Trying to find ideas

Trying to find ideas on what to write about. I've been busy with school so much that I've had less time working on the blog.

Review: Dragon Age II (Warning Spoliers)

NOTE: The author owns none of the pictures.

Being the Bioware freak that I am, it's no surprise that I've already played and beaten this game three times since it's release. This means either I'm an awesome gamer or I have no life...or both. Anyway, let's talk about Dragon Age and it's universe. Like most RPG worlds it's got the usual Tolken references like Magic, Elves, Dwarves, a great evil that corrupts the universe etc. However, Dragon Age calls itself a "Dark Fantasy" which is sort of an true and yet not true. There is a lot of dark like themes in the game and there is plenty of signs of blood, evil, demonic creatures and mysterious plots. However I like to call it the "Reversal Fantasy" instead, mostly because it takes the common tropes of all normal fantasy's and twists them around.

For instance, Magic is kind of viewed as the plaque to the common view where mages are forced to live in isolation or else they fear the wraith of the Templers and the Chantry (A Christian like religion that pretty much is the major power in Thedas). Elves are treated like second class citizen (and sometimes worse) and there great lore is all but lost. And while in most RPG's the religion is a good holy like sort, in the game you known that the religion is corrupted and there is a lot of problems.

Dragon Age Origins provided a great story with a unique character creation that effected the game, a fun combat system, interesting mechanics, and well designed world. Now that Dragon Age II is out, only a year and a half  later, does it match well to it's predecessor? Let's see.

1. Graphics

This is one of the more improved aspects of the game. Sometimes the graphics in Dragon age II seemed to be a little off and choppy when I played it, but they have improved a lot here in the squeal. The lighting is much better and the character's textures are much similar to the style of Mass Effect's character which bring out the more realistic approach to the character's looks and likeness. Most of the game takes place in the city Kirkwall and while it's not like it's LOTR's Minas Tirith it;s a somewhat impressive piece of work. Hightown, for the nobles, is all fancy and rich looking while the lower you get the more poorer it it is the atmosphere and setting so points for that. A few times you will look at the background and skybox's and see that it's bland, but not so much. I have to say this is one of the really good improvements for the game.

2. Controls

This is by far my favorite improvement. In the original Dragon Age, the combat system was much like KOTOR's and this I praised because it was a system that most of us knew a lot of and it was easier to understand. A few new features were added such as the Quick Potion option, the ability to lock certain skills or spells in to be used automatically, and the ability to pause the game and plan out your next attack. Dragon Age II follows a more direct approach. While some of the original control schemes still exist, main combat is done by hacking and slashing. If your a melee user you just point in a direction, press A over and over, and your attacking with combo like moves, this is a much more action orianted combat style and I fully welcome it as it allowed me to get inside the fight more and dash from place to place with my giant sword knocking down three to two armed men instead of one by one like the previous one.

The system is also unique for long range users and magic users as well. If you use a crossbow or longbow, the system does an auto lock for you on the nearest opponent and you just press I as fast as possible to fire arrow after arrow. Sometimes you will move your joystick (or mouse) and you will aim at a different target instead. But here is the unique thing, if your aiming at an opponent right next to you, you will physically attack your opponent instead of firing your weapon. Finally, some realism! Seriously, if I'm a bow guy and I see a guy about to attack me with a sword I would kick the guy in the face. Finally, Mages have the honor of having both the long and short range. If you aim at an opponent far range, your character will do a fancy kata of moves with their staffs that send out magical energy while any enemy that gets hit by the staff will also receive damage. You soon see that Mages are going to be the powerhouse in this game very quickly.

Other then these changes, most of the game is the same as the original which is a perfect blend of my opinion of Originality and Orthodoxy.

3. Gameplay

Gameplay has a lot of familiar features while adding a few new ones, but besides the new control system there is not much that actually makes the game feel better then Dragon Age Origins. In all actuality it feels more like Mass Effect. The narration dialog now has the famous Mass Effect wheel where you move your joystick to the correct response and then press A for your character to say it. Believe it or not, I don't like this. The wheel was more of a Mass Effect thing and by bringing it over the game loses it's feel as a Dragon Age game. As usual of Bioware's game the choices you make will effect the overall story and the way your characters react. Except unlike in the original Dragon Age, you don't have the friendly meter and instead now have a "Friendship & Rivalry" meter. With this meter you have the option of having a friendly relationship with a companion or a competitive like one via disagreements or opposite views. It's okay to have either one with any character as they will grow stronger if all the way left or right and you can still have a romance with a character of either character. In fact it's worse to have a companion that's middle because most crisis moments need your character to be mostly one friendly or rival in order for them to still stay in your party.

