A Fallout of Epic Proportions

Welcome to Earth, 2277. It has been two hundred and three years since the Great War, a battle that has destroyed the entire world. You are a Courier in the Mojave Wasteland, a land filled with war and death. Two main factions constantly battle for control over this land: The New Californian Republic (NCR) and Caesar's Legion.

As well, the natives of the land inhabit New Las Vegas, more commonly known as New Vegas. This is the namesake of the videogame we talk about today, "Fallout: New Vegas". The game starts you off by getting shot in the face as you look the end of your mail-delivering days in the eye and say "Bite me." Naturally, being the main character, you survive this dark ordeal and wake up about a week later, deciding to trade in your mailbag for a nine millimeter pistol.

As an open world game, you get to travel the Mojave Wastes, battling your way through the fallout of the nuclear war that had happened two hundred years prior to the game. The game has several things to do, and multiple skillsets for different abilities for each individual playthrough. This doesn't mean you can ONLY have a Lockpicking Skill in one playthrouh; in fact, by the end of my main playthrough, I had all but three skillsets maxed out.

The initial Level Cap is 30, just like it was in Fallout. However, with each DLC you get, your cap gets raised by Five Levels. That is five whole levelups to apply! More skills to max out! The most lovely thing I'd ever heard of.

Not only that, but each DLC has it's own deep storyline to follow, all leading up to who you (The Mojave Courier) really are. The story and ending revolves around who you choose to be, who you choose as your friends and enemies, and how dedicated you are to the cause of saving the Mojave Wasteland from whatever you perceive the greatest threat to it to be. You can even be the greatest threat to the Mojave, as anyone and everyone in the game is...well, fair game. Anyone can be killed, and everyone can be killed. But there are consequences to these decisions.

The Symbol of the NCR--a Two Headed Bear

If you kill a quest-giver, or someone related to a quest that needed to be alive for it, you naturally are no longer capable of completing that quest. So maybe exterminating all life in the Mojave is a bad idea. That said, there are many, MANY quests that, even at the Level Cap of 50, I have not done. You can find a lot of quests in close to anywhere in the Mojave, but beware, doing these quests can be a bad idea at times.

You see, this game isn't just "Good and Evil" like Fallout 3 was. This game entails a large variety of Reputation. What is Reputation, you may ask. Why, Reputation is how a faction sees you! Not everyone in the Mojave will see you the same way: for instance, if you are a stout follower of the NCR, and help them wherever you can, their enemies, the Legion, are not going to be very fond of you. Vice versa, as well. However, there are several communities in the Mojave who will all have their own opinions of your actions through the Mojave--everything between being Idolized to being Vilified by a nation.

Concept Art of the Legion slavers

There is still a Karma system, which is really just saying that you are a good or a bad guy. You may notice you have a title somewhere in  your Pip-Boy, the game's GUI system. That title is based off of two things: Level, and Karma. The top three titles are "Messiah", "True Mortal", and "Devil". 

All of these choices, all of these communities, all of these consequences and ideas lead to some very interesting ending scenarios, with great rarity on repetition. Being one of my nice guy games, I always did my best to be my best, and help everyone, so I got some pretty positive endings. I still have two endings I need to see, being "Side with NCR for the war" and "Side with Legion for the war", as I have already made an Independent New Vegas and a House-Ruled New Vegas as two characters.

The DLC's all have their own endings, as well. I will briefly describe each DLC, as they are all good and are definitely worth a look over.

Dead Money: 

You have been kidnapped by Elder Elijah, formerly of the Brotherhood of Steel. Forced to navigate the deadly Sierra Madre Casino and it's outskirts, it is up to you to gather a deadly team out of your fellow inmates and escape this crisis situation. New weapons and companions will aid you as you navigate the deadly terrain, filled with toxic gas and a new kind of Ghoul called a "Ghost Person".

Honest Hearts:

After returning to your Courier roots and deciding that maybe you better remember that you are, in fact, a Courier and not a genocide machine as many people play him as, you head up with the Happy Trails Caravan for a job all the way to New Canaan. However, you are headed off at Zion National Park by tribal bandits, killing everyone but your badass genocide machine self. After allying yourself with the natives of the Park, you find new weapons and enemies in this new area as you try and find your way back to the Mojave. You also get to meet Joshua Graham, known as "The Burned Man" by the Legion, a barely-living legend who is still skilled in combat.

