be a lot more centrally located. In Bioshock 2, it was no challenge to find all 14 upgrade stations. I maybe had found half in the first Bioshock.
The story in the game is really what left me so lukewarm. It just feels... unnecessary. It is not bad, but just not necessary either. The most apt description is a "straight to video" sequel. Another way it has been describe is having an "expansion pack feel". It is like Half-Life: Opposing Force or Half-Life: Blue Shift. That is what the plot of this game feels like. The villain is ret-conned into the game and does not seem that threatening in the first place. There are quite a few massive plot holes that tend to stick out as well. The story of the first game was not perfect, but the Andrew Ryan "would you kindly" twist was one of the most memorable moments in video games for me. This... did not pack any punch.
The game is not bad. The game play is much improved over the first, but for me good story is always more important than good game play. I am probably in the minority in this, but I am more willing to play a flawed game with fantastic story than a game with improved game play with an inferior story. I am more about the immersion and experience than the game play. Bioshock 2 is not bad, it was just a story that did not need to be created.
Mass Effect 2: Post Game Review
Posted by Mordiceius at 1:33 pm
Disclaimer: This post contains mid and endgame spoilers from Mass Effect 2.
I finally wrapped up Mass Effect 2 this past weekend and I am really happy with the experience. This game is what a sequel should be. Bioware took what they did with the first game and refined it into an even better experience. It is very obvious that they took to heart a lot of the fan criticisms of the first game (mainly the mako exploration and the inventory managing). Had this game come out a month earlier, it would have been a toss up between this and Dragon Age for my 2009 game of the year.
I finished as a paragon male Shepard and am already itching to start up as a renegade female Shepard. Between waiting to see if they put out any DLC and this week's release of Bioshock 2 however, I think I am going to put my second play through of Mass Effect 2 on the back burner.
My problems with Mass Effect 2 are really minor nit picks in the grand scheme of things.
I thought there were too many characters. It was not that the characters were not interesting. The only character I did not ever really use was Jacob. The problem was that I liked so many of the characters and you could only take two with you at any given time.
After being spoiled on party interaction in Dragon Age, I wish there was more banter between characters. I also wish the characters would also interact more in conversation with NPCs. Most the time, characters will only have conversation points if you are doing a quest for them or are talking to directly to them on the ship. But, I can understand that this game is supposed to be the story of Commander Shepard so he should have the focus.
I also thought it was very unfortunate that by the time you got Legion into your party, there was a time limit put on your character. Once you get Legion, your ship is attacked by Collectors and all of your crew is taken. The more time you spend running around the galaxy doing side quests at this point, the more of your crew dies. Legion is a Geth and so having him on your side makes for some very interesting interactions. I would love to take him to more of the character and loyalty missions, but I do not want to end with my crew being wiped out.
I was reading an interview with some of the Mass Effect 2 developers and apparently usage statistics are from people playing are getting sent back to Bioware so they can see which characters people use the most. They are going to take this information to give the more used characters bigger roles in Mass Effect 3.
The only other minor nit pick I have is that if you do 100% of the quests in game and hack and loot every locker and safe and body, you will still not have enough money to buy all of the games upgrades. I was using an imported character so I started with a bonus of 150k credits and by the time I reached the point of no return, I was still about 300k credits shy of being able to afford everything.
Nonetheless, these are relatively minor things. They are nothing like the glaring problems of the first game. Word in the pipeline is that they are going to put out some decent DLC for this game (unlike ME1) and that we could see ME3 as early as first quarter of next year. Between the top notch gaming experiences I have had with Dragon Age and Mass Effect, my confidence in Bioware to put out a great game has never been higher. It makes me wonder if The Old Republic could actually turn out to be the "Next Big Thing" in the MMO sphere.
