First, The 1UP Rejects is on hold at the moment. Short version - we started out too big and too aggressive. It'll be back, at some point.
For now, I'm back doing my own thing, starting this Friday!
So, I'm starting small, and I'll be streaming two nights a week, Thursday and Friday.
Thursday, I'll be streaming the Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic series from 2000-2300 (central US time). I'm already a few episodes in, and you can watch those below. The intent is that I'll play through KotOR 1 & 2, and if people want, a campaign in SWTOR afterward. The KotOR games are using a fair number of mods to update the visuals.
Friday, I'll be streaming The Witcher series from 2000-2200 (central) and various Elder Scrolls games from 2200 to whenever. I'm a few episodes into this one, too, and the intent is to play through all of The Witcher trilogy. These will also use several visual mods.
Aside from that, I'll pop in when I feel like it with some Final Fantasy or whatever I feel like.
Of note - the KotOR series will be moving from the 1UP Rejects channel to my own channel.
I'll be starting up this Friday, and I'm pretty stoked. I'd been having a blast playing through The Witcher before my spinal surgery, and I loved the game when I played it years ago.
But first, you need to get caught up!
And also, you should get caught up on my KotOR series!
And the Elder Scrolls bit will be fun, as well. I'll be bouncing between various entries in the series, maybe even in the same stream. We'll see.
And the random streams ... I don't stream much of games I've not played through before, but the 'random streams' will be either new games or MMOs. Not sure yet.
I think I'll also post in here sometimes, as well.
For the moment, I'm focused on work, family, and getting this side hustle going again. And let me know if you have stuff you want me to write or stream.
Also, as a reminder, I'm starting all of this back up on Friday (I'm going to the Cardinals home opener on Thursday.)
*HUGS*
-Blaine
Showing posts with label kotor. Show all posts
Showing posts with label kotor. Show all posts
20180404
20170420
KotOR No More ... until mid-May
Hey ya'll. I'm putting the KotOR stream series on hold until mid-May. I need the time on Thursday and Friday nights for other things.
I'll be doing random, barely-announced streams at other times. I'll still stream Dawn of War III beta this weekend.
-Blaine
I'll be doing random, barely-announced streams at other times. I'll still stream Dawn of War III beta this weekend.
-Blaine
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
20170406
Happy Almost-Weekend
I've been a bad bloggist this week, I know. Shit got real busy at work, and I've had to work through lunch every day, or I've had to go watch Vikings with the team. Either way, I gotta figure out a way to be more consistent here, as I really do love writing at you.
Anyway, I'm back with KotOR in high-res tonight, so I'd love to see you come hang out with at 8PM central tonight AND tomorrow night on my Twitch channel!
Get caught up here or below!
Otherwise, I got a lot to talk about with ya'll. Soon. I promise.
I'll tell ya this, though. I hate being busy more than I do pretty much anything else. I despise it. So much. SO FUCKING MUCH.
Anyway, I gotta go eat dinner and drive my kids around, so I'll see ya'll tonight.
*HUGGLES*
-Blaine
Anyway, I'm back with KotOR in high-res tonight, so I'd love to see you come hang out with at 8PM central tonight AND tomorrow night on my Twitch channel!
Get caught up here or below!
Otherwise, I got a lot to talk about with ya'll. Soon. I promise.
I'll tell ya this, though. I hate being busy more than I do pretty much anything else. I despise it. So much. SO FUCKING MUCH.
Anyway, I gotta go eat dinner and drive my kids around, so I'll see ya'll tonight.
*HUGGLES*
-Blaine
20170330
Destiny 2 Thoughts
I've been devoured by work most of the week, which is why I didn't publish anything M-W.
Since I feel very secure in knowing how publishers can market games to me, and how developers can gear design toward me, here's why Destiny was a slight disappointment for me, despite having a lot of positive aspects.
First of all, the lore and story was nearly incoherent. I had a vague idea of 'do thing or bad space beings do bad things,' but the story was too thin. The characters were even thinner. The game, for me, was nearly absent motivation.
That was doubly frustrating because the game's world seemed like a cool, fun place, but I couldn't really tell.
Word on the street is that Bungie gutted the narrative, but I don't think that's ever been confirmed. I could be wrong. By the time I heard it, I didn't really care why the narrative in the game was so bad, because I'd stopped playing.
Beyond that, I love it when publishers release storytelling material that's outside the game, like novels and comics. BioWare does it a lot, and it really enhances the experience for me. The Witcher, which was a series of novels before it was a game trilogy, fits this, too as Sapkowski's novels really enhanced my experience in the games.
But Destiny received none of this, and I never understood why. Activision is pretty much the embodiment of greed and monetizing the shit out of their properties, so I expected they'd pounce at the chance to make more off Destiny, but ... oh well.
Second, and this gripe isn't limited to Destiny at all, but the game really highlighted for me the need for the walls between PSN and Xbox Live (and Steam, for Destiny 2, where I'll be playing if I buy it) to come down. Players on both modern consoles and PC need to be able to freely play games together. It's utterly stupid that it hasn't happened yet, and there is no technical or technological reasons it can't happen.
If even fucking Squenix can make it happen with Final Fantasy XIV, then any developer/publisher can do it. Seriously.
If given the choice, I will always take the PC version, for a long list of reasons, but most of friends don't like playing on PC, which makes games like this nearly a non-starter for me. It'd be great if they could continue living like savage cavemen while I continue my life in the present day, but we could still play games together.
