Dragon Age II

So in my Dragon Age review I began by asking “Can Bioware do no wrong?”   Apparently the answer is “Yes.”

I had originally mocked Bioware in my first review for taking 4 years to produce the first game.. Now suddenly that didn’t seem like such a bad idea, as Dragon Age II (DA2) the supposed successor, was rushed out the door in just over 8 months and it shows.  DA2 just doesn’t compare to Dragon Age – Origins (DA:O).

Now I realize that I’m giving the impression that I didn’t think DA2 was a good game, that’s not the case.. I think it was a good game by itself, but it just didn’t meet up with the expectations nor match the precedent that was set with DA:O.

So, I want to say that Yes, DA2 is a good game on its own merits.   But if you go in expecting DA:O version two, you’re going to be disappointed.

The thing I liked about DA:O was that it was an epic game, and epic in it’s story telling.  They did an excellent job in making the player feel like he was a part of a bigger world.   The game itself was fricken huge, with a lot of unique areas and places to go, things to see.. monsters to kill.. And there wasn’t a lot of repeating of those areas.

One of the biggest issues with DA2 is they constantly reused the same dungeon, cave, map over and over just blocking off areas to keep you from going there this time..  This gets old fast and the 10th time I went into a random cave only to be on the same map I have done previously, I got kinda fed up.  This was a really cheap way to reuse content and the game suffered a lot for it.   Take a couple extra months and give us more areas so we aren’t constantly walking in our own footsteps..

I did very much like how they told the story through the dwarf character, I thought that was quite clever indeed.. But it never “drew me in”.  I don’t really know why but I never really felt like I was part of the story, just an outside observer of it..

Plus they completely removed the customizability of the previous game with regards to gear and equipping your secondary characters, or even for your main character to have a secondary slot of weapons.. These things were staples of the first game, gone in the second.  Why?

Stability wise I think they missed the mark too as the game crashes on me quite a lot.  Of my friends though, apparently I am the only person that this happens to so I’m willing to accept that it’s me or my hardware.

Graphics and engine wise the game is as good as the first one, with the only notable difference is how you interact with your characters.   You can interact with your character more like a MMO than like the first game and that’s a good thing, though it may be playing a big role in how different the game feels.

Things that are better than the first game;

The Tactic System – The tactic system got better, thank you very much Bioware.  Huge points from me there.  However you still don’t have a “reset” tactic that can be used to turn stuff off when combat ends.   Still its better than the first game for sure and your characters seem to be smarter about following them.  I pretty much automated my characters completely and only played my main toon which was the whole point.  Every once in a while I had to actually pause the game and redirect, but for the most part that wasn’t necessary.   In the first game I pretty much paused every other second to redirect someone.

The Difficulty —  The game is actually fricken hard, when you play it on hard.   The first game I played on hard the first time through and impossible on the second time through without too much trouble.  This game, even hard is too dang hard.  That’s a good thing!  Hard should be hard.

Ranged Rogues — Ranged rogues don’t suck!  YAY!  Bows in the old game and ranged attacks in general were completely worthless..  The new game, not so much.. in fact not at all!  Thank you for this.

Magic — Magic in general seems much more impressive.  It not only does more damage but it does it with style.

etc..  Lots of little things that they did do better..  It’s just the feeling of the game is less epic.. Less grand..  Comparing it to another favorite franchise; Mass Effect 2 was a far better game than Mass Effect.   Dragon Age 2 wasn’t far better than Dragon Age – Origins.   It was just different…

I feel like if you loved Origins, you’ll hate DA2 or not really identify with it as much.  Where as if you really didn’t get into Origins, you’ll love DA2.

So it may be unfair to say that Bioware did wrong with DA2.  I just was expecting something different than I got..  I haven’t quite finished the game yet, I’ll knock it out and get back to you.

Dragon Age Logo

I ask you — can Bioware do no wrong?  Every game of theirs that I have played, I have loved.  Neverwinter Nights was kinda “Feh” but the concept was excellent even though the editor was horrible.   Mass Effect was fantastic forcing me to play it through like 4 times..  And of course the Baldur’s Gate franchise was awesome.. I played that game until my eyes bled, sought healing and then played it some more..

So when Dragon Age was announced at E3 way back in 2004 I was stoked..  Finally a spiritual successor to Baldur’s Gate done in a completely new style with modern graphics, fully voice acted and by the same developer.. *Gleeeee* I anticipated more costly eye healing.. As I was sure to play that game as much as I played Baldur’s Gate..

And then we waited.. and waited.. and waited..  Set the way forward machine now to 5 fricken years later… And FINALLY we have the game to play..

And it’s pure liquid awesome.. but I get ahead of myself..

I have to admit I think most game companies release information about their games way too early.. Bioware is extremely guilty of this and they still haven’t learned their lesson..  They released information about Neverwinter Nights way too early and it caused this massive hypefest that dwindled down to sarcastic jokes and disappointment by the time the game was finally released..  I don’t know for sure but I am more than willing to put money on the fact that it hurt their sales..

