Fallout 3

Fallout 3
I have returned! Nothing can stop my bloody warpath across space and time, destroying everything that I see! Kneel before my glory! Anyway, this week I am going to be taking a good long look at the rather magnificent game that is Fallout 3. Okay, maybe magnificent isn't the correct word for an rpg that takes place in a nuked out district of colombia. Don't get me wrong though, the game is absolutely fantastic.
Lets take a gander as to why that is.
The story in it's very basic sense is quite good, even though if you don't pay strict attention to what's going on the entire purpose of your quest goes out the window with hygiene and clean water. Which brings us to the obvious point that most of the quests and goals involve finding sustainable food and water of the kind that will not kill you. That, and the rest of the time your duties as the champion of the wasteland fall under slaying monsters and thwarting the efforts of the villainous enclave or as I call them, “fallout nazis”. The miscellaneous quests that you run into while traversing the obliterated country-side are extremely fun as well. The ideas are usually fairly original for the most part, and like Bethesda's other masterful rpg Oblivion, some quests and goals are initiated without notice.
The combat system is also a very original and tasteful take on the usual fps action that makes up the genre of post apocalypse. The V.A.T.S. system is extremely smooth working, easy to use, and yields some spectacular results when couple with the perks that you gain. Speaking of which, the perks that you can select when you increase your experience level, range from extremely, to questionably useful. I found that many of the perks just seemed to be there for the sake of being there, they didn't actually bring anything to the gameplay that changed it dramatically. That being said, the ones that are really useful, really shine when you put them to use. The only real complaint I have of the system, is that other from using cheat codes (lets be honest, if you're considering using them on a first play through, I want you to unplug your keyboard, and use the little edge of plastic beneath the space bar to cut off your hands. I don't care how, I just want results. Serves you right.) there is no way of getting them all, whereas in Oblivion it just took a lot of time and dedication to max out every stat to get each perk, you can only max out the stats in Fallout 3. The leveling system runs the same course that it did in Oblivion, being a good idea on paper, but not all that practical when implemented into the gameplay. Now, as far as gear load outs go, I was impressed. There are large amounts of weapons and armor for the player to choose from, each with varying effects on play style and performance. I will say this though, imagine my opposing rpg characters from Oblivion and Fallout, (I keep on referencing the two together because their play style is almost identical.) the first being a towering vampire in black and red plate armor swinging an enormous soul stealing sword and bearing a shield with a screaming demonic face on it, surrounded by his elite bodyguard of skeletal warriors. Then picture a man in a huge suit of futuristic powered armor with electric arcs shooting all over his body, hefting an enormous laser cannon in one hand, and in the other a rocket launcher that shoots nuclear warheads. Ask yourself who would win if either of these mighty heroes went head to head with each other. If your answer is the hero from Fallout 3, then you can stop reading right now, not ten minutes from now, not when you decide to get up and visit your friend John Crapper, but NOW. The reason I say this is because my Oblivion character enchanted his own armor to do exactly what he wanted them to. Same with his arsenal of destructive and necromantive spells. My fallout character cannot do any of that. I really detested how they took the customizing of blank slate equipment out of the game. I can sort of understand that we're talking about physical technology and not the forces of magic here, but still, it's such a crucial thing in any rpg to be able to customize your equipment. As long as we're on this sort of note, let's talk about post-game awards. Fallout 3 has a bunch of perks, weapons, and housing options to choose from as far as ways to spend your cash. Yet, I do not really see these minor things as being awards. Aside from the destruction of the Enclave (or the Brotherhood of Steel, whichever you prefer, that is if you're a fallout nazi) there are no large benefits, you do not become a demon prince (Oblivion), nor do you become essentially immortal. All in all, I believe that Fallout 3 is a fantastic game with a great aura of desperate futility about it. Yet, when I load up the save, and look at all that my character has done, and the aftereffects of his actions, I can't help but wonder, have I really saved anybody? That's the thing, nothing really seems to get any better. Sure there's clean water for everyone at the end of it all, and the Enclave is no longer a huge threat, but what difference does it make? The world is still in shambles and the people are all clawing at each others throats like dogs fighting over a scrap of rotten meat. I had you going there didn't I? That's the entire point of the game I believe. That despite all of the good that you try to do, in the scale of things it hardly matters, the world is tearing itself apart from it's use of nuclear energy, combined with good old human nature. A more destructive pair there never has been. That's what makes Fallout 3 a great game in my opinion, that sense of hopelessness that sets in every now and then as you stare across the blackened fields and the charred forests. More than anything, the sense of atmosphere, that of fear, doubt, and sickness, contributes the most to what makes Fallout 3 so great.

