There have been many who have argued that there has been a trend to simplify and streamline away much of what used to make RPGs so immersive and hearkening back to games as relatively recent as Baldur's Gate 2 or even Dragon Age: Origin, there is certainly an argument to be made that games now have dropped complexity in the name of accessibility - the results of which have been hit or miss.
This is what has spawned the cRPG subgenre. Games that seek to recapture the look and feel of the Baldur's Gate/Diablo 2... well, seemingly more Baldur's Gate as they owe more to the D&D inspired RPGs, whereas Diablo was always a hack-n-slash.
The first thing to say of Pillars of Eternity is that it effortlessly recaptures the feeling of Baldur's Gate in general look and feel... The game does trick you by seeming to offer voice actors and then making it rather obvious that they are going to be used only sparingly. That's OK but it just highlights how integral voice work has become to modern gaming.
As to the combat... perhaps action RPGs have spoilt me but it just felt like busy work (that said, Dragon Age: Inquisition fighting felt like busy work). You're stuck with D&D style fighting too so... forget mana bars or whatever - you get abilities that can be used a finite amount of times. These will recharge between combat or when you sleep and when you're out in the wilds, you can only sleep with camping supplies annnnnnnnnnnd you can only carry a fixed number of those (upgradable with some skills)... as this is the easiest way to regain health (unless you want to start dabbling in the now mandatory crafting system), you can find yourself tediously shuffling back and forth to inns a lot, which kind of kills the pace of dungeon crawling.
Perhaps it's just nostalgia but Baldur's Gate combat usually felt more interesting too and seldom as unrewarding...
I will give credit to Obsidian Entertainment for creating their own world but that creates some problems in itself - mostly the fact they apparently chose a Welsh and/or Gaelic name generator for everything. Imagine if Lord of the Rings had the first 30-40 minutes of people talking about things with Elven names and you'll get a feel for the kind of barrier Pillars of Eternity throws at you. It's as if it's daring you to give up because you don't want to wade through these gobbledygook names.
Once you manage to penetrate that though, it's not so bad. It's not exactly a world which will make you gasp at is originality but it works well enough. The story is serviceable, although it suffers from leading you along and then just the "TIME FOR EXPOSITION!" in the final act. Granted, it's hard to hint at revelations in these kind of games and those among you familiar with the tropes of science fiction and fantasy will probably have your suspicions but the twist is still neat...
The game's ending also feels like a direct response to Mass Effect 3's clusterfuck...
It was a serviceable game but really only serves to remind me that things have moved on. Given that the Baldur's Gate games are being re-released, it seems strange to want to recapture nostalgia and those more cynical might see cRPGs as a means to justify dramatically reduced production costs... although, if they allow smaller developers a chance to enter the marketplace, then there's nothing wrong with that.
Only recommended for those that actually played the likes of Baldur's Gate and truly want to have something which doesn't feel a need to hold your hand.
Showing posts with label RPG. Show all posts
Showing posts with label RPG. Show all posts
Friday, September 04, 2015
Thursday, February 04, 2010
Mass Effect 2 had a lot to live up to.
Being a Bioware game these days leads to high expectations and being a sequel to Mass Effect - universally loved and well received, or near enough - that would go without saying but the build up for Mass Effect 2 started back in mid-2009 and it didn't stop until the game was loading up.
Must like the first game, you're immediately thrust into action - and a rather lengthy and super special awesome cutscene that sets up the game before you reprise the role of galactic bad ass. Things are mixed up slightly this time around as you're working for the shady Cereberus group, who it was possible to encounter in the first game, entirely as the bad guys. They're a human supremacist group and are very much modelled after every shadowy conspiracy type organisation ever. Regardless, you're working for them to try and put a stop to a spate of colonies disappearing - because as it's an RPG, no one else can ever get anything done.
The major difference from the first game is probably the first one that you'll notice - there is ammo. Given that Mass Effect made a point of there being no necessity for reloading - with weapons just overheating - it can be somewhat jarring and does make the game a rather more generic experience... but in practice, the ammo is plentiful and you're only going to be stretched for ammo in seriously protracted firefights. Beyond this, there is a HUGE simplification of the levelling logistics. In fact, most things in the gameplay department have been streamlined. There is no purchasing or finding weaponary, the number of abilities a character has been reduced to four (one of which is unlocked by gaining their loyalty) and weapons/armour upgrading has been all but scrapped.
This might all sound as if some horrific amount of damage has been done to the game but really, it merely allows for more time to be spent playing the game and focusing on the story - rather than spending hours trying to get an optimal load out for your party. It's perhaps somewhat unfortunate that the system introduced essentially means that you get gun A and then later can get gun B - which is in all ways better - but Mass Effect was never particularly heavy on sitting around and fiddling with stats and so on, so it's not really a loss.
The upgrades in question require minerals, which leads to what is the weakest part of the game - the mining mini-game. Much like the original, Mass Effect 2 lets you fly around solar systems (in this case, you literally direct your ship around the solar systems) and scan planets. The difference here being that you're not arbitrarily awarded stuff for a scan or dropped onto the planet in the MAKO, to spend hours roaming bland and generic landscapes, vaguely hoping to find something interesting. No, your scan will - 90% of the time - lead to the mining mini-game. This involves dragging the cursor over the planet to try and find mineral deposits by using the scanner. It's not horrible but it's time consuming and repetitive... and it seems strange for a game that seems designed with the intent of focusing on the narrative and the action above all else to toss in something that utterly removes the player from both... but about 10% of the time (which is probably an overly generous estimate) you'll get an anomaly and this leads to a unique encounter. These are all great fun and are a country mile better than bumping around in the MAKO for hours on end - so, really a huge improvement over that dynamic from the original.
As this is a Bioware game, it almost goes without saying that the voice acting and writing in this game is excellent. As before, one generally has a choice between a good - or paragon - response, a neutral one or the bad - renegade - responses. This has been supplemented by what could ALMOST be considered a quick time event, if that weren't an insult. In addition to dialogue, at times during a conversation, a paragon or renegade action may be available to you and by clicking appropriately, one can do anything from toss someone out of a high rise to stop someone getting shot. It's a very simple but effective way to increase the involvement of the player in the Shepard character.
