A Sane Man of an Insane World

I mean, it hasn't been that long since I've posted this, right? I mean, not much has really changed with Dragon Age. After all, Bioware is still calling it a "Dark Heroic Fantasy", it still has a combat system that can't decide if it is real time or turn based, and it probably still has characters that are remarkably similar to certain character from Baldur's Gate 2.

In truth, not a whole lot has changed with Dragon Age. But for once, they actually decided to let out some little things - well, a lot of little things, rather - that have changed the picture.

First off, let's start off with the fact that this game is hard. Dragon Age is undeniably a hard game. Reviewers have said it time and time again: you will wipe alot, and you will wipe hard. Higher levels and superior equipment and spells will be a great boost, but they will not be the deciding factor in who wins each battle. You will have to use something that most modern gamers are very much unused to - tactics! Strategies! Using your superior brain matter to overcome the AI!

I know a lot of players are gonna complain on the forums about it. And I am just going to gloat at them like the inferior beings they are. "Of course you died! You don't take advantage of the environment! You don't surround your enemies and use buffs to enhance your characters!"

I strongly suspect that we are going to get a repeat of alot of the brainhurt we got when Storm of Zehir came around - people say the game is too hard because they are idiots. "Enemies keep on ambushing me, even though I invested no points at all in sneaking and I have no rangers or thieves in my party and I have all Paladins!!1!1!!"

Secondly, I like the casual talking that your party members will have while you are just walking around the world. Nothing will trigger it. It adds a dimension to the characters that forced conversations don't possess. And it sounds to be very amusing when the sarcastic Alistair and the wry Morrigan send jabs back and forth as you go across town.

Thirdly, you can have your bones broken! When your party members come back from losing all of their health in a fight, you'll notice something. They'll have wounds. Surprisingly, people don't fight as well when they have a broken leg or a wound across their groan. They can be patched easily enough, but what if you run out of medkits?

Well, the game gets a lot more interesting. 

Lastly, I just need a good party oriented RPG that actually tries to tell a story, even if it is one I have heard half a dozen times before. I just want to recreate that feeling I got with Neverwinter Nights 2, or Knights of the Old Republic. The Witcher is the best RPG to come out this generation, but I still like my RPGs with people to fight along me.

And seriously, I need to stop being so stingy. How am I supposed to love this hobby if I hate every other game that comes out?

Fallout 3 is still a horrible pile of shit though.

Every year, White Wolf Publishing, the guys behind Vampire: The Requiem, Werewolf: The Forsaken, Mage: The Awakening, Changeling: The Lost, Exalted, Scion, and lots of other rules-lite roleplay-heavy games, releases a limited release for their World of Darkness line. In contrast to their main lines, which will have a few supplement books every year added to it, these limited lines will get only 5 or 6 at most.

Geist: The Sin-Eaters is their newest limited game, and I was looking very forward to it. I really can't emphasive how much I was anticipating this game. Heck, I preordered it way back in May! I even marked the release date on my calendar.

Folks, I never ever mark anything on my calendar. Not even The Dark Knight or Star Trek! I was quite happy when Geist came in on Saturday. Of course, as luck would have it, I was busy that day, with me at Cold Stones training from eleven to five, and then my best friend Pete came over and we played Guitar Hero and went to see District Nine. His first time, my second. He loved it, and I still continued to love it. But that is neither here nor there.

But I did read Geist today, but not all of it. It's barely a 300 page book, so it is not the biggest RPG White-Wolf has put out. I think Mage and Changeling are the runners up for that, with a cyclopean 400 something pages.  In fact, I'm only halfway into Chapter One, which describes exactly what Sin-Eaters do and their duties and the circumstances in their metamorphosis from humans to Sin-Eaters, as well as describing the death demi-gods the Geists that live within them. It covers alot, but I'll leave my description of them for another post.

