I worked a little on DA: A last night. I am not sure what to make of it so far.
1. They raised the level cap. This is good. There are more abilities and skills. Yay!
2. The return character from DA: O is Oghren. Meh. Well, I guess it was either going to be him or Morrigan (who I think at this point has taken off to Orlais anyway). Ah well.
3. The new characters do not quite seem to have amount of personality as the characters in DA: O.
4. The story seems kinda clunky and disjointed so far.
Well, I will give it a shot. I do not think it could actually be bad - it is BioWare after all. Maybe it just has such a hard act to follow.
Friday, April 2, 2010
Thursday, April 1, 2010
There is something off here
http://www.girlgamer.com/zine/article/683/
I do not know what to say, honestly. Though, Tycho at Penny Arcade summed it up well, I think:
"We spent a substantial amount of time discussing Game Crush this week, trying to discern exactly what was going on there, and I'm not certain we managed to pierce the shell.2010/3/31/ )
In spite of what a commenter said to me on Feministing, I do not think criticizing GameCrush is the same thing as slut-shaming. Isn't there something wrong with pushing this idea that female gamers should be judged based on their looks, their "sexiness" and their "flirtiness," as opposed to, say, substance? *sigh*
I do not know what to say, honestly. Though, Tycho at Penny Arcade summed it up well, I think:
"We spent a substantial amount of time discussing Game Crush this week, trying to discern exactly what was going on there, and I'm not certain we managed to pierce the shell.
Their site suggests that they are still down on account of ten thousand requests in five minutes, something which happens on a daily basis here at Penny Arcade, even though we don't rent women from our digital storefront. I want to think this is a thing that will wither and fall, dry and crisp, dying on the stalk. Am I wrong?"
In spite of what a commenter said to me on Feministing, I do not think criticizing GameCrush is the same thing as slut-shaming. Isn't there something wrong with pushing this idea that female gamers should be judged based on their looks, their "sexiness" and their "flirtiness," as opposed to, say, substance? *sigh*
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
Random FF-XIII Thoughts
We have not had a new Final Fantasy game in over three years (Wow, has it been that long?). So, being a bit of a Final Fantasy Fangirl, I got the newest installment in the series yesterday. I played it for a few hours, and it is quite fun so far! I very much recommend it. Random thoughts:
1. You really do not control any party characters except for your leader. The rest get roles called paradigms, which affect what they do. They can be Commando, Ravager, Sentinel, Medic, and a few others I am leaving out. However, they can learn more than one role and switch them during battle (called a paradigm shift which does sound cool).
2. Half this game is apparently cut-scenes. So far, anyway. Seriously, in the few hours I played, I spent roughly half of it just watching scripted scenes. I recommend turning on all the captions, by the way, including the non-cut-scene ones. That is just me though, I like to keep track of who is talking.
3. Lightning ignores most everyone's questions and at attempts at conversations with her (and is apparently super-tough and super-strong), Snow is eternally optimistic, Hope mopes quite a bit, Sazh is awesome (I want a baby chocobo that lives in my hair!), and Vanille seems to be always happy and cheerful and perky. According to my sweetie, who watched me play for a while, I am Vanille. Too bad, I wanted to be Lightning! ^_^ Oh, there is also, interestingly enough, Serah. I wonder if I should spell my name like that.
4. Lightning is my new video game character crush. She is pretty awesome. She also uses a sword in a world where people have guns (a Final Fantasy protagonist tradition, of course).
5. The Sanctum (local oppressive government regime) is apparently new at oppressing its citizens, based on the first chapter, as they sent their most useless and incompetent soldiers to go carry it out. Well, I guess good help is hard to find sometimes. Speaking of which, this game at the outset seems to be the "rebels versus evil empire" plot so far.
6. The Crystarium system for stats and skills and spells is eerily similar to the sphere grid from FF-X. Experience points, having made a brief comeback in FF-XII sue for their lack of inclusion.
1. You really do not control any party characters except for your leader. The rest get roles called paradigms, which affect what they do. They can be Commando, Ravager, Sentinel, Medic, and a few others I am leaving out. However, they can learn more than one role and switch them during battle (called a paradigm shift which does sound cool).
2. Half this game is apparently cut-scenes. So far, anyway. Seriously, in the few hours I played, I spent roughly half of it just watching scripted scenes. I recommend turning on all the captions, by the way, including the non-cut-scene ones. That is just me though, I like to keep track of who is talking.