The story itself is enjoyable although, despite the disappearance of entire human colonies... the threat never feels quite as imminent as it did before, possibly because of the nature of the enemy... there is no equivalent to Saren here, no nemesis for Shepard to talk with... and it hurts the story somewhat. Saren served to tie the overall thread of Mass Effect together, here we've just got an army of mooks who never really say much. Of course, it's still interesting but they don't quite get the epicness of the first game. That said, the more personal elements of the game are good. The first game only had a few personal sidequests, ME2 has a full one for all the members of your crew - they're all unique experiences and depending on how they play out, you can gain the loyalty of the party member, giving them a snazzy Cerberus jumpsuit and unlocking a new ability.
All in all, an enjoyable game that did what most good sequels should - take the framework of the original game and improve upon it. Other than the mineral mini-game and the initial surprise players of the original will have over having to reload their weapons, instead of just waiting for it to cool down, there really isn't much to complain about. The game balances humour - there are some hilarious conversations in the background on the various worlds - action, story, romance (there are EIGHT love interests compared to the original three) and sci-fi goodness into one easily digestible package. Bring on Mass Effect 3.
Being a Bioware game these days leads to high expectations and being a sequel to Mass Effect - universally loved and well received, or near enough - that would go without saying but the build up for Mass Effect 2 started back in mid-2009 and it didn't stop until the game was loading up.
Must like the first game, you're immediately thrust into action - and a rather lengthy and super special awesome cutscene that sets up the game before you reprise the role of galactic bad ass. Things are mixed up slightly this time around as you're working for the shady Cereberus group, who it was possible to encounter in the first game, entirely as the bad guys. They're a human supremacist group and are very much modelled after every shadowy conspiracy type organisation ever. Regardless, you're working for them to try and put a stop to a spate of colonies disappearing - because as it's an RPG, no one else can ever get anything done.
The major difference from the first game is probably the first one that you'll notice - there is ammo. Given that Mass Effect made a point of there being no necessity for reloading - with weapons just overheating - it can be somewhat jarring and does make the game a rather more generic experience... but in practice, the ammo is plentiful and you're only going to be stretched for ammo in seriously protracted firefights. Beyond this, there is a HUGE simplification of the levelling logistics. In fact, most things in the gameplay department have been streamlined. There is no purchasing or finding weaponary, the number of abilities a character has been reduced to four (one of which is unlocked by gaining their loyalty) and weapons/armour upgrading has been all but scrapped.
This might all sound as if some horrific amount of damage has been done to the game but really, it merely allows for more time to be spent playing the game and focusing on the story - rather than spending hours trying to get an optimal load out for your party. It's perhaps somewhat unfortunate that the system introduced essentially means that you get gun A and then later can get gun B - which is in all ways better - but Mass Effect was never particularly heavy on sitting around and fiddling with stats and so on, so it's not really a loss.
The upgrades in question require minerals, which leads to what is the weakest part of the game - the mining mini-game. Much like the original, Mass Effect 2 lets you fly around solar systems (in this case, you literally direct your ship around the solar systems) and scan planets. The difference here being that you're not arbitrarily awarded stuff for a scan or dropped onto the planet in the MAKO, to spend hours roaming bland and generic landscapes, vaguely hoping to find something interesting. No, your scan will - 90% of the time - lead to the mining mini-game. This involves dragging the cursor over the planet to try and find mineral deposits by using the scanner. It's not horrible but it's time consuming and repetitive... and it seems strange for a game that seems designed with the intent of focusing on the narrative and the action above all else to toss in something that utterly removes the player from both... but about 10% of the time (which is probably an overly generous estimate) you'll get an anomaly and this leads to a unique encounter. These are all great fun and are a country mile better than bumping around in the MAKO for hours on end - so, really a huge improvement over that dynamic from the original.
As this is a Bioware game, it almost goes without saying that the voice acting and writing in this game is excellent. As before, one generally has a choice between a good - or paragon - response, a neutral one or the bad - renegade - responses. This has been supplemented by what could ALMOST be considered a quick time event, if that weren't an insult. In addition to dialogue, at times during a conversation, a paragon or renegade action may be available to you and by clicking appropriately, one can do anything from toss someone out of a high rise to stop someone getting shot. It's a very simple but effective way to increase the involvement of the player in the Shepard character.
The story itself is enjoyable although, despite the disappearance of entire human colonies... the threat never feels quite as imminent as it did before, possibly because of the nature of the enemy... there is no equivalent to Saren here, no nemesis for Shepard to talk with... and it hurts the story somewhat. Saren served to tie the overall thread of Mass Effect together, here we've just got an army of mooks who never really say much. Of course, it's still interesting but they don't quite get the epicness of the first game. That said, the more personal elements of the game are good. The first game only had a few personal sidequests, ME2 has a full one for all the members of your crew - they're all unique experiences and depending on how they play out, you can gain the loyalty of the party member, giving them a snazzy Cerberus jumpsuit and unlocking a new ability.
All in all, an enjoyable game that did what most good sequels should - take the framework of the original game and improve upon it. Other than the mineral mini-game and the initial surprise players of the original will have over having to reload their weapons, instead of just waiting for it to cool down, there really isn't much to complain about. The game balances humour - there are some hilarious conversations in the background on the various worlds - action, story, romance (there are EIGHT love interests compared to the original three) and sci-fi goodness into one easily digestible package. Bring on Mass Effect 3.
Dragon Age - Bioware finally escapes the strictures of licensed properties and establishes its own intellectual property... which is being dubbed "dark fantasy". It's really just takes the traditional fantasy mix and moves things around... and yes, probably slightly more dark in tone that the average fantasy franchise, with the near total destruction of humanity in the past, dwarves locked in a constant battle for survival with the darkspawn (who periodically try and wipe out everything in Blights - which you're trying to avert) and elves are second class citizens, often used as slaves and treated with open contempt.
As a Bioware game, the writing and story is top notch and is the greatest strength in a game that drags on. The reason for this is very simple - the gameplay isn't particularly exciting. It's standard D&D stuff - all tick tocking masked behind a friendly interface and the player able to stop and issue orders at any point to your party. For the most part, the RPG element of the game has been stripped down to bare bones. Rogue, mage or warrior... and depending on your class and racial choices, you have a number of different possible starting missions which make some trifling difference to the game after they're done but it's a nice touch.
