Your argument falls completely flat.

I enjoyed DA2 a lot, so did a lot of people. Give it a better map and it's fantastic.

And I'm not a gatekeeper on anything. I'm just tired of the ridiculous vitriol.

As for Mass Effect, ready for a ground breaking revelation?

I don't like any of them. They're just not my thing.

Know what I did?

I didn't play them.

I'm not reflexively defending anything. I thought DA the first was okay and I really enjoyed 2.

Looks like a trend to me.

Besides, i never took umbrage with your opinion, but with the fact you're going to play it anyway.

I just hope you leave your mouth wide open so they can set a big log in it.

 

DA2 was a decent game... just not a decent Dragon Age game. It had a lot of problems and a lot of virtues, but it was nowhere near ready for sale, not with it's haphazard plot, gameplay, singularly miniature map and repetitive enemies. It's characters carried the story and the bulk of the quality.

ME3... I only bought ME1 a day before ME3 came out and the internet exploded into madness. But playing it on my laptop, it wasn't that much and though I did appreciate the setting and characters the plot itself was about as interesting as paint-dry.

I'm leaning more to Raine's side in doubting Bioware (especially after the bullshit that's come out of Ubisoft in recent weeks), but it could be that Bioware is going to come back stronger and better than ever. I'd give it a 45% chance of happening, but hey that's a chance, isn't it?*

*Though considering most of their character intros so far, I'm not that psyched.

 

*sigh* I can't believe I'm ending my lurk for this.

While you might have enjoyed Dragon Age 2, I would say the majority of players did not. While it arguably could have been okay on its own (a BIG "maybe" given its glaring flaws), as a sequel to Dragon Age Origins it was an utter failure.

I'm not saying it wasn't fun at all. It was. I had some fun with it...but I also recognize that it was also utter fucking bullshit thrown out the door as a cash grab, and a travesty of a sequel. The way they peddled it was a goddamn insult, an insult further compounded by the debacle that was ME3 (which also had the potential to be great - frankly, the reason so many people get so pissed about these things is because the potential is quite clearly there).

For a great many players, Bioware's past actions have created a shadow that hangs over this release, and that is what Raine is saying. I hope its a fun game - I really do. I like fun games. I enjoy the Dragon Age setting. I would like to play a fun game in that setting.

I am just very pessimistic regarding the chances of being delivered that product. Clearly, Raine is as well - frankly, I would expect a lot of players to feel that way.

 

I'm not going to argue the quality of DA2, that was never the point.

My last word on the topic. If you hate a developer, don't play their games. Especially don't come here with your soapbox and lay into games that aren't even out yet, then proclaim you're going to play it anyway.

I hate Nintendo. The very sight of Mario or Pokemon these days makes me sick to my stomach.

I understand people love them still, but I no longer buy their games.

They've burned me with one too many a pokemon 'reboot' to regain any semblance of trust.

If I were to buy/play another carbon copy pokemon game, then come here and bemoan that it hasn't fundamentally changed in fifteen years, I'd expect to be torn apart.

That's all I'm saying on the topic.

 

Says the guy with the Pikachu avatar.

 

pokemon games*

I thought that was implied in the context of the post.

Snap is still the greatest game of all time.

 

You know, I had this big post all ready to go about today's gaming culture and the position we have in it as consumers of what is, ultimately, a form of art. I had this thing all lined up where I'd go down point by point, talking about how we are the gatekeepers of quality, because bureaucracy and corporations will cut corners wherever they are allowed to do so, including quality, gameplay, and even the most quintessential value of 'fun.'

I was going to talk about how we are the ones who hold the power, that it is our money that decides what flies and what falls, and that by choosing to not patron someone with your money, that decision is itself more powerful than any casual endorsement of playing the game might ever be.

I was even going to parallel across the barriers of pop culture, and point out that people who complain about television shows they've never watched are literally no different than people who complain about video games they've never played. Therefore, even if we do not give a company our money to play their game, we are, to some degree, beholden to play it nonetheless, because saying the vision of the game has failed without having played the game is like saying the efforts of an artist who created a painting have failed when you have never seen the picture they made. If we wish to speak at all about something, then we indeed must play it when the opportunity is given to us, even if we do not play it all the way to the end, just as we must walk through the museum or art gallery to form our opinions about the efforts of those whose work is contained within.

