Playing Dragon Age 2: Part 1

Hello friends, I hope you are all great today! I know I am. Just got back from Tesco with a Pizza, Brownies, Onion Bhajis and a bottle of Coke. It’s gonna be a great weekend for me!  I’ll preface this blog by saying there MAY be spoilers throughout, but that’s just how it goes!

 

As I’m sure you all know, DA2 hit the other day in the UK, and I’ve been getting right into it. This is the first in a series of planned blogs about…basically playing through Dragon Age 2! This first part contains the first 6 or so hours in the game, and I’ll tell you now, it’s a lot of side questy bollocks, that’s REALLY FUN. Without any further ado, let’s hit it!

 

So, the game starts off incredibly strong. If you played the demo, you’d know this, but for those of you who haven’t, the game starts off with you taking control of your Hawke character-Male or Female, and you can either play a warrior, a mage, or a rogue. Immediately, the combat feels a lot tighter that DA2. It’s hard to clarify exactly what this is, but it just feels a lot more (sorry) visceral. The hits really feel like they’re connecting. Whether or not this is due to that horrible “Excessive gore” feature (Note to self: turn this off when I go back on…), but playing it as the warrior class, the mighty blow skill and every other just feels meaty as all hell.

You also have to fight above your bracket…

So from here, you realise it was all a dream. Sorry, I mean a flashback. The story is told through the eyes of Varric, a dwarf who (Hold onto your butts) was born on the surface, has no beard, and uses a crossbow. Mother of GOD  He is retelling the story about the hero of Kirkwall (presumably your character), and the narrative contrivance of the game seems to be that you’re reliving your life through his flashbacks, and it’s a pretty cool little plot device so far.  I’ll point out at this point that I’m playing on the PC, and for a PC that is running the game in DX9, on medium, with a pretty modest rig, the game looks pretty stunning. I don’t  know if it’s the art shining through, or the fact I’ve been playing nothing but God Hand and Pokemon White for the last week, but hot damn does it look good.

 

I should note that there are a few familiar faces that pop up here and there. Annoyingly, I couldn’t import my save, as you need to have the original Dragon Age: Origins installed, which is a bit of a piss take, but out of the three pre-determined endings, there was one that I felt was pretty similar to mine.

My main quest at the moment seems to be to collect 50 gold pieces, so that I can buy my way onto an expedition into the Deep Roads (Oghren cameo anyone?), and to that end, I’m just kind of doing odd jobs to make ends meet. Don’t take that as a bad sign though, the side quests so far have been incredibly satisfying. I’ve arrested a corrupt captain of the guard, saved an elven girl from a Quanari madman, and basically just trawled my way all over the shop, killing everyone in my path. Having such a mage focused early game so early on however, is a bit of a pain in the arse. I can currently pick (aside from my warrior tank) from 1 rogue, 1 warrior (another tank -_-) and THREE mages. I’m rolling with the rogue, and 2 of the mages, because I need a healer to keep me up!  That’s not to say that the game is perfect so far, but my niggles are only superficial. Not being able to buy image altering armor for anyone but yourself is kind of dumb, and EVERYTHING being made for Hawke is a bit stupid. But so far, the game is superb. I’m about to jump back in, so I’ll leave you with some other general pictures and stuff I’ve taken so far!

 

Truly, this is the age of great beard technology.

Thanks for reading if you got this far. Are you playing it aswell? I’d love to know how you’re getting along. Is there anything you’d ilke to see, or have me discuss in the next blog post? Much love!

 

Fictional Characters we should never forget.

The mark of a strong piece of fiction often depends on many things. Be it an immersive world, rich with it’s own specific lore, memorable moments or just a relatable set of characters, there’s a great many things that we often depend on to create what would probably be marked as “Strong memories”. Naturally, these kind of things are often subjective in nature. One persons Souji Seta is another mans Gordon Freeman. However, I propose that, for me personally, the mark of a good characterisation at least, or one which evokes strong feelings is their eventual demise. In the end, everyone is human, and the way in which they define their existence, and final moments, are at often times, integral to their character as a whole. While this is certainly not a definitive list, these are characters from modern fiction/media which I feel we should never forget. The list is in no specific order, just as they came to my mind. I should’t have to say that there will be momumentous spoilers here.

