E3 2009: Most Wanted

Here are the games I'm most interested in seeing at E3 this year. This is not an exhaustive list, just some titles that have had big pre-E3 coverage that I'm looking forward to playing in the next six to twelve months.

• Assassin's Creed 2
• Mass Effect 2
• Dragon Age: Origins
• Final Fantasy XIII
• Borderlands
• The Saboteur
• Wipeout HD expansion
• Peter Molyneux reveal (whatever that might be)

That's it for now. Surprisingly, most aren't RPGs. Lots more to come, I'm sure.

Review: Fable 2 - "See the Future"

The latest DLC for Fable 2 has a few things going for it, and a lot that isn't. First, I really have to point out that I love Fable 2 and its nice that there's been two DLC packs for it in the last six months. Its cool having a reason to revisit Albion and all the weird and wonderful characters it holds. Its also nice seeing a nearly two million gold bump to my character's bank account after not having played since I finished the "Knothole Island" DLC back in January. Of course, that just makes every single treasure my dog sniffs out for me meaningless, but I suppose that's not a big deal.

The gentleman who sold my character the magic music box way back in the day is back with new and interesting items that require my attention. These items lead to quests that are completed very quickly. I would say a straight run through them all would clock in at an hour, if not less. If you're a completionist, you can probably squeeze more life out of the DLC. Even my adventures on Knothole Island lasted longer than that.

What's nice about the DLC is that, when you view the game as a whole, it expands what is available to do in Albion. When I get the urge to play through the entire game once more, perhaps with a different character on the evil side of things, it will hopefully feel bigger than it already is. There will be more stuff to do and more goodies to acquire and outfit my character with earlier on, instead of bringing my angelic queen out of retirement every few months for another romp.

As expected, the visual presentation and sound are amazing, just like the rest of the game. The quests are more varied and feel fresh, although, as mentioned, they are over way too quickly, especially if you have a more advanced character.

The problem is…there's really not a whole lot here. The group at Lionhead rushed to get "Knothole Island" out, and it was more expansive than this new DLC, which they had months to work on. These quests would fit in quite well as part of the overall game - they would be a nifty change of pace - but as a piece of DLC that we're spending our hard earned cash on, it doesn't quite cut it. Although, the potions to change your dog's breed are fun, and probably the biggest selling point of the content. You also get a possible glimpse at the future of the Fable franchise to make of what you will. Its rather vague.

I will give them this - "See the Future" is cheaper than "Knothole Island", but its not enough to justify the lack of content. Perhaps 250 spacebucks would have been a better price? But, developers need to eat too, I suppose. ;)

Score: 4.0 (out of 10)

Game Diary: I See Western RPGs in My Future

I've been playing a lot of JRPGs lately, but that's most likely about to change. The new Fable II DLC - "See the Future" - hits on May 12, and I'm most definitely going to check that out. What's nice about it is its cheaper than "Knothole Island" (560 Microsoft Spacebucks, $7) and rumor has it its going to tease a bit of the story for Fable III. Also, there are new dog models so you're no longer stuck with the default lab look-alike. In addition to that, there should be new items and quests a-plenty!

Also on May 12, Sacred 2 hits. Despite its developer going bankrupt, the game looks promising. Its already been released on the PC, but I'm interested in checking it out on the 360. The PC version was rather buggy, although go favorable reviews of the content of the game itself. I'm not big on Diablo-esque RPGs with their isometric, top-down view, but the screens from this title seem more like Fable than Diablo. I'll definitely give it a shot. That's what GameFly is for, right?

Farther down the line BioWare has Dragon Age: Origins and, of course, Mass Effect 2. I'm not sure yet when these games will be gracing us with their presence, but I'm looking forward to them nonetheless.

In a bit of unfortunate news, another WRPG I've been keeping my eye on - The Witcher: Rise of the White Wolf - has had its development halted due to financial issues between the various parties involved. This game was looking mighty fine, it’s a shame we may never see it due to this rough economy.

Even without The Witcher, there's still a lot of WRPG goodness coming down the line this year. Can the JRPGs keep up?

Post of the Day: 4.24.2009

Fable II DLC achievements have been revealed in all their glory!

Game Journal: Getting Past Technical Issues

I've been taking a bit of a break from console gaming (aside from a bit of Halo 3 with my brother) - I've been focusing mostly on playing Chrono Trigger (DS). However, I have a new game incoming from GameFly - The Last Remnant. The reviews weren't encouraging, but almost all of them focused on one aspect of the title - the technical issues. To me, that's a little dense and I'll tell you why. For starters, there are quite a few games in the past that received high praises where certain technical issues continually emerged. One that I can think of off the top of my head is Mass Effect. I loved the game, critics loved the game. What's the problem? The texture popping is out of this world, and it didn't get much better when I installed the game to the hard drive. Let's not even get me started on Fable II.

