Vangrue's blog

SW: TOR article redux

I've done a little rewriting and expanding on the last entry I posted here. I hope all zero people who read this don't mind.
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So, I've talked about Star Wars: the Old Republic before (back when it was but a twinkle in Bioware's eye). In the time since the earliest rumors, the game has been officially announced, which is kind of an important detail. Not only that, but some early screenshots have even been released; if that’s not enough for you, there is even some behind-the-scenes video, though it primarily features the same several screenshots and video clips repeatedly in lieu of a wealth of content. Amidst all this commotion, as the hype train slowly ramps up toward full-speed, I’ve noticed one thing:

My enthusiasm for this game is gradually trickling away.

I’m not sure if it’s just because I’m burned out on MMOs in general or if it’s genuinely because of what little I’ve seen or heard of this game in particular. Whatever it is, I'm beginning to assume that it was a bad idea, and will only lead to inevitable disappointment. I hope I'm wrong. I hope this is the MMO that can topple the WoW giant, with innovative gameplay, engaging plots, georgeous scenery, and a lively social element. I hope it is fun, exciting, and a new experience in both online gaming and the Star Wars universe. Most of all, I hope this doesn’t ruin Star Wars for me.

The move from a self-contained single-player experience to a massively multiplayer online one is a long and arduous journey. Bioware has proven that they can meld Star Wars and gaming with impressive results. They’ve proven that they can craft an immersive game setting with a complex, cohesive mythology. What they haven’t proven, however, is talent in marrying those qualities into an environment that allows many people to interact with each other and become a part of the continuity. Frankly, I’m not quite ready to expand the list of memorable Star Wars heroes to include “xXForceDudeXx” and “BanthaBanger69.”

Now, obviously any MMO has these issues. In fact, there’s already been a Star Wars-themed MMO (in fact, I’m sure there are still a few people playing Star Wars Galaxies. It’s possible!), so there’s a precedent here. It’s hard to say where this game will end up. Bioware’s presence is always encouraging, but few MMOs have stood up to WoW and lived to tell the tale.

The main thing WoW has going for it, though, is accessibility. It runs on low-end computers, is available for both PC and Mac, and is relatively easy to jump into (and far easier to get hooked on, if some of my friends and acquaintances are any indication). I played the game for a little while, years ago, but never got into it (lucky for me, and lucky for my wallet and my free time). To its credit, its simple design and intricate details make for some very nice low-end yet elegant visuals.

What Bioware has to contend with is this accessibility. Star Wars is a global franchise, so they’ll have no trouble being recognized. However, they’ve always had grand aspirations for this game, which brings up several questions. To what degree are they willing to sacrifice accessibility to make the game they’re dreaming of? Will people flock to it? Will character customization be more extensive than KotoR? As extensive as Mass Effect? Can my buddies and I take a break and explore a planet? Can I waste all my credits at the local cantina wishing I was more than a washed-up scoundrel? Will this rash ever truly go away?

Star Wars: The Old Republic is still a long time from being released. However, with news that Activision-Blizzard is hard at work building a new, non-WoW MMO, what fate awaits Bioware? Will they have two mega-hit MMOs to contend with, or need they worry more about their own game being too ambitious? By the time the game comes out, will people still care? In my own experience over the past couple years, I’ve started playing several MMOs with great enthusiasm only to soon dig through to the same boring core experience. Wash, rinse, ding, repeat.

Maybe this will be the game to change all that, but if wishes were fishes, I’d have a pretty kick-ass aquarium by now.

Star Wars the Same Old Republic?

See what I did there?

Ok, so I've talked about Star Wars: the Old Republic before (back when it was but a twinkle in Bioware's eye), and some time has passed and sparse details have come to light.

First and foremost, the game was officially announced, which is a big detail.

Some screens were even released, and on top of that, there is even some recent video, though primarily it simply shows the same screenshots and video clips several times over in lieu of a bulk of content.

My enthusiasm for this game is slowly trickling away. I'm beginning to assume that it was a bad idea, and will only lead to inevitable disappointment. I hope I'm wrong. I hope this is the MMO that can topple the WoW giant, with great gameplay mixed with a georgeous setting, and a fun social element. I hope it's fun, exciting, and a new experience in both online gaming and the Star Wars universe. Will character customization be more extensive than KotoR? As extensive Mass Effect? Can my buddies and I take a break and explore a planet? Are there diversions? Can I waste all my credits at the local cantina wishing I was more than a washed-up scoundrel? Wish this rash ever truly go away?

Hopefully we will get answers to these questions soon.

More or Less

Please note, re: My Last Post.

I did not say how often I will write here.

