Alazander's Blog

. . . and the 2011 Game of the Year is . . .

2011-11-21T18:48:00.006Z

Well, it has to be Skyrim, doesn't it?

I'm currently 15 hours into the game, and it has completely blown away my expectations. Granted, they weren't particularly high to begin with: I've never made any secret of my dislike of Oblivion, with its cookie cutter setting, terribad dialogue and game-breaking (for me) level scaling. I absolutely understand why it was so beloved of RPG/Elder Scrolls neophytes (the ambition is staggering) -- but for me, it was a bit of a broken mess that amounted to little more than a hiking simulator.

Enter Skyrim. Bethesda appears to have fixed pretty much everything that was wrong with its predecessor. With the exception of a few hiccups here and there, the graphics are great and occasionally inspiring. The music is a joy to listen to. The character system is simplified and yet works wonderfully well. This time around, the writing is actually pretty decent: much better than Dragon Age 2 (or at least the demo) and slightly better than Dragon Age 1. Coming from Bethesda, that's staggering.

Best of all, the world design is phenomenal. A Viking-esque frontier setting with snow-capped peaks, giants, trolls, and dragons? Yes, please. I can easily see myself losing 200-300 hours in Skyrim. Honestly, now that Bethesda is making great strides in its quest design and writing (traditionally its weak points), I feel sorry for BioWare, who I don't think can compete at all with its Dragon Age series.

Before Skyrim, I played through Batman: Arkham City and Uncharted 3. Both games are in competition with Skyrim for the GotY award. (Skyward Sword is another potential candidate.)

I thought Arkham City was a good sequel to Arkham Asylum overall, but ultimately the story was a bit of a letdown. It felt like the writers came up with a list of villains they wanted to include -- and then gave themselves all of a week to write a plot to fit the purpose. It felt very rushed, with severe pacing issues and ridiculous plot holes/contrivances. Whenever a writer relies on a random rockfall/crumbling ceiling to push a narrative forward, you know they struggled to pull things together.

My misgivings about Arkham City go twofold for Uncharted 3, which not only managed to serve up a much weaker story than the previous game but also borked the gameplay somewhat. The tight gun controls from Uncharted 2 are replaced by a looser, more unwieldy targeting reticule. The game also introduced lengthy brawls that are great to begin with but quickly grow repetitive and frustrating. I hated being dragged out of cover and snipered while getting entangled in another interminable slugfest with some neckless thug.

I think Naughty Dog should put the Uncharted series on ice now until the next generation of consoles. It's in danger of becoming stale. Also, I don't think they can top the visuals of Uncharted 3 using current generation hardware: it's the best-looking videogame I've ever played. I'll say that much for it, in spite of my other grumbles.

So. Skyrim for Game of the Year 2011. I never thought I would say that . . . But so far, it really is that good.

Savant's Aielund Saga novelisation

2011-10-05T09:52:00.003+01:00

In case, like me, you missed it, NWN community legend Savant aka Stephen L. Noland has released the first novel based upon his epic series of modules. The book is entitled "Nature Abhors a Vacuum," as with the debut module of the same name.

Like Berliad, I'll be picking up the novel via Kindle using an iPod app. It's only $2.99 -- a tiny price to pay to help support an author who has provided dozens of hours of free entertainment for the community. As it happens, I only played the first module in the series; I can't recall why I didn't continue with it, since I remember having a lot of fun. Perhaps I was too busy working on my own modules.

To answer Berliad's question on his blog, the co-author of Tortured Hearts 2, Jim Grimsley, is a novelist and playwright with several published works to his name. The prolific Stegan Gagne has also been self-publishing fiction for a while now. And like Savant, Andarian is working on a series of novels based upon his own module series, Sanctum of the Archmage.

I've often thought Crimson Tides of Tethyr would make for a decent Forgotten Realms novel, but I suspect Wizards of the Coast wouldn't be too chuffed, unless it was an officially licensed third edition D&D product . . . and that ship has sailed now.

Officially an old bastard

2011-09-26T23:45:00.000+01:00

Today was my thirtieth birthday.

My wife and I went to London, where I had a meeting with a literary agent to discuss my work-in-progress novel. The agency has represented many fine authors including George Orwell. The meeting was a success and they seem very keen to take me on, which is great news. Less positive was the fact my wife spent pretty much all day ill, so we ended up hanging around in Starbucks. Oh well.

