My quick thoughts on E3 Day 1

Another summer is upon us and in Los Angeles another Electronic Entertainment Expo is in progress, highlighting many of the industry giants and their products.

We certainly have a lot of sequels and clones that look to have cost millions upon millions of dollars. The sad fact is that most of these games will lose money, people will subsequently lose their jobs, and publishers will be more risk adverse than they already are. The mainstream of our industry continue to overlook what makes our medium special, and thus are doomed to keep trying to ape WoW or continue to churn out brown shooters.

I am always a little disappointed while watching the coverage every year because it proves to me that the American video game industry of today is a lot like the American car industry of the 70's and early 80's...

Our industry seems to think it can tell us what we want while studios fold, profits plummet, and there are record layoff's everywhere.

Of course I don't really worry because most of my favorite studios make plenty of money, have solid economic models, and make games that real people will continue to pay for because they have earned our money, but lets take a quick look at some of what day 1 has brought to us.

Microsoft seems to be convinced that the Kinect is the way of the future and why not? They seem to have hit their American and European sales goals, and hardware has done reasonably well. The biggest problem is, however, is the sustainability of the Kinect market. The reason the Wii has done so well is not the motion control gimick, it's the strong 1st party support. I am certainly not a fan of pretty much anything Nintendo has done in the last 12 or so years, but they give the masses the sequels, mini-game collections, and rehashes that the drooling masses seem to want. Microsoft does not have that acumen (read Mario, Zelda, etc) to fall back on. They are putting a lot of egg's in one basket and when the snakes are no longer charmed by the motion controller tune (and people get sick of Dance Central like they've gotten sick of Guitar Hero) we will see the ugly bite of market drop-off.

Sony has done nothing but apologize, but words mean very little. What are you going to do Sony? Give people Infamous when most people who want to play it A: already have it and B: there is a sequel due to release soon? Super lame. Give people some of their money back and hope they will give you the opportunity to earn more of it. Show us what you got. So far, despite being a "hardcore" gamer and having plenty of disposable income for such devices, I do not own a Playstation because you haven't given me a reason to own it along side my PC and Xbox. Here's your chance.

BioWare proves again that they have the best cinematics department in all the world with another trailer for their upcoming MMO The Old Republic. Seriously take the next 6ish minutes of your life to watch this. If you already did watch it again:



Seriously, how amazing does that look? If there was 2 hours of that I would see it over and over in the theater. That, as a movie, looks amazing. My fear is the same as that for Dead Island; will the gameplay live up to the cinematic? Only time will tell but BioWare has recently left a bad taste in my mouth.

The Skyrim gameplay trailer looks amazing as well, but for a different reason. This is the actual game. The graphics, the mechanics, and the world all look amazing. Bethesda may not release the most polished games, but they are big, beautiful, and just damn fun. Lets watch!



300 hours? Really? I believe it as I believe that they will be 300 quality hours that are all lots of fun. Bethesda has a habit of making more game then they need to; they always not only meet the minimum requirements for demanding $60 of our money but continue to always provide new experiences, rich lore, new worlds, and spend the time and money to create a product that is truly special. Something that isn't rushed, mimiced, or reactionary to trends pencil pushers think are profitable. They don't see whats popular, they decide it through hard work and artisan like craft.

Bethesda always strive to make the biggest, most amazing RPG's they possibly can and that's why they sell millions of copies.

Side note, have you ever noticed how all great western RPG's have flower picking mechanics? Think about it...... =D

There is a lot more complaining to do, but I have will have plenty of time and plenty of fodder as the expo progresses. More will come in the following days! Certainly a lot to talk about!!

The Witcher 2 and Dragon Age 2 Lessons Learned Part 2

As I mentioned in a post last week-ish I didn't like the first entry in The Witcher series much at all. Despite being a premier member of the PC Master Race, the controls were a little too unintuitive for me (pains me to say that). The writing was also unbearably awful. The game felt like a parody of itself except it wasn't funny. The entire 5 hours I played of it all I could think of was the All My Circuits Futurama where they kept saying "I have...... AMNESIA!"

