Dragon Age 2

Dragon Age 2 (That really could use a subheading couldn't it?)
Rating M. (Blood and Gore, Language, Sexual content, Violence.)
Players 1

Character- The characters in the game are always a strength of Bioware. There are only six companions that you can keep with you and of those you are only allowed to bring three with you at any given time. As Bioware does each one of those is well fleshed out and has their own wants and needs as well as their own reasons for staying with Hawke. My personal favorite of the characters is Varric the dwarven rogue. Bioware also made sure to make them feel like real people by having them talk to each other as you are out walking around. More than once I wandered around with the camera swung around to watch my companions so that I could read what they were saying to each other. Unfortunately for fans of the first game the only companions that show up are Alistair and Zevran; provided they weren't killed in the first game. In my mind another strong point of the game is the fact that when you want to talk with you companions you have to seek them out at their home base. Unfortunately you can only do so whenever you have a quest to talk to them. Another good point is that if you don't manage to get enough influence with certain characters they may leave at certain points in the story. I would however like to see a bit more of the final conflict played up a bit more because a large part of it is character driven and we are told about it but only very briefly shown.

Plot- Well with the way the game is structured there are actually three plot arcs. While each one leads into the next one in a logical progression it would be possible to play the game as an episodic adventure rather than straight through. Doing things this way however made it so that each arc is fairly short and the game feels a little stuttered. As I said above I'd like to see some more of the final conflict throughout the game. It doesn't have to be the entire plot. I personally like the plot and structure but it would be nice to get a better look at the tension that is supposed to exist in this world and these two opposing forces. They even managed to do so with the first and the second plot arcs. The two are nicely linked together by certain events. Really its only the third arc that seems to be off on its own.

Gamplay- Unlike its predecessor DA2 is an active combat system. Meaning that the player doesn't merely tell his character to attack and he will until whatever it is dies. You must personally continue to hit the attack button until it dies. I do really like that the speech options that you take as Hawke affect the things that s/he says that are strictly out of your control. I'd like a little more variation in the things that you can say but as it stands there is nothing inherently bad about the system. I know my friend has some issues with the fact that your character actually speaks and the line may not be what you as a player really wanted him to say. I would also like a persuade back in the game but alas it isn't to be. The combat is in itself ok there's nothing to really say about it. The only problem with the combat is that they will keep sending enemies at you even after you have killed off the entire first group. I would advise as a protip to make sure you have someone with AOE attacks things get rather enemy heavy and having that additional ability to hit multiple targets is a big deal. Especially with the long cooldowns on the potions and the one healing spell. As for exploration; there isn't any. Not a complaint mind. However I would have liked to see some more different environments instead of recycling the one dungeon map every time we went underground. In my mind that's just lazy design.

Appearance- Looks good. I think its on the same engine that the first one was so many of the basic character models look similar to the ones we've already seen. The spells look good and while the environments are very samey they do look nice.

Accessibility- Easy. That's the best way to put it. The game is extremely easy to figure out and play. More advanced players can use the tactics system to make things even better. I never did but it is a great system to tweak the AI into doing what you want. I'm torn on the large removal of inventory management for your companions. It does make things a little easier but its a part of the genre to tweak their gear just the way you want it.

Odds and Sods- Like I said I'm torn on the, lets use the industry term, streamlining of the inventory system. On the one hand I like the fact that you aren't dealing with decimal places of improvement but also you still pick up terrible gear for Hawke. I played a warrior and more than once I found equipment for a mage I couldn't use. I'm glad they didn't remove the management of Hawke's equipment but that seems to be the direction their moving in. I will say I really liked the fact that you spend the entire game in the same city. While some people may not have I liked that you actually seem to be living your life during the time breaks rather than your character constantly assailed by life or death situations all the time. I also really loved the frame of it being told through a story being told by Varric. You know right at the beginning of the game that you, or one of your companions, did something very bad and people are looking for you. Of course you don't know what that is until you finish the game.

Looking forward to the third game. Good Gaming everyone

Hambone out.

Nothing Today

Ok I've been having moments all the way through these other reviews. Instead of going back and editing the review after its been posted I'm going to let them sit for a day or two and post them after I've done a little reflecting and seeing if there is anything else I can think of. Check back in a day or two.

Special Edition

OK. Now I will usually avoid weighing in on politics and things of that nature here on a blog that is supposed to be for video game reviews. So here we go.

Today I saw that President Obama has advised the CDC to look into video game violence and whether or not it contributes to violent acts. Now I'm no expert but I'm a gamer and I have been since the days of yore on the Sega Genesis. I'm not a really violent person; in fact I'm pretty laid back most of the time. Based on a few of the things I saw in the obligatory comments section at the end of the article many of gamers disagree with the move. I don't agree with it but I fear what may come of the study should they find a correlation. Even if video games are found to make children violent the responsibility to ensure that the children aren't raised by them lies with the parents or guardians. All video games are clearly marked with their rating and I think in all of my reviews that will follow this will mention the rating of the game I'm talking about.

Well that's it for Hambone's one and only take on politics. Good Gaming everyone.

Hambone out

Calibur of Soul.

    This week we're talking Souls. For the record these aren't my usual cup of tea. Well since I don't drink tea they ain't my soda brand. So Soul Calibur 5.

