Travie Up Close

Dungeon Siege 3 Review

2011-06-28T12:24:00.000-07:00

A new Dungeon Siege game has been a long time coming. The last game being almost 5 years ago, the Dungeon Siege series has been a pioneer in co-op gameplay, and... well... dungeons. So, without further ado:

Obsidian came into this new Dungeon Siege game with quite a few new ideas for direction, while obviously trying to preserve it's 'spirit' if you will.

Fans of the series will first notice a complete re-shuffling of the skill/ability system. Gone are skill ups based on usage, replaced with a series of special moves of offensive and defensive tac and a smattering of incremental changes to the character's base stats.

Each of the 4 presculpted characters has its own backstory, as well as a set of unique moves and two different forms (mostly one aoe form and one single-target form for each).

The result has much less depth then the originals, but actually works well in what it was designed to do--make it a more 'pick up and play' experience. Not necessarily a bad thing, it matches the overall direction of the recent RPG market.

Gone are our stalwart mule friends from DS1 and 2, so RIP Jimmy the half-crazy mule who lasted 5 campaigns ;_; (screenshot from DS1:legends of Arana)

If the differences had stopped at that, then this title would have been a great new addition to the series.. unfortunately it goes downhill from there.

I won't sugar-coat this. They completely screwed up the co-op. Basically, the co-op games can only have one of each of the character types. Both you and your friend love playing Lucas? Too bad, that would break immersion (in an action rpg... lol). Also, nothing you do in co-op games can carry over into single player so you cannot continue the story or keep playing your co-op character without a friend...

Emphasis has shifted in this game from combat (the focus of all previous games) to story. There are very clear reasons why the focus was on combat in all previous games, replay value. You played through the game with your buddies, then played it again on a harder mode. A simple formula, and one that has worked for many years.

As you can see the graphics aren't all that spectacular, but they make up for it with very high performance on pretty much any viable system.

Items have also been simplified. Sets of items and uniques have always been part of the series, and are one great way to keep the experience interesting, but now there are only 'rare' items... and little else.

Games like this have been made over and over again, and I would have liked to think that the format has been refined slowly, culminating with the most recent Titan Quest. With their major break from these norms they get a worse experience, no way around it.

The story is quite good, its true. Fate of a nation, a deep history, interesting characters--they all come together to make a great narrative worth seeing.

Wasn't isn't worth it is actually playing the game in the way it was intended on PC. The controls on the PC are a mess. You move with the right mouse button... and attack with the left. Thinking about this a few seconds you can probably figure out the problem in a game where staying still equals death, not to mention you have to dodge with the mouse direction as well.

Many have come to label this condition 'consoleitis.' That characterization seems to hold true here. The developers have promised to fix some of the control issues in the next patch, although they haven't announced when that might be yet. As it stands now the controls and what they do are a complete mystery except with trial and error, another laughable oversight.

Anyone remember this move? A film adaptation of the series by none other than Uwe Boll. I actually liked it, but I think I was the only one :P

I know this review has come off as deeply negative up to this point, and with good reason, but this game actually does have some charm. If you can hook up a controller and ignore the PC controls and get into the story with a friend online or on the couch at home, it can be a pretty good experience.

The combat dynamic in co-op is solid, with every character contributing something unique to the battle. You can run through the main story with a friend in a couple nights worth of sessions, and you won't be disappointed.

With a bit more complexity, some work on the coop, and the promised control fixes this would have been a solid title. As thing stand, however, I can't recommend it very highly.

Story: 8/10

Co-op: 7/10

Graphics: 8/10 (It can run very well on older systems, and blasingly fast on newer ones.)

Sound: 8/10

Gameplay: 7/10 (would have been 9/10 if it wasn't for the bad controls)

Overall: 7.5/10

FINAL VERDICT: Pick it up if you have a craving for action RPG. It may hold you over till Diablo 3, but I wouldn't bet on it.

Piranha Bytes vs Jowood

2011-06-23T11:46:00.000-07:00

VS.

Anyone who follows the Gothic series will immediately know what I'm talking about here, for those who don't:

Jowood was the publisher for the entire Gothic series, as well as flagship titles like Painkiller and Spellforce. For publishing these games they quickly received powerhouse status in the industry in Europe and even started making major headway into the american and even the Asian markets (their E3 booth was well-received for several years running)... but that was before every developer of worth jumped ship.

You see, Jowood had a little problem called greed. For years they straddled their developers with unrealistic development schedules and pressed them into releasing unfinished games, Gothic 3 being the worst offense in this thread.

Much to their credit Piranha Bytes still released quality titles, and made the Gothic series a go-to in RPG design that influenced many other titles in the early 2000s. Even Gothic 3 was eventually fixed due to the extreme loyalty of their fanbase, well-earned from their hard work on the earlier titles. This caused one Piranha Bytes developer to say "We have the best fanbase ever." Doesn't that give you a fussy feeling? No? Ok then...

Even with its early flaws, its difficult not to nostalgia hard every time I think about running around Gothic 3. (image taken with Gothic 3 gametool)

...but after the release of Gothic 3 they had enough with Jowood. The split happened mostly behind the scenes, but it was quite obvious to anyone what had happened. They Forced Piranha Bytes to release a title before it was finished, tarnishing their sterling reputation thus far with a buggy release, so they left.

Jowood even tried to milk Gothic 3 for more money with a horrible expansion pack. Way more buggy than the original game... but noone bothered to try to fix that piece of crap.

But then Jowood, being the greedy buggers that they are (or were, but i'll get to that later), forced Piranha Bytes into a legal battle that they were ill equipped to win, taking away the profitable Gothic series from the developer. This led to the release of a huge dissappointment of a sequel Gothic 4. This title, developed by Spellbound interactive, divorced itself from every aspect that made the Gothic series unique and good. Instead of the living atmosphere of the Gothic series thus far, fans had to sit through a 'wax museum' experience with as much life as a dry turnip.