Now, I haven't played The Last Remnant yet, so it may be that the technical issues are too much to get past, but from what I hear, the extra polish that was applied to the PC version of the game actually makes it a very good game. My question is, why can't reviewers push past the technical issues and actually review the game play itself. Several reviews I read spent half of the review or more discussing the technical issues and not much time on the game play itself, the story or the innovations.

So, I'm actually looking forward to trying the game out, especially after hearing several people express their thoughts on the PC version and how well done the game is overall. If I can learn to tune out the texture issues in Mass Effect and the myriad bugs in Fable II and still really enjoy the games, I'm sure I can with The Last Remnant, as well.

Post of the Day: 4.9.2009

The many faces of Fable II's hero. You know, some of these look pretty cool. This and the upcoming new DLC makes me want to play through the game again (or at least see how much cash I've racked up since I last played).

Post of the Day: 4.7.2009

A game will apparently have the greatest story ever told, according to Peter Molyneux.

Fable II - "See the Future" DLC Incoming!

Fable II was the first 360 game I bought with my system when I purchased it last year and its likely one of my favorite RPGs evar. The first DLC, "Knothole Island", was really fun and just what was needed to squeeze even more enjoyment out of the game. I didn't think it would be coming this soon, but the next DLC release for Fable II was just announced - "See the Future".

I wonder how much cash I have racked up by now - I haven't played since I finished "Knothole Island" back in January. I could actually stand to play the game through again, to tell you the truth. Perhaps this time I'll have to force myself to be evil. Needless to say, I'm looking forward to this "See the Future" DLC and I hope it delivers as much as the previous content did.

Post of the Day: 3.16.2009

More Fable II DLC Confirmed. Whee.

Halo 3 - More Fun than Expected

Anyone who's been reading this blog for a while will no doubt know by now that I am not a fan of shooters in general - whether they be first person or third person. Lately, of course, the majority of these games have been going online, which lessens their appeal to me even farther. I do believe too many games are completely replacing one aspect of gaming I really enjoyed in the past - personal, side-by-side gaming with your friends - with online play, instead of allowing both types of multiplayer gaming to play nice together.

I've been frustrated recently with games such as Burnout Paradise, Midnight Club: Los Angeles, Fable II and others, because they completely replace the split-screen co-op of times past and focus 100% on the online game modes that pit you against a seemingly infinite pool of strangers. Why can't my friend join me as a henchman in Fable II by sitting on the sofa next to me? Why can't I play two-player co-op against a friend in these racing games, which traditionally include such a feature? One of the excuses I've heard from various people on a myriad of different gaming forums out there is that rendering two game screens can't be handled by the hardware. This, my friends, is complete and utter BS. Wipeout HD renders split-screen flawlessly at rather high FPS. Then we have Halo 3, which renders not only two, but up to four game screens at once on your TV.

I've recently gotten into Halo 3 (finally, right?). My brother and I have been playing it a bit, in a few long play sessions. We have hardly touched the campaign, we've mostly been playing online. We decided to invite a couple other friends over this past weekend to give four-player a go. The result? A night of the most fun I've had in years playing multiplayer. Absolutely no online mode in any game I have ever played even compares to having four friends in the same room play together on the same Xbox 360 and same TV. Sure, we were playing online most of the time, but the fact remains, we could have played offline in a similar manner, as well.

This, my intrepid blog readers, is what might get me into shooters - split-screen co-op - since hardly any other genre supports this feature these days. More developers in all genres should take a lesson from the relatively few games that make use of split-screen modes. It doesn't have to be four players, like Halo 3, just two players will do. That at least gives the game some merit for those of us who still enjoy face-to-face competition and actually, you know, having a life while playing games. I know, I know, its hard to wrap your head around. Sit down, take a deep breath, everything will be alright.

Now, my preference is obvious. This does not, however, mean that I despise online gaming and hope it goes the way of the dodo. I realize there's a good portion of gamers that are accustomed to that now and it wouldn't be logical for developers to cut that out entirely - it should be a staple of most genres these days. But, so should split-screen co-op - that's my point. I mentioned earlier that I feel developers should strike a happy medium. Make split-screen and online gaming work together in the same game environment. Again, Halo 3 is an excellent example of this. You can design and play custom games offline or online. If you're solo and want to play multiplayer, you can do that. If you've got friends you want to invite over to play with you (online or offline) you can do that too, everyone else doesn't have to sit out while they watch a single person play the game.

