New Year and New Gaming Resolutions!

image credit: daykarobinsondesignsblog.com

Well folks, with January already half over (!!) 2013 is well on its way.  The past couple of weeks I have thought back over my gaming habits from the past year and ended up coming to a few conclusions about where I would like to see myself and L'Épée Magique this year.  They are as follows:

I will place ME2 and Meriel's Story on hold.

I have enjoyed Meriel, but at the moment she has gone on too long. I enjoyed Mass Effect tremendously, and I even enjoy Mass Effect 2 when I can convince myself to play it.  The operative key words here though are "convince myself to play it".  For me, gaming is meant to be an enjoyable adventure of both the mind and imagination.  Why then, should I have to feel like it is work just to place the CD in the drive and launch a title?  I'm not sure where along the line playing ME2 began to feel like drudgery, but it's likely tied to the obligatory install of Origin alongside ME3 that will prevent me from ever completing the series and experiencing the final chapter of this trilogy first hand.  That alone is enough to dispirit anyone.  I'm not done with the title, and I would really like to see Meriel finish her current mission, but I think we both need space before that can happen.  It's okay. The galaxy will wait.

I will make a dent in my GOG shelf.

I have a weakness for 90s/early '00 style adventure games, and GOG is more than willing to feed this fascination of mine.  As the result of weekend and holiday sales across the past couple of years, shelf upon shelf of these titles now fill my GOG gamecase (as opposed to bookcase).  I really want to sit down and spend some quality time with Gabriel Knight, Sanitarium, or my beloved Microïd titles.  I have, after all, recently acquired the rest of the Still Life trilogy.  It's been hard the past year or so to play this kind of game without feeling guilty about Meriel.  With her on hold, I finally have a chance to both play and blog musings about these titles.

I will start another lengthy title.

I have so many epic length cRPGs on my shelf  of both the virtual and physical varieties.  It is time to make a series dent in that list.  While I have not decided which of these titles I will plug in next, a decision will be made within the next week. I still want to story-tell whichever title I choose, but am not sure how exactly it will be approached. Look for posts regarding all of this around the beginning of  February.

Let's Talk About - Mass Effect & Final Thoughts

Bioware's website at one point describes Mass Effect as "Science-fiction roleplay perfected."  With an affinity for sword and sorcery themed games, I must admit to having little previous experience with science-fiction based roleplaying games.  In fact, the only other ones I have played belonged to the Knights of the Old Republic series - also of Bioware make.*  As such, I do not have much to compare this particular experience to, and I certainly do not have anything outside the realm of Bioware to consider.  Therefore, I will simply do my best to evaluate my experience as an isolated event or in relationship to DA:O - the other most recent Bioware I finished.

There post contains minor-ish spoilers in the "Story" section.
Read at your own risk.

The Overall 

While Mass Effect was not necessarily everything that I felt it could have been, the game itself did not really disappoint either.  Despite the high praise this game received, and continues to receive from the gaming community, I was skeptical.  I also had high hopes.  More specifically, I had high hopes for Mass Effect's storytelling, and was skeptical about the combat.  As I'm sure you know by now, ranged combat has never been a strong point of mine.  The idea of being restricted to the use of guns, without the comfort of a sword or even a dagger, was quite nerve wracking at the time.  With the game completed, it is clear that I needn't have worried.  While ME's story is not perfect, it is certainly both strong and compelling.  Likewise, the game's combat system is far from perfect, but any issues that arrived with the system were due to in-game bugs and not to my own failings as a gamer.  More of that below.  Given my lack of experience with the Sci-fi side of cRPGs,  it is difficult to make a judgement regarding where this particular title stands when compared to similar titles.  Since it is unfair to evaluate ME beside something like The Witcher, or really even the KOTOR series (due to ties with the Star Wars franchise), I will simply say this.  Mass Effect is far from perfect, but lack of perfection does not necessarily speak to the title's overall quality.  This particular game is a jewel in Bioware's crown for a reason, and I would willingly replay it without hesitation at some point in the future.  Just let me work through some of the other titles I still have waiting in the wings first.

The Story 

On the whole, I felt that Mass Effect's story was quite strong.  I especially enjoyed the fact that, like with Dragon Age: Origins, ME's antagonist's actions were based on something other than pure evil.  In Dragon Age, Loghain's actions were seriously misguided, but everything he did was essentially driven by a love for his country. In Mass Effect, Saran is similarly misguided (or corrupted by Sovereign ), but his actions were initially motivated by a will to survive.  He saw joining the Reapers as the only way to save both himself and Citadel Space.  Even if it led to subjugation, at least everyone would still be alive.  The famous phrase "the road to hell is paved by good intentions," seems to sum up Saran's character best.  No matter how impure his "good intentions" may have been, they were still made in earnest.  The concept of a well-meaning, yet seriously flawed antagonist is by no means original.  It is also not even an idea exclusive to Bioware.  Yet, if written well it can be a powerful means to drive the player character's actions, and not just a tired plot device.  Few things are more dangerous than a "well meaning" individual who commits evil acts.  As such, the player character is given genuine reason to eliminate or contain the antagonist with "good" intentions.  Originally, during the suicide mission, I will admit to feeling like Saran's supposedly altruistic motivations were shoveled into the story for effect.  It was almost as if someone had forgotten to mention it earlier, and so here it was as a "by the way ..." moment.  During the final confrontation at the Citadel though, Meriel's glimpse of the Turian Saran used to be was well executed for maximum emotional effect.

I think that the only genuine gripe I have about Mass Effect is its story length.  It was almost too short.  Be advised that I really do realize the irony of this statement since ME took almost six months for me to complete.  Keep in mind though, that this unconscionably long play time was the direct result of a carpal tunnel flair-up which still plagues me from time to time.  In fact, I wear two wrist braces as I type these very words.  But no, the length I speak of is not so much measured in time as it is in content.  While Mass Effect is its own self-contained story, it is very much aware that it is the first in a series.  As such, the game introduces gamers to an epic world, yet wraps its story up just as players are getting comfortable with the setting, politics, characters, etc.  It's not that the game ended abruptly, it just seemed to wrap up rather quickly.  Remember how long the battle for Denerim was in DA:O?  That section of the game took me hours to complete, and at the end of it I genuinely felt like Perra and her crew had triumphed over a great evil.  While that portion was probably drawn out a little too long, its length served a purpose.  In ME  it was as if I would have missed the ending if I so much as blinked.  Most of the game's missions were relatively short by the standards of what I'm used to, and I was okay with that.  I just had not expected the final "mission" to be just as short.  This does not mean that Mass Effect a bad game by any stretch of the imagination.  It does, however, mean that ME is just a little too aware that loose ends needed to be quickly tied up before it could begin setting up the sequels.

The Combat

There really is not too much to say here.  Mass Effect is a combination of gun shooting, grenade launching, Jedi-like power unleashing, cover-based combat.  For what it is, it generally functions well.  During the battles where cover is essential, proper cover is always available - often in excess.  The ability to pause the game to set up shots was useful, and I also enjoyed directing Meriel's team to "scout ahead."  That really was not necessary, but it was nice to wield some power over her comrades since I could only directly control Meriel.  Mako fighting was likewise functional, but it became rather routine once you got your methods down.  I did enjoy driving the Mako along mountain tops though, and then picking off geth from an almost unreachable distance away.  Those machines never knew what hit them.  That never got old.  Overall, combat in ME was not enough to convince me that guns are better than swords, but the mechanics were functional enough that it did not get in the way of my enjoyment.  One major issue that did crop up though, was Meriel's inability to both hide and shoot. About halfway through the game, Shepard lost her ability to crouch behind a wall, quickly pop up to shoot, and then pop down again.  I cannot even begin to count the number of times she got stuck to a wall, could not disengage, and then refused to fire her gun - even as enemies were bearing down upon her at point blank range.  At other times, Meriel would simply refuse to use Vanguard powers.  This lead to a number of uncalled for deaths where Meriel's refusal to use Throw, at a pivotal point in time, resulted in her untimely demise.  Once I realized when the bug would not let Meriel fire her gun (I still have no clue why she would not use Vanguard powers 75% of the time), it was usually a simple matter of adapting my play-style to the game.  Even so, by the very end of Mass Effect, bugged combat had become the norm instead of the exception.  I'm not quite sure how much more I could have taken of that.

