Game Review: Mass Effect 3 - Part 2 - Where Do We Go From Here?

Here's Part 1 of the review if you haven't read it. If you have, here's a link so you don't feel left out.

"LENS FLARE!"

Role-Playing - "I'll take it from here, kid."

Here's the thing I've never quite liked about Mass Effect. It claims that it's an RPG, yet there have been very few instances throughout the series where your choices actually mattered. Yeah, the Council; yeah, Wrex, but none of it really changed anything. In KotOR, you could kill off half your party and conquer the galaxy. In Fallout: New Vegas, you could destroy an entire city and take over the Mojave. In Alpha Protocol, one decision could keep you from seeing a large portion of the game (in favor of another portion).

Not to mention Shepard. I'll say it again, voiced protagonists are really not conducive to a true RPG. When your character is saying things that you wouldn't say, or doing things that you have no control of, with a voice that really isn't yours, then you're not really role-playing, are you? I've always maintained that even though the Mass Effect games are some of the best I've played in a long time, they're not proper RPGs. Which has always been a strange thing to associate with BioWare, the company who has arguably made some of the best ever.

But the beauty of Mass Effect 3 is that, very suddenly, a lot of those choices that you made in the last two games suddenly come back around where they hadn't before. It's like you were firing your gun into the air throughout ME1 and ME2, and this is the game where all those bullets fall back to earth and just mess you up.

Without having played the game a second time without an imported save, I don't know how much of the game was just coincidence and how much was an actual alteration of the game based on my decisions. But what I saw was everything coming back around; like an overblown karma simulator.

There were quests in Mass Effect 1 that seemed insignificant at the time, people I talked to maybe once or twice, and little decisions that seemed to amount to nothing. In Mass Effect 3, I was suddenly talking to these people again, seeing how my little decisions altered the course of their lives - sometimes for the better, sometimes not - and in some cases, it actually helped me out. How many series have you played where being nice to an NPC in the first game amounts to a reward in the third? Not too many. If nothing else, this is what really impressed me about the game.

The other thing I mentioned up there was the voiced protagonist. I do hesitantly support it in the Mass Effect series, if only because that's how they've always done things. (I will never support a voiced protagonist in, say, Dragon Age 2. It didn't/doesn't/won't make sense - ever.) What got me worried in the demo was that the dialogue options that you're provided are noticeably slim. That is to say, where in the last games you were typically provided a few options to respond and then some "investigate" options, here you're typically provided only two responses: with one being amicable and the other being aggressive.

This was tough to accept, but I eventually warmed up to it. What it appears BioWare did was take up all that disc space that would've been committed to Shepard's various and frequent responses, and passed it on to the other NPCs and Shepard himself. In this game, there is noticeably more dialogue coming from NPCs, and although Shepard does a lot of the talking without any input from you (which I typically don't like), it makes the whole game feel a bit more even, more cinematic. And honestly, that's what the games have always been trending toward. Immersion definitely suffers, but you feel more engaged in the story.

You'll still have to make some tough decisions, as I said before, but you won't get many decisions involving the direction of the conversation. If that was something you outright loved in the previous games, you might be disappointed here. Much more than the other games, Shepard feels like his own character here.

I'm fine with this. Mass Effect could never really figure out if it wanted to be an RPG or a cinematic action game. With Mass Effect 3, it finally finds some footing somewhere, so the overall experience is a more consistent one. It's not trying to be everything at once. Now, it's only trying to be Mass Effect, which is cool by me.

But I still won't accept this in Dragon Age. I won't and I can't. Let Mass Effect be Mass Effect. Dragon Age 3, look to Dragon Age: Origins for inspiration!

"I want to be a Reaper."

The Characters - "To Hell and Back."

What really made the game memorable was how pretty much all the characters from the last two games make a comeback - with the exception of those you killed off or got killed, of course. This wasn't like the Star Wars prequels, where somehow all the classic characters made illogical comebacks. Here, all the old characters are written back into the story with the right amount of patience and logic. You never really feel like BioWare's throwing everyone back into the mix, saying, "Look! Garrus! You fans like Garrus, right? He's here! Calibrations!"

It's done with a little more tact than that. Indeed, the characters seem to come through a lot more intensely in this game. Now that they're given more time to talk, unlike in ME2 where they'd suddenly shut up for the rest of the game after two conversations, you can really get to know everyone all over again.

And this being the end of the series and the end of all things, you see a more vulnerable bunch of characters, who see everything that they know and love coming to an end beneath the Reaper invasion. You're not the only one with their homeworld being ravaged, and you'll actually get into a number of conversations where sympathy comes into play. Suddenly, you and all these races from all walks of life share something very personal. You're all losing a home.

There's little else I can say without spoiling things, but I would say that this game has probably the best batch of characters out of any other BioWare game going all the way back to KotOR. When all is said and done, you really do feel like you're bidding real people with real lives a fond farewell. It's an amazing accomplishment for the series and for the company, especially given BioWare had every reason to completely ignore all of it. The goodbyes were all the more heartbreaking because of this.

The Ending - "Departing Known Space"

Note: Again, I'll try to keep this spoiler-free, but just in case, you might want to avoid this section if you don't want to know anything about the ending.

BioWare have said continuously that Mass Effect 3 is the end of the series, Commander Shepard's story arc, and other such things. I will say this much: they weren't lying.

This ending represents a lot of things for the Mass Effect universe. Up until now, the Reapers' greater purpose has been shrouded in mystery, as was the Illusive Man's ultimate role in everything. Why were you brought back to life? Why is the Illusive Man so obsessed with the Reapers? What are the Reapers? Why are they being such intergalactic dicks to everyone?