I win again! Bwahahaha!

(PS: That is another lie)

Life @ 2 AM - Son of Returnening

For anyone who has ever haphazardly meandered by here on two separate occasions distanced by a significant expanse of time, you may have noticed that my last post proposed that I would write here more often.

I was lying. I lied to you, internet, and it was wrong of me. If there is anything I can do for you, please let me know.

In fact, if you would like to make suggestions, my preferred method of correspondence would be notes written on cookies using icing. Just make sure they're legible, or we're going to have to start over.

In any case, a lot has happened in the... year, I believe is the proper term, since I last wrote. I discovered that I am not a terrific fit for Midtown-Atlanta, and a particularly poor fit for the Savannah College of Art and Design's Visual Effects program.

As such, I have been reorganizing my priorities (priority one- find more people who like to write notes in the form of baked goods). Writing is one of my few passions, and if you know me you will know that this is true; and since I likely do not know you, I would advise that you stay at least 100 yards away from me at all times, because you are a creepy stalker.

While I take a temporary leave of absence from college to find employment, save up money, and subsequently blow that money on video games and fancy electronic gizmos, I pledge to write more often. I will probably end up taking some writing classes and possibly some acting classes on the side. However, the best way to get better at anything is through practice.

Practice makes perfect, and your icing-based handwriting isn't going to get any more readable without it. So get to it!

Life at 2 AM - The Returnening!

Welcome back! Did you miss me?

Oh? Oh... I see...

Well, nevermind the fact that I actually neglected this blog, barely remembering it existed, as I have returned!
I'll actually be posting specifically game-related posts at a new site soon, and I'll remember to update you all when that happens. For now, though, you shall be subjected to my ramblings right here, right now!

I've seen a lot of movies and played a lot of games since my last post, which was forever ago, and it's also pretty damn late here where I am on the East Coast. So until I get back up and running fully, I'm going to post a quick rant.

So, Mass Effect. There's been a ton of controversy surrounding this game lately, eh? A few so-called journalists and bloggers in what I shall call the "Adult community," or alternatively, "Those people who are painfully out of the loop," have latched onto supposed news that Mass Effect contains raw, graphic, explicit nudey-sex-with-girls. Of course, those of us in-the-know, aka those of us who have actually played the game, know that this is grossly exaggerated. Some have tried apologizing for their mis-statements, or rather, trying to pass off a statement of "I wasn't wrong, I just wasn't exactly right" as an apology. It's even been on televised news segments, with so-called experts. It's turned into a great big hullabaloo, which is a fun word to say. Hullabaloo.

My question is this: Didn't Mass Effect come out back in November? What have all these people been doing between the week and the end of November? Because, as we know, they certainly weren't playing Mass Effect.

This just further goes to prove that Real Journalism is all about buzz-words and sensationalism.

And now I go back to worrying about how to animate a flag waving in the wind. You know, important stuff.

Galaxies of the Old Republic?

Rumors are circulating the cosmos due to a bit of hearsay on behalf of the rumors section of a recent issue of EGM, claiming that Bioware is currently developing an MMO based around the Knights of the Old Republic series of Star Wars games. Could this be the Star Wars MMO that everyone is truly looking for, or is it doomed to die a fiery licensed-game doom at the hands of its cruel, unyielding masters?

On the one hand, Bioware is well known for delivering some high quality games. On the other, MMOs are a dime a dozen, and it's already been proven that handling a property as huge as Star Wars in an MMO setting and under certain circumstances (SOE) can lead to disastrous ends. Does Bioware have the ability to pull off an MMO, even, given that all of their games are traditionally focused on single-player content? Or is this a formula for success?

Personally, I just got a chance to go back to KOTOR 1 and 2 recently, and I got hooked. I can't wait for a hopeful third entry, and I never ended up playing Star Wars Galaxies. If handled properly, I could lose myself to a Kotor MMO.

What do you folks think?

[Rumour: KOTOR MMO? - Kotaku]

The Facts of Bife

Ok, so I lied about writing during my vacation. I'd send you all a consolation, but this is the internet; if you can imagine it, it's already happened, and probably due to some creepy guy in Japan.

My gaming experiences have been few since coming home for my winter break. Due to unforeseen circumstances (I left the power cable in my dorm room) I have been unable to play any of my Xbox 360 games. Going without Gears of War for a month and a half after having only small taste of the action is like some sort of elaborate torture. The positive side to this, and what a positive side it is, would be that I remembered every component of my Wii.

