With how slow last week was, I wasn't sure there'd be much to write about this week...but OOOOHHHHH, how I'm wrong! Expect some serious gaming talk this time around, guys.
To start, let's talk some Darksiders, or as I like to call it: The Legend of Soul Reaver - Ocarina of War: Devil May Cry Edition. I think that Darksiders coming out this soon after a movie like Avatar is interesting. Both share two primary qualities:
- Neither are very original and use familiar components from many other sources
- Neither have incredibly original characters, as they all fit a standard archetype
These are the two things most people would hate on for one reason or another. However, I remember when Dead Space came out...and it had the same basic thing going on with it...and it was amazing. Ladies and gents...Darksiders is the new Dead Space. This game is injected with so much "badass" and "fucking awesome"...I mean, seriously, when you pick up the box to this game and see the shining lenticular that adorns the front of it...it seriously IS that badass! I'm doing my first playthrough on the Apocalyptic difficulty, and it presents a good balance of satisfaction from beating something and anger from dying abruptly. The character design is simply amazing, and the voice acting for everyone (including Mark Hamill's awesome work as The Watcher) is top-notch. The environments definitely made me think of Soul Reaver, simply in the way of "man, I just spent nearly 2-3 hours crawling through this dungeon to get to the boss, and it's fucking worth it". These bosses...are big. The size of Tiamat the Bat Queen as your first boss...hell, even the boss at the beginning of the game...should pretty well sum up every boss battle you'll find. Some of them can be challenging as well, since the game doesn't always rely on pure combat to solve a fight. The combat itself is incredibly satisfying, with just enough moves to keep you mixing things up (which feels so much easier and competent in this game than many other of its ilk) and some really incredible weaponry.
I haven't beaten the game yet. I'm right at Silithas, who is one of the last...three bosses...? Maybe? Either way, the game has lasted me about 9-10 hours so far on the highest difficulty setting, and while people could bitch that 15 hours isn't worth $60 for a game they know nothing about...I should point out that God of War didn't even last 8 hours and people had no problem throwing down for it. Darksiders in an INCREDIBLY well-built game that executes everything it sets out to do with an amount of precision that starts 2010 off right.
Also, I got a 7" War action figure for buying it, which sweetened the deal. I also...*ugh*...put a pre-order down for Dante's Inferno. Look, okay...I know. I hate pre-ordering shit, but dood...a 7" Dante action figure! FUCK YES!
Now, do you know who I owe thanks to for making me get Darksiders? That would be Bioware and Edge of Reality. You see, I originally picked up a used copy of Fallout 3 GOTY edition (only been through Operation Anchorage, it was cool) and Dragon Age Origins. Yes, I finally dived into my pocket and picked up the game I'd been wanting to get my grubby hands on for a while, especially since the game was on sale brand new for $45.
Folks, in the 6 hours that I played Dragon Age, I was thrown aback by the narrative and the dialogue...the relationships...there is SOOOO much that I loved about that time I played. Then, I found myself going from pure love to pure hatred and rage. Bioware is an incredibly reputable company. Edge of Reality...eh, not so much. Those guys typically do poor port jobs, but I felt like they had done a pretty good job with this title. As I explored Redcliffe (some of you may know where this is going now), I was told that I needed to defend the town from the dredges of the undead. With Morrigan, Leliana, and Superdog (my Mabari war hound) at the ready, we fought three brutalizing waves of zombies...and then we waited...and we waited...and we waited...and we explored the town for signs of enemies...and we waited... All the while, pounding drums and fierce combat music was blaring into my ears.
The game just bugged out due to the quest "Attack on Nightfall"...and I have no save points before Redcliffe. My autosave went off in Redcliffe, and I saved after the third wave, thinking I was being given a break and wanted to have those three waves dead forever. For two and a half fucking hours, I ran around that fucking town...praying to God and every other Holy fucking spirit that this game didn't just fuck me up the ass with a cactus...BUT IT DID! IT FUCKING DID!
I already had apprehensions because of Edge of Reality's name being on the box, but I figured that Bioware had a lot of time to work all this shit out. Now, here I was with a save file that was broken and wouldn't let me get in Leliana's pants. Dood, I was fucking PISSED...and I am STILL fucking pissed! Why? The game has been out for two months, and upon researching, this is a known issue that has even been reported on the Bioware forums. This is a GAME-BREAKING BUG! This isn't some little thing that...oh, hey, I'll restart my console and everything will be fine. NO! This is something that literally should NOT exist! I understand the nature of software programming just fine, and I understand video games just fine. I know that games will have bugs in them. That's something I'm willing to put up with...if the company shows an active effort to FIX the bug. Instead of fixing the bug, what is Bioware doing? Putting out more DLC and announcing AN EXPANSION PACK! ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME?!
So, this is an open letter to Bioware...
Dear Bioware,
Fix your fucking game. Find comfort in the fact that your game was taken back for a copy of Darksiders. If you can get this bug taken care of, I'll pick a copy back up. If not, DIAF. Kthxbai
Other than that...not much else. Have any of you experienced the bug in Dragon Age? Should we have to tolerate that kind of thing being in a game, or should the developer be a bit more responsible with their game? Who has been playing Darksiders? Also, how's Bayonetta working out for some of you folks?
Until next time, piece.
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