In terms of level building, it's gotten a lot better. All characters have their own set of "Stat Trees" by which you can choose which paths to follow for each character to your liking. You can have Merill be an Elemental Mage while Bethany follows on Healing or switch them around if you want, the choice is yours. This makes each character's fighting style more unique then the skill building in the first game where all characters of the same class had the same skill list. However, all characters except yours can only have one type of weapon specialization that's already default for them. As for you, you are limited as well. Warriors only get Sword and Shield as well as Two-Handed Weapons. Rouges get Duel Weapons and Archery. And Mages only get staffs. However, this won't be major problem as each style is suited well to their respective class. And don't worry about exp share, the game has gotten rid of it and now you gain exp for all the enemies you kill after each battle for all companions. And if you want to gain a little extra, the game world has a "Night Mode" where by traveling in the city you can grind extra exp by facing down thugs and night gangs as the excuse. Genius.

The crafting feature s not as good as people think. It's nice that you can now make your own potions, grenade, poisons, and enchantments by finding recipes and materials to make them, but they still cost money which I find a bit stupid. Should the point of crafting being less materials then wealth while doing the opposite is reverse? As such I just stop wasting time find craft materials half way in my second game and just sold the stuff to by potions and first aids. Enchantments are back, as is Satchel who is awesome, and they still have their cool abilities.

 But the most worked on is the Side Quests. Side Quests play a much more active role in this game then in the predecessors as the Side Quests grow upon each arc with more details that effect your character and some companions (Fenrir, Isabella, Sebastian) can only be found by achieve side quests. There are also your companion's side quests which will not only help you grow into a more deeper relationship with them, but are vital to do because if you don't do these there maybe a few characters who will leave your party for good. This is good on one hand because it forces the player to do more interaction with the characters and story, but on the other hand some players may not want to be forced to do something they don't want to do and have huge consequences for doing so. It's a risky move, but again it might work or not depending on the player.

So overall much of the mechanics are done right but what about the story?

4. Story

Normally I would stay here and call the story of any Bioware game to be that as if it was written by muses, but this time it's not going to be as much of that. First the good parts of the story, the entire game is told by the narration of the character Varric who tells the ten year story of the rise of the champion, Hawke,to a Chantry Seeker who believes that by understanding the journey of Hawke she might be able to stop a great world war that is happening. Expect to see some the actions you have done in DA:O and Awakening, but not as much as Mass Effect as this story takes place in the Free Marshes, a land outside of Ferelden which is kind of a dissapointment.

But there is one major thing that I have to say about this game's story that I can't find anything more then annoying....there is no main villain. Unlike in the first Dragon Age game where the villains were Loghain and the Blight, a constant enemy through out the game, in this game there role of "villain" is very much changed throughout the story. The final boss is not really a villain as she's only first scene at the end of the third arc. Sure we hear about her sometimes, but not as much and it kind of frustrates me that their is no real antagonistic force behind this game. Some might say the Qunari are one, but they only really are  threat in the last of the third act. So yeah we have  our hero, but we have no consistent antagonistic force through the story and that bugs me.

Theme wise the story is a bit shaky as well. It mostly focus on the relationships between the Circle of Magi and the Chantry, both of whom have had a rocky relationship and as time goes on it gets worse. Through 3/4ths of the story most of the side quests will feature either Templers or Mages as the enemy and it's clear from there that you will have to pick a side in the future. Oh look the Chantry was just blown up, there we go. After a certain not so funny anymore Grey Warden Mage blows up the  Chantry because he wants to start a revolution, the Templers issue the Right of Annulment which allows all the Templers to kill every Mage in their district (this case Kirkwall) even through none of the Circle of Magi was involve. And so you must choose to pick a side to deterimine the fate of Kirkwall, but the ending is just...lame. Either one you choose nothing really changes except the same thing, every Circle decides to revolt against the Templers and soon it becomes a Magic vs. Church war all over the world.