Old World Blues: 

Kidnapped again by scientists, you awake at a dangerous area known as "Big  Mountain". The natives call it the "Big Empty" because "Mountain" abbreviates to "MT" and people phonetically tried to figure this one out. So? You've been in dangerous places before. You now find out you have to help your kidnappers to get something very important back. What could be so important, you ask? That's why you need it back! To find out. There actually is a reason described, but for suspenseful reasons you need to get this DLC to find out.

Lonesome Road:

You get a mysterious message from a man named "Ulysses" saying to go to an area known as "The Great Divide". The Great Divide is a highly dangerous area, filled with radiation and highly destructive winds. A highly lethal place that makes the Mojave seem like a pleasant place to live in. It is here, in the Great Divide, that you learn of your past and who you were before the bullet to your noggin back at the beginning of the game. You have to find Ulysses in the Divide, and settle matters with him once and for all. Whether those matters be peaceful, or end up with Ulysses' corpse is up to you. After settling matters with him, you have to make a choice that would change the Mojave Wasteland forever.








The graphics, however, are outdated. Using the same engine as Fallout 3, it naturally has all the same problems that Fallout 3 had; frequent crashes, not too good looking character models. However, other than those small problems, this is a very good game, and I recommend it highly.

Until next time, I post, peace! Remember that the Elder Scrolls: Skyrim comes out 11/11/11, and Assassin's Creed Revelations only four days after! My wallet is certainly in pain just thinking about it.

The Dragon's Second Age

Not too long ago I did a review of Dragon Age Origins, the article entitled "Damnit Bioware!" for those who wish to look back. Why am I bringing it up? Because I got my hands on and played Dragon Age II for the Xbox 360. Anyway, I started the game, expecting much the same thing I was when I played Dragon Age Origins...you know, crappy "Click and Go" navigation with a controller.

I am pleased to say that this, indeed, was not the case in Dragon Age II! They upgraded the graphics and combat system. So the game starts, and I pick a Rogue class (naturally) and the game begins, seemingly starting me with an arsenal of deadly moves and tomfoolery to kill an army. Me and one ally decided that Darkspawn was a nuisance, so I got a really good look at what was possible for my character in this playthrough.

Varric is awesome at bullshitting stories. Look at
Rod Hawke's awesome costume and weapons!

The combat system is no longer click-and-go, but especially as a rogue, it was hack n' slash to the extreme. You had to keep hitting the button to keep attacking, and moreover, it was overly satisfying to crush my opponents with lightning button-pushing skills. The abilities it started me with were all of them, but I preferred Miasmic Cloud, a skill that stunned a group of enemies for a short time, coupled with the ability called "Backstab", which teleports your character behind an enemy and causes a critical hit nearly every time.
After wasting legions of Darkspawn, the story takes another turn, with someone calling total BS on my asskickery. At first I was like, "What!?" then I was like "Oh..." as the story elaborated that it was, in fact, a recounting of the actual tale. The two characters, Varric and the Seeker, as she is called, are speaking. Well, Varric being interrogated, more like.



Anyway, after having BS called, my character, Roderick Bonesword Hawke, (Rod Hawke to his friends) was downleveled to Level One and I had to deal with having only Miasmic Cloud and Backstab. Conveniently, the two skills I felt most at home with. (And the two skills that carried me through the game, even though they were well-enhanced by the end)

So I finally fight my way out of Lothering with my family, decimating all Darkspawn in my way, and we are met with a Templar. "Cool," I thought. Then Rod Hawke did something I wasn't expecting...he TALKED. My character has a voice in this game! Then I found out I had an Apostate family, then I'm like, "Crap, I have to hate Templars now."

After a couple of waves of Darkspawn, an Ogre spawned and killed my last teammate, so I was left doing my Rogue-ey thing. Running like hell and using Miasmic Cloud and Backstab wherever possible, drinking Stamina Draughts like nothing before. So I finally win, first try, a lone Rogue, all by myself, then a nifty cutscene happens where a Dragon comes down and wipes out every Darkspawn nearby.