Most of all: How do you stop an unstoppable force that has already decimated the Council races?

All of these questions will be answered, and then some. Unlike Dragon Age 2, there's no towering billboard raised up just before the credits that reads, "Stay tuned for Mass Effect 4!" No, this is it. This is the end - in more ways than one.

But I guess the big question here, more than anything else, is whether or not the end of a trilogy that we've been following for the better part of five years lived up to expectations. Basically: Is this a satisfying end to the Mass Effect trilogy?

Well... no. It's not.

Well, why the fuck is that?!

I don't know.

You better have some answers, man! I'm playing this thing right now and I don't want to be pissed off when I finish it!

Without spoiling anything, I'll say this. The entire series has been leading up to this "final battle" between the Reapers and the allied forces that Shepard is able to unite. That final battle is one of the most magnificent and exhilarating sequences in any game that I've played. And it's only elevated by everything that's at stake. If you care for the story, for the characters, for an end to the conflict: you'll feel the fire lit under you. It's an all out war against the Reapers, and it's extraordinary.

Everything starts to resolve itself. Questions are answered. Conflicts are put to rest. A lot of people die. It all converges at this moment when you start saying to yourself, "This is it. This is the end, and that was amazing." And then you start expecting the credits to roll.

But they don't, and in the last five minutes of the game, the story makes a sudden and drastic right turn into Lost territory. It's so sudden, so out of nowhere, and so utterly devastating in terms of its implications for the universe at large, I pretty much just sat there, staring blankly at the screen asking myself, "What the fuck just happened?"

It makes no sense. It feels like BioWare outsourced the final moments to the lowest bidder and slapped it on there. Compared to the extraordinary amount of love and care that went into the other 99.9% of the game, the last 0.01% seems like hate mail. It's just impossible to reconcile what it does and what it means with the rest of the game. I wasn't expecting a happy ending or anything like that, but I certainly wasn't expecting to be mindfucked.

For me, the game ended twenty minutes earlier, when you say goodbye to everyone before the final battle. That's the ending, and it's a damned good one. The ending that BioWare throws in there at the last minute exists solely to confuse and aggravate. To make matters worse, it's horribly derivative. I won't pretend to know what the developers were thinking when they wrote that ending, but it was very likely contempt.

I know this because my first reaction when I shut off the game was, "What did I do wrong?"

In Summation - "Beyond the Point of No Return."

Despite that last minute ending, Mass Effect 3 hit all the right notes, with a single sour chord being struck at the end of the composition. Everything up until that ending, if I might say so, is absolutely brilliant. This game was made for fans of Mass Effect. Legitimate arguments can be made concerning their use of Day One DLC and their other questionable marketing tactics, but the game itself is solid. If you've followed the series thus far with much excitement, then this last chapter will just about tip you over the edge.

As far as the story and the characters are concerned, there's no going back. As such, the game retains an "all or nothing" feeling throughout. If it stumbles, it does so when it's of no consequence. If it does something terrible, it's that it tried to go out in an ambitious and unpredictable way instead of taking the responsible route.

But for all intents and purposes, this is a satisfying conclusion to the series and an interesting, new beginning for the Mass Effect universe. I have no idea where future games in the franchise will go, how they'll function, who we'll meet. If nothing else, the galaxy that Commander Shepard and the crew of the Normandy SR-2 leave us with is an uncertain one, born of immeasurable sacrifice and steadfast friendships, upon which all things will be built.

4.5 out of 5 Stars

Hear Me Out: Mass Effect 3 & The Curious Case of Day One DLC

Its kinda funny, because Knights of the Old Republic on the Xbox was my first real experience with DLC. I wouldn't call it substantial or anything, but there you go. Upon hearing about it, I busted out the ethernet cable and hooked my Xbox up to the internet for the first time. It was an odd experience. Xbox Live wasn't really a thing at the time; people used it, but mostly for Halo 2. No one I personally knew used it, at least.

So the thing boots up, slowly, and I'm greeted with a little screen that lists the DLC for KotOR. "Yavin Station" it was called, and I was unreasonably excited at the time. Shouldn't have been, since it really only amounted to a brief encounter with an NPC and a little bit of loot - and, I guess, the geek delight of being in orbit somewhere in the Yavin System. All in all, it was a brief distraction.

But you know what? It was free! The price was absolutely right for BioWare's first attempt at console-based DLC. And we've come a long way since then.

Now, I'm certainly not saying that BioWare should've kept releasing free DLC, because I know that's not how the world works. (Except in CDProjekt's magical realm.) My main problem with BioWare has always been what's actually in the DLC. That problem really started emerging during the release of Dragon Age: Origins; for as much as I absolutely love that freaking game... most of the DLC is shit. Why is that?

During the initial release, there was a deluxe edition for DA:O that included "Warden's Keep" for free. It wasn't in the standard or collector's editions, though. Everyone else had to pay $7 for the add-on at launch. Sound familiar? And the primary selling point of the add-on wasn't really the story, it was that it came with the only storage chest in the game. In a loot-heavy game like Dragon Age: Origins, you had to buy, with real money, a means to store it all if you didn't want to manage your inventory over the course of an 80 hour game. Some would say that's a more egregious overstep in "DLC ethics" than "From Ashes".

BioWare's slowly building a history of being that company that makes compelling games, and then sells you the pieces that made them compelling. They've shown that they're not afraid of selling you the ending to a story they've built up. "Lair of the Shadow Broker" is by and large the most celebrated piece of DLC BioWare's put out in a long time - yet, it's the ending to a story that's been built up over the course of two games. The mystery of the Shadow Broker was introduced in Mass Effect and continued well into the sequel. An intriguing story that you cannot finish unless you buy the add-on.

