Computer Role-Playing Fanatic

Mixing My Gaming And Politics... At The Same Time?

2008-01-10T14:14:00.000-05:00

Never!

I may rant and rave during my blog time, but the last thing I want to see while I am trying to take a break from real life is a politicians goonie face. But then again Second Life is more media created hype than actual playable game. I've never actually met anyone that has ever played it, from what I hear the media convinces the masses that people are making millions, they create an account, loose some money and never log in again... total time played: 67 minutes.

And yea I know my last couple of posts have been more political than role-playing in nature, but these are important topics for our hobby and the news has been a bit slow lately.

Politics and Video Gaming

2008-01-10T09:08:00.000-05:00

We can’t seem to do much of anything nowadays without it tying back to politics. Including our favorite pastime… gaming.

First off let me say that the video game violence issue is a sham, none of these candidates have spent more than two minutes playing them, they are spoon fed the worst (both in play, story line and common sense) games and then handed talking points to try and win support among the ignorant masses. Imagine if you knew nothing about the movie industry and I showed you five hours of XXX porn and told you this was what it was all about, followed by… and kids rent these things call “movies” all the time at the local Blockbuster.

Oh the shock and horror, oh the possible votes I can grab as I lead the ignorant masses out of harm’s way!

Well folks, ignorance breeds ignorance… and there seems to be a hell of a lot of breeding going on in political circles. Video games that utilize sex and violence as a means to shock and sell games generally fail miserably because they aren’t enjoyable titles. The titles that do succeed have solid game-play and utilize the sex and violence as a means to communicate a message about the environment and time. Great authors and playwrights have been doing the same thing since the start of the written (and spoken) word (check out Homer, Shakespeare and Dante if you don’t believe me).

I thought it was time that I review what I could scrape together on the various candidates’ positions and statements on video game violence. Here they are in no particular order:

Mitt Romney – In a recent interview Romney stated he wanted the enforce obscenity laws to protect us from ourselves, “a societal cesspool of filth, pornography, violence, sex, and perversion” and that he would go after retailers who sell violent games.

Verdict: Clueless and a danger to himself and the rest of us. Time and again the courts have thrown out these ridiculous and unconstitutional laws.

Barrack Obama – He wants to spend money to study the problem, though he does appear to think that the issue should lie more with the family than some congressional committee.

Verdict: Most likely harmless, probably pay it more lip service and nothing more.

Hillary Clinton – Yikes this woman wants the Center for Disease Control to study the issue. She also likes to use the Federal Trade Commission as a pitbull to intimidate companies and garner headlines. Couldn’t find any direct quote but her actions speak louder than worlds.

Verdict: In her depraved world of villages and the government raising your children, she is clearly one of the most dangerous and least educated about the issue. Beyond lips service she has proven more than willing to throw the government at whatever she doesn’t understand or frightens her.

John McCain – A hard one to lock down. He occasionally says thing I agree with and then follows it with a string of things I don’t. Overall I think he wants to blame the media (including games and movies) as a direct catalyst for violence.

Verdict: Probably mostly harmless, like any good politician he takes both sides enough on this issue as to accomplish nothing.

Mike Huckabee – He actually wrote a book on the topic of kids and violence called Kids Who Kill: Confronting Our Culture of Violence. I take issue with the premise of the book that violence is a growing epidemic, studies have actually shown violence among youth is down. The real epidemic is the 24/7 media coverage of every tragedy that occurs in this country, like anything else, just because you talk about it four days straight does not make it true. I do appreciate Mike Huckabee’s view that there is no single factor, whenever a tragedy like a school shooting occurs there are hundreds if not thousands of minuscule factors that when taken as a whole lead to it.

Verdict: Creating an epidemic where one doesn’t exist may make good talk, but it does not make it true. Overall harmless because he seems to at least understand that there are too many factors in youth violence to pretend that government can solve your ills.

If I missed your candidate I apologize, but be honest with yourself, one of the above will probably be the next President. I currently do not endorse any candidate, but think it is important to stay informed on the issues. If you feel I did not characterize your candidate properly, feel free to leave a comment correcting me.