Goodnight, sweet princes of men. You were the greatest any of us have ever known…

Rorschach (Watchmen)

Rorschach was a very powerful character for me in the Watchmen. In essence, he was the “Little mans voice” in the world of corruption and government policy. When “masks” were outlawed, he refused to bow down. “Never surrender. Not even in the face of Armaggedon”. When Ozymandeus wanted to con the world, which in turn created a brief state of world peace, Rorschach stood in the face of it, and refused. A steadfast character whos death was a very big deal for me as I was growing up, reading the Watchmen. A troubled, misunderstood individual, who was pushed too far by the corrupt city he lived in. God rest.

Solid Snake (Metal Gear Solid)

Try this test on your friends. Ask them if they’ve played Metal Gear Solid, and if they loved Snake. If they agree, they’re good, be friends with them. If they’re not, cut them on the face with a knife. It’s a fair test. Throughout the franchise, Solid Snake has been one of the most endearing, relatable characters in modern videogame story telling. As the audience, we were similarly exposed to the same kind of underhand, and once again, corrupt world that he lives in. Proxy wars and insane plot devices aside, the character of Snake persisted throughout as not only the voice of the reason throughout, but also the voice of the player. Never since, in a game, has one man accomplished so much, for so little recognition. Saving the world several times from Nuclear disaster, and gracefully accepting his own death. Anyone who played the microwave corridor in MGS4, and finished the final fist fight atop the tanker will testify to their magnificence

Spike Spiegel (Cowboy Bebop)

If you watch anime, you know who this is. You just do. Cowboy Bebop was released in 1998, and was made by Shinchiro Wanatabe, and is probably the most important anime to ever hit Western shores, with possible exception given to Otomos Akira. Bebop was a story which focused exclusively on the lives and actions of 3 main characters, Spike, Jet and Faye. As the show goes on, we discover more and more about their past, and the hardships they keep with them throughout, and share together. Arguably one of the most poignant and loved characters in modern anime, Spike died after a life of personal mental anguish, constantly reflecting on his past with Julia. Endearing, relatable, and an all arouund great guy. So long, Space Cowboy. You’re gonna carry that weight…

Maes Hughes (Fullmetal Alchemist)

You cried when Maes Hughes died. Don’t even try to mask it or lie about it. One of the most bro-tastic characters ever, his only shortcoming was infact, his own intuition. Determined to altruistically help Roy Mustang reach the position of Fuhrer so he could create a better world for everyone. Died to a Homonculi, and protected not only his families future, but also started a chain reaction which ended in a better world for all the free people in the FMA universe.

It’s going to rain today.

Kamina (Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann)

I can’t write much about Kamina. The grief is still too near for me.

Qui Gonn Jinn (Star Wars)

Qui Gonn essentially depicted everything in a Jedi that was referred to as an ideal quality. His calm, collective nature, inability to distrust, and endearing character made him insantly likeable. Once again, a key character who started the chain of events which lead to the destruction of the empire. And he was the model for the Jedi Consolur, and that’s just awesome.

Portgas D. Ace (One Piece)

Ace dying was one of the most important parts of One Piece to me (After that scene from Enies Lobby. You know if if you’ve read it. I WANNA LIVE!), and one of my favourite character deaths in manga. The adoptive brother of the protagonist, Luffy, Aces life was persistnently in a sorrid state of affairs. Being born as the son of the infamous Gol D. Roger, Aces early life was bound to be troublesome, yet he still managed to get by. It wasn’t until he reached out and joined the Whitebeard pirates that he truly found a place he could call his home (More on this in the next character description…). Captured by Blackbeard, and offered to the marines, he was killed by Akainu as he protected Luffy by throwing himself in front of Akainus killing blow. He died a martyr, and brought about the next great age of pirates, along with Newgate.

The Will of D lives on, in his death.

Edward D. Newgate/Whitebeard (One Piece)

This picture alone should suffice.

 

Jiraiya (Naruto)

Jiraiya the Gallant was one of the most important Ninjas of his generation. Training several of the key characters throughout, he was undoubtably loved by the fansbase for his brash humor and ballsy nature. Sacrificed himself for Konoha, figuring out how to stop Pein, who was close to destroying the Leaf Village for good.

So I guess that’s the end of that. Hopefully, you’ll take time to reflect upon characters who you’ve felt unnaturally attatched to in your favourite things. Honorable mentions are to follow.

Thanks for reading. Did I hit anything that touched you personally? What did it for you?