Thankfully, the party is not limited to the Mass Effect group of three but rather you get four in your party... not quite at the Baldur's Gate levels but still, an extra party member is always a bonus - especially as there are the occasional interactions between the NPCs... again, it's not on the same level as Baldur's Gate but it's still nice to have it there. Regardless of that, in camp you can interact extensively with your entire party to get their backstory and gain influence with them. Influence is gained by making choices they approve of when they're in your party, saying the right thing to them or just giving them gifts. This is really where the game shines - the characters are all scripted wonderfully and the voice acting is really top notch, making interaction with the characters a joy rather than a chore.
The game almost manages a wonderfully cinematic quality, right from the start. Again, scripts and acting are superb and the action and direction of the cutscenes is great. They seem to almost effortlessly manage to incorporate a sense of epic scale at times and at others, quiet intensity. It's very impressive to see this all done almost entirely with the in-game engine but then, the engine is quite impressive.
Where the game falters is the gameplay... the difficulty randomly varies, meaning sometimes attack will be easy to shrug off and other times, they'll be inexplicably harder, despite a similar number of identical enemies and when it comes down to it - it's also very rinse, wash, repeat. By halfway through the game, the combat are starting to get tiresome and by the end, it's little more than a chore to be rushed through to beat the game. Compared to something like KOTOR or Mass Effect where combat was fun AND challenging, this is a real let down and easily the weakest of Bioware's latest. There are some nice touches - like the ability to have spell effects combine - but really they're just minor and the game is in danger of having grind.
All-in-all it's a good game and worth playing for the story, if not the gameplay.
As a Bioware game, the writing and story is top notch and is the greatest strength in a game that drags on. The reason for this is very simple - the gameplay isn't particularly exciting. It's standard D&D stuff - all tick tocking masked behind a friendly interface and the player able to stop and issue orders at any point to your party. For the most part, the RPG element of the game has been stripped down to bare bones. Rogue, mage or warrior... and depending on your class and racial choices, you have a number of different possible starting missions which make some trifling difference to the game after they're done but it's a nice touch.
Thankfully, the party is not limited to the Mass Effect group of three but rather you get four in your party... not quite at the Baldur's Gate levels but still, an extra party member is always a bonus - especially as there are the occasional interactions between the NPCs... again, it's not on the same level as Baldur's Gate but it's still nice to have it there. Regardless of that, in camp you can interact extensively with your entire party to get their backstory and gain influence with them. Influence is gained by making choices they approve of when they're in your party, saying the right thing to them or just giving them gifts. This is really where the game shines - the characters are all scripted wonderfully and the voice acting is really top notch, making interaction with the characters a joy rather than a chore.
The game almost manages a wonderfully cinematic quality, right from the start. Again, scripts and acting are superb and the action and direction of the cutscenes is great. They seem to almost effortlessly manage to incorporate a sense of epic scale at times and at others, quiet intensity. It's very impressive to see this all done almost entirely with the in-game engine but then, the engine is quite impressive.
Where the game falters is the gameplay... the difficulty randomly varies, meaning sometimes attack will be easy to shrug off and other times, they'll be inexplicably harder, despite a similar number of identical enemies and when it comes down to it - it's also very rinse, wash, repeat. By halfway through the game, the combat are starting to get tiresome and by the end, it's little more than a chore to be rushed through to beat the game. Compared to something like KOTOR or Mass Effect where combat was fun AND challenging, this is a real let down and easily the weakest of Bioware's latest. There are some nice touches - like the ability to have spell effects combine - but really they're just minor and the game is in danger of having grind.
All-in-all it's a good game and worth playing for the story, if not the gameplay.
Saturday, January 03, 2009
The Fallout series is... one even veteran gamers might consider old. The first game saw an outing back when the number of pixels use to define an entire character would literally not come close to what is in a modern characters little finger. That said, games back then made up for in gameplay what they lacked in graphics - the good ones, anyway.
The premise of the series is a fairly common - if far more elaborately articulated - post-apocalyptic world. The world went the way of nuclear war and everything approaching civilisation as you and I know it, went the way of the dinosaur. Certain people struggled on, in the irradiated world. Various others - lived secluded in big ol' underground bunkers - known as vaults. The first game draws its protagonist from vault 13. Fallout 3 gives us the Lonely Wanderer from Vault 101.
Your father is Liam Neeson - but that shouldn't come as a surprise... This is a Bethesda game! And they're using the Oblivion engine (that being The Elder Scrolls: Oblivion)... And, some jolly good voice actors. In fairness, he doesn't have that much more to say than Patrick Stewart did in the aforementioned... but it's nice that they put the effort in.
So, a Fallout game - naturally, circumstances precipitate your departure from the cosy vault into the rather less hospitable wastelands, this time in the Capital Wastelands... formerly Washington D.C. The post-apocalyptic feel is wonderful, from the ramshackle development of Megaton to the rather more respectable Rivet City... you're never really treated to the kind of visual diversity that you had in The Elder Scrolls but then, this is set in a world approximating our own. So, you don't get distinct designs just for the sake of it - there are differences... but they're just less striking because few of the settlements are really towns, per se.
As with TES games, you're given free reign over what you do. Which means - you can pretty much go off and explore and forget the main quest and explore the wilderness, do sidequests or just mince around to your hearts content. In fairness, the rather limited nature of the main quest - and realistically, the only thing that would stop you from doing it in an afternoon might be the fact you'd need to play for a bit to get the levels and weapons to win through - means that if you want to feel you've got your money's worth... it's probably best you do that anyway.
One of the issues with Mass Effect was... unlike previous Bioware games, you didn't just bump into sidequests in the course of following the main quest - KOTOR is a prime example... but then, it's just to be generally venerated anyway. Now, some might say that in both cases, it's more about freedom. KOTOR was limited to about a half-dozen planets which weren't huge. Mass Effect had literally dozens (excluding the sizeable mission planets) and Fallout 3 has just one big ol' map that you could spend ages combing over but then, that's something of a problem.
After a certain point you have to ask - is it really WORTH it? There are a fair number of weapon types... but one hunting rifle is much the same as another. There is about one "unique" weapon for each type of weapon which will look the same but boast slightly better clip sizes or damage... it won't set your world on fire.
Weapons leads us nicely into combat... This is (sadly) fairly straight forward TES style combat. Which is to say, if you've got ranged attacks - start shooting and if you've got melee... close to bludgeoning distance. It has ALWAYS been the weakest element of TES games but Fallout 3 manages to mitigate it with the staple of the previous two games VATS.
