So, October, with the Puerto Rico fundraiser, wiped my ass out, but it was a great success.
I took most of November to rest, as I went from summer code crunch time to neck surgery to recovery to a month-long intense fundraiser, and I needed to breathe.
So, here's some random shit for you.
The 1UP Rejects
First, some of my fellow 1UP.com community alumni and I have got this thing going called The 1UP Rejects. It's a ... thing. Videos and writing and streaming and shit. Check it out. It's actually very, very early, and doesn't really launch until next year, but take a gander and feel free to go ahead and start enjoying it.
I'm streaming there every Tuesday evening, at 8PM central. Last night was the first stream from the new channel, and it was ... an adventure, but ended up being very successful.
So watch me there, and/or follow this playlist (warning: some NSFW mods in there):
We have a show we're doing every Thursday on the channel, too. 8PM central, also.
Really, there should be stuff going most evenings over there, with a great variety of streamers, and we're starting to get some lunch slots filled, too.
Check us out:
Blog
Twitch
Twitter
YouTube
Facebook
Moving on ...
2017 Games
I've played a few games this year, and the two that left the biggest impact were Divinity: Original Sin 2 and Horizon Zero Dawn. Each of them are easily my favorite games of the year. They are wildly different games, and fed different parts of my soul, but I loved them both. DOS2 tickled my intellect deeply and let me stop and think. HZD was a really cool world and equally cool story with very rewarding combat and exploration.
Go play them both.
Also, any 'best game of 2017' nominee list that doesn't include them both is wrong and should be ignored.
This year, I've also enjoyed Torment: Tides of Numenera, Elex, Mass Effect Andromeda, Dishonored: Death of the Outsider, Uncharted: Lost Legacy, ESO: Morrowind, and Guild Wars 2: Path of Fire. Go play all of those, too. Especially Torment.
What did I miss? What are your favorites from this year? Have you played HZD and DOS2? What'd you think?
I'm still playing through Elex, and I'm really looking forward to Seven: The Days Long Gone, which releases Friday. It's coming from some ex-CDPR devs, and it's isometric stealth parkour steampunk awesomeness.
Shit looks dope.
Follow me on Twitter for more stuff, probably streaming and random thoughts and shit. See ya.
-Blaine
Showing posts with label Andromeda. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Andromeda. Show all posts
20171129
20170430
a quick shout
Shit's still outta-control insane busy, but I feel like talking at someone about games, so here's some quick hits.
Looks like Bethesda's starting up the hype train by teasing some E3 announcements. PC Gamer has a good take on it. Obviously, there are two unknown properties that will be discussed, but I also think that the bigger surprises might come from games that are already shown there. I also think it's maybe time to retire Skyrim. The Morrowind expac will have just dropped, so another big-ass ESO announcement would be nice. I'm tired of them milking Skyrim. As for Fallout ... go big or go home. Gimme New Vegas 2 from Obsidian. A single-player expac for Doom would be awesome. Dishonored is on there, so something substantial in that area would be cool. No more trials, please. Gimme a proper expansion. And it looks like there be Prey post-release content? Wow.
As for the new stuff ... I'd love to see a new IP, obviously. I'd love to see another Rage game. Yeah, I'm that guy.
Dirt 4 has a trailer. Unfortunately, it looks like they're going arcade-style again, after the excellent Dirt Rally. This seems an odd choice.
On the plus side, FFXIV has dropped a pretty new trailer for Stormblood.
I also think I'm gonna ramp up my presence here. I'm getting pretty frustrated with existing so-called 'gamers' and gaming communities, so I'm giving thought to starting my own. I'm just tired of the hate, hyperbole, and discrimination. I try to learn from those that are different, but I know a lotta people that react in the opposite way.
I'm not really sure what I'm gonna do. I just wanna start a community that's more inclusive. I firmly believe that most gaming enthusiasts aren't what 'gamers' portray themselves as. I think most are normal, well-adjusted adults. Not the alt-right GamerGate Nazi fucks that are most commonly out in front.
Regardless, I'm also really fucking tired and I've had people all up in my face nonstop for weeks. I'm a private person that values his alone time greatly, and I rarely get it, especially lately. That's just how this time of year is for me. Holy cow, though, dude ... I am exhausted, both in terms of lack of sleep, but also in terms of face time with other humans.
Whatcha Playin'?
I'm still double-fisting Mass Effect: Andromeda and Torment: Tides of Numenera, with a side of The Elder Scrolls Online. I finished the ESO main campaign this weekend, and that was pretty rad. I haven't had much gaming time lately, but after I do some travel next week, I should be able to finally have some personal time again, around mid-May.
My goal is to finish MEA and TToN before E3. I think that's feasible.
I'm also trying to do a Dawn of War 3 mission whenever I can. I love that series. I'm not totally sold on the new one yet, mainly because I LOVED the cover system in DoW2, which has been replaced with something ... else, and I don't love it ... yet.
We've also got Prey coming next week, though I'll be traveling at the time. I'm still going to try and get it going then, but I'll likely have to wait until mid-May before I can really dig in.
Zzz
Anyway, I'm tired as fuck and tired of people as fuck. I'm tired of humans. I'm tired of being tired. I used to love spring time. I think next year, I'm going to just force everyone to fuck off in April. I dunno.
Good night.
-Blaine
Looks like Bethesda's starting up the hype train by teasing some E3 announcements. PC Gamer has a good take on it. Obviously, there are two unknown properties that will be discussed, but I also think that the bigger surprises might come from games that are already shown there. I also think it's maybe time to retire Skyrim. The Morrowind expac will have just dropped, so another big-ass ESO announcement would be nice. I'm tired of them milking Skyrim. As for Fallout ... go big or go home. Gimme New Vegas 2 from Obsidian. A single-player expac for Doom would be awesome. Dishonored is on there, so something substantial in that area would be cool. No more trials, please. Gimme a proper expansion. And it looks like there be Prey post-release content? Wow.
As for the new stuff ... I'd love to see a new IP, obviously. I'd love to see another Rage game. Yeah, I'm that guy.
Dirt 4 has a trailer. Unfortunately, it looks like they're going arcade-style again, after the excellent Dirt Rally. This seems an odd choice.
On the plus side, FFXIV has dropped a pretty new trailer for Stormblood.
I also think I'm gonna ramp up my presence here. I'm getting pretty frustrated with existing so-called 'gamers' and gaming communities, so I'm giving thought to starting my own. I'm just tired of the hate, hyperbole, and discrimination. I try to learn from those that are different, but I know a lotta people that react in the opposite way.
I'm not really sure what I'm gonna do. I just wanna start a community that's more inclusive. I firmly believe that most gaming enthusiasts aren't what 'gamers' portray themselves as. I think most are normal, well-adjusted adults. Not the alt-right GamerGate Nazi fucks that are most commonly out in front.
Regardless, I'm also really fucking tired and I've had people all up in my face nonstop for weeks. I'm a private person that values his alone time greatly, and I rarely get it, especially lately. That's just how this time of year is for me. Holy cow, though, dude ... I am exhausted, both in terms of lack of sleep, but also in terms of face time with other humans.
Whatcha Playin'?
I'm still double-fisting Mass Effect: Andromeda and Torment: Tides of Numenera, with a side of The Elder Scrolls Online. I finished the ESO main campaign this weekend, and that was pretty rad. I haven't had much gaming time lately, but after I do some travel next week, I should be able to finally have some personal time again, around mid-May.
My goal is to finish MEA and TToN before E3. I think that's feasible.
I'm also trying to do a Dawn of War 3 mission whenever I can. I love that series. I'm not totally sold on the new one yet, mainly because I LOVED the cover system in DoW2, which has been replaced with something ... else, and I don't love it ... yet.
We've also got Prey coming next week, though I'll be traveling at the time. I'm still going to try and get it going then, but I'll likely have to wait until mid-May before I can really dig in.
Zzz
Anyway, I'm tired as fuck and tired of people as fuck. I'm tired of humans. I'm tired of being tired. I used to love spring time. I think next year, I'm going to just force everyone to fuck off in April. I dunno.
Good night.
-Blaine
20170425
Betas and Busy
Howdy.
I played a shitload of Mass Effect: Andromeda over the weekend. The game has really sunk its hooks into me. For me, the planet of Kadara was a real turning point. Everything prior to that was cool, and I was really digging the 'explorer' vibe, but Kadara is where I really got into the story, and where I really started to like my companions. I'm now about 60 hours into the game, and a little less than halfway to completion.
I don't remember if I mentioned it or not, but reading Nexus Uprising has added a lot of cool background information to my experience. If you've played MEA at all, you can gather from the title what it's about.
Really, I'm having a harder time than ever with the critical abuse that this game has taken. I'm not gonna expound on why people act like hateful lemmings, but let me explain how you should approach this game.
One, it's a new games that takes place in the Mass Effect universe. A lot of mechanics, weapons, species, and more will seem familiar. However, it is NOT ME4, in any sense. It has a 'feel' that is vastly different from the other three games, and story-wise, it's a clean break that references back to ME1 and ME2 a little bit.
Just go into it loving the universe, but not expecting more of what you know, and you'll fall in love. I really feel, strongly, that this was a great move for the franchise, and I really wanna see more in Andromeda.
As always, Torment is what I'm hitting a bit each week, and it'll shift back to being my 'main' game once MEA wraps up. Torment is a hell of a game.
Meanwhile, I've been on two betas. One was Dawn of War III, which I sniffed at briefly, but just never made time for because of MEA. The other, I can't talk about at all because of an NDA, but I'm enjoying the hell out of it.
PRE3
We're in the last seven weeks before E3. It's getting so close, I can start to feel the hum of excitement coursing throughout the gaming world.
Typically, leading up to E3, I set some gaming goals for myself. Nothing really hardcore or crazy, just for fun, and to nudge me a bit to clear my pile of shame somewhat.
This year, we're targeting Mass Effect: Andromeda, Torment: Tides of Numenera, and the Elder Scrolls Online campaign, which I've been sitting on the end of for over a month now.
What's tough is that between now and E3, we're seeing Dawn of War III drop this week, Prey next week, and Elder Scrolls Online: Morrowind on 6/6.
And I haven't even mentioned the PS4 games I still haven't finished.
The pile of shame is going to swell, and then hopefully, the summer sees a drought of releases. 2017 has been nuts in terms of releases.
Oh shit, I also accidentally bought Ghost Recon: Wildlands! Don't ask! But it's really fun!
Beyond that, I'm going through the joyful exercise of slowly building my E3 week. Every day, I scour the internet for more dates and times and anything that might add to the week. I build quite an experience for myself every year, and this year shall be no different.
So far, we know about EA, Microsoft, and Bethesda's pressers. We're still waiting to hear from Ubisoft, Sony, and maybe PC Gamer. I hope they do another PC Gamer Show at E3. I've really enjoyed those.
It'd be interesting to see someone else push their way onto the scene. Squenix has done PRE3 pressers on occasion. Acitivision or Blizzard would be interesting.
What's been getting harder each E3 is the fact that EA owns BioWare, and EA's presser is worse and worse every year, and they just haven't leveraged BioWare well in a long time. This year will be interesting, since we're going to see a new IP from BioWare.
What I'm expecting, though, is that Andrew Wilson will come out, lead off with two minutes of a shooter that everyone but me wants, then talk about BioWare for maybe 90 seconds, and then we go into 90min of fucking soccer.
I hope not.
I'll do a full EA preview when we get closer to the actual event.
What about you? You hyped for E3? What do you wanna see?
-Blaine
I played a shitload of Mass Effect: Andromeda over the weekend. The game has really sunk its hooks into me. For me, the planet of Kadara was a real turning point. Everything prior to that was cool, and I was really digging the 'explorer' vibe, but Kadara is where I really got into the story, and where I really started to like my companions. I'm now about 60 hours into the game, and a little less than halfway to completion.
I don't remember if I mentioned it or not, but reading Nexus Uprising has added a lot of cool background information to my experience. If you've played MEA at all, you can gather from the title what it's about.
Really, I'm having a harder time than ever with the critical abuse that this game has taken. I'm not gonna expound on why people act like hateful lemmings, but let me explain how you should approach this game.
One, it's a new games that takes place in the Mass Effect universe. A lot of mechanics, weapons, species, and more will seem familiar. However, it is NOT ME4, in any sense. It has a 'feel' that is vastly different from the other three games, and story-wise, it's a clean break that references back to ME1 and ME2 a little bit.
Just go into it loving the universe, but not expecting more of what you know, and you'll fall in love. I really feel, strongly, that this was a great move for the franchise, and I really wanna see more in Andromeda.
As always, Torment is what I'm hitting a bit each week, and it'll shift back to being my 'main' game once MEA wraps up. Torment is a hell of a game.
Meanwhile, I've been on two betas. One was Dawn of War III, which I sniffed at briefly, but just never made time for because of MEA. The other, I can't talk about at all because of an NDA, but I'm enjoying the hell out of it.
PRE3
We're in the last seven weeks before E3. It's getting so close, I can start to feel the hum of excitement coursing throughout the gaming world.
Typically, leading up to E3, I set some gaming goals for myself. Nothing really hardcore or crazy, just for fun, and to nudge me a bit to clear my pile of shame somewhat.
This year, we're targeting Mass Effect: Andromeda, Torment: Tides of Numenera, and the Elder Scrolls Online campaign, which I've been sitting on the end of for over a month now.
What's tough is that between now and E3, we're seeing Dawn of War III drop this week, Prey next week, and Elder Scrolls Online: Morrowind on 6/6.
And I haven't even mentioned the PS4 games I still haven't finished.
The pile of shame is going to swell, and then hopefully, the summer sees a drought of releases. 2017 has been nuts in terms of releases.
Oh shit, I also accidentally bought Ghost Recon: Wildlands! Don't ask! But it's really fun!