An awful boring experience compared to any one of the other Gothic games. If you feel like running on a linear railroad train, then give it a try.

Jowood has a history of taking rights to their developer's own intellectual property away when they leave, trying to do it again with the Stargate SG-1 franchise less than a year later. Luckily for everyone involved Jowood was embarrassingly forced to admit that they had no legal right to that intellectual property, and never had in the first place. Perception Pty still holds the rights to that series, although the game that they first made for it (Stargate SG-1: Alliance) under Jowood has been held in lymbo ever since, with no sign of further development.

Shortly afterwards Gothic 4 came out. Amoungst poor reviews, sales only totaling 200,000 units (only 40,000 in america link ), and a whopping 10 million dollars in resultant debt... I wonder how hard the good people at Piranha Bytes laughed.

So in the end Piranha Bytes left and signed on with a new publisher, Deep Silver. Since then they have released Risen (which won critical acclaim and continued the 'true' Gothic storyline) with their biggest project yet Risen 2 (financially and otherwise) in development.

Risen 2 will be Piranha Byte's biggest project yet

Oh, and the greedy publisher? What of them? I'm happy to report that as of June they have announced their attempt to gain solvency and finance their massive debt failed. They are officially a defunct company in bankruptcy, which will soon be bought off by a European distributor with their executives that made those idiotic business choices all fired.

To add a note for the fans and a 'happy ending' if you will: Insiders say Deep Silver and Piranha Bytes have expressed interest in buying the Gothic property back from the now defunct company Jowood. This buy is thought to be dependent on the sales of Risen 2 after release. So, if you want to see the Gothic series back in hands that know what to do with it, go preorder Risen 2. Good guys should get rewarded, no?

Oh shit son!

2011-03-29T06:18:00.000-07:00

Looking like I have to go in for surgery tomorrow because of some congenital heart thing (wtf?), anyway now I feel even more silly for writing reviews then never ending up posting them :P

So... heres my last comic and review for awhile. If I live through this I'll never procrastinate again, lol.

Dragon Age 2

This is going to be a short review (feels right not giving it a full review, because of the state it was released in).

How did Bioware make the graphics for this game worse then ME2, a game that came out almost a year before DA2? Separate production teams. This one needs to be purged like a plague.

Every feature, map, texture, and aspect of DA:2 just screams at the top of its lungs, NOONE TOOK ANY TIME WITH THIS, HAVE FUN WITH A 18 MONTH RUSHJOB!

Heres a good example of what I'm talking about:

DA:O version of a trip to the dark roads: 6 hours of content with HUGE maps/areas and a half a dozen sidequests (all of them pretty interesting, some pretty fun) with a great storyline underneath it.

DA2 version of a trip to the dark roads: Under 1 hour of content with a map that is used twice more in the later game, 1 sidequest that you complete no matter what you say or do, and a average storyline.

Every single feature of the game has LESS to it, never more.

Skill system? GONE.

Attributes? Only the main attribute for your class + constitution matter, skip the rest because they are useless.

They tried to fool grafics cat with a high res texture pack, but a few shiny armor retexturings won't hide the horrible face textures or randomly horrible wall and floor textures.

Dragon Age: Origins

Dragon age 2.

Maybe he had a seizure? Every face they tried to import from Origins looks worse, no exceptions.

I could literally talk for hours about the corners that were cut on this game. The only redeeming quality I saw was the pretty good storyline, and the combat. Unfortunately the combat was riddled with so many flaws that it hurts my head to think about it.

Enemies come in waves out of thin air and always scale to your level (along with all ingame equipment) making certain that whenever the player levels up he becomes weaker compared to all enemies, along with his armor and weapons becoming weaker as well. This leads to the character actually being penalized for exploring and achieving higher levels!

Maybe it was somewhat unrealistic to hope for a game at the quality and level of Dragon Age: Origins, being that this title was made in a little under a third of the time, but in that case they shouldn't have charged 60$ and hyped it like it was the next coming of Jebus.

FINAL VERDICT: SKIP IT.

Only bother picking up this title if you loved the first one and enjoy the RPG genre, even then I don't recommend buying till all the DLC is in and the price drops.

Oh, and heres a comic for no reason. Enjoy!

FALLOUT: NEW VEGAS

2011-01-16T13:35:00.000-08:00

Review:

This iteration is partially an attempt to be a return to the ‘roots’ of the fallout gameworld, which is sort of hard to do considering they used the same engine/models/physics etc. etc. etc.

…but with that said the folks at Obsidian did do a pretty decent job of it, so on to the review.

The opening sequence is brilliant, and ends with you being patched up by one of the local docs, who leads you in setting your SPECIAL stats and perks. Starting perks are, this time, much less generic to the larger pool and all have significant drawbacks as well as benefits. They even included a Bizzaro World perk for replays, which I very much enjoyed. The extras aren’t as common as you may expect, but still are enough to make re-exploring quite enjoyable.

Remember this little fella from the trailer? He makes an appearance again in the game, and you can even bring him along for the ride... provided you have the skills to do so.

The first few things you will notice are that the narrative is excellent, and so is the voice acting. Story elements placed in your path don’t seem forced, so finding things feels more like a discovery and less like being led around by the nose.

The voice actors (some you may recognize) are all very good, and after playing through 3 times I can’t remember even one performance that took me out of the story with an ‘ugh’ moment. From the cliché cowboy sounding robots to the detached intellectual Mr. House, I was fairly impressed.

Cowboy robots? Check.