How we play Starcraft 2: A primer

Hello friends.

Recently, my good friend Lewis and I have began playing Starcraft 2.  Now, we’re getting a lot better, topping our bronze division now. Bronze, I know, but everyone has to start somewhere. Now, most games it’s just

“Alright dude, we’ve got 20 food armys, we can poke out, scout their expands, then take out a few things”

Our face:

Then, often times, we fall back, build up our forces, upgrade, then push out. We often times win, we’re getting our timing down, and it goes great. I favor a more bio heavy mix of Marines/Marauders and Ghosts, with complimentary tanks. As standard, naturally. He favors a more Marauder/Medvac drop play, with heavy vikings to cover our asses. We push out from both sides usually, pincer them in, and we’re GG.

Our faces:

But then, every now and then, we get pushed back after our first push. No big deal, we think, it happens. Then our second one does. We get annoyed. Then we get pushed by 20 carriers, all the Zealots that didn’t die on Aiur, and a fucking probe.

Our faces:

To conclude: If you play in a PP comp, I hate you.

Kisses <3

This is how I picture you if you’re a PP 7Stargate player. Or French. “LOL NICE MMM HUEHUE HUE NEED TO EAT FROGZ LEGZ”

University 3rd year – A labyrinth of impossible obligations

This isn’t pertaining to be a substantial entry, but one which I feel like I have to get off my chest. ( I am now calmed down)

So today, I realised I should hand in my first piece of work. It’s not due till tomorrow (the 20th October), but I finished it, checked it, and went to send it to “Jisc”, which is an abitrary plagarism system, which effectively determines how much of your work that you’ve “Stolen” without quoting it properly. Let’s ignore this fact, and just get straight on with the actual procedure, because…Jisc is fucking awful.

So I come to my profile. It’s not setup. Of course it isn’t. I wait till later because I can’t be bothered fucking about with it, to get an e-mail which explains I have to “re-enrol” myself for the year. Frustrating, but admittedly simple. Why this just can’t automatically update itself with a little work from admin, I won’t gesture I’m aware, but suffice to say it wasn’t too offensive. I mean never mind the fact that nobody can be bothered to segregate each individual persons modular courses, meaning I am now signed up, according to Jisc, for EVERY SINGLE POSSIBLE module, making it ever stressful when I have to pick the right area to hand it in.

No, besides that, this is what really gets me. In second and third year, they are internally refereed to as “Level 5″ and “Level 6″ respectively. I presume it’s an addition to “Key Stages”, but that’s speculation. Now, apparently, the 2 levels have seperate marking criteria. The level 6 stuff obviously has a few extra loopholes to jump through to ensure it’s up to the appropriate standard. Fair enough. But this is where it seems…rote. Every piece we hand in is APPARENTLY to be marked “anonymously”, which to quote a tutor “So there’s no personal inflection or prejudice against anyone” (Not verbatum, but highly inferred). So…this is the first leg of where it falls down. This year, the new course system dictates that it’s “Level 5/6″ on the cover sheet, explaining what you do. Weird, but okay. But hold on a second.

We no longer hand in the ESSAY to a coursework receipting office. No, no, that would be too easy. Maybe everyone got hand cramp and couldn’t stamp the sheets anymore. Whatever. Now, we have to send it to Jisc (Not too intrusive) and print out the receipt from Jisc, attach it to the front of the essay, and drop it off in a postboxey bin kind of thing. This doesn’t seem too bad. But here’s what is. The Jisc receipt we get not only has our entire essay printed on it, in the worst formatting of all time. No. It also has this:-

Paper ID:	7585031
Author:	XXXXXX
Paper Title:	Auteur Theory
Assignment Title:	Level 5/6 – Animation Art & Industry – Essay 1
E-mail:	XXXXXXXX@stu.mmu.ac.uk

But wait, what’s that under the XXXXX’s ? Isn’t that my name and student ID number? Wouldn’t that invalidate the concept of anonymous marking? Because it’s LV5/6, doesn’t that break down the concept of a structured hierachy of the mark scheme?

I think it does. I’m sure there’s a LOT of work under the hood that I don’t really understand. But it seems a bit dumb.

Mr Nobody (2010)

I just watched a movie called “Mr Nobody(2009)”.

It was fantastic. It tells several stories which revolved around the choices in which a young boy made, and how they shape his future. The plot bounces between these 4/5 different possible “Futures”, and ends in a magnicifcent finale.

