TallGuyCalif's Computer Gaming and Entertainment Site

Tag: RPG

  • Fable III Missing Child mission

    I’m enjoying Fable III a lot. To some extent, it is a slightly dumbed-down Fable II, but so far, it is extremely well done, and the voice acting is superb (John Cleese, Ben Kingsley, Bernard Hill, Simon Pegg, and more)! I have only played a few hours, so haven’t done any flirting or marriage or anything, but I’m enjoying the triple thread of magic, guns, and swords.

    The video shows a mission where I needed to rescue a missing child. Once I found her, I needed to hold her hand to bring her back to her mother (with several attacks on the way). It turns out that the hand holding dynamic is used throughout the game to escort people, even adults of the same gender, so get used to it!

  • After GOW3, Dark Souls Prepare to Die Edition!

    After I finished GOW3, I figured I should enjoy some punishment for a while, so I started Dark Souls: Prepare to Die Edition on the PC. Dark Souls, like its predecessor, Demon Souls, is a game that you love to hate or hate to love or some of both. It is amazingly atmospheric and absorbing, yet absolutely punishing and brutal. I don’t know of any game that can make me feel as wary and nervous as Dark Souls (and Demon Souls), yet gives a big sense of accomplishment and RELIEF after you make your way through a harrowing path to kill a boss. It really needs to be experienced, as no description can do it justice.

    First, a few words about the PC port of the game: absolute shit! Can I be more clear about that? The PC port is horrible. The only good thing about it is that it mostly works. When it starts, it isn’t in full screen mode, then it teases you that it can use the full monitor resolution (2560×1440 in my case), but then it turns out it really renders at about 1024×720 (even still, it doesn’t look terrible – the visuals are that good). Then, if you have any kind of game controller plugged in besides your Xbox 360 for Windows controller, it can’t find the Xbox controller. So I had to unplug my joystick, and finally the controller worked (and yes, you need to use a game controller for the game, as the keyboard and mouse are inadequate to the task). I know where is a user-coded patch that will improve the rendering quality, but I wanted to experience it as the devs intended. Turns out, I will apply that patch if I ever go back to continue the game.

    The game throws you into a scary world with little instruction, yet enough to get by. As I said, the game is incredibly atmospheric, so you really need to play it to understand. Right from the start, you kill some other undead (did I mention that you are undead? You are, but it can be fixed), and get a little cocky, since they are easy. Then you meet your first boss, where your choices are to run or die. Later, you will come back and kill him to progress in the game.

    As you kill enemies, you collect souls, which you can spend to level up and for weapons and other goodies. The problem is that if you die, you drop your collected souls where you died, and if you don’t recover them (i.e. you die again on the way back to where they are), they are gone forever. And you can’t save the game and try again. No, this is a punishing game that punishes attempts to explore or try new things (oops, you fell off that ledge: you died!). When playing this game, caution is the required stance. Always. Even if you are a badass, because the guy around the next corner may be able to kill you!

    The online play is fascinating. You can see messages left by other players, warning you of danger or telling you of a treasure. Sometimes, you can click their bloodstains and see their ghosts and how they died so you can avoid repeating their mistakes. In some situations, your world can be invaded by another player whose job is to kill you, but if you kill them, the reward is great (I haven’t experienced this in Dark Souls, but I got my ass handed to me a few times in Demon Souls). So it is a very unique and somewhat terrifying experience.

    After each death, you are respawned at the most recent bonfire you stopped at with all your collected souls removed and all the enemies put back into place. So even though you just fought your way through tons of baddies to get to the boss who thumped you, you have to do it all again. This is why I gave up on the game, at least for the moment. I will go back, however, because it is very compelling (and annoying).

  • Mostly liked Deus Ex: Human Revolution – Missing Link DLC

    After I finished Deus Ex: Human Revolution, I played the DLC package, Missing Link. It turns out I should have played it before the second to last mission of the original, because the DLC mission takes place during the voyage there. It didn’t take away from the game, however, because it was completely orthogonal to the main plot and couldn’t influence it in any way.