Another couple of examples that I'd call to the forefront would be "Return to Ostagar" and "Normandy Crash Site." In both of these add-ons, you're returning to a place of much relevance to your respective characters. In DA:O, you're returning to the place where you became a Grey Warden, met Alistair, Duncan, and witnessed the Battle of Ostagar. There's a lot of history in that little part of the game. Same with "Normandy Crash Site." Obviously, the Normandy played a big part in the first game, and seeing it destroyed in the opening moments of Mass Effect 2 is what really hooked you back into the story.

Both of these were cut away from the main game and sold as DLC. (Though "Normandy Crash Site" did come with new copies of ME2.) Why these parts specifically? Let's say I'm in charge of writing the stories for DLC, and I literally have thousands of years of history and an entire galaxy to use as my canvas: why, then, would I make an add-on that would make for such a compelling moment for players who truly love the lore of these games? Why do that instead of keeping them in the game, thereby bettering the product as a whole, and focusing on something else?

Well, I might have just answered my own question.

And that's really the sad part for me. BioWare would rather piece out key character moments and sell them separately (or use them as a means to combat piracy/used game sales) rather than just focus on delivering a whole game. They're known for their stories, their narratives, their universes; so what does that say when they're completely a-okay with holding all of these hostage to bring in more sales?

It makes them a business, certainly, that much is true. But for some reason, that's never how I saw BioWare. Ever since Knights of the Old Republic, I saw them as a bunch of storytellers first and a corporation second, sci-fi/fantasy fans, whose main goal was to deliver immersive, story-based RPGs. It took the atrocity that was Dragon Age 2 for me to realize, "Holy crap, they really don't care anymore, do they?" Dragon Age 2: a game where they literally left holes in the narrative so that they might be filled at a later time by DLC. Dragon Age 2: a game that spoiled its own endgame plot twist in its day one add-on, "The Exiled Prince."

So, here comes "From Ashes", an add-on that'll be available the day Mass Effect 3 is released. From what's been confirmed, we not only run into a living Prothean, but we also make a return trip to Eden Prime - both of which are huge developments with regards to the lore, and most fans will take notice of why this is the case. Eden Prime, much like the Normandy Crash Site and Ostagar, represents a key moment in the series. It's the place that kicked off Shepard's trilogy, and includes the member of a race that might as well be the True Sith by comparison. (Pre-SWTOR True Sith, when they were still a mystery.) So, of course, that's all up for sale now. A galaxy's worth of stories to tell, and that's the one they pick.

I'm still baring in mind that we don't know all the details yet. BioWare could turn around and release a small bit of info that would make us all realize we blew this way out of proportion. Regardless, BioWare still managed to spoil the fact that we even have Protheans in the game to begin with by ensuring this DLC was a little more crucial than it needed to be... and on Day One.

BioWare's still going to end up getting my money out of this - for the game, at least, not for the DLC. It just has to happen, though I hate myself for it. They're building on a foundation that means a lot to me, just as The Old Republic did. I want to see how the story ends, though I'm amazed that throwing $60 at this thing won't get me the whole package at launch.

Hear Me Out - Dragon Age II: Legacy

"Call me Captain Kirkwall."

It's odd that Dragon Age: Origins had such a profound effect on me -but it totally did. Wandering Ferelden as one of the last Grey Wardens in the nation, trying to save the world with a group of companions that happened to include a perpetually-smashed dwarf and a witch that Ayn Rand would probably wink at was just an amazing experience. One of the best in my gaming life this side of Knights of the Old Republic.

All this to say: Dragon Age II is still pissing me off. I didn't think it was possible to be so frustrated over a video game for so long, but here we are, what, almost four months since release? I'm still peeved! I look at my little "shrine" where I have my copies of KotOR I & II, my Darth Revan action figures (Thank you, Chris!), and my first copy of DA:O, and I wonder... Why isn't DA2 up there?! How, in the name of all that is excellent did the sequel to one of my most favorite games become something worth getting rid of?! Bioware, I can't believe you've done this!

To my credit, I did play the game twice to make sure, and the decision was made: I don't like Dragon Age 2. Not strictly because it was an average game, but because it was a terrible sequel. It lacked the polish that BioWare games are known for (recycled dungeons), it completely kicked fans of the first game to the curb ("Who the f**k is the Warden?"), and had probably one of the worst endings in the history of ever.

I could go on, but I won't. So how does a fan of DA:O, who ultimately feels stiffed by BioWare's recent antics in the realm of Thedas, react to a new add-on for DA2 that supposedly addresses fan complaints concerning the game? My first question is: Which complaint? There are so many they're practically Legion. But, in any case, it's sort of a weird situation, and I guess whether or not I actually buy it will depend on a few things: primarily the reactions from people on the official forums (who, like me, are still up in arms); if BioWare pleases that crowd, then they must have done something very right.

Another thing would be the price point. I don't want to sink another 15 to 20 dollars into a game in the hopes of finding some redeeming value in the DLC. I'm not necessarily saying that they should give it away for free (though that would certainly be a great gesture to their fanbase), but I'm hoping they slap a reasonable number on there. And the rest is all in the details, I guess.

In truth, I really do hope that BioWare has been serious about this. I want this to do good, and be some sort of pseudo-redemption for the company and for the franchise. A ridiculous standard to hold it to, I guess, but that really is what it has to be for me. It has to be good if I'm ever going to be excited about Dragon Age ever again. It has to blow my preconceptions about it out of the water, and it has to prove that BioWare really have been listening.

But while I continue to hope, Obsidian is close to putting out an add-on that I'll be buying immediately. So there's that.