If you played the first game much will be familiar, but the sticklers will be pleasantly surprised this time around. The minor glitches of the first game, like missing in VATS even if it was 100% if the enemy closed to point blank range while in the mode, seem to be mostly resolved. Also you’ll notice slight improvements throughout. One such improvement is greater VATS control of melee and unarmed fighting. Executing an upper cut and making an opponent’s heads snap back, chin pointing at the ceiling, and then watching him fall backwards in that position was quite satisfying no matter how many times I did it :D

One of the many LoL moments of violence. If you're going to hit someone in the face with a golf club, at least keep proper form.

Returned are the old ‘implants’ administered by the ancient and shady autodocs, as long as you have the endurance to handle it. This makes endurance a must on all character builds, along with an increased role of luck in the game world… this is Vegas after all ;)

There are many games of chance to play in New Vegas, all of which rely on luck to determine the odds. For this reason, starting at around 7 luck is best and even upping it to 8 as the first perk achieved. With the right strategies one can come out of a trip to the strip with around 50,000-100,000 caps in the pockets, or be completely broke… as the difference in chances are quite drastic if points are taken away from luck in character creation. Most of the caps you earn on the strip will go towards your autodoc procedures to make yourself th3 uberz.

Mmm heavy ranger armor... Looks so good it makes you wanna slap yo momma. Unfortunately if you put on a faction's armor you get all their reputation baggage along with it.

The storyline, while good, is quite short (only around 10-20 hours depending on what path you take). Most of the game’s content can be completely skipped in favor of following the breadcrumb trail. Even though most RPG gamers, who have the habit of thinking “OMG A SHACK I WONDER WHATS IN IT!?! :D :D :D” will love every minute of it, it was still odd to talk about the game with people and have them stare blankly if I mentioned the supermutant town, or one of the numerous vaults, or nooks and crannies of the game.

Still, the replay value is extremely high, and if all the separate storylines were to be added up (even with the major overlaps) it is still more than enough to fill the stomachs of any would-be gamer.

These suckers pack a punch, even though it looks like you should just be able to push them over and laugh.

Graphics were much to be expected considering it uses the same engine as the previous game. Yet, some improvements were made, the most recognizable being that new animations were added, both for human NPCs and the critters of the wasteland. The atmosphere of this iteration is also a bit different, more of a desert and less of a radioactive wasteland.

All in all this in an excellent game, well-worth a purchase, whose only major flaw that I saw was that it leaves you wanting more. Would that all games I played had that flaw :D

Gameplay: 8/10 (crashes every once and awhile on some systems)

Graphics: 8/10

Story: 8.5/10 (short)

Sound: 9/10

Fun: 9.5/10

Final Score: 9.1 Go buy it!

If you have any questions about the game, quests, and strategies don’t hesitate to leave them in the comments section.

I'm back! :D

2011-01-10T06:15:00.000-08:00

After a long hiatus I'm back with plenty of new content! :D

Anxious to get back in the game and see what everyones been up to since I've been gone. Later today I'll post the Fallout: New Vegas review, and I'm also hanging on to about a dozen previews/reviews that I've written in the meantime so expect new goodies every other day or so.

Until then, enjoy a stoner comic.

Moving today!

2010-11-03T11:50:00.000-07:00

Damn, moving again. Looks like the house I rented had one problem, it was in foreclosure... yeah. Would have been nice to point out that little fact up front, oh well.

I'll be back after I get internet up again, with a Fallout: New Vegas review :D (although in a smaller apartment...)

Haha! Fail!

2010-10-28T18:29:00.000-07:00

Oh gezz.... I had read that Fable 3 was coming out Oct. 29th, imagine my surprise when my copy came in the mail today O.o At least I decided to not post the rest my 'preview' till today (I thought a day before release) or I really would have felt silly :P

Oh well, enjoy this comic in the meantime.

Fable 3: Preview

2010-10-22T18:58:00.000-07:00

Part 1: The Fable series.

Sorry for the extended absence, just needed a few zero days to balance things out. Back to business! :D

First off, I decided to go ahead and skip the Fallout: New Vegas preview since I’m already balls deep in playing it, and just focus on the Fable 3 preview.

(I’ll write a full review of Fallout: New Vegas after my first playthrough, hopefully sometime next week).

Lets do this shit.

The Fable series:

Anyone heard of Peter Molyneux? Lionhead? They have developed quite the reputation over the last 5 years for some great standout leaps forward in game design. For example, the game Black&White put the player in the position of God, letting the player decide what kind of deity he or she would like to be. Sandbox at its finest you might say.

For Fable they decided to go in an interactivity direction. In standard RPG format you take control of a child (in both 1 and 2) who, through tragic events, is thrust into a world of swords and sorcery. What is not standard fair is the way the player can control what path the character takes through these stories.

Want to kill a bunch of villagers? Do it. Want to randomly give gold to the poor? Go ahead! The games (more so with the second iteration) had a marvelous way of altering the world around you to suit your playstyle.

The more standout ways would be: the physical appearance of your character (more and more evil and dastardly looking or more and more angelic), the way others reacted to you (was that the guy who killed everyone in Oakvale? Run away!), and (in the second game) the look of the game world itself.

Here we can see some aging effects, from 10 to 65. Amusingly enough you are the only one in the games that ages, a small oversight :P

There were some drawbacks unfortunately, mostly having to do with difficulty. With one spell you could dominate everything from the beginning to the end of the game, most skilled players probably won’t die once in either one. They were also quite short (both main stories could be completed in only around 10 hours).

**Spoilers if you haven’t played through 1&2**

Fable 1:

A good start to the series, but with some major flaws.

The game starts with some standard storytelling. See jack run, see jack play, see jack’s whole family killed and his world ripped to pieces. Take that jack! Although, there were some good points to the outset. Chiefly, it introduces the player to a few staples of the Fable universe, like aging and good/evil choices.

