Guild Wars 2: Yes you should play it.

My asura had a tree climbing phase. 

It's really hard to write anything when you have a game as well made as Guild Wars 2 waiting for you to play.  I didn't get a chance to play it's predecessor, but Mystic liked it so he convinced me to try Guild Wars 2.  I never did the MMO thing before (other than a brief foray into Star Trek: Online that didn't impress me) so I promised Mystic I would give Guild Wars 2 a try.  I have to say, I'm glad I've waited until this game to get into them.

Let me go over the basics.

Of course you start with character creation, which has some fantastic options.  The face and hair choices for each race are a little limited right now, but that's something I'm sure they'll expand upon later.  It's pretty easy to get a character you think looks awesome and that you'd like to play.  You choose a race (human, norn, sylvari, charr, and asura) and a profession (necromancer, mesmer, elementalist, ranger, engineer, thief  guardian and warrior) and the get to customizing.  Again, not the best range in choices for some things but you are able to make a choice in every facet of your character's look.  Your first set of armor is selected for you and you have a base set of colors, but over time you are able to collect dyes that will help you personalize the colors of your armor even more.

After you know your character looks great, a quick introduction story gets you a easy to follow tutorial where you start already playing with people.  From there you're dropped off at a starting place for your race and free reign to explore!

The tasks that you can pick to gain experience are scattered all throughout the map, indicated with gold hearts.  As you get close it'll let you know what you can do to help with the task, which is usually one of several things.  Yes you can get significant XP without having to kill everything in site, and you don't get punished severely if you do just want to kill everything you can.  You also get rewarded for reviving other players and NPCs, and for crafting.

Oh man crafting.  You can cook, sew, build, smith, and smelt a ton of items that you'll find around the Guild Wars 2 world.  Cooking is popular for helping you level up fast, and jewelry is a craft people like to take to they can make some serious coin.  I personally like being able to make my own armor.  It's also super easy to pick up and learn how to make new things.  You'll be given some basic recipes but soon you'll be able to discover a ton more.  Not sure what to do with that new shimmering dust you got?  See what ingredients you can mix with it!  You can only practice two crafts at a time but if you leave one for a while and pick it back up, you'll start where you left off.

The best thing is that this is an MMO where you don't need to go out of your way to play with people you know.  Your story line is a well written plot where your choices matter, sometimes more than other popular games that used to advertise how much your choices matter.  No one story will be exactly the same unless you go out of your way to imitates someone's preferences.  It also makes it more interesting to go back and play as a different character, you know you're not repeating a lot of the same stuff.   Along with a well written story to keep you playing when your friends are not, you also have loot that is individualized and incentives for working with people.  Again, revives give you XP, so why not help your fellow gamer?  And if a stranger helps you with a kill, you both get XP for trying to kill the same thing.  It's like the looked at all the annoying things in MMOs that frustrate people and improved upon them. A gaming company that listens?  The world's ending!

And if none of that convinced you, I will leave you with a video of all the different dances of Tyria.  There is no shame in buying a video game merely to have your character dance.  No shame I tell you!

The Art of Video Games: Why you should see it.

Part of the reason I haven't posted in what seems like forever (have you missed me?) is because I was getting ready for a trip to the D.C. area to see family there with Mystic.  He met some family there for the first time and it went great!  But we also wanted to go to D.C. to see The Art of Video Games, which is only at the American Art  Museum until September 30th.  And it was amazing.

Above is the screen you could see on your way in.  A video which showed a bunch of the video games featured in the section.  It was a small three room exhibit the power of it was immediate. 

The artwork that helped with development was in the first room, with some great quotes from developers talking about it's artistic qualities.  You see here we saw some great art from the first days of Starcraft.  There was also some comparisons to the animation process.

After that you went into a room where five legendary games were available to play: Pacman, Super Mario Brothers, The Secret of Monkey Island, Myst, and Flower.  You could only play a little bit of each, but it was still a great way to understand what those games were about and to get a taste as to what people saw in them.  

Finally you were able to see the history of the games and their types from console to console.  The genres were divided into adventure, action, target and tactics.  Each console would show an example of each genre and how it changed and evolved as a visual and tactile storytelling device with artistic choices in development made all throughout the way.  

I got really emotional seeing it.  This is a hobby that is dear to my heart, that I play because of it's artistic merits and great narratives as well as for escapism.  It has been too long compared with other children's toys.  At this point, we took a step ahead in gaming to comparing it was a medium similar to books and film, or dare I say a combination of the two.  It was touching to see a serious take on the art in the medium, and to see people happy to learn about it.  I had to wipe away tears as I was reading serious takes on games I grew up with like Sim City and Star Fox, and finally seeing some of my current favorites being celebrated, including Mass Effect 2.  

The Art of Video Games is only at the American Museum of Art until the 30th, but as you can see it could be coming somewhere closer to you in the next few years.  See it.  Experience it.  As a gamer, it'll make your hobby proud.  As a non-gamer, you can see why adults pursue these virtual stories.  

My (delayed) Response to the Expanded Endings of Mass Effect 3

Right when I just spoke to you guys about writing more and making time for it, my boss at work quit so now we're severely understaffed.  Woo!