This post will be on my initial thoughts on Geist. So far, what I am loving I really do love. I love the concept of the Geists, these very tormented souls that have become the embodiment of whatever type of death that took their lives. They don't even have a personality any more. And they don't cause deaths because they are monsters - it is because they have to. It is their nature. Fire can't help but burn people alive - it just burns.

I like how Sin-Eaters understand that this is their last chance, so they have to live like no one has never lived before. How to do that is different from Sin-Eater to Sin-Eater.

But, I do not really like how Sin-Eaters just mish mash all of the cultures together to make theirs. It just does not make a lick of sense to me! I see no real life culture ever doing that. I mean, you could give some argument for the English culture, but we have nothing on these guys. Sin-Eaters put a little bit of every foreign culture they encounter into their own. And then they drop it the next week and replace it with something else. It. Does. Not. Make. Any. Sense.

And another thing: if Sin-Eaters are so religious (which makes sense, since most of them are poor, and the poor have the tendency to be more religious than the middle class and the rich), why do they put stuff from other faiths into their own religion as much as with their culture? I just have a very difficult time getting that.

And this is more of a personal preference, but I do not like how most Sin-Eaters are aware of the fact that other Sin-Eaters are out there. I like unified supernatural beings, not divided ones. I can certainly see where the writers were going with this, however, since the Sin-Eaters' krewes are essentially gangs, minus all of the crime. That tightly knit brotherhood. "I watch your back, you watch mine, brother".

But even then, I do not hate the stuff I don't like. I just don't get why any rational human being would do something like that. What I do like, though, I more than like. I love them! And I am only 30 or so pages into the game, so don't count this as gospel.

Until next time, gentle readers.

There are few games in the field of videogames that divides players as much as this one does. One end, it is horribly glitchy, has some of the worst combat you could ever see in an RPG, and the character models aside, it is not at all a good looking game. On the other side of the spectrum, you have some of the most finely written dialogue you could ever hope to see in any medium, its characters are so well written that they seem real life human beings, and it has a wide range of options in handling the objectives in the game. You could persuade your way past the guards, suck their blood like that Vampire you are, or sneak past them like you are the next Solid Snake. There is a lot of hate, let me tell you. But man, for someone who loves his options and his stories like I do, there is so much to love that you have to wonder why bother hating it at all? Let me give you all one good reason why you should grab this game from your nearest torrent site. This right here is the Haunted Hotel at Santa Monica beach. You think you have seen scary in a video game. You probably thought you had seen it all. "Pfft!" You will think when you are given the task to retrieve the pendant from inside the Hotel that control the ghost that haunts it. "I've seen Horror movies. I saw Alien and didn't even flinch! I'm a new age man. I watch SAW and I can handle this pussy Hotel ghost like it was nuthin'!" You will be wrong. My hand was shaking the whole time. I couldn't even keep my mouse steady. My palms were sweaty. It was like Niagara Falls all over my Microsoft Sidewinder (the new spiffy black one, not the one that looks like a boomerang). I had to wash my hands for a whole minute, soap bar and all, before I was convinced I was clean enough to continue gaming. People, that scene is pure atmospheric brilliance. Saw what you will about that sewer level, where all us persuasive characters are forced to run for our (un)lives from those Death-on-Legs because we were too busy investing our points into Persuasion and Seduction rather than "I'm Gonna Woop Yo' Ass!". The Hotel Mansion alone made Vampire Bloodlines one for the record books. And that wasn't even the best scene. There is this one scene where you are confronted with a Cannabilistic Vampire, and this is where the game throws some moral-philosophical head spinners our way. See, this vampire wanted us to send some poor chap that had seen her doing her stuff down to her lair so she can make sure the guy doesn't tell a soul about her. You will do it. It will make perfect sense in all of the world for you to do it, even for those extremelly moralistic individuals. You will do it because she presents the case - and quite well, I might add - that you are no different from her. You suck blood, the life force of humans. She eats them. They are both horrid, damnable acts. What makes what you do so much better than heracts of survival? None of it does. So that is why you do it. And that is why I love this game. Because it is more than a game. It is about things, stuff that you need to think about, to ponder about, to debate with yourself. That is a sign of good storytelling folks, not how much fanart is dedicated to your game on DeviantArt.com. I'm not even finished with it yet. If it weren't for the fact that The Witcher and Arcanum and Planescape: Torment are patiently waiting for me to finish them, I'd do a second play through as either the butt kicking Gangrel or those crazy I'm-gonna-debate-with-a-stop-sign Malkavians.

