User:Erasculio/Gaming

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Contents 1 What are your favourite games? 1.1 Which games you don't like? 1.2 What are you playing now? 1.3 What do you plan to play? 1.3.1 New games 1.3.2 Old games 2 Reviews 2.1 Dragon Age: Origins

[edit] What are your favourite games?

Lunar 2: Eternal Blue, Planescape: Torment and The Longest Journey are tied together as my favourite game. All of them share some trais - nice gameplay, nice graphics (for their time) but above all very strong stories, with excelent character development and great plots. Very good soundtracks help their feeling of imersion, as well.

For second place, Lunar: The Silver Star, Lunar: The Silver Star Story and Lunar 2:Eternal Blue Complete tie as well. All of them great games, but they still didn't have the same impact the original Lunar 2: Eternal Blue had on me.

For third place, Wizardry 7: Crusaders of the Dark Savant and Wizardry 8 tie together, as fitting for the beginning (middle?) of the story and its conclusion. Wizardry VII is pretty much why I learned English; playing a game filled with old English when I was 12 years old drove me to understand everything said in it, and in the end I learned the language with very little formal education on it (although I'm far from being fluent, as anyone who reads this knows very well : P; I'm happy to be able to read anything, though). Wizardry 8 took more than a decade to be finished, being a very long wait for the end of that story, but it was worth it, even if out of nostalgic value.

And now I give up on listing games by any order. My memory isn't good enough to remember everything I have ever played and rank everything; but my other favourite games, more or less by genre, are:

• Dreamfall, the sequel to The Longest Journey. Another sequel that took years to be finished, and isn't even the end of the story itself, it has worse gameplay than the original (the actions sequences feel a bit out of place, and the puzzles are very simple) but the story and the imersion continue to be as excelent as ever.

• Gabriel Knight: Sins of the Father, one more adventure game driven by its story and by an amazing soundtrack. The other parts of the trilogy are games I have never been able to play, unfortunately, and don't think I ever will.

• Phantasy Star, yes, the original Master System one. Released when I was in my early teen years, me and my older brother had a lot of fun playing it together; I think it was the first console RPG I ever played. The first person dungeons were a trademark that was lost from the second game, but it was rather nice to make the maps for each and every cave and building in the game. One day someone will translate the PlayStation 2 remake and I'll play the game again on all its next gen glory...

• Phantasy Star IV, the end of the Phantasy Star series. It's good (and still a rarity, IMO) when a series finishes with a game meant to be the end; such was the case here, and PS IV tied up all loose ends from (almost) all the games. A nice, fun and light story with great character moments and plenty of nostalgic value. I plan to play PS 2 and 3 (I have them already, in fact), now it's just a matter of having enough time.

• The Final Fantasy series. So far I have played I, II (PlayStation 1 version), V, VI (Super NES version), IX, X and X-2, although I plan to one day play all of them (ideally on the best possible version; I have a Nintendo DS so III and IV are already here, I just need time). Between the ones I have played, my second favourite is FF6, thanks to the great characters and the great soundtrack. It was fun to take my favourite character, Celes, and give her so many anti-magic stuff that her Magic Block rate was above 100%. Whenever an enemy cast Fire 3, I would see the party being roasted, and the "tlint" of Celes blocking the spell with her shield : D The FF games interesting thanks to the feeling of despair they create - everything, from story to graphics to music give the impression that the bad guys have won, and all you have left to do is damage control. My favourite one now would be Final Fantasy X, though. A beautiful game, from the soundtrack (I really like the Hymn of the Fayth, and it's nice to see they bothered with different versions for each one of the Fayth in the story) to the CGIs (the one of Yuna dancing in the beginning of the game is amazingly pretty) to the voice acting (for a first time, most of the characters were perfect on their roles). The cast of characters is great, and the fact all of them are introduced in the beginning helps to develop almost all of their personalities in a way that didn't feel forced. The combat system, with the easy character switch, is also great. Unfortunately FFX-2 isn't nearly as good; if anything, it's frustrating to have to follow a very rigid script in order to see the ending of the FFX storyline. The voice acting done by Yuna's actress is very good, though.

