Just Potatoes

I spent the last couple of weeks trying to get Dragon Age out of my system. I’ve played all the other Bioware RPGs, and while Dragon Age looked good, I didn’t particularly care for Mass Effect (*gasp*) and envisioned more of the same.

Mass Effect had WAY too much talking. I’m sure Mass Effect fans will hate me for saying that. In order to get to the action, I slogged through hours of talking and reading codex updates. Aside from the one tutorial battle in the beginning, there was just not enough going on early in the game to hold my attention. The NPC personalities didn’t seem very distinct. By the time I did get through the seeming HOURS of dialogue, I found myself frustrated with trying to cross a bridge using the Mako while things were shooting at me. The Mako controls felt clunky and I died several times. I’ve heard the controls are better on the PC, and I was playing the 360 version, but ugh… I dropped Mass Effect at that point, and my husband got into playing it. He ended up finishing the game and loved it. It’s the only Bioware game that I’ve not played through to the end.

One of the few shots where nobody is covered in blood...

So I didn’t expect much from Dragon Age, apart from maybe endless hours of clicking through dialogue options. And lots of loading screens, if Jade Empire taught me anything… Even so, I bought the Collector’s Edition because I’m a sucker for a CE…

I’m very sensitive to good voice acting. Nothing breaks my immersion and ruins a game for me faster than bad voices or annoying music. My WoW friends will tell you that I LOVE the Lich King voice. (They were also subjected to vent discussions on the voices of Nexus-Prince Shaffar and Prince Malchezaar!) Oblivion drove me NUTS because all the NPCs of a particular gender/race sounded the same. You’d greet a beggar, who’d have a raspy cockney accent, and then his voice would suddenly change to the “refined male” voice in conversation. But as much as I enjoy quality voice acting, I don’t want to spend hours clicking through dialogue options to get to the action… I want a good mix of action and voice and NPCs should have distinct, well-developed personalities, especially the ones who are going to group with me. That’s what makes the gameplay memorable. The voices should not be grating or annoying. Anyone who’s played Baldur’s Gate remembers Minsc, (“Go for the eyes, Boo!”) but how many people remember the name of the male lead in KOTOR 2… the romance option for females?

One of the first things I noticed about Dragon Age, because I’m a dork, is that the voice acting is consistent! All the characters hailing from a specific region have similar dialects. People from Orlais sound French, etc. There’s only one little nitpicky part that seemed weird, and that’s Murdock in Redcliffe. His voice seems to change a couple of times, almost as if they had to edit in dialogue options for him. But the rest of the voice acting is great! The voices fit the personalities too, and the actors are well cast. One character burps when you click on him, and another answers in one or two word sentences and is as enigmatic at the end of the game as he is in the beginning. The voices of possessed NPCs are brilliantly done, with the demon voice echoing in the background. Sometimes, the voices are just downright creepy, like the child chanting in Haven. Much of the flavor of the locations is conveyed by NPCs that you “overhear” as you walk past. The dueling town criers in Orzammar with their “news of the hour” updates had me running past them each time I did something to see what they’d say next.

Sometimes the automatic screenshot feature takes the goofiest screenies...

The best part is that Dragon Age dropped the endless dialogue clicking that seemed over overpower Mass Effect! Instead, there’s a nice mix of combat and dialogue. The codex is still there, but the updates are unobtrusive and quick to read. The chatting between party members is well done, and often hilarious (Morrigan and Alastair bickering, Zevran giving Alastair “tips”). It always seemed to occur in the spots where I had time to listen, rather than in some other Bioware games, where they start chatting just before you zone into somewhere else. Shale is a particular favorite who really should have been included in the main game so everyone can play with him. He reminds me a bit of HK-47, and his fondness for pretty crystals and hatred of birds just cracks me up.

I’ve played the game through twice, once as a mage and once as a rogue, and although I plan on playing it through again, it’s now out of my system. I’m no longer dreaming about it at night. (Am I the only gamer who does that?) Only a few games have really sucked me in like that, and made me feel like I *have* to finish it so I can move on with my life… Planescape: Torment, KOTOR, Diablo 2 and the Witcher come to mind. I was looking forward to trying The Old Republic when it comes out, but after playing Dragon Age, I’m now REALLY looking forward to TOR. If TOR is anything like Dragon Age, it could be amazing.

Yesterday, I logged back in LOTRO and got my hunter to level 27. I also completed another class trait, just in time for that third slot to open up at 27, another racial trait, and a couple of virtues. The game is just as fun now as it was before I got sidetracked by Dragon Age, so I expect I’ll continue to chug along there after my brief foray into Ferelden.

I just wish Radagast the Brown didn’t have the EXACT same voice as Gandalf. *sigh*

The leveling experience in an MMO is really only new and exciting that very first time. With that in mind, I’m really relishing my leveling experience in Lord of the Rings Online! I’ve taken loads of screenshots, gone way out of my comfort zone to pug the newbie instance (The Great Barrow) and join others in group quests. It’s been a GREAT week, and more fun than I’ve had in an MMO in a very long time.

Outside the walls of Bree... This game is gorgeous!