The Miscellaneous

This sounds like such a "girl" thing to take issue with, but I also have a major issue with the romance options in this game.  It is a well known fact that Bioware's depiction of romance has always been rather clumsily handled, but at least DA:O allowed for growth of the relationship.  I really hate to keep bringing DA:O back into the picture, because it and ME1 are different games, different franchises, and different development teams. ME1 is also older, and anything it has by the way of "romance" is more fine tuned than what we saw in the KOTOR series.  My issue, however, is this.  The initiation of romance was so sudden in this story that it felt as if the subject came out of no where.  One minute   Kaidan and Meriel were talking shop, and the next he was talking about how she was throwing him signs that she liked him.  Kaidan became overly friendly, and when Meriel shot him down he talked about having misread the signs.  He then becomes cold and distant.  To add to this mess, everyone on the ship was convinced that Meriel either held a torch for Kaidan or Liara despite all the professional issues that such romantic entanglements would create.  This also happened far too early in the game, well before Meriel had a chance to suss out either party and make a judgement on them or form any kind of personal connection.  As a result, the games seems to portray her (and thus femShep) as a woman who places romantic entanglements before her job.  It goes to reason that the same impression would be given of maleShep too, if I had been playing a man.  This particular approach stands in stark contrast with the image that Bioware has gone out of their way to craft for Shepard.  With a little better timing, the in-game romances would have still begun awkwardly, but they at least would have fit better with Shepard's out-of-the-box persona. As you probably noticed, Meriel ended up choosing to not let romantic interludes distract her from saving the galaxy.  For the story's sake, it was about duty.  In her mind though, it was also because her attraction lay elsewhere.  She was far more compatible, both personally and professionally, with Garrus.  It is  a shame that due to game restrictions Meriel did not have a chance to actually act on that connection she felt.  From a story perspective, however, it probably made for a stronger character.  The manner in which they clicked meant that she trusted him, above all others, to guard her back.  Their similar perspective on life also meant that he supplied necessary emotional support (admittedly without really meaning to ... we are talking more in terms of affirmation here) that no one else could give.  Without romantic notions clouding their connection, he was also able to offer criticism without worrying about the personal repercussions.  Either way it was a very beneficial professional relationship that could have eventually turned into more once the danger was past.  I suppose only time will tell what happens from here.

The Final Impression

Despite the items mentioned above, it is really quite difficult to say too many negative things about Mass Effect. At its core, this game is a solid, engaging science-fiction tale that gives you the chance to save man and alien kind as a figure operating outside of the law.  What you do with that power and responsibility is entirely up to you. While it does have its flaws, these issues generally do not weigh down that game or ruin the overall experience.  The game appears to have a limited amount of replayability as there is not too much to be gained from playing with different personal histories.  With a break in between plays, it would certanly be worth playing again for the story alone.  For instance, I was recently watching a Let's Play of Mass Effect, and noticed details from this person's playthough that had completely passed my by when I was still discovering the game and its world. Some things I had taken to be completely peripheral and meaningless, for instance, actually proved themselves to be portents of what was to come.  I also genuinely think it would be interesting to play the game from an all Paragon/all Renegade stance since this time around Meriel just did what she felt was best with little regard for these categorizations.  (Demonstrated awareness of game imposed morality "meters" generally treads too close to metagaming for my tastes.) It would also be interesting to see how the game plays from a male perspective instead of a female one.  I do not see most story options changing with a gender shift, but the overall tone of some events and individual encounters would certainly shift.

The Verdict
 
If you have not played ME1 yet, then I highly recommend you purchase the game and give it a try.

Also, it has Garrus.  How can you argue with that?

*Yes, I know that KOTOR 2 was really an Obsidian game, but it is inextricably tied to Bioware through KOTOR 1.  There are also story-based reason I personally call it a Bioware game, but those will have to wait for another day and topic.

Let's Talk About - Dragon Age 2, Part 3

Now that we have talked about the good and the bad, there is one more category left to consider.  Last, but certainly not least, there is one thing that continually makes me cry "why?!" The amount of re-skinning that took place in DA2, makes me wonder if those involved with the game know what the definition of "continuity."

Be warned that Flemeth's section contains a minor DA:O spoiler.

The Perplexing-

Look, I realize that having a sequel allows you to redesign things you were unhappy with in the first game, introduce a new color scheme, or otherwise visually alter your preestalished world.   But please Bioware, re-design and re -skin responsibly!

Flemeth in Dragon Age: Origins

Flemeth in Dragon Age 2

Let's start with Flemeth.  I must say for one, that I love her new look.  Yet, for all its showy "I'm a powerful sorceress" appeal, one can't wonder if her new look is not a bit counter productive.  According to DA:O, she has managed to survive the Templar's efforts to kill her for years because she was not afraid to run, was not afraid to show her strength, and was not afraid to blend in.  Fancy headgear and a long, impractically skin-tight gowns will not help Flemeth remain one step ahead of the Chantry.  Let's also notice for a moment that she has a different skin color, a different hair color, and she looks decades younger in DA2. I am well aware that Flemeth is capable of taking over the bodies of other individuals, as we found out in Morrigan's personal quest in DA:O, but that is not the case here.  When Hawke originally runs across Flemeth in DA2, he/she is seeing the witch after DA:O's trek into the Wilds for darkspawn blood, but before the Grey Warden's opportunity to kill Flemeth for Morrigan's sake (DA:O).  In both DA:O instances, Flemeth looks like the woman at left, but during the inbetween time Bioware somehow expects me to believe that she looks like the image at right.  Morrigan makes it quite clear in the first game that while shape shifters can turn into other animals, they cannot turn into other human beings.  How then does Flemeth manage this feat?  A cleaned up look I could have understood, but this was  a complete redesign ... right down to the witch's new willowy, youthful body.  Atleast the "new" Flemeth knows how to properly apply her make-up.  That is a blessing.

Merrill in Dragon Age: Origins

Merrill in Dragon Age 2

Of all the drastic re-skinning that went on in DA2, this one makes the most sense to me.  DA2 elves were skinny, sprite like individuals while DA:O elves were simply short humans with long ears.  At least DA2's Merrill retained a similar facial tattoo and kind of has the same eye color.  The problem?  Unless you really paid attention during the Dalish origin story in the first game, Merrill is all but unrecognizable this time around.  Her clothing is different, her voice is different, her eye shape is different, her mouth shape is different, and her ears are very different. She retains a green color story and a similar hair cut, but those are hardly identifying factors since everyone and their mother had that same hair style in DA:O.   That of course doesn't even approach the fact that Merrill was a knowledgeable, competent elf in DA:O, and is a seemingly naive, flighty creature in DA2.  The phrase "too stupid to live" comes to mind.  Don't get me wrong, I do not dislike Merrill as a character. In fact, aside from Aveline, she was one of my favorite companions.  I just feel like they should have paid more attention to the small identifying factors that help players draw connections between the two games.