• StarCraft, the best RTS game I have ever played. The setting, the story and the soundtrack were really good, but the diversity in gameplay is what truly caught me here. Three different races, each with completely different gameplay and many viable strategies, yet almost perfectly balanced - that's the best I could ask from a RTS, IMO. The expansion, Brood War, was also great... But to say the truth, my favourite StarCraft campaign, after the original, is the (never finished, and to be never finished) Antioch Chronicles.

• Emperor: Battle for Dune, a continuation of the mother of all RTS games, once again within the Dune universe (which I happen to be a fan of). The gameplay was interesting, although not that much revolutionary, and many units were the same between the three factions (as they have always been), but the game really shines on the details: the cutscenes and the story match exactly the David Lynch Dune movie, in all its over the top glory, and the graphics and music for each side is distinctive enough.

• Dawn of War, mostly the original game (the expansions are interesting, but the first game is the best one, IMO). An unique setting perfectly translated to the game (everything: the animations, the dialogues, the story, all of it makes clear what the Warhammer40k universe is about) together with a strategy game having inovative (to me, at least) elements. Here's to hoping that Dawn of War 2 won't be just a MMORP-lite.

• Final Fantasy Tactics, which isn't exactly a RTS, but... The story is great (despite the very VERY bad translation : P), but what I really like is the freedom of creating an army as we want. All abilities and professions available combine to give us plenty of options in how to fight. The Gameboy Advance sequel is interesting, but isn't really in this list thanks to all the childish elements and the annoying card system; I have yet to play the Nintendo DS sequel (or the PSP remake, something I won't be able to play anytime soon).

• Jedi Knight and Jedi Academy, both games I still play once in a while. Both games translated very well what it would feel like to play as a Jedi, and the mechanics of both lightsabers and Force powers were very interesting. The over the top cutscenes in JK and the many different missions in JA are worth mentioning.

• Heretic, my favourite FPS (and really, the only one I like - I play the Jedi games on third view all the time), filled with atmosphere, from the great soundtrack to the really, really funny weapons (shooting chains that grab the oponent, lift him and tear him apart always makes me smile). One mission managed to make my (older) brother sleepless for a couple nights. Both Hexen games weren't as interesting, but Heretic II was great - a very short third person game that also oozed atmosphere, and also had some great weapons.

• Assassin's Creed: a very cinematic game. The control system feels like something completely unique, and the way it allows players to perform rather cinematic moves is great. It's an easy game, but what interested me the most was the planning aspect behind the Assassinations, gathering information on how to best accomplish them and so on. The level of detail invested in the game is nice, too - the voice acting is great (with Altair being out of place, but alas), the reaction of the nearby NPCs to what you do are perfect, and the tibits of news about the "real" world are rather interesting reads.

• Prince of Persia: another very cinematic game, similar to Assassin's Creed (which isn't a big surprise, given how it was made by the same people). Like AC and even Guild Wars, the challenge in the game comes not from being able to beat it or not, rather on how well you can do so. In GW that's measued by efficiency, in Assassin's Creed by how well a plan works, but here, it's a matter of flowing: of being able to run through the areas without stopping, of defeating the enemies in the most cinematic way possible (which usually involves long combo sequences), and so on. It feels a lot like the old Sonic games, dressed in far more cinematic clothes.

• Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow and Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow. I like the exploring element of both games, together with the great soundtrack and the interesting story. But what I like the most here is the number of abilities the main character has - we may completely change our playstyle on the fly (which is the reason why these games are here, and Symphony of the Night isn't).

• Parasite Eve was actually recomended by my Biology teacher, although I wouldn't play it until years later. A good story with a great soundtrack, but the "scientific" idea behind the game was what really caught my attention. I actually think it does have, very deep down, some real merit.

• Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic featured some classic RPG elements (the feat system I'm not so fond of, and etc) but really shone thanks to a great storyline and amusing ways to interpret the Force powers. The sequel wasn't as great, unfortunately. Jade Empire and Mass Effect, two other RPGs by Bioware, are also great games but feel extremely like KotOR. They could almost have been a prequel or a sequel to that game.

• Guild Wars: Nightfall, Factions and GW:EN (in that order). What made me play Guild Wars was the skill system - I really like how we have many options of equally (...yeah, yeah) powerful skills and different professions with very different gameplay. PvE-wise, Nightfall is the best chapter to me, with an interesting story in a very well crafted world and a great soundtrack. Prophecies isn't that good, IMO, so it's not in this list.

• Marvel Super Heroes, the good old arcade game. I have never been fond of Street Fighter thanks purely to how it looks ugly to me. MSH had more interesting graphics with far more over the top animations, it was an easier game to learn to play. Fun when feeling like pushing some people : D The next few games in the series, X-Men vs Street Fighter and Marvel vs Street Fighter, weren't as good, IMO. But...

• Marvel vs Capcom was rather nice, with many of the best elements from MSH and some interesting new aditions, like some cool new characters (Strider FTW!). I have yet to play MvC2, though.

[edit] Which games you don't like?

• MMORPGs: I don't like the basic premises in them. I have the feeling that most have way too many time sinks (which make perfect sense in those games that have a monthly fee) disguised as features, too shallow of a PvE content, too much focus on levels and items, too many things (skills, spells, areas, enemies, items, etc) that lose their value once you level up past them. The only MMORPG I play is Guild Wars, thanks to how we have at least the ability of changing the world (I will never forget a WoW quest to rescue a guy found lying sick in a forest clearing...and once the guy was saved, he said he was feeling better but he would rather stay where he was, with his sick look, thank you), but even Guild Wars isn't an online game to me - it's a game that happens to have an online part.

• WarCraft III: I have it and the expansion, but both are very "meh" to me. They are very polished products, as all things Blizzard make are, but still uninteresting...No idea if it's because I didn't like the graphics (too cartoony for my taste), if because the lore feels boring (really hate the "savage but noble" things for the Orcs) or if because the gameplay feels a bit weird, but I didn't like this game.

• Half Life: never liked it. I was never that interested in FPS, and Half Life lacked graphics, soundtrack and mood to interest me. Plus, using real life guns is boring : D Making the enemies burst in pieces FTW.

[edit] What are you playing now?

• Guild Wars: still a lot of things I want to do...I hope I have time to do everything before GW2 comes.

[edit] What do you plan to play?

[edit] New games

• Assassin's Creed 2
• Star Wars: The Force Unleashed
• StarCraft 2 (maybe, despite the silly money making scheme)
• Guild Wars 2 (maybe)
• Star Wars: The Old Republic (maybe)

[edit] Old games

• Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia on the DS
• Final Fantasy III and IV on the DS
• Final Fantasy VII and VIII on the PS
• Shadow of the Colossus and ICO on the PS2 (one day...)
• Okami and Rez on the PS2 (I'll never find those, but anyway...)
• Final Fantasy Tactics: War of the Lions on the PSP (although this one is very unlikely)

[edit] Reviews

[edit] Dragon Age: Origins

One of the most hyped games released this month, Dragon Age: Origins feels like a merge of Knights of the Old Republic with The Witcher and a small touch of Planescape: Torment.

Like the other BioWare RPGs, Dragon Age begins with an introduction that soon leads to an open world, in which the player has a set of objectives to be done in any chosen order. There's still a central place in which to talk to party members, discussing their backstories and pursuing romance, and also all main quests have two paths that can loosely be described as "good" and "evil" options, often trying to add some kind of twist to what originally appear to be simple tasks. Those features are shared between this title, Jade Empire, Knights of the Old Republic and Mass Effect, so while they have been extremely well done here, they are somewhat predictable for anyone who has played older Bioware games.