At first I was like "Damn, an Archdemon for the first boss?!" then it turned out to be Flemeth then I'm all like "Ha! I killed you in Dragon Age: Origins!" She saves my family's sorry arses, and I make a promise to do something for her. She's dead, right?

The story continues where my character basically becomes a slave for a year to live in the city of Kirkwall. A Templar City. A bunch of Apostates moving to a Templar city...absolute freaking genius. So a year passes and I am a little bit more badass for it. Then I have to muster 50 whole sovereigns, enough to buy me out of poverty, to join an expedition.

This is Fenris. He is abnormally badass. Don't mess with him.

So I do. I gain allies along the way: Anders the Grey Warden Mage, Fenris the Mage-Hating Lyrium Encrusted Badass, Varric the Storytelling Master, and an Elven Mage whose Name I forget at the moment. Anyway, we're all badasses and form the badass club of Kirkwall while venturing to the Deeproads to find ancient treasure.

We find it. Sadly.

So another timeskip, and I am a nobleman. AWESOME, I decide, and wave it around in criminal's faces as I promptly annihilate every gang in Kirkwall. Hey, why not? Make some Qunari friends, stand up for the oppressed, be the good guy. Little did I know that would cause a Religious War between the Qunari and Kirkwall. Caught in the middle, Rod Hawke had to slaughter his way through Qunari, Elves, and Mages, all the oppressed peoples he was protecting prior to that event, to get to the Arishok and hand his ass to him on a silver platter.

After the One Day Religious War, I decided to be an ass to the Templars anyway and decide I was going to still fight for the little man, even though they tried to kill me on multiple occasions. By the way, another timeskip and I am the Champion of Kirkwall! Ha-cha! The whole story is about Rod Hawke becoming that. I am glad they continued it after.

So Rod Hawke decides to go on another celebratory Crime Raid, slaughtering another couple of gangs. Keep in mind, this is all optional, I don't have to kill these criminals. I just do.

Woahwoahwoahwoah. I got this.

So then I find out that one of my assets has stopped communicating. Curious, I check it out to find the mine, what I was getting cashez from, attacked by a High Dragon, equivalent to an Archdemon. Roderick Bonesword Hawke would not stand for such blasphemy, and killed the dragon posthaste, teaching all dragons near and far he is not to be trifled with as he completed his Champion Armor.

Then I start yet another religious war and we find out what the whole story is about. Apparently being a dick like Roderick was, the Templars didn't like him. But being a crime fighter and philanthropist, always fighting for the little guy, I found an army where I wasn't really looking for it.

In short, Rod Hawke kicks ass, takes names, and goes home. He got lost somewhere in Varric's story...

Now the fun part is over, to the actual review. Dragon Age II did a good job of setting a unique perspective on the story, and was creative in manipulating that aspect. They didn't forget this was hindsight by a frequently bragging dwarf, and there are several times it shows. It makes for an intriguing story, though I was dismayed by the lack of class choice and past choice.

You can only choose the Human. Can't be an elf or a dwarf. Your past is always "Runs from Lothering like a pansy" and it makes for a stale opening. Dragon Age Origins had it right by allowing choice of race and class, as well as a reflexive past based upon your choices. However, Dragon Age Origins had a click and go feature that was promptly replaced by II's hack n' slash system.

The party is a lot better at fighting in general, and you have more in-depth Level Trees. It is a better RPG experience, in my mind, than DAO. However, DAO represented RPG in a better way, which was actually creating the role you were born to play.

In the end, I really enjoyed Dragon Age II. They got right what they got wrong last time, but they screwed up what they had going for them last time to do it. But hey, we all need to have a few faults here and there.

Until next time I post, peace

PS:
Also, let me know through one of my contacts (on the left, I believe) if you would like to see more of Roderick Bonesword Hawke's Adventures through Kirkwall and it's outlying areas, and I will dedicate an update to it everytime I can.

An RPG Niers...

Er...nears. Anyway, figured I'd post about Nier Gestalt, the American version of Nier. The Japanese one is called Nier: Replicant. Anyway, I started the game to hear a nice monologue full of curses--yup, definitely Square Enix's attempt at making an "M" rated game.