    In fact, the DLC mission starts you essentially at the beginning with no upgrades to the augments. Quickly, you get some Praxis and can upgrade as you see fit. I played the mission much as I played the main game: sneaking where necessary, but killing lots of enemies when shooting would work. The DLC would likely be played better as a stealth mission, and it would have been a good opportunity for me to practice the stealth skills, but I didn’t.

    The mission is reasonably good, but sad in many ways. I won’t go into details, but many of your allies die, and the game forces you into a moral choice that requires some number of innocent deaths. There is apparently a trick to eliminating those repercussions, but once you know you need it, it’s too late. I presume they’re hoping for replay value, but I’m not going to bother.

    Overall, if you can get Deus Ex: Human Revolution – Missing Link on sale, get it. I thought it was pretty good.

  • Finished Deus Ex: Human Revolution and really enjoyed it

    I finished Deus Ex: Human Revolution and thought it was all it should have been. I played the original Deus Ex many years ago and liked it quite a bit (though remember little of it now), so had high hopes for this one, and wasn’t disappointed.

    Deus Ex: Human Revolution is a first person action game with RPG elements (as you gain experience, you get to upgrade your augmentations to help you jump higher or hack security systems better, etc.). The game is sometimes a shooter and often a stealth game, because there are some situations where going in guns blazing doesn’t help or may not even be possible. You make good use of cover and can employ a variety of lethal or non-lethal weapons. The game is quite a challenge, because your character doesn’t start out as a badass and can die very quickly.

    There are a number of frustrating situations, but in the end, there are solutions for all of them. The biggest problem with the game is inventory management. There isn’t enough space to store all your guns and ammo, yet you need to carry all of them, because ammo is scarce in many levels, so you’ll need to switch guns a lot. Towards the end, ammo is more plentiful, but you want to keep all the cool guns you’ve acquired and upgraded. There are a couple of unique guns: a laser rifle and plasma rifle, so when you see them, get them even if you have to drop something less powerful. The laser rifle makes the final boss fight trivial.

    The game is interesting because it is really a morality story. It has a number of factions arguing for or against human augmentation (and eventually really trying to stop it), and you’ll hear compelling arguments from all sides. At the end, you will need to make a choice as to how the future development of augmentation goes (or not), which is nifty. Overall, the game is very well written and thought provoking. Certainly not a “happily ever after” game.

  • Finished Borderlands 2 and the ending didn’t suck

    I finished the story missions of Borderlands 2 over the weekend and really enjoyed the game. The ending was significantly less lame than the ending of the original Borderlands (umm, killed the monster, but no fancy loot? WTF?). This time, there were some nice drops from the final monster and Handsome Jack – so many, in fact, that I couldn’t carry them all, thus they were lost forever. The final boss wasn’t all that bad, especially compared to some of the earlier robot bosses that were extra tough and extra dangerous. So overall, it was a great game. I’ve now unlocked Vault Hunter mode, which I presume is simply a harder mode that gives better loot, but I have little interest in that. I’m more interested in trying a different character type.

    So even though my level 33 Siren is pretty badass, she’s still able to die, either when confronted by lots of robots or by a super tough mobile boss (the huge Mom skag, for example). I think the skill progression tree goes a little slowly, and, if you don’t put all your points into one tree (there are 3 per class), you’ll never get the top-tier skill. Sure I was able to beat the game without it, but I’d like to have had it. But other than minor complaints like that, I thoroughly enjoyed the game and recommend it to everyone who likes shooters and first person RPGs.