Beyond that, I'm going through the joyful exercise of slowly building my E3 week. Every day, I scour the internet for more dates and times and anything that might add to the week. I build quite an experience for myself every year, and this year shall be no different.
So far, we know about EA, Microsoft, and Bethesda's pressers. We're still waiting to hear from Ubisoft, Sony, and maybe PC Gamer. I hope they do another PC Gamer Show at E3. I've really enjoyed those.
It'd be interesting to see someone else push their way onto the scene. Squenix has done PRE3 pressers on occasion. Acitivision or Blizzard would be interesting.
What's been getting harder each E3 is the fact that EA owns BioWare, and EA's presser is worse and worse every year, and they just haven't leveraged BioWare well in a long time. This year will be interesting, since we're going to see a new IP from BioWare.
What I'm expecting, though, is that Andrew Wilson will come out, lead off with two minutes of a shooter that everyone but me wants, then talk about BioWare for maybe 90 seconds, and then we go into 90min of fucking soccer.
I hope not.
I'll do a full EA preview when we get closer to the actual event.
What about you? You hyped for E3? What do you wanna see?
-Blaine
20170420
Happy Almost-Friday
I didn't post the last couple days, but I still wanna be your favorite bloggist.
Some shit got kinda dramatic in a few parts of life, and it was a couple days in which it was best if I avoided a medium in which I tell the world what I'm thinking about or what's going on.
It can be hard to maintain perspective at times, especially if you've got a history that's had some rather dramatic moments, but not in a while, if ya follow me. I thrive on being boring. I'm boring by design.
That being said, sometimes shit happens, and it's no one's fault. You can either keep it to yourself, or you can talk to someone. I encourage you to talk to someone. If you think you can't find someone to talk to, keep trying. You might be surprised. Just don't give up. It's worth it to keep trying.
While talking, make sure to listen, too. I had a good friend this morning throw something back at me from another perspective that really surprised me, and it was actually extremely helpful, and something I needed to hear.
When you feel like you're in crisis, clear your head, and really look around you. Your support network is bigger than you realize.
Anyway ...
I'm really stoked because Dawn of War 3 is out in a week, followed by Prey the next week, and I'm already backlogged by Mass Effect: Andromeda, Torment: Tides of Numenera, and Horizon Zero Dawn. Oh, and Elder Scrolls Online gets the Morrowind expac in June.
The good thing is that, after that, I've presumably got several months until anything interesting releases.
Regardless, this weekend, DoW3 is running an open beta that I'll be streaming on Twitch. I'm stoked to get in there and get my ass handed to me. I've loved the Dawn of War series for a long, long time, and I've loved Relic's ambitious and unapologetic approach. They drastically change the game with each numbered release, and that's kept the series fresh while also pushing the medium forward.
I'm not sure exactly what I'll be going live. I'm guessing probably Sunday? My weekends are back to being crazy for a while. Either way, I'll post to Twitter and probably here.
That KotOR Streaming Series
We're resuming the stream tonight and tomorrow night!
My last two episodes, the mic was fucked. I'm sorry. Thank the Maker for a friend that popped in and told me. That has been fixed, and we're resuming tonight!
I'll be going live around 8PM central both nights. Tonight, we start Tattooine, which is a really fun planet in KotOR.
Other Gaming Stuff
My gaming time, lately, is really cut down. That should alleviate once we into the second week in May. I think.
What little time I've had has been devoted, mostly, to Mass Effect: Andromeda, which I'm still really enjoying. I'm also squeezing in some Elder Scrolls Legends when I can, here and there. I hit a point the other night, though, where I really needed something else. I'm not a one-game guy. I'm just not. I fired up Torment for the first time in a month (I got frustrated by an unwinnable battle and Mass Effect hit), and fell right back in love. I was able to come at the battle another way, with no fighting, and move things forward. God, I love that game.
I think my goal is to finish Mass Effect and Torment before E3. We'll see. It would be fun to take the summer and do something different, which is play mostly PlayStation games. My family and I use the Xbox One constantly, but hardly ever touch the PS4, but it has two games I want to finish, which are Horizon and Uncharted 4.
I'm also giving thought to writing off console exclusives altogether. Console games are very inconvenient for me to play, and I really think I might just vote against them with my dollar. Not releasing every game on the device on which it was developed is just stupid. Not being able to take a game on the road or to work or mod it or any of that shit in 2017 is absurd, and I don't want to support it.
Anyway, that's all for now. Time for movie lunch at work.
Oh shit, and there's a new SWTOR release. I need to play that!
-Blaine
Some shit got kinda dramatic in a few parts of life, and it was a couple days in which it was best if I avoided a medium in which I tell the world what I'm thinking about or what's going on.
It can be hard to maintain perspective at times, especially if you've got a history that's had some rather dramatic moments, but not in a while, if ya follow me. I thrive on being boring. I'm boring by design.
That being said, sometimes shit happens, and it's no one's fault. You can either keep it to yourself, or you can talk to someone. I encourage you to talk to someone. If you think you can't find someone to talk to, keep trying. You might be surprised. Just don't give up. It's worth it to keep trying.
While talking, make sure to listen, too. I had a good friend this morning throw something back at me from another perspective that really surprised me, and it was actually extremely helpful, and something I needed to hear.
When you feel like you're in crisis, clear your head, and really look around you. Your support network is bigger than you realize.
Anyway ...
I'm really stoked because Dawn of War 3 is out in a week, followed by Prey the next week, and I'm already backlogged by Mass Effect: Andromeda, Torment: Tides of Numenera, and Horizon Zero Dawn. Oh, and Elder Scrolls Online gets the Morrowind expac in June.
The good thing is that, after that, I've presumably got several months until anything interesting releases.
Regardless, this weekend, DoW3 is running an open beta that I'll be streaming on Twitch. I'm stoked to get in there and get my ass handed to me. I've loved the Dawn of War series for a long, long time, and I've loved Relic's ambitious and unapologetic approach. They drastically change the game with each numbered release, and that's kept the series fresh while also pushing the medium forward.
I'm not sure exactly what I'll be going live. I'm guessing probably Sunday? My weekends are back to being crazy for a while. Either way, I'll post to Twitter and probably here.
That KotOR Streaming Series
We're resuming the stream tonight and tomorrow night!
My last two episodes, the mic was fucked. I'm sorry. Thank the Maker for a friend that popped in and told me. That has been fixed, and we're resuming tonight!
I'll be going live around 8PM central both nights. Tonight, we start Tattooine, which is a really fun planet in KotOR.
Other Gaming Stuff
My gaming time, lately, is really cut down. That should alleviate once we into the second week in May. I think.
What little time I've had has been devoted, mostly, to Mass Effect: Andromeda, which I'm still really enjoying. I'm also squeezing in some Elder Scrolls Legends when I can, here and there. I hit a point the other night, though, where I really needed something else. I'm not a one-game guy. I'm just not. I fired up Torment for the first time in a month (I got frustrated by an unwinnable battle and Mass Effect hit), and fell right back in love. I was able to come at the battle another way, with no fighting, and move things forward. God, I love that game.
I think my goal is to finish Mass Effect and Torment before E3. We'll see. It would be fun to take the summer and do something different, which is play mostly PlayStation games. My family and I use the Xbox One constantly, but hardly ever touch the PS4, but it has two games I want to finish, which are Horizon and Uncharted 4.
I'm also giving thought to writing off console exclusives altogether. Console games are very inconvenient for me to play, and I really think I might just vote against them with my dollar. Not releasing every game on the device on which it was developed is just stupid. Not being able to take a game on the road or to work or mod it or any of that shit in 2017 is absurd, and I don't want to support it.
Anyway, that's all for now. Time for movie lunch at work.
Oh shit, and there's a new SWTOR release. I need to play that!
-Blaine
20170410
Happy Monday!
Welcome to Monday. I didn't get a lotta time here last week, which is too bad, because I like typing at you. It helps me organize my thoughts.
It was a decent weekend, if too busy (again.) This will get remedied soon. I had some great family time, took in a game at Busch, and got some quality time with Mass Effect: Andromeda, and had a couple really good episodes in my ongoing KotOR Twitch/YouTube series.
Mass Lemming Effect
I'm now 35 hours into Mass Effect: Andromeda and still don't hate it. In fact, I quite like it, actually. I've, on occasion, had a flickering scene. It's happened, I think, three times. Once, it was so bad, it lasted about ten seconds.
I know, I know, I shouldn't be snide. but the groupthink and lemming-like followers desperately wanting to pile on with hate for this game just really disturbed me. People were enjoying being dicks. I don't understand that.
Regardless, this is not a perfect game. A few lines have made me wince in how cliché they are, I started to feel a little side quest fatigue on Voeld, and I can see why most humans wouldn't be wowed by the story.
This is a mass-market game that isn't a mass-market game. It's a quiet, introspective experience, at least relative to the melodrama and bombast of the original trilogy (which I adored), and I think a lot of people have brought, and will continue to bring, the wrong expectation to the game. I listened to their marketing, and the message I got was 'you're not pew-pew military guy, you're now explorer guy.' That had me super-hyped, and that expectation has actually been exceeded. I deeply roleplay my games, at least the first time through (one of the reasons I won't stream games my first time through), and this has been feeding a deep fantasy of mine, which is to be a space explorer. I love it.
What's upsetting is that the me-too pile-on gangbang of negativity is gonna harm this series, and make development even more directed by loudmouth forum trolls. I don't believe that art should be made that way. I like this direction, and I like how bold it is. I'm enjoying the quieter, more chill atmosphere, and I like the mysteries in the game.
I love that when I hear a character talk about a sibling back home, they and I both know that sibling has lived and died long ago, and that's so hard to process. Everyone I ever knew and loved back home is long dead. I just can't even reconcile that, and it is such a powerful feeling when I roleplay my character.
And I've loved playing him super-logical. That's my ideal version of me, and it's farther from the real me than I'd like, but it's a great fantasy.
I wish more people had given this game a chance.
STAR WARS EVEN MORE STAR WARS
Star Wars Celebration is happening this Thursday through Sunday! I'm so excited!
There will be a live stream for those of us that have to work for a living. It'll be on the Star Wars YouTube channel!
I'm expecting a look at Episode VIII, Battlefront 2, a memorial to Carrie Fisher, a SWTOR announcement, possibly some new films announced, some new comics and books announced, and really, just a fun time. I can't wait to start watching! The last two I've watched have been an absolute blast!
Otherwise ...
Life has been INSANE since I got back from my annual Spring Training pilgrimage two and a half weeks ago. Work and family have both needed a lot from me, which is great, honestly. It really is great to be needed, but fuck, I am ready to chill out soon.
I can always tell if I'm totally overwhelmed by how long it takes me to get through books. If I take more than a few days on a 500-page novel, I am absolutely not having enough time. I've been reading the latest Witcher translation for the last two weeks, and it's 474 pages. There ya go.
And E3 is now just two months away ... YYYEEESSS ...
-Blaine
It was a decent weekend, if too busy (again.) This will get remedied soon. I had some great family time, took in a game at Busch, and got some quality time with Mass Effect: Andromeda, and had a couple really good episodes in my ongoing KotOR Twitch/YouTube series.
Mass Lemming Effect
I'm now 35 hours into Mass Effect: Andromeda and still don't hate it. In fact, I quite like it, actually. I've, on occasion, had a flickering scene. It's happened, I think, three times. Once, it was so bad, it lasted about ten seconds.
I know, I know, I shouldn't be snide. but the groupthink and lemming-like followers desperately wanting to pile on with hate for this game just really disturbed me. People were enjoying being dicks. I don't understand that.
Regardless, this is not a perfect game. A few lines have made me wince in how cliché they are, I started to feel a little side quest fatigue on Voeld, and I can see why most humans wouldn't be wowed by the story.
This is a mass-market game that isn't a mass-market game. It's a quiet, introspective experience, at least relative to the melodrama and bombast of the original trilogy (which I adored), and I think a lot of people have brought, and will continue to bring, the wrong expectation to the game. I listened to their marketing, and the message I got was 'you're not pew-pew military guy, you're now explorer guy.' That had me super-hyped, and that expectation has actually been exceeded. I deeply roleplay my games, at least the first time through (one of the reasons I won't stream games my first time through), and this has been feeding a deep fantasy of mine, which is to be a space explorer. I love it.
What's upsetting is that the me-too pile-on gangbang of negativity is gonna harm this series, and make development even more directed by loudmouth forum trolls. I don't believe that art should be made that way. I like this direction, and I like how bold it is. I'm enjoying the quieter, more chill atmosphere, and I like the mysteries in the game.
I love that when I hear a character talk about a sibling back home, they and I both know that sibling has lived and died long ago, and that's so hard to process. Everyone I ever knew and loved back home is long dead. I just can't even reconcile that, and it is such a powerful feeling when I roleplay my character.
And I've loved playing him super-logical. That's my ideal version of me, and it's farther from the real me than I'd like, but it's a great fantasy.
I wish more people had given this game a chance.
STAR WARS EVEN MORE STAR WARS
Star Wars Celebration is happening this Thursday through Sunday! I'm so excited!
There will be a live stream for those of us that have to work for a living. It'll be on the Star Wars YouTube channel!
I'm expecting a look at Episode VIII, Battlefront 2, a memorial to Carrie Fisher, a SWTOR announcement, possibly some new films announced, some new comics and books announced, and really, just a fun time. I can't wait to start watching! The last two I've watched have been an absolute blast!
Otherwise ...
Life has been INSANE since I got back from my annual Spring Training pilgrimage two and a half weeks ago. Work and family have both needed a lot from me, which is great, honestly. It really is great to be needed, but fuck, I am ready to chill out soon.