Anyway, now we're talking about the ending of Mass Effect 3, which many of you know about but for those of you who don't, be aware that there are SPOILERS AHEAD.


So, what did the extended endings actually do?  Well in almost every option we now have available at the end, we have choices that do make somewhat of a difference to the universe that is no longer in complete and utter shambles.  The Mass Relays can be repaired, all the races can rebuild their worlds, and Shepard is considered a hero in every ending.  There is still no concrete way to officially save Shepard, the Destroy Option merely hints at it, but we don't have to sacrifice a lot to get an ending where the legend lives on and Shepard did officially save the day.  Also, you now have the Refuse option, which unfortunately dooms the current cycle but gives hopes for the next one.

What does it fix? You do get your cathartic moment.  You can say "Yes!  I did save the galaxy!"  And you get to see how the rest of the galaxy is coping and rebuilding together.  You don't have to assume the worst. You get to see the final big choice you made actually mean something as well.  Each ending has a slightly different montage, noting what your choice meant.

What does it not fix?  There are some counter arguments from the Space Child now, but the Space Child still seems out of place and unnecessary.  If they had replaced it with almost anything else that would've been relevant, I would've been okay with that.  The Synthesis ending, although appealing to my ideals of unity, does NOT make any sense, so you will have to be okay with the idea of Space Magic(tm) for that ending to work.  Considering that mass effect fields essentially filled that purpose before, it's not the hugest leap I've ever been asked to make.  Also your EMS score now means diddly squat, which is super annoying because many of us would've liked a Refuse ending where the EMS score mattered. You can't just ignore a mechanic in the game after it's released in my humble opinion, because the player will always remember it's there and remember the developer totally ignoring it.

In my opinion, this extended cut fixes the biggest problems with the original endings, and hence giving us a conclusion that in the long run makes the fans go "meh" rather than "what the hell?!".  I think a good amount of us gamers expect horrible endings because we're not used to good writing.  That's part of the reason why there was such an uproar about a well written series like Mass Effect ending on such a disastrous conclusion.  It was above average in many different ways, and that's why it had such a strong fanbase that wanted to fight for a better ending.  We now have something better, thankfully.

However, there is still a bitter taste in my mouth.  I think that this new extended cut ending should've at lease been in the game originally.  It's not perfect by any stretch of the imagination, but if I had received this ending instead of the bullshit slung at me months ago, I think I would've been okay.  I don't think I would've spent weeks disappointed with the hours and money I invested in BioWare.  Part of me will never understand why the fans had to practically pull teeth to get an ending like this.  I'm not going to forget it.  I'm going to remember what happened, and now for certain companies, I know for sure I'll NEVER preorder.  It's not worth it.  It's better to wait and see what happens.

Soon, I will replay the game and figure out which ending I want to give Desdemona Shepard.  In the meantime, if anyone wants to meet me up on Mass Effect multiplayer, feel free to hit me up--d20Sapphire is my handle of course!

I can't bring myself to care about E3

In the last couple of years I used to do an analysis on the big three conferences.  I would detail good business moves and bad ones, interesting new ideas coming out for the console, and horrible ones.

This year, I honestly am not invested with what's going on with E3.  

Just starting to watch the conferences just makes me depressed.  Sony wasn't super bad, but I'm not convinced that some of their exciting titles will stay nearly as exciting as they were presented.  Beyond is a story that can easily be fucked up, and boat stuff from Assassin's Creed's new installment looks totally staged.  Those are obvious complaints though.  The not so obvious complaint is that it seems Sony took many of the strategies that Nintendo and Microsoft introduced the last few years and just put Sony paint on it.  Also, there's not a lot of genuinely new things to be excited about, but that is a problem with the console industry as a whole.  Really, it's a problem with the video game industry, but that's another post for another day.  Sony is a frequent offender.

I love Nintendo like family.  It is the company that introduced me to gaming and the company will always hold a special place in my heart.  But man, did that conference have too.  much.  talking.  Nintendo is also a great example of focusing way too hard on social networking.  Most social networking that is successful evolves more organically than what they're trying to do.  Also, I have to agree with Cracked.com that there will be phalluses all up on your screen with WiiVerse.  Last year Nintendo won back the hard core gamer, just to lose them again this year with karaoke and online theme parks.  However, I'm sure they'll sell more unit again WiiU is being sold as an all around entertainment system, not just for video games. 

Microsoft had the longest conference, and it had some of the most exciting points.  Too bad those exciting points were not about genuine electronic entertainment.  It also had some of the least exciting points.  I will admit that I'm not a sports fan at all, so devoting a fifth of the presentation to sports game did not inspire me.  And then to add another huge chunk of "look, I can watch movies, and then I can watch them in Spanish!" was not impressive.  Voice control no longer a huge deal, since you've presented it the last three years.  And  no, Usher, despite being an attractive, rich singer, is not going to entice me to play your games.