DLC Review - Mass Effect 2: Arrival

"The number of people Shepard has just disappointed with this DLC."

Let's say you've made a video game series that has just taken the industry by storm: an in-depth, absolutely gorgeous, and intriguing space opera that has sold millions of copies around the world. While fans hold their breath for the sequel, you decide you want to send this last game out with a bang before the inevitable conclusion to the series: an epilogue, if you will. Wouldn't it behoove you to make a bookend that will just...gosh...blow the player away, so that they have no choice to wait for the next chapter on pins and needles?

Wouldn't it?

BioWare?

...Wouldn't it?

To those of you who have not played this last add-on for Mass Effect 2 - dubiously-named "Arrival," since nothing technically arrives just yet - I'll keep spoilers to a minimum. But, honestly, there's not much to spoil; your best guess is probably better than what this add-on has to offer.

The add-on begins as all of them inevitably do: "You have a new message waiting for you at your private terminal." This time, Shepard takes it in his office, and it turns out to be Admiral Hackett, who contacts you through your...model ship display. I kid you not. Basically, the good admiral needs you to rescue one of his contacts, who has hard evidence of a Reaper invasion and would like her rescued because of this.

But let's back this up real quick and analyse this. First: Why would a model ship display double as a monitor? Shepard has like 100 real monitors at his disposal. Secondly: You have to realize that Hackett is asking you, Shepard, to rescue this scientist because she supposedly has the Reaper's smoking gun. Because, certainly, Shepard has never had any dealings with the Reapers in the past, and has absolutely no evidence to back him up - well, depending. But anyway, Hackett's basically looking you in the eye and saying those two games' worth of action weren't enough to convince anyone (still!), so you'll have to do a bit more.

"Okay," says I. And suddenly everyone forgets that the Alliance Navy spent the entirety of ME2 snubbing Shepard on account of his ties to Cerberus.

But here's the real kicker. Admiral Hackett wants Shepard to go in alone. Why? Because he feels that any more than one person going in and shooting up the place will result in the scientist being killed by her Batarian captors. "Go in alone, or don't go in at all," he tells me. So, perhaps fearing Hackett's omnipotence, I agree. Even though, if it were up to me, I definitely would have brought Garrus along. Just saying.

This kicks off what is essentially an hour's worth of running and gunning, with little substance beyond what occurs in the last ten minutes (and even that wasn't all that impressive). There are no real decisions to make other than to agree eagerly or indifferently. There is one outstanding moral dilemma, but the game will not let you make it since Shepard automatically agrees with the entire thing. So, for pretty much the entire hour, you're on moral autopilot.

And let's not forget the twist, which I found so laughably bad and cliched that I got myself killed from the shock of it.

After being so disappointed by Dragon Age 2, I cannot believe I've been stung twice by BioWare in a single month. This was not the add-on or the epilogue that "Arrival" should have been. This wasn't worth all the promotion, hype, and the little advertisements that were sent along inside copies of DA2. What this $8 add-on amounts to is an hour of shooting guards and a revelation of what might happen in Mass Effect 3, though I doubt it'll be all that impactful, since you're still going to have players who won't get this add-on. The story can't change dramatically for some.

If you've bought all of the DLC and just have to buy this, then I won't stop you, but I can tell you that I was very, very disappointed by "Arrival". Heartbroken, might be a better word. It's a huge shift in quality that I wasn't expecting after the very good "Lair of the Shadow Broker." I find myself saying the same thing after Dragon Age 2. All they had to do was match the quality of the last game (or DLC) and they would've been golden. Instead, they slapped together something for a quick dollar, selling people on their reputation instead of the quality I know they're capable of.

1 out of 5 Stars

First Impressions: Dragon Age 2 Demo

Yeah, this is a week late. My Xbox Live Gold subscription expired a few weeks back, and I've had little reason to renew it. (Though I do miss Netflix and BC2. A lot.) But I digress...

EDIT: [Hello readers, this is Buch - the other writer here on the blog - hijacking so that I can offer a few comments. I'll be using this font, and square brackets. I should say that I actually downloaded the 'Dragon Age 2' demo on the day, and started so many blogs about it, but could never decide what I wanted to say.]

I wasn't quite sure if I wanted to download the demo for Dragon Age (Where's the colon and subtitle?) 2, since I'm not the biggest fan of spoilers, and BioWare loves to let a bunch fly just before a release. But I gave in. My curiosity has been building for over a year, and I just had to know: Just how bad did BioWare fuck up?

Sorry for cursing.

[Knightfall curses all the time.]

After playing it, I'm finding myself very, very, very, very torn. Visually, the game is a lot better. Gameplay-wise, it's also much better in some respects. But there are a few things that really made me say aloud, "Are you fraking serious?" I think Dragon Age (Why is there no colon?) 2 is going to do its share of pleasing, while bringing a bit of backlash upon itself at the same time. Of course, the game will probably sell very well, and get tons of acclaim thrown its way, so while I might go off on a rant here, I'm very certain none of it will be changed in time for DA3.

[I agree that the character models and general graphics are strongly improved. But one of the things I noticed was a general poor quality in design. During the demo's few scant levels, the backgrounds look very dodgy to me. Just blank, dark, empty post-battle fields. I was reminded strongly of my first approach to Kvatch in 'Oblivion', and how much more affected I was back then. The backgrounds were dull, that one character has inappropriately brightly-coloured hair. The bad hair was one thing I was sure would be fixed in this game I'm not sure I'd say this game looks a lot better.]

