magic > firaga > cast > the video game thread

[mae]

Okay, so I went back and reloaded because I promised myself no Alistair this time...but I should have done that after the whole rose thing. Or maybe even before? Because now when I told him I don't think I'd ever care for him 'that way' I got a big ole' -20 approval.

JEEBUS! Someone doesn't like rejection!

Ouch! Drama queen.

So who do you have your eye on?

[Andi]

Well, so much for running off to Orzamarr....I ended up getting side tracked with personal quests and doing the Mage Collective and Irregular quests, and now I'm in Denerim dealing with the Chantry board there. Perhaps I'll deal with the Dwarves tomorrow. lol

Zevran, because I didn't romance that smarmy bastard the first time through. Although I'm kind of wishing I had rolled a male warden character and romanced Morrigan.

[mae]

It would be fun to romance Morrigan, she's so cute, but I prefer to play as a female if given the chance, and she doesn't go that way... Though given how vastly different things can play out and with so many choices, I think I'll do that for one of my future playthroughs, too. And I'll be getting back to Denerim now myself, didn't mean to derail this conversation like it's a dating sim or something. This is a very well-crafted narrative with such lifelike and interesting characters, you can't help but get emotionally attached.

[Andi]

No problem, pablo! The ability to romance characters in Bioware games make them as popular as they are and the companions are what make the stories so enthralling. Sure, the lore behind Dragon Age is vast and fascinating (it actually has it's own D20 pen and paper rule book with TONS of information about Thedas and the different peoples in it), but it's the characters which always drive the story, and you seek to learn more and more about them and where they fit into the big picture. And the fact that everything and everyone is so intertwined makes it addicting. Soon you start seeing connections everywhere. It's fabulous.

Mass Effect is very much the same way. Ask me about my love for Garrus Vakarian some time if you wanna see an unhealthy obsession with a video game character. lol Plus, just between you and me, my guilty pleasure is Bioware fan fiction. I read as much of that stuff as I read of real books anymore, because I like seeing other people's takes on my favorite characters.

And sure, people can give me a hard time about that, but it's no different than our mutual obsessions with Roland and his Ka-tet. :-)

EDIT: On the subject of character gender, I'm the same way in that I almost always prefer to play as a female if and when possible, at least in a RPG. And they are almost always brunettes who wear their hair back with brown eyes. And I play them as the diplomatic optimist. I just like to feel connected to my character so they are almost always a self insert, at least the first time around.

[mae]

I have to get in on Mass Effect soon, maybe once I'm through DAO. And yeah I agree about the "self insert" thing, that's the great thing about video games is they're so immersive and interactive, you really feel connected to the character you are in the game and the world, and what they're going through. If done well, of course. And if a game gives you these customization options for your avatar (for you, essentially), it's so gratifying. And fun! This is why I prefer to play RPGs. And the more I play it the more I'm convinced DAO is one of the best ever.

P.S.: You'll have to link me to some of this fanfic

[Andi]

Mass Effect is absolutely worth playing and I highly recommend it. Its just like Dragon Age, only in space, with guns and aliens. The one big difference between the series is that in Mass Effect, you are Commander Shepard from start to finish, whereas in Dragon Age, you are a new protagonist in every game. And Bioware manages to pull off both without a hitch...I don't pine after the Warden in Dragon Age II, the new main character is super easy to fall in love with, but there is something to be said about playing the same character (Shepard) over the course of three games. Talk about an emotional attachment. PHEW!

I will give you this bit of advice though...if you find yourself absolutely enthralled in the Dragon Age story after you've played through Origins, I'd stick with Dragon Age for now. The story is so big and the actions you take have so many ripples throughout the environment that I think it gives you the best experience to play them all back to back to back, at least in terms of immersion and emotional poignancy. Plus, in terms of the near future, Bioware has released some press on the 4th Dragon Age game (albeit vague at best) so we have that to look forward to over the horizon, at least in the next two or three year (I hope).

As far as Mass Effect goes, after the Mass Effect Andromeda snafu, it's basically a dead-in-the-water series. They have said they'd like to go back to it eventually, but I don't see that happening for a very long while. Andromeda made them money but it was failure in terms of how poorly it was received by fans and critics alike.

And I'd be happy to link you some fanfiction! It's *full* of spoilers though. Perhaps after you complete Origins???

[fernandito]

Mass Effect has one of the best extended universes in all of science fiction, not just video games. Bioware put in an insane amount of time and dedication into building and fleshing out their lore. Fantastic integration of artistic vision, RPG elements, and large scale battles.

