Starcraft II : Heart of the Swarm

(This is a re-post from an old Google+ entry)

In five days, without really going #gaming   #nerd  , I finished the single player campaign of #starcraft2  : Heart of the Swarm

The Good:
- The gameplay and difficulty level are "just right": it's challenging, without a gaming journeyman like myself starting to cry. The different missions have a lot of diversity, and a lot of deviations from the standard RTS gameplay (build a base and conquer the map) are really, really fun
- The immersion, feel of the game, and general atmosphere is great: the cutscenes are really engaging, and the gaming sounds pull you into the world of a hive of bio-engineered organisms. My girlfriend at times looked at me disgusted from just hearing the sounds of the game
- The story progresses very nicely: even though the story reaches a closure-point, there's still enough going for me to really want to play the third part of the starcraft 2 trilogy... even though I can't stand the Protoss, or the way they play

The Bad:
- It's a bit too short: even for a "mere" €30 game I expect a bit longer playtime than... what is it, 10-15 hours ? I know there's a multiplayer aspect, but I didn't have to buy the second part to already have that.
- The Story (I'm really starting to hate Chris Metzen): not only am I as a player able to notice the holes in the story, the contrived situations and actings, and the deus-ex-machina constructions; but I'm getting the feeling the writers (led by Metzen) just plainly forgot what exactly was happening in the first part of the trilogy: Wings of Liberty. For example: the Xel'Naga artifact is clearly the Main Plot Line of the complete trilogy, but the writers FAIL to point out the connections between where it appears in the second installment, to where it was left in de first installment. Worse, they create confusion about it: is that device in the last cutscene the artifact ? If it is, it violates the storyline seriously, if it isn't then it's a look-alike deus-ex-machina... which makes it just bloody stupid

The Ugly:
- Having to be online, having to login to be able to play my single-player game. Luckily it's not as stupidly implemented as Diablo III or Simcity, and there's only the battle.net lobby you log into, without any repercussions to the game itself

So was it worth it... well yes, I'd still recommend it as a example of how a good RTS should be, I had fun, and I really don't regret buying it.

Lord of the Rings Online: not your standard MMO

(very short re-post from an old Google+ entry)

Lord of the Rings Online (LOTRO): not your standard MMO
(from Escapist Magazine's Critical Miss)

Broken Age

(This is a re-post from an old Google+ entry)

Just finished #BrokenAge Act1... and I find myself seriously baffled about how an adventure game in this day and age can still leave me silent before the computer at the end... awestruck.

The game is... actually two games. You choose at the beginning which character you want to play, but you can always switch characters. The two characters follow a completely separate story, one obviously in space, the other obviously in a rural little village. It's not like the two stories connect, or need each other's items, or even need knowledge from one story to another. You can even always switch from one story to the other if you're fed up or need a little break or inspiration.
So why two stories eh ? I'll let you figure that out on your own, not spoiling anything here.

Each story on its own is (looking for adjectives here)... well, great.. no, super, no, I mean, five minutes into each one I felt like screaming "WHAT THE HELL" at my screen. It's not anything you're used to, guys !

The gameplay is smooth, fun, not too difficult, sometimes a little slow on loading, but really intuitive. The same counts for the puzzles: while they're not your standard Adventure Game puzzles, you always have a feeling of what the answer is going to be... and often you'll still find yourself giggling about how original and funny the puzzle unravels.

A special mention for the voice acting: Elijah Wood ! Will Wheaton ! Jack Black ! The actress that plays Vella is great !

And then, the art style. Children's drawings mixed with the most intricate animation I've ever seen. I think they just invented a new genre, because I really can't describe it or do it justice by trying... but again: it's more than great !

In the past, Tim Schafer gave us epic stories like Monkey Island and Grim Fandango, adventure games that will NEVER leave the Collective Memory... I find myself equally ushered in a new age of Adventure Gaming with Broken Age

Beware though: the game is only Act 1... naturally it ends on a cliffhanger of Epic Proportions: I'm still trying to piece together what I know (what I really know) about the story and philosophize about how It Was All Possible Like This.

