Played a lot of FTL. At the start I enjoyed it, I was unlocking things and running into impossible odds and dying like you're supposed to in games like this. But what's remarkable is how much luck plays a role in this game. Unlike a game like Spelunky, which has tons of random elements which become predictable when you see how they work and fit them together, FTL's randomness doesn't really calm down. Many games in, I'm still blindsided by an event that puts me in the middle of a battle with multiple drones plowing into my shields before I can even charge my weapons up, or puts me up against a ship with a shield level that my weapons just can't break through no matter what I do. So many of the basic encounters depend upon you finding a store that sells weapons, having the scrap to be able to buy one, and then having the scrap to upgrade the weapons generators in order to be able to cut through the slowly increasing level of shields from enemy ships. Some starting weapons loadouts are doomed to be obsolete after 1 or 2 sectors, meaning if you're not lucky enough to run into a weapon, you're pretty much fucked. That, and the end boss disobeys some of the rules you learn throughout the game. Maybe the roguelikes this game was styled after have bosses that do that? I don't know, I've never gotten to the end of a traditional roguelike. It doesn't feel as smooth as roguelikes I have played, though, whether or not you'd consider this to be a roguelike at all.

There's a lot to enjoy: the text choices, when not cheap, are fun and add a lot of atmosphere to what is a fairly static presentation. When luck is on your side, or you succeed despite your lack of luck, it feels like a triumph. And the miracles and good strategy that turns a possible defeat into a victory are rewarding, as well as the sense that you're actually PROUD of your crew for surviving, even if it was really just you telling them what to do.

I can't say I regret my purchase of FTL, but I feel like it needs finer tuning to allow for more ship configurations to at least make it a decent distance before being annihilated. If it was just difficulty I wouldn't even mention it, but it seems to be difficulty coupled with being randomly slapped upside the head, which for some folks isn't so pleasant. I still do play it now and again and once in a while I unlock something new, though many of these newer configurations seem more challenging to get right, and so many designs seem to suggest that moderation in all things (i.e. getting shields for the shieldless, etc) that you're sort of picking your own handicap a lot of the time. If I ever beat the game, I'll let you know.

Any questions you want to ask about the game, feel free. That includes players who are wondering about others' experiences.

When I haven't been playing Darklands or writing essays of varying levels of clarity, I've pretty much been playing all three of Cryptic Comet's releases. I helped playtest one of the games, but I found each of the games different enough that there really hasn't been any replacement when I want to just sit down for a little while and play a game to its conclusion. They all fall under the strategy game umbrella, but there tends to be so much chaos in these games that they feel much more tactical. It's not so much about memorizing development charts or anything, despite all the scary numbers and dry-looking UI that kept me from trying Armageddon Empires for... years I think, the games tend to be light on the rules for specific events. The depth comes in putting all the simple rules together, then dealing with problems while things are flying at you from all directions. It's sort of the difference between games like Doom, where the emphasis is on running and gunning, and more incremental, event-based shooters that have come since. Cryptic Comet games have enough random events that it becomes more about you experiencing the system and getting surprises and cool combinations of abilities that help you pull off a win, and they always have good art and music, as well as doing whatever theme they're setting up justice, both in general atmosphere and gameplay. They're not for everybody, but I enjoy them long after fancier games have faded from my memory.

The games are for sale from the Cryptic Comet website. The prices aren't like you'll see at Steam (unless you get roped into one of those massive bundles); they're a bit more on the hobby side of the pricing divide. These games definitely don't copy anything that's out there, though, which is damned inspiring. I'll talk briefly about each of the games, if you're curious.

Armageddon Empires

Armageddon Empires was the first, and in some ways it's the one I enjoy the most relative to my time investment. In it you take control of forces that survived a global apocalypse, each with different types of forces that develop in different ways and have a whole set of possibilities that, while not mutually exclusive from the others, tend to make them play out in different ways. The game treats this fragmented, post-apocalyptic scramble for resources and allies mechanically with a collectible card game style mechanic where you have a deck of cards that represent troops, bases, leaders, scientists and doomsday devices. Each card requires a certain amount of resources to play. You get these resources at the start of every turn, and can find more as you explore the randomized map to set up resource gathering equipment, as well as finding hidden caches and resource generating buildings. Thing is, at the start of every turn, you also have to roll to see which side in the conflict goes first for the round, and you can modify that chance by spending resources. The more you spend the more likely you are to get a ton more action points and a jump on your ruthless AI opponent (especially useful when you've finally figured out where they are and are looking to strike), but you'll have fewer resources to spend on new cards and to fuel some existing cards' abilities.

The total of all this is exploration, resource management, and strategic gambles. In the generous demo you get 30 turns before it shuts down, but I usually manage to plow through the game in that amount of time and it doesn't feel so much like a limit. The demo has two of the four factions, and I tend to play the humans; the machines are harder for me to do right. I get some satisfaction out of getting an army mobilized and sufficiently strong to blast through whatever the enemy has built up over so many turns, and usually the randomness tends to flatten out enough that I'm able to impose some order on the random draws and random terrain. Makes for a good, relatively short game.

Solium Infernum

The next was Solium Infernum. In it each player is an arch fiend vying for the throne of Hell after Lucifer abandoned it. The games can be long, and unlike with the demo of Armageddon Empires there is no set time limit to completion. There are conclave tokens which are randomly drawn which give you an idea how close you are to the end, but there can be several turns where a token isn't drawn, and this feeling of uncertainty bleeds through to just about everything. The chaos in this game, appropriate for Hell, is ramped up quite a bit. You gather resources through demanding it from your subjects, but the tribute they can give you varies from turn to turn. While sometimes this can mean you don't have enough resources to follow through on your plans, it also forces you, like in Armageddeon Empires, to react tactically to situations that the game hands you.

Players are AI, but can also be hotseat players or PBEM players. The biggest lament I hear from people is that there's no online play, and yeah, that can slow multiplayer with other humans down. I'd bet 99% of my games have been just the single player, but they're still fun enough. This game doesn't emphasize exploration as much as AE, the wrap-around board where you move your legions to secure territory and places of power has completely open information from the start. The source of chaos comes from the archfiends themselves, since they can play event cards that require a legion to be donated to storm the gates of Heaven, or make you master of the bazaar, letting you gain resources when other players spend them in the bazaar, but you're forbidden from buying there until the event expires. A well-played event can often change the course of the game. The legions themselves level up sometimes when they survive battle, and their abilities can be modified through artifacts, and through praetors, leaders which you can also train to send to arena battles to solve disputes. Actually, if there's a mechanic I think is the most original when compared to other strategy games I've played it's diplomacy: since you can't fight everyone directly (even in Hell there are rules) you have to bitch slap other players through insults and demands, which are a really well balanced series of options that force players to think about the consequences.

There are a crazy amount of options too, like rituals that can lay waste to legions or bribe away enemies, multi-part scrolls that can enhance your abilities, tons of relics which can give you extra powers or rituals you can perform, many legions to choose from, all with this hellish, crazy artwork that references popular culture that manages to be both nightmare inducing and funny at the same time. It's probably the single most ambitious of the three current games, and as such takes the longest to learn. The tons of ways abilities and events can combine, too, often bring about some unexpected results, but that tends to happen when you do the board game equivalent of stuffing everything you can into a single box.

