I love Bioware. Really, I do. They’ve been my favourite game developer for many years now, ever since I spent untold hours playing through their masterpiece Baldur’s Gate II: Shadows of Amn. Since that time Bioware has been one of the more consistent developers in terms of delivering quality gaming experiences, in my mind rivaled only by Valve Software. Yet, despite my great admiration for the studio and its exemplary library of RPGs I just wasn’t looking forward to Dragon Age, a brand new IP that they had been working on for many years before its release. It just looked like a colour-by-numbers, dumbed-down, completely uninspired dark fantasy epic. Boy was I ever wrong!
For the past few years the glory of the RPG has been undergoing a systematic watering down by gaming culture at large. Games like Fallout 3, Borderlands, and most recently Mass Effect 2 have been hailed as the greatest the genre has to offer. Yet whatever your opinion regarding the merits of these games may be (I personally find Mass Effect 2 to be the only one of them worthy of any real praise as a gaming experience) the simple fact remains that these games aren’t really Role-Playing Games in the truest definition of the genre. Oh sure, these games may ape certain elements considered unique to the RPG experience, but they remain at best hybrids (hybrids that are very light on the RPG aspect). A great deal of the difficulty lies in people not really wanting to settle on a proper definition (something I’ve always wanted to attempt for kicks and flame-wars), after all, the more genres you can say your game is the more demographics it will appeal to, right?
Well, I’m here to tell you (many months later than I should have) that Dragon Age: Origins is very much an RPG in the truest sense. It’s not the best RPG ever made, not by a long shot, but it is an RPG, and it makes no apology for that by integrating other genre conventions. Dragon Age is a Role-Playing Game, through and through.
Continue reading ‘Dragon Age: Origins Review’
… or Lieutenant Commander as the case would be with me.
Okay, so I finally hit the Lt. Cmd. rank in Star Trek Online today after struggling through the tedium that is the STO mission structure and I was all set to have my mind absolutely blown! So what does it feel like having received a promotion within the Star Fleet command structure?
Meh...
Yeah, kinda meh, kinda how it felt when I first started out the game. Sure, I got a new ship (I decided to go with a cruiser which is what contains the famous Constitution class starship from TNG), I got a new tier of skills, access to new items, and the ability to promote my Bridge Officers (amusingly referred to as BO in STO parlance. Guess there are no showers on board), but none of that really cried out, “The game as you knew it has changed for the better!“. It could have though, if Cryptic didn’t seem to be so terrible at designing MMOs past the character creator (just my opinion, yeah, but there is something seriously wrong with this studio).
Continue reading ‘Fire At Will, Commander…’
You can find Part 1 here.
You can find Part 2 here.
You can find the review Supplement here.
Well, seeing as the STO servers can’t decide if they’re up or down I guess I may as well make the promised final part to my review of Mass Effect 2. I’m a little pissed as I write this, bear in mind, (I’m 28 skill points away from hitting Lieutenant Commander rank in STO and therefore about to find out whether or not I wasted money on Cryptic’s latest half-hearted effort) but that kind of works because this part is chiefly devoted to stuff I didn’t like in ME2. Okay, there will still be good things in here too, just thinking about Mass Effect 2’s loveliness instead of Star Trek Online is starting to cheer me up. Okay fine, this is gonna be mostly good things. Still, there may be further review supplements down the line in case I miss anything here (and I probably will).
Speaking of final frontiers I suppose I should start off with the galactic exploration aspect of Mass Effect 2.
So how is it? Well, a mixed bag ultimately. It has been given a major facelift since the first Mass Effect and for the most part the changes are very welcome yet there is one mechanic that is so pervasive and tedious that it threatens to undo every improvement made to the Galaxy Map. Probably the biggest change has been to the manner in which you navigate through the Galaxy Map. As opposed to simply clicking on points of interest and progressing through the various zoom levels or reading a snippet of information about the object you selected, in Mass Effect 2 you have a more active role to play in your exploration of strange new worlds. Now when you’re not on the Galaxy zoom level you actually get to control a little Normandy spaceship on a 2-dimensional plane and travel between celestial entities and solar systems. It’s not exactly what you would think of as a huge improvement and in fact it simply draws out the old process of exploring planets but it does a great deal to immerse you in the universe that Bioware has crafted.