It also hurt them that Neverwinter Nights just couldn’t live up to type hype that was generated.. It was supposed to be a new kind of awesome, and it simply wasn’t.   Dragon Age on the otherhand didn’t get quite as much hype and it deserved it!  It’s a really good game.. I mean.. it’s stunningly good..  It’s quite possibly one of the best games I have ever played, and let me tell ya — that’s saying something..

Firstly, the game is beautiful.. Their engine is really coming along nicely and it serves the game extremely well..  Plus it’s not a CPU hog.. I play the game at 1920×1200 on a dual monitor system at max graphics 8xAA and get a solid 60 frames per second.. (I have v-sync turned on)..

Secondly, the entire game is voice acted.. and well too..  I like that.. suddenly you don’t have to read tedious story lines for hours and hours just to get some concept of whats going on in the game..

Thirdly, the game is fricken huge!!  They say it has 200 hours of play time, but I think it’s more.. I know I haven’t played 200 hours yet, but I have done quite a bit and my character isn’t 20% through the game yet .. (there is a stat that tells you how far you have gone).. Plus the way they have added downloadable content was clever so the game is forever expandable.. More over, when they announced the name change from “Dragon Age” to “Dragon Age: Origins” it sort of let us know that they have a lot of plans for this engine.  I anticipate quite a lot of new games / expansions to be released under the Dragon Age title..  But not only that, I am willing to bet that the new games (say for example the new Star Wars MMO) will use this engine too..

Finally, the game has good re-playability.. This game is basically 6 games in one in that you can play through it six times and have six different experiences.. Each “Origin” gives you a whole new perspective on the game and its cool..

I have a ton more I could talk about, like how the tactic system is cool and how the game can be played over the shoulder or isometric..etc.. But posting about this stuff is keeping me from actually playing the game and that just wont do..  Look.. go get the game.. this is one game that you must go get..

Aion Online

I have played a lot of MMO’s in my time.. I feel I have a pretty good handle on the genre and have a very good idea of what makes a game good, and what makes a game bad.  Both in terms of what I personally feel, and as well as taking a broader view as a whole.  I can readily recognize why one game or another may not appeal to me, but be appealing to others.

What’s interesting is that I find that as time has gone on I have had to lower my expectations because none of contemporary games are ever as good as the now lofty memories of the games of old..

I fully realize that it’s not fair of me to compare a modern game to the memory of a previous game.  A memory full of good times, good people and fun events.  Memories that I generally cherish in some way, oh and there was a game involved too..

Aion Online is the first game in a long time that actually holds up under this scrutiny..  I was shocked..

Generally I use three games as my virtual yard sticks;  Ultima Online, because it was basically the first and implemented many things correctly, and many more incorrectly.  Everquest, again because it was ground breaking and a first but also because many of the things that made it most memorable are absolutely horrible by todays standards.  Ah memories.  And finally World of Warcraft because it’s everything that Everquest wasn’t — including good in some cases.  I played all three of those games for at least more than 2 years.. Five in the case of EQ, and am still playing WoW as I type this though I can honestly say that I dread it at times..

Aion Online might find itself added to that yardstick for comparison to future games..

Initially I was a bit horrified by the notion of a JRPG style game.. The very thought of a game in which the women were high pitch voiced busty school girls with bobbed hair and the men where androgynous she-males wielding swords you would otherwise need a forklift to move didn’t exactly excite me.. Still doesn’t to be honest, but that’s not what Aion is..

While I have seen a few extremely improbable swords the rest of the game isn’t bad at all..   The JRPG aspect is fairly minor all things considered and the game itself is beautiful and full of depth.

The game itself isn’t super innovative in that they really have only one thing that other games don’t have and thats flight..  Their flight model is really great and does a lot for the game once you figure it out.  Flight has two modes;  Flying and Gliding.  When you glide, you have a chance of finding thermals and can soar just like a bird!   The only down side to flight is that no matter how you go about it you can only do it for so long bfeore you have to rest..

Everything else is what you would expect, but done very well.. The game engine works well, if maybe a tad laggy from time to time and of course looks fantastic as it’s based on the crysis engine..

My only true concern at this point is the end game.. It touts a brand new end game that they are calling PVPVE.. which is code for PVE while some one ganks you..  I’m not fooled..  But at the same time I havent’ experienced it yet.. Maybe its good..

I’ll have to wait and see..

Empire: Total War!

So I have long been a fan of the Total War franchise created by Creative Assembly..  Their games have always been pretty fun — but most of them have been fairly buggy..  There was a lot of stuff going on and the games were generally still playable, so for the most part those bugs could be forgiven.

Empire Total War is the latest in the franchise and easily the most anticipated as well as the most well received..  All the various publications have drooled over this game and praised it for being pure liquid awesome as well as having given it a 94 meta score which pretty much assures it will be the game of the year..