Third, I just have a really hard time playing and getting into console games. I have no desire to start a flame war here, but it comes to down to control over the experience, being able to play anywhere (whether anywhere in my house or anywhere in the world while traveling, or even at work while at lunch) any time, the mouse/keyboard combo, the upgraded visuals, never having to sweat backwards compatibility, and on and on. I play some console games, and I own both modern consoles, but they're more for A/V entertainment and for my kids to play games.
So, it's amazing to see the hype for Destiny 2. It became a favorite punching bag for the lemming locusts out there. Anything that be criticized, no matter how small, was dragged out and shat upon, en masse, by the negativity-obsessed so-called 'gamers.' It became fashionable to bitch about it.
Still, I know a lotta people that a) genuinely liked it, and b) genuinely tried really hard to like it. Bungie are good people, so I was glad to see fans actually like the game.
I liked a lot about Destiny. I thought, for a controller-only game, it controlled very, very well. I liked that Bungie attempted to do something different. I liked what I thought maybe the setting was (though I couldn't really tell.)
I'm glad people are giving them another chance, and I suspect that more people liked the first game than were willing to admit it, in order to look cool. I dunno.
Anyway, here's the new trailer for Destiny 2.
I'll be streaming more KotOR tonight. I need a cool name for the series. Suggestions are welcome.
I'll be on 8PM central time, and probably go for 90-120min. We'll see. I'm pretty tired and frustrated. It's been a week.
Anyway, if you want, you can get caught up on my KotOR series here or below:
And that's it. I hope to see you tonight, and let me know what you think of Destiny's past, and where you think it's going.
-Blaine
Since I feel very secure in knowing how publishers can market games to me, and how developers can gear design toward me, here's why Destiny was a slight disappointment for me, despite having a lot of positive aspects.
First of all, the lore and story was nearly incoherent. I had a vague idea of 'do thing or bad space beings do bad things,' but the story was too thin. The characters were even thinner. The game, for me, was nearly absent motivation.
That was doubly frustrating because the game's world seemed like a cool, fun place, but I couldn't really tell.
Word on the street is that Bungie gutted the narrative, but I don't think that's ever been confirmed. I could be wrong. By the time I heard it, I didn't really care why the narrative in the game was so bad, because I'd stopped playing.
Beyond that, I love it when publishers release storytelling material that's outside the game, like novels and comics. BioWare does it a lot, and it really enhances the experience for me. The Witcher, which was a series of novels before it was a game trilogy, fits this, too as Sapkowski's novels really enhanced my experience in the games.
But Destiny received none of this, and I never understood why. Activision is pretty much the embodiment of greed and monetizing the shit out of their properties, so I expected they'd pounce at the chance to make more off Destiny, but ... oh well.
Second, and this gripe isn't limited to Destiny at all, but the game really highlighted for me the need for the walls between PSN and Xbox Live (and Steam, for Destiny 2, where I'll be playing if I buy it) to come down. Players on both modern consoles and PC need to be able to freely play games together. It's utterly stupid that it hasn't happened yet, and there is no technical or technological reasons it can't happen.
If even fucking Squenix can make it happen with Final Fantasy XIV, then any developer/publisher can do it. Seriously.
If given the choice, I will always take the PC version, for a long list of reasons, but most of friends don't like playing on PC, which makes games like this nearly a non-starter for me. It'd be great if they could continue living like savage cavemen while I continue my life in the present day, but we could still play games together.
Third, I just have a really hard time playing and getting into console games. I have no desire to start a flame war here, but it comes to down to control over the experience, being able to play anywhere (whether anywhere in my house or anywhere in the world while traveling, or even at work while at lunch) any time, the mouse/keyboard combo, the upgraded visuals, never having to sweat backwards compatibility, and on and on. I play some console games, and I own both modern consoles, but they're more for A/V entertainment and for my kids to play games.
So, it's amazing to see the hype for Destiny 2. It became a favorite punching bag for the lemming locusts out there. Anything that be criticized, no matter how small, was dragged out and shat upon, en masse, by the negativity-obsessed so-called 'gamers.' It became fashionable to bitch about it.
Still, I know a lotta people that a) genuinely liked it, and b) genuinely tried really hard to like it. Bungie are good people, so I was glad to see fans actually like the game.
I liked a lot about Destiny. I thought, for a controller-only game, it controlled very, very well. I liked that Bungie attempted to do something different. I liked what I thought maybe the setting was (though I couldn't really tell.)
I'm glad people are giving them another chance, and I suspect that more people liked the first game than were willing to admit it, in order to look cool. I dunno.
Anyway, here's the new trailer for Destiny 2.
I'll be streaming more KotOR tonight. I need a cool name for the series. Suggestions are welcome.
I'll be on 8PM central time, and probably go for 90-120min. We'll see. I'm pretty tired and frustrated. It's been a week.
Anyway, if you want, you can get caught up on my KotOR series here or below:
And that's it. I hope to see you tonight, and let me know what you think of Destiny's past, and where you think it's going.
-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
20170202
Me vs JRPGs vs cRPGs (or however capitalization works now)
Confession time. Actually, I've confessed this before, but it still needs to be reviewed and analyzed, so whatever.