I could probably ramble on about why game legislation is a bad thing or how the issue of game legislation shows certain tendencies among the candidate on other issues, but I will save that for another post.

Franchises That Need More Titles

2008-01-10T07:12:00.000-05:00

I have been pondering some of the franchises of the past that have either not seen a sequel or who haven't had a sequel in some time and there are a few that really stick out.

1. Baldur's Gate - Yes, I know the story pretty much arcs with you becoming a God in the final expansion but I would still like to see at least a spiritual successor to it (and while I enjoyed NWN 1 and 2 they didn't have the same epic feel).

2. Planescape Torment - This one is a freebie. There is not a real computer role-player who wouldn't want to see another one of these. Sadly, with the near total demise of Interplay, I have no idea who holds the rights to this one right now.

3. Crusader Series (No Remorse & No Regret) - While not technically a role-playing game, these early 90's titles were a blast to play. For those of you who were to young or just plain don't remember they were Origin titles that disappeared after the EA buyout.

I am happy to say it is great to see franchises like Fallout getting a much deserved rebirth. Who knows, maybe with a little luck we will see many of our favorite titles get reborn in this gaming era much like the television shows of the 70's have been over the last 10 years.

Ultima V New Style

2008-01-09T12:34:00.000-05:00

I always love to spotlight fans whose jaw dropping deeds create a unique role-playing experience. That is the case with the Team Lazarus and their complete remake of Ultima V using the original Dungeon Siege engine. This is not just some hack job folks, this is a faithful reproduction of Ultima V with modern graphics, sound and a custom soundtrack.

Best thing… it is free to download. The only stipulation is that you must own the original Dungeon Siege game. It is available for both PC and Mac. Now you can play a classic and not suffer from the dated graphics and sound.

I like to say a big thank you to not only Team Lazarus, but also the developers and owners of all the licenses and copyrights etc. who didn’t shut down this project when it was apparent this was done not for profit, but for the benefit of the hobby.

Space Siege New Preview Up

2008-01-09T07:17:00.000-05:00

Gamespot has a new preview of Space Siege from the Consumer Electronic Show. I've got my fingers crossed, but am a bit concerned they have dumbed it down too much and we are going to have just an action game on our hands.

Nothing Quite Like The Flu

2008-01-08T07:51:00.000-05:00

Well faithful readers, your host here seems to have come down with a flu bug, so don't expect any new updates today while I try and healthy up.

HD-DVD is dead... opps so is Blue Ray

2008-01-07T19:32:00.000-05:00

So we have a standard like HD that seems to be dead due to lack of support and we have a standard like Blue Ray that is dead due to lack of ability to meet consumer demands due to ridiculous hardware. Hey here is an idea... stick with DVD that we all support and hasn't really outgrown us yet and let the morons decide on a standard we can all live with and afford? I must be crazy?

Moron 1 and moron 2... you want to win... give us a standard player for 100.00 bucks and you win. Sony, nobody wants your crap at 300 +, Toshiba... cross the market and give a standard for 100.00 like yesterday and tell Warner and Disney... shut up and join or you'll never publish again and they will fall in line.

Star Wars KOTOR 2 Restoration Project

2008-01-07T13:38:00.000-05:00

Little background explanation is probably required here. When Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic 2 was in development by Obsidian, they were under a lot of pressure by Lucas Arts to get the game released and the decision was internally made to cut some (arguably) significant content including scenes, quests and storyline twists. Apparently these cuts were made late in the development process because much of the content (including some of the cut scenes) were just left in the game as unused code.

Shortly after the release of KOTOR 2 on the PC, an intrepid bunch of would be coding heroes called Team Gizka enter the story. They set out on the daunting task of restoring much of the now hidden content and closing many of the confusing and abrupt narratives the last minute editing caused. It appears that their three year odyssey may be nearing an end as they close in on the mythical 1.0 build and hopefully release their masterpiece to the general public (currently only available to a select few beta testers).