The Pros:

-Combat: Ever since the game was announced, BioWare have been emphasizing that, this time around, you'll be able to "press a button and something will happen." Very vague to those of us who were already familiar with the concept of cause and effect. What they really meant is that, now, when you use one of your spells or talents, it connects. Your character won't start freaking out or slowly maneuver into position.

No, when you hit the backstab talent, Hawke immediately jumps behind the enemy and backstabs. There's no delay, there's no assuming the position (giggity). When all is said and done, it's really nice. Reminds me a lot of World of Warcraft.

[It's so good to see that the combat has not been dumbed-down - or at least, only to a very small extent. Personally, I preferred the old semi-turn-based method, but this works too. And it does feel great not to have three misses in every five attacks. There are a couple of other little touches about combat - archery is no longer underpowered, thank goodness. You can hit people with your staff or bow if they get too close, and there are cool little combat animations for everyone.
Bloody mages, however, are still bloody overpowered.]

-Character Design: I've interacted with a number of characters, and so far each of them have looked unique from each other. Not only that, but male and female body types have been refined, so that a woman with a full suit of armor doesn't look like a man, and a man with a full suit of armor doesn't look like the Incredible Hulk. Skin textures are better (a lot less shiny), and proportions are more realistic. Definitely an improvement in this regard.

There's also a lot of boob action going on. I feel that I should mention that.

-Goddamn Action: There have been a load of cutscenes, but characters seem much more animated. They interact with each other, gesture as they speak, and there's a lot more drama to it. So far, it's been refreshing. It was not uncommon in DA:O for a party of characters to just stand there, moving only their head and a single arm the entire time. And I haven't noticed any repetition in their movements, so that's something.

[The only thing that does bother me here is that the dialogue / cutscenes seem to be very, very similar to 'Mass Effect'. 'Mass Effect' of course has incredible cinematic, dramatic qualities, so it's no bad thing. But it does make Dragon Age 2 seem less unique, which I picked up on a lot and didn't like.]

-Talent/Skill Trees: I like that the trees have been cleaned up a little. There seem to be just as many as there were in DA:O, but it's loads easier to find what you are looking for. Plus, there's a greater variety, so it's likely you won't be putting all of your points into one single tree. I know, for the most part, that was the case for me.

Also, it seems like there are fewer sustained spells, which I like. Playing as a rogue, I just wanted more attacks, but I was constantly loaded down with buffs and things like songs. Save those for the mages.

[Well-said.
One gripe I have with the skill trees is that almost all of the skills I saw were very familiar. It's pretty much the exact same set of abilities as in the original game. This seems lazy.]

-Visuals: The first part of the demo takes you just outside of Lothering. Though, I didn't know that part of Ferelden was that barren, the place does look nice. There's more color, better shading, and the overall sense of ambiance is more pronounced than in DA:O, where there were times you could swear you were looking at a still image.

-Armor: One of my main gripes with DA:O was that no matter what piece of armor you found, epic or no, they all looked alike. In DA2 there seems to be a greater variety, which makes my heart smile.

-References: There were only a couple direct references to Dragon Age: Origins, but they really did get me excited. I really think this game is going to live or die for me based on how well it honors all that I managed to pull off in the first game. And seeing Flemeth again was awesome. She looks much more like a Witch of the Wilds now, and Kate Mulgrew really knocked it out of the park this time. She was amazing.

[Yes, but the very fact that Flemeth looked so different - at the same time as the original game was set - really annoyed me. Already we're retconning the original. This bodes ill. I know, I know she can shapeshift.]

The Cons:

-Hawke: Though I'm warming up to the concept, I still think a sequel to Dragon Age: Origins would have been so much better with a greater emphasis on character attachment. Hawke's backstory has already been written. He's human, he's got a voice that isn't yours, and he's already a Champion. I just feel like there's very little room for role-playing in that equation. I would have loved to be an elf again, or even a qunari! We could have spent the story living in the aftermath of your Warden's actions, but now we're completely circumventing it.

I'm not so disappointed anymore, since the story is actually shaping up rather well, but I do feel an echo of what I was feeling as I played through Fable III: that this is a major missed opportunity to really capitalize on what made DA:O great and very replayable. Only time will tell (a week, to be precise) how I'll feel about DA2, but I think BioWare is getting too caught up in letting you play someone else's story instead of letting you feel like you're creating your own.

[This is my main worry as well. I really do fear that 'Dragon Age: Origins' will be the last new game I'll ever play with proper dialogue trees and a silent, personalised main character with a name and backstory I made up.

Of course, as I mentioned earlier, that's not to say that the cinematic 'Mass Effect' style isn't wonderful. I just wish Dragon Age would continue along as it began. Hopefully it will remain more of an RPG, and parts of the character and story, like the inventory and combat, will stay basically the same.]

-Hack and Slash: I groaned very loudly when I hit the A button to attack and Hawke slashed once, then stopped. Let me say this: stuff like this only works with a game like Fable, where the gameplay is so simple that you can easily get through the game without worrying about health or mana, etc. But when I have to worry about health, stamina, cooldowns, party members, and crowd control, I do not want to do all that whilst smashing the A button a billion times during a fight.

[And it gets bloody tiresome if your character, like my archer, is stood still at the back of the fight. Your thumb is going to get tired playing this.]

I've lost track of my health several times already, and actually died once. Died! In the demo! I think it'll get tiring after a while (I'm kind of tired of it already) and I think the whole thing could've been handled with a lot more zazz. I seem to remember there was mention of an auto attack option, ala WoW, DA:O, and every other f*%king cRPG in existence, and if so, I'll be okay. I don't know why they thought doing this by default for a 30+ hour game was a good thing, though.