I want to end with a cliché AAAA++, but I don't think my keyboard has enough AAAAAA's (or plusses)

Ace Attorney V: Dual Destinies (Nintendo DS)

(This is a re-post from an old Google+ entry)

Halfway through the first case:
- Same good old Phoenix Wright: the music, the moves, the screen flashing a bit as feedback on what's being said... it's good to be back !
- It's got real cutscenes ! Voiced and everything !
- The 3D is great ! Although you'll probably be able to enjoy it without
- New investigation technique by analyzing emotions... I only got to do the introduction of it, but it shows a LOT of potential for making things very-very hard
- The baddies are double-teamed by Phoenix Wright AND Apollo Justice... which can only turn out to be awesome
- The comedy factor is again very much there. Phoenix, after hearing a girl fawn on Apollo Justice: "honestly, hearing her you'd think Apollo was some kind of ancient god !! .... wait ... "
- All the characters and the world itself move a little bit more, making the game just that little bit cooler

Honestly, my 3DS is recharging now.. which is the only reason why I took the time to write this piece

Guild Wars 2

(This is a re-post from an old Google+ entry)

And so I fell for #guildwars2  . Been playing it for a few days now, so I don't have a clear view on everything yet, although there's a lot of things (mostly praise) I'd like to say about it.

First of all, the pricing model. Unlike most MMO's, this one uses a pay once, play forever model: you buy the game, and play it (and all of its updates) indefinitly. There is a microtransaction model attached to it, but unlike for example Lotro, there's no pressure whatsoever to ever employ it. The result is that there is no pressure to play it, there's a possibility to be really casual about it. Unlike for example TSW, where if you pay for a month, you better play as much as possible that month !

The overall gameplay, questing, moving through the world, choosing to explore, fight, quest, craft, etc has been done beautifully. I've never played GW1 so I don't know how much has been taken from it, but I've never seen anything quite like it.

There is only one quest: the Story. Like for example SWTOR or TSW or even Lotro this is the Thing That Matters in the world. There is not much progression beyong the Story, even though you can level.
The side quests are not quests at all. They are hotspots where 'things have to be done'. What things ? Well, that's up to you: there's a list of tasks to do when you are in the hotspot, and each little task you actually do contributes to the overall 'quest completion'. It is very well possible to progress through these hotspots without fighting at all. The tasks can be very, very mundane, like feeding the animals or planting crops. This is something I liked in Lotro: even though your hero has his own story, the places and people you pass by each have their own priorities, and your hero is just a minor helping detail... call it a slice of humble pie every now and then.
Aside from the side quests, there are frequent events (mostly connected to the hotspots) in which everybody who happens to be nearby can assist. A town comes under attack, an NPC has to be escorted, ... These clearly call back to the Public Quest system of WAR, or the invasions of Rift, only this system has been very well implemented.

Moving through the world works mainly with teleportation. This I think is a pity, because it makes the world feel smaller. On the other hand, exploring the part of the world you're in is ingrained in the game as a challenge: for each part of the world, you're expected to find all teleportation points, points of general interest, panorama's (each with their own little cinematic of you enjoying the view) and skill challenge points. The last two are especially entertaining for MMO Explorer types:
A panorama is in some cases 'hidden' on the top of a building or natural structure, which begs the challenge of getting there. A skill challenge encompasses finding something, fighting something, or getting somewhere.
(The skill challenge of getting on top of a floating rock/tree thing at the start of the Sylvari map still bugs me endlessly... I always seem to jump wrong)

The fighting system is completely new to me. The challenge of 'getting to know your class' has effectively become a mission impossible. Not only do the fighting skills depend on which kind of weapon you're wielding, but also the combination of weapons and even whether you wield a weapon in your main or offhand makes the skillbar look completely different.
Aside from that there are skillpoints and traitpoints that you invest to get a plethora of other skills that have nothing to do with the weapon you wield, but with your own playstyle.
Fighting at itself is a little more challenging. You can swing your sword, but if there is no enemy closeby, you don't hit anything. Also, if you are out of range of something you only notice this after you've activated your expensive, several-tens-of-seconds-cooldown skill. More fighting skills are inherently area-of-effect, meaning that including neutral mobs in a fight becomes more of a hazard.
And then there is fighting while underwater (with different weapons of course), fighting while defeated (a last-ditched effort to get back on your feet), fighting with objects that happen to lay around the hotspot, or in forms that happen to be important to the hotspot.