I started gaming in the 80s, and very quickly took to RPGs. There's always been something about living a great novel that has always appealed to me. I love my real life, but I also love the escapism and investing myself in another world that comes with a great RPG. I love the lore, the compelling narrative, the rich characters, the deep systems, all of it. It's really about all I play. I'm at a point now in which, if I venture into another genre, it feels shallow and almost pointless. There have been a few remarkable exceptions, but nearly every non-RPG game feels like something in which I cannot find something to invest myself. 2D platformers feel like me just pressing buttons while getting aggravated. Even a lot of the old classics feel like little more than nostalgic diversions that ring utterly hollow.
THIS DOES NOT MEAN I JUDGE YOU FOR LIKING WHAT YOU LIKE, SO TAKE A GODDAM BREATH.
However, that atrocity is not what I am here to confess.
My early RPGs were things like Ultima and ... Ultima, maybe? And some really primitive shit on Atari of which I can't remember the name.
All that got blown out of the water, though, by the first Final Fantasy. I remember reading about it in a Nintendo Power strategy guide. NP briefly went to a weird format in which every other issue was a strat guide for a game. I wanna say the others were Ninja Gaiden II (one of the great non-RPGs of all time) and some other shit. SMB3, maybe?
Anyway, I read the guide in advance of the game, fell in love with all the numbers and huge land masses, saved up my allowance, and then walked down to the local Wal-Mart and bought it. And fell madly in love. That was potentially the single-most life-changing gaming experience I've ever had. It really altered not only what kind of games I knew I loved, but solidified that I wanted to be a creative person for the rest of my life.
And I pretty much stuck with JRPGs through the 90s (Final Fantasy was released in the US in 1990.)
I did have a time in which I didn't play much. I took a break from gaming to have sex with girls, smoke weed, and get drunk, before I realized I could combine all that with my love of gaming.
Side note - of any man I know, I have the highest ratio of taste in great games to hot chicks I bedded in the 90s. I know that Final Fantasy VI was the best console game of the 90s AND I slept with a model in the 90s. Just sayin'.
As the turn of the century hit, JRPGs tanked. Or I outgrew them. Or both. Or I dunno. It all kinda peaked for me with Final Fantasy IX and Chrono Cross. They're both amazing games, and signal, for me, the end of an era. I've played great JRPGs since then, most notably Final Fantasy XII and Lost Odyssey, but the PS2/Xbox era was where I made a pretty drastic transition.
I can point at two games that caused this major disruption for me. First, Final Fantasy X, despite the great battle system, was a bad game, at least for what I need from a game. The characters, the story, the tone, and the world were all off-putting. The lack of a world map grated on me, but I accepted that Squenix was trying to on-board new fans, and I guess that was a thing or whatever. I actually really enjoyed FFX-2 a LOT more. Gone was the melodrama and incessant whining, replaced with a hilarious and lighthearted tone, which was vastly appreciated.
So, FFX was the first incident. The second was Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic. I remember reading about it, probably in EGM, and thinking 'oh, it's not turn-based, so I don't give a fuck.' Then, I was over at a buddy's place in St. Louis, pulling bong hits, while he explained to me this amazing 'KoOR' game that his other buddy had, and how there were all these different choices that you could make, and it sounded pretty cool. So, a few nights later, I hooked up with this hot Puerto Rican gal in Chicago, and as we were stumbling down a street, I saw we were going past an EB Games, and decided 'fuck it,' and ducked in with her. I snagged an Xbox and a used copy of KotOR. We went back to my place, and proceeded to get loaded while I set up my Xbox and KotOR. I ended up stopping because I could tell I was gonna miss out on my first Latina if I didn't refocus. We went upstairs, had our fun, and then, afterward, when she was asleep, I snuck back down to start playing.
In my defense, I did have breakfast made for her, since I'd been up all night trying to find Bastila.
And KotOR really tipped the scales. From there, I got into Jade Empire, KotOR II, The Elder Scrolls, and then I shifted over to PC gaming during the PS360 era, and discovered the wonderful Piranha Bytes games, The Witcher, and more. I still buy every Final Fantasy that comes out. I played through X, X-2, XII, XIII, but haven't finished one since. I'm pretty lukewarm on FFXV. Honestly, most of it is that it's only on console (I play almost exclusively on a pretty spiffy laptop that I can take anywhere), and the characters are BLAH.
Looking back, though, it's funny, because I missed out on some of the best PC gaming ever. I wasn't on PC at the time that Baldur's Gate, Torment, Arcanum, NWN, and others were hitting.
And that's more or less my confession. I can't decide if I'm a fraud or not. I'm a nearly-40 PC gamer that has never played through a BioWare game that came out before KotOR. I'm sure some snide neckbeard is sneering at me as he reads this, but just remember. I had a better 90s than you did. I guarantee it.
Looking back over the years, I think my greatest RPG gaming experiences, and this is really another post for another time, are probably Final Fantasy, Final Fantasy VII, KotOR, Dragon Age: Origins, The Witcher, SWTOR, Pillars of Eternity, and probably something amazing that I'm not thinking of at the moment.
What about you? Have you swung both ways, in terms of JRPGs and cRPGs? What do you prefer? What are your favorites?
Videos
Here's some cool shit about video games from today.
Also, I am streaming today at 1630 and 2000 (central time) over on my Twitch channel. Not sure what we're gonna at 1630, maybe some Divinity: Original Sin 2, and then 2000 will be the resumption of The Road to Andromeda: Mass Effect 3. See ya tonight!