So the Witcher 2 hit me totally out of left field. So far I am absolutely blown away, and it's awesomeness really makes me sad about how terrible Dragon Age 2 is in comparison. Not to say that w2 is perfect (far from it), but it is pretty damn amazing.

First off the graphics are unbelievably amazing; probably the best this console generation. The bloom effects, the textures, and even on low graphics settings the game looks fantastic. I have the game running on high settings on my mid-range desktop as ultra makes my GPU cry for mercy. Seriously though, how does a barely not indie developer like CD Projekt with much more limited resources then BioWare put out a game that looks THIS much better then Dragon Age 2? Lets take a look at some screenshots I took side by side.


It really is night and day.

Honestly what is BioWare's excuse? One can assume it's development costs i.e. money. Okay, enough BioWare and Da2 bashing, I did that enough last time!

Anyways like Da2 the writing is also very good. Of course the less experienced, Polish developer has a much different style than the very experienced Canadian developer, but The Witcher 2's writing sucked me right in to it's fantasy world. Despite thinking that the first Witcher was written terribly they clearly, in my pretentious opinion, have really honed in on their plot arcs, dialogue, and character development.

The attention to detail in the Witcher 2 really helps the world come alive. Whether it's the background chatter in the local village, the beautiful bloom effects of the sunlight coming through the trees that are gently billowing in the breeze, the amazingly detailed monsters, or just that one cool, weird carved face you see once of the beaten track in the forest, the game world really feels alive.

So far the Witcher 2 has been showing me what it's like to be in it's universe, it hasn't been telling me.

Although flawed, I am really enjoying the action and combat elements of The Witcher 2. One of the biggest complaints I've found is the inability to drink potions during combat. While I would probably prefer the ability to do so, it really makes sense in the game world and for the character to drink potions while meditating. Alchemy is a huge part of the Witcher, as is preparation and diligence. W2 shows us very early on that it is not interested in holding our hand and expects a level of understanding and preparation to get through even the most menial combat. Of course this will, and has turned a lot of people off but are we so afraid of having a game that has a steep difficulty curve? Granted I wouldn't call the first missions a tutorial because they teach you nothing, and they definitely should introduce the mechanics one at a time and make sure the player understands them. There is a LOT to know about surviving even the first battles of the game, but once you do figure out the mechanics there is a certain zen like bliss to picking out potions, managing buffs, and weaving signs, bombs, daggers, and traps into just roflstomping even the scariest of boss's.

The side quests in The Witcher 2 are also much better prepared. Maybe it's that the game has more than 3 dungeons, but I really felt like each task was relevant or important; that each one had a purpose. Even the "kill a bunch of spider-ey things" was more in depth than that.

The inventory and crafting systems in W2 are very old school. The crafting is based around collecting recepies and diagrams and carrying around lots of components. Nothing feels superfluous though. The one area where I prefer the inventory system in Da2 over W2 though is the junk option. It would be nice to go to a vendor and just hit the sell all the crap you don't want button. Aside from that I absolutely love the crafting and inventory systems and they are a shining example of how to adapt old school concepts into a new school game.

Regardless I think the Witcher 2, despite it's shortcomings, is a shining example of what should occur during a development cycle, how to properly "streamline" game mechanics, and how to really tell a story and describe a world that works best in an interactive medium.

I am psyched to pour of my precious leisure time in to this game and once again bravo CD Projekt.

The Witcher 2 vs. Dragon Age 2 and lessons learned

I have purchased exactly 2 action RPG sequels this year. Can you guess which ones? After spending several hours with each title it has really brought me to a few stunning conclusions. Today I will focus on the first conclusion and also why Dragon Age 2 ultimately failed.

FACT! Good writing does not translate into a good game.

There is no game out there that had terrible gameplay mechanics, but the writing was so awesome it made it a positive experience and Dragon Age 2 is the epitome of this concept. Please allow me to ellaborate!

As per the usual, I know I am sounding like a broken record but video games do not share the "luxury" that books do as an artistic medium. It takes more than one skill mastery to create an effective work of art. What makes and effective video game? Of course a game that is very fun is a game that works but a great video game can be so much more than that and it takes more than above average writing. The mechanics need to work together to create an experience that works better as an interactive medium then any other.