For instance, I came upon a poor adorable little boy being beaten up by a bully, and naturally I instantly had a dislike of the little tyke (that’s normal right?) So instead of defending the little guy, he got a knuckle sandwich from yours truly. The fact that the game gave an option to do this at all was a pleasant surprise.

I know I know, should have stopped about 100 villagers ago, but its just so fun! Tee hee!

But there comes another pitfall. The beginning gives a false impression that you will be able to make these choices throughout, and although every once and a while you will get a choice between naughty and nice, the game divides these up into ‘good mission, bad mission’ instead of presenting you with a situation and letting you resolve it your own way. You can still run around being generally evil or a saint, but it doesn’t seem like it pans out enough in the mission to mission grind of the game; like having to protect a couple of traders to continue the story forward, even if you would rather kill them.

The storyline itself was rather good, and it had a very satisfying ending (more so if you have the Lost Chapters addon). A lot of family ties, friendships, and people to love or destroy. The player could even get married!

Silly guards, they just keep comin.

With all that said, in many ways it was actually a trendsetter. Mini games and physical scarring/change over time were done very well in Fable, and with its wide audience you are hard pressed to not find these features in RPGs these days. I’m not saying it was the first, but it did set a standard.

Fable 2:

A lot of improvements, some that really took it up a notch, but unfortunately some of the same flaws. (too short, and combat too easy)

The beginning will feel actually very similar to the first game, aside the graphical tweaks and new combat/interface. This extends all the way to the story, which is the greatest disappointment of this game in my opinion. Basically, the storyline is the same. By the same I mean your family is killed and the whole game is about revenge…. Sigh.

Great characters! Too bad they were paired with a cookie cutter storyline.

Don’t get me wrong, much of the new parts of the game are great. I enjoyed the combat system (until I got an uberspell, then it was supereasy). It takes place 500 years after the events of the first game, and they give you many little hints and tidbits about the old game within the new Albion. This I always find enjoyable in an RPG, it really adds to immersion. Finally, the storyline (although very easy to see coming) was done well, with good voice acting and interesting characters.

For features expansion you also get a new little doggy to play with! (awww) The guy follows you everywhere and helps with gameplay elements like finding treasure.

I named mine jerkface, it seemed to like it.

To their credit Lionhead did really try to make this gameworld better and more interactive. Every decision you make in the game now has consequences on the economy and people. No longer can you walk into a village and kill everyone in sight only to return a few days later consequence free. Now most every action has an impact, including missions.

One early mission in the introduction has you decide between helping the authority figures in the starter town, or the underworld. If you help the underworld the town will later be basically a slum with obvious crime troubles and dirty streets, but if you help the authority in apprehending the criminals the town will be bustling with clean streets, buildings, and more markets.

Expanded are the generic NPC interactions, allowing you to dance in the streets to be liked by the nearby citizens (and to get discounts in their shops) or to be married and have children.

All in all it was (in some ways) a better version of the first game, but the obvious flaws that were not fixed and the papercutter story kept it from being a standout.

So…. the first iterations had much promise, and most of it they delivered. Fable has really made a name for itself.

Continued in Part 2: Fable 3, what we know so far.

What info would you like to see for Fallout 3: New Vegas?

2010-10-08T16:30:00.000-07:00

In the title, put your suggestions in the comment section.

One thing I realized when researching all the info out on Fallout 3: New Vegas is that it has been previewed to DEATH. They have enormous amounts of info out right down to the companions you will be able to take along.

So lemme know any bits you haven't heard about, or what you would like to see.

Until then, a comic:

Votes are in

2010-10-07T09:50:00.000-07:00

Fallout wins by a nose, closely followed by Fable III which I'll review next week.

First part will be out late tonight!

What should I preview/review next?

2010-10-05T10:29:00.000-07:00

Put your suggestions in the comments section and i'll deliver on the highest voted.

Upcoming RPGS: Fallout: New Vegas, Fable 3

Just released: Two Worlds II

Until then, a comic:

The Witcher II Preview P.3

2010-10-03T13:42:00.000-07:00

Part 3: What we know so far.

This is all the tidbits of information and extras I could scrape together.

Put most in link form, so you wouldn't be bombarded with 10 videos at once :D

Official website A lot of great info there.

A screenshot from the official website, a prison escape.

Interview with a Dev Around 30 minutes long.

The witcher MMO! This is a free to play The Witcher browser game. Great to satiate your Witcher fix until 2 comes out :D

Released cutscene A cutscene from The Witcher 2, where we are introduced to a few new characters.

Dev diary 1

Dev diary 2

Fan FAQ Its a good 'what we know so far' that is kept pretty well updated.

If you don't watch anything else, i'd watch this one:

E3 footage with dev commentary
Part 2

Thanks for reading :D

We still have around 6 months till the release...

Just some touch ups...

2010-10-02T16:22:00.000-07:00

Researching to see if there are any interviews and info tidbits I missed :D.

Should have everything ready by tonight, have another comic.

Still writing :D :D

2010-10-01T10:44:00.000-07:00

Last part of the preview will be out tomorrow, until then have a comic :D

The Witcher II Preview P.2

2010-09-30T14:39:00.000-07:00

The Witcher II Preview:

Part 2: Story

The books:

The Witcher began as a collection of short stories in ‘The Witcher’ universe, then was later tied together for the first book The Last Wish. When this took off, a saga was eventually published with the main character Geralt of Rivia.

This Witcher universe is a place designed as a medieval world with its own monsters, species, and mythologies BUT also designed to remain relevant in terms of moral questions that still exist today, and moral ambiguities that all can understand. The author (Andrzej Sapkowski) constantly tries to tie in the old world he created, to the current events of ours, like an old Wizard complaining about environmental issues and the impacts of civilization :D.