-Blaine
I started gaming in the 80s, and very quickly took to RPGs. There's always been something about living a great novel that has always appealed to me. I love my real life, but I also love the escapism and investing myself in another world that comes with a great RPG. I love the lore, the compelling narrative, the rich characters, the deep systems, all of it. It's really about all I play. I'm at a point now in which, if I venture into another genre, it feels shallow and almost pointless. There have been a few remarkable exceptions, but nearly every non-RPG game feels like something in which I cannot find something to invest myself. 2D platformers feel like me just pressing buttons while getting aggravated. Even a lot of the old classics feel like little more than nostalgic diversions that ring utterly hollow.
THIS DOES NOT MEAN I JUDGE YOU FOR LIKING WHAT YOU LIKE, SO TAKE A GODDAM BREATH.
However, that atrocity is not what I am here to confess.
My early RPGs were things like Ultima and ... Ultima, maybe? And some really primitive shit on Atari of which I can't remember the name.
All that got blown out of the water, though, by the first Final Fantasy. I remember reading about it in a Nintendo Power strategy guide. NP briefly went to a weird format in which every other issue was a strat guide for a game. I wanna say the others were Ninja Gaiden II (one of the great non-RPGs of all time) and some other shit. SMB3, maybe?
Anyway, I read the guide in advance of the game, fell in love with all the numbers and huge land masses, saved up my allowance, and then walked down to the local Wal-Mart and bought it. And fell madly in love. That was potentially the single-most life-changing gaming experience I've ever had. It really altered not only what kind of games I knew I loved, but solidified that I wanted to be a creative person for the rest of my life.
And I pretty much stuck with JRPGs through the 90s (Final Fantasy was released in the US in 1990.)
I did have a time in which I didn't play much. I took a break from gaming to have sex with girls, smoke weed, and get drunk, before I realized I could combine all that with my love of gaming.
Side note - of any man I know, I have the highest ratio of taste in great games to hot chicks I bedded in the 90s. I know that Final Fantasy VI was the best console game of the 90s AND I slept with a model in the 90s. Just sayin'.
As the turn of the century hit, JRPGs tanked. Or I outgrew them. Or both. Or I dunno. It all kinda peaked for me with Final Fantasy IX and Chrono Cross. They're both amazing games, and signal, for me, the end of an era. I've played great JRPGs since then, most notably Final Fantasy XII and Lost Odyssey, but the PS2/Xbox era was where I made a pretty drastic transition.
I can point at two games that caused this major disruption for me. First, Final Fantasy X, despite the great battle system, was a bad game, at least for what I need from a game. The characters, the story, the tone, and the world were all off-putting. The lack of a world map grated on me, but I accepted that Squenix was trying to on-board new fans, and I guess that was a thing or whatever. I actually really enjoyed FFX-2 a LOT more. Gone was the melodrama and incessant whining, replaced with a hilarious and lighthearted tone, which was vastly appreciated.
So, FFX was the first incident. The second was Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic. I remember reading about it, probably in EGM, and thinking 'oh, it's not turn-based, so I don't give a fuck.' Then, I was over at a buddy's place in St. Louis, pulling bong hits, while he explained to me this amazing 'KoOR' game that his other buddy had, and how there were all these different choices that you could make, and it sounded pretty cool. So, a few nights later, I hooked up with this hot Puerto Rican gal in Chicago, and as we were stumbling down a street, I saw we were going past an EB Games, and decided 'fuck it,' and ducked in with her. I snagged an Xbox and a used copy of KotOR. We went back to my place, and proceeded to get loaded while I set up my Xbox and KotOR. I ended up stopping because I could tell I was gonna miss out on my first Latina if I didn't refocus. We went upstairs, had our fun, and then, afterward, when she was asleep, I snuck back down to start playing.
In my defense, I did have breakfast made for her, since I'd been up all night trying to find Bastila.
And KotOR really tipped the scales. From there, I got into Jade Empire, KotOR II, The Elder Scrolls, and then I shifted over to PC gaming during the PS360 era, and discovered the wonderful Piranha Bytes games, The Witcher, and more. I still buy every Final Fantasy that comes out. I played through X, X-2, XII, XIII, but haven't finished one since. I'm pretty lukewarm on FFXV. Honestly, most of it is that it's only on console (I play almost exclusively on a pretty spiffy laptop that I can take anywhere), and the characters are BLAH.
Looking back, though, it's funny, because I missed out on some of the best PC gaming ever. I wasn't on PC at the time that Baldur's Gate, Torment, Arcanum, NWN, and others were hitting.
And that's more or less my confession. I can't decide if I'm a fraud or not. I'm a nearly-40 PC gamer that has never played through a BioWare game that came out before KotOR. I'm sure some snide neckbeard is sneering at me as he reads this, but just remember. I had a better 90s than you did. I guarantee it.
Looking back over the years, I think my greatest RPG gaming experiences, and this is really another post for another time, are probably Final Fantasy, Final Fantasy VII, KotOR, Dragon Age: Origins, The Witcher, SWTOR, Pillars of Eternity, and probably something amazing that I'm not thinking of at the moment.
What about you? Have you swung both ways, in terms of JRPGs and cRPGs? What do you prefer? What are your favorites?
Videos
Here's some cool shit about video games from today.
Also, I am streaming today at 1630 and 2000 (central time) over on my Twitch channel. Not sure what we're gonna at 1630, maybe some Divinity: Original Sin 2, and then 2000 will be the resumption of The Road to Andromeda: Mass Effect 3. See ya tonight!
-Blaine
20160727
my dirty secret
I take a lot of shit for gaming primarily on PC. Yeah, I'll tease some of my friends about gaming primarily on a console, but I usually reserve it for when they complain about something silly.