Six Gun Saga

The lightest and quickest of Cryptic Comet's games is Six Gun Saga, a game I first mentioned a while ago, set in a fictional town in the mythic old west in the United States. It's a single player card game where you are dealt from a shared deck different "dudes," which are historical and fictional characters with different levels of ability, deeds, which give you locations you can use to get money or leverage certain powers with. On each card, in addition to the stats of the character or the abilities of the place, are special abilities and cash values, as well as a playing card value if you attach it to an existing posse, which is useful in the game's seven card stud style combat. You usually never hire characters or build buildings. Instead you sometimes spend a card to murder one of your opponent's dudes, or to give one of yours more health or gunslinging ability. You can give a character permanent powers that let you draw more cards, hold more cards in your hand, or be able to move the posse they're in an extra space per turn. All of this is in pursuit of victory points, which you gain by occupying story cards with appropriate characters (a lawman will be needed to access the Hang 'em High card, while only Apaches can start an uprising), as well as killing members of rival posses.

The way the game plays out, you often feel like you're telling a little story, where a character might, despite his gout and getting ambushed while going to the outhouse, manages to rob the bank and cost the rival gang, who happens to own the back, much needed influence in the town. Too bad he fell off his horse and died on turn later... While the AI doesn't feel as strong here as it does in the prior games (especially Armageddon Empires), this storytelling angle always pleases me if I bother to exercise it. That, and the game's very fast to play and relatively inexpensive. The demo lets you play 15 turns against a few different opponents, while the full version has a different scenario (the Weird West) and many more bosses to choose from and play against.

Occult Chronicles

Next up in development will be an investigation game where the player is trying to stop the world being swallowed up by horrors, a la Cthulhu. It looks like it'll have card challenges similar to the poker-style combat of Six Gun Saga (only using tarot cards, naturally), and have a bunch of nasty surprises to deal with, I'm guessing.

The blog with updates on the game in development is at http://www.crypticcomet.com/blog/, with the base link giving you access to demos, manuals, and the shop.

I don't think these games are perfect; each has their quirks, sometimes due to all the different variables crashing together. Sometimes the chaos will ruin you with no chance to recover, and sometimes you'll so dominate the AI opponents that your score will skyrocket. Par for the course when chaos is a big ingredient. Also, despite a lot of strategy games out now they're more single player focused, so with the exception of Solium Infernum it's always going to be you versus the AI, and even in Solium Infernum if you want to play multiplayer it's going to be by sending files over email or having friends around the same computer. But while they aren't as polished as big titles, they try things no one else seems to have done, and do them in very interesting ways. This is coming from someone who has played some of these games a lot.

Not sure when Occult Chronicles will come out, given that Cryptic Comet is basically one guy working in his spare time I won't hold my breath, but I'll probably play some of these games while I wait to see what's next.

(See below for a correction)

Maybe you haven't heard the term "Mary Sue"; I hadn't until a few years ago when fan fiction writers briefed me on what the hell they were talking about. The Mary Sue, loosely defined, is a relatively flawless extension of the writer, whose mere presence seems to conquer those around him or her (not bothering to keep it gendered here, it applies to any character as far as I'm concerned), whether that conquering is through battle or just general charisma. The world revolves around the character, and the character can do no wrong.

Sound familiar? Many, many games have us play the role of a Mary Sue, often creepily so. While I haven't played Dragon Age 2, I felt upon reading that you could make any or all companions your sexual playthings to be disturbing, not because I'm opposed to the old in-out in-out, but that it seemed like the characters had no wills of their own. Other Bioware games tend toward this, but it's not unique to Bioware of course. Many, many games have us somehow being better than the rest by default, and sometimes they contrive reasons for us to be so because otherwise it would feel ludicrous in a world where everyone else seems relatively fragile. You probably have a few in mind right now.

Perhaps it's down to taste, but I tend not to feel very fulfilled if these sorts of accomplishments feel preordained. Maybe that's why I like it if the game is tougher; the challenge forces ME to be better, rather than the game simply rewarding me for following the training it gave me. It's also an argument in favor of emergent situations I think, because it prevents the designers from anticipating that we want a predictable ladder of empowerment as our only reward.

There is a bit of empowerment in just about everything. I probably can't shoot as straight in real life as I do in Borderlands, and I certainly can't get shot then take a bit of a breather and be OK again. This is fairly common in games that don't instakill, and they let us experience stuff that would easily wipe us out if we tried it for real. It's that point that many game critics miss; we do it because we KNOW it's bad to do in real life, yet don't mind trying it out, rather than we're training ourselves to do it later.

Yet taking that empowerment too far seems to bring a falsity to it all. Part of the pleasure of games is the unique stamp we can put on it, and I think that's why some degree of character customization is frequently the standard, even in games where the protagonist is already defined. But we're smart enough, usually, to see how this advancement can often lead to a monotonic-feeling game experience if we're bound to win regardless. The stamp, then, doesn't matter, so we're taken for a bit of a ride, then dumped off at the end. That initial feeling can be great, but it's likely to be forgotten.

Another part is challenge, or at least uncertainty. Going into a situation with the feeling that things may go wrong is sorta bothersome, but it helps make the payoff more thrilling. This holds true for losing as well as winning, strangely, because seeing that things can go wrong, while a bummer, can often show us that there's no safety net. Even if we wind up loading again, we learn from our mistakes and, in a way, customize the experience by improving our approach. Too much death can suck, too, but too little not only leads to short playing times, but a sense that we weren't really playing a game.

Even games with little customizability and challenge can still be worth it if the story is decent. A game that lets you try all sorts of different options, or at least tells one strongly narrated story, can make up for the lack in these other aspects, even if it winds up feeling less of an actual *game* in the bargain. Part of what makes a good story, though, is challenging the idea that the character's destiny has to be taken for granted, that there's some sort of conflict involved, either with themselves or with their environment, or at the very least a conflict with our real world expectations (though the latter has diminishing returns if the world DOES change; it's why a film that was revolutionary for its time, for example, may feel dated and overly cautious to us now. That, or if the world's attitudes are exaggerated, like often happens in Mary Sue tales).

A tangent to a strong story is strong characters. Not all games have characters, really, but some of the most memorable aspects of any game are often the characters, because they're things we're very likely to relate to (or hate). I think the essence as to why the DA2 Universal Seduction Initiative bothers me is that the characters lack any sort of center. They exist as extensions of the player character to what seems to be an excessive degree. Maybe this all works for some people, maybe it makes total sense in-game somehow, but to me it's the social equivalent of managing to hold all offices in the land simultaneously, like you can in Oblivion. Characters aren't human, per se, but they're proxies for humanness, and violating their fictional agency takes us in some weird directions.

Remove all of these elements and the work becomes a mindless march toward an inevitable conclusion. That in itself is not necessarily a bad thing if you happen to get off on it, this is the internet after all, but too much of the same is withering, and making a game bereft of interesting conflicts and three dimensional characters or cool, unexpected ways to interact with the environment feels like the exact opposite of true empowerment to me: having everything handed to us, narratively or through gameplay, makes the game, and more specifically the main character, and by extension us, weaker.