I read everything I could find about it and was very much looking forward to this game — I do enjoy it for the most part.  I just don’t feel it deserves quite all the hype is has gotten.  More over I kind of wonder if the Creative Assembly folks didn’t pay for some of those favorable reviews… Either that or the reviewers didn’t play the same game they published..

I’m going to complain a bit now, but let me say that the game is good and I do like it.   It’s major failing at this point is the vast number of bugs..

So, as good as it is now, it will be even better once they fix all the annoying bugs, and man are there ever a lot of them..  But the potential is so huge I can’t wait.. I’m still playing the hell out of it and I do for the most part enjoy it, but the bugs detract from the game something awful.

There are quite a few memory leak style bugs where the game eventually will crash just due to repeated play or long term play.. Feh.. No big deal.   I completely understand this sort of thing and can forgive it.

The big issue is the horrible AI employed by the enemy.   The whole point of this game is to have combat in the form of 18th century gun lines where out maneuvering your opponent is as important as the shots fired..

The computer doesn’t do any of that..  It just masses troops towards you in huge blocks of chaos..  Things like buildings and walls completely confuse the AI and a lot of the time they will just stand there stupidly while you blow them away.

Or you will go out of your way to develop a clever tactic only to have the game ignore you completely and march all their troops in a straight line for no apparent reason..

It’s almost impossible to lose a combat at this point just because the AI is retarded.. It’s unfortunate, but true..

Frankly, the AI is just appaulingly bad..  I know this stuff is hard, but it really shouldn’t have been shipped in the state it is in.  I don’t blame the developer for this, this is yet another in a long line of games being pushed out the door before they were ready.  It really sucks that publishers are STILL doing this.

Look, I understand that a game (any game) is lost revinue until the game is out the door, but releasing it before it’s ready only hurts your bottom line.  It hurts your bottom line for years to come!  Releasing a game before its ready to be released pisses off the fan base making them not want to buy your next game.   It’s extremely short sited to publish a game thinking that you’ll fix it in a patch.  You guys need to stop doing it!

So.. all in all, the game is good.. I give it a strong 4 out of 5..  What keeps it from being a 5 out of 5 is the horrible AI.  That’s the only thing..  There are other issues that folks complain about, like the lack of unique uniforms or some little nitpicky details about the animations.. feh.. I can look past that entirely..  The AI is hard to get past..

Lets hope they stay true to their model and support the game for a while.. If they patch the AI a bit, the game will be worth every bit of that 94..

Dawn of War 2

I love Warhammer.  I have played Warhammer table top war game both fantasy and 40k pretty much since they came out.  I also have the Warhammer fantasy role playing game, the more recent Warhammer 40k role playing game and gave the Warhammer fantasy MMO a spin.

Games workshop has done a really good job at creating a compelling IP (too bad blizzard stole most of it.. but I digress).. So I was extremely excited about Dawn of War, though for whatever reason I didn’t get to play it much.

DoW looked very good and I wanted to make sure that I played DoW2!    I wasn’t about to let more Warhammer goodness slip by!

DoW2 made by Relic studios uses the same engine that Company of Heroes uses and looks fantastic.   More over, so long as you never actually try to play other people you’ll have a great time!    The game is designed to be very fast paced and they have removed the “build” element from the game entirely.

It’s pretty clear to me that they have geared this game towards the 16 to 20 year old Korean kids or people with a severe case of ADD as the game plays at a pretty much frantic pace.   Not my style, but I can see why it would be fun.

More over, I bet if I were actually able to play it multiplayer it would be a cool game..   Oh but I can’t.

Why you ask?

Simple really.. Relic uses the same craptacular network code that Company of Heroes used back in 2006, and as such a good 50% of the game owners out there, can’t play it online.  The game always complains of a “NAT ERROR”.

I can (and do) play other multiplayer games all the time.  I can play GRID, Call of Duty, Battlefield 2142, Left 4 Dead, TFC2..etc.. all multiplayer, all online over the internet and all work just fine.   Yet DoW2 (and Company of Heroes) all say my network is bad.   And I have tried everything right down to plugging my system directly into the modem which generally I think is a bad idea..

More over, the relic forums have a LOT of folks complaining about this issue.  Since this exact same error has been in effect since CoH was released in 2006.. It’s pretty apparent that Relic doesn’t give a crap..  And as such, I will not buy this game, and would further ask others to not buy this game.

If the game developers can refuse to fix a problem that has been plaguing their games for a while (and blame the users instead of their code or code decsisions for the problem), then why should I or any one else buy their game?     You don’t reward the dog and say “good boy” when he craps on the carpet..  Paying money for something we can’t use effectively rewards them for making something that doesn’t work.

I wont be buying this game.  The game play gets a 2 1/2 out of 5.. the speed RTS isn’t my style but I can see what some would like it, however the removal of the build element completely turns the game into a zerg fest designed to compete with star craft 2 which I don’t find fun at all..

The network thing drags the score down to a 1.  Fix your shit Relic.