Occasionally, though, they get really pissed. No matter how much I reinforce that my preferences are not condemnations, friends (and not friends) will still perceive my stances as a slight. If I say, 'my kids liked the WiiU,' I'm not saying you are a child if you like it. I don't really enjoy anything on the console (aside from Mario Maker, which I'd fucking love to see on PC), but that doesn't mean other people don't. It's all good, man.
And genres. Holy shit. I love RPGs. I don't have a huge amount of gaming time, so I like to settle into a main RPG and a handful of MMOs, and just kinda ride that for weeks or months. I find value in occasionally deviating out of my comfort zone, but again, it seems to bug people, or they take it personally that my tastes skew toward deep roleplaying games.
Frankly, I find great value in diversity. I think having multiple genres is a great thing, because gaming shouldn't be all one way. The best thing about it is that it can be anything to anyone. Whether you wanna flick your finger across your phone for some period of time, or hone your reflexes in a super-deep fighting game, or live out your sports dream in a sports game, or bury yourself in story and math in an RPG, it's all there. AND the best is when genres colllide, and new ideas are born.
Honestly, it's started to get so bad that I've been pulling back from the gaming world in general. Years ago, I started to disassociate myself with the term 'gamer,' because a) I didn't like what the community was becoming (or maybe I was growing out of it), and b) I don't like belonging to things anyway. I don't like labeling myself at all, because I feel like it constrains identity and ideas.
I like what I like. I've been playing RPGs since the day Final Fantasy first came out on the NES, and I've been at it since. I outgrew most of the other genres. I'm glad you like 2D platformers and FIFA and the latest PSN sale and Mario and Rocket League and on and on. For real, follow your bliss, but try and let me do the same. A world full of happier people is a good thing. We all face enough trials without tearing each other down over something as silly as gaming genres and plastic fucking boxes.
Moving on ...
I actually didn't come here to whine about people being mean to me. I actually came because I have a problem that's been brewing for years.
Back in the 90s, and early 2000s, I was poor. I was working shit jobs, and then finally went to college, but didn't start really earning until the last five years or so, at which point, I did the natural thing, and started migrating to PC.
Before that, though, I was purely a console gamer. I missed out on all the amazing cRPGs of the era, and in fact, didn't get really converted until Dragon Age: Origins. That was my first balls-out PC RPG, and yeah, I know it was multi-plat. I'd played KotOR and Jade Empire on Xbox prior to that, so I wasn't a total BioWare noob, but I never played Baldur's Gate, or any of the Black Isle games, or any of the Piranha Bytes games, or any of the Troika games, and on and on. I've occasionally gone back and played footsie with one of them, but I always abandon them to play the new shiny.
Or in the case of Icewind Dale, it's just too fucking hard. Or I don't understand what I'm doing.
To that end, though, I've been toying with the idea of slashing this year's purchase list, and starting to play through the following:
Divine Divinity
Fallout
Gothic
Baldur's Gate or Icewind Dale or Neverwinter Nights
Of course, I'm now focusing on Wasteland 2 and replaying DXHR. We'll see what happens. I've got Final Fantasy XV in the next couple months, DXMD next month, and Dishonored 2 in November. I'm guessing Deus Ex and Dishonored will both be pretty short, so maybe this fall and winter, I can finally rip through the classics.
And, naturally, I've loaded them with mods to modernize their look and feel.
Where do you think I should start? Any favorites, or other recommendations?
Alright, back to work. Thanks for reading.
Oh, and I'm going to append this post with some of my latest streaming fun.
-Blaine
Occasionally, though, they get really pissed. No matter how much I reinforce that my preferences are not condemnations, friends (and not friends) will still perceive my stances as a slight. If I say, 'my kids liked the WiiU,' I'm not saying you are a child if you like it. I don't really enjoy anything on the console (aside from Mario Maker, which I'd fucking love to see on PC), but that doesn't mean other people don't. It's all good, man.
And genres. Holy shit. I love RPGs. I don't have a huge amount of gaming time, so I like to settle into a main RPG and a handful of MMOs, and just kinda ride that for weeks or months. I find value in occasionally deviating out of my comfort zone, but again, it seems to bug people, or they take it personally that my tastes skew toward deep roleplaying games.
Frankly, I find great value in diversity. I think having multiple genres is a great thing, because gaming shouldn't be all one way. The best thing about it is that it can be anything to anyone. Whether you wanna flick your finger across your phone for some period of time, or hone your reflexes in a super-deep fighting game, or live out your sports dream in a sports game, or bury yourself in story and math in an RPG, it's all there. AND the best is when genres colllide, and new ideas are born.
Honestly, it's started to get so bad that I've been pulling back from the gaming world in general. Years ago, I started to disassociate myself with the term 'gamer,' because a) I didn't like what the community was becoming (or maybe I was growing out of it), and b) I don't like belonging to things anyway. I don't like labeling myself at all, because I feel like it constrains identity and ideas.
I like what I like. I've been playing RPGs since the day Final Fantasy first came out on the NES, and I've been at it since. I outgrew most of the other genres. I'm glad you like 2D platformers and FIFA and the latest PSN sale and Mario and Rocket League and on and on. For real, follow your bliss, but try and let me do the same. A world full of happier people is a good thing. We all face enough trials without tearing each other down over something as silly as gaming genres and plastic fucking boxes.
Moving on ...
I actually didn't come here to whine about people being mean to me. I actually came because I have a problem that's been brewing for years.