Any games you tried that managed to subvert that Mary Sue tendency at all? There are entire categories that do, I suppose, like racing games and competitive strategy. It does seem to lean more toward single player experiences, so I guess that's more what I'm thinking.

Edit:

I've been told that, at least as far as some players know, it's not possible to get into bed with EVERYONE AT ONCE. Apparently my half-remembered picture of all the characters on the bed together, their personalities forgotten because the player wanted to [whatever euphamism is in vogue nowadays] with no regard for what happened before or what their individual tastes might be, was false. If it's not possible, then the DA2 example no longer fits, since, despite what some people seem to have gleaned from the above, I wasn't talking about the whole game merely because I mentioned that specific aspect of the game.

As someone told me, at the very least it'll be an excuse to play Dragon Age 2.

Not that I'm eager to do that since I haven't even completed the first one yet. Should have taken the Dwarves telling me I wasn't ready for the caves more seriously.

I'm willing to bet most of you probably haven't heard of Darklands. Its messed up publishing history, where it was released with some rather nasty bugs, didn't help it achieve the legacy it deserves, and it doesn't help that it lacks some rather straightforward user-interface choices that would make it a lot easier to play. Yet, it is still one of my favorite computer role-playing games.

I think part of the reason I'll always like Darklands is its willingness to be different. So many games emulate success unthinkingly, never asking WHY we assume some RPG convention is needed. In the conversion from pen and paper rules to software, too many things are often kept, often limiting the systems, since a computer can do many more complicated things than a bunch of people can with dice and paper. Since there are things pen and paper games STILL can do better than software, not playing to the strengths of computing often leaves many of the games feeling a bit weak.

Still, there's something to be said for simple mechanics: while Darklands' innovations are manifold, with many ideas still feeling fresh today, it sometimes crushes itself under its own systems. Reading the cluebook that you often find accompanying digital packages of Darklands helps illustrate this, since when talking about character creation it will tell you straight out that many skill and attribute options are inferior to others, such that, despite all the options that seem to be in the game, you're almost better off accepting the default party, something that's counter-intuitive for me in games with character creation.

Creating Your Motley Crew

The game in practice is still fun for me, but is still an exercise in trial and error to get things right, and this starts from the very beginning (make sure to match up nickname and full name, and get the gender right. There's no going back unless you want to make the character all over again). When creating a world, you also are allowed the option of creating your own characters instead of using the defaults provided. Each character is given several base attributes that determine their ability to fight in battle, use weapons, dodge attacks, notice things in the environment, learn, and interact with other people. The game doesn't tell you this, but it's possible to completely expend your starting points and not have problems later on, but for YEARS I would hold off on adding attribute points to everything because I assumed unspent points would carry on to skills later. This doesn't seem to be the case, at least not substantially so, and often starting with high levels of attributes helps you get past starting-level difficulties very easily.

Something that also only becomes clear through repeated new games or reading the cluebook is that certain attribute combinations are not only vital for having a decent party, but are pretty much mandatory. You wouldn't know it, but the wizard-type characters are heavily dependent upon Charisma, since the way they often acquire new alchemical formulae. Charisma is also considered to be vital for your leader, defaulting to the character in the lead. The ability for your team to be able to defuse situations is often the difference between survival and reloading, especially if you start by venturing out of the town gates early in the game. Agility, strangely, as well as Perception, are considered by the cluebook not to be as useful as the other stats. I don't quite agree, but often it proves true when Endurance and Strength are what help you more than anything else in combat. If you come into this game looking at every attribute like you do ability scores in Dungeons and Dragons and its clones, you're in for a bit of a shock.

After attribute allocation you advance the character five years and begin their first career. These alter base attributes by a bit, and give you starting skill points, as well as skill points you can allocate to the skills. The skills are abbreviated, so you have to refer to the manual to know what they mean. It becomes second nature after a few minutes, or after a while playing, which is what, but again, not every skill is made equal. Often a thief-style build will help you in certain specific situations, but with four character slots you have to be careful not to have a dedicated thief and just hope that they'll make up for their lack of weapon skills with sly tricks. This isn't a class based game, technically, so you're basically building a "class" from scratch, often having to remember to add weapon skill points with each career advancement to prevent your character from being useless in combat.

You can choose several careers, and this is often required to get some of the rarer careers. The downside is that after a few advancements you start to run into age-based penalties to your attributes. If your character gets too old, they become effectively weaker, so having to balance this out is an interesting, and unlike many of the character building above, apparent challenge. It's common wisdom to spend a few more careers on your alchemist, so that they have sufficient enough skill in alchemy not to blow up the inns where you mix your potions. Critical failures there are some of the more devastating non-combat failures in the game, so it's smart to make them as capable as possible.

Once you finish mixing up your skills, your character will be allotted starting gear, and you can pick an image, colors for that image, and heraldry.

Another weird thing is the starting gear, since I created a rather diverse party that followed pretty standard archetypes: a charismatic leader fighter, a pious fighter with a smattering of saint lore, a dedicated priest with the highest virtue and healing skill, and an alchemist with a bit of tinkering. When I checked their inventories, NONE of them had any armor, though they had a pretty good selection of weapons (except for pious guy. He started with a bow with no arrows, and no melee weapon at all). I'll admit this roll was DEATHLY unusual, and it took a while for they were able to secure decent armor from the corpses of brigands. Usually it'll be armor and a club. I'm not sure what happened but it's down to careers I think.

H. R. E. Punk

Once you have a party together you start in a random city in Medieval Germany, during the Holy Roman Imperial period. The setting is one of the game's great strengths, as it permeates to how time is told, how currency is converted, and adds flavor to characters and organizations which could simply be generic mayors, traders and bankers. The beasts, too, draw from the lore of the period, so you'll find the classical wolves and giant spiders, but also strange wooly men of the wood, and enemies directly from Christian mythology, including demons, cultists, and pagan creatures. The game does not mince words when it comes to depicting the society as a reflection of how people saw it at the time, with hermits and cardinals cursing you if you don't pay them tithes, calling upon saints having instant and measurable effects, and pagans being inexorably connected directly to satanic forces.

These things, while they may be a bit shocking given our tendency now to make such religious questions generic and analogous, enhance the setting and make it even more strongly of the period. It doesn't take long before you're actively rooting out corruption, praying to saints for deliverance, and being pious to passers by, and interestingly the game doesn't seem to necessarily take your side in this. The mechanics reinforce these choices, but the modern player will pick up on some of the ambiguities regardless.

Alchemy is also a step more substantial than it was in history, with the philosopher's stone being a real thing that enhances your formulae. You work to gather jealously guarded recipes to make potions that anyone can use close up, or throw at the enemy if their throw skill is decent enough. These potions have a wide range of effects, and are pretty much the only "magic" that you can use once a battle has started, as praying to saints is never done in combat (presumably it would take too long, although you can prepare for battle or even prevent battle through the use of saints in contextual situations).