I. Bioware bases nearly all of their storyline on the idea of "Absolute Good versus Absolute Evil" Ever since their inception into the RPG universe with Baldur's Gate, there was a certain familiar feel with their storylines. You can't help but have the feeling that you have been there before, just in diffirent shoes, and maybe with a different reason to be there every now and then. That is because Bioware almost always relies on the classic "A Hero must Rise to destroy a Great Evil that Threatens to Destroy the World!" plot archetype. Now, this is a classic archetype, and rightfully so. It is often found in the likes of mythology and folklore. J.R.R. Tolkien brought this into mainstream with his The Lord of the Rings, and George Lucas even more so with the vast majority of his Star Wars movies. However, just because a story archetype is classic does not mean it is all good either. After all "classic" is just one stone throws away from being "cliche". We need more than just a mold for a story to be good. We need interesting characters, character relationships, a villain that is truly worthy of being called a villain, the development of the characters, etc. You can have all of the plot twists to your heart's desire, but if it does not have a heart, what is the freaking point? Simply put, plot twists alone do not make a story "good". And Bioware seems inept of understanding this fact. In Baldur's Gate, you were a SPOILER! Spawn of Bhaal, the God of Bloodshed,, and you must stop your SPOILER! evil half brother from replacing your divine father, and save all of Baldur's Gate in the process! Baldur's Gate II was a very refreshing change of pace, when you instead were out to kill the bastard that tortured you and killed one of your friends. The villain was also very compelling, and you understood his actions. He was an interesting character, as well as a plausible villain. What was at stake was all that mattered - your own neck. It was an epic storyline for all of the reasons that most people do not think is epic. Unfortunately, Bioware did not like it, and went back to its roots with their next games. In Neverwinter Nights, you must stop an ancient evil from conquering the city of Neverwinter. The singleplayer game was quite bad, but in return, they gave the community an amazing editor, which allowed users to create their own games! Sure, most of them were crap, but a select few were quite stellar, and were worth the price of the game and its 2 expansion packs! With Knights of the Old Republic, you are tasked with saving the Republic from the evil Sith! Oooooo. In Jade Empire you must stop a horrible person from conquering the Jade Empire! Hrm.... where have I heard this before? And in Mass Effect, you, once again, have to stop some horrible evil from destroying galactic civilization as we know it! People, how on Earth is this not getting tiresome? Bioware is recycling the same story archetype 4 games in a row (surely soon to be 5 with Dragon Age in October)! And people praise Bioware for good storytelling? Laughable. Now, I understand that just a story archetype alone isn't enough to condemn a story. It may still very well be a "save the world" storyline, but there could be enough twists and turns and interesting scenarios, well written dialogue, and compelling characters that it will be a good story. Unfortunately, Bioware rarely has any of those things. Their plot twists are far too rare, and rarely do anything for the storyline, that makes them truly effective. Their dialogue is often quite crude, with the appearance that they were scratching them onto stone rather than writing them with pencil. Sometimes, the dialogue is just downright cringe worthy. In some cases with Baldur's Gate, they were even laugh worthy at how campy it all was. II. Bioware Recycles Their Characters for Nearly Every Game Baldur's Gate II is one of the strongest games in Bioware's lineup, and they know it. Not only was it, fun, engaging, an open world, and full of dozens of characters that can be a part of the player's party, but it also had an engrossing storyline, and it was full of strong characters, especially the villain. So, instead of bashing their brain boxes together and trying to think up of ways to recreate the magic in their subsequent games, they decided to just downright copy it, paint it another color, and just call it new! Basically, nearly every single party NPC after Neverwinter Nights can be easily be described as a BGII character with a different name and backstory. This weakens the overall narrative of the story overall. III. Bioware's perception of "evil" is just mindlessly killing people and/or being a bully Let's face it people. Being a murderer is not the sole way in which you can be classified as evil. In the same respect, being a bully, asking for money from someone for just saving their lives, is not evil. Evil is when you totally and absolutely remove all measures of hope and perseverance from someone. It is when you leave them as a lifeless husk, when you screw a woman despite you having no affections for her whatsoever, and right after that going to the local whore house, leaving her on that bed. Evil is using that woman's affections for your own selfish ends. Evil is when you totally and absolutely remove the humanity from people, leaving them as a soulless husk for you to do with as you please. So, those are my 3 main reasons as to why Bioware does not tell good stories. Good day and good gaming.