I think, my fellow gamers, we have to admit to ourselves that we can no longer look to E3 anymore to provide us what we're looking for.  It is now officially covering the broader market of Electronic Entertainment, not just video games anymore.  Sure, there were some relatively smart business moves made this year, but none of them were really for the hardcore gamer, or even a gamer period.  They were for a broad market of consumers, broader than those of us who have lived by the high score and the controller.  

E3 is no longer for us, it's for everyone.  

We should've seen this coming as soon as the Wii became as popular as it did.  I don't want to fault Nintendo for the whole evolutionary change of E3, but it was the beginning of a new era, when it wasn't just for the elite fan who grew up with an Atari or NES in the living room and has had a console ever since.  Sooner or later a company would've have branched out in this way, and it makes sense it's Nintendo, who unlike Sony and Microsoft are, or were rather, wholly invested in video games.  To stay big, they had to branch out, and preferably be the first to do it.  Of course this is the solution.

For those of you feeling abandoned or neglected, do know that there is still a ton of devoted companies hoping to gain your allegiance for their video games, hoping you'll like their new thing.  I'm noticing most of the new things are on the PC, or come out on the PC first before graduating to digital downloads for Microsoft of the PS Network.  But it's definitely no longer going to be about the new video games at E3.  It's only going to be about new entertainment.  

Next year, I think I'm going to be even less invested in it.  I doubt I'm the only one.

Gender Analysis: Half Life 2

Hello everyone.  I apologize for the delay and I will tomorrow be posting about the abysmal showing at E3 (the structure of the critique will be a bit different this time) but I need to keep to a promise I made.  I am introducing my Gender Analysis on Video Games.  I decided to start with a game that has gotten some acclaim for representation of women--Half Life 2.  Specifically, the representation of Alyx has been hailed for being one of the best lead female characters ever in the field of video games.  But how revolutionary is the game itself in regards to gender equality?

We've tackled physics and crab zombies, let's tackle social constructs next.

My standards I discussed in April post introducing the idea can be found here.  For this test I played the first five hours of the game and with the help of Mystic took the necessary notes for the review.

Gender Ratio of Main Characters (female to male)

2:6

The side characters did seem evenly dispersed, but when it came to main characters that affected the plot overall, it was heavily male.  For every 3 main characters that are male, there's only one woman.

Sexualization of Characters (female to male)

0:0

There were no characters whatsoever that were sexualized in this game in the first five hours.  Not even close.  Considering the setting, it makes sense that no one is worried about that.

Gender Assumptive Dialogue

0 counts

Although there was an old doctor hitting on Alyx that kind of gave me the creeps, there was never anything spoken that had to be qualified with gender.  Getting hit on isn't a gender thing, even if it's creepy.  Also would like to note that the two female main characters I met were possibly breaking a couple stereotypes by being scientist and engineers, meaning they're well educated and savvy with math.  Not something that gets recognized a lot in the real world, let alone in fiction.

The Bechdel Test

Did Not Pass

Alyx speaks with Judith Morrison for 20 seconds about something other than a man.  May I also add that they're bickering about something.  Not only are there only women you see in the first 5 hours, they're not allowed to like each other.

CONCLUSION 

The main character line up unfortunately falls short.  You also don't have women have a decent conversation amongst each other.  The trope of women being against each other because women can "never get along" is overdone.  But women are obviously equals, not sex objects or people to be rescued.  They are equals when they are given a chance to shine, and they can look out for themselves and be intelligent allies.  I can see where Alyx has received the praise she did, and I honestly wish there were more female characters like her--strong-willed, smart, and not an object to be won. 

I would rate this game above average for a video game.  It's a step in the right direction to making women equal and not other.  If more video games took this step we'd be on the right track to better representation.  But there is still work to be done.

I said I wouldn't do a number rating because you can't necessarily put a quantitative conclusion with all the numbers we will be looking at.  They just help show why the quality of a games gender quality is better or worse than average.  For this spectrum of quality we'll be looking at, I would definitely put Half-Life 2 closer to true equality than not even though it could take wider strides to have women better represented.

I'm going to go through what I have in my gaming library first and then branching out to other games, we'll look at past and present games to see how things have changed and how they've stayed the same.  Feel free to recommend a game or two.  Remember, the analysis isn't to seek out what games are most women friendly per se, it's to see how the industry as a whole is in it's mindset toward women.

I did a video review on Terraria

Mystic wanted to make sure Terraria was a review done for his Indie Shot series, but initially never got into the game as much as Minecraft.  I love Terraria and was happy to oblige:

Coming Back to Terraria

I while ago I got Terraria and took a dive in, and totally got into it for a while.  I amazed Mystical because he couldn't understand how at the time I was definitely not a fan of minecraft but I was totally enamored in Terraria.  Something about the 16-bit adorable world along with the already integrated parts of adventuring was more addictive.

As with many games I haven't played it in a while but then yesterday I went back to it... not realizing that is had been updated to the nines with a new crafting system and other cool stuff.  GAH!  My old world wasn't ready for this.

I started a new world with a new character and was finally able to get a friend to join my game.  And fun times were had!  We built a ton of stuff, fought some zombies, fell to our deaths here and there.  We got some essential building done, and got some of the new crafting tools out of the way (like the saw mill and the loom).  Also, seeing our little sprites with the copper helmets is hilarious.  Have you seen those?  Ridiculous!