Thus, since we must play even for a little while for our opinions to have legitimacy, in the same way a deaf man must hear, if only for a moment, to be able to speak of Bach and Wagner with any legitimacy or authority, it is ultimately our money, our patronage that enables or cuts off the efforts involved. By granting or withholding money, we send a message more clear than we ever could with words. Origin records and Steam stats do not pay the bills and line the pockets of the producers and developers. It is our money that does so, and it is through this medium that our pleasure or displeasure is measured. And because the used game market exists, because it is possible to 'purchase' a game and know full well that not one cent of it will ever go to those who helped create it, we the previewers wield unparalleled control over our ability to express our displeasure while still allowing ourselves to speak with authority on the content that has drawn our ire.

I was all ready to go with that. Massive walls of text.

But then I saw this.

And I realized that there's no point in writing it. Pearls before swine. Hypocritical swine who forget what their motherfucking avatar is.

Hugplox, don't ever call me a keyboard warrior again. The universe isn't built to contain hypocrisy of that magnitude. You might break something we don't have the ability to fix.

 

So we're ignoring key phrases now?

I suppose you see 'these days' and assume that's just an inconsequential turn of phrase?

In your haste to prove your point you've made yourself out to be an even bigger dickhead.

You see, I don't hate companies for simply putting out a game I disapprove of. No, I'm not that shallow or angry.

It takes a special kind of evil. The kind that builds up the hopes and dreams of a child with the promise of everything, only to deliver 'the same'.

For fifteen years.

I still play Snap yearly. Pokemon Ruby X squared makes me feel ill.

But hey, whatever let's you waste more of your life on pointless essays is a-ok by me.

Thanks. It made me chuckle.

 

Anyone getting the Deluxe edition for Dragon Age Inq? I'm really tempted. I actually haven't played Dragon Age 2 so I still have very strong and fond memories of Origins. DAI trailers look pretty damn awesome so far.

Getting a PS4 in October so some games I'm thinking of getting are DAI, AC Unity, and Destiny. Was also thinking of Evolve and Shadow of Mordor but I'm trying to keep it within budget.

Definitely getting Witcher. And also Far Cry.

 

We've been collectively shit on so many times in the past six to seven years that I'm surprised anyone still even thinks about preordering or purchasing limited run deluxe anything.

Paying for a product before it is even finished demands a level of trust and respect that I don't feel the gaming industry has or deserves right now. I still have my "This is The End of Halo" DVD from the deluxe pre-order of Halo 3.

Funny how that worked out, isn't it.

 

Platinum announced a Legend of Korra game coming out, like, real soon.

Their games are normally solid, but not my thing. The Avatar universe has always seemed to have awesome potential for an action game though.

The fact that we're only finding out now and there's no footage (art supposedly cell shaded) has me worried though.

 

I don't have a lot of hopes for it. It looks like it was done in a rush or its a small game and I think the Avatar universe deserves better than that.

 

That's my first inclination too, but then I remember it's Platinum, not some no-name studio.

It's download only AFAIK, so, well, I guess we'll have to see.

 

Even if you think you can make a deal 2nd hand or with the normal price drop after a few months EA will bleed you with the DLCs. I've played ME2 just last March(working on my unplayed game stock and in the end I paid more for the DLCs than I've paid for the game on release back then.

 

Last I checked, buying DLC wasn't compulsory. If they don't fuck up, I'll probably get some to support them. If they do, no loss to me. I never got any of the DLC for Origins, including the story expansions or Shale, and I don't feel that I missed out on much by not getting them.

 

Raine what games do you like? or what are you looking forward to in this year or the next.

I don't think I've ever seen you just say you were excited for something. You seem to have pretty high standards, I would like to know what you liked.

 

That is probably true in general but in the case of ME2 I consider them essential. They cut the best parts from the main game to sell them separate.

 

My standards aren't as high as you think they are. I just don't cut developers slack when they start bullshitting customers, bribing for reviews, lying about their products, and generally behaving like asshats. I have a shitlist of devs, complete with offending crimes.