The movie has a very strange and disjointed sense of narrative explaination, which I think makes the film very watchable. It reminded me of a movie I saw a while ago called “Wristcutters”, although I suppose you could draw some parallels to Donnie Darko, and that kind of movie. A strange sense of muted surrealism makes the entire picture strangely entrancing. In essence, it plays with several philosophical themes, such as the reality and illusion of choice, and what it can or can’t lead to in the end. For example, one of the futures he lives in revolves around the concept of the butterfly effect-in fact, the entire movie plays with this concept, and I really enjoyed it.

I would really recommend people check it out if you like sci-fi, drama, or a movie from a brilliant Belgian director. Or if you just like to have movies make you think a little.

 

Beckii Cruel- Western Otakuism

So, last night on BBC3, a documentary aired regarding a young girl called Rebecca Flint, or more commonly known by  her online moniker as “Beckii Cruel”, a 14 year old girl who rose to fame with the “Danjo dance”, a popular anime song.

What followed was a weirdly sombre look at her “Rise to fame” as it essentially showed 5-6 months in her life as she went from “Girl in her bedroom”, to Idol in Japan, to attempted UK pop singer. Cinderella for the digital age. However, the show, naturally, was somewhat misrepresentative of the reality, however did feature some soberingly honest moments on occasion. Like always, these kind of documentarys will show some kind of anime in which they attempt to ground the audience and show the kind of thing they’re on about, showing some of The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzuimiya. Not sure how it was particularly relevenant, but hey, Kyon!

However, the bizarre parallel from Rebecca Flint to Beckii Cruel was cut together quite well. They somehow managed to interview her at school for maybe…15 seconds? In this time, kids in the background were bullying the hell out of her, singing the Danjo song in an obviously derogatary fashion. It was rude, obviously, but also kind of just…surrel. I mean I get it, kids are kids. They don’t really get it, and living in an age where they grow up with the internet obviously creates a much different youth individual than myself, who grew up in essence, with the closest internet source being the town library (When I used to print off Gold Chocobo guides from the library…). But looking at the kind of comments that people send to her is relatively shocking.

A youtube comment which has now been removed, I guess, was from a 14 year old boy, in which he berates her for “Having a shit body, and knowing fuck all about the real world because she’s just a stupid 15 minutes of fame kid, which I found…bizarre. I mean hey, I get it. I’ve used the internet a lot. I’ve seen so many people rise and fall from fame in the same vein that she has, and she’s just another passing fad. But for people to actively take time to explain to her why she’s a “Failed human” or some such shit is honestly quite bizarre. I  guess this is the age we live in.

The doc rages on, and shows what again, seemed to be a weird cross section of her life, as she splits between mild mannered Rebecca Flint, and Otaku sensation Beckii Cruel, showing an eerily well cut together montage of her being bullied at school, to her parents discussing her future, to her being swarmed by 16 year old dudes in Japan. One of the best bits in the doc is her manager, Fuji. He appears to be very “In the know” about what she…is. He explains that the culture in Japan is obviously very different. This contrasts to her parents, who, while being strangely accepting about everything that she is doing, have an all too obvious hidden motive to get her off the J-Pop scene, and into British UK singing sensation fever.

It doesn’t help that she can’t really sing.

However, the young girl isn’t entirely oblivious to her faux sexualisation in Japan. Even when I was watching the show, I had to constantly remind myself that she was only 14, as the way the doc was cut (Thank you BBC) made everyone look like they were a massive pervert, because they were fetishising moé idols at a 9pm timeslot.

So the doc goes on, it shows other people like her, including a much more polite and admittedly troubled girl who was like her, and/or inspired by what she’d done. Except she was a much more realistic version. As she looked at her demographics, she didn’t show it on film, but when she realised her main demographic (The age range of people that look at her) was 44-54 year old males in Japan, she was obviously deflated. This, I thought, was a much more realistic take on the show, and made the reality of the matter a much more sobering affair than the happy go lucky, everything’s sunshine and rainbows approach that Beckii demonstrated. After that, we didn’t see muc more of her. Another failure, I suppose.