I can always tell if I'm totally overwhelmed by how long it takes me to get through books. If I take more than a few days on a 500-page novel, I am absolutely not having enough time. I've been reading the latest Witcher translation for the last two weeks, and it's 474 pages. There ya go.
And E3 is now just two months away ... YYYEEESSS ...
-Blaine
20170324
Happy Friday! 2017/3/24
It's Friday! Yay!
Last night was a great first stream for my brand new KotOR stream series. We'll be going again tonight at 2000 central time. We'll continue to explore Taris in an effort to find Bastila, and it's going to be great. Carth and I have made some great progress.
As a side note, the game hilariously defaulted my character's name 'Warm Kyja.' I have no idea why.
Check out episode one here or below:
I'm excited to keep this series going! Like I said, 8PM central, and we'll go 90-120 minutes. I'll be streaming from my Twitch channel and then pushing to my YouTube channel.
I'm also planning to hit up more Mass Effect: Andromeda and Torment: Tides of Numenera. I'd also like to get back to Horizon: Zero Dawn, and I think I'm going to just do an hour a night of that. It seems like that kinda game. And since it's trapped on a console, it's hard for me to do much more than that.
So, what about you? Whatcha playin'?
My in-laws are also visiting. They're great folks. This isn't the best weekend for a visit, though, since we just got back from two weeks on the road, and are still settling back in. I'm not sure exactly how this ended up happening, but it did. I've also got a lot of stuff to do around the house, so ... not sure what people expect from me this weekend. Oh well.
Oh, and Rogue One released on digital today, so I'll be checking out some extras, for sure.
Otherwise, I'm starting up the year's yard work and household maintenance, so that'll take up some time, too. Like I said, I'd planned to get back into the swing of things, but I also don't want to blow off my in-laws and make them feel unwelcome, and I need to get some max chill time. So, we'll see.
How about you? Whatcha playin'? What's on your weekend docket?
-Blaine
Last night was a great first stream for my brand new KotOR stream series. We'll be going again tonight at 2000 central time. We'll continue to explore Taris in an effort to find Bastila, and it's going to be great. Carth and I have made some great progress.
As a side note, the game hilariously defaulted my character's name 'Warm Kyja.' I have no idea why.
Check out episode one here or below:
I'm excited to keep this series going! Like I said, 8PM central, and we'll go 90-120 minutes. I'll be streaming from my Twitch channel and then pushing to my YouTube channel.
I'm also planning to hit up more Mass Effect: Andromeda and Torment: Tides of Numenera. I'd also like to get back to Horizon: Zero Dawn, and I think I'm going to just do an hour a night of that. It seems like that kinda game. And since it's trapped on a console, it's hard for me to do much more than that.
So, what about you? Whatcha playin'?
My in-laws are also visiting. They're great folks. This isn't the best weekend for a visit, though, since we just got back from two weeks on the road, and are still settling back in. I'm not sure exactly how this ended up happening, but it did. I've also got a lot of stuff to do around the house, so ... not sure what people expect from me this weekend. Oh well.
Oh, and Rogue One released on digital today, so I'll be checking out some extras, for sure.
Otherwise, I'm starting up the year's yard work and household maintenance, so that'll take up some time, too. Like I said, I'd planned to get back into the swing of things, but I also don't want to blow off my in-laws and make them feel unwelcome, and I need to get some max chill time. So, we'll see.
How about you? Whatcha playin'? What's on your weekend docket?
-Blaine
20170323
KOTOR TONIGHT
I love Mass Effect: Andromeda. I know, I've said it a buncha times already, but I actually think about wanting to play it when I haven't played it in the last 24 hours, and that's unusual for me. That's kinda my litmus test for whether or not I love a game.
Still, I'm really excited to start my KotOR stream series tonight!
It's gonna be really interesting having those two games juxtaposed for a while, since KotOR came out of BioWare back in 2002, and MEA, also from BioWare, just hit. One can actually see the basic framework for the Mass Effect series in KotOR, since that dev team went right into the first Mass Effect from there. It'll be fun playing those side-by-side.
A big part of the reason that I'm so excited for my KotOR (1&2) stream series is 1) I haven't played them in several years, and 2) KotOR rescued gaming for me. I'd been a JRPG guy up to that point, but Japanese dev, especially roleplaying games, had gone a direction that I was not digging, and KotOR acted as the lifeline that I needed, and it led me to a much larger world.
Also, Star Wars is one of the things in this world of which I am the most fond. The Old Republic setting, in particular, really resonated with me. It's thousands of years prior to the films, which unshackled BioWare from having to work in or around the film lore. They went to the comics and referenced the Tales of the Jedi series, which is FANTASTIC AND YOU SHOULD READ, and this gave them a great jumping-off point.
There's also a great KotOR comics series called 'Knights of the Old Republic' (imagine that), and it is nearly as good as the games.
When I play through the first KotOR, I'll be playing only with a few mods that let me set the resolution to 1920x1080. When I get to KotOR2, it'll be heavily modded, so that I can play something that resembles a completed game. It'll be modded to support 1920x1080, but it'll also have the cut content restored and finished, some of which I've never seen. This is going to be a blast!
The schedule, right now, is Thurs and Fri nights at 2000 central. I'll probably also sneak in some weekend sessions when I can. I suppose adopting a more strict schedule could help my regular viewership. What do you think?
While I'm playing, I'll be dropping some fun knowledge about the development, the in-game lore, and my own personal stories about previous playthroughs, how I first heard about it, funny tangential stories, and the like. You're gonna love it, I promise.
I'll be streaming on Twitch, and then pushing it to YouTube after each stream is done.
So, again, that'll be tonight at 2000 central time. We'll start from the beginning, and it'll probably be the first time that a lot of you see KotOR in a modern resolution. Also, for those that are interested, it is going to be a canon playthrough. Our KotOR 1 protag is going to be a male, and the KotOR 2 protag will be female. I'm also going to try and make choices within the bounds of the canon. Well, the canon within SWTOR, anyway. As you may know, Disney deleted the expanded universe, including all the excellent Old Republic stuff.
Regardless, I look forward to seeing anyone that wants to hang out and talk Star Wars or KotOR tonight!
-Blaine
Still, I'm really excited to start my KotOR stream series tonight!
It's gonna be really interesting having those two games juxtaposed for a while, since KotOR came out of BioWare back in 2002, and MEA, also from BioWare, just hit. One can actually see the basic framework for the Mass Effect series in KotOR, since that dev team went right into the first Mass Effect from there. It'll be fun playing those side-by-side.
A big part of the reason that I'm so excited for my KotOR (1&2) stream series is 1) I haven't played them in several years, and 2) KotOR rescued gaming for me. I'd been a JRPG guy up to that point, but Japanese dev, especially roleplaying games, had gone a direction that I was not digging, and KotOR acted as the lifeline that I needed, and it led me to a much larger world.
Also, Star Wars is one of the things in this world of which I am the most fond. The Old Republic setting, in particular, really resonated with me. It's thousands of years prior to the films, which unshackled BioWare from having to work in or around the film lore. They went to the comics and referenced the Tales of the Jedi series, which is FANTASTIC AND YOU SHOULD READ, and this gave them a great jumping-off point.
There's also a great KotOR comics series called 'Knights of the Old Republic' (imagine that), and it is nearly as good as the games.
When I play through the first KotOR, I'll be playing only with a few mods that let me set the resolution to 1920x1080. When I get to KotOR2, it'll be heavily modded, so that I can play something that resembles a completed game. It'll be modded to support 1920x1080, but it'll also have the cut content restored and finished, some of which I've never seen. This is going to be a blast!
The schedule, right now, is Thurs and Fri nights at 2000 central. I'll probably also sneak in some weekend sessions when I can. I suppose adopting a more strict schedule could help my regular viewership. What do you think?
While I'm playing, I'll be dropping some fun knowledge about the development, the in-game lore, and my own personal stories about previous playthroughs, how I first heard about it, funny tangential stories, and the like. You're gonna love it, I promise.
I'll be streaming on Twitch, and then pushing it to YouTube after each stream is done.
So, again, that'll be tonight at 2000 central time. We'll start from the beginning, and it'll probably be the first time that a lot of you see KotOR in a modern resolution. Also, for those that are interested, it is going to be a canon playthrough. Our KotOR 1 protag is going to be a male, and the KotOR 2 protag will be female. I'm also going to try and make choices within the bounds of the canon. Well, the canon within SWTOR, anyway. As you may know, Disney deleted the expanded universe, including all the excellent Old Republic stuff.
Regardless, I look forward to seeing anyone that wants to hang out and talk Star Wars or KotOR tonight!
-Blaine
20170322
It's Fashionable to Be An Asshole
I get it, man. There was that one tremendously well-written horribly negative review of that one game, and it was hilarious. That's always stuck with you. Not only was it a genuine piece of art, but it gained a lot of attention, and the writer was showered with praise. You wanna have one of those in your portfolio. I feel ya, dawg.
Combine that with the need for internet users to pile on and belong to that club that everyone's joining. Again, I understand. I've worked for years to break myself of that habit, and I'm mostly successful, but I may have piled on with the others on Sean Spicer. For the most part, though, I don't really try to belong anywhere. But I totally understand the impulse.
Here's the problem, though. Your shock tactics, when you try really hard to apply them to a product that may not really fit the mold, cost you credibility, and ultimately makes you part of the problem.
Let's take Iron Fist, for example. It's got problems.
Halt. I want to state now that I'm not linking back to any of the offending reviews because I don't want to give them clicks or views or any warm feelings.
Anyway, Iron Fist has problems. Totally. The first episode was not terribly enjoyable. It's got pacing problems, the action looks slow and weird, especially relative to the other three Defenders shows that are available right now, the bad guys are mindlessly BAD, and none of the characters really pop in any way during the first episode. It was bad.
And then, in the second episode, it starts to get better. I actually really wanted to watch the next episode right away. I didn't, because time is precious, but I plan to watch it tonight.
But, it has problems, at least two episodes in, and I'd guess that these don't totally go away. Absolutely address the issues, but stop trying to crucify it in an effort to make a name for yourself. You're a talented writer, but a lousy fucking reviewer.
What's interesting is that some of the extremely over-the-top negative reviews got their facts wrong. The writers were so hell-bent on writing a bad review, and more specifically, writing a gloriously bad review, that they either misunderstood or intentionally fudged facts that were specific to the plot.
Let me add, too, that I don't have a dog in this fight. I've never read an Iron Fist or Defenders comic, I'm a casual MCU fan, and thought Jessica Jones was the only absolutely amazing Netflix/Marvel series so far. I thought the first season of Daredevil was very 'blah.'
The action in the first season of Daredevil was extraordinary, D'Onofrio as Fisk was Emmy-worthy, the supporting characters were OK, but Matt Murdock is bland as hell, and the story was ... meh, as was the pacing.
As a side note, the most interesting part of the second season of Daredevil was The Punisher.
Anyway, what's most disturbing is the tone, in these cases, in which the writer conveys joy and excitement at being able to whip the product.
Hell, I saw some of this same behavior, to a lesser degree, with Mass Effect: Andromeda. In the reviews, at least. We saw the same orgy of hate regarding the animations stuff on Twitter and in comments sections, but the reviews, occasionally you'd come across that random outlet that, in the text, was really stoked to just take a giant shit on the product.
It's weird. I don't know if this is specifically American behavior, but it seems like we can't wait to murder our heroes. We can't wait to start hating what we once loved. I don't understand it, and it's actually a behavior in which I can't remember ever taking part, but I see it all the fucking time. It's a terrible habit, and I wish we'd stop pouring so much of ourselves into hating something.
What I would've rather seen in negative reviews of Iron Fist (which, based on two episodes, it looks like it deserves some criticism) is less hyperbole, more constructive criticism, and why you liked what you did, and why you didn't like what you didn't. Be chill.
Some day, you may get to review a licensed 3DS game that is an absolute turd, but until then, focus more on being reliable and trusted than jerking yourself off over a minor disappointment.
Also, I'm 12 hours into Mass Effect: Andromeda and very much enjoying it. I'll do a fuller write up on the early parts of the game this week.
Last, don't forget: I'm starting my stream series for KotOR tomorrow night over on my Twitch channel. I'd love it if you'd join me.
-Blaine
Combine that with the need for internet users to pile on and belong to that club that everyone's joining. Again, I understand. I've worked for years to break myself of that habit, and I'm mostly successful, but I may have piled on with the others on Sean Spicer. For the most part, though, I don't really try to belong anywhere. But I totally understand the impulse.
Here's the problem, though. Your shock tactics, when you try really hard to apply them to a product that may not really fit the mold, cost you credibility, and ultimately makes you part of the problem.
Let's take Iron Fist, for example. It's got problems.
Halt. I want to state now that I'm not linking back to any of the offending reviews because I don't want to give them clicks or views or any warm feelings.
Anyway, Iron Fist has problems. Totally. The first episode was not terribly enjoyable. It's got pacing problems, the action looks slow and weird, especially relative to the other three Defenders shows that are available right now, the bad guys are mindlessly BAD, and none of the characters really pop in any way during the first episode. It was bad.
And then, in the second episode, it starts to get better. I actually really wanted to watch the next episode right away. I didn't, because time is precious, but I plan to watch it tonight.
But, it has problems, at least two episodes in, and I'd guess that these don't totally go away. Absolutely address the issues, but stop trying to crucify it in an effort to make a name for yourself. You're a talented writer, but a lousy fucking reviewer.
What's interesting is that some of the extremely over-the-top negative reviews got their facts wrong. The writers were so hell-bent on writing a bad review, and more specifically, writing a gloriously bad review, that they either misunderstood or intentionally fudged facts that were specific to the plot.
Let me add, too, that I don't have a dog in this fight. I've never read an Iron Fist or Defenders comic, I'm a casual MCU fan, and thought Jessica Jones was the only absolutely amazing Netflix/Marvel series so far. I thought the first season of Daredevil was very 'blah.'