Racism and inequality are ever-present, yet the series never fails to have a quirky sense of humor about just about everything. The eloquent Geralt knows when to turn on the charm, when to whip out the blade, and when to intimidate his opponents. This is something that carried very well into the games, and why many fans say that they stayed true to the spirit of the books. That’s always the fear of course, and it definitely happened to the early 2001 film and series adaptations. (If you even heard of them its a miracle, they both failed quite badly)

Don't feel bad if you missed this one, it was worth missing.

Genetically modifying themselves at a young age, Witchers become something more then human. Firstly, they do this so that they can imbibe alchemical concoctions that allow them to survive fights with the most dangerous monsters out there. Monster hunting is the first and foremost duty of the Witchers, but it also makes them pariahs in society, seen as not quite human. Again, racism to all nonhumans is a running theme in the books, and something that Geralt constantly has to fight with.

The change also lengthens their age, so that they have a lifespan almost akin to elves (elves have a lifespan of 300 years in the books, and for Witchers it is somewhat ambiguous but definitely 100+). Finally, it makes them sterile... rumors abound among the women folk about the ‘prowess’ of Witchers, since they are immune to disease—even venereal—and their touch makes the skin tingle... they are much sought after :D.

My original intention was to go over each book and speculate on potential tie-ins, but since most of the books haven’t been translated over to english, most of my audience probably wouldn’t appreciate that :P.

Only 2 of the many books and collections of short stories are out in English so far, sorry English speakers :P

*spoilers if you have not played the first game*

The end of the first Witcher game and the story carried to II:

Early reports was that the ‘assumed’ ending was that the Eleven rebellion was put down, and that you would not be able to continue from where you left off, seeing choices from The Witcher I reflected in II.

I am happy to report that that is not the case! :D There will be a system of importing your disposition at the end of The Witcher I, and many of your choices will have an impact on the current disposition of characters, and circumstances; this will probably extend to how they treat you, or even if they are there at all.

Even so, it seems that there are some points of the early story that are fixed, and it may be that even if you helped the elves in 1, their rebellion still failed. Yet, they might be in a better way then if you helped the Order for example. (for my main save I remained neutral, currently chewing my nails off wondering how it will play out in II)

*end spoilers*

The developers have said the The Witcher II will have a ‘self contained’ story, so if you have not played The Witcher I it will not impede upon your enjoyment of playing 2, but your experience might not be as deep as you wont see any echoing storyline from the first iteration.

(Recently the developers showed a lot of fan love by releasing an ‘enhanced’ edition of The Witcher I. So if this skipped you by I’d heartily recommend you try this better version. It is even free for anyone who owns the original game! Usually when an edition like this is put out they call it ‘gold’ or some such, and the fans have to shell out to get the better experience. The developers deserve a lot of praise for this in my humble opinion.)

Seriously, if you haven't tried the Enhanced Edition, drop everything and do it now :D

As was said in the first part of this preview, the story will be very nonlinear. The developers have said there will be around 16 possible endings to the story, some set in motion relatively early in the storyline. (No more reloading and pulling a different ‘lever’ for a different ending, yet another reason to replay)

Unlike other games of this stripe, the game focuses on the ‘moment’. Each choice presented will make the player think about the potential consequences and moral questions of the situation. In other words, no more ‘red and blue’. The player will not have to worry about the game herding him into being ‘good’ or ‘bad’.

While in the original Geralt did most of his adventuring on his own, in this game companions will have a large impact on the story and you can count on having someone by your side through most of the way through the game. Most will be the usual RPG fair, different dialogue and impact, but in this game you will not be able to directly control your companions. Want to bring along that gruff dwarf? Don’t expect him to play nice :D

Our old pals will be making a comeback, and this time you can take them along for the ride!

The last thing I want to mention is Geralt’s ‘memory problems’

Kind-of standard RPG stuff to introduce the gamer to the environment, and let him ask a lot of stupid questions of everyone he meets :D.

This time, it seems that our white-skinned pal will be remembering a good portion of his experiences from the books, and that will play its part in the storyline in the form of old scores and new characters. The Developers also promise that many of those recollections will add a depth to the character, as many of those choices will haunt him because they aren’t necessarily pleasant.

Continued in Part 3: What we know so far.

Still writing :D

2010-09-29T09:31:00.000-07:00

Opps, sorry about the delay guys. I'm still writing the second part of The Witcher 2 preview, which will be all about the books and the storyline of this new iteration.

Should be out later tonight, until then:

The Witcher II Preview

2010-09-26T16:42:00.000-07:00

The votes are in! ...and so without further ado,

The Witcher 2 Preview Part 1:

Release date: End of March/beginning of April 2011

Demo: None until after release.

Link: Gameplay footage

Trailer (definately watch this one!): Official trailer

(^^Beware of brain/nerdgasms when watching that video)

“We will have the best looking RPG ever.” –Tom

He wasn’t kidding. Remember when I said that Gothic IV was the best RPG in terms of graphics I had seen? (At the very least on par with Mass Effect 2) Well, that was before that trailer and these screens.

These guys are doing amazing things, bringing bump-maping and texturing to new levels.

They use a new form of bump mapping in The Witcher II, pay special attention to the armor/swords.

Leaked video!: Leaked alpha footage (keep in mind his voice is just a demo version) Also, the day/night cycles and weather are quite impressive.

The first thing you will notice though, aside from the new graphics, is the motion capturing. Every door opening gesture to scratching of the ass has been fully motion captured for this game, and it shows.

The combat has been smoothed, especially the ‘between’ animations, so every hard strike to finisher is smooth from first strike to last. Epic. I can’t say how impressed I am with the work I’ve seen in this department.

Hard to believe, but this is an in-engine cutscene.