So, thoughts on turning thirty: I'm lucky be married to a woman I love, and to have some pretty cool stuff (The Shadow Sun, hopefully a debut novel) lined up for the next few months. I've also gotten pretty fit in the last 15 months or so, able to bench 200 lbs and and run a decent 6-minute mile. That helps soften the blow of seeing my 20s recede into the distance.

To those already there: does life get better after 30, or worse?

R.I.P. Andy Whitfield, aka Spartacus

2011-09-12T11:20:00.001+01:00

Welsh actor Andy Whitfield, who starred as Spartacus in the recent hit drama Spartacus: Blood and Sand, has passed away.

Such an awful thing to happen to a young and tremendously healthy man. If you haven't seen Spartacus: Blood and Sand, and its subsequent prequel spin-off, I heavily recommend it. They're gutsy, violent, sexy and completely over the top, but also amazingly fun and compelling viewing.

You'll be missed, Andy.

Hasbro reclaim D&D rights . . .

2011-08-16T18:01:00.003+01:00

And we all breathe a collective sigh of relief. Could this result in a number of new D&D-based titles over the next few years? I hope so. At this point, D&D might be just the thing to save the hardcore RPG sub-genre, since the license alone normally guarantees a decent ROI. Much as I enjoy action RPGs, shooter RPGs, and wide-open exploration RPGs, I'd love to see something resembling another BG. I'm sure Obsidian and others are rubbing their hands together!

The dragon roars again?

A Dance with Dragons spoilery thoughts

2011-08-09T00:22:00.016+01:00

Almost a month after getting my sweaty palms on A Dance with Dragons, I've finally finished the gargantuan tome. Overall my thoughts are mixed. I wasn't expecting miracles, having followed the trials and tribulations endured by Martin over the last five year or so, and indeed the problems I anticipated were present. However, it's a much better showing than A Feast for Crows. Massive spoilers follow!

The bulk of the Tyrion, Jon and Daenerys chapters were a little disappointing for different reasons. In Tyrion's case, I get the sense Martin struggled to find a purpose for him and so his chapters function as a rather slow-paced travelogue for much of the book. Bereft of the interesting family dynamics and political manoeuvring that made him such an interesting figure in Westeros, he bumbles along as a rather passive figure, dragged along by events that aren't spectacularly interesting. The fixation on his father's death also gets tiresome by his third or fourth chapter. The reader doesn't need to be reminded of the stink of Tywin's loosened bowels every other page. Luckily, he seems to recover some of his ironic wit as the book draws to a close. I didn't think much of Penny.

Jon's chapters are decent but initially suffer from the timeline issues leftover from the AFFC/ADWD split. It's odd reading chapters that relate to events that happened near the start of the last book. Things pick up when Tormund (an awesome character) is reintroduced. It was nice to see the grudging respect Stannis has for Lord Snow, perhaps realising they are two peas in a pod. I didn't like the cliffhanger at the end. Yes, we have Melisandre's prophecies indicating that something bad is going to happen, and yes, the prologue itself might be said to elaborately foreshadow the "et tu, Brute?" punchline (and Snow's eventual survival, most likely), but it still felt a lot clumsier in its setup and execution than previous plot twists.

Dany's chapters are a mixed bag. I think most would have preferred the invasion to have begun in earnest, rather than reading endless chapters where she gets bogged down in Slaver's Bay. For the first half of the book, this plot line really is quite plodding. Luckily it is redeemed somewhat when the dragons begin to dance (or at least throw a few moves before going to sit down in the corner). One major issue with these chapters is how Martin struggles to describe the setting when outside the comfort of Medieval Europe, aka Westeros. In previous books where chapters set outside of Westeros are rare, he gets by using spare description. Not so much here. The only image I have of the Slaver Cities is the fact they are hot and contain pyramids of "many-coloured brick." The disparity in the quality of world-building between Westeros and cultures Martin is comfortable with, and those he clearly isn't (the vaguely Egyptian/Middle Eastern Slaver's Bay) is pretty noticeable.

Also, I hated the final Dany chapter. Wandering around in a featureless savanna reminiscing about previous events before another cliffhanger was kind of a lame end. Fortunately the epilogue that follows is pretty awesome.