Crafting is something which I didn't really explore fully, yet. I did see however they took a page from the WAR crafting system, by allowing experimentation with ingredients.

And finally there are the little details which speak of an MMO which took a lot of lessons from other succesful or failed MMO's: access to your bank while crafting, simultaneous harvesting from a resource node, no more reading walls of text for quests, voiceovers when they matter, scouts introducing you to the problems (hotspots) at hand, being able to help/revive other players without being grouped, automatic downlevelling to the region you're in so no more one-shotting when helping low-level friends, and a lot of other little things which make the experience all the more enjoyable.

The big downside to Guildwars, for me, is the Big Story behind it. Up until now, I haven't really seen it and for my characters their Story quest is not really a big one. Also, the GW fantasy universe sometimes looks too sci-fi for me, with the portals, teleporters, robots... it's like the world writers don't know whether they want fantasy, steampunk, or outright sci-fi.
I like a spun-out, consequent universe behind a gaming world: the Warcraft World (pre-TBC), Lord of the Rings, Warhammer, Cthulhu, Star Wars, ... I can't seem to connect to Guildwars, and that's a pity. But maybe it'll get better as I keep on playing it casually.

FTL: Faster than Light

(this is a re-post from an old Google+ entry)

The story is simple: escape from a pursuing fleet by jumping your spaceship over the map and resolving random encounters. Your ship starts with three crewmembers, oxygen supply, steering quarters, engine room, medical bay, weapon systems bay, shield generator room (and some other nice features). You fight for scrap which can be used to upgrade virtually anything

I played on easymode, and still got blown up at 25% of my journey... Didn't even get the chance to spend some precious scrap on actually usefull stuff. Decisions, you know.

Indie game, basic graphics, but a tactical genius ! C'mon... one... more... turn (err, jump)

Ghost Trick (Nintendo DS)

(this is a re-post from an old Google+ entry)

While in the US and in Europe we are still reiterating over the epics JRR Tolkien wrote half a century ago, Japan is still, as we speak, creating stories that will blow you away.
And what's so special about that, you ask ? They package those stories in neat, little, "are-you-playing-a-gameboy-thats-so-childish", Nintendo DS boxes.

Yesterday evening I finished Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective for the second time. Normally I play my DS on the train, in short 20-minute-commute playsessions, but I was prepared for the fact that I should play the last chapter of this game at home, safely tucked away on the couch. While a normal chapter takes 20-30 minutes, the final chapter almost takes an hour. Not playing, mind you, but listening to the unraveling of the narrative.

The gameplay is nice, easy, and purely there as a vehicle for the Big Story of a ghost that wants to know what happened to him, why he died. He needs to follow some characters and prevent their deaths in order to get closer to the truth.

The characters are well drawn-out, funny, with lots of exaggeration, but always supporting the story. Some of the quirks still make me laugh out loud: the Panic Dance of the security guard, the detective way of Eating Turkey.
The supporting music is very Nintendo-like, which for me means: special, on some level even mesmerizing, but always a part of the experience. To outsiders: childish.

I admit that, during the final chapter, hearing the full story unravelling (again) on the couch, I had to bite back a few tears. Play it and tell me you're not moved by Missile, goddammit !!

Supposedly the game is being re-published for the iPad, so if you can get it from the appstore, DO IT ! If not, try to get hold of a Nintendo DS and buy the game on the internet. You won't regret it.

This is a perfect example of a Art flying under the radar, and if I hadn't met my nerdy-gamey colleagues a few years ago I wouldn't have known about these Great Tales hiding in Small Boxes.

Thanks guys