Relics of RPGs Past
Posted by Mordiceius at 2:00 pm
I am about 80% done with Mass Effect 2 now. Rynala wrapped up the game on her character yesterday. Being a bit of a completionist myself, I have been doing every little side quest possible before moving forward with the story. For Rynala, she was lukewarm on the first game. She saw the game as "good, but flawed". She was originally reluctant to event start playing ME2. Now, she loves the game so much that she just started her second play through. She is probably even more excited than me for Mass Effect 3.
Many of my friends have finished the game as well and while most are giving it nothing but praise, there are some that think the game has drifted too far from the RPG roots. You can see this sentiment echoed in various places on the internet. Personally, I feel this game is just as much of an RPG as the original and the areas of the game that were changed were areas that did not enhance the game originally.
One friend of mine complained about the lack of inventory. He wanted more guns to drop and more variety. Personally, I do not see the point. In ME2, there are 2-6 different weapons for each slot. Each weapon has different pros and cons. One weapon may have higher damage but another may have higher accuracy while another may hold more ammunition. You are allowed to pick a gun that fits your style and go with it. In Mass Effect 1, people just kept upgrading to the best guns until they got the Spectre weapons and then they would never upgrade their guns again. Now, you pick the gun you like and that will always be the best gun. You can still upgrade its damage and accuracy through the tech lab but you do not have to spend half the game dealing with an inventory full of guns you will never use anyway.
To me, an RPG is not about constantly fiddling with the inventory or allocating stat points. To me, a role playing game is about playing a role. It is playing the personality of the character and changing the world around me. So many of the things that were trimmed off Mass Effect 1 make sense. They are shackles of the past that are just busy work. Streamlining role playing games is not a bad thing. I would much prefer more time playing the character out in the world and less time having to check spreadsheets and min-max characters. When playing games, we need to ask ourselves: "Is this really enhancing the game or is this just busy work?"
Mid-Game Review: Mass Effect 2
Posted by Mordiceius at 1:33 pm
I am currently about 20 hours into Mass Effect 2. I would have been further but between, work class, and getting new furniture this week, my gaming time has not been where I would like it.
So far, I think Mass Effect 2 improves on the foundation of Mass Effect 1 in every way possible. The action is better, the character interactions are more cinematic, and the monotony has been reduced.
From what I have read, I am just around half way through the game. I am going a bit slow and being a completionist though, so I may take longer than most people will. Some friends of mine have already beat the game and clocked in 30-35 hours. I am expecting to get in 40+ with doing all the side quests.
Gone is the planet exploration with the Mako and the relentless gun and armor drops (that would always just get reduced to omni-gel) and replacing it is a streamlined game. I have seen complaints from people that they think Bioware toned down the RPG and dialed up the shooter parts too much but I could not disagree more. I think this game delivers a perfect balance between shooter and RPG, but this is something I will probably deconstruct more in another post this week.
The best quality of the game is hands down the cinematography. I believe that the directing in this game is a huge step forward for video games as a genre and will go far to show the kind of personality and emotional response that games can invoke. The characters are not just flatly delivering lines, their faces and bodies give the visual cues that real people give.
This was more eloquently described by CharlieFoxtrot on the SomethingAwful forums:
"I might be flaring up the discussion about ME2's writing again, but I thought there were some interesting points brought up earlier. Basically, it boils down to this: complaining that ME2 isn't up to Planescape: Torment's standards is like complaining that that Steven Spielberg can't write novels like J.D. Salinger. They're trying to accomplish two different things.
Because games are still relatively young as form of expression, they have to borrow their narrative grammar from other forms. P:T chose a novelistic style, full of dense prose, reflection, and introspection. Technology has reached a point where ME2 can choose a cinematic style and use the grammar of film. And it does it so, so well.
It's helpful to compare it to Dragon Age, a game made by the same company but also trying to accomplish something slightly different. For all the amazing stuff Dragon Age pulls off, they did not put as much energy into cutscene presentation. The camera angles tend to be flat and workmanlike, purely designed to convey the necessary information, and the world and its characters are not expressive enough to stand alone without little parenthetical descriptions from time to time.