VATS essentially emulates turn-based combat. You have an allocation of action points - different weapons require different more or less - which you can use to target specific body parts of your enemies. These vary depending upon a number of things - your weapon, proficiency with it, its condition and so on. For those that don't care for the not-very-good FPS combat the game offers, this is a very valid alternative... To reference Mass Effect again though, this doesn't offer you fun firefights... because, it's entirely possible to just run out into the open and sit there for a few seconds, in Mass Effect all but the most heavily armoured will die outside of cover. Fallout 3 makes it easy for enemies (and the player) to run at one another. So, there's no real disadvantage to being a melee character. It makes things rather less interesting and realistic.
What is somewhat more interesting is that VATS or no, damage is area specific. Headshots do more damage, you can shoot weapons out of people's hands... impede mobility by shooting their legs. In fact, the game accomodates gory decapitations (because for some reason, a headshot results in a decapitation - mostly) or limbs falling off... or in the case of the "bloody mess" perk. A person being dismembered upon death... that would probably have been more helpful in Dead Space. You're also treated to random slomo shots - everything to the decapiation to a bullets view of the hit. Some people might get bored of it but it's got a variety of different possibilities, so it's not exactly the same thing every time - plus, the laser and plasma weapons have their own special death animations.
Shooting things isn't the only course of action though - at least in quests, during your travels you'll encounter giant critters, Raiders and Super Mutants who communicate exclusive via the medium of stabbings and shootings - many of your tasks will offer you the chance to talk problems out... for good or ill. Naturally, the options available to you are somewhat affected by your stats and demeanour... because Fallout 3 has a karma system.
It's the typical one - where ALL deeds (good and evil) are e-mailed to the entire world. Everything from detonating a nuke in a town to giving water to a beggar or stealing a fork. Something of a standard device but then, if you lose karma for doing bad things when no one is looking... why bother trying to conceal your misdeeds? Obviously, if you go around selling people into slavery and just wantonly killing... that makes sense but it's a common enough game dynamic and not really anything but a niggle.
Fallout 3's problem is that it's never really that... engaging. Yes, it does somewhat tap into the mythos of the Fallout universe but only in the sense of atmosphere. The main quest is of minimal interest and difficulty and of course, once it's done - game over. That's not so surprising though - the level cap for the game is a whopping 20, attributes are capped at 10 and skills at 100 and with even minimal effort, you can max out the stats for your play style long before then.
Most quest rewards are pretty boring and really are only worth doing for the XP. There is the occasional fancy gun or special ability but these tend to be the exceptions. Not quite to the Morrowind level of "Thanks for saving the town... have a paperweight and a punch in the face." non-reward... but sometimes it can feel like it... and the fact that if you REALLY want to explore the game world, you have to just march around and occasionally find camps and such like. There IS the fast travel option but that's only to locations you've visited... and a lot of places you'll have to bump into. It's not MMO grind... it's just a bit boring, wandering through the wastes. There aren't even a half-dozen major settlements... the game considers a "settlement" to be about 3 people. The nature of the wasteland means you're not going to be bumping into big cities... but Fallout 1 & 2 had far more in the way of meaningful settlements and here, they're just... kind of empty and not very interesting.
It's fun for a few hours but games costing what they do these days - not really worth the price of admission. Sure it's pretty and has body parts flying in all directions but we're at a stage where eye candy isn't something to get excited about and ditto flying body parts. It suffers from the flaws of The Elder Scrolls in terms of gameplay but it doesn't really counter with the rich environment and backstory. There are SOME fun quests and it does an excellent job of translating the Fallout world into a gritty first person experience but... wandering around broken cities and ruins is almost certain to make you think of Half Life 2 and Gears of War. It's just... not a lot of anything. It isn't bad, it just lacks anything with which to wow all but the most casual of casual gamers. About all that can be said is that VATS is something of a salve for the very awkward mishmash that TES games call combat.
The premise of the series is a fairly common - if far more elaborately articulated - post-apocalyptic world. The world went the way of nuclear war and everything approaching civilisation as you and I know it, went the way of the dinosaur. Certain people struggled on, in the irradiated world. Various others - lived secluded in big ol' underground bunkers - known as vaults. The first game draws its protagonist from vault 13. Fallout 3 gives us the Lonely Wanderer from Vault 101.
Your father is Liam Neeson - but that shouldn't come as a surprise... This is a Bethesda game! And they're using the Oblivion engine (that being The Elder Scrolls: Oblivion)... And, some jolly good voice actors. In fairness, he doesn't have that much more to say than Patrick Stewart did in the aforementioned... but it's nice that they put the effort in.
So, a Fallout game - naturally, circumstances precipitate your departure from the cosy vault into the rather less hospitable wastelands, this time in the Capital Wastelands... formerly Washington D.C. The post-apocalyptic feel is wonderful, from the ramshackle development of Megaton to the rather more respectable Rivet City... you're never really treated to the kind of visual diversity that you had in The Elder Scrolls but then, this is set in a world approximating our own. So, you don't get distinct designs just for the sake of it - there are differences... but they're just less striking because few of the settlements are really towns, per se.
As with TES games, you're given free reign over what you do. Which means - you can pretty much go off and explore and forget the main quest and explore the wilderness, do sidequests or just mince around to your hearts content. In fairness, the rather limited nature of the main quest - and realistically, the only thing that would stop you from doing it in an afternoon might be the fact you'd need to play for a bit to get the levels and weapons to win through - means that if you want to feel you've got your money's worth... it's probably best you do that anyway.
One of the issues with Mass Effect was... unlike previous Bioware games, you didn't just bump into sidequests in the course of following the main quest - KOTOR is a prime example... but then, it's just to be generally venerated anyway. Now, some might say that in both cases, it's more about freedom. KOTOR was limited to about a half-dozen planets which weren't huge. Mass Effect had literally dozens (excluding the sizeable mission planets) and Fallout 3 has just one big ol' map that you could spend ages combing over but then, that's something of a problem.
After a certain point you have to ask - is it really WORTH it? There are a fair number of weapon types... but one hunting rifle is much the same as another. There is about one "unique" weapon for each type of weapon which will look the same but boast slightly better clip sizes or damage... it won't set your world on fire.