Back in the 90s, and early 2000s, I was poor. I was working shit jobs, and then finally went to college, but didn't start really earning until the last five years or so, at which point, I did the natural thing, and started migrating to PC.
Before that, though, I was purely a console gamer. I missed out on all the amazing cRPGs of the era, and in fact, didn't get really converted until Dragon Age: Origins. That was my first balls-out PC RPG, and yeah, I know it was multi-plat. I'd played KotOR and Jade Empire on Xbox prior to that, so I wasn't a total BioWare noob, but I never played Baldur's Gate, or any of the Black Isle games, or any of the Piranha Bytes games, or any of the Troika games, and on and on. I've occasionally gone back and played footsie with one of them, but I always abandon them to play the new shiny.
Or in the case of Icewind Dale, it's just too fucking hard. Or I don't understand what I'm doing.
To that end, though, I've been toying with the idea of slashing this year's purchase list, and starting to play through the following:
Divine Divinity
Fallout
Gothic
Baldur's Gate or Icewind Dale or Neverwinter Nights
Of course, I'm now focusing on Wasteland 2 and replaying DXHR. We'll see what happens. I've got Final Fantasy XV in the next couple months, DXMD next month, and Dishonored 2 in November. I'm guessing Deus Ex and Dishonored will both be pretty short, so maybe this fall and winter, I can finally rip through the classics.
And, naturally, I've loaded them with mods to modernize their look and feel.
Where do you think I should start? Any favorites, or other recommendations?
Alright, back to work. Thanks for reading.
Oh, and I'm going to append this post with some of my latest streaming fun.
-Blaine
20150821
Today's the Day
At 4PM central US time today, I officially start my career as a streamer. Note that this is distinct from a 'streaker,' though how much, I have yet to find out (pretty sure Twitch and YouTube have policies about this, actually, that I don't plan to test.)
I'll welcome you all to ... The Blaine Blast!
So, today, we'll be talking about some of the big news from this past week, such as Fig, FFVII on iOS, and some new and upcoming releases. I'll be live-streaming my dive into Shadowrun: Hong Kong, and also talking with chat about whatcha playin' and maybe even a topic or two.
You can check out the action here:
Twitch
And if you wanna take a gander at some of the video work I did last night with Dragonfall, Satellite Reign, and a modded KotOR, you can check out my YouTube channel, which gets all my Twitch stuff post-broadcast.
In fact, here's an hour or so with KotOR:
If you can make it out, light up the chat, and show some support, I'd REALLY appreciate it. If you ever listened to my old podcast, Untitled Podcast, there will be some content similar to that, but I really intend for this to be a whole new endeavor.
Thanks, and I really hope to see you!
- Blaine
I'll welcome you all to ... The Blaine Blast!
So, today, we'll be talking about some of the big news from this past week, such as Fig, FFVII on iOS, and some new and upcoming releases. I'll be live-streaming my dive into Shadowrun: Hong Kong, and also talking with chat about whatcha playin' and maybe even a topic or two.
You can check out the action here:
Twitch
And if you wanna take a gander at some of the video work I did last night with Dragonfall, Satellite Reign, and a modded KotOR, you can check out my YouTube channel, which gets all my Twitch stuff post-broadcast.
In fact, here's an hour or so with KotOR:
If you can make it out, light up the chat, and show some support, I'd REALLY appreciate it. If you ever listened to my old podcast, Untitled Podcast, there will be some content similar to that, but I really intend for this to be a whole new endeavor.
Thanks, and I really hope to see you!
- Blaine
20150724
Fuck Off Friday 2015/7/24
My concept of time is one that is often skewed. I will eventually associate linear concepts to it, such as a date, but typically, for whatever reason, I always associate memories and events with what I was listening to at the time.
For example, the summer of '95 was a really special one for me, for a number of reasons, and all those memories are bound to Everclear - Sparkle and Fade, Neil Young - Mirror Ball, Mad Season - Above, White Zombie - Astrocreep 2000 and more. I couldn't tell you when, exactly, a lot of things happened, but I can tell you what was in my Walkman, and later, my phone, at that general time.
Which is why it was so puzzling to me, the other night, that I associate Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic with Velvet Revolver and Melissa auf der Maur. Contraband and Auf der Maur, I was certain, came out a couple years after KotOR.
And I was right. KotOR hit in 2003, but I wouldn't touch it. I also didn't have an Xbox.
Now, I'm also not someone that views nostalgia as a good thing, in fact, I tend to have a pretty low opinion of those that are hung up on nostalgia, as if all good things stopped happening after they turned 18, so I tend not to dwell on the past.
As such, I was fairly surprised and amused when I thought through the events that led me to KotOR.
There was a time, pretty much from sixth grade (when I got the first Final Fantasy the day it came out at the local Wal-Mart after going ga-ga about it from Nintendo Power previews), all the way through high school, that pretty much all I played was JRPGs and other Japanese console games. Western development and PC gaming were nowhere on my radar.
Then, the transition from Final Fantasy IX to Final Fantasy X happened. It was a really hard time. Personally, from 1996 to 2001, I had a pretty substantial 'growing up' transformation, but also, the gaming landscape changed dramatically. JRPGs hit their peak, the Final Fantasy movie happened, Sakaguchi was tossed out of Squenix, and we were handed the very bland Final Fantasy X. It's not a bad game, and actually has some very strong points, but overall, it served as a death knell for the genre and the series.