The action in the first season of Daredevil was extraordinary, D'Onofrio as Fisk was Emmy-worthy, the supporting characters were OK, but Matt Murdock is bland as hell, and the story was ... meh, as was the pacing.
As a side note, the most interesting part of the second season of Daredevil was The Punisher.
Anyway, what's most disturbing is the tone, in these cases, in which the writer conveys joy and excitement at being able to whip the product.
Hell, I saw some of this same behavior, to a lesser degree, with Mass Effect: Andromeda. In the reviews, at least. We saw the same orgy of hate regarding the animations stuff on Twitter and in comments sections, but the reviews, occasionally you'd come across that random outlet that, in the text, was really stoked to just take a giant shit on the product.
It's weird. I don't know if this is specifically American behavior, but it seems like we can't wait to murder our heroes. We can't wait to start hating what we once loved. I don't understand it, and it's actually a behavior in which I can't remember ever taking part, but I see it all the fucking time. It's a terrible habit, and I wish we'd stop pouring so much of ourselves into hating something.
What I would've rather seen in negative reviews of Iron Fist (which, based on two episodes, it looks like it deserves some criticism) is less hyperbole, more constructive criticism, and why you liked what you did, and why you didn't like what you didn't. Be chill.
Some day, you may get to review a licensed 3DS game that is an absolute turd, but until then, focus more on being reliable and trusted than jerking yourself off over a minor disappointment.
Also, I'm 12 hours into Mass Effect: Andromeda and very much enjoying it. I'll do a fuller write up on the early parts of the game this week.
Last, don't forget: I'm starting my stream series for KotOR tomorrow night over on my Twitch channel. I'd love it if you'd join me.
-Blaine
20170320
Aaand we're back!
Woof! I'm back home! What a whirlwind couple of weeks! Florida, as always, was amazing. I never thought I'd be one of those people that treasures going to Florida once or more per year, but I am, and it's rad. If you live in the midwest, and don't give a shit at all about 'going to the lake,' then maybe you feel me.
Maybe I'l try 'going to the lake' this summer. Hmm.
Anyway, I'm back. I'm returning to work on Wednesday. I'm taking tomorrow to play Mass Effect: Andromeda all day. About this, I am incredibly excited.
I know MEA's reviews have been all over the place. I'm surprised at how defensive I feel about that, and I shouldn't feel defensive at all. I worry, of course, that might impact whether EA allows BioWare to make another Mass Effect, and I'm also just soured that other people don't love what I love. I guess that's part of being human, but it's also a stupid way to feel. I shouldn't care at all what people think of something that I love, but I guess even I'm subject to the stupid behaviors on the internet.
Oh well. I just gotta suffocate that tendency. And it's not like I haven't seen in every single person that I know. We shouldn't care, we tell each other that we shouldn't care, and we all do. Oh well.
I really do adore the game. I played the length of the single player trial and had a blast. I liked the slow pacing and exposition. I get why the slow pacing might irritate someone under a deadline, or why that goes against the grain of modern gaming style, but it suits me just fine.
Anyway, I'm back.
And I went from no new games to play to Torment: Tides of Numenera, Horizon: Zero Dawn, and MEA all being slammed down on the table in front of me. It's a good problem to have. If I clear them all by the end of April, when I get Dawn of War III and Prey, I'll be just fine.
I'm also starting my KotOR stream this week ... I think. My plan is to start a new stream series with KotOR 1&2. I'll be streaming 2-3 times a week. I'll be rocking lotsa mods. Good times.
Tentatively, we're looking at Thursday and Friday nights on my Twitch stream, and then that'll be uploaded to my YouTube channel.
What kind of stuff do you all wanna see in the stream? Or hear about? I plan to drop some Star Wars Expanded Universe knowledge, and any fun development anecdotes that I can find, as well as fun personal stories that tie into it.
So, that's how the gaming front is looking. MEA will probably take top billing for me for now, but I'm also loving Torment and HZD. And I'm REALLY excited about the KotOR stream series I'll be doing.
That's it, for now. I need to get back to getting my ducks in a row. *HUGS*
-Blaine
Maybe I'l try 'going to the lake' this summer. Hmm.
Anyway, I'm back. I'm returning to work on Wednesday. I'm taking tomorrow to play Mass Effect: Andromeda all day. About this, I am incredibly excited.
I know MEA's reviews have been all over the place. I'm surprised at how defensive I feel about that, and I shouldn't feel defensive at all. I worry, of course, that might impact whether EA allows BioWare to make another Mass Effect, and I'm also just soured that other people don't love what I love. I guess that's part of being human, but it's also a stupid way to feel. I shouldn't care at all what people think of something that I love, but I guess even I'm subject to the stupid behaviors on the internet.
Oh well. I just gotta suffocate that tendency. And it's not like I haven't seen in every single person that I know. We shouldn't care, we tell each other that we shouldn't care, and we all do. Oh well.
I really do adore the game. I played the length of the single player trial and had a blast. I liked the slow pacing and exposition. I get why the slow pacing might irritate someone under a deadline, or why that goes against the grain of modern gaming style, but it suits me just fine.
Anyway, I'm back.
And I went from no new games to play to Torment: Tides of Numenera, Horizon: Zero Dawn, and MEA all being slammed down on the table in front of me. It's a good problem to have. If I clear them all by the end of April, when I get Dawn of War III and Prey, I'll be just fine.
I'm also starting my KotOR stream this week ... I think. My plan is to start a new stream series with KotOR 1&2. I'll be streaming 2-3 times a week. I'll be rocking lotsa mods. Good times.
Tentatively, we're looking at Thursday and Friday nights on my Twitch stream, and then that'll be uploaded to my YouTube channel.
What kind of stuff do you all wanna see in the stream? Or hear about? I plan to drop some Star Wars Expanded Universe knowledge, and any fun development anecdotes that I can find, as well as fun personal stories that tie into it.
So, that's how the gaming front is looking. MEA will probably take top billing for me for now, but I'm also loving Torment and HZD. And I'm REALLY excited about the KotOR stream series I'll be doing.
That's it, for now. I need to get back to getting my ducks in a row. *HUGS*
-Blaine
20170316
Mass Effect: Andromeda is Amazing (so far)
I've played just a hair under two hours of Mass Effect: Andromeda, and thus far, it speaks to me more than the other three games.
That's quite a claim, I agree. I absolutely love the series. Allow me to explain.
In Mass Effect 1-3, you're Mr. Military Man (or woman) (Shepard), and you're fighting this HUGE big-ass Space Threat. You're fighting it over the course of three games. You're also helping a Quarian kid get off Omega, helping a widow decide whether or not to genetically alter her baby, and banging beings of all species. It's a great trilogy that's very dear to my heart.
In Andromeda, though, you're an explorer, and that's hammered home repeatedly in the first couple hours. Yeah, there's the requisite violence, but there's still an overarching sense of being an explorer. You're part of a team that's trying to establish new colonies, and you're scanning, and you're taking on all kinds of activities that are based around learning and expanding your understanding of this odd little slice of space.
It's a really refreshing change for the series. I'm all about it. It's a whole new game that takes place in the Mass Effect universe, and a very smart choice for the future of the series. None of this, so far, feels reheated or tired. I'm really enjoying the new direction.
All that being said, I fear some folks are going to be off-put by the fact that it doesn't feel like classic Mass Effect. Personally, I find the change invigorating, but so-called 'gamers' are notoriously hyper-conservative when it comes to games. While I'm as guilty of 'oh no, they're dumbing it down for the filthy casuals' mentality as some of them, I try to balance that belief with a more open, embracing perspective.
In this case, though, I see change happening for two reasons: 1) to keep the series fresh, and 2) an artistic choice to shift the tone to something more positive and uplifting; ME1-3 got REALLY fucking dark. While this game presents challenges, they're intriguing and full of mystery, rather than oppressively grim.
I've avoided the early impressions and streams. I really wanted to go in totally blind, and I'm so glad that I did. It was a breathtaking experience, free of biases and preconceptions, and it was all mine.
I actually took in the first hour and change by myself, in the dark, by the pool out back down here in Key West. Just the cool night air, the Hyperion Ark, and me. It was wonderful.
I love this game so far. I love the positivity, the hope, the intellectual challenge being put forth, the switch from a military man to an explorer. It speaks to who I am, someone that is passionate about science and someone that believes that the future of humanity depends on inclusion and the embrace of a dogged pursuit of knowledge and exploration. Maybe I'm reading too much into this game too early on, but I believe that Mass Effect: Andromeda is the game that we need right now.
I played another less than an hour today, and I'll probably squeeze in a little more tonight. After that, I'm pretty busy, and don't anticipate much time with the game beyond maybe a little on Saturday night, after we're back in St. Louis. Then, I'll burn whatever remains of my 10 hour trial on Monday, and then I'm marathoning on Tuesday, starting at around 6AM.
Have you played it yet? What do you think?
-Blaine
That's quite a claim, I agree. I absolutely love the series. Allow me to explain.
In Mass Effect 1-3, you're Mr. Military Man (or woman) (Shepard), and you're fighting this HUGE big-ass Space Threat. You're fighting it over the course of three games. You're also helping a Quarian kid get off Omega, helping a widow decide whether or not to genetically alter her baby, and banging beings of all species. It's a great trilogy that's very dear to my heart.
In Andromeda, though, you're an explorer, and that's hammered home repeatedly in the first couple hours. Yeah, there's the requisite violence, but there's still an overarching sense of being an explorer. You're part of a team that's trying to establish new colonies, and you're scanning, and you're taking on all kinds of activities that are based around learning and expanding your understanding of this odd little slice of space.
It's a really refreshing change for the series. I'm all about it. It's a whole new game that takes place in the Mass Effect universe, and a very smart choice for the future of the series. None of this, so far, feels reheated or tired. I'm really enjoying the new direction.
All that being said, I fear some folks are going to be off-put by the fact that it doesn't feel like classic Mass Effect. Personally, I find the change invigorating, but so-called 'gamers' are notoriously hyper-conservative when it comes to games. While I'm as guilty of 'oh no, they're dumbing it down for the filthy casuals' mentality as some of them, I try to balance that belief with a more open, embracing perspective.
In this case, though, I see change happening for two reasons: 1) to keep the series fresh, and 2) an artistic choice to shift the tone to something more positive and uplifting; ME1-3 got REALLY fucking dark. While this game presents challenges, they're intriguing and full of mystery, rather than oppressively grim.
I've avoided the early impressions and streams. I really wanted to go in totally blind, and I'm so glad that I did. It was a breathtaking experience, free of biases and preconceptions, and it was all mine.
I actually took in the first hour and change by myself, in the dark, by the pool out back down here in Key West. Just the cool night air, the Hyperion Ark, and me. It was wonderful.
I love this game so far. I love the positivity, the hope, the intellectual challenge being put forth, the switch from a military man to an explorer. It speaks to who I am, someone that is passionate about science and someone that believes that the future of humanity depends on inclusion and the embrace of a dogged pursuit of knowledge and exploration. Maybe I'm reading too much into this game too early on, but I believe that Mass Effect: Andromeda is the game that we need right now.
I played another less than an hour today, and I'll probably squeeze in a little more tonight. After that, I'm pretty busy, and don't anticipate much time with the game beyond maybe a little on Saturday night, after we're back in St. Louis. Then, I'll burn whatever remains of my 10 hour trial on Monday, and then I'm marathoning on Tuesday, starting at around 6AM.
Have you played it yet? What do you think?
-Blaine
20170314
Another shout ... from Key West!
My fucking three-year old smashed my phone. I've been watching a lot of World Baseball Classic. I'm waiting for my replacement phone. I've been trying to figure out exactly when the new Mass Effect hits Origin Access. I've been researching for my upcoming KotOR stream series. I've been wandering Key West. I've been trying to decide what to do with my hair. I've been managing a kid that keeps having diarrhea. I've been reading. I'll post something more meaningful tomorrow.
- Blaine
- Blaine
20170308
AppDev + Next Stream + Vacation
That GameCon Application ...
Yeah, so I kinda went crazy with the Game Con app I talked about yesterday. I wanted to just sketch out some SQL tables and basic design, and decided to just start rapidly prototyping, and ... well, I was amazed at how quickly I pulled together a working application.
I now have it so that it'll present one or more live streams on a page dynamically, based on the schedule you enter into it. Also, I built out a system that lets me just enter some basic info, and it builds the schedule out for me. I just give it a basic panel/demo name, the date/time for start and stop, and what instance of a convention with which it's associated, and the application handles the rest, so it'll cut between streams on a single page, or show them side-by-side if they overlap a bit (which I'm going to refine).
It also lets me input an upcoming instance of a con via a web interface. I seeded the repeating cons via a SQL script, and then built an interface that lets me then create instances of those cons at will.
Then, within those cons, I can enter some basic info for panels or demos that I want to see, and associate them with a stream provider, and I stored the iframe info for each of those streams in data, and blammo, we have what we need to just fire it up and kick back. It's pretty sweet.
I'm almost disappointed that I'll be so busy with travel and vacation during most of PAX East.
I'm also looking at creating Xbox One and iPhone versions of this for myself. I may even stand it up on Azure (where the DB already is), so that I can hit it from the web whenever I want.
I also built out some very rudimentary calendar and con-specific pages. The calendar is very simple right now, and will need a lot of refinement. The con-specific pages ... I'm still thinking over what to do, but they're intended as a 'stream firehose' (no pun intended), so that you can get a look at what's live from everywhere right now at the con. The PAX one has five streams on it, and I've been tinkering with the embed code that Twitch provides to really make it cool. We'll see.
Anyway, more on this to come. Still no plans to provide it to the public, but if there's interest ... eh, we'll see.