I had first played the game by myself, which even on the easy setting is a bit of a struggle.  It's a game with a lot of searching and avoiding baddies early on.  It's kind of nice to have two people looking for iron or to have a friend who'll help slice zombies in half while you catch fallen stars.

I will be doing a guest Indie Shot for Mystic sometime in the next couple of weeks for Terraria.  I still have to delve into the new system a bit more so don't expect this to be what I say in my review, but I'm definitely having a fun time with the new mechanics so far.

Finally, a little off topic, be on the lookout for my first video game gender analysis in the next week!

Happy Birthday Mystic!

I would like to wish a happy birthday to Mystic, the boyfriend.  I won't give away his age, that's up to him.

As one of his many presents, I am asking that you help me help him.  Season Two of Super Minecraft Adventure has started, and Mystic and another friend are now suffering through one of the most difficult fan maps on minecraft.

Mystic is doing this for charity.  Laugh at his countless fumbles and acts of nerd awesome, and then donate to Free the Children.  The goal is $5000 to help build a well in a developing nation.  Please donate!

Here is the first episode of Season Two for your viewing pleasure:

Shedding light on women in video games

For a while I was thinking of doing a series of let's plays for video games to shed some light on games who have good representation of women, but I'm finding that most video games do NOT.  Not even the ones I love.

So instead, I'm planning on reviewing the gender equality in video games I played and play.  There are not a lot of games that get it awesome enough that I want to encourage people to look to it as a great example.  With the research I've done (not a lot but from good sources) I have come with a few tests to see what can be revealed about the gender equality in a video game title or series.

Gender Ratio:  What is the representation of males to females?  Is there a story or technical reason why it may shift one way or the other?  Or is it just poor planning?  This will be rated on the ratio found for the main characters--characters that are absolutely necessary for the gameplay and story.  Having an even balance of background characters will not make up for having only one female lead in the story.  There will be a nod if gender identity is discussed in an intellectual way.

Sexualization Ratio: How many men are overtly sexualized versus women?  This is comparing the representation of a person's sexual identity compared to how much one could expect to see on the street.  How a character is dressed (or more importantly isn't dressed) is not the soul factor of this ratio.  It's how it's portrayed, is that sexuality something inherent to understanding the character in the context of the game?  Is their heightened focus on their attractiveness or prowess in the bedroom?

Gender-Assumptive Dialogue:  How many times do you hear something akin to "She's tough enough to fight with the men." or "He's extremely sensitive, I expect him to have PMS with the ladies."?  Anything that assumes a personality or physical trait that is not sex but gender oriented is marked down.  This is marked by number of times I've noted it during my play.  Again, sex is a scientific classification, gender is a social construct.  Sex is the fact a woman has a uterus, gender is the idea that only women wear dresses.

The Bechdel Test:  How many times can you find two women talking to each other about a something other than a man?  It has to be dialogue that last at least 30 seconds or longer of talking time.  I like to thank Feminist Frequency for enlightening me for this test.

For all of these test, I'm going to account for at least 5 hours of gameplay.  within 5 hours of gameplay of any part of a game you should be able to get a good idea of what the dynamic will be for these characters.  I'll be honest with where I started and stopped, and I won't begin right at the first cut-scene.  I'll start after the tutorial (which tends to be the clumsiest part of most games).

After these four factors, I'll do a qualitative analysis of the overall experience.  No number will truly give a good idea of how gender-equal a game is, but they will help give an honest impression to do the overall analysis.

I'm going to start with a good amount of games I play and know, but then I'm going to branch out to other stuff.  There are some games I'm really interested to see how they play out (like the Half-Life series that I haven't played yet because I'm a horrible nerd) and this will also be an awesome way to replay some games I love.  I'll also need help with multiplayer games I have, so please feel free to message me on Steam or Origin (d20sapphire) and help me conduct my research.

Please leave some suggestions as to what games I should play!

Mass Effect 3 Multiplayer is toying with me

Ever since the multiplayer for Mass Effect has been around, I have wanted to be the Quarian Engineer.  Not only do you get cryo blast and inferno, but I have always had a soft spot for Tali as a character.  On top of the fact that engineer is the most underestimated class in the game.  I tried being an engineer after being a vanguard, and if you have drones you kick so much ass!  It's kind of amazing what you can do with that and a little overload from time to time.

So I've been hoping with each pack I buy with the credits I earn in multiplayer that I will get a quarian engineer.  You start our with a human male and a human female, which I haven't played.  Then after some time I got the salarian engineer, who is cool but still not the same as the quarian.

Then on the 10th they added new races to the classes.  Including Geth to the engineers.  And I just got a pack that gave me a geth engineer.

So now I have every kind of engineer you can have in the game unlocked EXCEPT THE ONE I WANT.

Basically, what I'm saying is that my life is so hard.

Okay not that, but still some cruel partner of fate is laughing at me so hard right now.

The Boyfriend's on YouTube: Awesome Let's Plays.