Isabela in Dragon Age: Origins

Isabela in Dragon Age 2

The one re-skinning that blew me away, however, was that of Isabela.  In DA:O, your warden finds this duelest in The Pearl.  She is dressed in traditional rogue's armor, has white skin, and red hair.  Do you know how long it took me to realize that DA2's Isabela was the same individual?  I had no clue they share anything but a name until the internet told me ... while I was trying to figure out why she was not turning up in game.  Somewhere in between her appearance in DA:O, and her appearance in DA2 (which I hazard to not be very far from each other time wise), Isabela dyed her hair brown, started wearing impractical earrings (considering her line of work), got a lip piercing, was reborn with olive skin, and decided that armor was just too passé.  You know what is appropriate duelist attire these days?  A man's shirt, no pants, and thigh-high boots apparently.  If you read my last entry you will note that I never had a chance to play Isabela in DA2, so I can't vouch for her personality in game.  What I do know though, is that the no nonsense NPC (well ... when it comes to fighting anyways) from DA:O would not have been caught dead in the new Isabela's attire.  Ok, so her skin could have been darkened via artificial means, and her hair could have been dyed as part of a disguise ...  But you know what?  I honestly had no clue that these women were supposed to be the same person. What on Earth possessed her character designer to obscure Isabela's origins like that?

Alistair in Dragon Age: Origins

Alistair?? in Dragon Age 2

No words. Just take a look at the handsome individual at top, and then compare him with the individuals underneath. What did they do to my poor, sweet, adorable Alistair?  Alistair 2.0 looks like he was beaten in the face, to death, with a massive frying pan.  When pronounced dead, the design team then resurrected him just so they could go at him with a cast-iron frying pan yet again.  Please tell me I'm not the only one who sees this.

The Verdict-
 

Going into the game my expectations were very low. They were so low, in fact, that I can't say that any expectations really existed at all. Well, perhaps that is the best way to go into a game since no high expectations can be left unfulfilled and you can't be more indifferent to the title than you already are. All in all DA2 has proved a mixed bag. From a gaming standpoint DA2 exceeded my expectations. (That can't mean too much since the bar was already pretty low, but it has to count for something.) From a fan standpoint the game was a combination of pleasant nostalgia and odd disappointments. It is impossible to say that Dragon Age 2 was a complete and utter failure. It wasn't. There were some bright spots and even a couple strokes of genius that really showed through in this title. It is also, however, nor possible to say that this title was a rousing success. There is simply too much wrong with it to do that. Would I play it again? Most certainly if only to experience the game from a male avatar's perspective. Will I buy it in the future? Not unless it is accompanied by a very very steep discount. Would I recommend it? If you play it as a solo game, and not in the context of DA:O, then you should most certainly try renting the console version or buying the PC version on sale. If you are unable to divorce DA2 from your DA:O experience, however, then forget it. You will only be setting yourself up for disappointment.

Image: Source  
Flemeth Images: Source  
Isabella Images: Source 
Merrill Images: Source  
Alistair Images: Source  

Let's Talk About - Dragon Age 2, Part 2

We've talked about the good, so let's now focus on the bad.  One can pick Dragon Age 2 to pieces until they are blue in the face.  This, in fact, is a feat which has by now been achieved thousands of times over on online forums and in gaming reviews.  As a result, I am choosing to highlight only the most glaring issues I encountered which simply could not be overlooked. Keep in mind that all but one of these were re-occurring problems and not just one time problems that got on my nerves.

Be warned that this will contain mild spoilers.

The Bad -

1) Balancing

The balancing in this game is all over the map. For the record I played a female mage who chiefly used Primal Spells (Stone Fist, Tempest, Chain Lightening) and Elemental Spells (Winter's Grasp, Cone of Cold). She then chose Force Mage as her specialization. For those who have not played a  DA2 mage before, let me make one thing quite clear. Between freezing spells and the Force Mage specialization (specifically Fist of the Maker and Pull of the Abyss) there is pretty much nothing that can stand in your way. I led a party of two mages, one archer, and one swordswoman for most of the game (there was a rare exception when I had no choice but to have three mages and an archer) on regular difficulty, and mowed down everything in my path. There was the occasional battle (generally in the Deep Roads when facing multiple Darkspawn Emissaries at once) that I faced more difficulty [read: they kicked my butt and I had to re-load about 10 times], but these instances were few and far between. Despite the fact that I was tanking my mage (who may I remind you, was ridiculously overpowered), there was a great deal of balance in party. One mage largely used Spirit magicks and Entropy spells, while the other focused on Creation and Arcane magicks. I was careful to balance everything out as best I could so that one character's weaknesses were filled in by another person's strengths, and I really mean that nothing stood in our way (not even a town overrun with Templars and qunari could hold us back). Well nothing, that is, until the second major boss. If you've played the game, then you know who I'm talking about. At the end of the second chapter, my character build, which had previously obliterated everything, was suddenly. completely ineffectual.  My companions were worthless,and only my sole swordswoman stood any chance at all ... and she was only able to make a tiny dent before the boss was re-healed, and the damage-heal-damage-heal-damage-heal scenario repeated itself adinfinitum. If I'd had a poorly balanced party or an ineffectual character build then I would have understood, but that was not the case here. I know very few people with mages (specifically force mages) who managed to kill this boss without an excessive amount of effort on their part, only a couple people with archers who managed to do so, and have since learned that this boss in particular is best fought with a swordsman. That my friends is poor game design. Had I been on a PC, I may have been able to eventually make it work, but the targeting on the PS3 drove me insane.  I truly did not stand a chance. Remember how I mentioned earlier that I had not beaten this game, but had sunk a good thirty or so hours into game play? This is why. I reached the second major boss and then ran into a brick wall ... thirty wasted hours of play. If I had used GameFaqs or the Dragon Age Wiki along the way, this would not have been an issue because I would have known how to build my character for maximum effect.  That, however, is meta gaming, and I should not have to resort to outside sources in order to beat a game (much less a ROLE-playing game) where I'm tying to inhabit a character and let that character's personality dictate the story, dialogue, and choice of weapon/skills. To be honest I have a number of gripes with DA2, but this is my main one.  The other faults this game had were still tolerable, but this one was game breaking. 

2) Combat

I will openly admit that combat might be an issue on the PS3 and not the PC, but I seriously think that is unlikely.  For the most part, DA2 controls were very intuitive, and even for someone without a PS3 at home, the learning curve was far from high.  A few minutes of faffing about during the prologue as all I needed to figure out which button did what. I still prefer PC gaming for these kind of titles, but the console controls were really not all that bad.