Weapons leads us nicely into combat... This is (sadly) fairly straight forward TES style combat. Which is to say, if you've got ranged attacks - start shooting and if you've got melee... close to bludgeoning distance. It has ALWAYS been the weakest element of TES games but Fallout 3 manages to mitigate it with the staple of the previous two games VATS.
VATS essentially emulates turn-based combat. You have an allocation of action points - different weapons require different more or less - which you can use to target specific body parts of your enemies. These vary depending upon a number of things - your weapon, proficiency with it, its condition and so on. For those that don't care for the not-very-good FPS combat the game offers, this is a very valid alternative... To reference Mass Effect again though, this doesn't offer you fun firefights... because, it's entirely possible to just run out into the open and sit there for a few seconds, in Mass Effect all but the most heavily armoured will die outside of cover. Fallout 3 makes it easy for enemies (and the player) to run at one another. So, there's no real disadvantage to being a melee character. It makes things rather less interesting and realistic.
What is somewhat more interesting is that VATS or no, damage is area specific. Headshots do more damage, you can shoot weapons out of people's hands... impede mobility by shooting their legs. In fact, the game accomodates gory decapitations (because for some reason, a headshot results in a decapitation - mostly) or limbs falling off... or in the case of the "bloody mess" perk. A person being dismembered upon death... that would probably have been more helpful in Dead Space. You're also treated to random slomo shots - everything to the decapiation to a bullets view of the hit. Some people might get bored of it but it's got a variety of different possibilities, so it's not exactly the same thing every time - plus, the laser and plasma weapons have their own special death animations.
Shooting things isn't the only course of action though - at least in quests, during your travels you'll encounter giant critters, Raiders and Super Mutants who communicate exclusive via the medium of stabbings and shootings - many of your tasks will offer you the chance to talk problems out... for good or ill. Naturally, the options available to you are somewhat affected by your stats and demeanour... because Fallout 3 has a karma system.
It's the typical one - where ALL deeds (good and evil) are e-mailed to the entire world. Everything from detonating a nuke in a town to giving water to a beggar or stealing a fork. Something of a standard device but then, if you lose karma for doing bad things when no one is looking... why bother trying to conceal your misdeeds? Obviously, if you go around selling people into slavery and just wantonly killing... that makes sense but it's a common enough game dynamic and not really anything but a niggle.
Fallout 3's problem is that it's never really that... engaging. Yes, it does somewhat tap into the mythos of the Fallout universe but only in the sense of atmosphere. The main quest is of minimal interest and difficulty and of course, once it's done - game over. That's not so surprising though - the level cap for the game is a whopping 20, attributes are capped at 10 and skills at 100 and with even minimal effort, you can max out the stats for your play style long before then.
Most quest rewards are pretty boring and really are only worth doing for the XP. There is the occasional fancy gun or special ability but these tend to be the exceptions. Not quite to the Morrowind level of "Thanks for saving the town... have a paperweight and a punch in the face." non-reward... but sometimes it can feel like it... and the fact that if you REALLY want to explore the game world, you have to just march around and occasionally find camps and such like. There IS the fast travel option but that's only to locations you've visited... and a lot of places you'll have to bump into. It's not MMO grind... it's just a bit boring, wandering through the wastes. There aren't even a half-dozen major settlements... the game considers a "settlement" to be about 3 people. The nature of the wasteland means you're not going to be bumping into big cities... but Fallout 1 & 2 had far more in the way of meaningful settlements and here, they're just... kind of empty and not very interesting.
It's fun for a few hours but games costing what they do these days - not really worth the price of admission. Sure it's pretty and has body parts flying in all directions but we're at a stage where eye candy isn't something to get excited about and ditto flying body parts. It suffers from the flaws of The Elder Scrolls in terms of gameplay but it doesn't really counter with the rich environment and backstory. There are SOME fun quests and it does an excellent job of translating the Fallout world into a gritty first person experience but... wandering around broken cities and ruins is almost certain to make you think of Half Life 2 and Gears of War. It's just... not a lot of anything. It isn't bad, it just lacks anything with which to wow all but the most casual of casual gamers. About all that can be said is that VATS is something of a salve for the very awkward mishmash that TES games call combat.
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
It's best to start out by stating two facts.
First off - Bioware is one of those rare game companies that are almost entirely reliable. In fact, only Blizzard are comparable in terms of consistency. Which means that their games are almost always - Neverwinter Nights offered a fairly poor single player experience - fantastic... it's something gamers appreciate and something that is incredibly rare.
Secondly - Mass Effect IS a good game. Criticisms which are about to be laid at its feet are not impediments to that fact... merely things which stopped it being quite as epic as it should have been.
The first thing to point out is - Mass Effect doesn't optimises your configuration... initially this made it seem as if it was an uber whore, putting Sanginus Nox - a machine that managed to cope admirably with Crysis - into jerk city... Fortunately this turned out to be because the audio was running on software alone... once that was sorted the game ran just fine. Also, your experience with the DRM may vary... but as usual, it seems to have been more of an impediment to legitimate players than pirates... Clearly it's asking too much for publishers to learn lessons.
The premise of Mass Effect is fairly standard - you're trying to stop the run of the mill bad guy from destroying the galaxy. It's more elaborate - naturally - but it's hard to go on without spoiling it. Although, the story doesn't develop so much as it is spilled out by various bouts of exposition. This is probably one of the main flaws of the game... you never really get the feeling the plot is developing, you just blunder from one plot update to another. Not only that but if you've played Knights of The Old Republic, there are some definite similarities. Although, that said - while the premise it uses is somewhat cliche, the universe it's set in is definitely interesting and is probably one of the strongest aspects of the game.
It's inaccurate to dub this game an RPG... at least in the traditional sense... the game is more Deus Ex than KOTOR in that there's no RPG style tick-tock round combat - which KOTOR contained... albeit in a rather unobtrusive manner. Although, it's third person and of course, you can pause to issue orders to your squad. At points the game actually manages to give you what are fairly realistic firefights. Which is to say, unlike in an RPG when range attacks will be exchanged briefly before everyone runs at one another to get within melee range - if you break cover to try and run up and bash people on the head here or just stand out in the open, you're probably going to end up dead and unlike KOTOR, if your main character dies in a fight - game over. This can be a little irksome but at least makes sense as the control you have over your squad mates is fairly loose. Which can become frustrating when they stand in the middle of a room and die, overall it's fairly passable - although the enemy AI does occasionally have a propensity to stop hiding and just run at you or try and circle strafe at point blank range.
