Games are about victory. Once the player has guided his/her character through all of the trials and tribulations of their chosen game, they expect to be rewarded with some kind of epic final endboss and/or cutscene. And while these kinds of final sequences often produce an unparalleled level of excitement and fun I always dread their coming. They signify the end. As the game begins to become more and more epic, and the fights more intense, I come to the horrible realization that this game is about to be over. I hate finishing games because of all of the time I spend to beat them.
At this point I should be making some kind of "so what" statement. So I don't like to finish games, what's the big deal? Well I've come to realize that the big problem with not wanting to finish games is that it makes the body of the game harder to enjoy. I find myself trying to slow the experience down, to artificially lengthen (go ahead and have a giggle at that, I did) the game. I do similar things with books, and to compensate I've started to read much longer novels, but it's hard to do that with games.
Back when I restarted my gaming hobby I was big on JRPGS. My favorite games Kingdom Hearts and FFX were massive 60+ hour affairs that left me more than satisfied when I finished them. But, when my tastes changed and I began to partake in more Western gaming, I noticed that my desire for length (haha) in a game never really went away. I still feel dissapointed when a game advertises "20+ hours of play!" on the back like it's some kind of great achievement.
Even my new favorite franchise Mass Effect is too short for my taste. I spent about 20-30 hours on each of my playthroughs of the game, and it never felt like quite enough. Now, with Mass Effect 2 I have gotten close to the end with one character, so I decided to make another so that I can sit back and savor the experience. I guess that's the problem. When I first get a game I blast through it way too quicjly because I expect it to outlast my initial burst of excitement, but I have beaten the majority of my recent purchases within a weak of starting them.
So what? Well, I guess all I'm saying is that sometimes its important to pace yourself, to let yourself get lost in a game for an hour or so every couple of days, to draw out that experience without panicking when you approach the end. The next time you play a game, let it sit with you, take your time, savor each moment because before you know it that epic endboss will be rearing its ugly head, and when it does, you want to be able to savor that too.
Tuesday, February 2, 2010
Friday, January 29, 2010
Broken Computer/Repaired Heart
Well the Dragon Age modding tools have officially destroyed my save files. With Dragon Age now left virtually unplayable I was determined to be mad at Bioware for a while for releasing a set of modding tools that can destroy your game WITH NO WARNING that it could do so; however, I found myself unable to be angry for long as Mass Effect 2 was just around the corner.
Let me get my fanboyism out of the way for a moment. KOTOR was probably my favorite game for a long time. The story, characters, and the control I had over the adventure kept me enthralled even though the game repeatedly crashed my PC. I unfortunately missed out on KOTOR 2 when my PC died sometime before its release and fell into playing JRPGs for solace (the horror). I actually missed Mass Effect's release and didn't even hear about the game until a friend brought it over for me to play. Long story short: I fucking loved it. The interesting (if fairly generic) story, the well developed characters, and the fun of kicking ass and taking names as Shepard reminded me why I loved Bioware so much. Plus, as my friend put it, there is a class that is basically a Jedi with a shotgun.
Now with the advent of Mass Effect 2 I have come to a startling and wonderful realization. Mass Effect 1 was kind of crappy. All my favorite parts were the story so I never thought too hard about the gameplay, but looking back at it now it seems archaic and kind of stupid. It was so liberating to have a combat system that made me excited to go into battle instead of wanting to skip the boring shooting sections so that I could get to the talking. It's a vast improvement.
But, Mass Effect 2 does more than improve the first game, it makes old game mechanics feel new. When I first picked up the game I thought it was so cool and added such tactical depth to have to change your heat sink. Then I realized that it was just reloading, but ME2 forces the player to pace their use of thermal clips and make sure that each weapon is getting the ammo it needs. The weapons too have a cool level of tactics. SMGs and assault rifles take down shields, heavy pistols and sniper rifles tear through armor, and shotguns... well shotguns are still a little OP, but hey, Jedi with shotguns! ME2 combines action and RPG almost perfectly. The shooter action keeps the combat heart-pounding, and the RPG elements allow for more strategic depth as the player has to know which characters to take when, and how to use them. This installment in the ME franchise has brought the combat up to the level of the story and made ME2 a strong candidate for my favorite game ever.
Let me get my fanboyism out of the way for a moment. KOTOR was probably my favorite game for a long time. The story, characters, and the control I had over the adventure kept me enthralled even though the game repeatedly crashed my PC. I unfortunately missed out on KOTOR 2 when my PC died sometime before its release and fell into playing JRPGs for solace (the horror). I actually missed Mass Effect's release and didn't even hear about the game until a friend brought it over for me to play. Long story short: I fucking loved it. The interesting (if fairly generic) story, the well developed characters, and the fun of kicking ass and taking names as Shepard reminded me why I loved Bioware so much. Plus, as my friend put it, there is a class that is basically a Jedi with a shotgun.
Now with the advent of Mass Effect 2 I have come to a startling and wonderful realization. Mass Effect 1 was kind of crappy. All my favorite parts were the story so I never thought too hard about the gameplay, but looking back at it now it seems archaic and kind of stupid. It was so liberating to have a combat system that made me excited to go into battle instead of wanting to skip the boring shooting sections so that I could get to the talking. It's a vast improvement.
But, Mass Effect 2 does more than improve the first game, it makes old game mechanics feel new. When I first picked up the game I thought it was so cool and added such tactical depth to have to change your heat sink. Then I realized that it was just reloading, but ME2 forces the player to pace their use of thermal clips and make sure that each weapon is getting the ammo it needs. The weapons too have a cool level of tactics. SMGs and assault rifles take down shields, heavy pistols and sniper rifles tear through armor, and shotguns... well shotguns are still a little OP, but hey, Jedi with shotguns! ME2 combines action and RPG almost perfectly. The shooter action keeps the combat heart-pounding, and the RPG elements allow for more strategic depth as the player has to know which characters to take when, and how to use them. This installment in the ME franchise has brought the combat up to the level of the story and made ME2 a strong candidate for my favorite game ever.
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