ME2 spends so much energy making the game's presentation as flawless and emotionally charged as possible. It's all composed of the little things, like that you can see Shepard smirk a little after making a one-liner, or that people walk around and shift positions when having a conversation instead of standing perfectly still, or that the characters' eyes are articulated enough that you can follow what they're looking at like an audience does a thousand times when they watch real people in a real movie.
It really hit me in Miranda's loyalty quest, in the scene where she looks at her sister and her family and the camera drifts from over her shoulder and racks focus into the distance, and then it cuts away and has Miranda step away towards the camera so that you can read every nuance of her expression. Any film buff can tell you that that is a cinematic technique to get us closer to a character's perspective and get us to relate to them better. But most game designers either aren't sophisticated enough or don't care enough to make use of techniques like that.
Of course it would all be for naught if that kind of detail didn't carry over through to everything; it would be like the FMV craze of the late nineties where everyone was saying "It's like a movie and you're the star!" when in reality you were playing a discrete gameplay segment, then watching an FMV, then playing the game some more. Everything BioWare has done in ME2 is about streamlining and perfecting -- not just the gameplay but the story as well. The main directive in ME2 seems to be never to break the flow, and to make every part of the game as seamless and immersive as possible. Rejiggering the systems so that you're not shuffling through an inventory screen or a level up screen every few minutes not only streamlines the gameplay, but also prevents as many jarring immersion breaks from the narrative as possible."
Darksiders – Think like Link, Fight like Kratos
Posted by Mordiceius at 12:53 pm
Due to my old standard definition TV going out about a week ago I have finally updated myself to the HD world and as such, I have been having a mini Xbox360 revival. My game of choice currently is Darksiders.
I had heard about Darksiders a few months ago on the Gamers With Jobs Conference Call. It was described as something along the lines of "you go around as one of the horsemen of the apocalypse and kill angels and demons". The concept sounded neat but that was the last I heard of it. When it released earlier this month, from the screen shots it looked like another God of War clone. Luckily, it is not.
Anyone who tells you that this game is most influenced by God of War is a liar. This game is essentially the new Legend of Zelda. Instead of Link, you play as the apocalyptic horseman War who looks like he stepped right out of World of Warcraft character designer meeting. Instead of the kingdom of Hyrule, you find yourself on post apocalyptic Earth. An apocalypse YOU were tricked into starting and there are very many unhappy individuals that want you dead.
The combat, however, feels a bit more polished than a Zelda game. Instead of just your standard two or three attacks, you have a multitude of combos on a variety of weapons that you can buy and upgrade. Enemies drop souls that are used as currency, replenish your health, and replenish your rage. This is where the God of War comparison comes in. But in the end, this game feels like 20% God of War and 80% Legend of Zelda.
The gameplay is incredibly solid. I am playing on apocalyptic difficulty since I was told the normal difficulty was a bit easy. Early in the game it was not unheard of to get two or three shot by enemies. Combat was fast paced and unforgiving and dodging was essential. Now that I have upgraded my health quite a few times the game feels a bit easier though dodging is still very important. Apocalyptic difficulty definitely keeps you on your toes and I would expect nothing less.
A good deal of time is spent dungeon diving. So far, I have been through two proper dungeons: an evil cathedral that was essentially a fire temple and a section of subway and sewers that was essentially a water temple. In each temple you get a new item or weapon to help you solve the puzzles of the stage. Within the fire temple equivalent, I received an item that works the same way as the boomerang in Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess.
At the end of each dungeon, you face a boss that requires you to often show mastery of your weapon and the gimmick of the dungeon. I found the fire temple boss to be much harder than the water temple boss but both were enjoyable.
Overall, I have found Darksiders to be a really fun game. It does not do anything new but I think what it does, it does well. A lot of people scream for innovation nowadays, but personally I am just happy to be playing another Legend of Zelda game.