I realize this is probably all too much to hope for in the present gaming environment, but a guy can get all nostalgic about the days playing Secret of Mana or Midnight Club with a friend in the same room, can't he? My apologies if this post rehashes some things about split-screen game play I've discussed numerous times before, but I wanted to point out how much fun we had with Halo 3 over the weekend, and how it trumps anything I've done with solely online play in recent memory.

I'm Looking Forward to Playing...

Its that time once again to throw out lists of what games I'd like to play in the coming months. I've poured through a lot of games on my list in the last three months since I purchased my Xbox 360, which is a good thing. I've found some great games that I would have missed out on otherwise (Mass Effect and Fable 2 being a couple).

Update (2/22/2009): Since I made this post, I've decided to make it a list (and be as comprehensive as possible) of games I want to play or finish and the systems I want to play them on. Some of these games, perhaps, I may have played before and just want to play them on a different system (examples: Prince of Persia, Oblivion) and some of these games I might have started but never finished (Persona 4, Mirror's Edge). Needless to say, its going to hopefully be an exhaustive list of the version of these games I want to play.

I'm probably looking at playing or finishing these games in the near future:

- Star Ocean: The Last Hope (360)
- Tales of Vesperia (360)
- The Last Remnant (360)
- X-Blades (360)
- Onechanbara: Bikini Samurai Squad (360)
- Halo Wars (360)
- Mirror's Edge (360)
- Fallout 3 (360)
- The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion (360)
- Burnout Paradise (360)
- Prince of Persia (360)
- Braid (360 XBLA)
- Valkyria Chronicles (PS3)
- Flower (PS3 PSN)
- Persona 4 (PS2)
- Ar Tonelico II: Melody of Metafalica (PS2)
- Star Ocean: First Departure (PSP)
- Star Ocean: Second Evolution (PSP)
- Chrono Trigger (DS)
- Dragon Quest V: Hand of the Heavenly Bride (DS)
- My Japanese Coach (if you can really consider that a "game" - DS)

A Few Things

This is more of an "update" post than anything else. I've got a few gaming-related things going on in the near future to talk about. Remember back around the time Fable 2 hit shelves, Peter Molyneux mentioned somewhere (can't find a link, I suck at Google) that one of his hopes with the game was to make it easy to pick up and play for non-gamers. This also might explain why, in general, the game was very easy, but I won't get into my thoughts on that at the moment. Needless to say, that piqued my interest at the time, and over the last few months I've been considering this idea.

What I want to do is get my wife, who really isn't a gamer but she has dabbled in a few (and helped me out on a few while I was playing) to actually play a small amount of a variety of games and write a bit about them. It wouldn't be a review of the game, it would be more of her thoughts on how accessible the game is for her, as a non-gamer - what she liked, what she didn't, would she continue playing it and why. As I mentioned in an earlier post, she recently played through the entirety of Flower and wants to go back for more (to get all the trophies), so perhaps that would be her first subject. Needless to say, she may be guest blogging here from time to time. We shall see.

Switching gears a bit, a few weeks ago I started getting together with some friends to play Rock Band on a fairly regular basis. This weekend I'm going to change things up a bit and invite a few people over to play Halo 3. I'll likely have enough info to actually write a review of the game, as well, after that play session. My brother and I spent quite a bit of time playing online with that game last weekend and I'm surprisingly eager for more action.

Finally, Star Ocean: The Last Hope releases next week, on Tuesday February 24. I'll likely be playing that game very heavily the first week or two, so a review should come fairly soon after release. I've already read one official review for the game - in Game Informer magazine - and it didn't impress me much. That is to say, the way they reviewed it didn't impress me. They rated the game a seven out of ten (with a "second opinion" of 7.75). Their qualms were with the story and dialog mostly, but what they said about it is kind of what I like about some Japanese RPGs - occasionally cheesy dialog and mildly cliché story points. Frankly, I don't see anything wrong with that. Star Ocean 3 was that way, and I loved that game. So, its possible that this not-so-great review of the game makes me want to play it even more. I know, I'm a bit of an oddball.

Post of the day: 2.14.2009

A Tale of Two Settings - interesting discussion contrasting fantasy settings in RPGs. Right up my alley.