Now, as I mentioned before, I love my Wii. I knew this from only Wii Sports; Because, as I've decided in the intervening period of time between obtaining the Little-System-That-Might and now, Red Steel blows. At first I thought I could just grow past the shoddy controls and gameplay. Then I played the multiplayer mode with my friend, and whatever residual magic the title may have had suddenly vanished. How could a title that Ubisoft purportedly put so much work into end up failing so hard? I still believe there are some redeeming traits which can be used to teach developers how to succeed in the next generation of Wii titles.

Fortunately for myself, I ended up getting two more titles for the Wii that have made the $250 purchase totally worthwhile: Rayman: Raving Rabbids and The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess. Rayman is so ridiculously fun that I scraped skin off of my elbow while playing, but only went to get a bandage after I was done, much later. The biggest asset to the game is the creativity involved. Sure, it may seem just like a mini-game collection, but it's actually got an evolving plot. The story doesn't just stop with Rayman being kidnapped by deranged lagomorphs (I don't think that word's been used since Sam and Max: Freelance Police came out). Anyway, the Wiimote is really well-applied in the crazy games, so I'd say this is one of my favorite party games now.

I'm pretty sure Zelda speaks for itself.

The other time-sink I've been playing is Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin, which wins big points for general awesomeness.

No links today because this is all me, baby.

Son of Wiicentric

I'm home from school, and I've got a working computer while I'm here! In any case, let me recount what has occupied me as of late.

Like many a fool before me, I camped out last Sunday for a Wii. Rather, it would be better to say I camped out almost all of Saturday until the early hours of Sunday. This wasn't actually my idea, but someone else's on campus, and since I figured having company from school to pass the time would be a good thing, I carpooled with three other guys. We had no idea how many people would be there, or when they would get in line, so we went ridiculously early. It would turn out that camping out was a good idea, though we really didn't need to get to this Target as early as we did. Nonetheless, we got our Wiis, and when I got home, I was way too tired to play. So, I napped, and set that bad boy up. My roommate was in, so we concocted some Miis and fired up WiiSports, which turned out to be an insane amount of fun. We progressed through all of the sports, and by then it was time to get back to working on finals. In case anyone missed the memo, I am a college student, and the Wii's launch date coincided with the last weekend before Final Exams/Projects.

Later that day, I did manage to get some Red Steel action in. Let's get something straight. WiiSports is a terrific introduction to the Wii control scheme, and the decision to add it to the Wii bundle was a smart one. However, Red Steel is not as easy to pick up. Now, maybe this was because my sensor bar was not well-fastened and thus kept slipping on the top of my TV, but maintaining control in the game was damn difficult. Of course, I did eventually get the hang of things, and don't get me wrong, the game is fun. I just really understand what reviewers were talking about when they said the controls just didn't work so well. As long as the cursor remains in plain view, aiming isn't so bad, especially with the zoom function when targeting. Without the targeting feature, though, the game would be broken shit, and I can't see anyone wanting to play it. I still haven't tried the multiplayer, so hopefully that convinces me to keep the game, but so far I'm running out of reasons to like the game. It is fun, but is it fun enough? Time will tell.

Now that I'm home on vacation, there are two Wii consoles in my home: My brother's and mine. I only bought Red Steel, as I am a poor, poor college student. My brother, while not exactly rich himself, bought more than I did. We also invited a bunch of people over tonight for a gaming party, featuring the Wii. A couple of our friends have their own, so we all pooled our games together. We started the evening off with WiiSports, obviously, for those unaccustomed to the Wiimote. Then there was some Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz. Well, it's pretty much the same thing as before, but there are a ton of minigames now, many of which are pretty cool.

Later on, we popped in Rayman: Raving Rabbids, another minigame collection. This game, however, is a complete blast. The art direction is about as solid as granite, and that's pretty damn solid. The game is chock full of imagination and creative uses for the wiimote and nunchuck, not to mention I can't get enough of those little Rabbid bastards. Crazy little buggers. Interestingly enough, even though this is a relatively loose collection of minigames, there is a semblance of plot, however subtle. Rayman actually starts accruing some esteem amongst his captors, and when he gets farther along, his gladiatorial prison room gets decked out with nicer equipment. Completing all the games from a day allows you to unlock s special extra, such as a new costume for Rayman or a new song. Overall, this is actually the game I'd recommend the most to someone looking to get a Wii. This is, of course, since I haven't played the new Zelda game yet, and won't be able to for quite a while. And what gaming party is complete without Guitar Hero? We played quite a lot of the second game in this awesome series, mostly in Coop mode which is a welcome addition to face-off mode in multiplayer.

That's enough Wii-raving for now. I'll see what I can do next time. If there is a next time!