Head over to their website and cheer them on through the final lap and take a look at some of the files for game improvement all ready have available. Keep in mind that due to the complexity of development on the Xbox platform, this restoration project only applies to the PC version (as far as I can tell).

Coming This Week: Kingdom Under Fire – Circle of Doom

2008-01-07T09:49:00.000-05:00

Developer/Publisher: Blueside/Microsoft

For all of you Xbox360 fans that have played through Mass Effect for the tenth time and are looking for a new role-playing fix, check out Kingdom Under Fire – Circle of Doom scheduled to be released this week.

For the uninitiated, the Kingdom Under Fire series has traditionally been an action oriented strategy game where the player takes control of units in the field and get down and dirty with traditional Japanese style ridiculously oversized weapons to turn the tide of battle. That has all changed with the release of Circle of Doom, instead of a grand action strategy game, Circle of Doom is designed to be more of a action oriented role-playing game with much heavier focus on character development.

Kingdom under fire is scheduled to be released on the 8th, check it out and let us know what you think.

The Witcher - Uncensored

2008-01-07T07:38:00.001-05:00

I was surfing around the web looking at different role-playing type info when I came across a post (don't actually remember where) talking about the uncensored version of The Witcher. It appears that the version shipped to the U.S. was self censored by the developers/publisher. You can purchase a copy of the uncensored U.K. English version, but before you list recently purchased U.S. version on Ebay and rush to get the uncensored version there are a couple of things you should know.

1. You aren't missing much, from what I can determine there are really two differences, the female love cards in the U.S. version have been edited to cover most of the nudity and the dryad in game models have been edited in the U.S. version to cover their breasts.

2. There is supposedly a patch which will restore the U.S. version to an uncensored state. I can not confirm this since I surfed around and heard people talking about it but never actually found a file.

Day Off

2008-01-06T13:43:00.000-05:00

Probably should have mentioned this yesterday, but unless there is some extraordinary gaming news, I usually will not post on Sundays. We hit the ground running on Monday!

This Week In Review

2008-01-05T18:57:00.000-05:00

Nothing new released this week on the rpg front. We are going into the winter blues. time to hunker down with titles like Mass Effect, The Witcher and NWN 2 Mask of the Betrayer and wait for the next next crop of gaming goodness to show up. Stayed tuned and I'll be here (according to the stats alone) to talk to you (or looks like myself) to steer you to the latest and greatest. I like to talk to myself anyway!

Though, if you want to send me a story, tip or news, I'll be sure to credit you if it gets posted.

Why Cry When You Can Sue?

2008-01-05T08:39:00.000-05:00

Gamespot has an article up stating that Microsoft is being sued for 5 million dollars because of the now infamous holiday outage. Give me a break! Yes, it was inconvenient, but Microsoft has all ready announced they will be giving away a free game to all Live subscribers. It was not like your game system was completely inoperable, you could still play 99 percent of the 360 games in single player.

Is being uber leet, flashing your cool moves and talking trash while you hop around Call of Duty 4: Modern Combat worth 5 million dollars? Time to teach these lawyers and plaintiffs a lesson and financially punish them for filing gold digger frivolous lawsuits.

Spotlight on Fable 2

2008-01-04T15:21:00.000-05:00

Release Date: TBD (Late 2008)

Peter Molyneux’s Lionhead Studios is currently developing Fable 2, sequel to the Xbox/PC hit Fable. News is still a bit sketchy on exactly what Fable 2 has to offer us, but from the few screenshots and interviews about the game, it looks to take the best elements from the original Fable and expand upon them.

Set 500 years after the first game, Lionhead plans to expand on the scope of the original fable while improving some of the unique character evolution aspects of the first game. Combat appears to be getting a major overhaul with a one button system whereby how hard and long you push the button will determine the type of attack or block. Your character will bear the scars of combat as well, if incapacitated and pummeled by your opponents early in the game, you may just find you bear that scar for the rest of your adventuring career.