Also, if anyone cares, I built it entirely with the new Visual Studio 2017, which is slick as hell.
My Next Stream
I'm leaning toward KotOR 1 & 2. I really adore those games, and I know a hell of a lot about the Star Wars universe. Also, it's been a looong time since I really played through the games, so that'll be fun.
Any thoughts? Objections?
I'd also play them heavily modded, so that they're in 1920x1080, plus any other neat mods I can find. KotOR2 will also have a shitload of restored content mods.
I'm gonna target that to start toward the end of the month. That'll give me ample time to do some research and a little bit of scripting.
I think I'll do what I did for the latter part of my Mass Effect series, and live stream via Twitch, and then shoot it to YouTube. We'll see. I may live stream on YouTube Gaming, but I worry about limiting my audience. Of course, there's less competition over on YTG ... we'll see. It'll probably be Twitch, but I'm gonna research and think on it.
VACATION!!!
As I've been blabbing out, I'm heading to Spring Training soon, and then to Key West. I'm very excited, as it's always the most relaxing couple of weeks of my life. And I'll wrap it all up with a few days of Mass Effect Andromeda. AAAHHH ... cannot wait.
Sunshine, baseball, family, Torment, creative freedom, and Mass Effect ... awesome.
I'll still be posting almost daily while I'm there.
Anyway, that's all for now. *HUGS*
-Blaine
Yeah, so I kinda went crazy with the Game Con app I talked about yesterday. I wanted to just sketch out some SQL tables and basic design, and decided to just start rapidly prototyping, and ... well, I was amazed at how quickly I pulled together a working application.
I now have it so that it'll present one or more live streams on a page dynamically, based on the schedule you enter into it. Also, I built out a system that lets me just enter some basic info, and it builds the schedule out for me. I just give it a basic panel/demo name, the date/time for start and stop, and what instance of a convention with which it's associated, and the application handles the rest, so it'll cut between streams on a single page, or show them side-by-side if they overlap a bit (which I'm going to refine).
It also lets me input an upcoming instance of a con via a web interface. I seeded the repeating cons via a SQL script, and then built an interface that lets me then create instances of those cons at will.
Then, within those cons, I can enter some basic info for panels or demos that I want to see, and associate them with a stream provider, and I stored the iframe info for each of those streams in data, and blammo, we have what we need to just fire it up and kick back. It's pretty sweet.
I'm almost disappointed that I'll be so busy with travel and vacation during most of PAX East.
I'm also looking at creating Xbox One and iPhone versions of this for myself. I may even stand it up on Azure (where the DB already is), so that I can hit it from the web whenever I want.
I also built out some very rudimentary calendar and con-specific pages. The calendar is very simple right now, and will need a lot of refinement. The con-specific pages ... I'm still thinking over what to do, but they're intended as a 'stream firehose' (no pun intended), so that you can get a look at what's live from everywhere right now at the con. The PAX one has five streams on it, and I've been tinkering with the embed code that Twitch provides to really make it cool. We'll see.
Anyway, more on this to come. Still no plans to provide it to the public, but if there's interest ... eh, we'll see.
Also, if anyone cares, I built it entirely with the new Visual Studio 2017, which is slick as hell.
My Next Stream
I'm leaning toward KotOR 1 & 2. I really adore those games, and I know a hell of a lot about the Star Wars universe. Also, it's been a looong time since I really played through the games, so that'll be fun.
Any thoughts? Objections?
I'd also play them heavily modded, so that they're in 1920x1080, plus any other neat mods I can find. KotOR2 will also have a shitload of restored content mods.
I'm gonna target that to start toward the end of the month. That'll give me ample time to do some research and a little bit of scripting.
I think I'll do what I did for the latter part of my Mass Effect series, and live stream via Twitch, and then shoot it to YouTube. We'll see. I may live stream on YouTube Gaming, but I worry about limiting my audience. Of course, there's less competition over on YTG ... we'll see. It'll probably be Twitch, but I'm gonna research and think on it.
VACATION!!!
As I've been blabbing out, I'm heading to Spring Training soon, and then to Key West. I'm very excited, as it's always the most relaxing couple of weeks of my life. And I'll wrap it all up with a few days of Mass Effect Andromeda. AAAHHH ... cannot wait.
Sunshine, baseball, family, Torment, creative freedom, and Mass Effect ... awesome.
I'll still be posting almost daily while I'm there.
Anyway, that's all for now. *HUGS*
-Blaine
20170306
Travel Gaming
I'm a few days out from hitting the road (er, air) to travel for a couple weeks, as I do every March, and as I do every March, I'm contemplating my travel gaming setup.
All Spring Training pictures are mine, by the way.
Things To Consider
First, we're flying this year instead of driving, which is rare. We'll probably resume driving again next year, but we wanted a break from the Missouri-Florida drive for a year, and to be able to maximize time at Spring Training and Key West. I've seen way more of Georgia and Georgia drivers than I ever need to see again. It's a beautiful state with nice people, but FUCK, they cannot drive.
Less travel time means less setting up and breaking down of my laptop setup (which is my usual gaming setup anyway), which will be nice.
The laptop is too big to really use in the car, and is definitely too big to use on a plane.
I have a Vita and 3DS, but even when we drive, I don't play them in the car, as I like to do nearly all the driving myself. I have a hard time relaxing if someone else is driving. Yeah, I'm THAT fucking guy.
Vacation Time vs Gaming Time
I'm not one of those people that believes 'you're on vacation, therefore, you can only have vacation fun!' Yes, I'm in Florida, but I also have time away from responsibility and the daily churn, so you're fucking right that I'm carving time out in Key West to game. Besides, Torment just came out!
I also want to stop lugging extra shit around. The Vita is a nifty little machine, and the fact that I can remote to my PS4 with it (though my PC can do this, too) is super-rad. I hate the lack of R2 and L2, though, and the rear touchpad is totally unacceptable as a replacement.
The 3DS ... meh ... I just haven't ever fallen in love with it.
Though Bravely Default looks dope as hell.
And then there's my iOS devices. I've yet to ever really enjoy playing something on a phone, but that doesn't mean I'll quit trying occasionally. I've got a Phoenix Wright game on there (I LOVED those back on the DS), and a handful of Final Fantasy titles, which are also on the Vita, and which I also have on Steam. Man, if I could share saves across all those, that would be super-rad.
Honestly, ideally, I'll set up near the pool in the back of the house in Key West, and rock some more Torment.
Though, Mass Effect Andromeda is hitting early access via Origin Access during my last few days in Key West ...
The Plan
So, this trip is my annual pilgrimage to Cardinals Spring Training, which is the single-most relaxing thing I do every year. Some years, though, the trophy wife makes some noise about wanting to spend less time (or no time) traveling with the team, and instead wants to hang out down in the Keys, at one of my parents' houses.
While in Jupiter, most of my time is occupied by two things: baseball and dining. I love the food down there, and it's the only seafood I'll eat. Florida has utterly wrecked fish for me. I won't eat any in Missouri anymore.
Also, the kids and us are crammed into a hotel room together, and we have a bunch of family there, so I get very little mouse/keyboard time. Maybe this is an ideal time to convince myself that I should try a portable game again?
We're cutting my Spring Training trip a little short this year so that we can spend almost a week in Key West (*sob*), and that's where I plan to get a little more time gaming, though it will be outside. And yeah, I'll do shit with actual humans, too, but goddam, keep your judgment to yourself.
I would really like to finish Torment while I'm on vacation, if possible, but only if I can do it and have an immersive experience. We'll see. I absolutely love the game, but my understanding is that it's not nearly as along as what I've been playing lately, and that it's clocking in at around 30 hours. Like I said, we'll see.
We're back a few days before Mass Effect officially releases, but I've extended my vacation to the day after Mass Effect releases, so that I can have some time to spend with it.
And then, after a pretty crazy March (Torment, Horizon, MEA, Spring Training, Key West), we have a VERY quiet April, until Dawn of War 3 on 4/27, and then a super-fun weekend trip to South Beach in Miami, which also coincides with Prey's release. It's an awesome spring, after an absolute shit winter.
Wrapping Up
I just suck at portable gaming. I have both the 3DS and Vita, and just have a hard time bringing myself to play much on them. I played quite a bit on the GBA and DS, but at some point, I just stopped giving a shit. My gaming laptops have provided an amazing, if bulky, experience.
I'd like to enjoy the portable games a bit more. I've nearly given up on mobile gaming (cell phones). I'm glad that a lot of people find experiences that they don't feel are complete wastes of time, but I am not among them.
Oh, hey, look, it's a Dawn of War trailer!
-Blaine
All Spring Training pictures are mine, by the way.
Things To Consider
First, we're flying this year instead of driving, which is rare. We'll probably resume driving again next year, but we wanted a break from the Missouri-Florida drive for a year, and to be able to maximize time at Spring Training and Key West. I've seen way more of Georgia and Georgia drivers than I ever need to see again. It's a beautiful state with nice people, but FUCK, they cannot drive.
Less travel time means less setting up and breaking down of my laptop setup (which is my usual gaming setup anyway), which will be nice.
The laptop is too big to really use in the car, and is definitely too big to use on a plane.
I have a Vita and 3DS, but even when we drive, I don't play them in the car, as I like to do nearly all the driving myself. I have a hard time relaxing if someone else is driving. Yeah, I'm THAT fucking guy.
Vacation Time vs Gaming Time
I'm not one of those people that believes 'you're on vacation, therefore, you can only have vacation fun!' Yes, I'm in Florida, but I also have time away from responsibility and the daily churn, so you're fucking right that I'm carving time out in Key West to game. Besides, Torment just came out!
I also want to stop lugging extra shit around. The Vita is a nifty little machine, and the fact that I can remote to my PS4 with it (though my PC can do this, too) is super-rad. I hate the lack of R2 and L2, though, and the rear touchpad is totally unacceptable as a replacement.
The 3DS ... meh ... I just haven't ever fallen in love with it.
Though Bravely Default looks dope as hell.
And then there's my iOS devices. I've yet to ever really enjoy playing something on a phone, but that doesn't mean I'll quit trying occasionally. I've got a Phoenix Wright game on there (I LOVED those back on the DS), and a handful of Final Fantasy titles, which are also on the Vita, and which I also have on Steam. Man, if I could share saves across all those, that would be super-rad.
Honestly, ideally, I'll set up near the pool in the back of the house in Key West, and rock some more Torment.
Though, Mass Effect Andromeda is hitting early access via Origin Access during my last few days in Key West ...
The Plan
So, this trip is my annual pilgrimage to Cardinals Spring Training, which is the single-most relaxing thing I do every year. Some years, though, the trophy wife makes some noise about wanting to spend less time (or no time) traveling with the team, and instead wants to hang out down in the Keys, at one of my parents' houses.
While in Jupiter, most of my time is occupied by two things: baseball and dining. I love the food down there, and it's the only seafood I'll eat. Florida has utterly wrecked fish for me. I won't eat any in Missouri anymore.
Also, the kids and us are crammed into a hotel room together, and we have a bunch of family there, so I get very little mouse/keyboard time. Maybe this is an ideal time to convince myself that I should try a portable game again?
We're cutting my Spring Training trip a little short this year so that we can spend almost a week in Key West (*sob*), and that's where I plan to get a little more time gaming, though it will be outside. And yeah, I'll do shit with actual humans, too, but goddam, keep your judgment to yourself.
I would really like to finish Torment while I'm on vacation, if possible, but only if I can do it and have an immersive experience. We'll see. I absolutely love the game, but my understanding is that it's not nearly as along as what I've been playing lately, and that it's clocking in at around 30 hours. Like I said, we'll see.
We're back a few days before Mass Effect officially releases, but I've extended my vacation to the day after Mass Effect releases, so that I can have some time to spend with it.
And then, after a pretty crazy March (Torment, Horizon, MEA, Spring Training, Key West), we have a VERY quiet April, until Dawn of War 3 on 4/27, and then a super-fun weekend trip to South Beach in Miami, which also coincides with Prey's release. It's an awesome spring, after an absolute shit winter.
Wrapping Up
I just suck at portable gaming. I have both the 3DS and Vita, and just have a hard time bringing myself to play much on them. I played quite a bit on the GBA and DS, but at some point, I just stopped giving a shit. My gaming laptops have provided an amazing, if bulky, experience.
I'd like to enjoy the portable games a bit more. I've nearly given up on mobile gaming (cell phones). I'm glad that a lot of people find experiences that they don't feel are complete wastes of time, but I am not among them.
Oh, hey, look, it's a Dawn of War trailer!
-Blaine
20170303
And in the end ...
... so I had another post almost ready to go yesterday, but work and life get really busy occasionally, and my blogging tends to be one of the first things to go ... for now.
Anyway, I had a pretty neat pre-travel blog in the works yesterday that'll now be some time next week. Basically, it talks about my travel gaming as I prepare for my annual Spring Training travels. Basically, I go spend a couple weeks with my beloved Cardinals, soak up some Florida sun, get away from the Midwest winter hell, and it's all pretty great. I sometimes also shoot down to Key West for a few days, as I love that place.
During all that, I do find some gaming time. I'll talk about that more next week.
The Road to Andromeda
I finished it. I started the Mass Effect trilogy playthrough stream on 8/28 last year, and completed it last night, 3/2. WOW.
You can see the whole damn thing here.
It was a really interesting process, and honestly, it's kinda stupid, but I'm proud of it. It wasn't perfect, it wasn't quite what I wanted it to be, but I finished it, and I learned a LOT. And I had a good time!
The best moments were when chat would get really animated, and we'd have some fun discussions.
I'm still kinda reeling from it, and honestly, from a few personal and professional shocks (all good) that have happened over the last 24 hours, but it was really cool, and I'm going to do it again.