  • Finished Uncharted 3, Loving Borderlands 2, Wondering About Torchlight II Co-Op

    I finally finished Uncharted 3 and enjoyed it quite a bit. It really is like playing in a movie, where everything is very scripted and you need to do exactly the right thing to get to the next cutscene, but while you’re playing, none of that feels constraining at all. The game looks good, and the 3D is quite well done (perhaps not quite worth buying a 3D TV for, but almost). Since I’m probably the last PS3 owner on the planet to finish Uncharted 3, I won’t recommend you go get it, since I just had to catch up on the pleasures of the game.

    I’ve really been enjoying Borderlands 2! The action is great, the guns are awesome, and the enemies are fun to shoot, incinerate, blow up, etc. The plot is fair at best, but they have a tongue-in-cheek way of reminding us how lame the ending of the previous Borderlands was and explaining it away. Pretty cute.

    I am playing as a Siren, which means I can hold an enemy in the air, which is handy, but I tend to forget to use that skill and just blow heads off with the sniper rifle! To that extent, playing the Siren seems pretty generic, so I’m tempted to try playing as one of the other classes, particularly the Assassin. I played the Commando in Borderlands, so am happy to be trying something different, but my playing style isn’t as different as I’d like (which I admit is likely my fault).

    There have been a couple of instances where I simply could not complete a mission because the boss was too tough. In both cases, I went away, did some side missions to gain a couple levels, and came back to take care of business. Some of the missions are quite a challenge, but there’s always a way to figure it out.

    For such a new game, there are remarkably few bugs. One annoyance is that the recorders that expose history keep reappearing in the same places, so I can’t be sure I’ve heard them all, so keep picking them up and hearing the same story over and over. I hope that’s a bug that will be fixed rather than a feature.

    I also bought Torchlight II this weekend in hopes of playing co-op with a friend. If I were cynical, I would suggest that the co-op system for Torchlight II is just a nasty scheme for Runic Games to build their customer database so they can market to us or sell it for the same purpose. If I weren’t cynical, I’d just say it sucks. In order to play online, you need to register your account with Runic’s website, then connect it with Steam’s login (which concerns me right there), then log in within the game, having to remember your password each time. I don’t know what the online lobby/matching scheme is like, because when I tried it, I wasn’t able to connect. Great! Why can’t they do something simple, like what Borderlands 2 did: show your friends who are playing the game on the start screen? Really, why complicate it and make it us jump through hoops just to play with our friends?

    So the jury’s still out on Torchlight II’s co-op scheme, but the game looks fine, if carpal-tunnel inducing. It’s a fixed-perspective action RPG, like Diablo, and involves clicking a lot, also like Diablo. I couldn’t find any support for game controllers or anything else for those of us that would like to keep our mouse fingers from cramping. I only played it for a few minutes, but it seems kinda fun.

  • Borderlands 2 is great fun!

    I got Borderlands 2 yesterday and played it for perhaps an hour and think it is great! The PC version looks good, is fun, and has lots of guns, even at the start! My only complaint is that the inventory/equipment screen is awkward. Instead of the obvious PC-centric approach of dragging equipment (guns and shields) from the backpack to their equipment slots, they chose a console-centric approach where we need to select the gun, select the (presumably occupied) slot, then swap. Pretty damn annoying. There does seem to be an auto-equip mechanism where holding down the use-key (“E” in the PC case) will replace the current gun with the one you are picking up. I’m not sure if it only does it for better guns or any gun, but it could be handy or it could surprise you by accidently  replacing a gun you liked. Overall, Borderlands 2 seems like it will be great!

    On the other hand, I think I will not continue playing it for a bit. I need to finish Uncharted 3 (I think I’m nearly there) and Kingdoms of Amalur. Speaking of Amalur, it has to be one of the best values in gaming, especially now that it no longer commands a $60 price. In terms of gameplay per dollar, it is fantastic. And it is a fun and attractive game, so check it out if you’re even remotely interested in single player RPGs!

  • On mudcrabs in Amalur

    As a side note on the last post regarding Kingdoms of Amalur, I am happy to report that mudcrabs in Amalur are not hostile. Unlike the annoying mudcrabs in Elder Scrolls games, like Skyrim and Oblivion, the mudcrabs don’t attack you and aren’t edible.