Feel my dark powers! FEEL THEM

The game starts at the beginning of humanity's end. You are Nier, protecting your daughter from hordes of dark monsters with a lead pipe. Armed with a tome of dark power, you are given an arsenal of powers that include skewering your enemies on pure energy and leaving them to die, or creating a gigantic hand made out of dark power and simply crush your enemies. With this book's power, you are practically a god.

So you battle it out in front of a supermarket for a small while, killing every dark monster you see, then a boss appears and you slay it with your vast amounts of power. It was only the end of level one, and I was impressed as hell, being able to manipulate the forces of darkness without being forced onto the ethical "Is it right to launch a gigantic lance at your enemies?"

After that and a short cutscene, it propels you approximately thirteen hundred years into the future, with you still being Nier and having a daughter named Yonah, just like 1300 years ago. I thought he was immortal for a while, just keeping it a secret that he was alive all these years.

As Nier in the distant future, you see time after civilization fell. There are monsters called "Shades" prowling the world. The dark monsters I mentioned earlier? Yeah, even after a thousand years they exist. People refer to places like America as "ancient cities and places." I have to say, it was really cool being the ancient dead all-knowing race, for once in my lifetime. Instead of something vague, I can laugh about how wrong they actually were. I digress.

You are a hunter for your village, trying to also find a cure for your daughter's terminal illness. After she disappears, you track her down and find...a book of extreme dark power. This brings continuity into question, but in a good and intriguing way...like, "How did this get here? :)" because you know the full extent of its power. It's name is Grimoire Weiss (Book White, for those interested. Lovely name for a tome of darkness.)

This is Grimoire Weiss, the White Book. It is
your best friend, and greatest source of
Dark Powers. Also witty oneliners. Gotta
love those.

...then you learn it hasn't been reviewing it's dark spells this past millennium, and only knows how to rapidfire dark bullets. A relatively weak attack, but still, it's more than most humans can boast of. You then start wandering the land in a renewed attempt to save your daughter from illness, this time collecting allies and powers as you go along.

...this is the part where you say "Hulk Smash!"...right?

At the One Third Point of the game, you return to your village to find a gigantic monster (let's mark number two on our list of giants slain) attacking. With all of your dark powers at current, you take it on and do some good amounts of damage. After a while of fighting, you realize you can't win, and you had to sacrifice something dear to seal it in the library.

The game timeskips five more years, and you are now uglier than ever. Sorry, it had to be said...you now look like you have a diaper on your face for some reason...

Anyway, after five years of training with the Jackie Chan of the future, or he must be, Nier has become a master of all things weapon. Melee weapon, at least: aside the shortsword which I neglected to talk about earlier, you can now use lances, axes, and two handed swords. In addition to your dark arsenal of death, you are now officially a demigod in my eyes.

You release the seal in the library to get back what you lost and take on the monster one last time, this time with dramatically different results.

The game has a beautiful plot I could go on and on about, as well as multiple endings. However, now we talk of gameplay. The game does a good job of giving you a good amount of power without it being too much. It takes after Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. You have the main story you can follow...or you can deviate and whore out on sidequests for extra stuff, often allowing for deeper insight into Nier's and Weiss' friendship as it blossoms into a beautiful thing. Two companions making one liners and witty jokes at eachother as they slaughter badguys.

It is a hack-and-slash RPG, one of my favorite kinds of RPG, and it is definitely worth picking up if you ever get the chance. The plot is deep, the gameplay is meaningful, if the quests get repetitive now and then you can skip them...and the soundtrack is absolutely beautiful.

Anyway, until next time I post, PEACE OUT!

Damn it Bioware!

So I was playing through a decent game of Army of Two, The Fortieth Day on Solo Mode, when one of my friends logs in and I notice what they are playing. Dragon Age: Origins. That's cool, I think, so later that night I do a little research on the game: The thing? It looked beautiful, and best of all, expansive.

After I borrow it from him, I quickly discover what a "Halo Ring" is, when I mistakenly kicked the console over. So I buy him a replacement and install onto my Hard Drive. That way I can play with the damaged disc, so I now own Dragon Age: Origins, by Bioware.

What was that? Fight and not run? OH. That could have
saved us some trouble...

Anyway, seeing as it was Bioware, I was comparing it to Mass Effect by a lot. There were a couple of things I hated, and other things that I loved about the game. First of all, being: Why is this click and go?!