To be fair the game does take place in a smaller environment unlike the last game, but I feel that it kind of wares it down by where the story goes. I know it's suppose to be the rise of the champion, but as you progress further down the story it gets worse and worse. Also, the Idol of Lyrium is a really bad plot device Bioware, really bad.

5. Characters

Oh this is just were I get really bashing. The characters are some of the most forgettable characters ever. Dragon Age Origins had great characters, even though some were really annoying (Alister and Leliana) you still remember them and they had some redeeming qualities about them. In this game, nearly every character is forgettable. Let me list your companions.

1. Bethany: Your little sister who is a mage and pretty much has no personality what so ever other then trying to be...a little sister. Great for the party, very weak personality. So if you don't want her, just be a Mage and see an ogre smash her into pulp.

2. Carver: Your younger brother and Bethany's twin. Unlike Bethany who doesn't stick out, Carver tries to hard to stick out. He's always wining and complaining even worse then Alistair, something I find nearly impossible. He really had no huge storyline significue and can only be a full companion if your a mage. But how does he reward you by letting him live? He joins the Templers who hunt mages. WTF?

3. Aveline: She's basically has the personality of a  Lawful Good character. Other then her love for all things order and just, her only use is being your tank (Which I give points for not being a guy this time) and just killing things. She is very useful in certain side quests and only has one moment of funny in the plot.

4. Varric: This guy is fucking awesome! Screw any elf hero from any other RPG, I want me a fucking crossbow sarcastic dwarf! This guy not only is a great companion (And the only one who will be with you no matter what) but he's got a personality like gold. Every scene with him is just great and the way he lies and deals his way through the story's problems? You'll laugh every time. Pretty much my only favorite companion.

5. Merrill: If you like innocent moe like characters. Merrill is the closest you'll get in an WRPG. She's got an interesting personality and her innocence will get a chuckle out of you once and awhile. But what I really like about her is her story, it's very well tragically made and I that's why I give her more points in character development the others.

6. Anders: .....what have they done to you? How do you take one of the funniest characters in Dragon Age and turn him into a wreck? Anders is no longer funny or cool. All he whines about are "the injustice of Mages" and the "Evils of the Templers" every fucking time. He's like listening to a preacher that never shuts the hell up, only bisexual and depressing. Other then that, he's your main healer. Oh and he also causes the entire world to go to war. Dick.

7. Fenrir: Emo with white hair and a huge sword who use to be a slave and wants revenge against his master. JRPG much Bioware? Next.

8. Isabella: Only there to provide sex jokes, still,.. she fights well.

8. Sebastian: For a guy who was DLC, he's not worth it really. Varric is a much better long range guy and this guy has the personality of a church boy. The guy  has this big revenge plot, but it really doesn't go anywhere special. You won't miss much by losing him.

So yeah, your companions are mostly dull and chances are you'll even lose a few early on in your replays of the game. I'm starting to think Bioware focused to much on mechanics and forgot they had to make the game's narrative interesting.

6. Sound
The sound....is very not notaciable. Nothing special about sound because it's not changed since Dragon Age. Oh and the voices of characters? Need work.

OVERALL: 4/5
So While there are some ups to this game there are also some downs as well. I had fun, but not the same kind of fun I had when playing Dragon Age Origins which is like 5/5 in my book. I believe they were trying to make the game too much like Mass Effect and not enough Dragon Age. I still say you should buy it, but don't expect to play it as much as you did with the original.

Well that's my review. See you next week

We are Gamers and we are Legion.

Later


So you can see, almost every character is

Japan Tsunami

My heart goes out to all those who suffered in the Tsunami in Japan as well as in Hawaii and the other coasts.

If you knew somebody involved in this, then you have my prayers too.

Reviews: Marvel vs Capcom 3

 Note: Any pictures, movies, clips or links are not the writer's own work, also his opinion is not the opinion of god and everyone is to the right of their own opinion.

Well, after playing my friend's game enough times I've finally come to my conclusion about this game. And to be honest...I am disappointed. It's not that this is a bad game, but it feels so...incomplete. I know some of you, even those who do love this game, feel that your not getting the experience you thought you were going to get and that something in either the mechanics or the overall feel of the game is missing. Well let's see what is missing and what isn't.

But first of some history.

Marvel vs Capcom is a very famous fighting game series which crosses over Marvel superheroes like the X-men, Captain America, Spider Man, and a few villains, with Capcom's characters from games like Street Fighter, Mega Man, Strider and more. The idea of the game was so fascinating and well done that it was not only a hit in the arcades, but also on the home consoles.