I still haven't finished Dragon Age 2. I got to about midway through the second act and, despite loving the characters, the politics, and the idea behind setting the game in one location and not making it the end all be all epic quest to save the world, the game got eaten, nay devoured by it's massive shortcomings.

In my opinion Dragon Age 2 would have worked better as a book because it is only the superior writing that really brought me in to the world of Kirkwall and kept me engaged. The sub par graphics, reused environments, generic power-ranger enemies, and overall lack of polish and progression of the environment really prevented me from becoming obsessed like I did with Dragon Age Origins.

The sad truth is it really seems that BioWare put out DA2 to help pay for The Old Republic.

It is an unfortunate fact of life and of our industry (or any inustry). It is just such a shame when what should be a brilliant artistic statement gets rushed out the door when it clearly needed minimum another year. Just imagine if DA2 had the same 4 year development cycle that The Witcher 2 enjoyed. Continue to imagine the game if we had more than three dungeons to explore for all the quests. If we had more enemy variety and battles that ever played out differently then Dyansty Warriors. If the city actually grew and changed along with the characters. It is incredibly un-immersive when the game just tells you 2 years pass, but everyone is wearing the same outfits and armor, the city looks the exact same as it did, and the only way we can tell that any amount of time passed is the text on the screen. It is always bad game design when the game tells us and doesn't show us. May as well be a novel.

The only real success of Dragon Age 2 is the strong characters who are incredibly well written. When writing is your strongest aspect that should be your focus; ie an amazing book. If I read the dialogue and the plot my mind would be free to imagine the city of Kirkwall, Hawkes epic beard (default male look FTW), dew glistening off a templar's armor in the hot, Freemarches sun, the pointed and misshappen horns on a Quanari, etc. You wouldn't have to worry about good level design or using a somewhat updated graphics engine. Hell the game doesn't look as good as Half Life 2 that came out the better part of 7 years ago!

Quick side note.... there is no excuse for DA2 looking as terrible as it does when Mass Effect 2 looks as amazing as it does. WTF guys?!

Let's be clear; I am (or certainly should be) BioWare's target adience with DA2. I played through Origins 3 times soup to nuts. I have been playing both console and PC RPG's for 20 years (yikes). If they aren't making that game for me then I have no idea who they are making it for. I came in to Dragon Age 2 as excited as could be! I mean hell, it was BioWare's follow up to one of my favorite games of all time! How could they miss (see above)?!

Bottom line is everything but the story and characters reeks of laziness, forced time tables, and rushed deadlines. It is cursed with the stench of what could have been. It ultimately proves to me that good writing doesn't make a good game. It also, unfortunately, demotes BioWare games from day one purchases to wait and see if we can snag a Steam or Amazon deal.

BioWare, we will always have Origins, KOTOR, and Baldur's Gate (which I bought again on GOG.com ironically).

Tomorrow the opposite with The Witcher 2!

Portal 2 is Coming in 2 weeks!

In 2 weeks we will finally receive the highly anticipated sequel to the most important game to come out in the last 4 years. That game of course is Portal 2. I don't think a single, rational person had a bad thing to say about Portal. It was to the point, it was brilliantly written, and, in my opinion, is the first video game in history to reach that artistic emotional impact where I didn't know whether to laugh or cry at the end. Any video game (or any artistic meidum) that can be that emotionally confusing and impactful is absolutely brilliant. Portal is the shinning epitome of how to take a cool, unique concept and make it so god damned effective that years later we are all still running around proclaiming that the cake is a lie and humming still alive.

Being the internet troll that I am I feel obligated to mention that there is certainly a lot that could go wrong with Portal 2. One of the most important elements of the first was its brevity; the game never felt padded or wore out it's welcome. Because of it's short length every single inch of every level was perfect, every line of, well, monologue was so meticulously well written, and the ebb and flow of the game was so well paced and thought out that there was never a single point that felt like filler (for instance Highway 17). With Portal 2 there is now 2 full length campains (8 hours each) and the biggest question I have is can they fill 16 hours with as much brilliant writing, pacing, and mechanics as they could just 3?

There have been a lot of game play demo videos, ads, and other media released for Portal 2 and from it all the game looks absolutely spectacular. It really goes to show what Valve does better than anyone; use the meidum of video games to tell stories that would not work as movies, books, musical theater, etc.