Final Fantasy XII

I have returned! Almost catastrophically late, but, fear not. I've been looking at a very good game recently, a game so good that it made me eat my own socks. Yes, that good. The game, not the socks. Anyhow, the most recently released game in the Final Fantasy series is by far the best console rpg that I have played on the PS2. When I started playing this game, it grabbed me by the throat, and upped my standards of console RPG's tenfold. Everything about it is astounding, from the story, to the cinematics, to the gameplay. The entire game makes me want to stand up, wave my arms over my head, and scream "EPIC!" over and over again.
As far as the story goes, the tale of a small kingdom caught between two warring empires is a fairly basic concept, but the geniuses at Square Enix took it, and turned it into something extraordinary. Between the political strife, the seemingly one sided romance between two of the main characters, and the epic quest to restore the rightful heir to the crown in order to declare peace with an occupying nation, the story has litteraly got something for everyone.
The gameplay is second to none. The combat system takes a little getting used to, but the first three hours of play are spent in tutorials, which explain all of the game's odds and ends. The combat utilizes an auto attack in conjunction with other special abilities, like World of Warcraft. The thing that really sets it apart though, is that you can pause the game at any time during combat in order to issue commands without having to worry about your characters' health bott0ming out. The skill and ability unlocking system to the game, and is really fun to use. Sure it's frustrating to have to graphically unlock several other skills to get to the one you want, but the puzzle like system is ultimately creative, and entertaining.
I wish that I could go one further about the game (I think that I might edit this post a little later on) but duty calls. "By the light of the moon!" *poof*

The Fable series, part 2

And on the third day, the lord came down from heaven and said "What be pimping hoes?"! Sorry for the late update this week, Charter cable is now my official nemesis. On our second foray into the fable games, ergo we look at the second game. The sequel I believe built quite faithfully onto the original in terms of story and gameplay. It also tweaked a few features and added some new ones that I think all work very well in contributing to the game. A few that stand out are the streamlining of the ranged combat including spells, and guns. Another thing that I thought was extremely note worthy was that, the developers added in a whole bunch of endgame content to help raise money. This was a feature that was lacking in the first game, and is a welcomed adition to the sequel.
As far as story goes, Fable II has it's shit held tight. Even though your charater never speaks, or interacts socially with other people in traditional methods, the developers wrote the story so well, that your character exhibits all of the traits of a literary hero. Yet again, the game's story line is dark, with undertones of classic British humor, just like the first game, but the dark bits are even darker and creepier. The dream sequence after Lucien declares that he killed your family (and your dog, bastard) is so wonderfully eery, it drove chills up my spine towards the end, what with the music box playing in the background of all the death and destruction. A well received collection of features that were supposed to be in the first game, indeed made it into the second, including the ability to have a child.
Fable II has some of the coolest endgame rewards in rpgs, like the ability to become king of all of the game's world, you don't see that too often. Which raises the question of what the point of the third game is going to be. Recently a teaser trailer was released with the catch phrase of "The race for the crown begins." Now, I think that the selling point of the sequel is going to be to become a powerful monarch, which you already could in the 2nd game. So my guess is that maybe the third game is going to build right off of the 2nd game, (using the same character?) and is going to take the allmighty ruler thing to the next level. Before I sign off for this week, I want to say two things. The first is that I will now be posting on saturdays for sake of convenience. The second is that a really cool looking MMO called Aion is coming out around the same time as the newest addition to the Halo series (all hail master chief) and it would really be worth your time to go check out it's web site. Now, onward Concord!

The Fable series, part 1

Yo. That's all I got for this week as far as a greeting goes. I hope that no one cares about the nearly catastrophic late posting, but the galaxy needed saving again, and I needed to do the laundry and feed my cat. Anyhow, this week's game is actually the game and it's sequel, because it's hard to look at just one of them independently. In this first part The Fable games are arguably some of the funnest and at times most controversial games on the market. Controversial in that the developing studio's head creative developer made a lot of promises for the first game that were never fulfilled, resulting in much customer disapointment, and Microsoft asking Lionhead studios to keep a tighter leash on their enthusiastic colleague. Despite all of the features that never made it into the first game, the first game was extremely popular and for good reason.
As far as the story goes, despite the fact that your character never says anything (as per usual), the narrative of the plot is fantastic, with several good twists, a nasty villain, and a sort of deus ex machina in the form of your creepy and blind older sister who see's into the future and shoots lasers. The gameplay itself is very fun as well, with the combat system being fairly simple to figure out, and having some rather entertaining spells to cast. The one feature thatI find the most interesting is the way that your personal aesthetic changes based on your actions. Such as, how if you brutally slaughter an old woman, that you grow horns and flies buzz around your head. As well as, if you spend two hours hacking up skeletons in a graveyard, butterlies flutter around you, and a shaft of light follows you around. The particullarly enjoyable bit about the Fable games in general (more so in the second game) is their tongue in cheek attitude, a mix of dark fantasy elements and offbeat humor. I personally enjoy this, what with a need to take a break from the more disturbing parts of the game such as children being turned into goblins, and the need to murder your own sister in an attempt to gain an extremely powerful weapon.
Before I make a final statement, I'm going to cut off for now, and publish part two of my critique of the Fable series next week.