Platinum'ing Mass Effect 3 almost broke me mentally. That final battle in Insane difficulty is no joke.

[fernandito]

As far as Mass Effect goes, after the Mass Effect Andromeda snafu, it's basically a dead-in-the-water series. They have said they'd like to go back to it eventually, but I don't see that happening for a very long while. Andromeda made them money but it was failure in terms of how poorly it was received by fans and critics alike.

Was it really that bad?

[Andi]

As far as Mass Effect goes, after the Mass Effect Andromeda snafu, it's basically a dead-in-the-water series. They have said they'd like to go back to it eventually, but I don't see that happening for a very long while. Andromeda made them money but it was failure in terms of how poorly it was received by fans and critics alike.

Was it really that bad?

Yes, and my thoughts are... (spoiler tag in case my review goes a bit too in depth for some people's comfort)

Spoiler:

My biggest issue with Andromeda is that, as silly as it might sound, there was no *soul* in the game. You have this HUGE expansive universe in which to play, you have a new protagonist, you have an entirely new crew and an entirely new ship, and believe it or not...it all felt completely rehashed to me. You have a Turian who is 'no good at being a Turian' (just like Garrus), you have an Asari doctor who is young and always has her nose in a book (just like Liara), you have a wizened veteran Krogan who actually gives you hope that they aren't all bad because he is just a big ole' teddy bear despite his gruff demeanor (just like Wrex), you have a Salarian who is OBSESSED with his work (just like Mordin), and most of your human staff are just plain boring. The only person on the ship I actually liked was Gil, but even his romance arc (male only Ryder) was under whelming. Andromeda even comes equipped with it's only Illusive Man type character. Because....why the fuck not, right?! And Ryder is just...uninspired.

And lets not forget the villains, the Kett, who are basically Reapers (or perhaps the Collectors) in sheep's clothing. They 'ascend' just like the Reapers, they do genetic experiments on other species just like the Reapers, heck, some of the stuff they do even wreaks of indoctrination like the Reapers. And there are literally like 4 kinds of Kett in the entire game. It's just one fight after the other, of doing the same things, over and over and over. And there is the Revenant of course, which are boring machines and was mainly just a poor excuse for Sudoku type puzzle games. Because the game wasn't monotonous enough as it is... The landscapes were huge enough to constantly drive the Nomad around but there was very little to actually uncover. At one point I drove around the planet where the Krogan had settled....headed in one direct for over 5 minutes, and never uncovered anything...just the field to show me that the map had ended. I mean, why give us all that space to explore and put nothing in it to find???? They only gave us one new alien species to meet in this new galaxy, the least they could do is fill the place with awesome stuff about the Angaran.

And the big shocker to me was that on every planet you explore, there is a huge end boss that you fight in order to completely clear each place. It's a long fight, an involved fight, and imagine my excitement when I uncovered the 2nd planet boss. I was so thrilled to be faced with another fight to learn, another strategy to uncover, and in my mind, this huge revenant had to be completely different than the first because the planets were totally different. But nope, it was exactly the same fight. Absolutely no change in mechanic. So it took another 15 minutes to kill the fucking thing and I was bored the whole time, just waiting for it to be over. Because I had to completely clear the planet, right?

Don't get me started on the horrible crafting system, but lets just say I spent more time looking at those stupid screens than I did in exciting dialogue with my crew members.

There is also no sense of real danger to you or your crew, despite how crazy things get with the Kett because you make no game changing decisions. Ever. And while I hate Virmire, it's a defining moment of the original trilogy. And you have none of that here.

But, more than anything, it boiled down to lack of interesting story. My 97% playthrough took me over 90 hours and I honestly felt it had enough really good story to fill about 20 hours worth of play time. And to be fair, that 20 hours worth of story is really pretty good. The last mission was outstanding and had my heart racing, even if it was against the same mobs you'd seen a thousand times. Kadara Port was a great planet, the only place where you actually made any kind of decision that had impact further on in the story and the Reyes romance option is probably my favorite in all of Mass Effect and I think that's saying a lot. Because seriously, who doesn't like a charming pirate type, eh? I felt like there were some interesting cliff hangers (even if there were faaaaar too many) that I would have loved to see tied up in DLC but I don't think Bioware had any real plans for that. At least nothing I have seen has suggested as such. But the timing of a lot of the story was very off, so you'd get a HUGE chunk of it, and then go hours upon hours of finding nothing and talking to no one.

