I have never met Ryan, but he brought so much joy in my life. I always thought of our moderator extraordinaire as by far the funniest of the bunch, and all the dynamic between him and the other staff members (especially Vinny) cracked me up all the time. The only death of a person, I never knew, I truly cared about. Weirdly, I will always associate Assassin's Creed with him. Not only was he the resident AC aficionado at GB, but also in the only TNT I ever participated in, I stabbed Ryan's character in the neck. And of course due to this little gem:
I have given up on the idea of making my blog entries meaningful with such a backlog. Sorry.
I finished AC3s main story a few days ago. I am a sucker for AC, but AC3 certainly was one of the weaker ones. Connors story was very forgetful, their was one major revelation in Desmonds storyline. I played about two thirds of the story when the game came out but only finished up now. That certainly did not help to make a lasting impression. There is a lot to do in the AC-world, but it is hard to navigate, and the load times are terrible for someone as SSD spoiled as me. I also did not care for the board games or the "crafting to get money", which was partly due to the terrible UI for that. I blindly bought the season pass, which included some naval missions in the caribbean - this totally sold me on 'Black Flag'. Thankfully the 'Tyranny of King Washington' DLC seems to be more fun than the main game.
I also slowly collect cubes in FEZ, I am pretty early on. 8 cubes
On the whole XBOX ONE vs. PS4 issue I can only say, that there is no reason for me to switch to the XBOX. I am not invested in Halo, Ryse looks clunky, I would suck at Forza, I can play Titanfall on the PC and I am kinda done with motion gaming (I had a 360+Kinect for a while.). I played a few CoDs/BF and again might play one, but I do not mind the DLC-delay on PS4/PC. So there is no reason for me not to buy the more powerful system at a lower price. Especially with all the dedicated components the PS4 has, while the xboxs seems to put all the additional load from its "media layer" on the main CPU.
Also I just watched a 90 min video with Will and Norm on how to build your own gaming PC, and had my mind blown how easy it has become. The last time I build a PC was around 1998. I bought my current PC about 3 years ago from a small local place that builds custom gamer-pcs. According to my calculation it might still be cheaper to get it from them. Since I am unemployed I am not sure were to put my limited money. Food is probably a good idea, and my current hardware + backlog will still last me a long time.
Just a personal backlog entry. With the new generation looming I desperately need to chip away at my massive backlog. To many games I started, and then just went on to play more Civ5. List in no particular order. (I am open to suggestions what to play first.)
Walking Dead (completed first episode and then my save suffered from the bug that no decisions carried over)
FEZ
Assassins Creed 3 (half way through)
Dead Space 3
Witcher (1&)2
all the Skyrim addons. I propably need to make a new character ... thats a massive undertaking
So these "let's play"-games on YT are really a thing apparently. I actually welcome that, since I lately tend to play a lot of strategy games with bad documentation and to way to high difficulty for me.
So I wanted to mention MadDjinn here, who is making a lot of cool videos, especially Civ5:
Long time no blog, I know. Guys, I just successfully defended my PhD. Feeling good about myself. Sadly I am broke now for a while since I slide into unemployment, but I still got tons of unplayed games in my steam list.
Ok. For the record. This is the stuff I am excited for in 2012. Also I vow to get back into real PC games. Real PC games as in (turn-based) strategy and economy simulation games. Maybe finally the grand strategy stuff.
So I am excited for Warlock. Master of Arcane. A Paradox Game, similar to Civ5. To continue to abuse myself. Also Arthur II. I haven't found them on GB though, so I put teasers here.
Now the convention al stuff for all you console kiddies ;)
My 2012 watchlist
Games in 2012, in which I am interested in and probably will end up buying. Started with priority but then ended up somehow without ordering.
I am in for some Blizzard-level polish without the dedication needed for WoW or SC2. I will dump hundreds of hours with friends in this. Collectors Edition time.
I loved Rapture. I think they can make Columbia a similar star of the game. Elizabeth looks cute I must admit (despite being a comic version of a real person).
I am not a video game reviewer, nor do I want to be one. So I keep this short and sweet. It's all in a list already. I just want to conserve it. I am just saying that for me personally 2011 was the year back to the PC. I played many of these games on PC, which is now hooked up to my 46" TV. Evidently, we need new consoles. Because that PC is effing loud!
The 800-pound gorilla. A masterpiece. A friend had to lock my steam account to stop me playing. Most akin to WoW which led to similar things. Getting lost in a beautiful world I want to continue to explore. My GOTY.
Its very tough to give an order for the next 3 games. They equally engaged me.