The combat itself has configurable difficulty, ranging from the hand holding "point in the general direction of something and it falls over dead" to "hardcore gamers only", presumably the options are there so that those not au fait with more realistic, less tick tock combat are not frightened by a game that does occasionally require reasonable accuracy and reflex - at least on the higher settings. Of course, the options included allow you to determine whether the combat is a formality or a big part of the game. Regardless, it's a fairly intuitive system and barring the occasional idiocy of your squad mates it's quite enjoyable. As you'd expect, weapons and armour can be upgraded and there are variety of items out there - some better than others. Rather vexingly, weapon skills are class specific - so, if you're a Vanguard, no matter how good you get, you'll never be able to skill up with an assault rifle. You can still use one but even crouching down on a single shot basis with no wind, you'll be lucky to hit the broad side of a moon. Also, there's a notable absence of melee weapons... you can run up and pistol whip people but no discernible melee weapons but then given the combat dynamics of the game, they'd probably be the equivalent of suicide for all but the most heavily armoured and shielded individuals.
An interesting aspect of the weapons are that you can buy licenses. Basically this means that there are some merchants who will sell you a license and that the vendor on the Normandy can then stock that brand of weapons or such - as there are several companies that produce weapons. It's nothing huge, just an interesting touch that adds something for the more obsessive player to do... although, some of the sidequests would surely provide just as much of that.
Romances and party subplots are a little thin on the ground - but then when you take into account the fact that the game is so short, that's not surprising but more on that later - and on the first play through, despite trying to pursue a relationship with the blue chick, randomly the human girl ended up jumping Sheppard's bones... with no real warning... so, it was rather... hollow, not at all like the romance options in KOTOR or Baldur's Gate 2 where there could be lengthy and sometimes tricky romances. The sex scene that Fox News decided to start foaming at the mouth at is laughable - you're likely to see raunchier things in shampoo commercials. All-in-all, this aspect felt somewhat tacked on... a mere concession to the Bioware tradition. It's not bad but it feels so woefully underdeveloped and for one of the love interests to throw herself at you when you've not really pursued any of the romantic interest options is just poor.
Speaking of tacked on there are two other aspects of the game which feel rather incongruous in this way... the most obvious is the Mako. Basically, when you go to a planet that isn't in the main plot - you get dropped in the Mako... basically a magical tank that never gets flipped over and can go up almost vertical inclines. It's not bad... in fact, sometimes driving around and blowing up enemies in this fashion is actually pretty fun but sometimes bumping around on the uneven terrain of a planet, hoping to find stuff - ore deposits only show up on your radar, not the overview map. It's really the driving around on the uninteresting planets going from point A to B over abysmal terrain that proves to be irksome. In fact it feels as if they've tried to increase the action quotient with this aspect of the game as there are several main plot missions where you're essentially forced to hop in the Mako and drive along a preset route. It's just something that feels slightly out of place in the game but that for whatever reason Bioware shrugged and decided they'd stuck it in there, they might as well make use of it. It's not bad but it just gets boring after a while.
The other is the irritating subgame that you have to play EVERY time you want to try and open a locker or pick up an artifact or even survey minerals. Essentially you have to move an arrow to the centre of a circle in 15 seconds - although, hacking skills are still relevant and if you've gone someone that isn't imbued with the right skills, you should prepare for just about every box to be unhackable within relatively short order... not that it matters. Regardless, it's just a somewhat irritating and pointless endeavour that doesn't add anything to the game except a level of irritation. Fortunately you are sometimes afforded the chance to simply use "omni-gel".
Unlike KOTOR, Bioware seem to have deliberately made this game more console friendly. You don't have a proper inventory... just a big long list of the stuff you've got... also, no searching bodies for loot... although, that's a nice time saver... the level up situation is a lot simpler than previous games Bioware games too. Given the combat logistics, it's not surprising the D&D rules are out the window. There are no attributes like strength, intelligence etc. to mess around with. All you've got are the various skills your class has, some need to be unlocked but beyond getting a specialisation - these are the skills that will have to do you for the entire game.
The rogue equivalents in this game basically get a bunch of tech related stuff that lets them mess with other people. Affect the overheat of their weapons, hack AI and so on... the caster equivalent use mass effect things - which equate to toss people around, mostly... which NEVER stops being hilarious to watch. Plus it tends to render groups of enemies all floaty and useless... and the DoT warp allows you to bypass shields... which is a real bonus with some enemies.
And of course, what kind of Bioware game would it be without the aspect of morality? As with previous Bioware titles, you are often presented with opportunities to act nobly, selfishly or just indifferently. At times, conflict can be entirely circumvented by the correct dialogue and at other times, one can force conflict with a suitably belligerent attitude and even the most satisfying - cold blooded murder in public for your own gains.
An example - choosing the Earth background means at some point your character will be approached by someone from a gang you used to run with. He asks you to talk to a turian who is has a fellow gang member in custody. Naturally you can either choose at this point to take the mission or tell the guy to get lost. When you proceed to the turian, you can then either try and persuade him to free the criminal or tell him the gang member's plan. The latter prompts the gang member to arrive at which point you literally have the option to just turn around and shoot him in the head to prevent him from spreading stories of your somewhat chequered past. So, essentially all the depth that you'd expect... one very slight difference is that the dialogue responses are not word for word what will be said but rather the general tone but as you'd expect the choices you make mould the game and there can be significantly different outcomes given your responses.
The most vexing thing about the game is... just as things seem to be gaining pace... it's over. The main missions and a good portion of the sidequests can be be completed in a little over 20 hours... naturally, there are more sidequests for those inclined to go looking - there are several systems that you never have any cause to go to which are there essentially for the purposes of additional missions. The main plot breaks into essentially 7 missions - naturally, you can just play through them at any point - but it's not exactly compelling. There's no sense of uncovering a mystery like there was in KOTOR - you fight your way through the requisite bad guys and then are generally treated to a few steaming portions of plot exposition. In fact, several times this plot exposition is really only tangential to the main plot and so there's something of a feeling that you're really only seeing the development of the main story in the final act where it's essentially threeish exposition fests which explain something that any astute player will probably have clocked pretty soon into the game.