3. Lightning ignores most everyone's questions and at attempts at conversations with her (and is apparently super-tough and super-strong), Snow is eternally optimistic, Hope mopes quite a bit, Sazh is awesome (I want a baby chocobo that lives in my hair!), and Vanille seems to be always happy and cheerful and perky. According to my sweetie, who watched me play for a while, I am Vanille. Too bad, I wanted to be Lightning! ^_^ Oh, there is also, interestingly enough, Serah. I wonder if I should spell my name like that.
4. Lightning is my new video game character crush. She is pretty awesome. She also uses a sword in a world where people have guns (a Final Fantasy protagonist tradition, of course).
5. The Sanctum (local oppressive government regime) is apparently new at oppressing its citizens, based on the first chapter, as they sent their most useless and incompetent soldiers to go carry it out. Well, I guess good help is hard to find sometimes. Speaking of which, this game at the outset seems to be the "rebels versus evil empire" plot so far.
6. The Crystarium system for stats and skills and spells is eerily similar to the sphere grid from FF-X. Experience points, having made a brief comeback in FF-XII sue for their lack of inclusion.
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
Ubisoft's Goofy New Net-Connection DRM
Most people have probably heard about this, but still, ew:
( http://games.slashdot.org/story/10/02/18/0719256/Ubisofts-Constant-Net-Connection-DRM-Confirmed?art_pos=23 )
And from Penny Arcade:
( http://www.penny-arcade.com/2010/2/19/ )
What in the world made them think that was a good idea? My girlfriend pointed out something to me that I had not thought of - what if, in 10 years, somebody wants to their old copy of Assassin's Creed II on their computer? Will Ubisoft's DRM servers still be up?
And also: What happens when they do go down, as servers do now and then? What if, say, people at 4chan decide to DDOS them or something?
Stuff like this is going to annoy customers far, far more than it is going to stop piracy. I wonder if they just decide to patch this out in a few months due to complaints and/or bad press.
"A few weeks ago we discussed news of Ubisoft's DRM plans for future games, which reportedly went so far as to require a constant net connection, terminating your game if you get disconnected for any reason. Well, it's here; upon playing review copies of the PC version of Assassin's Creed 2 and Settlers VII, PCGamer found the DRM just as annoying as you might expect.
Quoting: "If you get disconnected while playing, you're booted out of the game. All your progress since the last checkpoint or savegame is lost, and your only options are to quit to Windows or wait until you're reconnected. The game first starts the Ubisoft Game Launcher, which checks for updates. If you try to launch the game when you're not online, you hit an error message right away. So I tried a different test: start the game while online, play a little, then unplug my net cable. This is the same as what happens if your net connection drops momentarily, your router is rebooted, or the game loses its connection to Ubisoft's 'Master servers.' The game stopped, and I was dumped back to a menu screen — all my progress since it last autosaved was lost."
And from Penny Arcade:
Alright. So, Ubisoft's new DRM. Supports unlimited installs and Cloud-based save data. Requires absolutely unbroken access to their master servers, or the product ceases to function. I can boil it right down for you:
Nobody wins.
Well, except pirates. Pirates always win, on a long enough timeline. Honestly, the timeline doesn't even need to be that long.
( http://www.penny-arcade.com/2010/2/19/ )
What in the world made them think that was a good idea? My girlfriend pointed out something to me that I had not thought of - what if, in 10 years, somebody wants to their old copy of Assassin's Creed II on their computer? Will Ubisoft's DRM servers still be up?
And also: What happens when they do go down, as servers do now and then? What if, say, people at 4chan decide to DDOS them or something?
Stuff like this is going to annoy customers far, far more than it is going to stop piracy. I wonder if they just decide to patch this out in a few months due to complaints and/or bad press.
Thursday, February 18, 2010
Fun with Spam
Every now and then, I look at the spam folder in my email. Generally, gmail is very good at dealing with spam. The subjects are downright silly:
I guess USA and EU players are not welcome in any other casino except theirs? Although, a friend of mine suggested that this means maybe other casinos require you to be either a USA player or an EU player and that this place allows you to be both. I guess other casinos have the following sort of exchange:
Greeter: "Hi, welcome to the casino!"
Gambler: "Hello, I am both American and Czech!"
Greeter (narrows eyes): "What! You are not welcome here."
*LOVE LOVE PILL BLUE PILL*!Morpheus would be so disappointed! Also:
Only in our Casino are USA&EU Players welcome
I guess USA and EU players are not welcome in any other casino except theirs? Although, a friend of mine suggested that this means maybe other casinos require you to be either a USA player or an EU player and that this place allows you to be both. I guess other casinos have the following sort of exchange:
Greeter: "Hi, welcome to the casino!"