Sucked into a Void, No Hope of Return

Sorry I haven't been posting anything lately, I've just been overwhelmed with work at school what with finals coming up. But starting next week I get 6-7 weeks of sweet, sweet vacation.

It hasn't all been work, as procrastination is a tool reserved for kings, and I come from a long line of lazy nobles (Ok, maybe not. I'm really the only lazy one). I've been gaming during my down-time, and I've got a lot of games left to play.

First up, I've been trying to finish Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory, which I've been playing on my 360. I started it in January, and promptly fell out of play even though I loved it. It's been good, clean, spy-infused fun.

This brings me to the next game: Splinter Cell: Double Agent. It came out recently, and since I loved Chaos Theory so much, I figured I had little to lose. Well, I've played through a couple missions now. I'm going to clue you into something right now: I'm not a really good gamer. I suck hardcore at a lot of games. Anyway, so I picked up this game, and when I started playing, I immediately felt like I was trapped in an alien world; an environment that was not entirely unfamiliar, yet not familiar enough to call home. The controls are different, and there are some different features. The AI has been significantly beefed up, and I'm only playing it on Normal difficulty. I had some trouble figuring things out at first since I skipped the tutorials, which I admit would have been rather helpful. I eventually picked up the hang of things, got in some satisfying kills and knockouts, and promptly got killed. A lot. I don't know if it's just me, but Normal difficulty seemed hard. I've heard stories of people trading the game in at retailers not long after the release because they finished the game so fast. That means only one of two things: A) These people are inhuman super-gamers, replacing normal gamers with their doppleganger offspring in order to overthrow us, or B) I just suck that bad. Whatever the case, it's still a fun game, though I hope I start enjoying it more the further I get in.

Next, I picked up Neverwinter Nights 2, on accounts of my brother and father purchasing it. I hoped to make use of the much-discussed online collaborative play, and that I did. That was, of course, after quite a few hours of being unable to connect to the game server my brother was hosting, since I grabbed the game update and he had not. So, the next day we figured things out, got things up and running, and we were playing together. Well, more like lagging together. I've read on some forums that Xfire is what is causing the lag the people are experiencing in multiplayer mode, but we've yet to play without it (we've only played that once, so far). I've been enjoying the singleplayer, as I haven't played this kind of turn-based PC RPG since Baldur's Gate, and have missed it so. It's quite different, and the camera can be annoying at first, but I've still been having fun. The meat of the game is the campaign creation tools, so some day I may tinker with those, and maybe download some other player-created games.

Finally, we've got the game on everyone's mind that isn't Guitar Hero II (since it doesn't come out for the 360 until next year!), and that game is Gears of War. There's not much I can say about this game that hasn't been said on a thousand blogs and game sites already. It's fun, it's pretty, and Dom dies a lot. Rather, he doesn't die, he just gets exhausted from being such a freaking pansy. If anyone dies, then the game ends. Why's that? What if I want Dom to die? Maybe he slept with my girlfriend, or gave me a pack of gum laced with Locust pheromones. Whatever the case, sometimes I'd just like to get through the level on my own if one of my friends isn't around for co-op play, without the dead weight holding me down. Again, I haven't played much, since I have so many other games to play, but I definitely look forward to sitting down to some Co-Op soon.

Unfortunately, I won't have my current computer available when I go home for the break, so I'll have to wait until January to play NWN2 after next week. I will, however, have my Xbox 360, and I may be able to procure a Wii, so I don't think I'll be bored anytime soon.

Oh, and maybe I'll be able to post here once in a while. Maybe.

11/03 - More of a Light Push, Really

In my last post I mentioned waiting for new Super Smash Bros. Brawl information from Nintendo World, the gaming event being held in Japan as I type. Well, no convulsions from me (unless I really, really want to). GameTrailers has release a video from the show featuring new in-game footage, including new moves from the playable characters (Here's a hint: Snake is kind of sneaky) and features such as breakable platforms and new levels. That is exciting, though the secrets I was anticipating, demanding even, were new characters. Well, Nintendo answered that with a gimped whisper, announcing Fox McCloud of StarFox game as playable. Color me Cerulean Blue, or maybe Brick Red. No, Firetruck Red! Yeah.... Seriously, though, I'm unsurprised, as would anyone be, as Fox has been in both of the other Smash Bros. incarnations. This isn't exactly a huge secret, Nintendo. You better be prepared to release unexpected characters, or at least some that are of moderate-surprise level quality. Or else I'm gonna cry a bit. Well, I may shed a tear. OK, I'll just whine a lot, but seriously, where's the 480p beef?

Article:
Super Smash Bros. Brawl - New Footage (GameTrailers)