Thanks to SomethingAwful, I have concluded I will never EVER play RIFTS.

I really made two interesting book choices earlier this week, and at the moment they were just based off of me wanting some more interesting things to happen in my Mage games, but not I can easily see that it was my mind at work. See, the two books are Astral Realms and Intruders: Encounters with the Abyss. The first deals with the dreams and fantasies of mankind, and how mages can enter their "inner souls" and the collected dream universe of mankind, while the other deals with adding supernatural horror that easily complements mages. Since the abyss is the source of all mages' woes, the "intruders" from the abyss must be the physical incarnation of them. Dreams and fear. In some ways, you could say that they are two sides of the same coin, and I think it is just very interesting how, for my first Mage add-on books purchase after Boston: Unleashed, I picked boosk dealing with those themes. Now, I have only read a little bit of both - only the opening short story of Intruders, and some ways into Astral Realms, but already I am getting a stream of ideas how I can mix elements of both into the game. It won't be for some time, mind you, but I can already say that it was well worth the $40.

After 3 sessions as a Game Master, I thought it would be a good idea if I were to start writing some entries from the PoV of one. Heck, it just might give me the motivation that I need to keep this blog updated for once! So, GMing. It's an interesting thing. For one, it is pretty much essential to any good RPG campaign. You need a GM who can juggle being a good storyteller, thinking of his feet, who can moderate the type of games he wants to play with that of everyone else, being good with the rules, moderating the other players, keeping the players interests throughout the 3+ hour session, not to mention being good with voices and body motions when he is the NPC, to have a really good gaming session. It's tough work. Not to mention all of the work BEFORE the session. Alternate plot routes, for instance. The creation of the world, the motivation of the characters, making the bad guys evil as well as morally complex and human, and stuff like that. Oh, and let's not forget the actual arranging of the sessions. Where to play, when, is there food, how long do we play for, and if we take breaks. Breaks open up a whole other can of worms, because they are like commercial breaks. When commercials come up in Lost, everyone goes crazy because YOU HAVE TO KNOW WHAT HAPPENS NEXT! You need to take the break at the right time, or else the momentum is completely lost. At the end of the day, I kinda appreciate what this guy has to go through.Okay, maybe not THAT much, but you understand my point. Now that we are on the topic of God, it brings me to the topic of this entry: merging Faith and Fantasy in a modern era game. For my first campaign, my group (which was, at the time, me and my best friend Pete) decided on Mage: The Awakening. Considering that we were a Christian group, and had the intent of using the RPG Group as a sort of Christian Ministry (is that the right term?), this was a very interesting choice. I mean, Christians playing RPGs (Ohnosatandemonsblahblahblah!), an RPG game that deals with people casting spells and summoning spirits and the like. If we were the standard RPG Group, one would have to wonder what an irregular group was! But hey, who said I had to be sterotypical? You are talking to someone that wants substance over style with his movies and video games. I hate Halo for God's sake. Yes, you read that right. H-A-L-O. The one with Master Chief. Oh, did I mention I think Harry Potter is boring as heck? And yes, I did read all of the books. I am anything but typical. Anyways, I like my stories to be deep - or as my pastor put it, profound. I like for them to have themes, messages, moral passages, and social commentary. I think that stuff is fun. I love it when a game gives me a variety of moral choices, and NONE of them can be simply put into right or wrong. I like it when stories makes me think. And so, when I working on the campaign