Friday, January 11, 2013

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.

Friday, November 2, 2012

Hello, New Year

Posting will resume come the beginning of 2013, due to a number of unforeseen events and activities (most of them good!) that have cropped up in the past month or so and that will continue through the end of this year.  I look forward to seeing you then.

Sunday, September 23, 2012

Posting update

I realize that things have been pretty quiet lately.  Things have been really busy on my end and I haven't had much of a chance to write updates.  The newest entry will be posted late next week.

In case you were wondering, my play through of ME2 is honestly taking so very very very long because of one thing.  As much as I like Meriel, the writing part of my brain has not recovered from the "burned out" phase it entered when graduate work came to a close.  It is on the mend though, and trust me when I say that it is well time this game was over. 

ME2, however, is not the only thing I've been playing (or not playing ... since ME2 progresses as Meriel's journal does).  The first part of this year GOG had a number of very good sales on adventure titles, and I have been messing with a number of those.  I also fooled around with Fallout 3 and a number of PS2 titles (it is rather embarrassing to admit that Trivial Pursuit was a major time sink a few weeks back).  I am rather eager to finally install Jade Empire, and to begin making a major dent in that GOG shelf of mine.  With Two Worlds, Arx Fatalis, Nox, and a number of other titles calling my name I'm ready to put this chapter behind me.  Odds are that the division of Meriel's journal entries in the next months will reflect this.

See you then!

Monday, July 23, 2012

ME2 - Zaeed



Vengeance and anger.


There are spoilers after the break.  Continue reading at your own risk.

Monday, July 16, 2012

ME2 - Miranda



Changes in perception.

There are spoilers after the break.  Continue reading at your own risk.

Monday, June 11, 2012

ME2 - The Recruits


The motley crew.


There are spoilers after the break.  Continue reading at your own risk.

Saturday, June 9, 2012

ME2 - Rejection


A failed reunion.

There are spoilers after the break.  Continue reading at your own risk.