Rock, Paper, Shotgun

Dragon Age playing masses, the 1.01 patch is out, and it’s likely essential. Those who’ve seen my PC Gamer review, and indeed very many others saying the same, will have noticed complaints that the Easy difficulty level at certain points isn’t altogether that easy. And I’ll wager many playing on Normal aren’t exactly finding it a breeze. The patch notes explain that they’ve, “made Easy difficulty easier”, and crucially, “slightly increased attack, defense, and damage scores for all party members at Normal difficulty.” I’ve yet to check what difference it actually makes, but hopefully this will address my one major complaint with the game. Steam has already auto-patched, so restart if you’re playing it over there. (And while I’m here, here’s Eurogamer’s review of the 360 version – it seems the PC won this one rather well.)

Just picked up from Richard Cobbett’s twitter, it appears that Interplay are re-releasing Planescape Torment. Its release date is listed as the 30th October and the price is a – not-much-change-from-the-nature-of-twenty-quid – 17.99 of your Earth pounds. In fact, it appears to be a whole load of Interplay other material too. It’s a surprise to see a decade-old game released at a mid-range price… but it’s also one that I find hard to argue against. A game that’s still placing high in all-time lists, that’s been unavailable for years, that goes for full-price when it turns up on eBay and hasn’t been superseded in any way. If the gaming equivalent of the Beatle’s price never going down and this means that Dan Gril has no excuse but to finally return Alec’s copy to him. Hand it back, you bast.

Pirhanha Bytes – the venerated and cheerily mad studio behind the Gothic RPGs – are backbackback with next month’s Risen. I’ve spent a little time with some preview code, and they’ve just released a making-of video. See how I kill two birds with one stone. I am Bird-Killer, killer of birds.
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We’re not in Aurora any more. Obsidian’s next game, Alpha Protocol, is the least RPG-looking RPG I think I’ve seen. In the new video released today (below), showing lots of new in-game footage, it looks like third-person action. But do not let loose your cries of foul just yet – this is Obsidian, and while it would be nice if they’d remember to finish their games, they’ve yet to make a mistake. And this is Chris Avellone and Feargus Urquhart, who brought us KotOR II and Planescape: Torment. The men know how to tell a story. There is pedigree, and with pedigree comes optimism. Doubly so, since there’s not a potion or magical goblet in sight: this is a spy-based RPG, set in the modern day.

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Yesterday, CrispyGamer quoted another of Kyle Orland’s press-pass columns, this time about Indie games coverage in the mainstream press. One bit made me sit right up…

Of course, there are exceptions. Indie games like Braid, Everyday Shooter and World of Goo, to name but a few, have broken out of obscurity thanks largely to glowing coverage from the press. These success stories, though, can help obscure how shallow the indie coverage is on most sites. “In the last half year I’ve seen people give a lot of attention to a few [indie] games, but less so to the second tier,” Gillen says.

God, I sound so hot. Anyway, that was followed by…

Game Tunnel’s Carroll agrees, calling out most sites’ coverage for inconsistency. “Some games, like Audiosurf, get noticed; others, like The Spirit Engine 2, don’t. … Lots of sites will cover indie games with a few great articles in a month and then not mention anything for months.”

And the RPS chatroom said as one: The Whatyoutalkingaboutwillis Engine?
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We don’t know much about Bioware’s next RPG, reportedly in development for five years now. But we probably think we know a lot about it as, well, their last three games were a liiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiitle bit similar.

Reassuringly, it’s the Edmonton lot closing the circle. They’ve already shed their Star Wars handcuffs by following up KOTOR with Mass Effect, set in their own Roddenberryesque sci-fi universe, and Dragon Age will see ‘em finally step out of Dungeons & Dragons’ shadow and into their own medieval fantasy world. And about time too – a developer with that much clout shouldn’t have to suckle from another man’s elf.
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About a year and a half ago, the idea struck me that RPGs had a particularly odd phenomenon that required investigation. Now, I don’t pretend to be the first person who thought it strange that in the majority of role-playing games, strangers will march up to you and ask you to do their chores/rescue their daughters. But I do pretend to be the first person to dress up as a wizard, go into the streets of Bath, and find out if it was realistic. Below is the story of my adventure, originally published on The Escapist, and now in its full glory for you, today.

Quest For Glory

There are conventions in media we become perfectly used to, despite their having no place in reality. If we watch a movie, and someone is given CPR in the street, on the beach or dangling on a rope from a hot air balloon, we know they’ll come back to life. Nevermind that CPR merely sustains things until proper medical equipment arrives – we know, and accept, that with a couple of compressions and a few puffs in the mouth, they’ll be up and about and back to shooting zombies in a couple of minutes.

All romantic comedies will end in life-lasting true love, and all soap operas will have a 100% relationship failure rate. All cops will announce, “There’s no time for back up!” when they arrive at the scene of a crime, before being asked to hand in their gun and badge to the furious captain (what with the mayor being in town) on a weekly basis. All aliens are bipedal, and of all the languages spoken on Earth, choose English. Shopping bags always contain a long stick of French bread. And if you bump into someone of the opposite sex carrying a large stack of files, you will fall in love while picking them up. These are truths.

Conventions require time. Videogames have finally reached an age where such imaginary stalwarts are becoming firmly established, most especially within roleplaying games.

Prithy sir, clicketh upon mine linkth?
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You may be pleased to know that it hasn’t been all intricately documented whining about really brilliant videogames this August Bank-holiday weekend at Rock Paper Shotgun Towers. As I said a couple of posts back, I’ve been playing Guild Wars: Eye of the North on its preview weekend. And I’ve had a lot of fun. Let’s see a picture of my character, having a lot of fun.

Yay! It’s like Rainbow Islands, except with less Rainbows or Islands or Rainbow Islands.

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