Sure, you can walk around and move. But you need to physically move the camera to point at an enemy, and click your attack button of choice to attack. You have skills and shortcuts for the other buttons, too, however it is still "Point and Go" on a console. On a PC, point and go is a brilliant interface--I point, you attack. Why? Because in the blink of an eye I can move my cursor and click on my enemy. Using a control stick from a console, the cursor has a set speed so you don't outpace yourself--it is slower and more cumbersome in general.

Having played the game on the console, not the PC, I disliked the way the game played. Especially because moving the control stick even slightly off-course and you end up going in a completely different direction.

Sometimes, I thought my character was just being a pansy about the way he was attacking. Maybe a status effect? Perhaps he didn't have a high courage stat? Then I realized there WAS no courage stat!

Then we have the character interface. Seeing as this game came out after Mass Effect, I expected the character to be able to talk. I know this is out there, especially considering how many different characters you could be, but since you can change your battle voice, maybe go the extra mile and have those voice actors voice out your character? It seems logical, if a little bit more expensive, at least.

Finally, after getting over my discrepancies with the game, having it face a corner for an hour and a half and saying it loses it's TV for a month, I decided to play and try to forget the interface. Looking at the actual story, and the choices possible, I was blown away.

Examples of characters you can be

First: Your origin. The point of the game, possibly expanding on Shepard's origins concept. You can be a human, dwarf, or elf, the stereotypical races in fantasy games. As a human or an elf, you can be a warrior, mage, or rogue. Dwarves can't be mages as the story outlines that dwarves are stupid and can't use magic.

So as a human rogue or warrior, you get the "Human Noble" storyline. You are a prince, basically, and your powerful family is betrayed and destroyed when your brother is sent out for war. You survive, of course.

As an elf, you can be a "City Elf", which are the oppressed peoples of the world. Kind of like, and I do mean this as purely a historic reference, the black peoples after the Civil War and before Dr. King Jr. They aren't slaves, per say, but they are hated and oppressed and they did recently become not slaves. You are getting married, and your marriage is interrupted and depending on whether you are a guy or a girl, you are either saving your wife from being raped, or saving yourself from getting raped.

These are the only two origins I have explored so far. Although no matter what race you are, if you choose "Mage" you get the "Magi" origin, because unlike City Elves, Mages are the slaves of the Ferelden Empire.

Commander Shepard ain't worth shit to me.

So I make a human warrior, and name him Shepard. Sue me Bioware! Afterwards, I decide to make him as much like my "Jak Shepard" as possible, though I quickly found that you actually had to back up your talk, unlike in Mass Effect where Shepard took care of that for you.

After making it to the last boss and figuring out how much of a FAIL my Shepard character was, I restarted the whole game as a female City Elf. I didn't bother naming her--so the default name "Kallian" took precedence here.

This guy? He's an asshole, so look out.

As Kallian, I was a nicer person, and had extreme armies at my command by the end of the game, and it was GRATIFYING to kick the final boss' ass.

The basic story is, that you become a "Grey Warden", a warrior who drank the blood of the "Darkspawn" and became the good version of the Darkspawn. As in, you keep your mind.

The Darkspawn are the greed and hatred of men's hearts given form. (*cough*Heartless*cough*) So, naturally, they need an antithesis. They need you to be there to kick their ass everytime they decide to show up in what is called a "Blight". A Blight is when the Darkspawn get an Archdemon leader, a big darkspawn version of a Dragon, and march across the land slaying all in their way.

Like the football team after school, the darkspawn are planning
to beat you  silly for no good reason.

It is Darkspawn vs Grey Warden warfare, basically. Unfortunately for you, due to Ferelden politics, you and your partner are basically it. The only two people fighting for people to stay alive--and the only two people that Ferelden wants really, really, really, without a shadow of a doubt, completely and one hundred percent--dead.


So you must bring the political environment of Ferelden to order, or risk "Civil War II" during the Blight. Being the badasses that darkspawn are, they would trounce the country and move on to kill everyone on the planet that I assume is Earth in fantasyland.

To do that? Call on every peace treaty the Grey Wardens own, befriend powerful political leaders, forge a kickass team of your own from travelling the land, and defeat a tyrant in a fight any way you please. Seriously--there is "All Out Brawl", "One on One Duel" and "Alistair, kill this man for me." Of course, I always balled up and kicked the dude's ass.