Two Worlds

That's right, I'm back. Internet crashes and unreadable disks are paltry challenges! Anywho, this week I'm looking at a bad game. A really bad game. A game so bad that I felt obligated to use the cheat codes. A game so bad that it scales an eleven on the badness scale. I'm talking about Two Worlds. The first thing that I noticed about this game is the primitive level of the graphics, and the godawful voice work. I swear, Steven Hawking voiced half of the characters in this game. As I went on playing it, I found the gameplay to be clunky, shallow, and "Is something wrong with my Xbox or is the framerate really that bad?" I don't believe that I have ever spent so long on one game figuring out how to freaking change the spell that I'm casting. The only thing that's worse in this game is the inventory system, which clumps the tiny item pictures together in incomprehensible clutter, with no thought put into organization at all. I was thouroughly disgusted by the fact that unless you keep your inventory screen spick and span, you find yourself taking five minutes or longer to put on the new armor suit you bought. Which brings me to my next complaint, all of the items in the game to be bought are too expensive to even be comparable to the amount of gold you have on hand at any given time. Quests award miniscule amounts of gold, and ultimately pointless faction reputation boosts. Then there is the writing for the game. Just like the rest of the game, the story is pitiful, shallow, not well constructed, and completely baffling. It doesn't even have a satisfying ending. All the ending is, is this two second cut scene that takes you back to the main menu. The only game I can think of with a worse ending than this is The Lord of The Rings: The Third Age, which didn't even have an ending... >:( Now the combat holds special contempt, at least for me. The enemies are so ridiculously powerful, that it isn't even practical to take them on in close combat, and ranged attacks are laughably weak. So your only option is to run away like a sissy. Then there are the rewards you get. At the endgame point, you can actually take on the enemies without the fear of getting your ass kicked. Pretty decent reward if you ask me. /sarcasm. There really is no other reward. It's all pointless. Just the same douchebag character with the synthesized voice running around being an ass hole, because that's all that he can do, there is no actual role playing in this game. It would more aptly be called a killing time game. What with the company's announcement that they're making a sequel you have to stop and ask yourself, "Why? What point is there in a sequel? Will it be slightly less terrible? Will it have better voice overs? Anyway, I'm not going to hold my breath. Next week, I'm going to be looking at a game, and it's sequel together. (Insert cheesey line here.)