In that time, a funny thing happened. Microsoft entered the console race. I initially sneered at this, since at the time, I knew Bill Gates and Microsoft were little more than the Borg manifested in reality.
I played through Final Fantasy X, despite the story and characters and overall bland experience (though combat was pretty rad), I tried Final Fantasy XI, which I hated (I'd never played an MMO before), I actually kinda dug X-2, mainly because it had great systems and didn't feature the heavy-handed pseudo-angst of X, while slowly, western RPGs started to creep into the console world.
I remember a roommate showing me Morrowind on his PC during this time. It was ugly, different, and weird. I just flat-out ignored it.
I remember seeing KotOR get previewed in EGM, GamePro, and a few other magazines. I remember seeing it on gaming websites, which were still kind of a new thing for me then.
I remember seeing it, thinking it looked more like an action game, and since it wasn't turn-based, I wasn't even going to look at it.
I remember all this stuff, and I smirk and shake my head. Ah, youth (despite being in my 20s at the time).
I did my undergrad in Chicago. One weekend, I went back to St. Louis (where I've spent most of my life) to visit family and friends. One particular evening, a very good friend, whose tastes I've come to trust, told me about being at another buddy's house and watching him play that new 'Knights of the Old Republic' game, and it was super-awesome, because there was this part where you had to clear a room of Sith, and you could either hack a computer to blow shit up in there, or you could reprogram this droid, and there were all these choices throughout the game that got you light and dark side points, and it was so awesome.
So, I mulled it over, then went out and bought KotOR for PC. And my PC wasn't beefy enough to run it. So I went out and bought an Xbox and KotOR. This was 2004.
Bear in mind, this was my first BioWare game. I'd ignored PC gaming all through the 90s, so this kind of game was just mind-blowing.
Having a JRPG junkie, I was very much accustomed to the 'illusion of choice' that JRPGs gave, and which, years later, BioShock would point out is actually in nearly every game. While KotOR definitely had some of this illusion going, the order of magnitude was far less, in terms of how much of it was illusion. Choices actually produced multiple and seemingly profound outcomes. Companions reacted to me. Situations had multiple approach vectors. AND I HAVE A FUCKING LIGHTSABER.
I was in love, and at a very key time. Some personal things had completely fallen apart, and at a critical juncture. Long story short, I was a free agent, on all fronts, but I needed to go home (St. Louis) and take care of some things there. While St. Louis and Star Wars were all-too familiar to me, they'd also changed a lot in my absence, and I needed that combination of familiar and new.
I played the hell out of this thing, still managed to graduate that spring, and then during my move back to St. Louis, the HDD in the Xbox was damaged, and I was heart-broken.
I went to my local GameStop (one of the old FuncoLands I'd run as a managed, actually), and got a brand-new Xbox and a trial for Xbox Live. I bought the Xbox-exclusive DLC for KotOR (some station where you rescue a guy and you can buy shit), and started my game over. Replaying all the stuff I'd already done was actually more fun than I thought it would be. I actually made some different choices that time around, completed some things I hadn't before, and marveled at how some of the companions reacted a little differently.
That summer, I started to hear about KotOR 2, which was coming from a different developer, but they were friends with BioWare or something, and it was going to hit that holiday. So, I accelerated my play even more, to make sure I was ready.
Anyway, playing through KotOR was a transformative experience, and one that I am so glad happened. It really did forever alter my trajectory, not just as a gamer, but as a developer, and person. My narrow tastes were expanded greatly, and there was so much more out there for me to enjoy. I went back through BioWare's back catalog, same with Obisidian and Black Isle, and then eventually found my way to Bethesda, and on and on.
Also, JRPGs, Final Fantasy XII aside, seemed to go straight into the shitter. I guess I do like Final Fantasy XIV, as well.
Anyway, as you may know, KotOR 2 got a big update out of nowhere, which led me to finally mod up my KotOR1 install to 1920x1080, and I've been replaying it. As I said, I tend to look down on nostalgia quite a bit, and I still do, but it's been interesting to hear echoes of the past as I talk and fight my way through the underbelly of Taris. It's also interesting to compare my more recent adventures on Taris in SWTOR with what I'm seeing now.
I've also found it interesting to see, first hand, just how far BioWare has come as a developer since the release of KotOR in 2002. And not only from the obvious technology standpoint, but in terms of how they implement that technology, and how design sensibilities have evolved, both in terms of development choices, but also how those choices have shaped consumer expectations.
I have many more thoughts on this that I'll share here, but not right now. Time and trying to avoid the 'mega-post' are constraints right now.
Oh, and I don't even have time to talk about the amazing mods out there for KotOR2.
Anyway, I'll be replaying KotOR, KotOR2 (TSLRCM), and then the Jedi Knight story in SWTOR, and I plan to post some thoughts as I go. I might even stream some of it on Twitch. I'll let you know.
Do you have any particularly fun or interesting memories regarding this series? Any plans to replay any of these great games?
And I was right. KotOR hit in 2003, but I wouldn't touch it. I also didn't have an Xbox.
Now, I'm also not someone that views nostalgia as a good thing, in fact, I tend to have a pretty low opinion of those that are hung up on nostalgia, as if all good things stopped happening after they turned 18, so I tend not to dwell on the past.
As such, I was fairly surprised and amused when I thought through the events that led me to KotOR.
There was a time, pretty much from sixth grade (when I got the first Final Fantasy the day it came out at the local Wal-Mart after going ga-ga about it from Nintendo Power previews), all the way through high school, that pretty much all I played was JRPGs and other Japanese console games. Western development and PC gaming were nowhere on my radar.