St. Michael and the Mechanics

I won't got too deeply into the specifics of the game mechanics, but I'll set aside a bit of time to praise the weapon system and a few other things. Weapons in the game are not like you would find in Baldur's Gate, often defined most by the damage they do and their magical abilities. In Darklands magic weapons are rare, but each weapon has its own traits that distinguish it. Some are easy for unskilled characters to use, some require more strength to wield effectively, some penetrate armor better and do better damage when they do, while others penetrate poorly but do better overall damage. All weapons, all items in the game really, are also defined by their quality level, which has a big effect on how useful they are. A long sword of 10 quality is, as far as I understand, not nearly as good as a very high quality club. It makes sense, and it makes weapon loadouts a lot more diverse and interesting, encouraging experimentation to start and specialization later. Armor is more abstracted than this, but there are no armor restrictions. Your alchemist can wear plate armor, as long as they're strong enough.

Saints are called by spending virtue, which everyone has. Anyone can learn about a given saint, and since some saints have low base-virtue requirements, you can have several characters call upon saints without taxing your main priest. Characters are further differentiated this way so, if you get used to creating characters in this game you can have some pretty interesting combinations and still have an effective party. But since the saints you learn about are randomly distributed you have more tactical decisions about who to learn about, and who learns about him or her.

Baldur's Gate may not resemble this game too much, but in combat you see what may have influenced Baldur's Gate's design. Combat is in a three-quarters perspective, and it unfolds in real-time with pauses. You tell characters where to go and who to attack, and when unpaused they do that, assuming their pathfinding tasks aren't too complicated. In addition, you can choose different attack commands, some of which put the character at risk for damage but increase the chances for critical hits. When throwing potions you choose where to fire them, and then unpause to watch them explode in the enemy's face. There are also situations where you explore castles or caves, and this is done in this perspective, allowing for some skill use to find traps and open containers.

Mainly, though, the adventuring is done through menus, and while some people may scoff at this, I think this is another highlight of the game, one that needs to be emulated more by games. Like in King of Dragon Pass, you are often given contextual decisions, each of which may lead to lasting consequences. You're also given these menus when navigating cities and towns, or trying to mount an assault on a robber baron's fortress. The city navigation is especially pleasing; you can allow your imagination to fill in the blanks as far as what the medieval town looks like, but it only takes you a few seconds to walk to the merchant district to buy supplies, then a few more seconds to go to the inn, put one to work, another to praying, another to heal up, and the fourth to brewing potions. Even within these menus there are chances to encounter interested parties who want to hire you, or bandits who will try to rob you, so it doesn't feel nearly as dry as it might sound. While we still see similar mechanics in games that use conversation trees, the power of contextual lists is so often painfully under-utilized, from what I assume is a conservative stylistic choice. While Darklands does have its flaws, these lists are always refreshing for me.

Reputable Adventures in Saving

The Save Often RPG maxim is in full force in Darklands. There are no autosaves, and the game has an unfortunate tendency not to put saves in the proper order, forcing you to read the in-game dates on the saves if you have more than a screen of saves in your list. I'll admit this sucks, and I've sometimes deleted my latest saves by not being careful enough. Still, saving is pretty much required because ONE rough encounter can mean the permanent death of one or more party members-- you COULD carry on after that and create a new character to replace them with one you create (perhaps with someone more capable), but I've never done it.

It's also easy to be poor for a while, so it's smart to live on the cheap, sleeping in groves in your starting city and picking fights with robbers in order to gear up and gain money. I tend never to do that, though; my wanderlust is too strong. This means more saves and more loading, but you're never restricted to a damned tutorial area. Once you figure the game out, that was your tutorial, and you never have to go down that road again, unless you haven't played the game in YEARS. The game still gates you, though, as your reputation will often determine whether or not you get lucrative and rewarding jobs. The higher-end stuff will have you searching for relics and taking on monsters, while lower-end stuff is more breaking into offices and finding ancient sites to loot. You never need take a quest or follow the main plot, though. Never. You can just wander the countryside righting wrongs, fighting wild beasts, burning down villages corrupted by evil, and discovering new cities, saints, formulae, and gaining reputation all the while: It's no first-person slasher, but Darklands out-Bethesdas Elder Scrolls in terms of the kind free-roaming stumbling into adventure that I enjoy.

The reputation you earn, in a sense, is like the party's level, and is your overall measure of success in the game. Since so many party-based RPGs now seem to level everyone simultaneously anyway, this game sort of predicts this. Individual characters advance randomly when their skills are tested, and this can happen at any time, but the substantial increases come through reputation. The world gets tougher as corruption spreads, but the benefits increase too as your reputation grows, both your own party's and your reputation in the regions you explore. When characters advance in skills, you'll get a little notice of this to the side of the screen after a given encounter, and you can also try to increase these skills through the use of tutors and study. To me it's much more interesting than level tiers, because every encounter can bring increases, though progress isn't predictable or steady.

Epitaph

The game has some bugs that pop in on occasion, but it's nothing like waiting for the other shoe to drop in Daggerfall. It's not pretty, but its visuals and art style for the splash screens are full of character, functional and sometimes beautiful. The music is drawn from the period (and later), and helps set the mood, while the sounds during battle have charming electronic clangs as sword meets skull. The gameplay is bumpy in places, lacking the safeguards we've come to expect in good game design, but there are plenty of surprises, satire, and daring design choices that make Darklands not only an adventure in mythological medieval Europe, but also an adventure in game design itself.

If you have any questions about the game, ask in the comments or in a PM, and I'll try to answer as succinctly as I can manage. The early part of the ride is a bit bumpy, and anyone who wants to try it can expect a few setbacks, so:

B E N E F I T _ F R O M _ M Y _ O D D L Y _ S P E C I F I C _ K N O W L E D G E,

if you dare.

Installation: went OK. It did that thing where the progress bar just sits there at 100% and you're sitting there wondering if something went wrong, but this is just my lack of faith in machinery. Once it was done doing its undisclosed things, it was ready.

Manual: Memorized the keys while it was installing, skipped the flavor bits so I could come into the world fresh, although I've already seen the movie Stalker a few times and am reading the Strugatskys' novel, which I know are only distant inspirations given the game's back story, but was trying to get in the mood.

Startup: Watched the intro movie, which has a different dialog than the subtitles, which I found funny, even though I know how this sort of thing can happen in localization. Could have been a bit less full of explanations, but at least I understood what my character's role was by the end.

Graphics Fiddling: took the greatest amount of time of anything here. The screen was wavy, I think because we still use a VGA cable. Any people familiar with current age video stuff? I'm betting if we upgrade the cable it'll make it look less burbly. I wound up dropping a lot of the settings just out of wanting the game to run smoothly.

Graphical Settings: I finally settled on something middle-to-low, but I'm not sure it made much of a difference to the wavy screen now that I think of it.