So, like I said earlier, I’ve been around for a while. I get this kind of Moé idol culture. People don’t seem to realise that living in the UK, there’s a much more harsh clampdown on what we consider bad taste in regards to sexualisation of young people. We know that she’s 14 years old, but the BBC had no qualms in making her look like an oversexualised, for want of a less rude phrase, whore, who was getting all her attention from “Creepy old guys in Japan”, as described by her mother, away from the family. But, in the land of Maid Cafés, Shibuya and…well basically Japan as a whole, it’s a much more different world. Being a Westerner, I naturally can’t comment with any sense of objectivity because it’s just a perspective based observation, but the kind of moé girl who does cute things online has always been around. Allow me to demonstrate.

Beckii Cruell: Age 15

Young, naive, unassuming and excited to get into that kind of world. Watches anime, and did a video of her dancing online. The bottom rung of the ladder.

I don’t know who this girl is, but she pops up on/a/ and /v/ every now and then. She’s the more mature version of Beckii. Aware of her sexuality, and actively uses it to promote herself. Like Beckii in 3 years. Oh, and American…

And we end with Applemilk1988, the classic, and gentlemans choice. The opposite end of the spectrum to Beckii. Became an idol in Japan, to an extent, got a record deal etc. Beckii in 10 years.

Now, I’m not implying bad will onto her. In fact, I hope she does well, because it’d nice to hear these success stories about young people who manage to actually make something of themselves, however fickle and unreal it might actually be. What I’m trying to get at, I suppose, is that she certainly isn’t the first, and she certainly won’t be the last.

The doc closes with her 15th birthday. She’s surrounded by close friends and family, as she gets all her shit. Now, the much more surreal part for the viewer, will be that her biggest fan in Japan sent her a bass guitar. A fucking expensive bass guitar shipped from Japan. I wouldn’t want to think about what the guitar ALONE costs, never mind the shipping. However, looking at the guitar, it’s obvious what he’s trying to create…

However, following this, there’s a brief interview with her at the end, where it’s explained that this fan is now a “Friend of the family”, who’s actually much, much older than her. She implies he’s delusional about what’s going to happen between them, and he needs to get a reality check. This was a very important part in the doc, in which she is portrayed as a very rude, fickle young girl as she admittedly seems very pleased about the guitar, yet is still…in reality. And hey, she IS a 15 year old girl who’s an idol in Japan, not a whore.

So the doc ends with a “Where are they now” segment where it kinda wraps things up with an unsatisfying set of shit, blah blah, we won’t ever see anything from her ever again. Thanks for the 60 minutes of relatively interesting documentary footage about a girl trying to make it big in Japan. She probably won’t, but she’ll make a bit of money off it, and either come off better for it in the end, or get bullied to high hell, become disillusioned and turn into something more more seedy and insidious. But here’s hoping it’s the first.

Now where’s my Jiiiii~ documentary…

Minecraft- The creation of emergent narrative. With lava.

So hey everyone. It’s the prime directive of a Minecrafter to…mine. Much like Dwarf Fortress, I’ve always found the most exciting parts of Minecraft (Henceforth referred to as MC for convenience) to be going out and making my own stories. There’s a sense of purely emergent gameplay that I find I can expressly discover and create when I play MC. So over the past week or so, I’ve sporadically been off on explorations. Not venturing too far from my safehouse, I finally decided today to go “Fuck it, I’m going to go North”. Following is the explots of what happened. First of all, I had to find my sense of direction. Heading north is the easy part, knowing that clouds will always go in that direction. It was in this rote task that I encountered my first big hurdle. The vast ocean that was before me. Naturally, inginuity struck.

After much faffing around trying to find a legitimate mountain or cave to really go deep into, I thought I’d never find anything appropriate for my needs. I found several very small caves, but they just weren’t…going anywhere. Splatters of coal here, mushrooms there, it wasn’t until I stumbled across this perfect area (Which I found from punching a sheep to death, their noise is infuriatingly repetitive). I give you, my dream mine.

To the untrained eye, it might not LOOK like much, but let me tell you. What I found in this cave was more than just resources/water/lava. It was an incredibly refreshing gaming experience that I haven’t had in quite some time. The sheer joy of exploring for what seemed like hours on end (In actual fact, it was) was made much more rewarding when I finally found this area. It seemed like the perfect little area. Almost too perfect.

The further I pushed in, the more precious resources I found. Pessimistic and naturally encountering bad luck in these kind of situations, I expected nothing more than steel (or Iron, whatever you want to call it) and maybe…well, I didn’t know what else I was really anticipating.