What was bad, however was the ability to target in combat. First of all, I'm one of those insane people who loved DA:O's combat style. It was tedious at times, but I loved being able to pause the game, zoom out (which was a feature removed from the PC version of DA2) assign each character individual an action, let it play out, and then do the whole thing over again. Dragon Age 2, however, made this difficult because it really was more of a hack-o, slash-o, maim-a-thon. In DA:O, I sat down, figured out what all my spells did, and then strategically applied them where they would have the most effect. In DA2, however, I relied extremely heavily on area-effect spells ... something I barely used in the first game. In and off itself, this is not a bad thing. The reasoning behind it though, is where the problem lies. I used Area effect spells, because 1) they were stupidly overpowered, and 2) I was never quite certain where my player character [who in this case she went by the name of Onyx Hawke] was targeting. For example, in one instance where I was taking on a host of bloodmages, I begin focused on the main baddie with the intention of taking him out first so that I could focus on his minions afterwards. With Hawke fighting the main guy, I ran the rounds of telling Onyx's companions what to do, and by the time I cycled back to Onyx she was shooting arcane bolts at a group of minions half way across the room. Thinking I had just focused wrong, I fought with her for a while so that I knew she was targeting the main baddie, I went through the process with her companions again, and then came back to her only to find that Onyx was fighting minor enemies surrounding the main baddie, while the chief blood mage was kicking her butt. At other times, when things got hectic, I would point in the general direction of where I wanted Onyx to fight, only to find that after I cycled through the party she was fighting in the correct direction but wasn't attacking the person I thought I had but her in combat with. Often, the only way I could ensure that a character would fight their intended target, and stay focused on that target, was to draw that target into a corner or down a hallway (or in some other way isolate them) so that there were no other distractions. Talk about frustrating. Due to the fact that Onyx was so overpowered, this was generally not a major issue. But, there were a few situations where the only way could win a fight was by lowering the difficulty to "casual" temporarily. It wasn't that these fights were insanely difficult in an of themselves, it's just that was the only way I could beat the encounter when Hawke & Co. refused to stay focused or obey my commands. 

3) Environment

Oh goodness gracious, the environment. Where do I start? Here's the ting. In and of themselves the environments are gorgeous. The caves, especially, showed a lot of detail and I enjoyed exploring all the areas in and around Kirkwall ... the first time around. I know that this is a complaint everyone has, but trust me, it's an issue. If you have visited one cave outside of Kirkwall then you have visited them all. I don't just mean they they just reuse textures (which they do) or that they reuse parts of the layout (which they do). No, the design team literally copied entire environments from region (say near the Dalish camp) and pasted that very same environment in a different location.  With the addition of occasionaly different enemies and maybe new room here or there, you were good to go.   The dungeons were often so devoid of unique indicators that I sometimes had to open my world map in order make sure I hadn't accidentally traveld to the wrong locale.   Half the time, the design team made reused environments "new" by simply unsealing formerly sealed doorways, and then sealing up formerly open doorways. Just a clue folks, that doesn't make it feel like a new environment. That just ends up being really really annoying. If everything else in this game was close to perfection, then I could forgive this. All games have their faults, and even Morrowind (the paragon of RPGs that it is) is guilty of reusing dungeons. The difference here though, is that Morrowind and other open world games are just that - open world. They are so massive that reused locations are expected, within reason. DA2's world, however, was very finite. There was no excuse for the amount of Ctrl+C,Ctrl+V action that took place, and when combined with all the game's other faults it just smacks of laziness. I'm genuinely surprised that the companion dialogue (which was as witty as ever) didn't include a number of random comments like "haven't we seen this place before?" or "I fell like I've been to this place before." I, for one, was certainly saying that outloud, to myself, as the game wore on. 

4) The Missing Person

This is perhaps more of a personal quibble than anything since I have not run across anyone else who had the same problem.  The  issue?  I never found Isabella.  I don't mean that I didn't know where to look for her, after all where else could I look but the Hanged Man or the docks? (fyi - Reading I did after the fact told me she was supposed to be in the Hanged Man.)  No, the problem here is that Isabella simply didn't appear.  After I realized that I had somehow missed my opportunity to collect her as a companion, I pulled up GameFaqs, the Dragon Age Wiki, and just about every other source I could get my hands on.  Every one of these pages mentioned where, when, and how to find Isabella (things I logically did on my own), and no where did I read of her simply refusing to appear in-game at all.  Like I said, this is a personal quibble pertaining to my singular game, but to me it is a major one.  Had Isabella been one of my companions, I'm led to believe that she, in a rather specific manner, would have been my get out of jail free card at the end of Act 2.  Retrospectively, knowing that information would have required a bit of meta-gaming on my part (something I try to avoid), but it certainly would have made it possible for me to continue playing DA2 without having to restart the whole game after hitting a brick wall.  The end of Act 2 a side, it certainly would have been nice to have had a second set of blades to balance out Onyx's glut of ranged fighters.

Tune in Tuesday as I wrap up this three part post.

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Let's Talk About - Dragon Age 2, Part 1

I want to spend a moment talking about Dragon Age 2.  The love that I hold for Dragon Age: Origins is rather obvious and thus one can understand why the idea of a sequel proved terribly exciting ... until it was released that is.  By this point in time I've heard just about everything people have had to say about the game, and while I had heard a lot of criticism of Bioware from the role-playing community prior to experiencing DA2, I had not actually played the game.  Well ... unless you consider the demo to be actual game play. At this point in time I have not finished DA2, and it is unlikely that it will be finished in the near future.  That said, I have logged a good thirty some odd hours over the course of a week, on a friend's PS3, so it is fair to say that I have had plenty of time to form a well educated opinion about this title.    In this post I hope to lay out my overall impressions of the game.  There were a number of things that were done right, and those really deserve to be highlighted.  A number of other things went terribly wrong, and while I do not wish to dwell on those, some items of business simply cannot be ignored.  Finally, there is one particular decision Bioware made which, for continuity sake, was simply confusing.  It made me wonder if parts of the artistic team were perpetually drunk or otherwise out of it during the design process.  This was originally supposed to be all one post, but it was reaching the length of an epic novel, so therefore it has been cut down into three parts.

Before getting into particulars, however, there are a couple of things that you should know.  

1) I played this on a PS3 instead of the PC (my platform of choice).  I do not own a PS3 nor had I played one prior to this week, but I do own a PS2, and have played it enough to be familiar with basic Playstation controls.  DA2's controls were quite intuitive and they felt like second nature within a matter of minutes.  There are a  couple of complaints I have that might be specific to console versions, so I figured that the platform bears mentioning.

2) I did not play with any help guides, walkthroughs, wikias, or any other aids on hand.  There is no shame in doing so, and I certainly have used them myself with other games, but with this game I did not feel that assistance from a wiki was necessary.

3) Except for one or two instances, DA2 was played on "normal" with the very occasional and very very brief usage of "casual."  I'm more of a story girl than a combat one and as a result it is not unknown for me to play "Easy" or "Casual" so that I can spend more time with the story and less time desperately fighting for my life.  This time though, I wanted to give increase the fighting difficulty since I had done the same in DA:O  and enjoyed the combat tremendously.  DA:O combat and tactics was incredibly satisfying and since a lot of criticism has been lobbied at DA2's combat system I felt that giving it a similar chance to shine was only fair.

Let's start off with the good.  This category is not as robust as I had hoped it would be, but there are a number of things to mention that DA2 does remarkably well.

The Good-

1) Including Dragon Age: Origins

The many many letters that Hawke receives throughout the course of the game often include references to DA:O events.  Some NPCs also make mention of  DA:O happenings and characters.  While these connections may be lost of people who did not play the first game, their inclusion reminds the player that DA2 does not exist in isolation.  Wisely, DA2 didn't simply place a Las Vegas style neon sign near something and go "Look guys!  This was in our last game!  We're so witty!"  Instead obscure references to DA;O events were quite often worked into the numerous letters and notices that Hawke finds waiting for her in her desk at home.  At other times, references to DA:O events (whose timeline parallels DA2's very briefly) are worked into NPC conversations.  Even the most obvious methods of referencing the first game really aren't that obvious.  At one point during the first chapter, Hawke walks past an elf who is haranguing a male human.  The human being in question used to be a werewolf.  I had always wondered how the former werewolves from Brecilian Forest had fared, and this gave me a glimpse into their fates.  The best thing about all the DA:O references is that if you had not played the first game (something which was in no way a requirement), then most of the allusions would have flown right past you.  They did not disrupt game play and they did not stick out as peculiar or otherwise unusual.  I especially appreciated the fact that the Bioware relied on the gamers to recognize connections between the two games for themselves, instead of the developer drawing connections.