Back In Rotation
Posted by Mordiceius at 2:40 pm
I am finally back to blogging. It has been a busy couple weeks for me so hopefully things are properly settled down now. I spent Christmas at home in our with Rynala and the two of headed to her parent's house for New Years. From there I flew home to Idaho to care for my mom for a week and a half while after she had shoulder surgery and then the last few days I have been sick in bed.
What is amusing out of all of this is that before my long holiday, I figured I would be able to get in a good deal of gaming time. Sure I had some chores and responsibilities to fulfill, but without having work and school I thought I would have more time to game. I was actually surprised by how little gaming I have done over the last three weeks.
Rynala and I have been playing through Titan Quest. We just started the third act and are about 20 hours into the game. I am enjoying the game even if it does get a bit repetitious. Play this game is getting me really hyped up for the Clash of the Titans movie in March.
I have tried to get back into Borderlands but I do not know if I will ever be able to. Besides how much the game just feels like a bad port on the PC, the way the DLC is being handled is infuriating.
I recently picked up Darksiders for the 360. The game is essentially a mixture of God of War and the Legend of Zelda in a post-apocalyptic, demon infested world. I am absolutely loving it.
Holiday Break and Gaming Update
Posted by Mordiceius at 11:40 am
I apologize a bit for the radio silence, but expect it continue for the next two weeks. I have been doing quite a bit of gaming with Rynala. Between World of Warcraft, Darkfall, and the games I have been buying from the Steam holiday deals, I have almost had too many games to play. Tomorrow, I am flying home to be with my mother for a week and a half to care for her after she undergoes surgery. In my down time I hope to get the chance to write some, but I am not making any promises as of yet. I do have quite a bit I would like to write about.
I have been getting deep into the World of Warcraft economy and have made over 15,000 gold since patch 3.3 has come out. I finally get it and I am finding myself quite addicted.
I stopped playing Borderlands for the most part. Rynala and I got about 50% through the game and the flaws of the game are starting to hinder my enjoyment. Not to mention the developer essentially lied to PC gamers about the game.
Darkfall has taking somewhat of a back burner. I am not turning away from the game as I still really love it, but I have just had so much to play, I just have not been able to make the time for Darkfall. I plan on playing more soon.
Titan Quest is the game that I have been playing for the past week. I had picked it up from Steam during the Black Friday deals and have never played it before. Rynala loves Diablo clones so we gave it try. We are currently in the second act of the game and I really have been enjoying the game. The game is about three years old but it is still a very beautiful looking game and gameplay-wise it feels just like Diablo to me.
The holidays have truly provided quite the gaming boon to me and I hope it has been just as good to all of you.
Going Broke Saving Money
Posted by Mordiceius at 10:42 pm
Steam seems to know my weakness is deals. Within the last month I have bought more games than I will ever be able to play but I cannot help myself.
Today - You now own Prototype.
Dec 25 - You now own King's Bounty: Armored Princess.
You now own Cogs.
Dec 23 - You now own Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis, The Dig, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, Loom.
You now own S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Clear Sky.
You now own Gumboy Crazy Adventures, Gumboy Crazy Features, Vigil - Blood Bitterness, Obulis, Chains.
You now own Defense Grid: The Awakening.
Dec 15 - You now own The Last Remnant.
Nov 30 - You now own Mirror's Edge.
You now own Monkey Island Special Edition.
You now own Evil Genius.
Nov 28 - You now own Borderlands.
Nov 27 - You now own STALKER: Shadow of Chernobyl, Full Spectrum Warrior, Full Spectrum Warrior: Ten Hammers, Titan Quest, Titan Quest: Immortal Throne, Company of Heroes, Dawn of War Gold, Dawn of War: Dark Crusade, Dawn of War Gold: Winter Assault, Company of Heroes: Opposing Fronts, Juiced 2: Hot Import Nights, Dawn of War: Soulstorm, Frontlines: Fuel of War, Saint's Row 2, Warhammer® 40,000™: Dawn of War® II, Red Faction: Guerrilla , Red Faction, Company of Heroes: Tales of Valor, Red Faction II.