I'm all for supporting worthy projects and creative endeavors.  Mystic and I have always had the same problem of having too many in our heads.  But he has started a couple online Let's Plays that I want to see through, and I hope you do as well.

First, Mystic and our friend Jester are doing a charity Let's Play for Free the Children, which they've titled Super Minecraft Adventure.  I know, very creative on the titles, eh?  They're going through the super docile and super hostile maps that have been made for Minecraft in hopes to raise some funds over time, so take a look and spread the word.  First video of the journey is below:






Next, in response to a lot of the blow up due to Mass Effect 3, Mystic has decided to do a Let's Play.  I'll have him describe it himself.


So please take a look at what the Boyfriend has been up to.  And help him raise funds for Free the Children!

Video Blog Response To Colin Moriarty of IGN

I broke down and recorded myself this morning.  I woke up to Colin Moriarty of IGN saying that Mass Effect fans like myself are entitled.  I'm arguing against many of his issues, mostly that it's not entitlement to expect high quality product from something that has had that reputation.

SPOILERS.  SO MANY SPOILERS.  DO NOT WATCH IF YOU DON'T WANT SPOILERS.

Also, this little video theory gives me hope.  Even if the ending was an accident with these hints, it's a great point for BioWare to pick up and make a fantastic ending to the ending we all hated.

AGAIN THERE ARE SPOILERS.  IF YOU ARE ALLERGIC TO SPOILERS DO NOT WATCH.

Mass Effect 3: My Opinon

Part One: No Spoilers.

So you ready to kill the Reapers?  Not so fast, here comes ME3, reminding you that  team effort is necessary.  I mean, dude, there are tons of Reapers!  Humanity can't do it alone, even if The Illusive Man thinks so.

The start is kind of abrupt, but then you get into it.  Story is solidly well written and characters new and old are fantastic to have on the ship and bump into while you assemble the best war militia the galaxy has ever seen.

Also, I think this is the most complex they've actually made Shepherd.  You delve into what breaks your Shep's heart and how to pick the hero up and start punching reporters again.

Gameplay is fantastic.  Everything is smoother than ME2, which already seemed like a godsend compared to ME1, and leveling up feels a lot more compelling.  Powers are great, and strategy is still at the forefront.  That is, if you're not doing the narrative version which weakens everything.  Then you can do whatever you want.

And still scan those planets, but with half the tediousness!  Seriously if you want to win you really should scan those planets.  Just sayin'.

Multiplayer helps you with the end game part for ME3, and even if it didn't it's worth playing.  Now if only I could finally get my friggin' quarian engineer I'd be completely satisfied with the multiplayer.  Aww darn.

Don't forget that this is the end.  Some of your favorite people will sacrifice themselves, so be ready.  I've talked to grown men who admitted tearing up at parts.

And some of you, like me, will find it hard to say goodbye, even though you know you have to.  I was weeping and sniffling and wailing when I was saying goodbye to my squad before we did the last battle.  I am one to get super attached to fictional universes of this proportion.  This was it.  I will never get a chance to shoot things with Garrus, smash things with Wrex, or pontificate with Tali possibly ever again.  I am going to miss these characters.

Everything is extremely satisfying, and the end game is super epic.  Until the last five minutes.  When you think it's over, just escape before the credits roll.  There is a reason the internet rage exists.  However, this is less than 1% of the game, and luckily alt+f4 fixes it for you if you want.

Do I recommend playing Mass Effect 3?  Yes.  Sure, you'll get burned by the largest chunk of horrible writing at the end of the game, but there are so many other moments worth playing for that you'll kick yourself if you don't enjoy the other 99.5%.

Part Two: Spoilers

NO SERIOUSLY NO LIE SPOILERS IF YOU DON'T WANT TO KNOW WHAT HAPPENS DON'T READ THIS.

I hope that works.  People are touchy about that on the internet.

For those fans out there who have finished the game, I want to encourage you to think about the game as a whole and ignore the last "choices" part.  I've been seeing a few arguments for this on the internet and I have to agree.  Mass Effect 3 is more than just the last five minutes.

There are so many epic parts that I do want to relive again and I will.  The little moments with Garrus, Tali, hell I even started to like Miranda and she got under my skin in ME2.  There are things you didn't realize you love.  Eve showing us female Krogan are the best!  Udina taking a bullet because now everyone sees he's a legitimate dick!  Lasering a Reaper face!  Telling Cerberus to suck it over and over again!  And of course, getting back with the man/woman/alien you love.  My first playthough was a femshep dating Garrus, and it was sweet without rotting your teeth out.  And there are parts I can't wait to play with my "Renegon" Obama shep and my full renegade Alexi shep with their different choices and outcomes.

A lot of us got burned on the ending.  It's horrible.  It's like a freshmen year philosophy major smoking weed on the quad defecated all over the end game and Bioware didn't bother to see where the foul smell was coming from.  I totally understand.  I've lost sleep over this ending, and I think I'm catching a cold because of that.