Truly nonlinear storyline: A great focus was made on the nonlinear storyline, to make the player see the impact of their decisions and still let them feel free to do as their conscious guides them. For every action there is a reaction. Even seemingly small decisions may turn out to start a riot, or lead to a death. The up and downsides of these decisions are especially far reaching.

Real moral choices: It wouldn’t be The Witcher without it. This time choices are evermore ambiguous and really make you think. Just like in the first game, sometimes things can be seen from many angles, and every choice has its proponents and lamenters.

This ‘nonlinear’ feel extends even to the combat.

Gone: Increasing stats, now there is a much more ‘real’ system that will affect gameplay Instead of just ‘+2 to dex’ the player will be able to choose faster strikes, deeper wounds, or doing damage to 2 opponents instead of 1. Things that really change the way you play, the new goals are involvement and flexability. With this new system its entirely possible to play 2 different characters 2 completely different ways even with the same specializations, and with the same Garret we all know and love :D

Gone is the Aurora engine. Instead, the developers built a new engine they are calling TSOOD. The new engine is specifically designed to prevent some of the bottlenecks in feature expansion that they fought with in the development of The Witcher I.

New: Magic is now involved INSIDE the combo system, letting you get off wicked combos with both magic and steel.

Yes, the fist fighting in the trailer was real in-game. Visceral huh? They definitely smoothed the edges between each move to the point that it really feels freeform. So, non-lethal combat will always be an option, and possibly will be a major factor in game decisions. Finishers like the boot to the head we saw are chosen automatically instead of a normal attack when the opponent's life is low.

Same/enchanced: The stylized narrative backgrounds are still there to let you know major choices and tell the story, but the developers have hinted that they listened to player feedback on this, and they will be more involving.

Cutscenes will be done ‘in engine’ with barely any pre-rendered, which with the current technology they are fooling around with will be similar to Mass Effect 2 in terms of an epic feel.

QTEs: Many events are included throughout the game. Battles and conversations especially you have to be on your toes. First pioneered by the Resident Evil series, QTEs are ‘Quick time events’ that allow the character (if they are fast enough) to take advantage of a situation and perform an act to benefit him/her. Remember the blue,red key strokes in Mass Effect 2 that allowed you to perform good/evil actions? Same principle, except good and evil are subjective in the world of The Witcher :D.

Here you can clearly see the new texture mapping, along with some depth of field.

Collectable sex cards: Hehe, not this time fellas :D Although, they will take another approach to this and sex will still be a part of the game. At the end of the day, Geralt is still irresistible to the ladies.

Characters from the books: A lot of our old friends from the first game will be seen, along with many new ones from the books that never made an appearance before. (If you haven’t read the books yet, now is a great time.)

Length: The original Witcher was around 100 hours with all the sidequests completed. While the game has not been finalized, the developers have signaled their goal is to not be shorter than the original.

Here is some extra footage to wet your beaks a bit:

Battle scene

Continued Tuesday in Part 2.

What RPG should I preview next?

2010-09-25T16:08:00.000-07:00

The next upcoming PC RPGs are: Two Worlds II, Fallout 3: New Vegas, and The Witcher II.

Lemme know what ya think the comments section, even if its not on the list, and I'll post the first part tomorrow.

In return, a comic:

2010-09-24T21:01:00.000-07:00

Preview part 3: Demo hands-on.

More than I’d feared, less than I’d hoped.

What? More? Oh ok :P

Try the demo yourself!

Heres some discussion on the demo from the Jowood forums, keep in mind many of these people are diehard fans.

I went in fearing that they had massacred Gothic (from the demo comments on the Arcania forums) but happily I came away with no such impression.

Firstly, the pitfalls:

1. Some bad voice acting.

Both the female voice actors in the 3 hour game demo came off as either over-the-top (the witch) or bland (girlfriend), the latter being much more disconcerting because she is the first NPC you come across in the game. That first conversation left me both stunned by the graphical detail and taken out of the experience by the somewhat awkward exchange.

2. High system requirements.

This is the highest requirement level I’ve seen for a game of this type:

Minimum:

* Windows XP/Vista/7

* Intel Core 2 Duo @ 2.8 GHz / AMD Athlon II x2 @ 2.8 GHz

* 2 GB RAM

* GeForce 8800 GTX

Recommended:

* Windows XP/Vista/7

* Intel Quad Core / AMD Phenom

* 2 GB RAM

* GeForce GTX 280

With that said the optimization is VERY good. It ran extremely smoothly on barely above the recommended system requirements with full settings enabled.

High system requirements? Yeah.. but worth it.

3. Turned off features.

It seems--I dearly hope--that crafting and alchemy were turned off except for an ‘all the time’ crafting that was always available through the crafting menu.

As you can see, the crafting table is active but you can't make anything there yet /shrug.

In past Gothic games crafting was done quite realistically. You had to heat a blank of iron, pound it into shape, douse it in water to cool it, and finally sharpen it on a stone wheel to make a blade. The same went for alchemy, although you merely used a alchemy table to combine the ingredients. Now all these nick nacks are useable in the world, but seem to be turned off so that only the animations for those actions take place.

I said I ‘dearly hope’ that this is the case because if it isn’t and this is the final version of how crafting will be available, we will have a lot of disappointed fans.

Forging equipment also useable, still disabled in the demo. Not sure whether to be encouraged.

4. Fenced in world.

All over the game world there are invisible barriers preventing exploration, this is a complete divorcing from what the game worlds were like in 1-3.

Before: Go to close to that cliff edge? You’re dead. Enjoy the ride down.

After: Go to close to that cliff edge? Its ok kiddo, the nerf barrier will protect you. Now go back in the play pen like a good boy.

With that said I got over my annoyance rather quickly, since most of the barriers in the world can be jumped over. Some though remain there like a piece of dirt in the eye, such as barriers right on the tops of fences that are only 4 feet high.