Experience: Walked forward through the low-textured landscape; the grass waving about was good despite my low graphics settings, and I told myself I'd get used to the compromises I made once I got into the game. I reach the crest of a small hill after trying desperately to climb up the sides of cliffs that surrounded the starting area, finding two dudes who are in the middle of a steaming crater. After accidentally dipping a foot in a chemical bath, which seemed to cause some damage, I walk up to the first dude. I don't bother to look up if I can hit a key to talk to the one who is staying back. He's encouraging another guy to go forward into the crater to measure something, so I follow measuring guy, then walk past him, and my chunky body promptly flops to the ground, dead.

Aftermath: I play a full game of Solium Infernum.

Returning to the game now. Hopefully I can make a sturdier mind-game connection or I may wait until I get a better cable. I'll learn the lesson from my predecessor and not be excessively curious. :)

Edit: Getting much farther now. Graphics still troubled, probably due to my machine being passable when the game came out, but have managed to find the starting Stalker base, and pop out now and again to die in all kinds of ways. Still can't figure out if there's a way to sell common junk, though. I'm secretly hoping not since it's a bit crazy to run into a vendor who will buy EVERYTHING.

My Knights of the Old Republic 2 is the first Old Republic game I ever played. Played it before the original Knights, and I played the XBox version, which could not be patched (or if it could it didn't matter since I was never online with this thing). After finishing the Bounty Hunter story mode in the MMO version I thought I'd go revisit this game, which I hadn't played in a very long time... many years.

Having just got off a MMO treadmill it's refreshing to do plunge forward without worrying as much about my level, the game was hard in places but the proper application of tactics got me all the way, in just a few days, from the beginning to the place where a shuttle crashes AGAIN, this time into the snowy polar region of Telos. It was nice to actually GET what the story was behind Telos is now, as with the Mandalorian wars, Revan and Malak, the whole bit. Makes KOTOR2 feel a little less isolated. The writers at times are very inventive and seem less stodgy than the KOTOR 1 counterparts, the latter seeming to desire to make everything fit a rhetorical pattern at times, though this organic feeling to conversations also makes things more prone to odd behavior. I do find a bit of joy in not being hedged into Good and Bad choices, even the good ones ended messily for me in the orbital station, and I got to be bad by proxy as a droid running around extorting money from innocents.

Of all the Old Republic games, KOTOR2 also does the best when it comes to modding and character builds. Even if SWTOR has more overall builds possible, you are given a lot of different options in KOTOR2 when it comes to breaking down and building items, and building characters. It really adds to the replay value, even if you're like me and just want to have someone shooting a gun rather than using Jedi magic.

I haven't crashed the shuttle on the polar caps yet... I get the feeling it's right there that things start to become a bit buggy and absent. Maybe it's not so much that the game is better in a lot of ways, but it is DIFFERENT, it shows what others might do with the same system and that's refreshing.

I'm not looking forward to the mess that's coming, and I'm not happy with all of their choices (at times they seem to channel more Star Trek than Star Wars), but it's a palate cleanser after all the Bioware stuff I've been playing this past year. I'm thinking of doing a comparison of the two KOTORs and SWTOR, I think all three are clear enough in my mind right now that this seems like an easy enough exercise.

Anyone out there try the modded KOTOR2?

...

Although I know others have modded the game extensively, I more meant this new one which seems to be more complete in its additions and fixes: http://www.moddb.com/mods/the-sith-lords-restored-content-mod-tslrcm/downloads

I've been asked by the illustrious ArbitraryWater to check out two different games in recent memory, Might and Magic 6 and Temple of Elemental Evil.

When I try to approach either of these games, I've noticed that something inside of me holds me back, even though I'm curious about both of the titles. I think I've begun to figure out what it is: I'm a bit wary of starting a large endeavor. Same goes for books, where I'm less likely to start a big tome unless I feel I already have enough momentum going in.

My history with RPGs is long, but many of the actual anecdotes are of me being intimidated by the size and scope of something, all the things I have to learn to make it work. SWTOR worked despite it being arguably NOT very much an RPG by the traditional standards simply because the depth in the game was off to the side. I was invited to explore and, oh yeah, learn a few mechanisms along the way. It's funny how much a character creation screen can acclimate you to one of these lumbering monstrosities; by personalizing your avatars you create a bridge between yourself and the machine, saying that this is how you want to interact with it. Somehow it makes it easier, and probably one of the reasons I'm suspicious of big games without some sort of customization.

Still, I think I'm afraid of getting into bigger games now because I'm afraid that the amount of effort that I put into it may not be reflected in what value I get out of it. I'm reminded of how often as a kid, when presented with something like Zork or Wizardry 7, that I'm so wary of diving full-on into something that's more than a trifle that I seek out something with less involvement instead, almost as a defensive reaction.

I was told once by one of my parents that I think too much sometimes, and maybe they were right. Sometimes trying a big game is a declaration of love. You decide to plunge-- take a step or two back, starting running straight at it, and jump in. Maybe that's why fans whose expectations aren't met are especially angry when they find the game was less than advertised; they're more willing than most to get completely enveloped in the world presented. It's sort of like encountering a demigod creating a pocket plane, then finding it's skimping on the breathable air. You're bound to be a bit pissed when you start turning blue.

Yet I do, often, get stuck in big games. Skyrim isn't a slouch, as shallow as it turned out to be in so many ways, Grimrock is demanding only because we don't see this sort of game very often, with puzzles and navigation that aren't simple button presses (thankfully). I guess it comes down to mood, meeting the right frame of mind that helps push you forward. I lack the ability to summon that up at will; I almost have to trick myself into trying something sometimes.

Since I recognize that, maybe I'm further along than I would be otherwise.

How Free-to-Play Will Impact My Playing Style (by and large, it won't)

So, my Star Wars: The Old Republic account is closed, but my particular account going down comes right when whoever-it-is-who-ultimately-makes-decisions-for-SWTOR announced they're moving in a free to play direction. The breakdown of what will be free and what will cost in-game currency is here.

On that list, story content is free no matter what... so, if I want to play any of the other stories I haven't seen yet I can do so with some inconveniences as far as transport and storage, as well as the loss of some of the stuff I've earned playing. I look at that and I know that the reason they chose these things to be restricted is because their stats say people really like to go through the same flashpoint over and over again...

OK, I said "like" just now, but that's not accurate. People do it. I'm not sure that they like always losing loot rolls, or needing to group up with strangers and spacebar through conversations for social points, going insane when someone doesn't hit that spacebar, and doesn't run straight for the exits. I didn't care about the loot so much but skipping the story and getting to the grind is about the craziest behavior combination I can think of in gaming. I doubt so many people like doing it; I get the feeling that they're less annoyed when things sort of go their way, and by contrast that feels like you like it.

If you tell me that I get to BYPASS this obsessiveness with the pressure of a subscription gone, to just play things for story at my own pace and not get charged, it makes me feel a bit isolated, like I'm not understanding the game correctly, and I also cease to be a customer and just become a user if this is true. I'll feel a bit guilty, but maybe this lack of understanding on my part makes me a minority player, something I'm totally used to, spending a lot of the time just exploring the map, finding secrets, and doing a bit of RP to practice my mad making-stuff-up skills.