You now own Starwars: Knights of The Old Republic.
Nov 16 - You now own Overlord, Overlord: Raising Hell, Overlord II.
Holiday Update 09
Posted by Mordiceius at 4:00 am
Somehow I got in the Darkfall Spotlight on the forums. I do not personally read the forums, but it is not because I am lazy. It is simply because I am afraid (that, and I cannot access them at work).
Being that it is the holidays, I hope you do not expect too many posts from me over the coming weeks. I am going to be working all this week but I will have all of next week off work (though Rynala and I may be driving up to see her folks around New Years). I will be gone for the first week and a half of January to fly north and care my mother while she has surgery.
I have been devoting a majority of my time to Darkfall and World of Warcraft. Since Darkfall is not a system resource hog, I am able to play both simultaneously. This works even better for me since I can set up my character in Darkfall to mine or log and go run an instance or work on auctions in WoW. In WoW, I have had to find unique ways of making money as enchanting and engineering are not huge money makers right now. I am thinking of taking my level 70 warlock out of retirement and making them an alchemist.
As for Darkfall, I have been spending majority of my time in small scale PvP. The Goons have largely moved from Aerngardh to Darkmoore since Aerngardh was not so newbie friendly and apparently the spawns are broken all over the frigid north lands. The journey was absolutely terrifying.
When we moved from Janhalek to Aerngardh, there were about ten of us on a raft making the trip, this time there were only four. A third of the way through the trip, there was a cry of pure horror on vent. Closing fast on us was the kraken. One of the people on the raft tried to push me off as a sacrifice but was instead knocked off the raft himself by the kraken. We could not rescue him so we made haste out of there. Fifteen minutes later we saw the kraken once more on the horizon pursing us. One of the other members of the ship sacrificed his life to save the raft. The raft owner and myself made it to landfall safely, never forgetting the sacrifices our two brave comrades made.
I found the move to Darkmoore very amusing because it is about a ten minute mounted journey north of Mir Bellith, the elf area I started at. I had gone from Mir Bellith down to Janhalek and north to Aerngarde only to end up ten minutes north of the start of my journey. Since I was so close to my origin, I returned to Mir Bellith to work on getting some skill ups (and to look for some PvP).
My favorite targets so far have been people in the NEW clan. NEW is the clan for people new to Darkfall, but has lately received some scorn. When they were originally created, Goon Squad declared war on them as a joke, and made a couple enemies from other clans in doing so. Since then, I have seen many clans declaring war on NEW. In clan chat, people were explaining that there were some players exploiting the clan and using it as a safe haven to avoid PvP so a lot of guilds were getting sick of it.
I have had a lot of good PvP in Mir Bellith. Since I am still quite new to the game it is nice finding people that mostly match my skill. I have lost quite a few times though. Luckily, beside my mount, I have not lost anything of any importance. As for the mount, that situation did not make me happy. I was running away from a guy that was killing my mount with arrows and so I ran into the city to safe corner to try to desummon my mount and then bank it before I died. While dismissing it, some blue player came, jumped on it and rode it off. Since they were blue, I could not attack them due to the guard tower and an alignment hit. There should be penalties to mount thieves. It would nice to see them take an alignment hit or go rogue for a while. If that guy had gone rogue, the guard towers could have taken him out. Other than that, it has been a lot of fun in Mir Bellith.
All of this good MMO gaming has made it hard for me to go play any other games. I have yet to finish Borderlands and I still have a load of games from the Steam sale I need to play including Last Remnant, Overlord 2, WH40K: Dawn of War 1 and 2. Plus, the good games are going to keep coming with Mass Effect 2, Bioshock 2, and Final Fantasy 13 coming out in the next few months. What is a gamer to do!