I wonder.....

Oh lordy! Is it too late to change my mind?

5. Combat was a bit too easy.

Yes, it is just a demo and they probably didn’t want to scare away fans by making them reload 20 times to kill a worg (a lovely Gothic tradition :D) but from what I saw it seems like everyone will have to play on ‘Gothic’ (the hardest) mode to get the difficulty level present in the old games.

For one, ranged combat is completely overpowered. Since this game seems to depend a lot on the player being able to anticipate the enemies moves (to properly dodge), NPCs have drawn out combat animations so all you have to do is keep moving backwards and firing away and every single enemy (even the ranged ones) fall without a single hit on you.

Secondly, instant potions (which exist in abundance) make even melee encounters let you feel like you wouldn’t die unless you went afk.

6. Intrusion detection not enabled on NPCs.

Another thing that I ‘hope’ is just not enabled. It was one of the things that made the original Gothic have a lot of atmosphere. If someone saw you rifling through their things, they let you know.

The Pros:

1. Some great voice acting! Yeah, I know that is a bit contradictory, but its true. While a minority of the characters took me out of the experience, some made it very believable. The father of the main character’s girlfriend was a highlight, and so was one of our old companions from the previous games that made a comeback :D. The writing was also very well done.

2. The graphics.

I’m sure this is what most will point to when they talk about this demo in a positive light. It is some of the best work that I have seen, no joke.

Textures were gritty and real with some of the vistas being close to picture perfect.

Spell effects had impact and weight to the hits along with great lighting, whenever a spell was readied (or a magic weapon equipped) a light glows around the hands of the character acting like a torch and when a bolt is let loose it casts a light on everything around it all the way to the target. The effect was quite striking.

Sigh... They never let you eat the big ones... and they look so tasty.

3. Solid storyline.

During the course of the demo I found myself charmed by many of the characters, through only a few hours of gameplay that is pretty hard to do. This is where the good writing came into play. Even the girlfriend (the badly voice acted one) had an impact by the end of the demo. I’ll try not to give any of it away though :D.

4. The terrain is very explorable.

This was a great relief for me personally, since I always loved doing everything possible in the world before going to the next plot development or quest.

5. Gathering alive and well.

Just like in the previous Gothics there are quite a few types of native fauna that you can harvest for your alchemical endeavors :D. This time it seems they included only a few types, but enough to see that it probably follows the same track that other Gothics have gone down: Mana plants, fruits, health plants, and special plants for permanent stats.

Then there are some things that I wouldn’t say are BAD, but are definitely different from the old series.

No more attributes! Odd I know, probably one of the reasons there are no more trainers to be had in the world of Gothic. Why find a trainer to increase strength when you don’t have any?

A simple new system, one part of the game that has been 'streamlined'.

Instead of the Dex, Str, etc. system that we all know, we have:

Melee power

Magic power

Ranged power

Along with regeneration values and the standard health/mana/stamina. (stamina is new to Gothic though).

Gothic fans will be happy to see not only a detailed bestiary, but a simple an descriptive journal as well.

No familiar music.

Don’t get me wrong, the music is great for the atmosphere. Just a bit different from what other Gothic games have had, since at many times there was very little.

Now the melodies are ever-present, and quite good.

So all in all, as I said in the beginning, it wasn’t what I had expected. Although, after going through all the points I can honestly say I can’t wait for he final product!

Arcania: Gothic IV Preview, Part 2

2010-09-23T17:53:00.000-07:00

Preview part 2: Impressions, changes, and E3.

Think those goblins have a chance? :)

With all the excitement over the new storyline, new hero, and overhauled graphics the one thing that overshadowed all this in the minds of diehard fans was new gameplay.

Basically the worry was that with new developers the ‘soul’ of the game might be ripped out and replaced with other popular (so shiny) tweaks that other games in the genre had received. Namely; over the top camerawork on cut scenes, dumbed down game play meant to draw a bigger audience, and a divorcing from the ‘solid’ feel that the combat in Gothic games has always had.

Gothic fans are used to mowing these guys down, looks like they are getting tired of it.

For the most part, these fears have been belayed by the Dev’s continued insistence that they will stay true to the genre, but some changes have definitely been made.

For one, there will be no more trainers. While the developers have alluded to ‘some’ skills needing a special individual to unlock, for the most part skills can be allocated at any time through a familiar (to other games) skill/character screen.

The main skills are, at the time of E3;

Mettle: The primary melee skill: Melee maneuvers, attack strength, and stamina regeneration.

Vigour: Shield maneuvers, stamina, health.

Stealth: Ranged attacks, backstabbing and stealth attacks, and affects health.

Precision: The primary ranged skill: Mana, ranged attacks, ranged power.

Then the magical skills:

Zeal: Fire spells, mana regeneration, magic power.

Dominance: Electricity spells, mana regeneration, magic power.

Serenity: Cold spells, mana regeneration, magic power.

Seen here is one of the new 'Runegates' that players will use to zip around the new world.

Every skill point in a given ‘tree’ gives a percentage increase to your primary attributes 16 points to any given tree maxes it out, more on primary attributes after the demo hands-on.

The character receives 3 skill points every level up, and every skill tree is also capped at your current level, preventing you from putting more then 1 skill point in a skill tree each level.

After pumping a certain amount of points in a skill tree you will unlock spells, moves, abilities, and other nick nacks like mana and health regen.

An unfortunately very familiar formula, but I withhold judgment until we have seen the results and balance of the new system.

Nothing like the smell of black goblin blood in the morning. On a side note, no longer will Orcs be the primary enemies in Gothic 4, but you will still see quite a few.

What is fortunate is that early talk of the crafting system being scraped was completely off-base.

From the press demo there will be both alchemy and equipment crafting. Although, it is still unclear what form it will take other than being learned from recipe scrolls, and some individuals in the world.