2) Story

I was quite surprised by how much I enjoyed DA2's story. Having been dubious, since the game's debut, about how one could successfully tell the story of Hawke over time without it all feeling contrived or trite, it was nice to find that Hawke developed quite nicely as the game wore on.  While there is only so much depth that a character can have when any game spans as many years as DA2, NPC based exposition and the town's reactions to Hawke's ever rising social status helped reinforce the tale Bioware was telling.  When bracketed by the Chantry Seeker's "interview," the Hawke felt very much like a famous tale come to life.  Character dialogue, of course, was both engaging and often amusing.  This is Bioware after all.  While high fantasy tropes were indeed abundant, and sometimes I found myself groaning at pedestrian shifts in story, one really has to figure that those come with the territory.  If you can't live with a reasonable amount of "by the book" story elements within a fantasy setting, then you are honestly playing the wrong game from the get go.  I will also openly admit that DA2's focus on the mage vs. Templar dichotomy was truly a stoke of genius.  Playing as a mage, with a former Templar on one arm and an over zealous apostate on the other, I found that Hawke really had a number of hard decisions to make.  I was frustrating at times because Bioware occasionally assumed that you would take a certain action, so no matter what branch of the dialogue tree my character followed, the result would have been the same (I reloaded and tested it to find out).  Those frustrating areas were few and far between though.  I do not know how the story would have felt had Hawke been a fighter or a rogue, but that is one of those things I would like to find out.

3) Companions

Not a great deal needs to be said here since we all know that Bioware excels at fashioning companions who are both witty and effective story elements.  Many of the characters I had not been looking forward to, especially Anders, ingratiated themselves to me by the end of my time in-game.  More surprising, however, was my reaction to Aveline Vallen.  Having seen her character in the demo pre-release, I was quickly put off by both her appearance and her mannerisms.  At no time could I have imagined that she would become my favorite companion.  Since I played as an apostate, and Aveline was a former Templar, the emotional dynamic and personal trust that she and my Hawke shared was quite moving.  It was as if the two shared a sort of sisterhood despite their differences in opinion and background.  From a game play standpoint, it was also nice to see that when Hawke dragged Aveline (as a member of the city guard) into situations of questionable legality, Aveline would make comments about the wisdom of her tagging along.  Other NPCs also seemed to be aware of who Aveline was, and that added a certain element of realism into the picture.  All in all I really have little bad to say about the companions themselves.  They were strongly characterized, well voiced, and added a great deal to game play.  At times, like when Hawke refused to take her brother into the Deep Roads, their actions even shocked me.  It's nice to see Bioware stick to what they know.

5) Magical Visual Effects

I absolutely loved playing an apostate in DA2.  The magick effects were massive, flashy, and really made you feel like the spells were doing something.  I had always had a feeling that DA:O's visual effects, in relation to magic, were not all they could be.  DA2 rectified any failings in that area, and honestly quite outdid itself with very in your face visuals.  Area effect spells actually felt like area effect spells.  Onyx Hawke, my mage, genuinely felt like the power-filled character I wanted her to be, instead of the human-happening-to-channel-magic that my ill fated DA:O mage had seemed.   It was disappointing to see that Dragon Age 2 felt the urge to make everything about the world flashy (what is the infamous phrase? "Press a button and something awesome happens"?), but Bioware really hit it on the head with this aspect of game play.  I can see where more subtle magics would be useful from a role-play standpoint, but my goodness, it was nice to actually feel my my mage was doing something for once.  Magical characters were, of course, even more stupidly overpowered in DA2 than they were in the first game, but that is another story for another day.

In the second part of this posting I will talk about "The Bad" in Dragon Age 2.  Be warned, there is a lot of it.  for every positive element they created, it seems like the designers were intent on making their mistakes even bigger and badder so that they would not get lost in the fray.  the third section, which will come at the end of this week, will feature a number of head scratchers.  They weren't good, they weren't bad, but they made me sit back and say "huh ..."

Tune in Friday to read part two of this three part post.

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ME1 - Introducing Meriel Shepard

I'm extremely excited that Mass Effect is just around the corner.  Please read on to see an introduction to Shepard's personality and character makeup.  Following this introduction you will find my guidelines for Mass Effect's gameplay.

Profile

Name - Meriel Shepard

Origin - Earthborn

Reputation - Ruthless

Class - Vanguard

About Her Name - Normally when naming characters I try to find a moniker that vaguely connects to an aspect of their history or personality.  This time around, Shepard's first name "Meriel" does none of those things.  A version of the first name Murial, her name roughly means "sea nymph" or "shining sea" depending on where you look.  I didn't find that out until after I named her though.  Meriel just seemed right, so that is what made it into the game.

About Vanguard Class - From the Mass Effect Wiki:

Vanguards are feared for their high-risk high-reward combat style, closing quickly on enemies and destroying them at close range with weapons and biotic abilities. They are outfitted with L5n implants, enabling them to perform a biotic charge that strikes the opponent with incredible force while bringing the Vanguard in close for close-range combat.

[...]

The term biotics refers to the ability for some lifeforms to create mass effect fields via Element Zero within their body tissues. [...] The various realizations range from the ability to knock adversaries over or lift them helplessly into the air, create barriers impervious to enemy fire, or even unleash small gravitational vortices that draw in enemies and environmental debris.

Considering information in the next two sections, the Vanguard classification seemed like a natural choice for Meriel. With a combination of normal combat and what equates to jedi powers, this classifications seems like it would appeal greatly to someone who is not afraid to wander off the beaten trail and ultimately relies on no one but themselves in tight situations.

About Pre-service History - Mass Effect describes the "Earthborn" history like this:

As an Earthborn, you had a rough childhood in the slums of Earth, and have a gritty edge to your personality.  You enlisted at the age of eighteen, in order to avoid falling into the trap of gang culture and poverty.

Coming straight off the heels of Perra, who also was from the slums, it would be easy to say that you see a trend in my character creation.  That isn't really true though since I saw this as the better of three choices.  "Spacer" was a past where both of Shepard's parent had been in the military.  She would have grown up on ships and in stations, moving locations every couple of years, and then followed in her parent's footsteps at the age of eighteen.  The other option "Colonist" was a history where  Shepard would have been born in a small border colony that was attacked by slavers when she was sixteen.  The slavers slaughtered her family and friends, and she was saved by an Alliance patrol.  A couple of years later she enlisted.

As a Earthborn we know that it was Shepard's choice to join the military.  She did it because she saw it as a way out of the slums.  Unlike the other two scenarios. she did not join the military through a sense of obligation or a feeling of indebtedness.  No parents (and their friends) were encouraging her to follow in their footsteps, and she did not owe her life to the Alliance.  Going into this game I know nothing about the Alliance, the Citadel, or anything else culturally.  I just feel that someone with Meriel's history would have a better chance of looking at the world objectively.  She initially joined out of necessity, and that (from what I gather) was a while ago.  Any loyalty (or lack of loyalty) she currently feels for the Citadel or the Alliance had to have been earned.  Being Earthborn also makes it easier for her to justify being loyal to her crew but not to the government, should that end up being the case.  With any of the other backgrounds she would have to worry about disappointing her family (be they dead or alive), or feeling like she had betrayed the people who saved her life.

About Psychological Profiles -  I have given Meriel the profile of "Ruthless."  Mass Effect describes it in this way.