I liked Theon's chapters. This is Martin at his best, taking a character that seems beyond redemption and somehow getting the reader to root for them. It helps that the author clearly loves writing about the characters and locations in this part of the world. Ramsay Bolton and his father are unapologetic one-dimensional psychopaths/sociopaths, which actually makes them refreshing in the context of the series. Here Martin throws down the grimdark gauntlet to the young pretenders to his crown, with flaying, rape, and even references to scat and bestiality thrown in for good measure. In fact, the whole book raises the stakes in the grimdark arms race. Barely a page goes by without characters getting murdered, raped, burned alive, drowned, shitting out their innards, getting their intestines torn out, cannibalised... it goes on. Even R. Scott Bakker might raise an eyebrow at the mistreatment of women in this book, especially. It does become a bit too much at points.

Ramsay's (supposed letter) was another cliffhanger, and this one came completely out of left field and was most unwelcome. You don't have the reader read 20 or so chapters building up to a conflict only to apparently resolve the damned conflict in a letter miles from the action. Was the letter fake? I don't know, but I thought the author might have taken notice of the howls of rage that accompanied Brienne hanging at the end of AFFC. Waiting 3-5 years to discover the fates of dozens of characters is cruel.

Quentyn Martell's chapters seem the most pointless in the entire book. They reminded me of the Maiden of Tarth's chapters in AFFC: wander around a lot, do uninteresting stuff, die; except unlike Brienne, he really does die. I reckon the book might have benefitted had these been cut. Aegon/Jon Connington's chapters already fulfill the quota for new POV characters, and they ultimately have far more purpose in the story.

The handful of Cersei/Asha/Davos/Bran/Arya/Victarion chapters are genuinely solid and provide a refreshing change of scenery. Cersei's walk of shame was well-deserved; Asha's chapters were okay but provided a much-needed perspective on Stannis' march; Davos's chapters shed some light on Lord Manderley, who is far more interesting than he initially appeared; Bran's chapters went full-on high fantasy, with the jury still out on how worthwhile these will prove to be (where's Rickon?); Arya's chapters did what was necessary to inch her story forwards; and Victarion's almost read like comic relief. The iron captain is so ridiculously alpha, with his fist clenching and over the top macho posturing and violence that I'm actually starting to like him. The bit where he pins some poor sod to a mast and chokes the life out of him in retaliation for some petty insult actually made me laugh.

In conclusion, I think ADWD is a pretty inconsistent novel. This is hardly a surprise. A large chunk of the chapters were written to be in another book or arranged differently, some show obvious signs of an author battling writer's block, and others were clearly either rushed or added to address fan complaints over cliffhangers (Jaime/Brienne) or lack of presence in AFFC. On the other hand, as a whole the novel is well-written, there are some great new character arcs (Theon), and there are signs Martin has the story back under control. Editing could have been a bit tighter: I don't know if it's because the chapters were completed and then edited over the course of a decade or so, but phrases and words keep appearing more than is healthy. For example, "Words are wind," "many-coloured brick," "fists like hams," etc. I noticed a couple of typos too.

It's been odd for me to see how, on one hand, critics have fallen over themselves to lavish praise on the novel. At least a couple of high profile critics slobbering over ADWD seem to be close friends or acquaintances of the author, which immediately calls their objectivity into question. On the other hand, fans are coming dangerously close to giving it a roasting on Amazon and certain community forums. I think fair judgement lies somewhere in between: ADWD certainly doesn't match the first three books in the series. But it's better than AFFC, and if anyone really thinks this is a 1 or 2-star book by the standards of the genre, they need to read a lot more fantasy (or alternatively don't, as they're going to be very disappointed). Personally, I'd give ADWD 7/10 or *** 1/2 out of *****.

Insignificant updates ahoy!

2011-07-04T21:13:00.002+01:00

Just a quick post.

No significant news on The Shadow Sun. The new release window is Fall 2011. I think we'll make this one with, I hope, room to spare. Or my 30th birthday won't be as glorious as I'd hoped.

The last couple of weeks have been pretty good. Wimbledon was a fun distraction. I finally picked up Uncharted 1 & 2 for my PS3, and they're pretty sweet.

My novel is going fairly well. I wrote 3 chapters last week. That's around 8,000 words, which isn't bad. I hope I can maintain that pace. I actually had an e-mail from a literary agent enquiring about the book and asking for the full manuscript. Sadly, I had to confess that I'm barely on the third mile of this marathon. Still, he asked me to send it over when it was ready which is rather nice.

I can hardly wait until next week. A Dance with Dragons is almost upon us! I'll order the final Malazan book at the same time, giving me a veritable feast of fantasy to sink my teeth into.