But there are too many great things about this game that I wouldn't want to miss as a die hard fan.  It's worth playing the majority of it, especially if you know the ending is going to suck because then you know to avoid it.  Focus on what made this a fantastic game, and it'll be a lot easier to forget that child VI that gave a whole finger to the universe by limiting our choices to nothing but suck.

Okay yeah I'm still bitter about it.

The only other legit critique I have is that I don't necessarily like how multiplayer is necessary to get a "decent" ending.  Which isn't that decent and I hardly found satisfying enough to consider playing.  So Shepherd possibly breathes for a second in the wreckage.  Big deal.  Doesn't mean Shep stays alive or is anywhere near the planet that the Normandy lands on to restart civilization as we know it.  Fuck that.  In other news, a whole bunch of people are now stranded on earth with no where to go and depleted resources.  Yeah, there is no way that's going to end well.

Alright I got into the bad zone again.  Look, loyal readers, please understand that I'm not trying to defend what happened to the end game.  But there is a lot of stuff worth loving about this game, and now that you've played it I suggest you think about all the choices, dialogue, cut scenes, and fights you genuinely enjoyed.  They have to outweigh what happened in the last five minutes enough that you cane play up to that point and then quit.  You'll feel a lot better for it.

Mass Effect 3 Demo: Multiplayer

A lot of us fans were very worried about the idea of a multiplayer.  We didn't want it to affect the universe.  We didn't want it to affect the story.  This is Shepard's story.

And it still is, but it doesn't mean there are no other people kicking serious ass.

I like the multiplayer.  It keeps a lot of the stuff you like about the game, including the powers and the weapons, and is well designed.  The maps are easy to memorize but hard to master, and making sure you have a varied team is great.  And if you're in the middle of your Vanguard playthrough but you miss using  Engineer's powers, it's a great way to feed that need.

Also, lack of glitches when I played, so win!

Mystic was nice enough to record our session, where the two of us and couple friends had a great time and then heroically all died in front of a turret we forgot existed.  Enjoy!

One of the reason nerdom can be male dominated.

Once again I have a thing I found on the internet that got me thinking.  This time it was a video discussing the horrible choices Lego has made in marketing with their new line of Lego Friends for girls.  There are two videos, but the first one is the one that I want to post here for you all to watch.


Here is a link to part 2, and both the videos are rather fantastic at analyzing how Lego, through their own choices, alienated young girls from their market only to try to bribe them back with weak offshoots.

This got me thinking about a lot of my hobbies and choices, and how a lot of the problem is how the producers of game, whether table top games or video games, or even a good amount of fantasy and sci-fi, assume that women are just not interested in the genre.

Now when it comes to the stuff on television, it's a 50/50 chance that your going to have something that doesn't address societal gender roles in a semi-thoughtful way.  For every great character that is a strong lead regardless of gender  there is one that obviously advertised as a hypersexualized fantasy for the "male audience" to gawk at and drool.  I use quotes because again, it's generalizations taken to an extreme in the hopes of making more money. Luckily shows like Buffy, Fringe, and Star Trek exist to help break those stereotypes that media first thought necessary for ratings.

Video games are entirely different story on that front.  Part of it may be that the medium is younger, but you would think that all the progress that has been made for television series to stop writing women in a specific corner, video games would be able to use that progress to their advantage.  Instead for over 50% of whats out there to play you have two reasons for women to be in a video game:  To be hot enough to look at or two be saved.  And why is that?  Because video games are part of a boys club that their a lot more blatant about than many other mediums and markets.

You have games totally devoid of women,  games that only have women in background as stereotypical supporting roles, or games that hypersexualize a female lead in hopes of enticing their target audience.  Some game series try to rectify the situation, but most don't and the ones that try rarely ever scratch the surface.  I feel a lot of this is done under the assumption that men wouldn't want to play a game where a woman is just as capable as he is, as if a woman who is strong or smart or has choices is a threat.  

Yes, for some men this is a threat, but that doesn't make it right to validate this idea to your market.  It's irresponsible for producers of any medium to perpetuate ideas that hinder or undermine anyone in society. That's what this representation of women in video games does: undermine the equality of women in our daily world.

I'm not saying this to totally rag on video games.  You know I play them, you can even friend me on Steam if you want to help me shoot zombies someday.  But I think there are a lot of things we have to think about when we support a game.  The gameplay may be good and the multiplayer may be bangin', but does it support ideas you're uncomfortable with?  Then don't play it.  There are plenty of other games out there that can suit your needs.  

And we have to do this for any hobby that we participate in. Not comfortable with the portrayal of women in the artwork of an RPG book?  You can probably find a game with what you like that's less offensive, possibly even for free.  Sci-fi series makes you cringe at it's representation of minorities?  There are so many more for you to watch, past and present.  If you want to see women, or anyone for that matter, better represented in your hobbies and interests, you have to work to make sure they get the support they need.  Just because people before decided things worked best a certain way doesn't mean they were right and doesn't mean we can't change it.

I just randomly thought about doing a let's play of games with great female leads or female characters that are not just caricatures and stereotypes.  Use that let's play to then fund a woman's group.  Like a lot of my ideas, it may just go to the wayside, but it definitely is something I wish to consider.  Now that I have whole days off of work on a consistent schedule, I would love to contribute to the greater good of video games (and nerdom) in the future.  