Slated for release initially only on the Xbox360 (don’t despair computer gaming gurus, the original eventually did release on the PC – besides there are enough quality role-playing titles available for the Xbox360 now to warrant a purchase) sometime in late 2008, I expect Fable 2 to be another instant classic of console role-playing. Check out the developer’s blog to keep up to date on the developing world of Albion.

Rules Console RPG Developers Should Follow

2008-01-04T10:39:00.000-05:00

Role-Playing games on consoles can be good, no wait… they can be really good, if the console developers follow a few simple rules.

1. Don’t Use Save Points – Save points had their place years ago when consoles didn’t have hard drives and storage was at an extreme premium. Those days are over and now it is just lazy development. I refuse to play console RPGs that use a save point system.

2. Just Because You Have It, Doesn’t Mean You Need To Use It – Many console game developers feel that since they have access to 8 buttons/triggers, 2 sticks and a directional pad, they need to use them all. I don’t want to have to hold down a trigger, a pad and a button just to swing a sword.

3. I Like To Read… Books Not Screens – Consoles pretty much have the same type of storage devices and large capacity optical media that computers have, use them. I don’t mind minor and secondary conversations (as long as they aren’t 12 paragraphs long) not being recorded, but I hate reading page after page of text on the screen. Hire some voice actors.

Last but not least…

If TV Show X-Play on G4 can make a game out of guessing if your characters are male or female it might be a good time to sit down and talk with your art department to reevaluate their ideas of masculinity and femininity.

Romance Storylines a Boon to CRPGs

2008-01-04T07:54:00.000-05:00

The first real romance storyline that I can remember playing through was Baldur’s Gate 2 by Bioware. I couldn’t help but think it was one of the most interesting things I had seen added to a computer role-playing game in a long time. It was the extra touch that seemed to pull the player in and make them want to come back for more and added an incentive for the player to run through the game again and get involved in a different romance plot (last count I think I played through BG2 4 full times through).

Bioware has used the romance sub-plots in every one of their subsequent role-playing games, though never with as much depth as they did in BG2. It has crept into other role-playing games like the recently reviewed The Witcher (though with a bit more adult themed take) and Fable.

There are critics who say that the romance sub-plots are merely enjoyed by pre-teens and geeks who have trouble with women in their real life. Well, I may be a geek, but I did get married several years ago and was successful in the reproduction process on numerous occasions (probably too much information but it is there to make a point), as are many computer role-playing fanatics. I think the hidden divide really lies in the action oriented (hack-slash) role-players and the more story driven role-players. Both have their place, but I believe that Bioware has set the expectations among serious story driven computer role-players that a good game requires more than just a main story line with a bunch of fetch and kill quests. We want to delve into many aspects of the characters personal life in order to flesh out his or hers virtual existence.

There are several story driven franchises out their that could benefit from this added depth and character connection that tools like the romance sub-plots add... one that just to the top of my list is the Elder Scrolls series.

Purgatorio: A Neverwinter Nights 2 Mod

2008-01-03T19:18:00.000-05:00

If you haven't seen it, you need to head on over to Rouge Dao Studios and check out the mod Purgatorio. It is set in the Planescape universe and from what I can see looks to be a very professionally made mod. Purgatorio is scheduled to be the first in a trilogy. It appears they are putting together voice talent and custom artwork.

Right now it is in internal beta testing. I can not find a date for release, and it appears to be a bit behind schedule because the second installment is listed on their website as being due out in late 2007. Neverwinter Nights 2 could use a good mod and I hope this is on track to be released sometime soon.

Game Review: The Witcher

2008-01-03T12:03:00.000-05:00

Publisher: Atari

Developer: CD Projekt

I like to consider myself well informed when it comes to the world of computer games, especially computer role-playing games, but yikes I had never heard of The Witcher until about a week before the release when I saw it listed as a coming soon game on one the major game seller’s websites. Typically this means it is a piece of junk hack that will hit the bottom of the bargain bin faster than my kids can burn through batteries on their Wii controller.