Grimdark fantasy at its, er, finest

2011-06-17T20:02:00.003+01:00

I've uploaded the first 11,000 words or so of my work-in-progress fantasy novel to Authonomy, a HarperCollins initiative designed to get the public to peer review and act as a kind of slush filter. Apparently the top 5 books each month get the once over from bonified HarperCollins editors. It's a neat idea... except that the system appears to be geared towards rewarding those who spend the most time on shameless self-promotion. At a glance, there seems to be a lot of mutual backslapping -- "Great job, I backed you, could you do the same for my book?" posted by the same folk on three or four 80k word novels each day. They must read a heck of a lot faster than I do.

Anyway, you can check out the progress of my sorry offering here, under a cunning pseudonym. Feel free to comment and say things like, "I was absolutely bowled over" or "The world truly is witnessing the birth of a creative titan." Or even, "Bah, banal crap." Just be warned: there's copious amounts of cursing, of the harsher kind. Grimdark fantasy is serious business.

Super Street Fighter 4 Ar-ghhh!

2011-06-09T00:15:00.005+01:00

"Fool me once, shame on — shame on you. Fool me — you can't get fooled again."

- George W. Bush

So, Super Streetfighter 4: Arcade Edition is due in the next couple of weeks. I confess that I spent large chunks of last year playing SSF4 and reliving the glory days of my youth.

At least they were the glory days, up until the point I realised my estimation of myself as some kind of legend at the game wasn't entirely accurate. It turns out that beating your (then) 8-year-old brother into the ground and seeing off some goons at the local mall doesn't really prepare you for stepping out into the big bad world of competitive online gaming. I hit a wall and spent the next six months banging my head against it. Surely the ability to throw a fireball and launch a dragon punch on command placed me firmly in the upper echelons of the game's elite?

Apparently not. Time and again I succumbed to combos and tactics I recognised but proved helpless to counter. I spent hours poring over YouTube videos to improve my skills, to no avail. I even ordered the official strategy guide. Eventually I sacrificed my honour and pride and decided to main Guile, with whom my tactics involved hiding on the other side of the screen and spamming sonic booms while throwing anything within range. I got ahead, to a point.

Come at me, bra

I also collected an inbox full of abusive messages such as "Fukkin turtle u only know one move" and "Ur a pussy." I couldn't in good conscience argue with either sentiment, but at least my Battle Points were building up.

But then they stalled again, and soon began to dip. The community was raising its game and wising up to my lame tactics. If man is a learning animal I was surely little more than an ape, lurking on the outskirts of civilization and beating my chest and flinging poo while bronze became steel and arrows turned to gunshot and progress rendered me an irrelevant relic of a bygone age, too set in my ways to learn what was necessary to keep up with the new breed. My dreams of travelling to Japan to best Daigo in single combat were in tatters. I would never be anything more than a tribute to mediocrity; a journeyman at best. With this realisation I managed to tear myself away. I began the long road to recovery. My thumbs healed. That permanent rage down in my gut finally receded.

And now SSF4: AE is imminent. Tempting me back to this dirty business where a man is only as good as his trigger finger. I feel like William Munny from Unforgiven, except I was always more akin to Mr Bean. I need to resist. I'm too old for this shit.

Also: $40/$15 (for the DLC) to gain access to some balance tweaks and four uninspiring characters ain't happening. I'd rather buy the new Mortal Kombat instead. I tell you, I was a regular Spartan at that game back in the day...

Game of Thrones: Please, no more sexposition

2011-05-30T23:50:00.000+01:00

Another strong episode of Game of Thrones this week. However, I have a major gripe, and that is the exposition scene that wasn't present in the books where Littlefinger delivers a monologue while instructing a couple of whores on how to put on a show. My issue is twofold. First, it was unnecessarily crude (play with her arse?) in a way that was embarrassing to watch; more so than any episode of True Blood I can remember. Second, the sexposition technique is beginning to become something of a trope for this series. I understand the intention was to draw a clever analogy between Littlefinger's nature and whoredom, but this came dangerously close to jumping the shark. I dislike the notion that the writers can't trust the audience to pay attention to scenes like this unless they're presented as soft porn.

That's definitely a small finger.

I hope the writers stop using sexposition for series two. Thinking back to the novels, I can recall several scenes with Tyrion, one with Theon Greyjoy, and the memorable "Myrish swamp" scene with Cersei, so we're due several more. But at least they'll be adapted from the novels. The Littlefinger scene in Game of Thrones contained far too much gratuity for my tastes and seemed designed to shock in a way that was very unsubtle.