When Marvel vs Capcom 2 came out, it was one of the best fighting games to ever be sold and remained a favorite for ten years, that's a big deal for a single game. In fact, I think it's one of the best sequels ever made. 

Now we have, ten years later, Marvel vs Capcom 3. When I first saw this trailer, I was shocked and amazed by how well the art work was along with seeing new and familiar faces like Ryu, Hulk, Deadpool, Dante, Dr. Doom and more. I thought this was something Capcom couldn't fail at. They had ten years to make this game great and we all stood ready for it. However, now that we have it we are all mixed on what we feel about it.

Some people are so die hard for it and love it to the death that they defend anything about the game. Now while other people's opinions may very, this is my opinion on why the game is a disappointment overall.

1. Graphics:

Okay let's get the good stuff done first. These are perfect graphics for the game's style. The animated comic like style sets the mood off for the idea of having your favorite comic book heroes fighting alongside and against your favorite game heroes. The first two games were all in classic 2D style fighting and it worked really well at that time. This was a smart move by Capcom to make the game look more 3D like. Sure it still plays like a 2D fighting game going only back and forth, but it keeps the popular 3D art style for the overall look of each character( in great detail by the way) while making the levels they fight in look more then just a simple background.

It's like playing in the likeness Street Fighter 4, but with Iron man and Chris Redfield in it. In fact, many people can see that Street Fighter 4 was a big inspiration to the art team for the likeness and meshes of the art work and that's a good thing. Squeal games need to be both familiar and new to gamers. The familiarity gives them that fan like feeling they get when they play their games while the new content makes the game not seem like the original to much. Many people are familiar with Street Fighter 4, so making it like that game in terms of the art style is a piece of brilliant work and does the game justice.

2. Controls

This is something that a lot of old school fans like me were disappointed in. The control system for the game is not the old classic MvC2 style, a style that was perfect for all types of gamers. From the button smashers to the one hit only users to even the guys who memorize every move, the control system worked and that was one of the best points of MvC2. This time however the controls are totally different. All the familiar moves your fingers remember through muscle memory are going to be obsolete. In fact, the game has only five buttons now. Low, Medium, and High attack while followed by the buttons that call upon your two allies. If you try to play this game like MvC2, your going to get owned....bad. In fact the only time I ever really won was just button smashing and that was only if I was lucky. But what makes this even worse is that their is a mode where the game can even simply the controls even more and make it easy to kill one character in just a few short moves. I'm sorry, maybe it's the old school in me, but this was a mistake.

What makes fighting games great are the controlling mechanics for each move and the combos that follow by pressing the buttons in the right order. Sure this might be hard to some players, but the great thing about these games is that you learn while playing. The more you play with the controls, the easier they become for your muscles to memorize the right moves that are needed. Maybe for some players this easier system works out well...but for me, I've got to say it's a poor choice.

3. Gameplay

Oh where do I begin? While the game does play a lot like the original and has it's fun moments I've got to say this. It's...too....easy. Way to easy. I went through the single player mode in less then 20 minutes...I'm telling the truth here and that was just on normal mode. Once I got the controls finally figured out I just air combo-ed everyone to death and it was simple as that. But in terms of the overall likeness of playing a match I have to say they did keep most of the original stuff in. We got the Hyper Meter, the health bars, the combo signs and more. It feels like the original, but yet it doesn't. This is both good and bad. It's good that it's following my idea of originally and orthodoxy, but it's bad because I can't really feel a satisfied or dissatisfied opinion. I mean you will have fun in the game, that much I will tell you and maybe for some people that's enough, but I feel that there should be deeper emotional feelings then just fun in a game.

On another side note let's talk about the added game modes or better yet, the lack of them! First off there is "Simple Mode" where you only need three buttons to kill anything that moves....yeah next! Verses mode is what you would expect, both system and online are available however I will talk about online later. And then there is the only good mode they have, Mission Mode. As you would expect it's where you take specific characters and try to accomplish certain objectives with these characters like in the Event modes from SSBM. I liked it and it was pretty good. Next one....oh wait...there are no others! Holy crud, what the hell? Why not a tournament mode? I would think by now they would have something that allows us to have a list of tournaments where we can play against other online players for more social interaction. Where is also Time Attack mode and Spectator mode? One of the great things about online gameplay in the second game was while you were waiting for a match, you could watch other people play. It would not only give you an idea of what each opponent's fighting style was like but it also kept you more entertained then just staring at a wall while waiting for your turn.