I was intrigued though, they were asking a AAA price (unusual on bargain hack titles) and they were using a modified Bioware engine. So I took the plunge and coughed up the 50 bucks.

Boy, am I glad I did.

Premise:
You play as a Witcher, a member of monster hunting organization that is in decline. You are tasked with uncovering the reason behind the strange attack upon your organizations headquarters.

Gameplay:
The Witcher has one of the strongest adult role-playing stories you will find on store shelves right now, and I use the term adult appropriately. The Witcher has a lot of mature themed subject matter in it, so I would steer away any players not in their teens. Without giving away any of the story, the underlying theme of The Witcher is actions and consequences. There is no alignment system to speak of, but your actions and decisions can have a major impact on how the game plays out later on. It is important to note that you won’t find tons of different types of equipment and weapons in The Witcher. The unique combat system that was implemented means that for most of the game you will be using one of two swords which can be upgraded and modified. Don’t let this frighten you though, you’ll be so engrossed in the story you won’t notice that you have been using the same sword for most of the game. If I had one complaint it would be the lack of a thorough explanation of the character leveling system and alchemy process at the start of the game (unlike many other CRPGs, alchemy plays a vital role in the game).

Graphics:
If you are familiar with Neverwinter Nights 2 graphics then you will be right at home with The Witcher. The graphics are crisp and sharp. Aside from the occasional graphical glitches you will find in any 3D title, there was little to complain about. In fact, I found myself struggling with the interface controls much less in The Witcher than I have with the Neverwinter Nights 2 titles in the past.

Sound:
I will state many times, I am not an audiophile. As long as there is nothing horrendous with the soundtrack that detracts from the game, I’m not going to nitpick it, and in the case of The Witcher there is nothing to nitpick. The voice acting was decent and did not distract from the game, though nothing to write home about.

Verdict:
Must Buy
The Witcher is a deep and engrossing tale that any computer role-player would enjoy.

Jade Empire 2?

2008-01-03T09:02:00.000-05:00

Mercury News has an article up about the possibility of a sequel to the 2005 Jade Empire. Since this scoop is based upon someone claiming to have seen the code, I have my doubts about the validity for now. Plus, Bioware is not known for working on sequels… they outsourced both KOTOR 2 and NWN 2 to Obsidian.

I liked Jade Empire (didn’t say loved) and would enjoy a sequel, but Bioware please finish Dragon Age.

Whatever Happened to Dragon Age?

2008-01-03T07:41:00.000-05:00

Bioware is, in my humble opinion, the undisputed king of role-playing games. With titles like Baldur’s Gate 2, KOTOR and Mass Effect, Bioware has not only revitalized the role-playing game genre, it has reinvented it. That said, over the last five or so years, Bioware has been console focused in their game development, releasing stellar titles like KOTOR, Jade Empire and Mass Effect on the Xbox platforms at least a good year before converting them to PC (Heck, KOTOR was the reason I bought the original Xbox and Mass Effect was my motivation to get a 360).

Roughly four years ago, Bioware announced a straight to PC role-playing adventure called Dragon Age. Details have always been sketchy on the title and the last confirmed public display I can find reference to was E3 2004. While Dragon Age still has a website on the Bioware, it is sparse and rarely updated. With the recent acquisition of Bioware by EA, questions about in development titles swirled.

So what is the story, will this game ever see the light of day?

My suspicion is we have a 50/50 chance. Dragon Age appears to have been treated as the ugly step child around Bioware offices. Having worked in development, it looks to me like one of those projects that gets worked on between other higher priorities and stripped of resources whenever they are needed elsewhere. With a notorious company like EA in the picture now, one has to wonder if titles like Dragon Age are going to be quickly shut down for proven franchises and more grandiose plans (read – Mass Effect 2 and the yet unnamed, but probably Star Wars related, MMO).

Time will tell, but I sure hope this title gets out of the oven. Dragon Age has been cooking long enough.

The Classic CRPGs are Alive and Playable

2008-01-02T16:21:00.000-05:00

I first discovered Abandonware about two years ago. What is Abandonware you ask?