Gambler: "Hello, I am both American and Czech!"
Greeter (narrows eyes): "What! You are not welcome here."
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
Mass Effect 2 & Dragon Age
I need to write more. So, let's do video games!
1. Mass Effect 2 - Overall, fantastic sequel to the first one. I will do my best not to spoil anything here. It has a much darker feel than the first one, which is saying something considering the dire circumstances surrounding Commander Shepard the first time through. I loved the story and am definitely working on doing it a second time through with my male Commander Shepard.
The over game play is much better - the awkward menus have been cleaned up, and it is much smoother overall, during fights and such. I did not have people getting stuck in odd places or awkward positions due to biotics moves (that was really annoying during the first one). Several of the characters from the first one are (assuming they lived), and you get to find out the overall consequences of Shepard's exploits.
Basically, if you liked the first one, you will definitely like the second!
2. Dragon Age - I decided to go back through Dragon Age and see how high level I can attain. I think the max is 25. I made a dwarf commoner rouge for this; it has to be a rogue, since I need someone who can get all the locks during the origin story, Ostegar, and the Kokari Wilds. So far, I have cured Arl Eamon and completed the Circle of Magi quest. And that got her to 17. I also made sure to get the archivist sash in order to help things. Well, it should be interesting.
I also got the Return to Ostagar DLC. It is an interesting expansion, though I had hoped for a little more. You get a few nice weapons. The King's armor set, while nice, is not quite as good as the Blood Dragon Armor or Wade's armor, in my opinion. For amusement, I have my rogue wearing it, since her strength is high enough. On the plus side, there is some funny conversation between Alistair and Wynne.
1. Mass Effect 2 - Overall, fantastic sequel to the first one. I will do my best not to spoil anything here. It has a much darker feel than the first one, which is saying something considering the dire circumstances surrounding Commander Shepard the first time through. I loved the story and am definitely working on doing it a second time through with my male Commander Shepard.
The over game play is much better - the awkward menus have been cleaned up, and it is much smoother overall, during fights and such. I did not have people getting stuck in odd places or awkward positions due to biotics moves (that was really annoying during the first one). Several of the characters from the first one are (assuming they lived), and you get to find out the overall consequences of Shepard's exploits.
Basically, if you liked the first one, you will definitely like the second!
2. Dragon Age - I decided to go back through Dragon Age and see how high level I can attain. I think the max is 25. I made a dwarf commoner rouge for this; it has to be a rogue, since I need someone who can get all the locks during the origin story, Ostegar, and the Kokari Wilds. So far, I have cured Arl Eamon and completed the Circle of Magi quest. And that got her to 17. I also made sure to get the archivist sash in order to help things. Well, it should be interesting.
I also got the Return to Ostagar DLC. It is an interesting expansion, though I had hoped for a little more. You get a few nice weapons. The King's armor set, while nice, is not quite as good as the Blood Dragon Armor or Wade's armor, in my opinion. For amusement, I have my rogue wearing it, since her strength is high enough. On the plus side, there is some funny conversation between Alistair and Wynne.
Monday, February 1, 2010
US Sells Defensive Arms to Taiwan
...and the PRC throws a fit (predictably enough):
1 - The USSR pretty much forced Cuba to accept the missiles being set up there. It did not sell them to Cuba, as the US did to Taiwan. Khrushchev told Casto it was part of socialist solidarity or something.
2 - The USSR set up offensive nuclear weaponry in Cuba. The US sold defensive weaponry to Taiwan. Big difference.
3 - China has missiles pointed at Taiwan. I would think they would be able to see why Taiwan would want anti-missile defense.
4 - Oh, also, the US has an official policy of providing defense to Taiwan.
Silly people. Can they really not see why Taiwan would want missile defense against the PRC?
China's state media has accused the United States of "arrogance" and "double standards" in pursuing arms sales to Taiwan. The state-run China Daily and the Global Times also warned that China's threats of retaliation were real. The Obama administration approved the $6.4bn arms sale to Taiwan last week.
1 - The USSR pretty much forced Cuba to accept the missiles being set up there. It did not sell them to Cuba, as the US did to Taiwan. Khrushchev told Casto it was part of socialist solidarity or something.
2 - The USSR set up offensive nuclear weaponry in Cuba. The US sold defensive weaponry to Taiwan. Big difference.
3 - China has missiles pointed at Taiwan. I would think they would be able to see why Taiwan would want anti-missile defense.
4 - Oh, also, the US has an official policy of providing defense to Taiwan.
Silly people. Can they really not see why Taiwan would want missile defense against the PRC?
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