I love BioWare, and as I have ranted about frequently in this blog, I am even loving the clearly rushed and half-assed Dragon Age 2. They are a great developer, but they are not the best because their games would work almost as well as movies. Dialogue is a big mechanic and common theme throughout BioWare games and, while immensly fun to watch and navigate the conversation pie, we are not as immersed as we are in, say, Left 4 Dead. In Left 4 Dead there is very little "dialogue" and the story is told soley through brilliant level design. It is why Left 4 Dead would be a lousy movie, but works VERY well as a video game.

I'm getting a little rambly here, but bottom line is Valve is really the only AAA company that is really pushing the boundaries of the FPS. Crysis 2 may look brilliant, but it is still soldiers running around shooting soldiers. Homefront may have sold very well, but it is still soldiers running around shooting soldiers. Halo, CODBLOPS, etc.... Soldiers running around shooting other soldiers. Same base mechanics. Only Valve really shows that fantastic (and profitable) AAA games can be made if you take risks and push the boundries of the genre.

/Rant

MMO Rage and why Rift is ruining the world

I am getting really fed up with seeing Steam friends and ads for the MMO Rift. I am also sick of seeing rave reviews because this game's success holds back the MMO genre and here is why; it is more of the same. It plays like WoW, it's quest system is like WoW, and as long as we are happy with the same old "kill 10 wolves to save the world" quests the genre will never grow and reach any sort of other potential.

The big budget AAA MMO that is coming along to be a WoW killer is The Old Republic which is due out sometime this year. Being a huge fan of BioWare and even enjoying their rushed out, crappy cash-in sequels I will of course have to play the game. BioWare seems convinced that a personal, emotional story is what is needed to advance the genre but I am more skeptical of story improving MMO's than I am of birdseed being a good medium for statues.

In my not so humble opinion I think there are two area's that make a MMO fantastic; Mythology and Mechanics. We need a great world to explore and a great way to explore it.

What we need is innovation. We desperately need to step away from the WoW/Everquest model. We need fresh ideas that are well funded and well implemented. Here are two amazing idea's of MMO's I would like to see that would be easy to develop and have instant appeal and brand recognition.

First and foremost a Pokemon MMO would be easily like the best game ever. If you could roam around a huge, open world searching for wild Pokemon and leveling, challenging other trainers to Pokemon battles, having hourly tournaments in cities, rare Pokemon, trad-able Pokemon, a robust crafting system for Pokeballs, buffs, potions, training implements, boosters, etc it would be really amazing and have a mass appeal. You already have close to 1,000 Pokemon designs from the last 15 years so GameFreak could probably even get away with no new Pokemon designs. It would still be a hardcore grind it out RPG, but have such a new twist, great PVP and PVE elements, and such an installed base that the game would be a license to build a money vault.

Second I want to see a Mechwarrior MMO. The last we heard from the unecessarily long dormant Mechwarrior franchise was that new developer Smith and Tinker was working on a reboot of the series. They released an amazing looking video a couple years ago and that has been the last we've heard of that. Mechwarrior and the Battletech franchises not only have a strong, core following, but there is so much mythology and fantastic mechanics to build an MMO around. Imagine if you were either house Davion, House Steiner, or one of the clans. Each faction has their own technology, own mechs, and own core worlds. You would have an amazing flow of the game going from world to world, crafting cool weapons and mechs, trading resources and blueprints, going on missions for NPC's and conquering worlds for your faction. Add in great clan support and you will generate all of the paying user-base you need.



Both games would easily get an instant 500,000 plus day 1 subscribers and would have plenty of room to grow and expand the core mechanics and worlds. Hell a Pokemon game is the only franchise I think could realistically topple WoW. Bottom line though is that as long as we are gobbling up games like Rift like they are gold we will never see anything except "Kill 10 Sith troppers to save the galaxy."

BioWare vs. Bethesda

I love March because it means it's time for not only PAX East, but also March Mayhem on the Escapist. We are getting to the final rounds of voting for our favorite developers and there are some really interesting matchups, the most interesting right now being BioWare vs. Bethesda (hence the name of this post). By the way you have been warned; BEWARE OF SPOILERS!!