I definitely get a sense that Turbine really cares about their game. The new Siege of Mirkwood trailer has the tagline, “Turbine: Powered by Our Fans” accompanied by the Turbine logo (a fan) which cracks me up and makes me groan at the same time. A couple of times, GMs jumped into the global “Looking for Fellowship” channel to say hello and ask how things were going. They had great rapport with the players, acknowledging several by name and joking around. Customer service has been improved considerably.

And they’ve really enhanced the new user experience! The quest hubs have been reorganized so that quests are grouped together logically. For someone like me, who prefers to group quests by area, complete them all together and do my turn-ins in batches, this is brilliantly satisfying. On the other hand, I spent a half hour yesterday running around trying to find the two Great Barrows quests that used to be offered in Bree only to finally give up and accept a summons to the instance… where the quest givers now wait right outside!

Entering the Weaver's Den in the depths of the Old Forest

Leveling is much faster. There’s less exp required per level, and so far, the pace feels just about right, though I’ve heard it slows down soon. Many of the low level group quests have been made a tad easier so it is possible to solo them though still better to do them in a group. Playing Aion, with its grindy leveling, got me in the habit of killing everything along the way as I run, and that’s enhanced my leveling speed as well. I’m also mindful of completing my deeds at the lower levels and have two racial traits, two class traits, and about a dozen virtues completed. Attempting to be more sociable and less introverted has been working well too, since I’ve now completed all the Great Barrows quests and half of my gear is gorgeous purples! (Maybe it’s the WoW player in me that still gets giddy when I see purple…hehe). I have a handful of people on my friends list and have yet to add a single person to my ignore list. I also received the Undying title, for not dying during my adventures prior to level 20, but shortly after earning it, I was ganked by a couple of walking trees in the Old Forest… Oh well!

The best part is that I haven’t even quested in the Lone-Lands yet, other than to kill one poor crazy fellow for the expert Woodworker quest! It’s now completely possible to bypass Lone-Lands almost entirely. (Someone told me that they were planning on skipping it completely on their newest alt.) Lone-Lands was a tough slog when I was leveling my captain. There are definitely more choices now in where to go to level and the progression feels less linear than it did before.

Running towards the Forsaken Inn for the first time at level 24!

My daughter has fallen behind on her leveling, but that’s okay. She’s been working hard on NaNoWriMo (this is her third year), and I’m proud of her for having her priorities in order. I do enjoy playing with her though!

One of the best experiences I had this week was going through the Epic Book 1, Chapter 11 quest, “Othrongroth” where I was accompanied by a dwarven rune-keeper from a dwarf-only heavy-RP guild. He put up with my (probably woefully awkward) attempts to RP and really made the whole thing a blast. Unfortunately, I was having so much fun that I didn’t get any screenshots. I also failed to get screenshots of my first Great Barrows group, which was made up of all level 21 and 22s.

So now my little hunter is midway through 24. Yes… She’s an elf. SORRY!!!! My daughter made me do it!! And Tolkien elves are okay, right? Right?!

Next Saturday, the server is having a kinship recruitment fair, and if I haven’t found one by then, I’m planning on attending and chatting with some of the kins. I’ve visited loads of recruitment links in the forums, and see a couple that look like they might be a good fit for me. Finding a kin is the next major item on my gaming agenda.

My gear is starting to look nicer, and less cobbled together.

This past weekend my teen daughter and I started playing Lord of the Rings Online together. I’ve played LotRO on and off since it’s release, and the community is more mature and pleasant than in any other game I’ve played, so I felt completely comfortable allowing her to play. She’s also a card-carrying member of the grammar and spelling police and HATES chatspeak, so I know she’d go absolutely nuts playing on nearly any other MMO.

We did some reading and decided to create a Loremaster (her) and Hunter (me) duo on the Landroval server, which is LotRO’s roleplaying server. I *think* that’s an unofficial designation, but there is certainly a very strong RP community on Landroval. I haven’t seen so much public RP since my MUD and MUSH days.

We venture into Middle Earth together...

We’re aiming to level these two up together, but we each have solo characters, for when the other can’t play. I rolled a minstrel and made him a guy, just for fun. I even pugged a group for one of the Chetwood group quests, and pug healing for me is so outside my comfort zone it’s crazy. Just as he hit level 13, I saw an announcement about a musical event going on in Staddle… so off I trotted.

Listening to some music...

I was pretty nervous about engaging in RP in LotRO, because I don’t know anyone and I’m not confident in my knowledge of the lore. In the past, I’ve only RPed with people that I already know, but I’m determined to make some social connections in LotRO this time around, so I went out of my comfort zone and attended this event. It was great, because there were no expectations. Some people sat and listened to music, while some people chatted and RPed more.

At first, all I had the nerve to do was /clap and /cheer, but then someone came over and greeted me. I chatted with a couple of people and by the end of the event, I’d turned my RP flag on.

My daughter was jealous because she came home at the very end of the event. She wants to accompany me to next week’s event, and she’s been working on learning the music system! Between having someone else to play with, and feeling pretty welcomed by the Landroval community, I’m hopeful that I’ll feel at home at LotRO for a long time to come.