The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion

Whats cookin' n00bz? (Term of endearment, don't get all touchy.) This week we're looking at probably the best console RPG (at least for the 360) that I've played thus far. The Elder Scrolls series has been renowned for it's massive environments and unparalleled character creation processes for some time, but with Oblivion they stepped everything up. Let's start off with the character creation, I won't usually devote a whole paragraph to this, but Oblivion deserves special treatement due to how much of it goes into the gameplay. The aesthetics customizer is nothing short of overwhelming. When I first got the game back when the 360 first came out, I got lost in the first steps of character cretion for about forty-five minutes. I was impressed to say the least by the sheer volume of options available to tweak the look of your character. The only problem I had with it was the strange lack of facial hair. One step further, I can't think of another game that lets you design your own class. If any game can lay claim to the saying of "Customize your style of play to unprecidented heights." it's Oblivion. What with all of the skills and attributes to consider for your choice, there's a lot of fun to be had by those who enjoy crafting their heros from the ground up and pouring infinite amount of detail into them. Still though, people who aren't familiar with the game are better off going with one of the pre constructed classes. Why? Because if you don't know what you're doing, and you pick a bunch of skills and attributes that don't compliment eachother, even in a loose sense in the sake of versatility, your character will quickly find himself being tea bagged.
That aside, the game is quite exponential in other senses as well. The first being the story. I am a sucker at times for a bad fantasy story, but Oblivion is legit. It follows the classic hero's journey plot, and applies to literal archetypes quite well. The beginning of the game is also one of the best beginnings in any game that I have ever played. First you are in jail, not knowing what you did to get in there, then, you become involved with an elaborate assasination plot, then the emperor himself is dead at your feet (no thanks to you frozen controls) and you're shoved out into a vast world that you know next to nothing about with barely a penny to your name. Then there's that moment that everyone has after playing through the intro for the first time. That moment being the "What next?" moment. You feel that you should get on doing the main quest right away, but the more adventurous part of you wants to go and explore the world, literally. Bethesda crafted a masterful begining that plunges a hook so deep into the mind of the player that it never fully comes out. Damn, now I want to go start a new character. The quests not involved with the main story are also very well done, and fun to play with their variety of mission types and the stories that go along with them.
Next, is the gameplay. The act of playing the game (all parts including combat, interacting with NPCs, and exploring the world) is extremely well polished and executed. It isn't clunky or burdening in any way. The hot key system, which a lot of RPG's don't have for some reason, helps hugely when in the midst of a fight. The control layout (although fully customizeable for the sake of people who want something different) is easy to memorise and fairly logical in layout. The combat is fast paced and fun, what with all of the fun spells to cast, and special moves you can perform with melee weapons. My only complaint about it is that it is too easy to accidently kill your comrades in the middle of battle. A friendly fire system would have been nice. The versatility in combat provides so many options and so much freedom that it made me feel guilty to stick to the basic tank and spank tactics. Then there is again the customizeability within combat. At a certain point you can make your own extremely powerful weapons, armor, and spells. This I have never seen in any other game. Okay, with the equipment you can't make it from the ground up, but you can enchant it to do anything you want. (Huuuu chameleon +20) Same with spells, they have the same animation and look, but you can get them to do just about anything. Such as a spell that makes people like you, and sets them on fire as well. "I like you friend, and my flesh is peeling off like that of a roasted pig!"
Graphics and look is next. The graphics, even though the game is going on several years old now are still impressive with their meticulous texturing of rock and metal. The aesthetics of the game are rather impressive as well, with their rampant usage of small forrest entrenched settlements haunted by strange monsters. Their costumes and armor are also rather striking, such as the Daedric armor suit, my personal favorite. The weapons that you come across in the world are also fairly deadly looking, with protruding barbs and intricate carvings on them.
Leveling system, here we go. It took me a little while to figure it out at first, and I don't like that about a levelling system, what with only gaining experience for your marked skills. It's a good system, but just a little too far byond conception of a more casual player of games. Also, the one part that confuses me about the process is actually gaining the level. You have to go to sleep in a bed, and then you assign attribute points. I find this a little infuriating, because you might not know where to go to find a bed in certain situations where you would really need the level up.
Last but not least, added on content. Bethesda has released a plethora of DLC's for Oblivion, each adding at least one new quest line and area to the game. A few of them were a bit repetitive like the housing downloads, but the Knights of the Nine pack, and the Shivering Isles pack were both very well thought out with good stories and awsome gear to collect. We can only hope for The Elder Scrolls V, and not that I have a problem with Fallout, I really like it, but I enjoy Fantasy more than Sci Fi, but I hope that Bethesda get's off the Fallout band wagon after New Vegas. Next week it's going to be hammer time as I start smashing the more shit filled side of the RPG genre. May Death close his eyes to you my friends.