I'll go back, group with my old friends, finish up the other stories that I want to see first-hand, maybe look a little boring, maybe having my inventory fill up too fast, but I can live with that. I'll even do the flashpoints solo, each once, to see what story I missed and feel like a badass as I'm cleaning the clocks of bad guys way under my level, pretending it's a movie or something. The production values of the game are quite high, so... it leaves me wondering if this will work out for them.

The Specific Differences of Free Accounts (doesn't seem to bother me much)

I'll itemize the list now, and give my reaction to each of the elements on that list as I experienced them, and whether the monetization matters to me:

Story Content: Players can play their full class stories from levels 1 to 50.

Free for both. Since this is pretty much the stuff that matters for me, I think this is an odd choice. You can also do a bit of RP, as crazy as it feels at first, to add a bunch of content that's created between players. Not everyone's into that, and if you'd told me even a year ago that I might be into having in-character conversations I'd have told you misread my nametag, but there are enough slow-walkers on the RP server I played on to make that vulnerability extra fun. Couldn't do it all the time, can't stand bottling up my meta references too long, but it's a nice break from treating the game like a ladder made of numbers.

Character Creation Choices: Some character creation options, such as species, are limited to subscribers.

I'll admit I'll be a bit annoyed if some of the aliens I made will become unplayable, but these nuances can be overlooked. I suppose this is how you can spot a leech like me, we'll be wearing the same boring garb and sporting one of a few haircuts. People are competitive by nature, so we'll either want to conform to what we think is appropriate or wildly non-conform, both of which are behaviors that fall in line with increased customization options. But I tend to non-conform in non-optimal ways, mixing and matching stuff I should probably discard. I imagine I annoy players who are into optimality. Doesn't bother me one bit, and limitations are always a good framework for creativity... so whatevs.

Warzones: Free-to-Play members will have limited weekly access to Warzones.

This is the massive PvP arena stuff, with contextual things to complete to succeed. I never played one of them, as far as I'm aware.

Flashpoints: Free-to-Play members will have limited weekly access to Flashpoints.

Flaspoints are exciting, especially when you're desperately battling an end boss and things work out. They're intensified by the group dynamics, and the stories tend to be more heavy-hitting and cinematic. But they're also made not to take too long, even if your group's willing to take the time to let you respond how you want to things, and explore a bit. It depends on how limited, but even doing each flashpoint ONCE for a given character would be cool enough for me, with maybe a few repeats to see how other people react to conversation options. If they're not severely limited, even a limit wouldn't affect me all that much.

Space Missions: Free-to-Play members will have a weekly cap on Space Missions.

I played these quite a bit, but I can't imagine a reasonable cap would affect my playing these at all.

...What's starting to dawn on me is that once you hit level 50 or whatever, you'll maybe want to do more with your character, but a lot of that will be limited. You're maybe getting an extended free trial with some limitations on growth and customization... but for me what was most fulfilling was the story, with an ending, and you get that. It feels like an ending, even if missions come later. It's almost a design misstep, but I can't bring myself to say that BECAUSE games like these benefit profoundly from endings. What they need to do is make the post-ending content feel compelling, and still personalized, rather than generalized to fit all player characters. Anyway...

Operations: Only subscription members can access Operations.

I'm unclear on the extent of what operations are, but I think they're the equivalent of raids on world bosses and the like. Fun, but not something I'd miss terribly. I'm also unclear on how you'd be able to prevent players from at least indirectly contributing to the open world versions of these.

The other operations that take place in blocked-off, unique areas... I never did experience those. I guess they're like Flashpoints only with tons of people. Sounds like it might be interesting but I never did reach that point. Just reached level 50 when it was time to quit.

Travel Features: Subscription members have access to all travel functionality, making getting around the world easier.

Annoyingly vague here. I did use the quick-travel quite a bit, but that was due in part to the pressure of having a subscription. Without that pressure it may take me a while to get around on Hoth, but I'll be more inclined to enjoy the scenery since I know there's no need to be there RIGHT NOW.

Game Login: Subscription members will always be in login queues ahead of free players.

Nice if it's a problem for you, I guess.

Galactic Trade Network: Subscription members can post up to 50 auctions for sale.

I played capitalist with the market system, it was one of the highlights of the game for me selling rare stuff at a premium. Will be irritating not to use that fully, but if it means I save real world money I think It'll be easy enough to bear this advantage in mind. I'd definitely miss the market, though.

I feel like these limitations are largely targeted at someone else. I'll likely take up the game again and, I hate to say it, barring compelling evidence that I'm not getting the best out of the experience, there's very little I'd be spending the in-game currency on.

An Overdue KOTOR Comparison

And as an addendum, addressing the old argument about whether or not this game is a new KOTOR, it's... well... let's play a mental game here. If I imagine this game's mechanics without the Old Republic trappings:

It does have nice conversation customizations, but comparing this to KOTOR's one story, different branches, it doesn't quite have the same impact. There are eight stories with some variations, but they don't feel quite as personalized as they did in KOTOR. The NPCs feel more like slaves than buddies (ok, admittedly, they felt creepily slavish in KOTOR too, especially the second, where you're supposedly able to psycho-analyze them into being force users, all the while here I am just wanting to play a blaster- wielding non-force user having adventures. Silly me.) Alignment choices feel more like grinding for light side or dark side loot than they feel like rational or in-character choices. If you aim to go dark side but can't stomach killing a kid's dad, the game effectively tells you it'll take longer to get that shiny relic you're working toward. You might get a nice email from the dad later on thanking you for helping him, which is actually rewarding in a way that is probably discounted by those who prefer everything to be voiced, but it feels like you're working against the machinery placed in front of you because in the end you'll have to work longer to bring your alignment up to where you want it.

The combat cannot be paused, and the item modification and loot system doesn't really feel anything like either KOTOR. If you're playing at your absolute best, you get incremental increases to your stats and that's it. It's actually more fun for people who don't play optimally, but loot and mods don't really add a whole lot to your capabilities. You'll also get loot that cannot be used by you or your NPCs, at least not effectively, meaning they're very shiny vendor trash, trade items, or something you dump on the market and hope someone buys. If you're a Bounty Hunter and you pick up an item with Willpower or Strength as the prime stats, you don't benefit from those bonuses at all (I think there may have been some difference during Beta, but most of the people I talk to tell me not to worry about those stats even if Strength is supposed to help melee attacks). You can still use the equipment, but it's likely that you'd benefit much more from something that'd fit your class. The prime stats are largely meaningless, just there to force you to focus on increasing that prime stat, balanced against a few others, as high as possible.

Character abilities can be nuanced with the extensive skill trees, but only rarely does this mean a new ability, unlike in KOTOR games where your choices changed as you progressed, with new abilities being unlocked that alter the way you play. Here they do that, but they're pretty much given to you. There were other builds that I could have used on my Bounty Hunter that could have changed things significantly, but these differences weren't important enough to make it feel like I was going in a starkly new direction.

Both KOTOR games were messed up, one famously, and at the very least I know that issues in SWTOR will eventually be resolved, at least major ones. SWTOR has bugs, but it's a lot less fucked up than other games I've seen, online and off.