Another great improvement over Gothic 3’s botched journal system will be an actively updating beastiary, along with pictures and full descriptions as you encounter them in the world.

Swamp sharks and bloodflys and swampweed! Oh my.

Details about the equipment that will be available in the game is also very encouraging to us diehards.

Every culture in the game will have its own style, which shows on the equipment from each of the 6 cultures thus far revealed. A common example is from your starting town. A small fishing village; the people have carved fishes and nets in to the armor and weapons that their people use.

Bring it on shorty!

Lastly, the combo system has been revised somewhat with a 3 mouse or keyboard buttons lining up a different combos. Some other powers work by charging up through the levels of power you have achieved, meaning you won’t be spamming that ‘kill everything in sight’ fireball twice a second. Again, more on this will be in the demo hands-on… which I see just came out!

Continued in Part 3: Demo hands-on!

Arcania: Gothic IV Preview

2010-09-21T18:51:00.000-07:00

Part 1: The history of the series, and the new developers.

From the first “Welcome to the colony” Gothic was a hit in Germany and North America. With its sarcastic main character and its enormous replayability, RPG fans immediately fell in love.

The original Gothic I and II touted a unique game experience combined with a solid game engine developed in-house (4 years in the making). A special focus was placed on day night cycles, realistic NPC schedules and habits, and interactivity with the game environment; I’m sure we all lovingly remember cooking 500 pieces of meat for 20 minutes <3.

Gothic I

The Gothic epic started with our (famously) nameless hero making a name for himself by freeing the slaves unjustly thrown into a magical prison and forced into mining magical ore for the King’s war against the Orcs. The dark wizard Xardas, a prison camp taken over by the prisoners, and a cult of ‘swamp weed’ loving fanatics all added to the involving story.

Anyone teleport/bloodfly in and kill everything in sight right after you got locked out? Good times...

We were introduced to many complex and interesting characters, the most memorable of whom manage to stay out of the way and simultaneously influence events. These characters end up being mainstays of the Gothic story throughout the three games (and beyond).

The story ends with the magic barrier keeping the prisoners in destroyed, the hero trapped underground, and the great Sleeper slain. The atmosphere of the prison colony was so diverse, unique, and gripping… stopping the tale there would have been a crime ;).

Gothic II, Night of the Raven

A much wider scope of the story, and a bigger world! The sequel took the Gothic experience to the next level, as we all hope sequels will. Add to that one of the best expansion packs ever made, and Gothic II really secured the Gothic series’ place as a must have in any RPG fan’s collection.

The new game was filled with great moments like coming back to the old prison colony to find it torn by war, and a continued storyline with all your old pals from the first game.

Oh Diego, you and your shenanigans.

We find through the course of the story that our nameless hero is not just a wanderer, but a chosen of the gods. After our hero saves the day (again) he finds that his old pal Xardas has had designs on his own place as a ‘chosen’ leaving many questions and our hero setting sail for the mainland…

Gothic III

This is where the Gothic series hits the rocks a bit. While the excellent story and even larger and more involving world are present in this title, they are hampered by unfortunate game-breaking bugs.

Through tremendous efforts by the community (and up to a point, the developers) the game was wrangled in to a relatively bug free state with a series of player made patches. So finally we were able to appreciate the real Gothic III, and there was much to appreciate!

Massive world? Check.

Well... lost again, but I'm sure if I keep going in a straight line everything will be... ah crap.

An overhauled graphics engine made the Gothic world come alive in ways that it hadn’t been able to previously (except in our imaginations).

As for the storyline itself, it really tied up the loose ends of the series nicely with our hero discovering the true motivations of the mysterious wizard Xardas and our companions becoming part of the mainland of Myrtana.

Depending on your choices, the game ended with either the Orcs or men winning the war, or neither winning and the gods being cast out of the world to let the peoples choose their own destiny.

The last was the ‘assumed’ ending for the series in the short game: Gothic: Forsaken Gods, which sought to tie together Gothic III and Gothic IV.

This game was… for the lack of a better word a ‘flop’. In many ways even buggier then Gothic III at its outset, it met with bad reviews and frustrating game play.

Again, it was patched and eventually became playable. It told the story of our hero who, upon seeing that conflict was once again fomenting, comes back to the world to show humanity and Orcs a better way.

Arcania: Gothic IV, new developers?

That’s right, Spellbound studios has taken over the series. The rights to make a sequel were taken away from Parana Bytes by JoWood because of the faulty release and bugs of Gothic III, along with other internal issues.

Spellbound is best known for the Desperado series. All real time strategy/action hybrids, they were met with fairly good reviews.

The first year or two of development were fairly hush hush, with only a handful of interviews and screenshots getting out. That said, the first screenshots were quite striking, with the new lighting effects and character models being top notch.

Wow! A foggy morning.

Again, a wow factor. Like what you see? Then you will probably be glad to hear that you can visit every landmark you see in this screenshot!

Showing their commitment to the series, JoWood extended the release date and significantly increased Spellbound’s budget when they found that the game wasn’t holding up to what they had come to expect from Gothic. This both frustrated and relieved fans, who had been worried about the lack of new information but anxiously awaited the release.

Now thats some detail! They really know how to breed them in that fishing village.

The extended release date and eventual ‘Open letter’ to JoWood and Spellbound from the fans who wanted more content led to more interviews, videos, and screenshots being given and shown.

The new Trailer!

Continued Friday in Part 2: Early impressions, hints at story and gameplay changes from the previous Gothics, and E3.

A new day, a new beginning.

2010-09-10T00:08:00.000-07:00

Well, here we go. I'll be using this blog to post:

   Previews of upcoming games

   Reviews of the current titles I'm working on

   Random crap, Whats a blog without it?