-Hawke's Voice: I'm not a big fan of what I've heard so far. Male Hawke definitely sounds better than Fem Hawke, but I'd rank them both below Mark Meer at his ME1 worst. And I really don't get why they even give us the option to choose what Hawke says if s/he is just going to go off on his/her own tangent during some cutscenes, anyway. There were many instances where he would talk at random and say things that I would never say.

[I must leap to the game's defence here. I seem to be the only one who thinks so, but the male Hawke sounded pretty good to me! He's not the best actor Bioware ever hired, but I thought he was good enough. He is certainly more impressive than Mark Meer as Commander Shepard! The female actor wasn't terrible, either. Not as good as the bloke, for sure, but.]

-How you gonna act?!: Despite the fact that BioWare were very aware that fans were annoyed with how they could not predict how Shepard was really going to react when they picked a certain option on the dialog wheel, they've somehow managed to make it even worse here. There were many, many times when I'd pick an option that made no sense, and it alluded to something that also made no sense.

After this one character dies (kind of a spoiler) I chose an option that stated: "She won't be alone." Immediately, I was thinking, "Why won't she be alone? Like, spiritually or on the battlefield? Are we going to kill a bunch of darkspawn to keep her company up there?" But no; Hawke says, "At least she'll give father some company."

What?! That doesn't even make any sense! No one's spoken one word about Hawke's father since the demo began. How would I know that? Or that Hawke would say anything about his father? And so the divide between character and player knowledge widened, and I didn't like it.

[In an odd way, this is actually something I like about the dialogue in 'Dragon Age 2' and the Mass Effect series. It makes the player feel like he's in Hawke / Shepard's head, making snap decisions. I think the reason I like it so much is because it reminds me of 'Fahrenheit' AKA 'Indigo Prophecy', which gave you a few seconds to speak, and one or two-word clues.

It makes you feel as if you're really having that conversation. Just as in real life, there's no time to carefully plan out your words. You think of vaguely what you want to say, commit and see what comes out of your mouth. If Hawke / Shepard says something you didn't intend, you feel annoyed and try to backtrack, with limited success - just like in real life. Even though I would prefer DA2 to continue the style DA:O used, I really do like this feature.]

-A word in edgewise: Hawke's not given nearly as many opportunities to speak as the Warden did during DA:O. I kept waiting for my turn to speak, only to hear Hawke say something I didn't want him to. Again with the disconnect.

-Leveling: This might not amount to much after a while, but it quickly got annoying that I was leveling up once every four or five minutes. Which meant I had to pause the game, mess with my stats, mess with my skills and repeat for every other character that leveled along with me. I liked to put a lot of thought into where each of the points are going, so having to do it every few minutes made me grind my teeth a little.

Also, though I really like the layout of the skill/talent trees, they really don't give you many options at first. Though I had like six different trees and a ton of different options, only one or two were unlocked. So I didn't really get to see the "in-depth customization" side of it.

-Party Members: While I'm glad you can still mess with their stats, I'm not very happy that you won't be able to change their armor, especially since there seems to be a greater variety now. That's just the anti-RPG right there. I didn't like that they did that with ME2 and I still don't like it now. (Ten bucks says there will be plenty of alternate costume DLC though.)

[And you know I'll be buying every pauldron of it! Oh WHY must you be so tempting, DLC. I think the fact that I'm betraying myself and all players makes me want that alternate armour even more.]

So! That was my experience with the demo. Had to replay it (which I didn't want to do) because it glitched one of the quests, so now I'm well-versed in the opening moments of the game. Hate that. Despite my gripes, I'm still going to give Dragon Age: Two a fair shot. I still think this whole thing is a missed opportunity, but I know that it'll have a good story nonetheless. I just wish BioWare would stop playing it safe.

[I can't add anything to that - Anthony put it better than I could there. And yet here I am, taking the last word.

Dragon Age: Twenty Two and a Half will be set in Thedas (an in-joke for 'THE Dragon Age Setting'), and thus I will love it. The pirate girl looks rather silly and exploitative, but I'm already in love with the dwarf narrator. I have my doubts about the storyline and loyalty to the original game, but I do now know that there will be lots of cute little touches, good voice acting overall, and one completely new, and welcome, addition to the Dragon Age experience - cinematic storytelling.

When the seeker cried 'bullshit', immediately ending the prologue, shattering my understanding of the scene and very cleverly silencing all the questions I'd been preparing, I stopped criticising the demo for a moment and just enjoyed the scene. Our beloved 'Origins' never did anything like that (except maybe when Leliana started singing).

But that moment was comparable, and it happened in the first few minutes. If the full game keeps up that pace, we'll be laughing.]

DLC Review/Rant: Mass Effect 2 - Lair of the Shadow Broker, Stolen Memory, Overlord

I don't know what it is about downloadable content that gets me...perturbed? That'll do. Yeah! It makes me perturbed!

Through Mass Effect 1, 2, and Dragon Age: Origins, I outright refused to even think about having anything to do with downloadable content. My philosophy on video games is that there are things you can sell as DLC, and things you can't. Now, the stuff that BioWare have been putting out lately isn't quite something they can't sell, but it's almost something they can't sell. So, I'm gonna make a ruling on this...Okay, that reference from The Departed doesn't quite work, but you get the point.

Basically, I think there are some add-ons that should never be parted out to gamers. Sure, people will buy them; a lot of people have money to burn. But I think there's a moral factor at play here. We used to believe in things called "expansions" here in the gaming world, but somewhere down the line that translated into: Let's sell single missions for $10 a piece. Let's sell things that should rightfully be in the game, hold them hostage, so people will buy new copies of the game.