Once you bring Ferelden to order, your war with the darkspawn starts. Depending on your decisions through the journey, you have different armies--my winning army was composed of Dwarves, Elite Dwarven Mercenaries, Mages, and Werewolves. Yes-werewolves.

It is a lovely game, very involving. The interface sucks balls, and the lack of voice on your character's part makes me somewhat upset, but after grounding your game from TV for a month it becomes a much better game. The graphics are beautiful, dungeons are limited but prevent repetitiveness, the skill tree is expansive and grants a lot of choices for your character.

All in all, I recommend it highly. Enjoy until next time!

And I'll try to update again within the month, I promise.

Assassin's Creed: A Retrospective

Today I was mainly playing Mass Effect 2, trying to perfect my character, Jak Shepard, in preparations for Mass Effect 3 coming out March 6, 2012. Later tonight I was playing Halo: Reach campaign with my cousin, MJOJOJO, and we were taking turns lagging the crap out of eachother due to some connection problems. On Legendary, of course, would we play anything less?

Anyway, after that we played with our friend on Matchmaking Mode and won a few rounds, and lost some, as expected. You win some, you lose some, right?

All that said, I decided to throw a completely off-the-wall game at you, one I am an avid player of. Assassin's Creed, Ubisoft's attempt at a free-roam Prince of Persia.

Now, there is nothing wrong with the concept of the original Assassin's Creed. It was a great game, though many like to put it down for it's flaws, it was what we call an experiment. I could spend my time here yacking about all the flaws of the original game, but instead, let's look at the good things it had to offer.

Image of Combat as seen in Assassin's Creed

Now, many agree that the combat in Assassin's Creed II is more involving than AC1, and this is true. There are many more options to explore for each way to kill people, and many ways to kill lots of people. I don't disagree one bit--once you get the counter kill in Assassin's Creed, it's all you need to kill anyone and anything, final bosses excluded.

What I'm looking at, however, was the age it was in. Sure, ACII's renaissance theme is brilliant, but AC1 really shows beautiful style of where all the Templars and Assassins began: the Holy Land. Mind, it doesn't portray Templars as they are usually portrayed, the bad guys with evil secrets, as opposed to the good guys. The way the overall "tone" of each city varies really sells it for me; the colors are beautiful, and makes it worth freerunning.

Now, I know we ALL hate the repetitive "information gathering missions" prior to Assassination, pardon the unnecessary capital, but when it got to the assassination, it really paid off (somewhat). It gave you a scene, info on the target, and let you go about your own business killing him. While Assassin's Creed II keeps this element, it makes it different when you don't get the whole scene.

It's like Altair plans his kills out carefully, and Ezio runs in following his gut and relying on luck. By principle, Altair is a better Assassin due to this fact, but by plot Ezio is. Don't get me wrong, some missions really don't give much room for planning, like when flying over Venice. No amount of contact interrogation could prepare Altair for that, and Ezio knew to go with his gut instinct, but there are times that Ezio, had he sat back and planned his Assassinations better (again, excuse the capital) he would have had a much easier life.

SO, now that I've finished bagging on Assassin's Creed II to promote Assassin's Creed I, I will say that ACII has a very innovative combat system. Each different weapon has umpteen ways to kill someone, and that isn't even counting taking their weapon and killing them with it. I found myself playing through multiple times just to fight with different weapons. (you can see how obsessed I am about it by looking at the one hundred percent achievement list I have for this game). 

The cities are larger, and the story is more tragic and can be related to better than the silent protagonist of Altair. We get to SEE the transformation of Ezio Auditore, from a young hotshot into a skilled Assassin (then a middle aged Master Assassin, then a "Why are you still an Assassin?" old Assassin in subsequent games involving him). It pushes over twenty years of his life at us, and tells us why we should care. 

A young boy driven for revenge. We all know Sasuke Uchiha already, is what I thought at first. I think he easily could have become a Sasuke-esque character, had his uncle not instilled a code of honor into him. A code that as he followed, transformed a hollowing quest for revenge into a growing experience for the man.

Something Sasuke never had. Fricking Itachi killing Sasuke's uncle.

Ezio's Armory as seen in ACII

"Come on, man, no more Naruto references."