And I more or less hate every major publisher for one reason or another. I could make a list for days full of reasons why on that one.

Games that I like? Bullet Storm. Star Wars Republic Commando. KoTOR and KoTOR 2. Vanquish. Viewtiful Joe. Bayonetta. Dragon's Dogma. Mass Effect 1. Dragon Age: Origins. X-COM Enemy Within. X-COM Enemy Unknown. Brutal Legend. Civ V. Minecraft. Terraria. Dwarf Fortress. Serious Sam. Metro 2033. Metro Last Light. Just all of the Monster Hunter. Mario Kart, all of it. Smash Bros. Morrowind, Oblivion, and Skyrim, in that order. Fallout. Fallout New Vegas. Ect, ect, the list goes on.

What am I looking forward to?

Scalebound, because it's Pokemon and How To Train Your Dragon combined with Monster Hunter and Kamen Rider as done by Platinum.

Bayonetta 2, because it's been delayed three times and looks fantastic.

Evolve, because you'd have to be some kind of Communist Nazi dinosaur with machine guns for hands to hate that, and because "Communist Nazi Dinosaur With Machine Guns For Hands" might actually make it into the game as a monster.

Monster Hunter 4 coming to somewhere besides Godzilla Town because new Monster Hunter game Jesus take the wheel.

The new Smash because it looks fucking fantastic, plays fucking fantastic, and seems to be so good that the Nintendo developer team working on it decided to playtest it for a further four months even though it's already been extensively playtested for six and seems to be in perfect working order, presumably after barricading themselves into their office with chairs and desks stacked against the doors and telling everyone else to fuck off, we're doing serious work in here, no you can't come in. Also Sakurai has been teasing Ridley like a motherfucker for three months now, and he better goddamn deliver.

That Nordic developer saying they're going all-in on the Darksiders IP, because muh Darksiders.

Double Fine saying they're going to do everything they can to go back to the Brutal Legend IP now that they actually have money and aren't in danger of being shut down.

Sunset Overdrive, because fuck the police.

Assassin's Creed Unity, because mother humping multiplayer co-op campaign.

The Witcher Wild Hunt, for having paid attention and taken notes on what made Skyrim and Dragon's Dogma awesome, and what made Skyrim and Dragon's Dogma shitty, and then going through their notes and saying "we can make a game with all of those good things, minus any of the bad. And then we can just pour a wheelbarrow of brutal violence and exposed breasts all over it. Westeros a bitch, son."

Shadows of Mordor. Just, Shadows of Mordor.

Metro. Just Metro everywhere. All of the Metro. More Metro than you can handle. More Metro than your body has room for.

Toady is going to update. For real this time. No, really. Honest.

And so forth, and so on.

Then you don't buy them to make the game better. You take the game for what it is; a massive pile of shit, and you move on.

Also, I wouldn't really call the ME2 DLC 'essential.' Maybe if you romanced Liara it is, and I'll grant you, most people did if I remember my statistics correctly. But even then, they just completely dropped the ball on the Shadow Broker, and it wasn't very well done at all. Even if you just straight-up made her your waifu, the biggest payout you get in the DLC is her not giving some random seventeen year old Drell oral. I don't even think the two of you kiss or hold hands, if I remember correctly. She's just not a slut, is all.

I'd consider ME3's DLC to be more 'essential' than ME2's. That day one DLC. That plot important character that was 90% already in the game and locked away by a single line of code. That 'expanded ending.' That final "we made a cool game once, remember that guys, have some nostalgia and a party" DLC.

Take away ME2's DLC, and you're missing some stuff. Take away ME3's, and the game is half fucking done and an even bigger shitpile than it already was with the DLC. It's just embarrassing.

 

You seem to give Bethesda a lot of slack for releasing buggy monstrosities...

 

While we're on the subject of asking Raine questions... I have one too.

What is your opinion on Star Citizen? I don't think I've ever actually seen you mention it before.

Also, your favorite games are actually very close to mine. Close enough that I might have to check out the Metro series. I've never played that, but most everything else on your list I have.