I'm not sure what series or game I want to stream/record next, but I have a few things I'm going to do differently.
1) have more set start and stop points, and more consistent lengths of time that I play
2) bring more fun 'behind the scenes' info to the table; research the section that I'm about to play a little bit more in advance, and have some fun factoids to throw out
3) bring more personal stories and humor; either stories from pervious playthroughs, or personal stories that I'm reminded of while playing; I have a pretty wild history from which to pull, and I need to leverage that more
4) a little more professionalism; I had too many instances of screaming child and/or background noise; I also want to get a green screen; I'll probably also run some cabling to my basement and set up a pro streaming thing down there; we'll see
5) get better with the graphics for my thumbnails and shit; I'm a goddam fucking professional developer; I should be able to handle shit like that (though my dear friend Marc makes them sooo well)
And I welcome any feedback ya'll have. I really wanna make this more fun for all involved, and I wanna grow my audience. What I need to do next time is make a fucking great first episode that can get circulated and really give people a chance to see that I'm not just another falsetto-screaming jackass that's trying to appeal to the millennials. I'm an older dude trying to hook older, more mature, more seasoned gaming enthusiasts, or just chill people that want a fun time.
I think with the above Mass Effect series, I had long stretches where I wasn't injecting enough of my personality into it, or where I was just REALLY tired. Both of those things will be addressed in the next series.
I also need to figure out how the hell to market this. I think that's where I'm really shooting myself in the foot.
I also wanna figure out if I should be streaming on YouTube Gaming or Twitch. I've gone back and forth. I think YTG might be good because there's so much less competition and I like the interface better (as a viewer), but Twitch has sooo many more eyeballs. I dunno.
Also games and game series I'm contemplating: KotOR 1&2, Dragon Age trilogy, Pillars of Eternity, The Witcher trilogy, a Telltale series, Jade Empire, and ... what else? What do you wanna see? I tend to shun games that I've never played before, for a couple reasons, but I won't say never. Again, what do you wanna see?
So, lots to think about and research. Please, let me know what you think, and what you wanna see.
Thanks, and happy weekend!
-Blaine
Anyway, I had a pretty neat pre-travel blog in the works yesterday that'll now be some time next week. Basically, it talks about my travel gaming as I prepare for my annual Spring Training travels. Basically, I go spend a couple weeks with my beloved Cardinals, soak up some Florida sun, get away from the Midwest winter hell, and it's all pretty great. I sometimes also shoot down to Key West for a few days, as I love that place.
During all that, I do find some gaming time. I'll talk about that more next week.
The Road to Andromeda
I finished it. I started the Mass Effect trilogy playthrough stream on 8/28 last year, and completed it last night, 3/2. WOW.
You can see the whole damn thing here.
It was a really interesting process, and honestly, it's kinda stupid, but I'm proud of it. It wasn't perfect, it wasn't quite what I wanted it to be, but I finished it, and I learned a LOT. And I had a good time!
The best moments were when chat would get really animated, and we'd have some fun discussions.
I'm still kinda reeling from it, and honestly, from a few personal and professional shocks (all good) that have happened over the last 24 hours, but it was really cool, and I'm going to do it again.
I'm not sure what series or game I want to stream/record next, but I have a few things I'm going to do differently.
1) have more set start and stop points, and more consistent lengths of time that I play
2) bring more fun 'behind the scenes' info to the table; research the section that I'm about to play a little bit more in advance, and have some fun factoids to throw out
3) bring more personal stories and humor; either stories from pervious playthroughs, or personal stories that I'm reminded of while playing; I have a pretty wild history from which to pull, and I need to leverage that more
4) a little more professionalism; I had too many instances of screaming child and/or background noise; I also want to get a green screen; I'll probably also run some cabling to my basement and set up a pro streaming thing down there; we'll see
5) get better with the graphics for my thumbnails and shit; I'm a goddam fucking professional developer; I should be able to handle shit like that (though my dear friend Marc makes them sooo well)
And I welcome any feedback ya'll have. I really wanna make this more fun for all involved, and I wanna grow my audience. What I need to do next time is make a fucking great first episode that can get circulated and really give people a chance to see that I'm not just another falsetto-screaming jackass that's trying to appeal to the millennials. I'm an older dude trying to hook older, more mature, more seasoned gaming enthusiasts, or just chill people that want a fun time.
I think with the above Mass Effect series, I had long stretches where I wasn't injecting enough of my personality into it, or where I was just REALLY tired. Both of those things will be addressed in the next series.
I also need to figure out how the hell to market this. I think that's where I'm really shooting myself in the foot.
I also wanna figure out if I should be streaming on YouTube Gaming or Twitch. I've gone back and forth. I think YTG might be good because there's so much less competition and I like the interface better (as a viewer), but Twitch has sooo many more eyeballs. I dunno.
Also games and game series I'm contemplating: KotOR 1&2, Dragon Age trilogy, Pillars of Eternity, The Witcher trilogy, a Telltale series, Jade Empire, and ... what else? What do you wanna see? I tend to shun games that I've never played before, for a couple reasons, but I won't say never. Again, what do you wanna see?
So, lots to think about and research. Please, let me know what you think, and what you wanna see.
Thanks, and happy weekend!
-Blaine
20170223
Games Media Is a Mess
Back in the late 80s, the day that the latest Nintendo Power would show up was like a mini-Christmas every month (or every other month, when they went bi-monthly.) I had an idea of around when it was going to hit the mailbox. I'd pore through it, drool over the latest Ninja Gaiden or CastleVania screens, then chuckle when Legend of Zelda was still #1 in the monthly most popular games.
I drifted away from gaming in the 16-bit era, as I was focused on playing in a band and chicks, but when I came back, in the mid-90s, there were a lot more gaming mags.
At first, I scoffed at the magazines that were multi-platform, and not directly from the console manufacturer, but that attitude quickly changed, as I came to really enjoy the writing in magazines like Electronic Gaming Monthly, GamePro, and GameFan. In fact, whenever I'd stop at the store with my girlfriend, I'd grab all the latest issues of each one, and devour it.
EGM, in particular, was a standout for me. The writing got better and better as the years went on, and they were my shepherd into the online coverage, via the beloved 1up.com.
What drove EGM, and then later, 1up.com, was the personalities. Yeah, you were reading it for the games, but after a while, each writer's distinct voice, as well as the personality of the mag and site, brought you back to THEM instead of IGN or whatever else there was at the time.
Meanwhile, G4TV became a thing, and I quickly came to adore X-Play, and appreciated the myriad other gaming-based programming (before they just showed COPS reruns 25hrs a day.) It was astounding, the humor that show got away with.
Somewhere around here, podcasts started to catch on, and 1UP Yours was born.
Inevitably, 1UP moved into the video space, and the 1UP Show became, in my mind, the best video game show ever.
1UP Yours and the 1UP Show were absolutely incredible early examples of games media's expansion from the printed word. Again, it was the personalities that made it. The editors and writers around the 1UP office just seemed like the coolest people you could possibly hang out with, and they really grew my interest in gaming.
I've talked before about my 'onboarding' to PC gaming, and the various factors that went into it, and among those factors was Jeff Green and Shawn Elliott, editors at 1UP and Computer Gaming World. Their podcast, CGW Radio (later GFW Radio), ushered me into a whole new way of looking at games, and their outlook on things was so different from the more rosy, cheerful console side. I came to love both tremendously, but Jeff and Shawn helped me want to become a PC gamer, and before long, I was loving Guild Wars and Company of Heroes.
As time went on, the talent left 1UP for dev and publishing, words became fewer, videos became shorter, and 1UP was shuttered eventually. Meanwhile, and since then, articles have become lists or clickbait, videos are now more about someone shrieking in falsetto than talking critically about a game, and the personalities too often move around.
I still love reading about games, and I feel like a couple of recent upstarts, Glixel and Waypoint, are killing it. They are exactly what I want. Beyond that, I still enjoy GameSpot. PCGamer is still probably the first site that I check every day. I also like RockPaperShotgun, GamesBeat, and a handful of others.
On the video side, Twitch and YouTube have totally upended games coverage. In some ways, for the better, but in others, not at all. 'YouTubers' are quickly becoming the preferred mouthpieces for publishers and developers, as 1) most of them (not all) seem more willing to just mouth the message, and 2) they're not actually journalists, and thus don't apply the pressure that comes with being trained as a journalist. Conversely, gamers are seeing more preview builds in more depth than ever, but what's missing, often, is the critical analysis and interesting developer interviews.
Back to the gaming sites, the personalities aren't as sharp, or aren't show. And quit covering fucking movies and comics, please. I think each site has some great personalities, but where is the modern 1UP Show? Why has no one tried to take that on again? It was such a great concept, and did a lot to actually drive the 1UP brand.
On the news side, the clickbait shit is out of control. It is so bad. THAT is killing games coverage more than anything else.
Now, I'm pretty diverse in how I absorb all this. I hit the above sites pretty much every day, I watch a handful of Twitch streamers (Starbuck2190 is my favorite; great Mass Effect streamer), I check my YouTube subscriptions when I get home, and I listen to some gaming podcasts throughout the week, in particular, Elder Scrolls Off the Record and OotiniCast.
But it's messy now. I guess I get what I need from all of it, but I don't LOVE any of it, like I used to. Were an outlet to get really smart, what they'd do is have non-clickbait written coverage, a daily stream, or even a couple, a weekly podcast, and then an end-of-the-week show that captures what has the office chattering. It's a lot, yeah, but that would become a force to be reckoned with. And when I say show, I don't mean a filmed podcast, I mean something produced, like the old 1UP Show.
Shit, even something like X-Play would be cool.
I think maybe we saw the ultimate rise and fall of games coverage, and news in general is becoming democratized, for better or worse.
Phew. This went on way longer than I'd intended. Sorry.
So, what say you? How do you like the state of games media?
Tonight and This Weekend
I'll be streaming again tonight, but may not start until close to 2100 central time. My wife is outta town, and I got kid things to take care of before I can settle in and stream more Mass Effect 3. The plan, tonight, is to play through Sanctuary. I'd love it if you came on out and shot the shit with me while I played!
I'll be streaming more Mass Effect each evening this weekend, probably starting around 2000 or 2100.
If you wanna get caught up on my The Road to Andromeda series, in which I play through all of Mass Effect 1-3 (including all DLC + some mods that make it pretty), check it out here or below.
And that's it, for now. I'll post something really brief tomorrow (Fridays are always hectic for me) that probably does little more than pimp my stream, but we'll see.
Anyway, hope to see ya tonight!
Also, five days til Torment/Horizon Day!
-Blaine
I drifted away from gaming in the 16-bit era, as I was focused on playing in a band and chicks, but when I came back, in the mid-90s, there were a lot more gaming mags.
At first, I scoffed at the magazines that were multi-platform, and not directly from the console manufacturer, but that attitude quickly changed, as I came to really enjoy the writing in magazines like Electronic Gaming Monthly, GamePro, and GameFan. In fact, whenever I'd stop at the store with my girlfriend, I'd grab all the latest issues of each one, and devour it.
EGM, in particular, was a standout for me. The writing got better and better as the years went on, and they were my shepherd into the online coverage, via the beloved 1up.com.
What drove EGM, and then later, 1up.com, was the personalities. Yeah, you were reading it for the games, but after a while, each writer's distinct voice, as well as the personality of the mag and site, brought you back to THEM instead of IGN or whatever else there was at the time.
Meanwhile, G4TV became a thing, and I quickly came to adore X-Play, and appreciated the myriad other gaming-based programming (before they just showed COPS reruns 25hrs a day.) It was astounding, the humor that show got away with.
Somewhere around here, podcasts started to catch on, and 1UP Yours was born.
Inevitably, 1UP moved into the video space, and the 1UP Show became, in my mind, the best video game show ever.
1UP Yours and the 1UP Show were absolutely incredible early examples of games media's expansion from the printed word. Again, it was the personalities that made it. The editors and writers around the 1UP office just seemed like the coolest people you could possibly hang out with, and they really grew my interest in gaming.
I've talked before about my 'onboarding' to PC gaming, and the various factors that went into it, and among those factors was Jeff Green and Shawn Elliott, editors at 1UP and Computer Gaming World. Their podcast, CGW Radio (later GFW Radio), ushered me into a whole new way of looking at games, and their outlook on things was so different from the more rosy, cheerful console side. I came to love both tremendously, but Jeff and Shawn helped me want to become a PC gamer, and before long, I was loving Guild Wars and Company of Heroes.
As time went on, the talent left 1UP for dev and publishing, words became fewer, videos became shorter, and 1UP was shuttered eventually. Meanwhile, and since then, articles have become lists or clickbait, videos are now more about someone shrieking in falsetto than talking critically about a game, and the personalities too often move around.
I still love reading about games, and I feel like a couple of recent upstarts, Glixel and Waypoint, are killing it. They are exactly what I want. Beyond that, I still enjoy GameSpot. PCGamer is still probably the first site that I check every day. I also like RockPaperShotgun, GamesBeat, and a handful of others.
On the video side, Twitch and YouTube have totally upended games coverage. In some ways, for the better, but in others, not at all. 'YouTubers' are quickly becoming the preferred mouthpieces for publishers and developers, as 1) most of them (not all) seem more willing to just mouth the message, and 2) they're not actually journalists, and thus don't apply the pressure that comes with being trained as a journalist. Conversely, gamers are seeing more preview builds in more depth than ever, but what's missing, often, is the critical analysis and interesting developer interviews.
Back to the gaming sites, the personalities aren't as sharp, or aren't show. And quit covering fucking movies and comics, please. I think each site has some great personalities, but where is the modern 1UP Show? Why has no one tried to take that on again? It was such a great concept, and did a lot to actually drive the 1UP brand.
On the news side, the clickbait shit is out of control. It is so bad. THAT is killing games coverage more than anything else.