Continue reading ‘Mass Effect 2 Review: The Final Frontier’
Okay, I swear that I will post the final part of my Mass Effect 2 review later today. I actually had it mostly written out already but ended up scrapping it because my lack of sleep had spilled out onto the page. But that’s not the real reason for my lack of discipline.
It should come as no surprise that STO is distracting me from my bloggerly duties, though not in the way that it should. Truth is, I don’t quite know what to make of this game yet. As of this moment I am almost a grade 9 Lieutenant and so far this game is boring me to tears. So why am I playing then, you ask? Well, like many that must be suffering through the early levels I am hoping there is a light at the end of the Lieutenant tunnel in the form of upgrading my ship (which is why I’m playing so much to the detriment of other activities, I want to get these early levels over with!).
As it stands right now I find myself sailing through battle (which is pretty much the only thing to do in this game), employing the exact same tactics every single time, coming out on top without breaking a sweat. I’ve only died once so far and that was because I was dicking around in a Fleet action (sort of like a raid) when I got surrounded by ships that warped in and blew me back to the Stone Age. Other than that combat has been relatively tame and uninteresting, which is a shame because it seems to have a great deal of potential what with the whole juggling of power distribution and balancing of shields and managing fire arcs and what have you. Maybe if there was something else to do it wouldn’t seem so bad but so far every exchange has been pretty well the exact same encounter every time.
This is how STO is making me feel right now.
Continue reading ‘Boldly Going Forth and Procrastinating’
You can find Part 1 here.
You can find Part 2 here.
Ok, just so we’re clear, this isn’t the final part of my ME2 review. I was just listening to the latest episode of Podtoid where they discuss the latest Mass Effect and had a few things I wanted to mention before they escaped my notice, a few shortfalls to be precise. Just think of this as part 1.5 as it deals heavily with the story aspect of Mass Effect 2.
One of the biggest problems that this game has is a problem inherent to narrative game play of any sort, that being the player’s tendency to meta-game or use outside knowledge (or tools) in order to further themselves in game. At its most basic level this can be simple foreknowledge that a character in the game world would not rightly have access to though it can also present itself in the form of meticulous stat tracking (and by stat tracking I’m speaking more along the lines of statistics that are hidden from the player for the most part that can determine the likely outcome of certain scenarios in-game) or by reloading your game in the case of an unfortunate turn of events (not a series of events though, that’s under copyright). You get the basic idea.
My positive reaction to the game’s ending would have been greatly diminished had I meta-gamed (well, meta-gamed more than I had up until that point, some habits are hard to kick) and reloaded my save when Tali fell to enemy fire. Sure, I could have gone back in there and done things right gosh darnit, but then the ending wouldn’t have had quite the impact that I ultimately felt it did. The temptation was there, don’t get me wrong, but I knew (despite all my years of gaming training telling me otherwise) that doing so would have been a cop out and disrespectful to the story as a whole. But that isn’t what I’m going to nitpick; this problem of reloading saves is a very difficult problem to solve without removing a lot of player control and doing so tends to foment resentment.
Continue reading ‘Mass Effect 2 Review Supplement: Meta-Gaming’
You can find Part 1 here.
Now where were we? Ah yes, we just finished going over the story elements of ME2 which means it is now time to review the primary game play, and by that I mean combat. Anyone familiar with the first Mass Effect will be happy to hear that the clunky combat has been completely revamped into a far more visceral and satisfying experience, which is good because you will be spending the vast majority of the game in the heat of battle. Exploration has taken a major backseat to intense firefights and despite my own predilection for exploratory game play I have to say that Mass Effect 2 is all the better for its renewed focus.
Refining the game play of the original is actually a major design theme in ME2 with many systems being heavily toned down in order to streamline game play. In fact, I do not really consider this game to be a proper RPG at all. Sure, it has dialogue with choice and consequence but that is hardly a qualifying attribute for an RPG (after all, the vast majority of classic RPGs don’t have any C&C whatsoever!) and though there are still levels, skills, and classes it has all been stripped so bare as to almost be a pure shooter. To be perfectly honest I wish Bioware would just get rid of any pretense of it being an RPG and just focus on what makes Mass Effect great: gripping cinematic dialogue and thrilling combat. But seeing as they still want to market this franchise as an RPG I feel I must mention the new “RPG” system before moving on to the retooled combat.