Had it been a 35-40 hour game, I think I would have been much much happier with it. But as it stands, that's a whole hell of a lost of wasted time in a lot of wasted space with a lot of uninteresting characters. It made me very sad. :-(

[mae]

I’m afraid to click that button!

[Andi]

lol...I'll sum it up for you if you want, pablo.

The game is bad because the story is wayyyy too short for the amount of time needed to actually complete the game. It's also horribly unoriginal.

[mae]

I know things you do in DAO have an effect on some things in DA2 and 3. Is it like that with Andromeda, do things you did in the past games affect it?

[Andi]

No, not at all. Andromeda is in no way connected to Shepard's story.

[mae]

Oh, hopefully they'll just move on and do Mass Effect 4. But I am very excited for a potential Dragon Age 4 in the works. I may even finish Inquisition by then!

[Andi]

Without traveling into spoiler territory, it would be really hard to do a Mass Effect 4, given the different ways the trilogy could have ended. That's why they went with Andromeda, in an entirely different galaxy.

Soooo much left for the Dragon Age story lines though

[mae]

Oh my fucking god, this Deserted Building in Denerim is a circle of hell! My girls are getting pwned...

[Andi]

Are you talking about the huge sprawling building with all the mercs and Qunari warriors and blood mages?? I just did that this afternoon....you walk into a room and like two other doors open to other rooms and pretty soon your whole screen is full of people trying to kill you. lol

[Andi]

Also pablo, I think you're a bad influence on me.

I had absolutely NO INTENTION of playing through DA2 and DA:I again after I finished Origins. I kinda figured this would be a one shot deal and then I'd go off to play the Witcher games or maybe something else that's new. Like the new Assassins Creed. But after all this talk, I think I'm going to end up playing the whole trilogy through again. AND, I think I'm going to invest in a few of the DLCs for DA2 which I had never played through in the past.

Sigh. I'm such a slave to these characters.

[mae]

Also pablo, I think you're a bad influence on me.

Sorry, Andi!

I'm kind of an obsessive personality but I didn't know it was contagious.

Here's something to make up for it maybe:

And yeah that's the place, it's so hard. At the end it's this boss mage and a bunch of others that just overpower you. I think I'll need to come back later, my journey has ended like a dozen times here.

[Andi]

Well, I also have a somewhat obsessive personality when it comes to things I'm passionate about. But sometimes you gotta cut the cord. Because there is more to life than just Bioware games! Like...games from other companies. And I must play them as well. But I *always* go back to Dragon Age/Mass Effect eventually.



And now onto the Brecillian Forest, because you're right about Orzammar. I should save myself the headache and do that one last!

[Andi]

HOLY SHIT!!!

Well I didn't see this coming from Sten...

Spoiler:

He just attacked me, even though he's 'warm' to me. I went to Haven in search of the Urn and he got all up in my business about running away from battle. I tried to persuade him that I wasn't running and he drew his sword on me! I had to beat him down to nothing when he finally relented, told me I was strong enough to lead, and that he would follow me.

This is why I replay these games! So much stuff you can miss the first few times arounds!!!

[mae]

Ack. That's why I put a lot of into cunning and persuasion skills. So I can make people do what I need

[Andi]

Honestly, I'm not sure if that would have helped at that point or not! Perhaps if I had a huge intimidate score, since Qunari are big on following your role and knowing your place. I wonder what exactly triggers him though...I'll have to research it later. Is it because I'm a woman? Or maybe he was just sick of helping everyone rather than fight the Archdemon?? I don't know, but he seems to be cooperating now that I beat the shit outta him.

Pablo, have you done the Urn of Sacred Ashes quest yet??

[mae]

I got the quest and that’s why I’m in Denerim now but there’s so much to do I’ve been sidetracked by all these side-quests. Also made it to The Pearl, that was fun! Didn’t want to upset Leliana so when presented with a choice of lovely ladies to spend time with, I sheepishly declined

Oh and I am very much looking forward to the new Assassin's Creed, too, but I stopped buying new games when they come out, cause inevitably there will be DLCs and preorder exclusives... and fuck that shit. I'll buy the complete edition next year for half the price. If you look back a few pages to this summer, I actually started an Assassin's Creed binge, but now I got distracted so I'm still on Black Flag, which means I'll need to finish it and play the other three games before I can get to AC Origins. So I guess it will just be DA/ME for me, and Life Is Strange: Before the Storm, whenever that Deluxe Edition comes out.

[Andi]

Pablo....question. Have you spoken with Alistair much? If so, what has he told you about his mother and all that jazz?

I'm just...comparing some notes.