I don't like how quests sort of come to you, and how your choices are largely dependent on the creativity of the particular quest writer. You reach a new area, questy people beg you to solve your problems if you decide to talk to them, but it feels like it revolves around you a bit too much. There are quests you stumble upon in the environment, which I like, but you never discover solutions before the questions are put to you. I got to the point where I'd start making role-playing decisions on a lot of the quests, telling someone who wanted me to kill a bunch of innocent people to go fuck himself rather than treat it as a chance to level my character up. This wasn't a role-playing choice as far as the game was concerned, it meant that I was simply denying myself that particular wad of advancement. Great.

I came away from my Bounty Hunter's story satisfied (the fact that it's a Star Wars game where you don't have to play a Jedi makes me like it, in that aspect, much more than the KOTOR games' assumed Jedi fantasies). I think my satisfaction was due to it being an actual ending, and I felt like my character had enough of a personality of its own to feel like I owned a bit of that ending, happy that I had the chance to put my spin on what was not an altogether complicated story. Still, with eight separate storylines with wildly different tones, you're bound to feel some inconsistency. There were a few times I wasn't sure who I was going after when I'd taken a bit of a hiatus, and at times my character said things that in no way reflected my attitude toward the subject (happens a lot in dialog choice systems, though Bioware's practice of writing one thing and your character saying another often creates schizo moments of complete incongruity). The use of the alignment system, with Force points, was often weird... sparing one person is good, sparing another is bad, often with tenuous contextual justification. This sort of thing wouldn't be considered a bug by most people, but it bugged me anyway.

The game is beautiful in music, acting, and visuals (there's a reason Voss is my page's background right now), and makes me dread revisiting either KOTOR with their very limited character models. Maybe you liked the 3 lines someone speaking Huttese would say, but I'm happy there are many languages, many species, many many humanoid faces in SWTOR. You see patterns, but it's not like there are five low res guys in the entire galaxy anymore. The voice acting, though, is a MASSIVE liability for them. Creating new content means getting the voice actor to come back and do dialog. It means recording that dialog, paying the actor, and integrating it properly into the game. Every time. Every damned time. Voice acting is nice, but sometimes text is better for games. Text can be made by one person who knows what's going on. Audio involves several people, and in a game this massive, that's a big several, with many inconsistencies piling up on themselves. A huge cost, just so we don't have to read.

KOTOR and SWTOR are fundamentally different in a lot of ways. If you valued KOTOR's stories, and want to see the continuation of those stories in a land where Jedi and Sith are everywhere, then you'll probably dig this more than someone who wants a Dungeons and Dragons, fully plausible tactical combat with light and dark side options that make sense on a single character and NPCs with a bit more to them. The game's main storylines are ostensibly completable as a solo player, but I benefited greatly by having friends who were more into it than I was to show me what to do and accompany me through rough spots that were a bit tougher than my character was. The mostly helpful general chat also let me figure things out instantly. Grouping brought some of the best experiences when you see how someone who's from a completely different mindset tackles their character building and conversation options... in that way the world revolves less around you than it does in KOTOR, which is a relief, though you're ultimately told in private story moments that you're super awesome. The two don't quite exist easily together, but that's not the kind of thing that's ever really bothered me.

If you do decide to try it out and you decide to play it alone, you'll be able to do it, though you may have to view it as a more casual thing than you'd get in KOTOR. If you want to hammer through the game as fast as possible, you'll need help or you'll need to master systems and do a lot of quests. My friends and I have discussed starting from the very beginning and just experiencing all the stories in a run-through from beginning to end, with the aim of getting the grouping bonuses. That actually sounds like it could be fun, and is totally possible given how the game is laid out.

Once the game goes free, this particular household may come back, and we may spend an hour or two playing every once in a while. We'll be keeping it on our hard drive, looking at what the specifics of the free-with-coins stuff, maybe even get a month's subscription to go back to the full game if we actually find we miss it. I don't know if they'll like to have us around since we're unlikely to buy anything, but this is how they're going to try to boost their numbers. I wish 'em good luck.

In the meantime, I've been neglecting Skyrim and Grimrock...

Been playing SWTOR a lot in the run up to our subscription expiring. I was given a 3 month subscription as a Christmas gift from my employer, and had started up after that employer had been dissolved by a rather familiar publishing house. For a good portion of that subscription I wound up not playing at all; my other half was more involved than I was. Toward the end though, I guess I realized I wasn't going to be playing after the sub, at least unless we decided to come back later, so I am pushing to get my Bounty Hunter to level 50 in the time I have left.

Then comes the news, long foreseen, about SWTOR clipping on a free-to-play model. From what I understand, this will include pretty much all the stuff that I actually enjoy in the game. The stories, the conversations, the different narrative paths for each of the classes seem to all be included. They will naturally try to limit exposure to these things somehow, the details aren't clear (and maybe they're still working out the details) but to me it seems like my playing style may not be affected much at all. Which is a bit crazy, but I guess my profile may be exactly the kind of person they're trying to keep around.

There are limitations to SWTOR that, when you compare it to the KOTOR games, are a bit pronounced, but if your primary goal is to experience a Better Star Wars, like KOTOR allowed for many of us, it's good. I wish I could say I love it, but I'm not sure it's precisely my kind of game. I still love exploring environments to find hidden objects, I like advancing the class stories, and I actually engage in some multiplayer, which I usually don't do. The community is in general fairly helpful, so I've managed not to enrage anyone as I bumbled through Flashpoints I hadn't seen before (Flashpoints are fast-paced mini stories used to get better items, quick alignment gains and things called social points). When I got to about level 25 I started to burn out, partly because I felt like the game was merely adding to my list of chores rather than giving me a new compounding of interesting things. It may be the pressure of trying to finish up, but that doesn't bother me much anymore, and I'm not very close to level 50, and a planet away from finishing my class story.

Understanding the system and what it has to offer helped me appreciate what there was. I'd avoided flashpoints for a while because of their multiplayer component; they still give me performance anxiety in a way that grouping up to do a mission rarely does, in part because they often involve more puzzle combat and prior knowledge of the scenario to optimize play. But with flashpoints you get a good chunk of interesting mini-plots, like about the fate of that murderous HK droid, Darth Revan, and the Exile from the KOTOR games. Many of the characters we recognize from the old games are referenced, and I think that's where the game tends to be more fun. Some of the very basic side quests in the main game tend to be a bit un-heroic, and the Imperial side pushes distasteful for me, often being about murdering the locals. Still, what I do appreciate is that, thematically, the Republic is filled with its own corruption and dissent, and the shades of gray that help enrich what is admittedly a thin universe is much appreciated. My Bounty Hunter is about as good-aligned as you can be for any character class, although I do occasionally punch jerks in the face and sass Sith lords.

If I was a big fan of SWTOR this might read more like an advertisement, but I still feel that a lot of my game-engine choices are merely nuanced versions of the same things. My current build means I'm strong in defense, but can get higher critical damage (important because I get automatic criticals on railgun blasts). Yet when I'm modding my equipment I feel like I'm getting only slightly better, rather than a big leap in functionality that you'd feel in the KOTOR games when you uncover a goofy looking but very useful pair of goggles. Appearance is a lot more important to the designers of SWTOR, although that's a bit of a relief. You can often have a certain look translate all the way up to level 50 without it changing if you don't want it to, if you have gear that can be modded. I still wish the mods were more like in the old games... here they're just extra ways to push stats in a certain direction.