Abandonware is software that is at least four years old and is no longer supported or marketed by the company that developed it or any other company. In terms of computer games, these usually refer to DOS games of the 80's and early 90's. For anyone interested in the history and legality of abandonware, there is an excellent article which explains it better than I could.

DOS game you cry! How the heck would I get that to work on my Windows XP or Vista machine? With a handy little utility call DOSBox which emulates a DOS environment quite well on modern operating systems.

My favorite Abandonware site is Abandonia. Check it out and play some classic gems like:

World of Xeen
Darklands
Lands of Lore
Superhero Leauge of Hoboken
Ultima 7
Wasteland

Just to name a few! That is a lot of classic gaming goodness for nothing.

Why the MMO Doesn’t Belong Here

2008-01-02T13:39:00.000-05:00

I thought long and hard about including MMOs in my blog discussions on computer role-playing games and came to the conclusion that they just don’t belong here. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve played my share… too many to list. Yet when I sit back and think about them, I realize that they are not really role-playing games, they are more like advanced social networking arenas with activities. In that aspect they may have more in common with the traditional pen and paper role-playing games.

When you play a single player computer role-playing game you have a story arc with an ultimate conclusion to the narrative. The idea is to make you part of the story. In the MMO there is no real arc and conclusion, you run quests and grind monsters until you reach the next level so you can run higher level quests and grind higher level monsters. When you grind your way to the top, you have one of three choices; wait for higher level content, start a new character and do it all over again, help lower level friends grind their way up. In between the quests and the grind, you balance your MMO social status by the loot you wear, your PvP status and guild affiliations.

MMOs have their place in the gaming world (and it keeps getting bigger), but I don’t consider going on the same epic quest 15 times to get the uber leet loot drop enjoyable. Unless you are doing it with friends and acquaintances in which case we end up where we started, MMOs are advanced social networking.

2008 Shaping Up Nicely for CRPG Fans

2008-01-02T10:58:00.000-05:00

Here we are at the start of a new year, time to look forward and get a taste for what we can expect to show up over the next twelve months for computer role-players. I am only including single player role-playing games here, MMOs and their place in the world of computer role-playing games is a topic for another discussion (or ten).

While 2007 was a great year for the single player with releases like NWN2: Mask of the Betrayer, The Witcher, Shivering Isles and Mass Effect (for the Xbox360 players), 2008 has the chance to be even better.

So, what is on the horizon?

Fallout 3 (Bethesda – Fall 08) – I was such a fan of the first two that I actually flew out to California and attended the Fallout 2 launch party. I will admit that I am a bit nervous about a new developer handling this franchise but the early buzz has been good.

Space Siege (Gas Powered Games – Feb 08) – I will admit that I wasn’t a huge fan of the first Dungeon Siege, it was a bit dry when it came to the story. A lot of improvements were made in the Second Dungeon Siege when it came to story. Nice to see another CRPG move out of the fantasy realm and Chris Taylor has proven he knows how to make an action oriented CRPG.

Sacred 2 (Ascaron - Sept 2008) – Another entry in the action oriented CRPG realm, the first Sacred provided hours of hack and slash enjoyment. Hopefully this time around the story and character development can be a little more fleshed out.

And of course there are bound to be little gems that pop out of left field and take us by surprise. The Witcher was an excellent example of that for me. It wasn’t until about a week before the game was released that I even heard the name.

Know of any other single player gems coming out this year, let us know so we can get them on the radar.

Welcome to CRPG Fanatic

2008-01-02T09:45:00.000-05:00

So… what is the point of this blog?

It is all about computer role-playing games… past, present and future. I plan to keep this site updated with my impressions of the games I am playing, tidbits of news that are relevant to computer role-playing games and links to cool things I find out there.

If I am missing anything, drop me a line and let me know. Feel free to comment on anything here, I enjoy spirited discussion, but I do reserve the right to moderate the comments to make sure nothing gets out of control.

Best,
SFord