The fact that the story itself is built upon sci-fi cliche upon sci-fi cliche doesn't help. Ok, there are some aspects of sci-fi that are just so cool that people can't help but use them over and over but surely a different spin could have been put on things... compared to compelling yarns that Bioware has done before this one comes off as too short and too shallow. KOTOR gave you pretty extensive dialogue options with your crew and while there's some banter in the levels, the interaction never really gives you any feeling of true depth and there are hardly any of the spontaneous NPC on NPC interactions of those games - a little talking in lifts but that's about it...
But then, given the games length - that hardly seems surprising... and it really is to its detriment. While Mass Effect certainly does a good job of hitting the ground running the main plot missions don't feel particularly pressing until the last act and then when there's all that momentum built up - the credits roll. Now, as mentioned above - there is the option of galactic exploration, fly to clusters and get assigned missions when you get there, find a bunch of things etc. There's no doubt that there are many more hours in the game for someone who fastidiously WANTS to 100% the game... but surely if the game was better designed then these wouldn't have required you to go somewhere "just because"... and it seems fair to comment that Mass Effect WAS advertised as epic and seems to think of itself as epic... the potential was there but it's never realised and the fact that this is apparently being stretched across a trilogy seems to be a concession to EA's lust for profits over quality games rather than any sort of vision of Bioware.
In the final analysis, it's a fun game that can be enjoyed by RPGers and action game fans in roughly equal measure - although RPG fans may be left somewhat disappointed by the rather shallow dynamics - and while it's good, it feels as if it was really just getting started. No sooner have you got into the swing of things than it's over - oh, naturally there's the replay value of going through it again, looking for those random sidequests, playing it as evil instead of good, etc. but it's never really the same the second time through and given that this game is from Bioware, it's rather disappointing that it's all over so soon. Which is, in it's way - a backhanded compliment... but then, when you're forking over your cash for a game, you probably want something that will take you more than a few days of hard gaming to burn through, don't you? In fairness, still better value than going to see a film and it is enjoyable, pretty and interesting... it's just a shame that it's (relatively) shallow and short... let's all hope that Bioware hasn't sold their soul to the devil by working with EA...
First off - Bioware is one of those rare game companies that are almost entirely reliable. In fact, only Blizzard are comparable in terms of consistency. Which means that their games are almost always - Neverwinter Nights offered a fairly poor single player experience - fantastic... it's something gamers appreciate and something that is incredibly rare.
Secondly - Mass Effect IS a good game. Criticisms which are about to be laid at its feet are not impediments to that fact... merely things which stopped it being quite as epic as it should have been.
The first thing to point out is - Mass Effect doesn't optimises your configuration... initially this made it seem as if it was an uber whore, putting Sanginus Nox - a machine that managed to cope admirably with Crysis - into jerk city... Fortunately this turned out to be because the audio was running on software alone... once that was sorted the game ran just fine. Also, your experience with the DRM may vary... but as usual, it seems to have been more of an impediment to legitimate players than pirates... Clearly it's asking too much for publishers to learn lessons.
The premise of Mass Effect is fairly standard - you're trying to stop the run of the mill bad guy from destroying the galaxy. It's more elaborate - naturally - but it's hard to go on without spoiling it. Although, the story doesn't develop so much as it is spilled out by various bouts of exposition. This is probably one of the main flaws of the game... you never really get the feeling the plot is developing, you just blunder from one plot update to another. Not only that but if you've played Knights of The Old Republic, there are some definite similarities. Although, that said - while the premise it uses is somewhat cliche, the universe it's set in is definitely interesting and is probably one of the strongest aspects of the game.
It's inaccurate to dub this game an RPG... at least in the traditional sense... the game is more Deus Ex than KOTOR in that there's no RPG style tick-tock round combat - which KOTOR contained... albeit in a rather unobtrusive manner. Although, it's third person and of course, you can pause to issue orders to your squad. At points the game actually manages to give you what are fairly realistic firefights. Which is to say, unlike in an RPG when range attacks will be exchanged briefly before everyone runs at one another to get within melee range - if you break cover to try and run up and bash people on the head here or just stand out in the open, you're probably going to end up dead and unlike KOTOR, if your main character dies in a fight - game over. This can be a little irksome but at least makes sense as the control you have over your squad mates is fairly loose. Which can become frustrating when they stand in the middle of a room and die, overall it's fairly passable - although the enemy AI does occasionally have a propensity to stop hiding and just run at you or try and circle strafe at point blank range.
The combat itself has configurable difficulty, ranging from the hand holding "point in the general direction of something and it falls over dead" to "hardcore gamers only", presumably the options are there so that those not au fait with more realistic, less tick tock combat are not frightened by a game that does occasionally require reasonable accuracy and reflex - at least on the higher settings. Of course, the options included allow you to determine whether the combat is a formality or a big part of the game. Regardless, it's a fairly intuitive system and barring the occasional idiocy of your squad mates it's quite enjoyable. As you'd expect, weapons and armour can be upgraded and there are variety of items out there - some better than others. Rather vexingly, weapon skills are class specific - so, if you're a Vanguard, no matter how good you get, you'll never be able to skill up with an assault rifle. You can still use one but even crouching down on a single shot basis with no wind, you'll be lucky to hit the broad side of a moon. Also, there's a notable absence of melee weapons... you can run up and pistol whip people but no discernible melee weapons but then given the combat dynamics of the game, they'd probably be the equivalent of suicide for all but the most heavily armoured and shielded individuals.
An interesting aspect of the weapons are that you can buy licenses. Basically this means that there are some merchants who will sell you a license and that the vendor on the Normandy can then stock that brand of weapons or such - as there are several companies that produce weapons. It's nothing huge, just an interesting touch that adds something for the more obsessive player to do... although, some of the sidequests would surely provide just as much of that.
Romances and party subplots are a little thin on the ground - but then when you take into account the fact that the game is so short, that's not surprising but more on that later - and on the first play through, despite trying to pursue a relationship with the blue chick, randomly the human girl ended up jumping Sheppard's bones... with no real warning... so, it was rather... hollow, not at all like the romance options in KOTOR or Baldur's Gate 2 where there could be lengthy and sometimes tricky romances. The sex scene that Fox News decided to start foaming at the mouth at is laughable - you're likely to see raunchier things in shampoo commercials. All-in-all, this aspect felt somewhat tacked on... a mere concession to the Bioware tradition. It's not bad but it feels so woefully underdeveloped and for one of the love interests to throw herself at you when you've not really pursued any of the romantic interest options is just poor.