World of Warcraft

What's up world? This week I'm gonna be taking a gander at the one and only World of Warcraft. WoW has been arguably currently the most popular and widely played MMORPG ever, sparking comic book series, card games, soda bottle labels, and even restaurants. Now I'm just going to start off with the fact that WoW is one of the best games that I have ever played, but lets figure out why. FIrst off there is the overall governing lore and story lines. The creative team at Blizzard entertainment has conjured up oodles of sword and sorcery stories that drive the game along its track, whether people pay attention to them or not. Many people say that the lore has been a bit of a coin toss up till now. (for example, people can not stop complaining about the Burning Crusade expansion for some reason, personally I found it to have quite a compelling story line, but in all honesty it could have been better represented and narrated through the events and quest lines then it was) With the newest expansion, Wrath of the Lich King, the story took a new focus on the undead Scourge, and the manipulation of history at the hands of the death god Yog'Saron. It seems that Blizzard actually took the criticism they got about the Burning Crusade, and worked it into Wrath. Not only is the main villain more present and tangible, but it's easier to follow the course of events now. I have enjoyed seeing what's happening in Northrend, and can't wait to see what comes out in the next expansion. (dps lfg H25m ice crown citadel).
Now lets look at the gameplay. The overall experience of playing the game has taken me a full year to get a hang of. There may be others with faster learning abilites than myself, I'm sure there are, but I feel that playing the game and taking advantage of all of the mechanics, as well as getting a feel for your class and role in a group, are not n00b friendly. What I currently know about playing the game, I either taught myself, or other players taught me. There are plenty of web sites on the net that help with this sort of thing, but it disturbs me that the in game tutorial and beginning quest lines do not go into the basics of group combat, or how to get your gear all customized for your preferred style of play, or even the nature of dungeons and raids. It's as if Blizzard assumes that people already know how to play the more high end parts of the game.
One more thing for the nature of gameplay, ahem... STOP NERFING DEATH KNIGHTS!!! Thank you for listening Blizzard.
Post game rewards, where do I start? Since like most RPG's WoW doesn't actually have a bonified ending, we can say that you start getting post game rewards after you hit level 80.
There is a lot of stuff to get as far as rewards go. First of all there are the high end dungeons. It's everyone's dream to have a complete suit of tier 8 equipment goodness (not tier 9, it just looks stupid), and with the latest patch, Call of the Crusade, it's now easier to get what with the new emblem revamps. (I still haven't made up my mind on whether or not that's a good thing) Of course it takes a good long time to get a full set of gear that compliments your play style, but when it's all over, it's time well spent.
Then there is the PVP system. Blizzard has made one of the most fun to use PVP experiences that I have ever played. There is no end to the rewards that you can get from a constant bashing of Alliance skulls. (That's right, I play a Horde. Read it and weep.) There are trinkets, armor sets, bonus items, mounts, everything from the kitchen sink, to the guest room toilet to get.
Then there are also achievements. Obviously drawing a clue from the Xbox360's addictive reward system, Blizzard has added almost a thousand goals and milestones to be reached by players. These achievements yield either achievement points (which serve no purpose other than bragging rights) or mounts, titles, and tabards.
Leveling system, they've all got one, lets see what makes this one so great. WoW's leveling system, is one of the most enjoyable leveling systems in RPG's that I have seen. It just takes a really long time to yield results. I have only had to sit in one place and grind experience a few times, which is quite a high point. Usually in a game, in order to gain a level advantage over enemies, I find myself grinding for days at a time, in WoW I did not find this necesarry. Sure, I ground my way through a few levels in order to move on to another area. I also appreciated the simplicity of the level up process, such as how your stats increase automatically based on your class, although the idea behind the talent trees should have been better conveyed.
Art concept, wouldnt be an rpg without it. The art for WoW is extremely well done in my opinion, what with the sheer epicness of the environments, the lethality of the weapons, and the disgust conjured by the more grotesque monsters. Ofcourse that as well has evolved over the course of the last five years. Over time, designs have grown more complex and more interesting to look at.
Well, thats all I can think of addressing for this week's post. Please leave a comment of some sort, constructive please, and I'll see you all next week. Blessings of the Nine upon you.

Dungeons and Dragons

For my first forays into the vast and infinite universe of ruthlessly breaking down and scrutinizing the various role playing games that have been and are presently inhabiting computers and televisions across the planet, I figured that I would start off with the big names in the genre. For this week's example, I decided to examine the original pen and paper 'Dungeons and Dragons'. Despite the fact that it is only a book based game surrounded by high resolution counterparts, this grandfather of rpgs has been and still is going strong since the 1970's. It's mechanics have gone through several revisions over the years, making the game much more inviting for newcomers, and much less of a pain in the ass for those with more experience beneath their sword belt. As I am simply looking at the rules, and cannot critique anything other than that, (because that would be absurd)... Don't expect me to go into story lines. The combat rules are fairly straightforward, allowing for a well organized and fast paced fight. At least that's how things are with my particular group and DM. Their leveling system however, I have found to be a tad confusing at first, and could prove difficult to use for less imaginative dungeon masters. I don't believe that I have spent so long assigning level up rewards in any other game. Of course the fact that the way that the game is played can be customized by each group of players makes the experience much more forgiving for people who are just starting off, and those who are too lazy to actually look for each and every rule in the books (like myself). All in all, D&D is a very well structured system that provides everything needed for saving everything from a small frontier village, to the entire material plain. I apologize for the briefness of this first post, but I have lots more to talk about on next week's subject. Feel free to suggest anything for a future post, or leave a comment. Lok'Tar Ogar!