Which bring me to my next major point, the failure of online gameplay. Now I ran out of my Gold Xbox membership awhile ago and haven't found the time to update it so I had to play at my friend's apartment and on his live system. I will tell you right now....this was the most disappointing thing in this game. Almost 3/4ths of the time did I have connection problems getting into a single game and I was forced back to the menu screen where I was forced to once again go all the way to the online screen and try again only to fail again. And when I did finally get to a lobby, I had to wait while other people were fighting. Yet I can't view the fight because there is no Spectator Mode. So I was forced to wait for 20 minutes until I finally got to play a game online only to get some whining brat who complained that I was a "hax" for kicking his ass so hard. Yeah, so I'm not interested in getting online matches for some time. I don't know what the hell happened Capcom, but you need to check your servers.

4. Story

Now It's obvious by now that most people don't focus on the story in most fighting games. Some do it well while some do it terrible, this is mostly because more energy is put on the mechanics of the game then the story in this type of gaming field. However, after viewing the trailers for the game I thought that for once there was going to be a very interesting storyline in this game that would actually feature some great cut scenes and action. It was all possible to do, I'm sure this idea was thought about in the Pre-Production phase. However, much to my continued disappointment...it didn't happen. Yet, this isn't a surprise to me. I mean MvC2 had a plot, but really nobody paid attention to it and seeing the same thing happen here is not a surprise. However, one thing I was angry about was the lack of animated videos in each of the character endings. You would think with all the trailers and artwork they did they would have done a simple 30 second movie for each character at the end of the single player game, but we just get artwork with no voices....that's just lazy.

4. Characters
Ah, now we get to a really interesting part. One of the great things about MvC2 was that it had over fifty-six characters, half from Marvel and half from Capcom. This was awesome because it allowed so many combination's for team building that it almost seemed limitless. In Marvel vs Capcom 3 however we only get a total thirty-six characters. That's a lot lower then what we were expecting and there are only 4 characters that are hidden. Now we can all guess what Capcom is doing, there going to put more characters in the game through the use of DLC. I'm sorry, but I feel a bit screwed by this. I would have accept forty-five characters before DLC, maybe even forty. But the fact that you are going to give us only barley half the amount of characters we had in the original game feels like a joke and your doing this to range in the cash cow because you know we'll pay whatever amount of money just to get all our old playable characters again.

Let's talk about the characters now shall we? First off we got familiar ones like Ryu, Wolverine, Captain Amercia and Chun-Li while getting new ones such as Dante, Arthur, Thor, and Phoenix. I was glad to see so many new faces and I was happy to play those guys, but there is something that is still bothering me. A lot of old characters I liked that have been around since the beginning are not in the game anymore. We don't have Megaman, but we have Zero which is strange, and we don't have Strider one of my favorite guys. And some characters I feel really didn't need to be even in the game. That guy from Biotic Commando? She-Hulk? Doramammu?! Sure some characters I'm glad to see gone and replaced (Cough cough "Iceman" cough cough) but, seriously? Doramammu?

Well, enough about that. Let's get to how they play. This is where the game goes right. Most of the characters feel like they play and act like their respective styles. It was entertaining to see the characters fight each other and I had a blast doing so. But some characters however, like Akuma and Sentinal, are really overpowered and can kill you within a second. But hey, you get that in every fighting game really.

6. Sound

It's great. Still has the same good beat, great voices, nice sound effects and more. Nothing else to be said.

OVERALL:

Now for the overall verdict. I will admit I had fun playing the game and there were times I did forgive some of the problems....but I still feel that I only got half the game I wanted. So much is missing and so much was taken out that I can't help but feel this is a big disappointment to us all. Sure I know people praise the game so much, but there are others like me who feel the same feelings. Because of all this I am going to give this game an average rating.

Marvel vs Capcom 3: 3/5

I suggest you don't buy the game yet and wait for the DLC's to come out. If the DLC's make the game better with more characters and a lot of game modes then maybe I will buy it myself. But until then, it's not going to be in my Xbox personally.

Well, that's my review. Thanks for reading and remember.

We are gamers and we are legion.

Later