Throughout your military career, you have held fast to one basic rule: get the job done.  You've been called cold, calculating, and brutal.  Your reputation for ruthless efficiency makes your fellows wary of you.  But when failure is not an option, the military always goes to you first.

The other two options were "Sole Survivor" and "War Hero". The Sole Survivor had been part of a mission once that went horribly, horribly wrong. Everyone they worked with died as they (and you) found themselves trapped in an extreme survival situation. The game says that "You had to overcome physical torments and psychological stresses that would have broken most people ... now you alone are left to tell the tale." The War Hero, on the other hand, had found themselves, early in their military career, extremely outnumbered by a military force. This character risked their own life to save fellow soldiers, and the enemy was defeated despite great odds. The War Hero's bravery has earned her medals of honor and recognition from the Alliance fleet. I chose not to go with these two "psychological profiles" for a couple of reasons. The first I will get to in a second, but the second lies in the fact that one paints Shepard as a "I can do anything" character with a traumatic back story I can't even begin to get my head around. How on Earth do you role-play someone who has been through a situation like that that you can't even hope to relate to? It almost sets the character up for perfection, which does not give a lot of leway.  The other, War Hero, seemed a little too goody-two shoes.  Selecting that background would make it too easy to project myself onto Meriel's character.

The other reason I chose "Ruthless" is this. On the surface it is so easy to read the description as "bad" or "evil". I, however, see this as the psychological profile of someone who understands the fact that you have to follow your gut. You can't save everyone and sometimes doing what is "right" means doing what society deems as "wrong". This doesn't mean that Shepard is a cold-hearted, callous bastard. This doesn't mean that Shepard doesn't have feelings. This doesn't mean that Shepard can't have affection for, or loyalty to, people she works with. Most importantly, it certainly doesn't mean that Shepard doesn't have a moral compass. What it does mean is that Shepard has learned to evaluate situations, knows that sacrifices sometimes have to be made, and isn't above bending or ignoring the rules if it gets the job done. Growing up in the slums taught her that in the end you can only rely on yourself. You can't let other people sweet talk you into doing something you have a bad feeling about, and you have to assume that promises are just words unless there is something to back them up. She rarely takes anything at face value, is not afraid to challenge decisions, and doesn't hesitate to ask questions if something doesn't seem right. Some people may read this as "cold, calculating, and brutal", but Meriel sees it as doing her job and living to see another day.

Complete Personal History - The Mass Effect Wiki lists Meriel's complete predetermined history as follows:

You were born on Earth, but you never knew your parents. A child of the streets, you learned to live by your wits and guts, surviving in the hidden underbelly of the megatropolises of humanity's home world.

Eager to find a better life, you joined the Alliance military when you came of age. You were assigned to the campaign to rid the Skyllian Verge of batarian slavers and other criminal elements. The final battle came when Alliance forces laid siege to Torfan, a slaver base built miles below the surface of a desolate moon. The superiority of the human fleet was wasted in the assault on the underground bunker, but you led a corps of elite ground troops into the heart of the enemy base.

Nearly three-quarters of your own squad perished in the vicious close-quarters fighting, a cost you were willing to pay to make sure not a single slaver made it out of Torfan alive.

About Appearance - I've tried to tailor Shepard's appearance in order to show that Meriel knows her own power.  Not only that, but she also sees her appearance as just another weapon in her arsenal.  This is a skill that I imagine she would have learned while living on the streets.

For practicality sake she wears her hair in a maintenance-free style.  Buns and updos can get in the way of her helmet or produce headaches.  Both are nuisances which could distract her in the field.  (Nothing is worse then a bun-induced headache.)  At the same time, her hairstyle is of a less severe, more feminine nature which may cause some people to underestimate her.

As a rule my female characters do not wear make up.  It's not that I'm against make up or anything since I happen to be quite fond of dark purple  and red lipsticks myself.  It's just I figure that if someone is fighting in a war, the last thing they will do on the eve of battle is say, "Hold on guys, I have to fix my face.  I'll be back with you in about fifteen minutes."  No, the odds are she would be donning her armor, grabbing her weapons, and readying for a fight.  From a "realism" perspective, one should also consider that any lipstick able to withstand the kind of wear cRPGs demand would have to be some seriously industrial strength stuff.  Meriel is my "makeup exception" so to speak.  I mentioned earlier that she sees her appearance as a weapon, like a gun, that can be used to her advantage.  Wearing red lipstick demonstrates a certain care for her appearance that a nude lip would not.  Red is a more severe color then pink or brown, but it also has a classic appeal to it that makes her appear professional instead of girly or frivolous.  In human circles a red lip is also considered attractive.  This fact may work in her favor should Meriel end up in a situation where she needs to talk her way out of a tight spot.  As for the "realism" factor?  I figure that if a society can have brain implants that give you Jedi-like powers, then its scientists can most certainly invent the lipstain to end all lipstains.

Because of a scar slicing diagonally across her face, the result of close-quarter combat, she had tailored her eyebrows for visual impact.  They are thin enough that her scar transversing the left (her right) eyebrow is relatively unobtrusive.  At the same time, however, the eyebrows are thick enough that Meriel's scar is still visible.  It is a subtle reminder that she has fought a number of very difficult battles and survived every one.  Don't push her if you don't want her to push back.  Meriel's not antagonistic,  but she wants to let people know that she is serious about her job and isn't afraid to "go there" should the situation warrant it.  She is a calculating character, but that does not necessarily mean that she must look unapproachable.

About Morality - Unlike Dragon Age: Origins which flirted with grey morality, Mass Effect relies on a more traditional binary model.  There are, of course, decisions you can make which are morally neutral, but discussions and decisions often result in a moral shift towards "Paragon" (read: white) or "Renegade" (read: black).  From the get-go, Meriel is at a disadvantage.  By checking out the Mass Effect Wiki after my character creation was complete, I discovered that classifying oneself as "Ruthless" adds bonus Renegade points to a character's profile.  Likewise, "Earthborn characters gain a large bonus in Renegade points received, allowing them to max out their Renegade bar faster."  The game appears to believe that classifying oneself as one or both of these categories means that one's Shepard is greater inclined towards "evil" acts. As explained in an above section, however, I do not see it that way.  As a result I am revising what the Mass Effect  morality system means. Instead of being a gauge of how "good" or "evil" Meriel is, it will be a gauge of how "good" or "evil" the world perceives her to be.  I have already established that Shepard operates within her own definition of morality, so there is no reason that actions classified as  Paragon or Renegade should affect the decisions she makes.  Instead she will make the decision which she perceives to be correct or most advantageous at that given time.  I'm not sure how I'll explain away facial scarring that, I believe, is supposed to appear if a character descends too far into the Renegade side of things in ME2.  Should that become an issue I'll take it as it comes.  Maybe we will just consider it general "battle scarring" and be done with it.

Edited to add - It has come to my attention since writing this (thank you friends who have already played the game and love dropping hints) that some achievements may be difficult to ... well ... achieve if you are not all Paragon or all Renegade.  Be this true or not, it is not a concern for me.  If my goal in playing Mass Effect was to get certain items or achieve certain things then this would be an issue.  Since my goal is to roleplay, however, then the game will just go as it goes.  I am not entering in with any preconceived notions about what "side" Meriel will take.  It is likely she may end up being completely one or the other, but it is also just as likely that she will walk a middle line or only slightly favor one type of action over another.  Everything I have written about her character still holds.

About Blogging - As far as blogging about Mass Effect goes, I am allowing the process to change as circumstances dictate since, unlike with DA:O, I have never actually played the game before.  I'm going to try and keep a lot of things similar to the DA:O blogs, but I beg you to bear with me as I figure out what works for this particular title.  Expect Mass Effect entries to be slow for the next few weeks as 40-60 pages of my semester end research comes due.   Non-RP posts, however will keep their usual blogging schedule and Mass Effect entries should increase once those papers are no longer hanging over my head.