for my group's Mage game, I want them to ask themselves: "Is this the right thing to do? Is this what I would do in this situation?" as much as possible. I don't like black and white. I love gray, because that is what we are. Not even Hitler was evil - heck, he gave millions to a family he barely knew, because they needed it. He put gays in concentration camps because the father of that same family left them for his gay partner. No one is evil, but neither are they good too. JFK cheated on his wife. Churchill was a drunk. We humans are stuck in the middle. Anyways, I like themes. I like moral lessons. So, when designing this campaign, I wanted three moral lessons (or themes) that would underlayer the entire thing. They would support one and another, and enrichen the game as a whole. Besides, it gives me a really good excuse to rent out philosophy books at the library. Anyways, for the campaign, I choose three categories: moral, political, and faith. Three pretty important things to think about, if you ask me. Political was the easiest. "America has the potential to become it's very worst enemy. Its worst enemy is tyranny - look at the Red Scare, and the Patriot Act, as well as all of the measures to remove the right to bear arms. We are using fear to back these unconstitutional acts." Of course, this is just my opinion, but that is somewhat unavoidable. Now, fear of what? Easy - death, and death's distant cousins, fate and destiny. We have now reached the moral: "The only way to conquer death is to embrace it. To know that your end will come, and to make the most out of what time you have. You can't escape your fate. " We can't change what we must do. If a man feels he must do something, he must. This is our nature. Changing fate brings only disaster. We are so scared of that fact that we will do anything to change it. We will even go so far as to turn America into a pseudo-dictatorship. Now, gratefully, we have not reached that point, but if we keep on going down this road we will. However, faith is where I am having the most trouble. In what way can I tie in the first two lessons with a pro-Christian one - but also in such a way that is not propaganda like (Narnia?). I wanted to use a lesson that will make the players ask questions about their spiritual walk, but not force them to come to one definite answer. I do have an idea of "People who choose to become greater than God just end up becoming lower than dirt" but that feels too...condescending I suppose is the right word. It just doesn't feel right. It's not the type of lesson I would want to hear in a movie or book. Why would I do that to my players? Besides, it doesn't even fit with the other two themes! Faith just added three buckets full of worms on top of everything else. I considered for a fraction of a moment to take out the faith theme all together, but I rejected that. If I am going to do this, I am going to do all three. The great holy trinity of RPG Themes - faith, moral, and political. That is what each and every one of my Campaigns would have, or they will be just a grand old adventuring romp. Which isn't bad mind you, but I wanted to start off with a grand start. I had been toying with the idea of the PC's (that's Player Characters to you RPG newbies) meeting with a God, a god of Death in particular, but then I started to wonder where these gods would fall in the Christian cosmotology. Would they be between God and the Devil? Would God be just the God of OUR universe, and each universe has its own pantheon? Or maybe they would be the last of the stock, with God and the Devil being above them. Also, I want to use Planescape with Mage. Planescape is essentially a multiverse that can be used with fantasy settings. It is rich, imaginative, uniquely fantastic, and full of so much plot hooks I would be insane not to use it. But how do I make sense of that with Christian faith? Should I even bother? As one can sense, I am absolutley insane. First time Game Master, trying to make my campaign deep (profound), three themes that make the players think, fitting Fantasy pantheons into Christian doctrine - mein gott! What did I get myself into?!