The power of darkness

2011-05-25T22:54:00.001+01:00

After about a year on ice, my fantasy novel has returned to life and I'm making some good progress. I think I've finally figured out all my POV characters and I now have a stronger plot in mind. The strange thing is, I can't seem to write unless it's late in the night. During the day I feel like my head is full of treacle, but once the witching hour hits my creative juices flow like the Mississippi. Anything I do pen in the afternoon I end up heavily editing because on review it doesn't seem good enough.

The resemblance is spooky.

Of course, there are several possible reasons for this. A late night energy boost from my evening meal and the tranquility of silence providing an ideal environment in which to focus are but two. Personally, I like to think I am at least part vampire. That would account for my pale complexion, fiendish charm and incredible strength. I benched 175lbs for 5 reps at the gym today.

Unfortunately my nocturnal habits have the side effect of annoying my wife, so I'm going to have to remedy the situation somehow. Maybe I need to start drinking coffee or throwing back cheap energy drinks. Anyone have any good suggestions for morning/early afternoon brain stimulation?

A Dance with Dragons

2011-05-24T18:25:00.001+01:00

Episode six of A Game of Thrones kept up the brisk pace set by the previous episode. It's fun to watch scenes that I read some 11 years ago play out just as I remember. Though, the title of the episode spoiled its finale: the crowning of Viserys was one of the most vivid scenes in the book, so I knew immediately what "A Golden Crown" referred to. About the only downside to this episode was the band of outlaws that accosted Bran. They were almost comically unthreatening and camp, like escapees out of a Sky TV Discworld adaptation.

Shit most definitely did not get real.

I spent some time today reading up on the series at the excellent ASOIF Wiki. As mentioned, I read books 1-3 over a decade ago and A Feast for Crows back in 2005. A refresher session was definitely in order to brush up on the numerous plotlines and characters before A Dance with Dragons is released on July 12. I'm afraid I don't have the patience to re-read all the novels.

As it happens, I also have the tenth and final Malazan novel to read and that series has a cast that makes Martin's look anaemic by comparison. However, I've long stopped caring overly much about Erikson's story. It's a bit of a jumbled mess and the characters are generally as deep as a puddle, with motivations that are as clear as mud at the best of times. I'll read it to see how it ends and that will be that.

Add another 1,000 page doorstopper to this line-up and you'll understand why I'm not re-reading Malazan.

With Kong off his back I hope GRRM is able to complete his series in good time. Watching A Game of Thrones has reminded me of just how good it is. It also demonstrates that once an author has a reader hooked, nothing short of a stinker of a novel can cause a significant drop-off in interest. On many occasions over the years I've mentally cussed Martin and the excruciating delays between his books -- yet I'll be first in line on July 12.

Metaphorically, at least. Thanks to Amazon, I'll actually shuffle about ten feet to my front door. Nothing like that thud when something cool arrives.

AL4 on indefinite hold

2011-05-21T01:16:00.002+01:00

It's been a very long time since I posted anything substantial about AL4: The Blades of Netheril. If I'm honest with myself, I've been putting off the inevitable. It saddens me to write this, but AL4 is now on indefinite hold. By that, I mean it isn't 100%, non-irrevocably certain never to be released. It's just highly unlikely.

Some background might help.

Shortly after releasing AL3: Tyrants of the Moonsea for NWN1 in the middle of 2006, I joined Ossian Studios and we began planning our next project. My intention had been to move on to AL4 immediately, but working with Alan Miranda and the rest of the team on another commercial project so soon after the cancellation of AL3 made too much sense to turn down. Between the Ossian work, a full-time day job and getting married in March 2007, I had no time to work on AL4.

When a window of opportunity did arise just after Mysteries of Westgate had entered purgatory, I seized it. A handful of fantastic area designers provided me with upwards of 60 maps in the space of little more than two months. At the same time, I'd written something like 50,000 words of dialogue in 6 weeks. By the end of October 2007, the project was steaming along. Then Ossian signed up to work on stuff for the Witcher, and because I was also working a day job, this reduced my free time to zilch. Or, it would be more accurate to say my appetite for working on AL4 in lieu of relaxing in what little time I did have was slim.