Now, I'm pretty diverse in how I absorb all this. I hit the above sites pretty much every day, I watch a handful of Twitch streamers (Starbuck2190 is my favorite; great Mass Effect streamer), I check my YouTube subscriptions when I get home, and I listen to some gaming podcasts throughout the week, in particular, Elder Scrolls Off the Record and OotiniCast.
But it's messy now. I guess I get what I need from all of it, but I don't LOVE any of it, like I used to. Were an outlet to get really smart, what they'd do is have non-clickbait written coverage, a daily stream, or even a couple, a weekly podcast, and then an end-of-the-week show that captures what has the office chattering. It's a lot, yeah, but that would become a force to be reckoned with. And when I say show, I don't mean a filmed podcast, I mean something produced, like the old 1UP Show.
Shit, even something like X-Play would be cool.
I think maybe we saw the ultimate rise and fall of games coverage, and news in general is becoming democratized, for better or worse.
Phew. This went on way longer than I'd intended. Sorry.
So, what say you? How do you like the state of games media?
Tonight and This Weekend
I'll be streaming again tonight, but may not start until close to 2100 central time. My wife is outta town, and I got kid things to take care of before I can settle in and stream more Mass Effect 3. The plan, tonight, is to play through Sanctuary. I'd love it if you came on out and shot the shit with me while I played!
I'll be streaming more Mass Effect each evening this weekend, probably starting around 2000 or 2100.
If you wanna get caught up on my The Road to Andromeda series, in which I play through all of Mass Effect 1-3 (including all DLC + some mods that make it pretty), check it out here or below.
And that's it, for now. I'll post something really brief tomorrow (Fridays are always hectic for me) that probably does little more than pimp my stream, but we'll see.
Anyway, hope to see ya tonight!
Also, five days til Torment/Horizon Day!
-Blaine
20170220
Monday Morrowind Memories
That's a clever title. I actually do have a lot to say about Morrowind. And Mass Effect. And Torment: Tides of Numenera. And Horizon: Zero Dawn. And more.
Torment/Horizon Day
First, we're only eight days out from Torment and Horizon. Holy shit. I think I'm going to start the night before with Horizon, as it unlocks at 2300, and I'm certain that Torment will have some issues updating the existing installs to the full game. It's an indie studio, it's Steam, and I want the game more than I do nearly anything else ever, so it's going to have problems. I'm going to just stave off my technical frustration and emotional meltdown, and just play Horizon the night before.
Then, when I wake up (I'm taking the day off work), I'll poke at Torment and see what's what.
Maybe I'll trade off every couple hours. We'll see. I'll probably just play the shit outta Torment.
On Morrowind
I have a weird-ass relationship with Morrowind. As you know, I've never finished an Elder Scrolls game. Hell aside from Morrowind and ESO, I've barely played them. As I've discussed before, they look perfect for me on paper, but I just have a hard time with the execution. I'm a lifelong RPG player, but have historically struggled when it comes to Elder Scrolls.
So, yesterday, I fired up the game for a while, and decided to just park it in Vivec and see how long I could quest while never leaving Vivec. Several hours later, I'd never left Vivec.
And I was having a good time ... for the most part. While VERY slowly walking around, sometimes place to place, sometimes to the boat and then to the place, it occurred to me that what chafes me about Morrowind is the lack of convenience. In some ways, it is very, very sim, and in others, it is not. The fast-travel (silt strider, boat, mage teleport) is instant and fast. The walking is NOT. Navigation is difficult, as well. Most vendors only buy certain items, and do not have infinite cash with which they can buy your 6500-coin glass staff thingy. I really do appreciate these things, but fuck, it can really grate on me.
Yes, yes, I know, I'm what's wrong with the modern gaming enthusiast, everything needs to be easy, games are horrible now that they're playable and accessible, and oh my god, it's sooo disappointing that the dude in Dark Souls doesn't leap out of the TV and actually kill the player when he dies and blah blah blah. Yeah, motherfucker, I played through the original NES Ninja Gaiden trilogy, so kiss my ass, and let me enjoy the fact that I don't need reaction times like Neo in the Matrix anymore in order to enjoy a fun interactive story. And go get a fucking life.
Anyway, I've started to allow myself to cheat a little, and I may have already talked about this. I'm using a handful of console commands to do things like give myself torches, potions of levitation, etc. I gave myself a grandmaster lockpick so that I could join the Morag Tong while I was in Vivec.
I've thus far restrained my need to start teleporting myself around via console commands, but I'll be surprised if I make it the whole game without doing that. It's just that it takes so fucking long to move from one point to another. I guess the world was a slower place in 2002. Not sure.
Here's some video reviews of Horizon because you hate typed words now
The Road to Andromeda
I spent more time with my monster Mass Effect trilogy playthrough, which you can view here. Please do give it a look, and let me know what you think. I want to do more of these, and would love to have some feedback for my next game series playthrough.
So, there's all that, so far. I'm gonna go watch some of this, as well as some other lunch time fun. I'll be back tomorrow to freak out some more about how close Torment and Horizon are. Keep it real, friends.
-Blaine
Torment/Horizon Day
First, we're only eight days out from Torment and Horizon. Holy shit. I think I'm going to start the night before with Horizon, as it unlocks at 2300, and I'm certain that Torment will have some issues updating the existing installs to the full game. It's an indie studio, it's Steam, and I want the game more than I do nearly anything else ever, so it's going to have problems. I'm going to just stave off my technical frustration and emotional meltdown, and just play Horizon the night before.
Then, when I wake up (I'm taking the day off work), I'll poke at Torment and see what's what.
Maybe I'll trade off every couple hours. We'll see. I'll probably just play the shit outta Torment.
On Morrowind
I have a weird-ass relationship with Morrowind. As you know, I've never finished an Elder Scrolls game. Hell aside from Morrowind and ESO, I've barely played them. As I've discussed before, they look perfect for me on paper, but I just have a hard time with the execution. I'm a lifelong RPG player, but have historically struggled when it comes to Elder Scrolls.
So, yesterday, I fired up the game for a while, and decided to just park it in Vivec and see how long I could quest while never leaving Vivec. Several hours later, I'd never left Vivec.
And I was having a good time ... for the most part. While VERY slowly walking around, sometimes place to place, sometimes to the boat and then to the place, it occurred to me that what chafes me about Morrowind is the lack of convenience. In some ways, it is very, very sim, and in others, it is not. The fast-travel (silt strider, boat, mage teleport) is instant and fast. The walking is NOT. Navigation is difficult, as well. Most vendors only buy certain items, and do not have infinite cash with which they can buy your 6500-coin glass staff thingy. I really do appreciate these things, but fuck, it can really grate on me.
Yes, yes, I know, I'm what's wrong with the modern gaming enthusiast, everything needs to be easy, games are horrible now that they're playable and accessible, and oh my god, it's sooo disappointing that the dude in Dark Souls doesn't leap out of the TV and actually kill the player when he dies and blah blah blah. Yeah, motherfucker, I played through the original NES Ninja Gaiden trilogy, so kiss my ass, and let me enjoy the fact that I don't need reaction times like Neo in the Matrix anymore in order to enjoy a fun interactive story. And go get a fucking life.
Anyway, I've started to allow myself to cheat a little, and I may have already talked about this. I'm using a handful of console commands to do things like give myself torches, potions of levitation, etc. I gave myself a grandmaster lockpick so that I could join the Morag Tong while I was in Vivec.
I've thus far restrained my need to start teleporting myself around via console commands, but I'll be surprised if I make it the whole game without doing that. It's just that it takes so fucking long to move from one point to another. I guess the world was a slower place in 2002. Not sure.
Here's some video reviews of Horizon because you hate typed words now
The Road to Andromeda
I spent more time with my monster Mass Effect trilogy playthrough, which you can view here. Please do give it a look, and let me know what you think. I want to do more of these, and would love to have some feedback for my next game series playthrough.
So, there's all that, so far. I'm gonna go watch some of this, as well as some other lunch time fun. I'll be back tomorrow to freak out some more about how close Torment and Horizon are. Keep it real, friends.
-Blaine
20170215
Time ... it is what it is ...
So, here we are, just less than three weeks from Torment/Horizon day. Game-wise, I've been hitting the unfinished classics pretty hard (Baldur's Gate & Morrowind), as well as a lot of ESO. It's been OK, but man, I am BURNING for something new and shiny.
I realized, this morning, that it's been a year and nine months since the last game about which I was insanely excited released. That was The Witcher 3. There's been some solid games since then, but 2016 was my (and this only my opinion about games that I like) JV squad in terms of releases. I'm fond of Deus Ex, Dishonored, Doom, XCOM, and all those type games, and I've really enjoyed the latest releases for SWTOR, ESO, and Guild Wars 2, but those all feel like snacks. Those are my second tier for games, and it's all I had last year.
Part of what caused this was Dragon Age: Inquisition, Pillars of Eternity, and The Witcher 3 all releasing in a six-month span, from 2014 November to 2015 May. It was wonderful and brutal.
I didn't even notice this 'problem' until I really started to think about my recent 'gaming malaise.' I am licking my chops, ready for something new and awesome.
Fucking Torment: Tides of Numenera. Bring that shit on, man. I'm actually taking the day off for it. It looks wonderful. Everything I've seen about it, and everything I've played of the demo tickle my soul.
Yeah, I know. Me not loving the same games you do can be a problem for some, and the fact that I only really get invested in RPGs triggers weird reactions in random folks, but I don't care. I tried some of the indie darlings, thought they were OK, and moved on. I didn't hate them, I thought they had good aspects, and that was pretty much the extent of my judgement. I didn't hate them, I didn't declare that other people shouldn't go crazy for them, I just thought they were OK. Relax.
And all of that is missing the point, anyway. I played a lotta shit last year, and none of it really ignited me. I had a very good time with Deus Ex: Mankind Divided, as well as Dishonored 2. I enjoyed some time with Doom and XCOM 2. I thought whatever 2D indie darling games they made me play were OK.
But man, no matter what I try, the only games that REALLY grab me are the ones that are huge investments with depth everywhere, from the systems to the lore to the story to the characters, to the world, etc. I love games that I can just throw myself at for months. I actually approach my job much the same way. I tend to chase after the 'huge project' work, rather than the little shit. I like deeply investing in things.
Again, as a side note, the fact that I've never finished an Elder Scrolls game still somewhat baffles me. Those games are ridiculously deep. There's just something about the actual mechanics and design choices that throw me occasionally. Most of this is aimed at Morrowind.
Also, in this drought, I did finally find my way into the Fallout Bethesda/Obsidian games. It took several tries over several years, but I finally pushed through Fallout 3 and Fallout: New Vegas, and adored them. Fallout 4 was very good, but didn't quite hit the mark that FNV did. I think part of it is that New Vegas was sooo good, and I played F4 like right after finishing it.
Anyway, I'm curious to see how this 2015/5/19-2017/2/28 stretch matches with other periods of time. It certainly feels like the longest I've ever gone. And like I said, it kinda snuck up on me. I knew last year was a 'B-team year' in terms of my favorite franchises and games, but the fact that you have to go back all the way to May in 2015 surprised me.
I'm not offering to do any actual research on the subject, but it really surprised me.
And then, after that, I've got Mass Effect: Andromeda three weeks later. And in those three weeks, I'm traveling for two of them. It's a good 'problem' to have, but goddam. I'll have Torment, Horizon, and MEA all queued up, and then I got Prey in May, and then the Morrowind expac in June, and then, I think, a long drought into winter. Good times.
What about you? You ever have a stretch like this? It's weird how my favorite games seem to cluster in terms of release. In theory, though, I should have a new BioWare game by 2018/3/31, and I have some Kickstarters that should be landing later this year and early next year (though I got money that says no way Obsidian hits 2018 Q1 with Pillars 2, and that's totally OK.)
Anyway, that's that. What about you? You ever have 'awesome game starvation?'
Also, get caught up on my 'The Road to Andromeda' Mass Effect series on YouTube here or below:
Thanks! I'll be resuming the playthrough tomorrow night!
-Blaine
I realized, this morning, that it's been a year and nine months since the last game about which I was insanely excited released. That was The Witcher 3. There's been some solid games since then, but 2016 was my (and this only my opinion about games that I like) JV squad in terms of releases. I'm fond of Deus Ex, Dishonored, Doom, XCOM, and all those type games, and I've really enjoyed the latest releases for SWTOR, ESO, and Guild Wars 2, but those all feel like snacks. Those are my second tier for games, and it's all I had last year.
Part of what caused this was Dragon Age: Inquisition, Pillars of Eternity, and The Witcher 3 all releasing in a six-month span, from 2014 November to 2015 May. It was wonderful and brutal.
I didn't even notice this 'problem' until I really started to think about my recent 'gaming malaise.' I am licking my chops, ready for something new and awesome.
Fucking Torment: Tides of Numenera. Bring that shit on, man. I'm actually taking the day off for it. It looks wonderful. Everything I've seen about it, and everything I've played of the demo tickle my soul.
Yeah, I know. Me not loving the same games you do can be a problem for some, and the fact that I only really get invested in RPGs triggers weird reactions in random folks, but I don't care. I tried some of the indie darlings, thought they were OK, and moved on. I didn't hate them, I thought they had good aspects, and that was pretty much the extent of my judgement. I didn't hate them, I didn't declare that other people shouldn't go crazy for them, I just thought they were OK. Relax.
And all of that is missing the point, anyway. I played a lotta shit last year, and none of it really ignited me. I had a very good time with Deus Ex: Mankind Divided, as well as Dishonored 2. I enjoyed some time with Doom and XCOM 2. I thought whatever 2D indie darling games they made me play were OK.