Fans of the original Mass Effect will recall that as your characters would level up through combat and completing Missions and Assignments you would be allocated a number a skill points based on your current level range that you could then spend on your wide array of skills point by point. Each skill had many levels of proficiency with major upgrades staggered throughout the progression, including unlocks for skills that start out barred from use. These skills ranged from firearm proficiency to general skills such as armour use and general stat boosts to special skills like Biotics or Tech skills. There was even a skill that was tied to the class you chose and in the case of Commander Shepard you also received three more skills in the form of a special Spectre skill as well as Charm and Intimidate for use in dialogues. Unfortunately, each point spent on a skill went largely unnoticed with the barest of minimal increments in utility as they were trained, and to top it all off similar characters shared the same skills which hurt individuality amongst your squad.
Continue reading ‘Mass Effect 2 Review: Core Game Play’
So I just finished my first playthrough of Mass Effect 2 mere moments before I started typing this out and I have to say that despite all of my original optimism for this game… it totally blew me away! For once there’s really not a whole lot that I can say against this game, almost every aspect of its production has been polished to a mirror sheen (including Martin Sheen’s performance) and the developers over at Bioware really took the criticisms levied against the first Mass Effect to heart and improved on almost every game system as a result. Mass Effect 2 is a truly cinematic experience and considering how often that gets thrown around lately know that this title stands out from the pack. I’m still reeling from the thrilling ending sequence and to my mind I cannot come up with any other game ending that even comes close to being properly epic.
First thing’s first: the story. Bioware tends to catch a lot of flak for the predictable pacing in their RPGs. You start out an inexperienced loner who is thrust into a titanic struggle between the forces of good and evil whereupon you are elevated into the ranks of some mystic/elite organization and tasked with saving the world/galaxy. You tackle three to four major points of interest (in whichever order you wish), you are confronted with a shocking twist, you finish off the remaining POIs and finally you rush off to confront some ancient evil. Now, I don’t really have a problem with Bioware’s formula, what matters to me is how the story is told, not how it’s structured, but Bioware decided to mix things up a bit in Mass Effect 2.
After getting through an inspired introductory sequence players are basically given free reign to do as they will. You are tasked with overcoming an ancient evil, yes, but it’s up to you as to when you’re ready to get the job done. So if you wish you can bring the fight to your enemies right away or you can instead choose to explore the galaxy, recruit a team of seasoned professionals, and upgrade your squad and ship. All of the choices you make have an impact on future events (I assume. As I mentioned before, this was my first playthrough so I can’t know for certain but this game gives a far better impression of choice and consequence than the original did so I am comfortable to trust in the game’s branching paths), not just in this game but also in Mass Effect 3 one would assume. For instance, even when you reach an apparent point of no return you are still given complete control over what you want to do, though delaying your strike can have dire consequences.
Continue reading ‘Mass Effect 2 Review: The Story’
Ok, so I just finished a playthrough on Mass Effect in order to have a viable save for importing into the soon to be released sequel. I first played Mass Effect when it originally released on the XBox 360 but that save has since been lost. I had purchased the PC version of the game when it first came out as well though I couldn’t bring myself to play it due to the terrible glitchiness of the port. This time, because I desperately wanted to get ME2 on Windows (anyone familiar with the difference between shooters that use mouse and keyboard controls versus control pads should know why) I decided to give the PC version of Mass Effect another shot, this time with all the latest patches and DLC. And so, in the interest of continuing my original saga, I opted to recreate my renegade Vanguard, Jack Shepard, or Jack Bauer as I prefer to think of him.
As I’m sure you have already surmised, these updates to the PC version helped a great deal and besides the rare rendering fault during a conversation resulting in a crash (a very minor crash thankfully) my playthrough was as smooth as could be hoped for. Now, before I get on to my hype for the sequel I figured that I’d go over a few things the PC version did right and a few things the game, in general, did wrong. First of all, the combat controls were almost dead on. I would have appreciated being able to toggle my tactical view as opposed to having to hold down the space bar every time but other than that it controlled beautifully. I was also surprised at how big of a difference the redesigned hacking/unlocking minigame had on my enjoyment. Rather than playing a boring save-or-die timing game there was actually an element of strategy involved (a little bit anyways) and if I messed up I would generally have enough time to give it a few more attempts before I failed. I actually looked forward to this little game rather than dreading it like I did on the XBox incarnation.