I am sucker for handdrawn 2D graphics. Usually games that feature it do not interest me ("action" like Bastion, platformers, fighting games etc.). But the incredible narrator quickly sucked me into this experience. The most beautiful game this year!
This game is also really beautiful. It had the most amazing set pieces I played through in 2011. A feat for itself this game made me try out survival horror, which I am usually not a big fan of. Maybe this is because many SH games are Japan made, and I prefer the western style games. Maybe because it was not that frightening. I played the first game and this one back to back. A good decision.
My weapon of choice in online "shoot that guy!" Essentially a prettier version of BC2 with more stuff. I played it on PC an PS3. The PC version is a great game. The PS3 one not so much. The stope, technology and controls of BC2 worked much better on consoles (especially Vietman was great. Some maps (METRO!) are clearly more a tech demo than a gameplay piece. But this game has legs and the core is fun. The single player is not fun at all though.
I just like this time period (or the hollywood versions of it). Everything was better in the past. Everyone dressed sharp and could articulate themselves. I got quickly absorbed in the story so the fact that this is basically a point and click adventure did not bother me. The open world aspect of this game is barely used at all. Which I did not like. The facial motion capture technique in the game represented the biggest advancement in video game tech for me in 2011. I want to see more of it.
Great looking and true to fiction power fantasy. I played quite a bit of the relatively dull multiplayer. However they achieved to make the Warhammer 40k type combat feel right and work in a multiplayer setting. Melee combat is and ranged weapons are both viable. It really feels like you would imagine a space marine would fight. First fin out the enemy lines with your bolter, then charge in with your chainsword. FOR THE EMPEROR!
Easily the best looking console game overall in 2011. It's a competent shooter with a unique weight to it, cool set pieces, great environments and a fun class based multiplayer. The story is quite flat though and the obvious sequel setup is annoying. The Helghast (British Space Nazis) are fun enemies. The written background story actually originally sets them up as the good guys, which need to take to extreme measures to defend them selfs. The games portrait the opposite.
I am only a few sequences in. The core elements are still there and still fun. The combat system is simple but very satisfying. The best animations in any game. The older side stuff is also good, just the den defense is awful. The main story seems competent. I just want to see this through.
Great game. I tire of it fairly quickly though. But you just keep coming back.
The great Unknowns
These are games which are not taken into consideration. I have the sneaky feeling that they might have ended up in the top list. I will probably borrow a few of these games from friends. So no hurry when you can play them for free and you got a huge backlog anyway.
Witcher 2 - I am only 1-2 hours in. Man this game looks awesome. Best looking PC game hands down. I am going to pull a Vinny though and play the first one before it. I just picked it up for 5$ at GOG. Oh man this did not age well. Terrible character animations, but independently wiggling boobs on Triss? Real classy CD Project.
Deus Ex Human Revolution - I am not far enough in to tell. I like the stealth part of the game. Assassins Creed to the max. I maneuvered myself into a positions that the game is not fun anymore (I am at the 1st boss). So I need to start over first and finish it.
Uncharted - I haven't gotten on the Uncharted bandwagon. And when I do things I go all in. So I will play this games at some point. All of them.
Batman Arkham City - I liked the first one. I just do not like super heroes much. The only one which is ok is Batman though. Frankly I do not see myself playing this game. I had my superhero-fill for years to come.
Saints Row: The Third - I must admit the high raise on this site tempted me into picking it up. It's in the mail.
So I installed the BETA, which went quite smooth. Also got into a game, with no major networking hiccups. So to make this clear. I think BF3 is gonna be a very good game. I like the shooting. The unlocks. The suppression thing. The UI (in game, and web). The sound is incredible (but was ver good in BC2 also). But this is far from being the revolution the marketing wants us to believe. The performance on my about 1 year old computer (GTX 470, i7 4x2.8, 6 GB RAM, latest drivers) was pretty bad. About 44 fps on medium(!) at 1080p. The games AUTO-settingis defaulted to higher settings even. On Ultra I get around 30fps. This might change though.
However even on ultra, it was far away from mind-blowing. The lighting and the blurs are nice. Witcher 2 looked better. And frankly: With all the tricks it pulls Killzone 3 on the PS3 looks just as good and has a lot of the fancy animations as well. The jaw-drop was bigger there, because it works with so little. BF3 is really more an evolution over BFBC2. Might as well get this for PS3, since I suck with M&K.
Despite pledging never to do it: Today my Razer Onza TE arrived and I did the unspeakable thing of putting my PC into the "living room" of my tiny 1-room-apartment. Here is my super uncomfiy setup. Probably not much playing SCII or LoL on this petty table.
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