But man, no matter what I try, the only games that REALLY grab me are the ones that are huge investments with depth everywhere, from the systems to the lore to the story to the characters, to the world, etc. I love games that I can just throw myself at for months. I actually approach my job much the same way. I tend to chase after the 'huge project' work, rather than the little shit. I like deeply investing in things.
Again, as a side note, the fact that I've never finished an Elder Scrolls game still somewhat baffles me. Those games are ridiculously deep. There's just something about the actual mechanics and design choices that throw me occasionally. Most of this is aimed at Morrowind.
Also, in this drought, I did finally find my way into the Fallout Bethesda/Obsidian games. It took several tries over several years, but I finally pushed through Fallout 3 and Fallout: New Vegas, and adored them. Fallout 4 was very good, but didn't quite hit the mark that FNV did. I think part of it is that New Vegas was sooo good, and I played F4 like right after finishing it.
Anyway, I'm curious to see how this 2015/5/19-2017/2/28 stretch matches with other periods of time. It certainly feels like the longest I've ever gone. And like I said, it kinda snuck up on me. I knew last year was a 'B-team year' in terms of my favorite franchises and games, but the fact that you have to go back all the way to May in 2015 surprised me.
I'm not offering to do any actual research on the subject, but it really surprised me.
And then, after that, I've got Mass Effect: Andromeda three weeks later. And in those three weeks, I'm traveling for two of them. It's a good 'problem' to have, but goddam. I'll have Torment, Horizon, and MEA all queued up, and then I got Prey in May, and then the Morrowind expac in June, and then, I think, a long drought into winter. Good times.
What about you? You ever have a stretch like this? It's weird how my favorite games seem to cluster in terms of release. In theory, though, I should have a new BioWare game by 2018/3/31, and I have some Kickstarters that should be landing later this year and early next year (though I got money that says no way Obsidian hits 2018 Q1 with Pillars 2, and that's totally OK.)
Anyway, that's that. What about you? You ever have 'awesome game starvation?'
Also, get caught up on my 'The Road to Andromeda' Mass Effect series on YouTube here or below:
Thanks! I'll be resuming the playthrough tomorrow night!
-Blaine
20170210
BioWare, I love thee, but we gotta talk
In my world, BioWare saved video games.
As I've talked about previously, the entire gaming thing was sagging for me badly in the early 2000s, as most Japanese developers were scurrying away from making games that were intellectual exercises, in favor of dumb, flashy, more action-oriented affairs (excepting the brilliant FFXII).
Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic came to my rescue, and after I fell in love with that, I dove into their back catalog, and from there, discovered the cRPG genre.
BioWare was a breath of fresh air in the late 90s and early 2000s. They were bold in their approach, and brought a real sense of humanity to their games. By putting story and characters first, they made their games more engrossing than anyone else's, and really provided a visceral experience.
Choice. Story and choice. BioWare absolutely nailed this holy grail of gaming, and refined it more and more. From Baldur's Gate to KotOR, this concept came to shape the way that their games felt, and they developed a strong brand identity, at least among those that had discovered BioWare.
I think Baldur's Gate made a huge impact among the cRPG crowd, but KotOR on Xbox really brought BioWare to the masses. Jade Empire was also a really solid game (one that I would love to see sequelized), but Mass Effect is what, I think, made them a global brand.
Meanwhile, Dragon Age: Origins became my favorite game ever. I should write a post explaining my affection for this game, but it really is my favorite gaming franchise (despite having a lot of gripes about Inquisition).
Star Wars: The Old Republic is also a favorite of mine, but let's set that aside for a moment.
BioWare is now a part of EA, and has been for quite a while. I was concerned when EA bought them, but things to seemed to go pretty well at first.
As a side note, while I know it's been fashionable for a long time to call EA 'the evil empire,' and at times, they do things to actually earn that title, they got nothing on Activision. Seriously. Not even close.
Anyway, fast forward to now. The Mass Effect trilogy became more and more an action series. The first game was pretty clunky, the second game was waaay too streamlined, and the third game hit the sweet spot. ME3 is one of the most mechanically sound games I've ever played.
Dragon Age, meanwhile, has had a bumpier ride. As I said, the first game is one of my all-time favorites. The second game ... had some very real issues, but also suffered from the fact that most so-called 'gamers' are lemmings and love to hate-gangbang anything that appears weakened. Dragon Age II reused the same environment over and over, in a bold attempt to tell a smaller and more intimate story, which I really appreciated, but I also got a little tired of Kirkwall. I understood the complaints from the lemmings, but the means by which they expressed these complains was unhelpful, hurtful, and I think it honestly affected the Dragon Age team in a way that actually diminished their ability to make good decisions about the series going forward.
The BioWare community was a great one, for a long time, but became among the worst I've ever seen somewhere around the ME2/DAII era. These people made personal attacks based on outlandish conspiracy theories, and the forums became a circlejerk of the worst fanboys one can imagine.
The interviews leading up to the release of Dragon Age II troubled me. I kept hearing things like 'when you press a button, something awesome happens.' The demos were all using a controller. The menus were console-centric and thus diminished in ease of use.
Ultimately, the PC version of the game was fine. Yeah, like I said, the constant reusage of assets and environments got a bit tiresome, but I liked the game, and not nearly as much as I did DAO.
The interviews leading up to the release of Dragon Age Inquisition were even more troubling. It was the first time that I heard BioWare talk about trying to do things that other studios were doing, namely Bethesda.
I like Bethesda, and I think that their use of open worlds is great, and I think that the types of games that they make suit an open world very well.
BioWare, on the other hand, doesn't really do that. They tell more linear stories with choice-driven sections and interchangeable parts that can be played in any order. And I love it.
DAI, ultimately, had some great aspects, but I think it may be the worst game BioWare has ever made.
My first time through, it was cool. I loved the reactivity of the save import, the various environments were really neat-looking, and I thought the overall structure was cool. And the story was awesome.
I did, however, feel that the story lost a LOT of steam with the endless slog through the big environments.
Honestly, nearly everything I love about Dragon Age was diminished in Inquisition.
- the story was great, but lost a sense of urgency and I'd even forget major plot details because it was so long between major plot points.
- the world felt less alive; this is hard to quantify, but I rarely got the sense of really being in a place with living people
- combat was awful; yeah, the pause and play was still there, but it felt button-mashy and boring; I loved the combat in the first game so much; in DAI, even the dragon fights got dull; what I really want is the KotOR battle system, where you could queue up actions and make awesome shit happen; I also want the AI programming from DAO and DA2 back
- it just didn't feel like Dragon Age; I understand the value in being inspired by another artist, but dawg, don't lose yourself in the process; I come back to BioWare over and over, and will continue to do so for at least a few more games, because of what BioWare brings to a game.
I love BioWare so much, and have had so many good memories with them, but I'm worried.
Today, there was a piece in PCGamer in which they acknowledged an issue with the side quests in DAI, which I think was a good thing to say, and then they pointed out that the side quests in MEA are going to be more The Witcher 3, and I kinda threw my hands up again.
I love The Witcher 3. It's one of my all-time favorites. But I worry when I see things like this, because I didn't used to see things like it, which is BioWare pointing at other studios for inspiration, instead of looking within.
Yeah, I'm probably overreacting. I'm sure they cribbed ideas from other studios back in the glory days, but it seemed like they also played it less safe. They were more OK experimenting in their releases. Yeah, being a big earner for EA probably restricts their ability to gamble a lot more, since they're putting more dollars into their games now than ever.
And I get that, with FOUR teams going now (Edmonton x 2, Montreal, Austin), they're potentially flooding the market with 'BioWare games,' and are worried about diluting their brand.
It would be very refreshing to see them take a step back, though, and make a cheaper and more risky game.
Maybe that's what the new IP is? I don't know. I keep hearing that it's not an RPG, and is instead an action game. That disappoints me, but I still have faith in BioWare to surprise me, and in a good way.
What say you? What do you think? Have you been down this road with a studio before? What's your opinion of the direction BioWare has gone?
Also, I'll be streaming tonight at 2000 central, and will continue my Road to Andromeda series!
-Blaine
As I've talked about previously, the entire gaming thing was sagging for me badly in the early 2000s, as most Japanese developers were scurrying away from making games that were intellectual exercises, in favor of dumb, flashy, more action-oriented affairs (excepting the brilliant FFXII).
Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic came to my rescue, and after I fell in love with that, I dove into their back catalog, and from there, discovered the cRPG genre.
BioWare was a breath of fresh air in the late 90s and early 2000s. They were bold in their approach, and brought a real sense of humanity to their games. By putting story and characters first, they made their games more engrossing than anyone else's, and really provided a visceral experience.
Choice. Story and choice. BioWare absolutely nailed this holy grail of gaming, and refined it more and more. From Baldur's Gate to KotOR, this concept came to shape the way that their games felt, and they developed a strong brand identity, at least among those that had discovered BioWare.
I think Baldur's Gate made a huge impact among the cRPG crowd, but KotOR on Xbox really brought BioWare to the masses. Jade Empire was also a really solid game (one that I would love to see sequelized), but Mass Effect is what, I think, made them a global brand.
Meanwhile, Dragon Age: Origins became my favorite game ever. I should write a post explaining my affection for this game, but it really is my favorite gaming franchise (despite having a lot of gripes about Inquisition).
Star Wars: The Old Republic is also a favorite of mine, but let's set that aside for a moment.
BioWare is now a part of EA, and has been for quite a while. I was concerned when EA bought them, but things to seemed to go pretty well at first.
As a side note, while I know it's been fashionable for a long time to call EA 'the evil empire,' and at times, they do things to actually earn that title, they got nothing on Activision. Seriously. Not even close.
Anyway, fast forward to now. The Mass Effect trilogy became more and more an action series. The first game was pretty clunky, the second game was waaay too streamlined, and the third game hit the sweet spot. ME3 is one of the most mechanically sound games I've ever played.
Dragon Age, meanwhile, has had a bumpier ride. As I said, the first game is one of my all-time favorites. The second game ... had some very real issues, but also suffered from the fact that most so-called 'gamers' are lemmings and love to hate-gangbang anything that appears weakened. Dragon Age II reused the same environment over and over, in a bold attempt to tell a smaller and more intimate story, which I really appreciated, but I also got a little tired of Kirkwall. I understood the complaints from the lemmings, but the means by which they expressed these complains was unhelpful, hurtful, and I think it honestly affected the Dragon Age team in a way that actually diminished their ability to make good decisions about the series going forward.
The BioWare community was a great one, for a long time, but became among the worst I've ever seen somewhere around the ME2/DAII era. These people made personal attacks based on outlandish conspiracy theories, and the forums became a circlejerk of the worst fanboys one can imagine.
The interviews leading up to the release of Dragon Age II troubled me. I kept hearing things like 'when you press a button, something awesome happens.' The demos were all using a controller. The menus were console-centric and thus diminished in ease of use.
Ultimately, the PC version of the game was fine. Yeah, like I said, the constant reusage of assets and environments got a bit tiresome, but I liked the game, and not nearly as much as I did DAO.
The interviews leading up to the release of Dragon Age Inquisition were even more troubling. It was the first time that I heard BioWare talk about trying to do things that other studios were doing, namely Bethesda.
I like Bethesda, and I think that their use of open worlds is great, and I think that the types of games that they make suit an open world very well.
BioWare, on the other hand, doesn't really do that. They tell more linear stories with choice-driven sections and interchangeable parts that can be played in any order. And I love it.
DAI, ultimately, had some great aspects, but I think it may be the worst game BioWare has ever made.
My first time through, it was cool. I loved the reactivity of the save import, the various environments were really neat-looking, and I thought the overall structure was cool. And the story was awesome.
I did, however, feel that the story lost a LOT of steam with the endless slog through the big environments.
Honestly, nearly everything I love about Dragon Age was diminished in Inquisition.
- the story was great, but lost a sense of urgency and I'd even forget major plot details because it was so long between major plot points.
- the world felt less alive; this is hard to quantify, but I rarely got the sense of really being in a place with living people
- combat was awful; yeah, the pause and play was still there, but it felt button-mashy and boring; I loved the combat in the first game so much; in DAI, even the dragon fights got dull; what I really want is the KotOR battle system, where you could queue up actions and make awesome shit happen; I also want the AI programming from DAO and DA2 back
- it just didn't feel like Dragon Age; I understand the value in being inspired by another artist, but dawg, don't lose yourself in the process; I come back to BioWare over and over, and will continue to do so for at least a few more games, because of what BioWare brings to a game.
I love BioWare so much, and have had so many good memories with them, but I'm worried.
Today, there was a piece in PCGamer in which they acknowledged an issue with the side quests in DAI, which I think was a good thing to say, and then they pointed out that the side quests in MEA are going to be more The Witcher 3, and I kinda threw my hands up again.
I love The Witcher 3. It's one of my all-time favorites. But I worry when I see things like this, because I didn't used to see things like it, which is BioWare pointing at other studios for inspiration, instead of looking within.
Yeah, I'm probably overreacting. I'm sure they cribbed ideas from other studios back in the glory days, but it seemed like they also played it less safe. They were more OK experimenting in their releases. Yeah, being a big earner for EA probably restricts their ability to gamble a lot more, since they're putting more dollars into their games now than ever.
And I get that, with FOUR teams going now (Edmonton x 2, Montreal, Austin), they're potentially flooding the market with 'BioWare games,' and are worried about diluting their brand.
It would be very refreshing to see them take a step back, though, and make a cheaper and more risky game.
Maybe that's what the new IP is? I don't know. I keep hearing that it's not an RPG, and is instead an action game. That disappoints me, but I still have faith in BioWare to surprise me, and in a good way.
What say you? What do you think? Have you been down this road with a studio before? What's your opinion of the direction BioWare has gone?
Also, I'll be streaming tonight at 2000 central, and will continue my Road to Andromeda series!
-Blaine
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