At first I didn’t much care for the Mako controls on PC but I did eventually get used to them and I must be one of three people in the world who actually enjoyed the Mako exploration segments despite the wacky physics (hell, because of the wacky physics!). I also must be pretty well the only person who actually liked the elevator conceit, though that may have something to do with my being rather efficient when it comes to travel. Of course, most of the elevator complaints were focused on the XBox version and I’m sure we all know how impatient the average console gamer is compared to PC gamers (oh ho! there’s that PC elitism!). Oh, sort of off topic but I feel that I should mention how absolutely gorgeous some of the uncharted worlds are in this game. Some of these planets really take your breath away with their beauty and almost without fail the skybox for each world is a work of art. I remember one planet I landed on made me feel as though I had landed in Mordor! The people who did those skyboxes really deserve major credit for their work, simply stunning.
Continue reading ‘Massively Hyped’
Borderlands has certainly been an interesting experience for me, though not in the way I had originally expected. Now, I know I’m way behind the curve on commenting on this game but that’s just what happens when you don’t have any money for an extended period. As it is, I decided to pick up Borderlands when I had been given a PS3 for Christmas, finally replacing the one that had been stolen from me a couple years ago. I wanted a new game to have fun with on my new system and seeing as I couldn’t a find a single copy of Little Big Planet anywhere I settled on Borderlands (and Uncharted and Red Faction: Guerilla, but I’ll get to those later). Normally I would have purchased a shooter like Borderlands on the PC but I had heard that the online setup for the game was somewhat disappointing on Windows, so PS3 it was!
I’m just going to get my opinion on this game out of the way right away: I like it, but I don’t think I should. Please allow me to clarify.
Borderlands has been, for me, one of the most frustrating experiences I’ve had playing a game in recent memory, yet for some reason I just won’t give up on it. I think it has a great deal to do with the rush that comes with obtaining new and exciting items in a game and Borderlands certainly has no shortage of loot in it. However, even in that respect I feel that the ball was dropped. I should of course mention that I had been following this title for some time before its release, even prior to the unveiling of the re-done cel-shaded visual style, and my interest generated certain expectations for the final product. Oh, one more thing I should mention before continuing is that I have not yet beaten the game as of this moment (I’m still in Rust Commons West and am Level 26) but I just felt an overpowering urge to write about the difficulties I’ve been having with this game.
Continue reading ‘Borderline Bad’
It’s been a while hasn’t it? Yeah, sorry about that. I was having problems making updates and couldn’t even view the site for a little while. Those problems stopped some time ago but I just kind of lost some of the fire I suppose. I’ve had plenty that I wanted to write about but just couldn’t bring myself to type. I’m sure many will sympathize with me on this. The other big reason for my absence is a resurgence of my interest in LotRO, but that’s something I’ll get to in a bit.
Before my impromptu review of The Goods I promised more regular posting and while I now know better than to make such a promise it is still something I hope to follow through on. The other thing I promised was actually a series of things in the form of various reviews and articles. I will still be making the Armchair Designer posts as I still feel they’re relevant, especially considering the recent announcement of LotRO’s upcoming digital expansion, the Siege of Mirkwood. The reviews, on the other hand, will be condensed and included in the second half of this post as opposed to devoting full posts to them. This is for many reasons, chief among them being my desire to just get them over with. Also, the webcomic I hinted at is most definitely not happening as I need quite some time to work off my rustiness before I can draw with any quality or speed. I’m just not feeling the story I had planned either.
But enough about that, on to happier and more site appropriate news!
I had intended Deeply Delving Dungeons to be focused on MMO gaming and roleplaying from the onset and I have so far failed in that regard. No biggie, it was never my intent to focus solely on those aspects, but it was still a central element of the site’s theme. Even before I broke out of my writer’s laze (copyright: Kevin Smith) I knew this had to change but I also knew I didn’t really have the fortitude to run a kinship in LotRO like I had planned alongside doing this site and living my life in general. Fortunately, a good friend of mine in-game had recently joined an exceptional kinship that basically had everything I wanted, freeing myself up to just enjoy the game. And so I joined the Sons of Numenor on Landroval server! I have since occupied much of my time with my new friends and look forward to telling many stories about our exploits on here in the future.
Continue reading ‘A Much Belated (And Condensed) Post’
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