Despite being a huge fan of both developers, I opted to vote for BioWare mostly because Dragon Age 2 is out right now this very moment and I have been having a blast with it. A very good friend of mine decided to troll me for my public display of favoritism which really got me thinking about both developers. In my opinion Bethesda and BioWare are the two best Western RPG houses the world has ever seen and for two very different reasons.

Bethesda creates the best worlds, period. Despite spending easily 200+ hours with Morrowind I never actually finished the game because I didn't need to. I had more fun exploring Vvarfendel, reading all the amazing books, drinking in the different architecture of Vivec, the Telvani towns, the ashlands, etc. Granted the magic system was pretty useless endgame, the alchemy system was broken, and the hit detection was incredibly questionable; didn't matter. The game was magic with a V8 engine, 12 gig of ram, wrapped in bacon, and pure awesome sauce spread all over. I spent easily as much time with Oblivion and the continent of Cyrodil. The cool, weird architecture was replaced with more familiar high fantasy archetypes, but the game world was so meticulously well crafted that I had an amazing time closing gates, exploring towns, and (like any great open world game) picking flowers. The gameplay trailer for Skyriim looks nergasmically fantastic!!



BioWare games are really fantastic because no one tells a story quite as well as BioWare. From KOTOR to Mass Effect to Dragon Age, no developer has ever written characters that are as vivid and that suck you in. The quests and decisions in BioWare games are also so incredibly well thought out it actually gives one time to pause and really take into account the weight of one's decision and how it will affect the story and the world. When we had to decide between Kaiden and Ashley staying to set off the bomb in Mass Effect, or whether to spare, kill, or enslave Loghain, I never really cared about the characters in any other game like I do in BioWare games.

BioWare have made it pretty difficult to really support their studio as a fan lately. Despite having an amazing time with Dragon Age 2 right now, I am certainly not the first to report the game was obviously rushed. From the same subpar graphics to the environments that are used over and over again, the game certainly would have benefited from another 6 months to a year of development time. The flood of premium DLC as well has been down right disrepctful to fans and consumers willing to spend $60 hard earned USD's (or the local equivilent if you live elsewhere) to play a complete release. Dragon Age Legends on Facebook can cost up to $99.99 (as much as both Dragon Age's 1 and 2 combined on Steam right now) to play consistantly without waiting for energy to refil. Hell, Dragon Age 2's presence in the marketplace this soon really only leads me to think that the game exists soley to fund the upcomming MMO "The Old Republic" (which does have one of my favorite game trailers ever).



One advantage for Bethesda is that they certainly do not have the aggressive release schedule BioWare does. The last full priced entry in their catalogue was Fallout 3, which came out in 2008. Their next release will be Skyriim, which is due to release November 11th this year, approximately 3 years later. Figure the game began development in 2007 I would estimate.
I absolutely love this philosophy. Every game Bethesda releases is always of such high caliber and concept, and despite being hardcore action RPG's always are a commercial success. I would rather wait 5 years for an amazing game then 3 for good enough.

Despite the clear lack of development time for DA2, BioWare still has a huge hit and an amazingly fun, tactical, and deep RPG that has characters that are written incredibly well. The game is certainly compelling despite itself. If both studios ever could join hands and come together to create a game, it would absolutely epic.

Bottom line is there is certainly room in my heart for both. Only thing is Hawke is here now FTW! I mean, that is certainly points for BioWare; their lead character's name is Hawke.

Why the Dragon Rage???

Dragon Age 2, the anticipated sequel to BioWare's 2009 surprise hit Dragon Age Origins, released a couple weeks ago to a firestorm of mixed reviews and fan rage. The major complaints seem kind of silly to me because they all boil down to one real complaint:

It's different.

I love(ed) DA:O. I played it through soup to nuts 3 times. I am 100+ hours in to the game through all my experiences with the game. I am certainly an old school RPG guy, hence my nerd-affair with a high quality AAA western RPG that is difficult, unforgiving, and decidedly unwelcoming to newbs. I liked the fact that the world, although kind of generic high fantasy, still had more than enough personality to keep me engaged and interested and that the voice acting was above average (not that it is difficult). The writing of course was top notch cause' it's BioWare. That's what they do. Of course the game had a lot of shortcomings, but us hardcore RPG nerds tend to see those as necessary as we are crumudeonly stuck in our hater-like ways.