Those who enjoyed how skills were used in KOTOR will find SWTOR's approach to be very different, often geared more toward creating better-than-level gear for yourself and your companions, and your companions don't really contribute to your three chosen skills except in crafting; in the field, you can sometimes access objects if you have the right skill, but your companions share your skills with you, rather than contributing unique, contrasting abilities. They're primarily there to provide combat and story stuff.

The companions are definitely spice in the mix, and it's always nice to hear what a new character has to say about an old place, although I find I run into the same problem I have with most Bioware games in this regard, since I CAN'T have all my companions with me at once, I wind up just wondering what the others would have said. Despite my being better at the game, and probably capable of racing through it on a replay to hear what one character would say in a situation, I don't think I'll play through as the same class too often. The companions are also fairly contained within the game system. Sure, there may be lasting story consequences for a given character, but you will always have access to them; they're too integral to your ability to make stuff, to have a fling, or to guard your back when you're on a mission. They're less-than-characters in that way, always subordinate to the main character's progress. Very versatile, very flavorful pieces of equipment.

And every time in the story they reference something I specifically chose it's great, but more often than not it's a very Bioware-level of narrative control, with dialog options leading to the same result (and some voiced dialog repeating itself) except for the major decision gates. There ARE references to what you've done later, though the gameplay impact of these specifics is usually not terribly pronounced. And because it's a shared universe, the turrets you blow up regenerate after a while, the caged prisoners you DON'T free by the time your quota is filled are still stuck there, monsters pop back into existence (and so do treasure chests) if you wait long enough. The encapsulated stories feel final enough, but the game feels more permanent than your choices do. You have to already be enjoying the story for its own sake, I think, rather than testing the limits of its reality, because it's pretty clear this game is more about experiencing things within a relatively versatile game engine than having a strong narrative where unpredictable and devastating things can happen.

What I do get out of it is the grandeur of a given location, the wealth of little details, and the sense of ownership over my character. I DON'T miss KOTOR's repetition in terms of environments and NPC designs; SWTOR is thankfully leagues more varied. So much so that it's frankly a bit weird to see others' characters of the same class and sex speaking with the same voice as mine, since it feels like only MY character should be using that voice. I like the stories for the most part, even the ones that feel a bit rote are still fun to follow through to the end, though, like I did with the Jedi Consular, I just watched someone else play (who explored nearly every dialog option before committing). Watching someone else play, I also get a sense that the battles are often quite dynamic and interesting to watch in a way that you're not always aware if you're busy pressing buttons. The game is quite generous, flaws and all, and it helps me to appreciate it even when it annoys me.

I do think this game is unfairly maligned, probably because of its initially reported price tag. Now that it's going to be open to whoever wants to try it, I guess it'll live or die on its own merits as a game and an experience, which to me seems fair. When the game's machinery are laid bare it can feel a bit rough to continue, especially if you're not into the environments or the story. About halfway through my character's advancement I felt pressured to always have the best equipment and to jump through a bunch of hoops to do it. Some of the criticisms of SWTOR are justified, in that I still feel like the time it takes to do something is stretched with less interesting bits in a way that the KOTOR games didn't have to worry about. I do miss that dynamic element at times, though in other ways I feel like it's an incremental improvement of KOTOR, especially how dialog is handled.

As far as my own SWTOR experience I got over the hump, I guess. I'm enjoying it enough to keep playing now that the mechanisms are clearer to me. And now that what is apparently ALL of the stuff that I enjoy is going to be free, I guess I might still stick around even if I don't manage to finish my Bounty Hunter's story before the subscription lapses.

It DOES help to have people to play alongside, whether it's a casual meet-up or people you know well, and my experience was probably better for that. As much as it supports single player play, it's more fun with others. There's something about waiting to see if your group will make light-side or dark-side choices in a flashpoint that is still suspenseful, even if you've done it a bunch of times already. Though there's always the occasional asshole, people are willing to explain stuff and tell you the best way to do things even if you're not in a group with them, which makes learning the system a bit easier for people like me who prefer to be told what needs to be done rather than read about it or hope that a random internet site knows what it's talking about.

I'll go back to playing now. Maybe in a few days I'll be able to say whether or not the Bounty Hunter's story had a satisfying conclusion...

Any questions about the game, or criticisms of and reflections on your own experiences, are welcome.

Slender is an exercise in terror (not so much horror as I've often seen people say) using the Unity engine. If you're curious, get it here. Otherwise, or afterward, I'll talk about it below.

Rather than go into Slender itself, which is pretty simple in its setup, I'll mention a particular state I entered into while playing it.

Most cultures have monsters, but none come to mind that don't have warnings about them, observations on behavior, or methods to defeat them. What is hidden behind this seemingly completely irrational tendency for us to anthropomorphize the unknown is our ability to find patterns in it, and thus find weaknesses.

If anyone wonders why human beings have managed to extend the average lifespan, and come up with complicated machines that help make life easier (and end life quicker), you might look at how we beat the small monsters through the use of holy symbols, prayers, silver bullets. We tell ourselves there has to be a way, and in fiction there inevitably can be. We use fiction as a practice run in protecting ourselves, and outrunning death, that undeniable real-world monster, just a little longer.

In fiction, though, you can also simulate hopelessness. You can tell the reader the rules, then imply that there is no hope no matter how hard they try. As pat as it is to have the good guys win, and while the specific definition of what a good guy is is arguable, it is important not to lean on this hopelessness style too much. I believe we learn real-world skills even through made-up worlds, and it's strange in light of this to teach us to give up.

Still, we have all sorts of entertainment that simulates this freefall into death. Roller coasters come to mind. We plummet, scream, but smile while we're doing it because we know, most of the time, the cart won't crash into the ground (unless you live in the universe of Roller Coaster Tycoon).

While playing Slender I found that I was trying to ask the game, through gameplay, if there was any hope, or if things were just going to get worse and worse the more crayon drawings I picked up. It's easy enough to plop you with a dimming, narrow-beam flashlight in the middle of a pitch black forest, and zing you with orchestrated jump scares even though you know you're not exactly in this situation and can quit at any time. But as I played I felt as though what the game was trying to do was to see how far I'd go, what I'd be willing to put myself through, despite the story context being so minimal that I began to scrutinize the graphics, wonder why I couldn't scale the fence, wonder where this game I was interacting with was intending to take me.

I tried to see if there were methods for evading, ways to clip through walls and try to get around boundaries and then, 4 pages in, I decided to beat the game. While running from my pursuer I found that the truck I'd found early on counted as an obstacle that would prevent me from being affected by my pursuer's gaze. The glass of its windows counted as a solid object, so I was safe to look. I did, using the game's strange zoom function to get a closeup of the creature's boxy, pinched face. It stood there, dumbly, waiting for my screen to be filled with static, not knowing I wasn't affected, but unwilling to move because I was facing it.

Then, I quit. In this case, as the machine said, "the only winning move is not to play."