Let's Talk About - The Witcher: Enhanced Edition, Director's Cut

GOG.com has announced that it will be selling it's 2007 title The Witcher for $9.99 before The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings' release in May.  If you buy the game between May 10 and May 14, it will be only $4.99.  The game's listing (available for purchase May 10) is here.  They are selling the Enhanced Edition/Director's Cut so this is the new & improved re-release of the game from 2008.  One particular NSFW image on their site shows that this is also the uncensored version which was released in Europe.  If you want the censored version, it can generally be found for roughly $20.00 at any American online store.

The Official Game Description - Your name is Geralt of Rivia and you are a witcher, that means you kill monsters for a living. You were given a special training to be the best at what you do and your body has been enhanced with potent elixirs to help you do it.

Suffering from amnesia you remember nothing of your past. Kaer Morhen, the last remaining keep of the witchers, was attacked by a mysterious organization, just as you were starting to lick your wounds there. The battle is won but the secret recipe for the mutagen, a substance required to create more of your kind, has been stolen. The surviving witchers set out to find and reclaim it and punish everyone involved. Memory loss or not, you are one of them.

Some Thoughts Of My Own -  It has been a little over a year since I finished The Witcher, which is CD Projekt RED's videogame based on a universe created by Polish fantasy author Andrzej Sapkowski.  While the game could be frustrating at times (I'm looking at you Kikimore Queen ... how I hate your guts), it is quite possibly one of the best cRPGs I have played in a long while.  Played from the viewpoint of a rather jaded, hardened, anti-hero of sorts, this game thrives on its use of grey morality.  With this morality system, there are a number of decisions the game presents which are truly a case of "pick your own poison."  There are very few completely good individuals and just as few completely evil characters in game.  Many of the decisions you make seem deceptively simple, yet hours down the road (long after you can load a past save) the decisions can come back to haunt you or help you as the case may be.  The Witcher's art design is phenomenal in a dark and gritty kind of way, and its soundtrack is out of this world.  It isn't bombastic in the manner of Bioware scores, even though I really love Bioware music, but it is instead subtle and a real joy to listen to.  I spent about 90 hours playing the game, but it's not possible to count the number of hours I have spent listening to the soundtrack by itself.

The Witcher's combat system (while initially frustrating) is actually quite intuitive and challenging with different fighting styles (strong, fast, and group) and two different types of swords (one for men and one for beasts.)  Situations often call for switches in both fighting styles and swords mid-combat.  When combined with various magical signs, powerful bombs, and a series of potions, combat requires a great deal of strategy and can be very rewarding when things go right.  Perhaps the most impressive portion of the game's mechanics is that of potion consumption.  There are no "instant heal" potions, and the rate with which consumption can take place is very limited.  Each potion has a certain toxicity (low to high) and the amount of toxicity affects the number of potions which can be consumed at once.  Generally I found that Geralt was limited to two or three at most, so you really have to decide which ones are most important to you.  This can be difficult when you feel as if Geralt needs four or five to give him the edge over his competition.  Five potions, however, will most certainly max out his toxicity meter, and four will likely strain his heart so much that his vision will become severely impaired.  Pick your poisons wisely.

If you have not guessed it, The Witcher is rated M for Mature and it certainly does everything it can to live up to this rating.  The storytelling is deep and completely worthwhile, but it does not skimp on the aspects which accompany all mature games.  One of the most common criticisms of the game is that of "sexism" and "objectification."  It is true that Geralt is an unabashed ladies man; but what critics don't tell you is that the extent to which he, uh, indulges his impulses is completely up to the player.  If you are understandably offended by very scantily clad women, foul language, and bloody violence then this is not the game for you.  If one can look past all that, however, they will be rewarded with a rich story which asks gamers to contemplate the human (elven/dwarven) condition.  The story also makes one consider what they, and in-game individuals, are truly willing to sacrifice in the name of (their definition of) love, freedom, and justice.

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Let's Talk About - Playing in the Sandbox

I've been thinking a lot lately about the artificial restrictions we place upon ourselves when playing sandbox games.  Some people heavily employ mods while others insist on vanilla.  Yet others use whatever the game offers while some insist on "realism".  Some people are stuck in their ways no matter what the situation, while other gamers change their personal rules over time or change from game to game. Below is a introduction of sorts to the origins of this post, and then at the bottom I have my own personal rules listed. 

By Way of Introduction  - While conversing with a friend's husband (we'll call him Steven) not too long ago, the subject of TES IV: Oblivion came up.  Most people are well aware of how frustrating I found Oblivion to be.  I don't exactly make a secret of it.  It goes too far to say that the game was “bad”, but it certainly wasn't the sequel I had been hoping for.  For every positive improvement the game had made upon Morrowind, namely the inclusion of horses and a vastly superior combat system, there were another five or six things about it that I couldn't stand.  Of all the flaws Oblivion had though, its auto-level feature was quite possibly the worst.  I had no problems in the normal world, but the moment I set foot inside the Oblivion Gates it seemed like the difficulty had been ramped up a good four or five times what it normally was.  My character was outclassed and unprepared.  Common sense tells you to reload and level-up before trying again, but because of the leveling feature the daedra gained levels with my character so no matter what I did, I felt out classed.  A lot of my problems were the result of what I felt to be unbalanced game mechanics, but admittedly a great deal of my issues probably resulted from the restrictions I place upon myself in the Elder Scrolls world.  Either way, my frustration eventually got the best of me.  I gave up the main quest, got bored with the normal world, and then permanently uninstalled it from my computer.  It was promptly replaced by its predecessor, and has since (except for about 15 hours around Christmas) remained in its uninstalled state.  

I didn't think a whole lot more about my Oblivion experience until Steven and I began to talk.  If I recall correctly, Steven had built his Oblivion character with power gaming in mind.  He completely outfitted his avatar in heavy armor while still at a very low level, used potions to augment other skills, and then plowed his way through the Oblivion Gates.  While in Oblivion he drank a potion to decrease the weight of his pack, and then hauled as much high level loot as possible out though the Gate before it closed so that he could sell it later for profit.  At the time I jokingly accused him of cheating.  That wasn't how he was supposed to play the game!  Sure he beat the main quest when I did not, but according to my own personal rules I felt that he had cheated.  He should have designed a more balanced character and then only hauled as much loot as he could physically carry without artificial aids.  Steven argued that he did nothing the game didn't allow him to do and I jokingly told him that just because the game allows you to do it doesn't mean you should do it.  Steven reminded me that I am a kleptomaniac in Morrowind.  He wondered how that made me honest while what he did was "cheating".  I responded that being a klepto was acceptable because I only took as much as I could carry without extra help and only used skills that I had acquired though normal leveling up.  As a result I came by my stolen goods honestly.  Yes I am well aware that my argument was both petty and paper thin.  Don't worry, Steven and his wife (well call her Karen) didn't hesitate to point that fact out. 

A few weeks later, this conversation still has me thinking.  The inherently wonderful thing about sandbox games is the freedom they offer.  If you can dream it, then you can do it … with some limitations of course.  Unlike games that spell everything out for you, true sandbox games grant the player much greater freedom in establishing their character's values, morality, motivations, and methodology.  Despite my amusingly petty "argument" with Steven, I honestly believe that there is no real “wrong” way to play sandbox games.  As long as the game grants your character the latitude to do it, it can be done.  With this in mind I have chosen to lay out the rules and guidelines which determine how I play.  First, however, I should probably clarify my definition of “sandbox.”