Quick thoughts on Mass Effect 3 Demo

I'm working through a headache for you, dear readers!

So I tried out the single player Mass Effect 3 demo yesterday while Mystic watched.  Best Valentines day ever.  It's only 2 hours worth of gameplay so I can't necessarily say what it means for the story as a whole, but I do know that it does give some impressions of the gameplay.

SPOILERS: BECAUSE SOME OF YOU WANT TO KEEP YOUR EXPERIENCE PURE

-The femshep that won the votes so long ago looks like an anime character
-The beginning part feels incomplete but it may just be due to the fact it's a friggin' demo.
-The little kid seemed obvious and annoying.  Old trope.  Not super sad he got fried.
-Health is no longer regenerating, but shields are, so be ready to actually use those medi-pacs.
-Vangaurds are going to want to use the fuck out of Nova
-Councils are a goddamn waste of time still
-You are now shooting at Cerberus, not for Cerberus
-Leveling up now has more tiers and more splits.  This is good, for strategery
-You have 3 different ways to play, and that's alright by me because I can still play the way I want
-Walking seems a little slow in the game, I'm not sure if that's just me or in general.
-Yes it's glitchy.  I hope EA allows BioWare to make this a well developed game, rather than rushing everything.  I CAN WAIT, YOU WILL STILL GET MY MONEY EA TAKE YOUR TIME!

Finally, I find that there are a lot of people being nitpicky on the demo.  I understand the high expectations, but guys, give it a break.  Ashley's face doesn't look right?  Really?  I thought she looked like a horse since day one, haven't changed that much.  Some other things have bothered people, including the kid scene and the glitches.  Luckily I don't think that's indicative of what the game will be.  The demo seems to be a repeat of what was at E3, meaning any changes since then may not have been added.  On top of that certain things may have been cut out merely for the benefit of enjoying a brief but exciting demo.  Please don't think the demo has everything.

I will say that the demo didn't suck, so I'm still going to buy the game.  And that's all I was looking to know from the demo.

Date Games: For the avid video gamer and his or her companion

Happy Valentines Day everyone!

I've been trying to work on another of my random rants about gender in nerd circles, but technical difficulties and a weird weekend have distracted me.  I wanted to make sure I had something up for this happy day of love when Mystic and I will hopefully be enjoying the Mass Effect 3 demo that is supposed to be out today. The two of us, like a lot of couples, don't feel the need to go out to dinner or get each other expensive gifts.

One thing we have always done together is video games.  Right around the time this blog was started was around the time I finally started getting back into video games.  They were a past time that a lot of friends enjoyed, so I would watch them play and I got sucked into the world.  And then Mystic introduced me to PC gaming and I was sold.  It was nice to finally have the ability to hit what I was trying to shoot at.

But many of us who are into video games are dating someone who does not like them as much.  How do you introduce them to the gaming world that many people consider a singular experience?  Surprisingly, finding a date game isn't that hard.  Here are a few games that actually are great to play together.

Super Mario Galaxy 2

This is a great pick if your significant other wants to try video games but isn't sure where to start.  Have the more adept platformer jump around as Mario, and have the other be the star.  You would not believe how helpful that star it.  Killing enemies, holding platforms still, collecting all the star pieces you missed--it is such an improvement to the gameplay experience.  And all you have to do is point your Wiimote!

Borderlands

If your partner is willing to try something a bit more hardcore, Borderlands can be a great start.  If you pick the right character, you don't have to be that good at shooting to kill all the ruffians you come across, and there is a lot of humor that non-gamers can appreciate.  On top of that all the DLC can help you focus on the  funny stories or just shooting the hell out of bad guys.

Mass Effect Series

Mass Effect 1 and 2 are great if you're lucky enough to be with someone who is willing to watch a well written video game.  The series has a compelling story and it's easy to be involved.  One of the best way to play this is to have the person who likes an action game play, but have the person watching make all the dialogue choices and big decisions.  That way everyone is involved and you only need one controller.

Rail Shooters

The genre was made to be played with at least two people.  The Wii has been bringing back the genre a little bit, but sometimes just going to an arcade and reeking havoc onto some random terrorist (which is half of the plots for arcade rail shooters) is great fun.  This is good if your significant other is willing to try something that is easy to learn but hard to master.  Mystic and I will do these from time to time, and will still waste tons of change on it.

Racing Games

If you're a couple into a little bit of healthy competition, it's not actually a bad thing.  Beating each other isn't violent, it's a time trial, so it's more about skill and focusing on your screen than "Haha I got you!".  Also, a lot of racing games have a mode that is less on racing and more on ridiculous goals like crashing cars, which is great if you want to play with someone who doesn't have the speed skills you may have.

Additionally, here are some games that do not bode well for a date night.

Real Time Strategies

RTSs in general are very hard to get into if you're a non gamer, so not a great first introduction to the hobby.  Even if the two of you are avid gamers, the kind of thinking one uses for an RTS is very strategic and economical, not the kind of thinking that fosters togetherness.  Although the two of you may be successful preventing a Protos invasions, it's not going to make the two of you think you make a great couple, just great generals.