    Story- While there is a story mode it is fairly obvious that it was never intended as the primary focus of the game. It follows after two of the characters available for use. Now that is ok many of the characters don't appear in game and I won't apologize for wishing that the story allowed use of every character in the game. It isn't really a big deal because the other elememts are in place but I think with a game like this they should have included more of a tutorial element within the story similar to how Dead or Alive 5 did.

    Character- Its a fighting game. The actual character of each individual isn't as important as their playstyle. SCV does a great job of giving the player a view of the important things to each character. Things like reach, speed, ease of use and power. Each character has a distinct and different style and move set. Every one of them has their own advantages and disadvantages. Fighting games typically have very static rosters with the character's not changing but with five. I noticed a few missing characters from the last SC that I played. Others are missing but only in a superficial fashion. For example the ninja Taki is gone but she is replaced by another one with functionally the same moves that Taki had.

    Gameplay- Its a 3d fighter. Which means that it operates under an 8 way movement system. Each character has their own moveset which is distinct. I have noticed some similarities between Nightmare and Siegfried's sets but that's it. all character's share the same input for their biggest attack and each one has different effect. The balance in the game feels very well done. There are a few moments where I've been frustrated with the game's AI on higher difficulty that's usually the way with these kinds of games. There is a system in place where a strong attack can knock armor off but I have no idea if it does anything to gameplay or not. I think it did in four but I have no idea.

    Odds and Sods- Well I'm not really an expert in the genre but it feels really balanced. I will admit that I find myself having a lot of entertainment value derived from the character creator despite it being a way to simply reskin existent characters.

In summation-Its a fun way to kill time. I wouldn't call it a perfect game but it is functional and as I said I have been enjoying it for all its faults if you like fighting games I'd give it a go.

Hambone out.

The age of Dragons

    So this week we're going to talk RPGs. An older favorite of mine called Dragon Age Origins. Yes this is a Bioware game. Personally I think they are the only ones who can do the RPG right. This particular one is an epic of standard proportions. They billed the game as one of dark fantasy but I can't see where the game was supposed to be dark. It isn't dark on the aspect of the story because its the same story as we've seen everywhere else with any fantasy game or even fantasy book. Well let's get started looking at what they brought us. I'm going to note here that I did this review with both the Stone Prisoner DLC and the Wardens Keep DLC active on my account and I will be noting both.

    Character- Always a strength with Bioware's games despite their reuse of at least one character type. All of the characters in Dragon age are strong. I think the weakest one of all is probably Sten but then again I never spent much time talking with him in any of the times I played the game. Shale, while funny is basically a rehash of another favorite from the Knights of the Old Republic games. Same goes for Alistar. But other characters I really liked. Morrigan who acts when you have her with you as the devil on your shoulder and Zevran who is your tame assassin, should you keep him alive. Strange as it sounds I think my two favorite character are Leliana and Wynne. Both have good stories behind them and both are really fun to talk to for a variety of reasons. Wynne is your group's elder stateswoman and the healer that keeps you roaming around.

    Plot- Now here's where things get interesting. On the surface it appears that the plot of the game is to defeat the blight that threatens your homeland. This, despite ending the game, is not the main plot of the game. The main plot and villain of the game is the defeat of the usurper Loghain. However it is up to the player as to how they want to go about doing so. Unlike many other games there is no moral choice gauge. Instead you get to find out how your character is going by the reactions of your companions. They all have their own opinions so depending on your actions they may become upset with your choices. Obviously in a game like this you have to travel to a variety of locations and complete quests in order to gain the support of that particular faction.

    Gameplay- Well a good description for the gameplay is to call it D20esque with a system that acts behind the scenes to determine the success or failure of your actions. Often when things get hectic you may end up surrounded and be forced to figure out how best to kill off the bad guys. Also due to the system it forces the party selection into certain pathways. The need for a rogue isn't dire but encouraged in order to fully access things in the world such as locked doors and chests. The other side of gameplay is the conversation system. Which I'm sad to say isn't nearly as good as I would wish.

    Appearance- It looks decent. Nothing special but there are little touches that I appreciated. The little fact that your character's helmet disappears when speaking to people and the blood that ends up on them after combat are great. Of course this can also make the other characters a little nuts when they aren't bothered by your bloodstained face and armor.

    Accessibility- Well it kind of well....isn't. Getting the game to work is fairly intuitive on its own however there are little bits that are never explained. The tactics system is a perfect way to custom build the way the different character's AI go into battle. I've personally never really done very much with the system because I find that the AI is good enough with the exception of the use of potions.

    Odds and Sods- Well the exchange of only marginally better pieces of equipment can get old pretty fast as well as some of the ways they pushed the DLC. Warden's Keep should have been in the base game since the sales guy is in your party's camp no matter what and there is an event that requires the dlc to make anything of. Even though the game is called Dragon Age there aren't very many dragons. In point of fact there is only one actual dragon and two other things that look very close to a dragon but aren't. There are also a few points such as the Arcane warrior class for mages which is pretty damn powerful. There are also a lot of equipment that are just not worth using and will end up hocked at whatever merchant you happen to run across first.

I think that covers everything.

Hambone out.