By Way of Definition – True sandbox games, as Zero Punctuation’s Yahtzee often mentions, are hard to find.  Marketing oneself as a “sandbox” game looks good on paper, but few products genuinely provide the freedom they promise their consumers.  Instead what developers should be marketing themselves as is “non-linear.”  I am well aware that in the grand scheme of things sandbox = open world = non-linear.  I however do not necessarily see them as being equal.  Among those who choose to differentiate between "sandbox" and "non-linear", I'm certain that the definition changes from person to person as to what they mean.  For me the difference between them is this:

Sandbox Games - These genuinely offer the good old TES model of go anywhere and do anything.  These games don't constrict your movements to a particular location on the map unless it has a very good reason.  They opt for and actual "great wide somewhere" instead of the appearance of said "somewhere" that you can't actually reach due to numerous invisible walls. Even more importantly you as the player choose where you will go, when you will go there, and what you will do when you arrive.  Restrictions of course apply, but that is the general gist.

Non-linear Games - These on the other hand often restrict you to a particular location until a specific level is passed, but within that area though you can still choose the order in which you do things.  The end result is that you are often given the appearance of freedom, but this "freedom" is tempered by story restrictions and game mechanics.

Examples - Off the top of my head I would classify TES series and the Fallout series as true sandbox games.  Given your ability to move in and out of situations and locations at will, I would also consider DA:O to be a sandbox game as well.  With some reservations I also throw Fable: The Lost Chapters into this category.  Fable has a number of restrictions, but you still have free movement throughout the world, options to purchase property, the possibility of (a meaningless) marriage, etc.  I hesitate to throw Fable into the sandbox category because the game is great at giving the appearance of freedom while simultaneously restricting what you can do.  That said, the first game at least probably still belongs here.  

A perfect example of non-linear play is CDProjeckt RED’s The Witcher.  The Witcher restricts Geralt’s movements to particular locations.  You cannot backtrack once the story progresses, but Geralt can go most anywhere within the area you are playing .  Within each area Geralt has a main quest and a number of side quests to complete.  He gets to choose which side quests (if any) he accepts, which order these side quests are finished in, and the time in which he completes the main story line.  He isn't afforded total freedom like characters in TES are given, but Geralt certainly has much more freedom then characters from traditional point-n-click adventure games possess. 

Here is where I start to get myself in trouble because there are a number of games I do not know how to classify.  For example, KOTOR I&II are more non-linear in my eyes but have sandbox elements.  The KOTOR series grants you freedom of movement, and you can travel in between worlds as you see fit.  This hints at "sandbox."  Once on those worlds, however, there is really only one main story with a few paltry side quests.  Almost all your actions are tied to a very specific central tale and some worlds trap you (unable to leave until that leg of the story is complete) once you land.  This screams "non-linear" to me.  I'm inclined to classify it as a non-linear game, but you make the call on that. 

By Means of Explanation – Rules within a sandbox world, as in RL, are important to have.  the presence of rules does two things for.  Firstly, they provide a sense of familiarity to any game I play.  The setting and characters may be different, but similar guidelines across game titles makes it easier to immerse myself and connect with a new character.  Secondly, it is easy to get lost in all the possibilities that sandbox worlds offer.  This is even more true if the game developers released a tool set and encourage an active modding community.  A set of personal guidelines keeps me from trying to do too much.  Attempting to do too much can make it very easy to lose focus.  Since much of the storytelling in some of these games is up to the player, losing focus can very quickly equal loss of interest.  The rules I personally abide by fall into the three categories below.

Mod Usage – Some people insist that vanilla game play is the only way to go.  I do not fall into this category, but I don't necessarily agree with modding a game beyond recognition either.  Therefore mods installed must fit one of three questions.

1) Does this mod fix a problem in the vanilla game? In Dragon Age: Origins it really bugged me that characters unable to pick a lock simply gave up.  They could be outfitted with the heaviest 2H Axe in the land, yet if they ran across a lock they couldn't pick (and thus a chest they couldn't loot) they simply threw up their hands and moved on.  This is counter intuitive to me.  If I were carrying a 2H Axe, I'd break the lock open.  Thankfully xatmos from Dragon Age Nexus also found this to be a problem and created the mod "Lock Bash" to fix it.  With that problem solved I could continue on with my game.  Another example of this is the famous Morrowind Comes Alive mod which adds much needed ambiance to Vvardenfell.  With 1000+ new NPCs, random encounters, new faces, etc this mod is pretty much essential.  Half the time I expect that Bethesda made their Vvardenfell towns so sparse because they expected someone to come along and make a mod like MCA.

2) Is this mod a home/residence ?  I like to have a home base with all of my characters that they can come back to and call their own amidst all the wandering the do.  The kind of home installed depends on the character's back story, but this is almost always one of the first things I install when available.

3) Is this mod a texture pack/hair pack? I rarely like the default faces, colors, or hair styles that games come with.  If the house mod is the first thing I do, then installing hair and face packs are the next thing I do.

4) Does this mod enhance the RP experience? I am speaking particularly of crafting, cooking, and hunger mods, but anything else that makes the experience more life like goes here.  If it facilitates my ability to enter the avatar's head space then it is generally acceptable.

Character Actions - All characters are created to fit their personalities and back story.  This can result in both balanced or unbalanced characters, but no matter what they are not designed to power game.  Unless it is necessary for the role-play experience I do not use unnecessary potions.  (Health and mana potions are practically de rigueur by this point and do not count.)  If something is too heavy to carry then my character does not carry it. They do not drink a potion or cast a spell to make their pack lighter or artificially make a task easier.  The openly real exception is if I'm playing a mystical character or an alchemist.  It would be silly to not let an alchemist use the potions he created or let a mystic cast spells he earns his living off of.  In addition, if my character needs a skill then he/she will level-up naturally and not pay instructors for the skill.  My characters will live in a house suitable to their social level and not simply stay somewhere huge because it's nifty.  If they are very rich or are a high ranking official then they can own a larger house.  Otherwise, they have a home suitable to their status.  Given their traveling ways it is acceptable for them to own a couple of smaller cottages in various parts of the world for them to stay at.  The only real exception to this rule is the Morrowind mod for the ginormous home Ravenloft.  My last character justified living there since she was a mage and the home existed in an alternate dimension ... accessible only via a teleportation ring.  Also, she *found* the ring laying about so technically she came by it honestly.

Short Cuts - Teleportation.  *sigh* This is a tricky one.  I try to use conventional transportation means (i.e. Oblivion = horse [stolen, borrowed, or purchased] and Morrowind = running ... very, very slow running).  I do not use the built in teleportation system in games (i.e. Oblivion) unless there is a need for great haste or the character is a mage/magical being.  In Morrowind I will also only download a teleportation crystal mod for mage characters and other magical beings.  Everyone else uses public transport or foot travel.  The only exception here is swimming.  I loathe swimming in TES games and will allow teleportation to islands that cannot be accessed via boats.  Levitation potions are also an option here.  Teleportation from custom homes is condoned since it is a feature of the house that my character (hypothetically) bought.  This is not usually a major issue since homes with teleportation chanbers generally only connect to the major cities.  The only home I've ever had with a truly detailed transport map was Ravenloft, and since it exists on an alternate plane a detailed transport map is to be expected.

Well, I think that pretty much wraps things up for tonight.  This ended up far longer then I had expected, but it was interesting to put down.  I'll see you all late Sunday night/early Monday morning with the next to last entry of Perra's story.

Image: Elder Scrolls Official Site