Smalltalk with James Robertson

I finally finished the main plot in Red Dead Redemption - without giving anything away, I have to say that I was a bit surprised by the way the game "kept going" after what I thought was the ending. It made sense though, and there's a side quest available for you to tie up the loose ends that are left from the game's "ending".

That's not the end to what you can do in the game by any means, either. Like Fallout 3, the game world is still alive, even though the plot is done. Random encounters still happen, and there are plenty of challenges left to accomplish (not to mention the gamer trophies).

I might work at some of that, or I might shuffle back to my in progress Dragon Age game - while I wait for October 19th and Fallout: New Vegas :)

Now Listening to: Twisted by Katie Melua from: The House

Technorati Tags: rdr, xbox

I finally feel like I've got the hang of the combat system in the game - the "dead eye" thing is pretty useful - although it is easy to take way more shots than you want to. The biggest problem I've had has been shooting bystanders in running gin battles (on horseback). That leads to bounties, which leads to everyone and his brother hunting you down until you can clear the bounty - and as you shoot the people chasing you, it gets worse. I've restored to save points over that :)

I do like the game though. The world is expansive, and it's pretty easy to find interesting things to do instead of the main plot. Not that the plot is bad - the combats/actions during the plot drivers have been pretty good. I'll have to finish the plot out, load some of the DLC, and try multi-player out.

Now Listening to: Twisted by Katie Melua from: The House

Technorati Tags: rdr, xbox

I've been playing the game for a few days now, and I do like it. It's got a different feel from games like Fallout 3 , Mass Effect 2, and Dragon Age - and that difference is due to two things: No conversation tree. When you encounter someone, the way you react to them is scripted. You have the encounter or not, and then do combat (or not) as you see fit - but the conversation is out of your hands Your character is set. You are who you are - a former outlaw turned straight who's been caught up in problems he doesn't want. In the other games, your starting point can be adjusted some (ME2, Fallout), or a lot (Dragon Age).

Having said that, I've found that I like the game. The world is open; you can ignore the plot for eons if you want to, and just explore the world building up your fame and honor (positive or negative). That's an aspect I like a lot - on my second playthrough of Fallout, I didn't even begin the plot until I had maxed out my level to 30.

Which brings up another difference - there doesn't seem to be leveling. Instead, new equipment options open up, and depending on how you've behaved, it will be more or less expensive. The game isn't for the faint of heart; the language and combat can get explicit. I intend to keep playing the game, and have a look at the DLC. Supposedly, the multi-player stuff is pretty good too; I'll see once I run through the game.

Technorati Tags: xbox, video+games, rdr

I needed another immersive game, and Red Dead Redemption seems to have gotten a ton of good reviews - so I ordered it from Amazon. I'll see how I like it on Thursday, while everyone else I know plays Civ V. I'm waiting for a Mac native version; playing under Parallels led to more crashing than I was happy with (with Civ IV).

Anyway - I'm hoping this game captures my interest - I really need to play something new :)

After leaving the latest Mass Effect 2 DLC aside for a few days (I ran into a glitch), I went back to it and the glitch didn't pop back up. Maybe I just needed a clean restart of the game. It was worth it; "Lair of the Shadow Broker" is a pretty nice little piece of DLC, and it's interesting how seamlessly it adds into the game.

The contrast between how DLC works in ME2 and in Dragon Age is kind of interesting, actually. Both are BioWare games, but they behave very differently in this realm. With ME2, the DLC drops into your existing game (like the early DLC for Dragon Age did, so it's clear that it's not a technical limitation). The latest DLC for Dragon Age requires you to import an existing character (or create a new high level one).

This wouldn't be a problem except for one issue (at least on the XBox) - there's a character save limit, so if you've played a few times, you need to blow away (or archive off to a USB drive) older characters.

Why? Saves are just big disk files; there just doesn't seem to be a good reason for this. If you enjoy DAO, you've probably invested serious time into your characters, and blowing them away is painful. Maybe ME2 has the same issue, but since the DLC hasn't forced me into imports, I haven't run into it. I really hope they deal with this for Dragon Age 2....

Technorati Tags: dao, me2

Last night I tried to take my level 34 rogue character - the one I ran through Dragon Age: Origins, Awakening, and Witch Hunt - and take a crack at getting the achievement point for playing "Golems of Amgarrak" at the hard level.

Well. It's insane. Things went fine (my character is a tank) until I got to the green switch room with a bunch of golems in it. Without a mage, that room is pretty much impossible at that level. There are just too many of them, and they kill off everyone else in the party pretty quick. Even with a level 34 rogue who can drop into stealth to get away from things, it's just impossible - I just couldn't inflict enough damage to play the "whittle them down" strategy.

So I'm curious - has anyone done that dlc on hard without a mage? If so, how?

Technorati Tags: dao, dragon age, golem

There's a good review of the new DLC for Mass Effect 2 on the Escapist site, but here's my complaint about Lair of the Shadow Broker (at least on the XBox) - it's got bugs.

Here's what I mean. At the beginning, after the car chase mentioned in the review, you end up on a roof fighting a few waves of mercs. The fight is fine, except for one small problem: I ran this twice, and both times, the mercs stopped coming, the game stayed in combat mode, and I couldn't progress past the roof. It was bad enough that I just put the game down (which is too bad; I really liked Mass Effect 2 ).

My daughter says she's waiting for a patch before she even bothers with it. I think that's where I am, too.

Technorati Tags: me2, bioware, dlc

I finished the new Dragon Age: Origins DLC last night (later than I should have; I'm pretty tired now). It was short, but provides an obvious bridge towards the changes that are coming in Dragon Age 2. The ending of the DLC depends heavily on how you've played your character, and how true to that character you decide that you want to play it. The one I imported was in a romance with Morrigan, so I couldn't see my way clear to ending it with a confrontation. That looks like it sets up one possible encounter between Hawke and the warden in the sequel - things could go very differently if you decide to force a confrontation.

I do have to agree with my daughter though - it looks like Witch Hunt would be more interesting if you bring in a Dalish elf, because the setup is dependent on the origin story from that background. So.... Tonight I'll be off creating another character :)

Technorati Tags: dragonage, dao

How can September 7th be a work day? "Lair of the ShadowBroker" is coming out for Mass Effect 2, and "Witch Hunt" is coming out for Dragon Age. There aren't enough hours in the day :)

Technorati Tags: xbox, bioware, dlc

It's the game that won't die. After officially dying last year, it's back - with a 2011 release date from a real vendor:

After what is arguably the longest, most troubled development in the history of video games, Duke Nukem Forever is finally, really, truly here. It's not being shown secretly, behind-closed-doors at some industry event. Instead, it's at PAX, an event that is, more than any other in this industry, consumer facing, and that tangibility is a big part of Gearbox's reveal.

With so many zigs and zags, I think I still need to take a wait and see attitude...

Technorati Tags: duke nukem