Link (YouTube) |
So now Carth is wearing assless chaps and an Oculus Rift on his face. So is this the work of developers who wanted to grief the player with clown gear, or are we all victims or artists with no taste? Also, what BioWare game has the stupidest outfits? My money is on this one, but you could make the case that Jack and Samara could take the gold medal away from Carth’s chaps in the No-Dignity Olympics.
I’ve found that retrospectives like this one can be very therapeutic, both for the author and the audience. If we find ourselves annoyed and frustrated at the way the story has failed us, we can’t very well do anything to fix it besides compose ever-more convoluted headcanon to try and patch over the holes. But even though we can’t fix the story, there’s a certain satisfaction to be gained in enumerating and organizing the problems as a way to give them a sense of finality and closure.
The opening of Mass Effect 2 is doubly painful. Not only is it packed with retcons, but it’s also exposition-heavy and clumsy. This is painful because the first game had already paid off the expositional overhead. With the Mass Effect 1 setup, the second game would have been free to jump right into the action without the need for an extended series of setup scenes. By breaking from the existing status quo, the writer obliged themselves to twist the world in knots to make the new setup work, and then they executed the transition in the most desultory way possible.
At the opening of Mass Effect 2, the Normandy is flying around the Terminus Systems looking for Geth. A strange ship (the Collector ship) pops in, spots the Normandy despite their stealth driveI’m not going to cry foul over this one. Someone mentions it, so it’s not an oversight. I’m okay with them being able to spot the Normandy, given the handy excuse of “Reaper Tech”. It’s lampshaded. No foul. and attacks. Shepard runs around, gets seemingly “everyone” to the escape pods, and is then blown out into space. We see Shepard flailing, his suit leaking atmosphere, vanishing into the distance. As we fade out, we see what appear to be “re-entry” particle effects around him as he drifts towards the planet below.
Somber music plays, and we transition to the “bringing Shepard back from the dead” opening credits montage.
Some people insist Shepard didn’t really enter the atmosphere, simply because that is too stupid to believe.
Continue reading ⟩⟩ “Mass Effect Retrospective 16: Re-entry”
Link (YouTube) |
In this episode, Rutskarn proposes going through the planets in the order of Tatooine, Kashyyyk….
Hang on…
“Kashyyyk”? Really, Expanded Universe? Really? The Wookiee homeworld has THREE vowels in a row? And all of them are the letter “Y”? And nobody had a problem with this? Not even Georgeee Lucaaas? What are you doing with your proper nouns? This is madness.
ANYWAY.
In this episode, Rutskarn proposes going through the planets in the order of Tatooine, Kashyyyk, Manaan, and then Korriban. You’re free to do the planets in any order you like, but I’m willing to bet Zalbaar’s freedom that this is the order that most people favor for subsequent play-throughs. I suppose you could make a pretty good case for swapping Tatooine and Kashyyyk, but otherwise this seems like objectively the best order.
Basically, this ordering will maximize your choices with regards to party composition.
For those of you who played KOTOR more than once: What’s your preferred order?
Way back in July, I said the plan was to have the game “feature complete” by September. I think we sort of met that goal. We’ve completed all of the features planned so far, but I think everyone expects to add a few new features between now and the planned February 2016 release. We do have a mild case of Feature Creep, which can probably be managed through medication and therapy.
What we’ve done since July:
Last week I talked about Good Robot going to EGX. As of this writing, I don’t have the feedback from the public on the game. Although by the time I post this the show will be long over.
Continue reading ⟩⟩ “Good Robot #34: Guns, Guns, Guns”
Hey, folks, Rutskarn here. I think we can all agree that the one thing really missing on this blog–the one subject you’d demand a website called Twenty Sided cover–is the world of professional sports. With that in mind, may I present my foray into the first videogame adaptation of Blood Bowl.
“Congratulations, lad,” said McGurrt, “you just bought yourself a Blood Bowl team.”
I live a fast-paced life with little room for complications. That morning, I had followed a train of logic that followed: I needed money. Sports teams make money. This sports team was very cheap for probably no reason in particular. To learn any other details before signing the contract would be not only irresponsible, but inconsiderate towards the feelings of others, particularly: Vicker the Shark, Tomag Loansemdollar, Zigler the Shark, Knee Breakin’ Frank, Dickie the Shark, and Mr. I Will Kill All Deadbeats, Esq, whose interests rates were fantastic thank you very much.
“Something the matter?” said McGurrt. “You look worried.”
“What? No. Why would I be worried?”
“I don’t know. I mean, you haven’t even seen them yet.”
“Exactly!”
It turns out I’m not very good at spotting red flags.
Continue reading ⟩⟩ “Half Time CH1: No Quarter”
My column this week answers the question posed by the title, which means the Title Police can piss off and can’t refer to it as “clickbait”. (Seriously, the Title Police have become almost as annoying as the clickbaiters by this point. But that’s a topic for another day.)
This is yet another topic where you can go an inch deep or a mile deep, and you still won’t hit the bottom. It all depends on how much technical knowledge you demand of your audience. On the Escapist, I tried to keep things broad and accessible for general audiences.
But let’s look a little deeper:
Continue reading ⟩⟩ “Experienced Points: Why Do I Need to Restart the Game?”
Show notes: Continue reading ⟩⟩ “Diecast #122: Drew Karpyshyn at BioWare, Destiny, Assassins Creed, D&D”
This mess of dross, confusion, and terrible UI design is the storefront the big publishers couldn't beat? Amazing.
A look back at one of my favorite games. The gameplay was stellar, but the underlying story was clumsy and oddly constructed.
This is why shopping for graphics cards is so stupid and miserable.
What is this Vulkan stuff? A graphics engine? A game engine? A new flavor of breakfast cereal? And how is it supposed to make PC games better?
What's wrong with a game being "too videogameish"?
A look back at Star Trek, from the Original Series to the Abrams Reboot.
This is a massive step down in story, gameplay, and art design when compared to the 2014 soft reboot. Yet critics rated this one much higher. What's going on here?
One of the highest-rated games of all time has some of the least interesting gameplay.
It's not a legend. It was real. There was a time before DLC. Before DRM. Before crappy ports. It was glorious.
Scenes from Half-Life 2:Episode 2, showing Gordon Freeman being a jerk.
T w e n t y S i d e d