Fine, no more.

Anyway, as pictured above, there are several weapons to choose from, each having their own usage and talents. Alone, Ezio can take a sword, a knife, his two hidden blades, cash money, smoke bombs, and hidden blade upgrades with him on any mission. A smart Assassin will use them well, knowing full well that using a wrist-mounted pistol will probably kill anyone in a single shot, as bulletproof armor has yet to be invented.

The funny thing is, there are no dogs in game. If you fire the gun, you hear dogs barking in the distance. Where are they?!

Back to being serious, the game really upgrades on variety, and adds something the last Assassin's Creed could never have. Town upgrades. 

It let two elements of RPG into an action game. Customizable weapons, and upgrading towns. These seemed like awesome ideas, and still do, but little do we know, they are ushering in the defeat of action in Assassin's Creed, and the rise of roleplaying.

Not that it is bad, mind, but it is against the original concept. Create a freeform Prince of Persia, an action game. (Though Prince of Persia is a linear platformer)

Is it deviating too much? I think so. Yet I, as a roleplaying gamer, am enjoying it somewhat.

"Hey, Assassin's Creed II was a hit!"

"Dude, I totally know! We did something right! What was it?"

"Man, it was totally Ezio."

"Totally. Maybe the town upgrading too!"

"We should use Ezio again!"

"And get a bigger town to upgrade!"

"Just to be safe, let's add some new elements. Like, let's make Ezio the Master Assassin!"

"Yeah!"

"Let's also kill Uncle Mario and make Machiavelli into Cesare Borgia's enemy!"

"...you never read 'The Prince', did you...?"

"But it would be totally awesome!"

...at least, that's what goes through my head when I try to imagine what Ubisoft was thinking in bringing Ezio, and Italy, and town upgrading, back.

You see, one thing that made Assassin's Creed II a hit was the hinting that we're visiting lots of different time eras, and being lots of different highly trained killers. I guess Ubisoft wasn't expecting a Cash Cow like Ezio, and figure pushing him on through his old age is a good idea. 

The game is great, and certainly exceeds "Expansion Pack" status. The new features of "Brotherhood Control" and the idea behind managing your own guild was great, but fixing all of Rome? I agree with Benjamin "Yahtzee" Croshaw on this. "What are we trying to do, evict them from Rome by buying everything?!"

However, the fact being we're using the same character who has already gone through life's greatest challenge, he just doesn't have any more character development left in him. He's already grown up to be a fine young (old) man, and pushing him any farther than he actually has to go is plain stupid. The story of the game falters somewhat at this point, being that we're the Master Assassin. Assassin's Creed's saving grace was that we did not know Altair's past, we were trying to figure that part out. In ACB, we already know Ezio, his past exploits, and what his full capabilities are.

Now, something that I review separately from singleplayer, is the multiplayer.

The different multiplayer characters and their selectable weapons (not all included)

Now, Assassin's Creed Brotherhood was a good game, don't get me wrong here. But the multiplayer blew me away. I loved being online doing my Assassin thing with other people, hiding from and killing players. It brings a certain tensity to the game not knowing who will kill you but knowing who you are after.

Looking over your shoulder while at the same time looking straight ahead. It provided a great deal of challenge. Of course, having preordered from Gamestop, I had the Harlequin character, who also happens to be my favorite character when playing the game. 

The kills in Online Play are beautiful, and it is satisfying knowing you just ruined someone's kill by taking your own. Of course, it backfires when someone kills you, but what the hey, it's all good. There are a couple problems I found with multiplayer, of course.

First being the most vain of them all. Why oh why, if we're on the same team, do we have to be the same person? So partners can tell eachother apart? To make it easier to find your opponents? Both could easily be rectified by adding a color code system similar to Halo and almost every other game out there. 

Since no one else can select the character you selected, all of that character are coded red for the match as well. Easy fix, non?

Second, the EXTREMELY long wait times on every match. It says we're waiting for six of six people, then seven of seven join, then eight of eight. I've played some pretty bullshitted servers before, some that booted me out of the game before I could collect points (everyone else was booted out of the game too) and sometimes people are forced off. 

Sometimes it seems people are trying to be real asses and joining just to quit, which is infuriating to me. Though I have to try and understand, maybe they just didn't want to play that map or something.