Like The Witcher, the game happens in a fantasy universe with a rich background; much has been said about Dragon Age being an "adult" or "dark" game also like The Witcher, but in truth the game is mostly obsessed with blood. Killing almost anything is enough to bath all party members in a layer of blood that will take a while to vanish; other than that, only in very few places the game manages to be darker than Mass Effect. The sex scenes have been censored considerably from what is seen on ME, probably a side effect of the American media claiming that the older game was a porn simulator filled with lesbianism; had the romance scenes been done tastefully in Dragon Age that wouldn't be an issue, but the sex scenes featuring characters in their underwear just look silly.

Like Planescape: Torment, players may turn the camera to an isomeric view, playing with good old click to move. Considering how many RPGs today follow control schemes and camera modes exactly like those found in MMORPGs, it was a great surprise to be able to play the game like old CRPGs. It also allows for an interesting view of battle, giving a greater point of view in which to plan strategies. Thanks to having a party of four characters, with the option of stopping the game whenever wanted in order to give commands to each party member, battles give the oportunity to execute elaborated strategies; the game also offers many features dedicated to make fights more complex, such as most spells having friendly fire, characters doing more damage while attacking enemies from behind, and being able to set predetermined conditions in which party members will execute specific tasks (exactly like the gambit system found in Final Fantasy XII).

Unfortunately, battles also have their flaws. There is a great imbalance in how mages are far more powerful than the two other character archetypes, warriors and rogues, both thanks to bugs (daggers and bows, the weapons of choice for rogues, are bugged and thus less effective than they should have been) and to design: all professions have trees of Talents, which give special abilites for any character. However, the abilities of warriors and rogues are split based on what kind of weapon they specialize in, while mages may pick any spell and be effective with it; more or less like a Warrior in Guild Wars placing all his attribute points in Hammer Mastery and being offered axe and hammer skills, with an Elementalist having 15 in all caster attributes and being able to pick skills from any spellcasting profession. As a result, a rogue or warrior character in Dragon Age would likely end the game with a few active abilities, while mages don't have enough space on their quickbars for all their spells.

Picking new talents is the most important part of character progression. While the game has no level cap and each level grants more health, more stamina/mana and more attribute points, the game features an scalling system in which the enemies also level up when the main character grows in power (and all characters in the party level up, too, even those who are not actively in use). Items are important, but not game breaking; while the game relies too much on potions (they are the only effective source of healing, and the most effective way for a mage to regain mana), having the best equipment does not give too much of an impact. Thanks to those two traits, the game avoids being like many Diablo clones in which the point of the game is to grind for levels and items, leaving the player to focus on the story.

And as expected, it's on the story that the game really shines. The main plot may be a bit predictable for those who have played other Bioware games, but the background created for the world is incredibly rich, enough to make stories for multiple games. There are enough pieces of lore, backstories and dialogue to fill many books, together with great voice acting and great writing. Choices have consequences, beginning with character creation - picking one of the six possible origins for the main character has some sort of impact during the entire game, from the introduction to the ending scenes.

The art is good, although not spetacular; the game looks better from the isomeric view, which hides some of the flaws in the graphics. The audio, in other hand, is perfect, from the great voice acting to an amazing soundtrack and to good sound effects.

Unfortunately the game still has plenty of bugs. None game breaking, but Dragon Age does crash once in a while, there are many memory leak problems leading to long loading screens, and some features (like the above mentioned bug weakening rogues) leave some characters worse than they should have been. Some issues are already being worked on by Bioware, but their community manage (who's stupid) claims they're not in a hurry to fix them.

In closing, Dragon Age: Origins is another Bioware game, with all the good and the bad that entails. It's mostly a good game, that shines on its rich world and great writing, despite some odd design decisions and some bugs.