The further I got down, the more of what I can only describe as a visceral thrill swept over me. It seemed to go on forever. Coupled with the seeminly endless torches I brought with me, I felt like I could just keep on going forever. In a way, I suppose I did. However, what I found next, I could only have dreamed of. The glimmer of Mossy Cobblestone? Endless waves of spiders? Dramatic sound effect cues indiacting I was onto something? I finally found what I’d only heard about in MC threads of legend.

To the untrained eye, and to myself when I found it, this might not look like much. It might even look like a weird block. But what I found was much more than I could have guessed. This is what is called a “Spawner” in which the enemy inside (A spider, on fire…) will come out once every 15-20 seconds. Why would I pursue this? Because in this small, 7x7ish room were magical treasure chests, spawned by the world. These had the capacity to drop some of the rarest items in game, some which aren’t obtainable ANY other way. It took me about 5/10 minutes, clearing a way to this that wouldn’t leave me overran. I didn’t have time to screenshot any of this, it was too hectic. But suffice to say I left the dungeon with 3 saddles (Now I can ride pigs, yeehaw), 4 buckets (The end of the post will explain this in greater detail) and several pieces of wheat. Meh, wheat. Can’t win them all.

After much more spelunking, I found what I didn’t expect at all. My very first PRECIOUS mineral.

My first gold block. I’m a real miner!

I ended up as I was mining fighting several other enemies. Skeletons, Zombies, and the infamous Hisser. However, after I had mined extensively, I was…losing steam. There wasn’t anything in visible sight. I think I finally ended this quarry, and decided to make my way out. Then, I found a hisser, who exploded on me. However, it was from this, that I found something quite special.

It was from this, that he created a deep cavern from me, which I didn’t expect. However, I set up the appropriate measures, so I could not only find my way out, but…to look fancy.

Further and further I went. I fought a hard fight with a skeleton man.

However, the further I got…the more of a sense of dread overcame me. I had such a haul so far, I was kind of…scared. I had so much on me. Gold/Saddles/Steel/ Buckets filled with Lava. I anticipated something awful to happen. After quite some time, it did. I got deeper and deeper, and had to finally dam off the water. There was too much, and it was becoming increasingly tough to navigate. Water slows you down, so I had to block it off.

However…

The overwhelming stres and panic statred to get the better of me. I knew if I mined too deep, that if I got too greedy…I’d end myself. This was a turning point for me, as the player. To consider that I’d been spelunking in this mine for what ended up being 4 hours, the sense of immersion was unparalleled. Becoming a part of the world, effecting it in such a strong way, with immediate results was something I haven’t felt in a long time. After I cleaned up my work, I decided that…it was time to leave this.

This wonderful wonderful pit that was to become my tomb. After much hardship, I found my way out. I gave it a fitting end.

However, this wasn’t the end of my quest. It was about this time that I wondered to myself…where was I? After such a long time in the cave, I realised I was in the middle of nowhere. I had to pull up good old Cartograph ( The player made map program which allows you to…kind of find your way to where you’re going. Knowing that I had SOMEHOW gone to the western most point I had gone to so far, I realised I wasn’t in Kansas any more. After a lot of exploration, I saw a familiar sight. Knowing that the clouds go north was one indication of my location, and that the sun rises in the east, helped me finally find my way.

Dual waterfalls? Weird towers? I was home!

My haul was ready to be deposited in my chest.

Gold, feathers, wheat, bookshelves, books, papyrus and lava buckets were some of the things I had found. It was lovely.

After this, I figured I’d make my fort somewhat more obnoxious by replacing my waterfalls.

With lava waterfalls!!

After this, I decided that I had done enough for one day. My fortress was going places. I hadn’t actually…DONE ANYTHING to it, but i’d sure as hell got a lot more materials in which to do so

I hope that this little…journal entry has been enjoyable. For me as a player, it was simply…astonishing. The parallel of completion with…sincerely immersive gameplay was something that is somewhat absent in modern gameplay. In the common design of gameplay as is associated with more contemporary games, there isn’t really much room for…systems, I suppose is the appropriate word. This isn’t so much of a game, as a toolset used to create your own narrative. Much like Farcry 2, its what I’d consider a very strong game in the sense of complete emegent gameplay, the ability to just dump the player in a world, and let them create their own little stories.

And it was refreshing. I suppose today, In that cave, I found my paradise. Have you?