Dragon Age 2 is a very different game from Dragon Age Origins. The combat is much faster paced, the interface looks a lot more minimalist, the art styhas chaged (although both games look like ass), and the story structure is a lot less "epic hero makes epic, heroic journey with his friends to save the world from an ancient evil because he is the one and ONLY one who can" and more struggle to survive. The game breaks a lot more old school tropes in favor of a more Grand Theft Fereldan (or Kirkwall) type feel which I for one also really like. There is still a lot of depth, resource management, tactical options, and fantastic writing, but is very decidedly different. On normal dificulty it also is not so punishingly arduous a task to get through basic encounters.

I really like that BioWare didn't push out another overpriced expansion pack. I like the differences in gameplay, the new art style, the minimal interface, and the REALLY intesne and fast-paced combat. It's a welcome change for the IP. If I wanted to play more DA:O I would play through it again. Now for full disclosure I haven't finished DA2 yet, but I am over 10 hours in, playing through my first playthrough on hard, and am having a lot of fun with the game.

We live in an industry now where the status quo is beaten in to us. People pay $60 like clockwork every year for a roster update in Madden, or a couple new maps in Call of Duty. Rift, despite being EXACTLY like WoW but not as good, is off to a strong start. Homefront sold incredibly well despite mediocre reviews and cloned game play. Hell, even my darling Starcraft 2 is very identical to it's 11 year old predecessor. It's not just that publishers and developers fear risk and change, but us as consumers are starting to fear it as well. The only place we are really seeing any innovation is in the indie and mobile gaming scenes and even there I feel like we are drowning in cartooney 2D platformers.

Fact is BioWare has done a lot to draw nerd-ire and flame recently, but releasing a poor followup to Dragon Age Origins is not one of them.


Fact: 4 out of 5 people get crushed by giant diamonds every day.

Facebook Games: Bright new Direction or Evil Abyss?

There has been a lot of talk recently by both developers and consumers about Facebook games an their viability as a new direction for legitimate PC gaming. Many long time developers have been gravitating towards Facebook games in order to expand revenue and their audience. We all know about the millions of players and dollars Zygna has with their "ville" games, and all of the moms who are now being called the new "hardcore" gamers.

The question I have been struggling with is "Is this really a bad thing?" My jury is still out on that because I really don't think anyone has really tapped in on what would make a good Facebook game.

I recently started playing 5 Facebook games to really give them a shot; Oregon Trail, Cityville, Evil Genius, Pawn Stars, and Dragon Age Legends. I have, in the past, also played Mafia Wars (like many, many people). Mafia Wars I really grew to loathe because every single game play mechanic was designed with a skinner box mentality even more than say World of Warcraft, but I really wanted to see inventiveness, creativity, and really the extents developers could really push the freemium model (also they are mostly free).

The real common theme in every single game is waiting. You need to wait for energy to recharge, or crops to grow, or stamina to refill before you can continue. This can take hours through days. Want to skip it? Spend some in game currency that costs real life cash. You can spend as much as $99.99 in most of these games simply for the ability to play them unhampered for a little while (GASP! That would buy you both Fallout 3 and New Vegas on Steam and a heck of a lot more quality game play hours)!

We all (well most of us) knew that though. I think my biggest beef with Facebook games in general is the same beef I have with MMO's; everyone is trying to out Zygna Zygna the same way everyone is trying to out WoW Wow and you can't do it. Zygna started with Mafia Wars and since has just dominated to casual social scene with no one ever really able to do anything but copy their models. Every single game on Facebook has copied their payment and microtransaction model. There is no single Facebook game you can really get lost in without forking over $99.99.

What would really bring this genre forward is a standard profitability model that aped what most developers do for iOs and Android games. Release a "light" version that has tons of adds and a few missing features and also have a premium version for $5. Let gamers, be them house wives or "core" gamers like me have the opportunity to really get lost in a vision, not jump through hoops and pay $99 for the privilege of mechanics that, in my opinion just don't have the value.