FINALLY, I want to be able to pick the maps I play on in a public server, not just private. I prefer the Monteriggioni maps and would like to play on them, but if I want to not have to hope the server randomly picks Monteriggioni for me, I have to go to Private mode, invite friends, and get no points for the match anyway. Seriously?!

I hope these major problems are fixed by the time Revelations comes out. Expect an article in preparation for it, and an article after I get and play it.

Anyway, that's my rant of the day. Happy trails until next we meet!

First Post and Whatnot

So anyway, I decided to make a blog because I was bored, and detail what all I am playing in videogames. Why not just play the videogames? Good question. Next!

Anyway, I recently acquired two games I've been looking for for some time. Mass Effect and Army of Two: The 40th Day. So I might as well start writing with Mass Effect since I started playing that one first. (Keep in mind, I have played Mass Effect 2, and Mass Effect 1 gave me...something I wasn't expecting...)

So anyway, I started up my game of Mass Effect 1, (by Bioware) and looked around the menus for a little bit, trying to see if it would be anything like ME2. Finally after setting everything to my preferences, with difficulty at Normal, I started the game. I picked something different from my usual, a Spacer Lone Survivor Female Shepard, instead choosing an Earthborn Warhero Male Shepard.

The game started, and I was at first saddened at how Joker seemed to hate me outright. Well, maybe not outright, but his sarcasm was less...lightheartedly funny and more...get out of my face.

Anyway, I finally arrive at the first combat scene, and find the HUD to be vastly different, among other things.

Mass Effect 1's HUD

Notice the health bars in the bottom left, as well as shield monitors. This is what I loved best about the Mass Effect heads up display--it let me see how my partners were doing in a constant detailed report. I also admit I liked that there was unlimited ammunition, you merely had to not overheat your weapon. 

Mass Effect 2's HUD

The ME2 HUD is more concerned, it seems, with packing everything up. I can only vaguely see how my partners are doing with their health and shields, represented under Shepard's own health/shield bar by a small bar and a quarter circle. The only thing I ever really relied on in concern with that pitiful display is when their faces glow red, meaning they're taking damage, and even then, I don't know how much more they can actually take. 

I was, however, frustrated that I could not command my team separately in Mass Effect 1, a feature added on in Mass Effect 2. That did not excuse, for me, the pitiful lack in variety of weapons and armor ME2 has. Sure, you can change out parts of your regular N7 Armor, but most other armors are exclusive and DLC-Only, and even then, only for Shepard. Sure, you could change out skins on your team, but how much stronger does that actually make them?

I also noted that through three playthroughs, I only had two types of pistols, 4 machine guns, three snipers, and three shotguns excluding squad-exclusive weaponry. What is this? In Mass Effect there were almost countless variety of weapons, and different weapon manufacturers everywhere! It made it worthwhile to get money, to see how much more you could buy. In ME2, there was apparently a massive deflation in the economy, as while I amassed over 6 million credits in the predecessor, the best I ever got in ME2 on Hardcore Mode was around 300,000 credits. 

It's not a bad thing, and it certainly explains the drop in weapons and armor variety--I mean, with 300,000 credits only there isn't a lot the poor Commander could buy anyway. Besides, I'd much rather only buy virtually nameless upgrades for my weapons and, of course, be able to attach them all at once stifling my creativity of mix and match.

Now that the rant is over, I honestly cannot compare the storylines. I will say I liked the team of ME2 better, even though I still stuck with Tali and Garrus (they are my A-Team) and sometimes Legion. The arguments among the team were interesting as well, even if I never resolved Miranda vs Jack. 

The ending is a lot better, or it was for me, because I spoiled it (slightly) for myself. I read that Shepard could get killed on the Suicide Mission if certain parameters were met, and all along I was on the edge of my seat trying not to meet those parameters. In the battle against Sovereign and Saren, I actually managed to convince the villain to pull suicide, and the ending was on a grand scale (Joker's flying was incredible) however the knowledge that Shepard would, in fact, survive simply killed the end suspense.

Of course, I plan to play ME2 again with my ME1 Shepard, and play through twice to get good stats and all that, in preparation for Mass Effect 3 coming out Winter sometime.

Until next time I post, peace!