Then, the transition from Final Fantasy IX to Final Fantasy X happened. It was a really hard time. Personally, from 1996 to 2001, I had a pretty substantial 'growing up' transformation, but also, the gaming landscape changed dramatically. JRPGs hit their peak, the Final Fantasy movie happened, Sakaguchi was tossed out of Squenix, and we were handed the very bland Final Fantasy X. It's not a bad game, and actually has some very strong points, but overall, it served as a death knell for the genre and the series.
In that time, a funny thing happened. Microsoft entered the console race. I initially sneered at this, since at the time, I knew Bill Gates and Microsoft were little more than the Borg manifested in reality.
I played through Final Fantasy X, despite the story and characters and overall bland experience (though combat was pretty rad), I tried Final Fantasy XI, which I hated (I'd never played an MMO before), I actually kinda dug X-2, mainly because it had great systems and didn't feature the heavy-handed pseudo-angst of X, while slowly, western RPGs started to creep into the console world.
I remember a roommate showing me Morrowind on his PC during this time. It was ugly, different, and weird. I just flat-out ignored it.
I remember seeing KotOR get previewed in EGM, GamePro, and a few other magazines. I remember seeing it on gaming websites, which were still kind of a new thing for me then.
I remember seeing it, thinking it looked more like an action game, and since it wasn't turn-based, I wasn't even going to look at it.
I remember all this stuff, and I smirk and shake my head. Ah, youth (despite being in my 20s at the time).
I did my undergrad in Chicago. One weekend, I went back to St. Louis (where I've spent most of my life) to visit family and friends. One particular evening, a very good friend, whose tastes I've come to trust, told me about being at another buddy's house and watching him play that new 'Knights of the Old Republic' game, and it was super-awesome, because there was this part where you had to clear a room of Sith, and you could either hack a computer to blow shit up in there, or you could reprogram this droid, and there were all these choices throughout the game that got you light and dark side points, and it was so awesome.
So, I mulled it over, then went out and bought KotOR for PC. And my PC wasn't beefy enough to run it. So I went out and bought an Xbox and KotOR. This was 2004.
Bear in mind, this was my first BioWare game. I'd ignored PC gaming all through the 90s, so this kind of game was just mind-blowing.
Having a JRPG junkie, I was very much accustomed to the 'illusion of choice' that JRPGs gave, and which, years later, BioShock would point out is actually in nearly every game. While KotOR definitely had some of this illusion going, the order of magnitude was far less, in terms of how much of it was illusion. Choices actually produced multiple and seemingly profound outcomes. Companions reacted to me. Situations had multiple approach vectors. AND I HAVE A FUCKING LIGHTSABER.
I was in love, and at a very key time. Some personal things had completely fallen apart, and at a critical juncture. Long story short, I was a free agent, on all fronts, but I needed to go home (St. Louis) and take care of some things there. While St. Louis and Star Wars were all-too familiar to me, they'd also changed a lot in my absence, and I needed that combination of familiar and new.
I played the hell out of this thing, still managed to graduate that spring, and then during my move back to St. Louis, the HDD in the Xbox was damaged, and I was heart-broken.
I went to my local GameStop (one of the old FuncoLands I'd run as a managed, actually), and got a brand-new Xbox and a trial for Xbox Live. I bought the Xbox-exclusive DLC for KotOR (some station where you rescue a guy and you can buy shit), and started my game over. Replaying all the stuff I'd already done was actually more fun than I thought it would be. I actually made some different choices that time around, completed some things I hadn't before, and marveled at how some of the companions reacted a little differently.
That summer, I started to hear about KotOR 2, which was coming from a different developer, but they were friends with BioWare or something, and it was going to hit that holiday. So, I accelerated my play even more, to make sure I was ready.
Anyway, playing through KotOR was a transformative experience, and one that I am so glad happened. It really did forever alter my trajectory, not just as a gamer, but as a developer, and person. My narrow tastes were expanded greatly, and there was so much more out there for me to enjoy. I went back through BioWare's back catalog, same with Obisidian and Black Isle, and then eventually found my way to Bethesda, and on and on.
Also, JRPGs, Final Fantasy XII aside, seemed to go straight into the shitter. I guess I do like Final Fantasy XIV, as well.
Anyway, as you may know, KotOR 2 got a big update out of nowhere, which led me to finally mod up my KotOR1 install to 1920x1080, and I've been replaying it. As I said, I tend to look down on nostalgia quite a bit, and I still do, but it's been interesting to hear echoes of the past as I talk and fight my way through the underbelly of Taris. It's also interesting to compare my more recent adventures on Taris in SWTOR with what I'm seeing now.
I've also found it interesting to see, first hand, just how far BioWare has come as a developer since the release of KotOR in 2002. And not only from the obvious technology standpoint, but in terms of how they implement that technology, and how design sensibilities have evolved, both in terms of development choices, but also how those choices have shaped consumer expectations.
I have many more thoughts on this that I'll share here, but not right now. Time and trying to avoid the 'mega-post' are constraints right now.
Oh, and I don't even have time to talk about the amazing mods out there for KotOR2.
Anyway, I'll be replaying KotOR, KotOR2 (TSLRCM), and then the Jedi Knight story in SWTOR, and I plan to post some thoughts as I go. I might even stream some of it on Twitch. I'll let you know.
Do you have any particularly fun or interesting memories regarding this series? Any plans to replay any of these great games?
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