Speaking of tacked on there are two other aspects of the game which feel rather incongruous in this way... the most obvious is the Mako. Basically, when you go to a planet that isn't in the main plot - you get dropped in the Mako... basically a magical tank that never gets flipped over and can go up almost vertical inclines. It's not bad... in fact, sometimes driving around and blowing up enemies in this fashion is actually pretty fun but sometimes bumping around on the uneven terrain of a planet, hoping to find stuff - ore deposits only show up on your radar, not the overview map. It's really the driving around on the uninteresting planets going from point A to B over abysmal terrain that proves to be irksome. In fact it feels as if they've tried to increase the action quotient with this aspect of the game as there are several main plot missions where you're essentially forced to hop in the Mako and drive along a preset route. It's just something that feels slightly out of place in the game but that for whatever reason Bioware shrugged and decided they'd stuck it in there, they might as well make use of it. It's not bad but it just gets boring after a while.
The other is the irritating subgame that you have to play EVERY time you want to try and open a locker or pick up an artifact or even survey minerals. Essentially you have to move an arrow to the centre of a circle in 15 seconds - although, hacking skills are still relevant and if you've gone someone that isn't imbued with the right skills, you should prepare for just about every box to be unhackable within relatively short order... not that it matters. Regardless, it's just a somewhat irritating and pointless endeavour that doesn't add anything to the game except a level of irritation. Fortunately you are sometimes afforded the chance to simply use "omni-gel".
Unlike KOTOR, Bioware seem to have deliberately made this game more console friendly. You don't have a proper inventory... just a big long list of the stuff you've got... also, no searching bodies for loot... although, that's a nice time saver... the level up situation is a lot simpler than previous games Bioware games too. Given the combat logistics, it's not surprising the D&D rules are out the window. There are no attributes like strength, intelligence etc. to mess around with. All you've got are the various skills your class has, some need to be unlocked but beyond getting a specialisation - these are the skills that will have to do you for the entire game.
The rogue equivalents in this game basically get a bunch of tech related stuff that lets them mess with other people. Affect the overheat of their weapons, hack AI and so on... the caster equivalent use mass effect things - which equate to toss people around, mostly... which NEVER stops being hilarious to watch. Plus it tends to render groups of enemies all floaty and useless... and the DoT warp allows you to bypass shields... which is a real bonus with some enemies.
And of course, what kind of Bioware game would it be without the aspect of morality? As with previous Bioware titles, you are often presented with opportunities to act nobly, selfishly or just indifferently. At times, conflict can be entirely circumvented by the correct dialogue and at other times, one can force conflict with a suitably belligerent attitude and even the most satisfying - cold blooded murder in public for your own gains.
An example - choosing the Earth background means at some point your character will be approached by someone from a gang you used to run with. He asks you to talk to a turian who is has a fellow gang member in custody. Naturally you can either choose at this point to take the mission or tell the guy to get lost. When you proceed to the turian, you can then either try and persuade him to free the criminal or tell him the gang member's plan. The latter prompts the gang member to arrive at which point you literally have the option to just turn around and shoot him in the head to prevent him from spreading stories of your somewhat chequered past. So, essentially all the depth that you'd expect... one very slight difference is that the dialogue responses are not word for word what will be said but rather the general tone but as you'd expect the choices you make mould the game and there can be significantly different outcomes given your responses.
The most vexing thing about the game is... just as things seem to be gaining pace... it's over. The main missions and a good portion of the sidequests can be be completed in a little over 20 hours... naturally, there are more sidequests for those inclined to go looking - there are several systems that you never have any cause to go to which are there essentially for the purposes of additional missions. The main plot breaks into essentially 7 missions - naturally, you can just play through them at any point - but it's not exactly compelling. There's no sense of uncovering a mystery like there was in KOTOR - you fight your way through the requisite bad guys and then are generally treated to a few steaming portions of plot exposition. In fact, several times this plot exposition is really only tangential to the main plot and so there's something of a feeling that you're really only seeing the development of the main story in the final act where it's essentially threeish exposition fests which explain something that any astute player will probably have clocked pretty soon into the game.
The fact that the story itself is built upon sci-fi cliche upon sci-fi cliche doesn't help. Ok, there are some aspects of sci-fi that are just so cool that people can't help but use them over and over but surely a different spin could have been put on things... compared to compelling yarns that Bioware has done before this one comes off as too short and too shallow. KOTOR gave you pretty extensive dialogue options with your crew and while there's some banter in the levels, the interaction never really gives you any feeling of true depth and there are hardly any of the spontaneous NPC on NPC interactions of those games - a little talking in lifts but that's about it...
But then, given the games length - that hardly seems surprising... and it really is to its detriment. While Mass Effect certainly does a good job of hitting the ground running the main plot missions don't feel particularly pressing until the last act and then when there's all that momentum built up - the credits roll. Now, as mentioned above - there is the option of galactic exploration, fly to clusters and get assigned missions when you get there, find a bunch of things etc. There's no doubt that there are many more hours in the game for someone who fastidiously WANTS to 100% the game... but surely if the game was better designed then these wouldn't have required you to go somewhere "just because"... and it seems fair to comment that Mass Effect WAS advertised as epic and seems to think of itself as epic... the potential was there but it's never realised and the fact that this is apparently being stretched across a trilogy seems to be a concession to EA's lust for profits over quality games rather than any sort of vision of Bioware.
In the final analysis, it's a fun game that can be enjoyed by RPGers and action game fans in roughly equal measure - although RPG fans may be left somewhat disappointed by the rather shallow dynamics - and while it's good, it feels as if it was really just getting started. No sooner have you got into the swing of things than it's over - oh, naturally there's the replay value of going through it again, looking for those random sidequests, playing it as evil instead of good, etc. but it's never really the same the second time through and given that this game is from Bioware, it's rather disappointing that it's all over so soon. Which is, in it's way - a backhanded compliment... but then, when you're forking over your cash for a game, you probably want something that will take you more than a few days of hard gaming to burn through, don't you? In fairness, still better value than going to see a film and it is enjoyable, pretty and interesting... it's just a shame that it's (relatively) shallow and short... let's all hope that Bioware hasn't sold their soul to the devil by working with EA...
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)