Replay Value

As I mentioned briefly the other day, I completed Mass Effect recently. It was probably one of the best gaming experiences I've had in a while. So much so that I kind of want to play it again. However, that's only really one of the reasons. The main reason is actually the achievements, many of which you can't get in a single play through because they either refer to the difficulty level or abilities that only certain classes can get. Those make up a good chunk of achievements available in the game, in fact.

You can add to that the fact that there's a slew of dialog choices I didn't see my first time through because they're attached to the renegade alignment, which is opposite the way I went the first play through. It might be interesting to see some of the dialog that comes up when I choose those options, if I can even bring myself to go that route.

I notice quite a few games lately (or maybe its just the games I'm playing?) have higher than usual replay value. Fable 2, Fallout 3, Mass Effect. I thought the achievements in Mass Effect were very well done, and the desire to get more in that game is probably pretty high on my list of reasons to replay the title (ditto for Fable 2, as well).

Given the price of games these days, it is commendable that higher-than-average replay value be incorporated into the experience, by whatever means.

Good vs. Evil

A main selling point of many western, sandbox-style RPGs is the ability to make your character's own destiny and have things in the game world change according to your actions in the game. (For comparison's sake, Japanese RPGs tend to lead you on a predefined path for the character to tell a specific story instead of allowing the player to help tell that story the way they want. This is neither good nor bad, and is merely a difference in game design philosophy.)

I tell myself before I pick up games like this that there are so many possibilities and the game seems to be drastically different based on your alignment that I'll play through once as a good character and play through again as an evil character. But, no matter how much I try to be evil, I just can't bring myself to do it.

In Fable 2, for example, at the very beginning of the game you're given a choice that has drastic consequences in how a certain area of a certain town turns out later in your character's life. For the life of me I can not make the evil choice at that juncture. I'm playing Mass Effect at the moment, you can read all dialog options and the renegade (evil) ones are just plain horrible many times - they're things I would never say if I was in that situation.

I realize its a game and all, and you can "role play" something in a game that you wouldn't necessarily do in the real world, but I just can't bring myself to do it. Is that strange? I think so.

Fable 2 Knothole Island Impressions

Yesterday, since I was home sick and didn't have anything better to do, I downloaded the new Knothole Island DLC for Fable 2 and pretty much finished it up in about three hours or so. That is, I finished the actual quest/dungeon content in that time, I still have a few things to finish up to truly complete the content.

I really enjoyed the quests, except one of the flit-switch puzzles was very, very touchy and it was difficult to pass for that reason. The new island itself is pretty nifty, and its basically three different outdoor zones in one, since the pathways and areas you can get to change depending on the weather.

What I didn't think was all that great is the fact that there were way too few new items. Maybe I set my expectations too high, but I was expecting dozens of new clothing options, new hair styles, new make-up options, new dyes, new weapons, etc. What we ended up with was about 30 or so new items total, some of which aren't even that impressive.

The three new achievements are fun, the quests are fun and the island is fun to explore, but the lack of a substantial amount of new items kind of bummed me out. Still, I think it was well worth the reasonable price tag if you're a fan of the game.

Links of the Day: 1.8.2009

As a follow-up to yesterday's post of the same title, it was officially announced that the Knothole Isle DLC for Fable 2 will hit XBox Live next Tuesday, January 13. Details here.

Also: Irony at its best.

Posts of the Day: 1.7.2009

As you noticed, I put up the first one of these posts yesterday. I decided to go with a "Post of the Day" format partly for my benefit, and partly for anyone who might read this blog. First off, I do a lot more blog reading than I do writing. I have a cool 50 gaming-related blogs on my Google Reader as of this post (see the "Gaming Reads" sidebar on the right) and every day there's about, oh, a handful of posts that really catch my attention and even fewer that stick in my mind. Secondly, it'll get me to post at least once on days that I don't have anything more lengthy written. :)

You'll see the same big news hitting over half of these blogs, but that's not really the posts I'm looking for. I'll usually put up here articles or posts that I find informative, thoughtful and/or unique and that, at the time of my post, really haven't gotten much exposure (although, something like today's Fable 2 news will likely spread like wildfire over the next day or two). This isn't to say you won't see a link to a heavily covered piece of news here, but for the most part, that's not what I'm looking for.

On to today's posts!

First off, I found this analysis of Prince of Persia very enlightening and I couldn't agree with the author more.

Secondly, apparently the DLC and bug fix patch for Fable 2 (its about time!) is coming very soon.

Post of the Day: 1.6.2009

I couldn't resist posting this little bit of insanity. Crunchy chicks...mmmmmm.