Stupid Perfection!

It's happening again. I don't know what it is in me, but I need to have the perfect playthrough in the game, where I make all the right decisions, find all the right stuff, and my character looks the right way. Right?

This is why I played Dragon Age nine times and Fallout 3 four times and Fianl Fantasy XIII, well you get it.

SO now, I have nine characters for DA2 and 2 that I've finished with, and one I'm almost done with, and I started another mage (who I started because the first one who looked like me missed stuff and I understand the systems better now) Is anyone else this crazy?

Dragon Age 2- impressive

Yeah, I like it. The more I play it the more I am amazed that it knows what I want; it's like they listened to our podcast, smaller world, more personal story, nice character creation, choices that aren't BRIGHT SHINING LIGHT good, or MAJOR DICKITUDE bad, hooray! Then there are smaller things like a day night cycle that doesn't require me to wait for it to be day or night to do certain things. For example, I'm playing Fable 3 (which is fun, but tedious) and I want to buy something at a shop and it is night so I can not, or I'm playing Fallout and some event happens at a particular time IF I'M PRESENT and now I have to wait for it. If you're going to have things related to time either make it immutable that they happen at a particular time if you're there or not, or make it easy for me to get there at that time.

Characters in Dragon Age 2 do not become different people because you show them the power of kindness, give them something you picked up in a sack in the slums, or find inside a dead spider. They have opinions and world views, they don't necessarily like each other or you. They can be nudged in a direction, but not completely overtaken.

No one is outright evil in this game, in that almost all are trying to make the world a better place and make the lives of themselves or others better, unfortunately they are caught in an extreme and prodded by the idea that the change must happen now and they must make it happen. Often they are caught up in their own views that they can not listen or even see the others around them. Plus, the world is broken, horrible events have occurred and that added to scarcity of resources and human greed lead people into desperate situations. The champion can not fix the world, and I like this. The champion is working his or her way through these messes people keep making for themselves trying to stop them from becoming even more destructive, but people are still desperate, people are still committed to their extremes, and problems can not be ended just lessened or shifted around. It can be frustrating in the game, but that is how my champion would feel, sometimes you want to say, "Fuck these idiots," and you can, you are committed to no particular course.

I have rarely seen any game story with this level of complexity (except for Metal Gear, which made no real sense).

That said there is something missing in the game, and I can not put my finger on it. They have noble goals and great ideas. The game looks beautiful, voice acting is great, play is fun and fast paced, but some nuance, color, whisper of something is not there. I think this is why people complain about it, one, it is not like other games, it does not hold your hand, you can not save the world, and two that -something-

But pick it up, love it, support it, show the industry we want more like this is and could be.

The Me Mage

My Boyfriend Mage

Dragon Age 2, really, I'm going to tell you about it, really. Here are some of my guys to hold you over. This is my second mage. He's dreamy. He's in love with the tattoo'd elf. Don't judge.

static

Can't talk. Playing Dragon Age 2. Like it. Hot characters. Gay sensuality. Heavy arms. SO I got go grab my staff and take care of some things.

Emulator issues

I (silly frag Daniel (not to be confused with silly frag Dean or newly minted silly frag Dan)) have been playing through a GBA game called "Shining Soul" on my Android phone, where I have a GBA emulator installed called GameBoid. It's a lot of fun...very relaxing...not too much thinking. Exactly what I look for in games these days. Guess I'm getting old. Thing is, emulators have their own save systems apart from the game save systems. So, it's very easy to "cheat" your way through a game by saving within the emulator any time you make any progress and then, should you die, simply loading the last system save. In the game Shining Soul, your big penalty for dying is to lose your gold, but since I am playing the game in such a way as that "it" believes I have never actually died (I have died several times but loaded my save prior to dying), I have tons and tons of gold. Too much. I've been trying to figure out new ways to waste money in the game, but I can't. It's not possible. Therefore I never run out of potions...I'm never excited when I unlock a new weapon or armor...nothing is exciting. In fact, it's starting to feel a bit like work...make it through a level, save, level up, save, die, reload game data from before death, make it through another level, save. I've effectively removed all challenges and rewards from the play through making level completion the only goal. I think I'm going to come up with a new way to play through games...less saving? Only use the game's save system? God that was confusing.

Geek Proof

Dragon Age 2- midnight release. I shall be there. You know I shall. I probably will also spend an hour making my character before I go to bed.

Judge! Judge if you must, but I'll have my Dragon Age befre you have your Dragon AGe and now you know it.

Freshly hatched

We have a new frag, and he's a familiar face. If you don't know him and love him you soon will, Dan "Kratos" Hotfag!