This last year saw BioWare put three party members up for sale on the Xbox Marketplace. Party members. On top of that, Dragon Age was hit with a bunch of 1-2 hour quests and items that made chatting up your party members ultimately meaningless.

To put things in perspective: While BioWare was releasing all of these DA mini-quests, which have a total value of $51 and add roughly 10 hours of gameplay (at the very most, since time-spent will depend on how fast you can kill things (since most of that time will be spent on combat)), Rockstar put out an add-on for Red Dead Redemption that added new game modes, a new story, achievements, new weapons, with all of the original voice actors in a remade landscape that took me 13 hours to complete at a sprint (and I didn't try most of the other game modes out; that game is scary) for a measly $10. This add-on should forever set the standard; I feel like I ripped Rockstar off.

Rant over.

But! Recently, there was a sale going on that allowed me to purchase the big add-ons for ME2 for $10 even. Which was a decent enough price for me to fold like a lawnchair on the matter and give these add-ons an honest try.

LAIR OF THE SHADOW BROKER (800 Microsoft Points/$10)

This add-on had me especially conflicted. Mass Effect fans might remember that this Shadow Broker business has been going on since the opening hours of Mass Effect 1, and was a recurring element in the sequel. Since Shepard's death, Liara has since made it her life's mission to track down and destroy the Shadow Broker by any means necessary. Not quite sure how that happened, since I'm sure it was Tali who'd had business with SB in the last game, but whatever.

In this add-on, the Shadow Broker plotline comes to an end. When I had first learned about this, I was reasonably disappointed. I just couldn't see why BioWare saw fit to lop off the ending to a story that had been building across two games and put it up for sale. How very renegade. In this instance, I was thinking with slippery slopes.

But! Then I actually played the thing, and I enjoyed it. I was surprised by how much I enjoyed it, and not just because BioWare decided to give Liara a makeover. You hand over some information on the Shadow Broker that Cerberus has conveniently dug up for you, and you're caught in quite the predicament as SB closes in on you. This includes riding along with Liara on a high speed chase through Ilium's skylanes and a subsequent sprint through a ritzy hotel. And, finally, you will reach the eponymous Lair of the Shadow Broker, which actually had me in awe for a few minutes. A lot of work went into that place.

The writing here is pretty tongue-in-cheek the entire way through, with Shepard and Liara wisecracking about omni-gel and the hacking minigame. There was definitely a lot of variety in this add-on, with a bit of mystery, drama, and a satisfying (albeit quick) ending. When all is said and done, your eventual encounter with the Shadow Broker will last a few minutes, then it's over.

Lair of the Shadow Broker does a lot to set up what could be another storyline in Mass Effect 3, and if that's the case, then maybe it was a good idea this was turned into DLC. I think, if anything, this add-on proved that BioWare has to be more open with what their intentions are when it comes to these things. I spent months, BioWare, MONTHS brooding over this, thinking that you were selling an ending back to us. In reality, you were selling a probable sidestory we most likely wouldn't have seen otherwise.

In that sense, I can't say with 100% certainty if this should have been in the game. Part of me says, "Hell, yes!" but another part of me says, "That should be the purpose of DLC: to expand on the baseline experience." Whether or not I was right or wrong will hinge upon how it's handled in ME3.

This is the stuff I think about.

Bottom line: $10 seems a little steep to me (again, RDR: Undead Nightmare was $10, and the two are by no means comparable), considering that most of the add-on involves lengthy stretches of combat, and will take you no more than an hour and a half to finish. But there are some impressive visuals, some great dialogue/drama, and an interesting twist in the legacy of the Shadow Broker that just might have an effect on the next game. Unless you didn't care for Liara too much, this add-on is a pretty safe purchase.

Quality: 4 out of 5 Stars

Morality: 5 out of 5 Stars (Pending the release of ME3)

STOLEN MEMORY (560 Microsoft Points/$7)

This, on the other hand, should have definitely, 100%, been in the vanilla game. Yes, this add-on is fun. Kasumi is a good character, her loyalty mission is enjoyable and well-written. But! Selling party members as DLC? I will never, ever, ever, ever, ever approve of that. Sell me weapons (ugh), sell me items for my avatar (ugh!), sell me armor (rah!), sell me additional missions (meh), but don't sell me things that should rightfully be in the game itself.

If BioWare wants to make an expansion, add a ton of new missions, new character, etc., then by all means, I'll be there to support that, but don't make me do this again. Walk this thing back a few years and imagine paying $7 to have Canderous Ordo in your party.

$2.50 was enough to help me make up my mind on this matter. At full price, I probably would have moped a little longer.

Quality: 4 out of 5 Stars

Morally: 0 out of 5 Stars

OVERLORD (560 Microsoft Points/$7)

Okay, BioWare, c'mere a minute. You see this add-on that you put out? Overlord? Now, granted, it's not as polished as it could've been, but a rather lengthy mission with a palpable atmosphere, interesting story, some mystery, drama, and a climactic tug at the heartstrings...this is what DLC should be all about. It's a mission that doesn't look like it was a leftover from the editing room. It feels unique. I liked it.

But that price tag...I still don't agree with that. I know we can sit here all day and argue whether or not it's "just seven dollars" or it's "just not worth it," but I feel that, at the end of the day, the word of the consumer matters. So here it is: this mission isn't worth $7. It's not that it isn't quality, it's just that you can't charge that much for a 1-2 hour mission. This is a steep price to people who have just shelled out $60 + tax to buy the game itself, and almost an insult.

The Cerberus Network? Great freaking idea to control piracy. It really is. But hows about giving people who actually have it a little bit of a discount on the DLC? That would show people that you care about the fanbase who bought that game at launch (I bought it at midnight) and won't be putting them in the crossfire in this piracy war.