"Typical" First Person Shooters (i.e. Call of Duty, Halo, etc.)

These are great games to play with friends that don't mind the competition, but solely with your spouse or who you're dating, and it can quickly become a one on one battle to the death.  Unless you can team up against bots, the potential for frustration at trying to shoot each other can grow a little to easily, and spill over out of the game and between the two of you.

Massive Multiplayer Online Games

It's not that these games are a bad thing to play with a significant other, but they're bad date games.  Any game that reminds you about the downsides of anonymity on the internet is not going to be a great place to bond with your sweetie.

Skyrim

For those of you who play Skyrim, you understand.  For those of you who don't play Skyrim, imagine the frustration of dating someone addicted to an opiate, and now imagine that transferred from your loved one's computer monitor into their brain.  It's that addictive, and although it's a great game to watch, it typically will not be an experience that will bring you closer together.

Of course every couple is special like a snowflake, so these suggestions may not ring true for you and your honey.  However, if you want to get a general idea on where to start, I think the first games mentioned are great if you want to avoid crowded restaurants and overpriced chocolate today.

Some more thoughts on Skyrim

Mystic mentioned as a joke that we could just both hang out and play Skyrim on our respective computers when he comes over to visit tomorrow and I was excited about the idea.

I have serious issues.

But let me show you a little of what I've been wasting my time on.  When I first started playing, I made a character that is a Khajit.  They're desert-based feline people.

I ended up making her a sneaky spellsword that is heavily into alchemy.  In most games you end up ditching your first character because you had no idea where to go with it.  In Skyrim since you only get better at the skills you use, it's easy to make a character that you want to play.  Akousa may sneak up on you with lightning and surprise poisons, but I also have a friend who proudly said he can beat dragons by punching them with his fists!  It's all about how you want your character to be, not about what the game lets them be.  And Akousa is great to play.  Though it's really funny now that the best armor doesn't cover her very well.

Somewhere there is a happy furry looking at this.

But I wanted to give myself a bit of a challenge now that I knew the game.  I made a new character named Sandahla, who is a Dunmer, also known as a dark elf.  I don't really have a good picture of what she looks like, so instead here is a picture I took that probably makes a fantastic background for someone's desktop.

Another great thing about playing a second time is that you can make your own background for your character.  The game doesn't focus on the past, but much more on the present.  Therefore in your head you would have to make up most of the personality of your character.  Knowing what I know now, I'm going in a path that makes Sandahla a "self-hating" Dunmer: she supports the rebels in the country of Skyrim, even though it means supporting a bunch of people that only want Nords (human natives) around and no one else.  But the rebels also didn't try the execute her; the Imperials did.  And Sandahla hols grudges deep.  Even if it means going against a group that may welcome some diversity in Skyrim, Sandahla's going to make the Imperials pay for almost chopping her gods-damned head off.  I really like being able to write some of the backgrounds in my head.

You may be able to expect some short stories about Sandahla and Akousa soon.  Also, yes I will get back to the Titania Chronicle too.  But of course, only when Skyrim stops sucking my soul dry.

Skyrim. Blame Skyrim.

I'm sorry dear readers that I haven't posted anything of late, but my brother did me the disadvantage of buying me Skyrim, the latest of the The Elder Scrolls video game series, and dear sweet merciful Tolkien did they ever make a fabulous game.  I usually not as much of a fan for something this superiorly open-ended in a fantasy RPG, but this is AMAZING!  It's a beautiful world that is constantly engaging and unique.

My steam account is d20Sapphire, if you want to friend me on their just say you're a fan of the blog when you do and I'll friend you, and then you'll get to see the tons of screenshots I have taken from that game with my Khajit named Akousa.  I'll post some pictures up here on the near future.

Other awesome nerdy Christmas gifts:  More RAM for my netbook thanks to Mystic, Batman: Arkham Asylum also from my brother, and zombie slippers courtesy of my friends in central IL.  Overall, it was an awesome haul.  Did any of you get awesome nerdy presents?  Feel free to let me know in the comments so I can tell you how jealous I am.

A new year, new posts and hopefully more time toward table-top is my new years resolution.  Hooray for 2012!

An Angry Letter

Dear Games for Windows Live,

I have no clue why you decide you are important in my single player game, or why you must force your update upon me when I finally have a chance to taste the awesome in Batman: Arkham Asylum with the threat of NOT BEING ABLE TO PLAY THE GAME I JUST RECEIVED.

Your DRM practices are atrocious and I'm sure millions of stolen copies of this game have been distributed around the globe.  Just like roaches, online pirateers never die.  And insulting their intelligence is only going to make them work harder at hacking your game.

You have now successfully made you games harder for legit purchasers to play for the small profit you might receive for being a jerk.  And knowing you, that profit is a pitiful amount compared to what you grossed off this game.  I mean, you still made it for consoles, right?  Then what the hell is your issue, you greedy twits?

In conclusion, Games for Windows Live, I sincerely hope you die in a fire.

With hate,

d20 Sapphire