Long story short I like the idea of Facebook games. Facebook has allowed millions upon millions of people to introduce themselves to the idea of gaming as part of your lifestyle in a safe and fun atmosphere. You can't take someone who has never really played games and let them play Portal, but they can figure out Farmville. That is really great, but many of them aren't really figuring out what true immersion is in a game, and that is really what we are missing.

The last thing I want to touch on is this rant posted from GDC this year. All I can say to the ranters is prove it. So far Facebook gaming is devoid of any real innovation outside of profitability models (well the one evil one). There is no one trying to earn our money, but rather trying to enslave us and our friends. Show us how it can be done, or become another Zygna wannabe.

The Dragon Age 2 Grift and Demo

I played the Dragon Age 2 demo on Steam last night (no XBLA gold anymore so they shut me right down) and I have to say I was relieved. Not only did the combat flow a bit better, but it definitely felt more natural and faster paced. I don't think I really had enough time to say for certain, but it didn't seem streamlined like ME2.

My biggest beef so far is the graphics. Seriously! How can you give us this and then not even give us jiggle physics? The graphics aren't quite as bad as the first, but they still look like complete ass compared to other AAA titles; hell compared to BioWare's other AAA title. If I am paying $59.99 for a game, I want it to at least look better than a game that came out almost 7 years ago!

That brings me to the next major issue that is really facing the industry right now. There was a post from BioWare on Facebook last night that really sums it up. Between the pre-order bonus's, day 1 DLC, and everything else it really feels like we can't get a full game for our sixty bucks anymore. I know games are expensive to make, but seriously?! I understand giving codes out for day 1 DLC with new purchases to give incentive to people not to buy your game used, but I just want all the necessary, balanced tools to play the game when I buy it.

I Love Felicia Day BUT......

The nerd net is abuzz this morning that geek heroine Felicia Day’s mystery project will be a 6 part live action webisode based on BioWare’s fantasy universe Dragon Age. I feel so alone as I seem to be the only one who is a little bit wary of this decision and her ability to produce a quality product here. Before you label me as a troll or set my house on fire let me elaborate.

I love The Guild. I have seen every episode multiple times and new seasons are always very exciting. The last episode of season 3 was definitely the highlight for me. I think Felicia day is a very talented comedy writer and also very good at playing her role. She did such a fantastic job with The Guild that even my wife, who’s gaming taste doesn’t go beyond You Don’t Know Jack, Worms, and Rock Band, absolutely loves the show as well. To sum it up; I am a huge fan.

With that said I wouldn’t hire Jerry Seinfeld to write for Dexter, I wouldn’t hire Notch to write the story for Mass Effect 3, and I wouldn’t hire Felicia day to write a “dark fantasy narrative” because it is not in her resume or demonstrated skill set.

To quote Felicia herself, “I wanted to bring a modern sensibility to a fantasy character in a fantasy world.” This is what really makes me nervous. An aspect I really enjoyed about DA:O is that Ferelden felt very authentic. There weren’t any elves saying “that’s wack” or any hip hop dwarves. There was no lute hero. All there was just a different (sorta but that’s another post) twist on fantasy fare that had a unique and immersive feel. Dragon Age isn’t really about humor. That’s not to say there isn’t any room for it, but I don’t think it should ever be shoehorned in for its own sake. I love humor like I love violence like I enjoy anything; when it’s appropriate.

Felicia is also quoted as saying “I put every bit of effort into making this something that gamers should be proud of.” This also rubs me the wrong way for a few reasons. Why not make this something everything can be proud of? We gamers are often a fickle bunch who have been trained and conditioned for years to accept subpar writing, acting, and plot development as gold. I would like to see the team produce something that anyone who isn’t a gamer can appreciate. I have a lot of friends who love fantasy writing but can’t stand video games, or don’t have the patience to put in the requisite 30+ hours to play through DAO plus another 25 for the DLC.

Now I hope to be proven wrong. I hope this series is amazing and I am reduced to just a pessimist who doubts everything that is right in this world. I love Felicia Day and think it’s amazing that she exists as a celebrity (famous for being a home grown nerd). I will just wait to get excited about this one. Now if they hired this guy we would be cooking with gas!