    I presume they were included as sort of a poke at Bethesda and the damn mudcrabs, to which I say: Bravo, Amalur devs!

  • Enjoying Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning

    When last I wrote, I had just finished inFamous. Since then, I finished Dungeon Siege 3 and enjoyed it. If you can get it for a good price, I recommend it, but don’t pick the gun girl unless you want a big challenge.

    A friend loaned me inFamous 2, but it didn’t grab me as much as the first one. Everything is more polished than the original, but somehow, it doesn’t seem as fresh and fun. But, everything I’ve read says the 2nd one is better than the first, so surely I will get into it.

    I picked up Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning from Amazon for something like $16, and have really been enjoying it. The game is an Action RPG, so the combat is fast and fun. The skill tree is split into Might (melee stuff), Finesse (daggers and archery), and Sorcery (staffs and magic), and it is possible to level in all three trees, though it seems to make sense to concentrate on one, at least at the start. Weapon types include longswords, greatswords, hammers, daggers, staffs, bows, scepters (ranged magic weapons), and chakrams (fast medium range magic), and you can use any of them, though you need bonuses from the skill trees to use them well.

    The plot of the game is, so far, not as compelling as Skyrim’s or Oblivion’s, but both the main quest line and side quests are usually bite-size chunks, which makes them quick and fun. So far, my character hasn’t died, though I’ve come close. The level matching is very smooth. In the starting area, killing wolves was easy, but now they have rogue-like fast attacks that make them a serious challenge. There’s no grinding required, so just doing the quests is good fun!

    Other good points include useful maps, including the mini-maps, and an excellent fast-travel system. There are some bugs in a couple of quests, and my quest text is no longer showing up in the list. It’s a shame 38 Studios shutdown. The game is good and, apparently, sold well, so it’s disappointing that they aren’t around to make more good games and to support this one.

    Upcoming, of course, is Borderlands 2. I loved the original, except for the lame ending, so I hope the sequel is as good or better. The co-op mode sounds fun, if I can convince any of my friends to buy it. I bought a new NVIDIA card (yes, I swore them off because they kept failing, but this was a good deal), and it included a coupon for Borderlands 2. At least I don’t have to pay the confiscatory $60 being charged right now, which sets a bad precedent for PC games!

  • Enjoyed inFamous, trying to finish Dungeon Siege 3

    At the end of last week, I finished inFamous and really enjoyed it. If you have a PS3 and haven’t played inFamous, pick up a used copy for cheap or get it on PSN (maybe$20? I forget). The powers are great and it is tremendous fun to blow stuff up! Even the story line is fairly interesting and is certainly well done.

    I pulled Dungeon Siege 3 out of mothballs and am trying to finish it. It’s pretty fun, looks good, and I am mostly enjoying it. There are only 4 possible characters, and you choose one at the start as your player character, and all the others can eventually become part of your party. The problem is, I picked the gun girl, since I was interested in playing an RPG with guns. The guns are neat, but she is the weakest character, apparently, so I die a lot. It turns out that the player character tends to attract all the aggro (or almost all), so the companion character can kill things as I run around a lot (kiting, I think it is called). This isn’t always true, but when the baddies are fast melee attackers, then if I don’t run and dodge all the time, I’m dead fast. The problem is that it takes long enough to turn and fire the guns that the baddies are upon me before I can get a shot off, then I take some hits and end up with low health. There doesn’t seem to be a way to switch to a different character to control, which is a bummer. I’m somewhat stuck in what I think is the final boss fight, so I hope I can figure out a reasonable strategy to survive it…

    After that, perhaps a change of pace back to Gears of War 3, which I’ve started several times and never finished. Or a friend has loaned me inFamous 2. And Borderlands 2 is coming out soon, though I will likely wait until a game of the year edition goes on sale…