Anyway, I liked this add-on. Anytime that I find myself leaning forward in anticipation, that's the sign of a good game. Fighting to disable a Rogue VI is something that I feel we've done before, but this time around it was decently creepy, and definitely had some thought put into it.

Quality: 4 out of 5 Stars

Morality: 2 out of 5 Stars

I guess the bottom line here is that the Mass Effect 2 DLC isn't as pointless as I had figured it was going to be. I still wholeheartedly believe that the add-ons are overpriced, but not at the price I got them for. Aside from Stolen Memory (and even that was pretty good) I can't say that any of these packs are entirely pointless. They were good, and how much you enjoy them depends on how much they're worth to you after you've played them.

Now, the Dragon Age: Origins DLC...that's a whole other battlefield, my friends. See you next rant.

Dragon Age: Origins - Darkspawn Chronicles

BioWare must read this blog and not like us very much. That's the only explanation I can give for the semi-announcement of the newest DLC adventure in Ferelden called Dragon Age: Origins - Darkspawn Chronicles.

There are a few choice aspects of the original game that Buch and I agree became annoying. One was the Landsmeet, and the other was the number of similar-looking darkspawn that you had to kill. I find more variety in a bag of M&Ms. But as if to say, "Well, if you do things long enough, you'll like it eventually," they are releasing this package that makes it all too inevitable that you'll be killing MORE darkspawn.

Just like EA/BioWare to sell you a $40 expansion, where you put a permanent end to the Blight, and then turn around and sell you another package where you have to further contain the Blight. They really gotta make up their minds here.

Now...I'm going to try and stay positive. This comes only a day after the announcement of more useless DLC for Mass Effect 2, so I still might be feeling the aftershocks here. The description for this particular chronicle states that it will "extend the life" of the original game, so god only know what the hell that could mean. For now, I will sit on my hands and try not to rant any further. We have two weeks until its release (May 18th), so I'm sure we'll find out more about it in the meantime.

Let's just hope it's nothing like another set of chronicles that BioWare is infamously known for.

Source: kotaku.com

Entitlement: Do We Have It?

It's a debate that's been going on for awhile in the gaming circles. Do some gamers have a sense of entitlement? No, haven't heard of that debate? Then lemme take it a step back: Do you have a right to be pissed when your favorite game gets whored out on DLC Street?

Now we're on the same page.

For full disclosure: I hate DLC. I think it flies in the face of the purity of gaming. Sounds pretentious, yes, but it's true. Nothing aggravates me more than seeing a new slightly-better armor piece pop up on the Xbox Marketplace for Mass Effect 2, especially when it comes months after the game came out! Why don't you just sell me the fucking I-WIN Button when money gets tight?

To that end, whenever one of these armor pieces or horse armor pieces comes out and I get hit by an announcement on my Facebook feed, the arguments are always the same - and not so polite. On the one hand, you've got the people like me, who just don't think it's worth it. Sure a couple bucks for armor on Mass Effect 2 isn't so bad in the grand scheme of things, but why the fuck would I buy that? I've already beaten the game. The DLC that BioWare have released thus far has been slightly better than suck - because it's free. Plus, it's the principle of the thing. I would never pay to make a gaming experience slightly better.

On the other hand, you have the people who are likely going to buy the DLC regardless, and want to turn the argument around and show just how snobby the other side is. The whole, "Quit acting like BioWare owes you shit" argument, which also pisses me off, but whatever. No, BioWare doesn't owe me a goddamn thing. The only thing they owe me is $60 worth of a gaming experience after I walk out of GameStop. That's it. I pay, they provide a service. They don't provide? I take my money elsewhere. That's the beauty of capitalism.

At the same time, I don't like that BioWare think that they can nickel and dime their fans to death by putting out little things like armor pieces. Extra characters and missions? I can begrudgingly get behind that if the price is right. But a list of not-even-just-okay armor pieces and weapons? That's bad business practice to me.

But here's the kind of DLC I can get behind. The Singularity Weapon for ME2 that I got for free when I preordered the game. Honestly, I would have bought that if I hadn't got it for free, because it added a level of entertainment to the game. Charging up that weapon and creating a black hole in the middle of the field that most of my enemies will be sucked up into is amazing to see, and it's fun. The only point of contention there would be that it came out the same day the game was released, but I can understand EA and BioWare taking steps like that to deter piracy instead of resorting to UbiSoft's terrible, 1984-ish DRM system.

Another kind that I like would be Bethesda's expansions for Fallout 3. Despite the mixed reviews on the five expansions, I can tell that they weren't just thrown together overnight. Plenty of voice acting, new weapons and armor, nice action set-pieces, a bunch of new quests, new areas to mess around with: all for ten bucks each. BioWare could learn a thing or two about making an expansion from Bethesda.

So there you have it. But am I wrong to think that way? Many people would think that I have an aura of "entitlement" for wanting a game company that I admire to put out GOOD DLC that doesn't amount to a slight stat upgrade for a game that I've already beaten. Give me a reason to play the game again JUST to use what you've given me, BioWare.

The difference:

"Hey, Knight, we totally just put out some new DLC!"

Eh?

"Yeah! Now you get a slight upgrade to your biotic abilities!"

I, uh...Mmmhmm, I'm gonna pass.

"Okay...ah...Oh! We have this gun that when you shoot it, it creates a goddamn black hole that destroys all the enemies it touches!"

!!!

"And we've created an expansion where you have to fight to regain control of a device that controls the weather!"

Wow! That's...That's from Fable II.

"Nooooo."

Yes, yes, it is.

"Nooooo, come on. You can bring back your dog and everything."

I'm leaving now.