When the Witcher project came to a halt in the middle of 2008, I had time to reevaluate AL4. What I saw didn't please me very much. It was my fault; I'd gone overboard on trying to fit in as much custom content as possible and the story was uncomfortably rooted in Forgotten Realms lore. I'd committed the same crime as the official NWN campaign, and tried to fit in as much stuff as I could from the source material. The story resembled A Grand Tour of the Realms. Go to this cool place and do this; go to another and do that. The premise for doing so was not good enough in retrospect, and the design didn't please me. I probably make it sound worse than it was, but when a project that requires 1,000+ hours still has 500+ hours of investment needed, one needs to be committed to the vision. I wasn't. And I felt really bad about it, because the area designers had been kind enough to provide such great work on my behalf.

At the same time, the Westgate debacle lingered on and brought my appetite for game creation to an all-time low. I didn't touch AL4 for a long time. I went back to the module in 2009 and had some great ideas on how to revise it. Unfortunately, my drive to do so wasn't equal to the work involved. At that point, NWN2 had emerged as a much better platform to do the things I wanted to do -- at the cost of exponentially more work.

As late as last year, I was determined to finish the module and see it released. It had been a monkey on my back. I've always hated it when modders promise the world and then disappear. I didn't want to disappoint fans of the series. However, what I've found is this: the more game design I've done, the more my tastes have evolved and my perspective on what constitutes an acceptable level of work has altered. It doesn't matter that AL4 is a free mod and other projects are commercial work. If anything, the passion and dedication to quality needs to be greater for the former, to see it over the finish line in the absence of some remuneration for all the work involved.

I can't get AL4 to a place I'm happy with; not with the NWN1 toolset. I briefly considered, heavily considered, creating a module in NWN2 -- Blood of the Reaver, which I mentioned in this blog post. That would take place some years after the events of my NWN modules as a semi-connected sequel of sorts. I still believe the concept for this module would make a terrific game. But it's the work involved. Time, if I'm honest, I'd rather spend learning another language or writing a novel or channeling into a project that will contribute to the costs of living.

I'm disappointed that those fans eagerly awaiting AL4 probably won't see it come to light. It wasn't for want of trying. The NWN community was a fantastic one that enabled me to get to know a great many talented, supportive and awesome individuals -- pretty much all of whom I still remember (and some of whom I met during the Dragon Age Toolset event). I didn't want to slink away from the NWN scene without clarifying what was happening with, for many, their reason for visiting this blog.

Sorry, guys.

Why I'm not buying Dragon Age 2

2011-05-19T21:28:00.003+01:00

Dragon Age 2 is the first BioWare game (other than Sonic Chronicles) that I've decided not to purchase. Lukewarm reviews aside, nothing I've read about Dragon Age 2 convinces me that it's worth 30-40 hours of my time. Nemorem's fantastic series of blog posts covers the game in great detail without giving much away. The overriding impression is that there are too many faults (for me) to overlook. The prospect of an RPG where loot is worthless and content is recycled ad nauseum to eke the most gameplay hours out of the fewest assets possible doesn't appeal to me in the slightest. I realise the game does some good and original things with storytelling, like the framed narrative. Sadly, that's outweighed by the stuff it does wrong.

Some things annoy me about Dragon Age 2 probably more than they should. Making all romanceable companions bisexual, for one. "Bravo BioWare for pushing the envelope of inclusivity," is the cry from some quarters. I'm inclined to roll my eyes and point out this approach was probably motivated more by saving money over writing exclusive heterosexual and homosexual romance options. And even if it wasn't, good intentions aside, it's artistically risible and a symptom of a larger issue with BioWare games which is the increasing focus on companion relationships and romances while the RPG aspects are gutted. Not wanting to add my +1 approval to this trend by handing over my cash for the game hardens my stance.

Derpers gonna derp.

*Warning: Tangent ahead*

I'd really love BioWare's next project to jettison romances altogether. Writing romanceable companions always imposes certain personality traits and characteristics designed to make them appealing as romantic interests. When that target demographic includes straight/gay/bi male/female gamers of every age and race, watering-down and bland writing become an omnipresent risk.

Cut the romances. Give us a douchebag alpha male, a misandrist lesbian, a pox-ridden dwarf, a horribly disfigured and misanthropic elf, an incestuous noble, a reformed rapist... the possibilities are endless in a Mature-rated game. Just make them interesting characters and focus more on the plot and gameplay. Without needing to act as slaves to the PC's advances they'd gain a lot more agency to act as independent entities. In fairness, Origins did this pretty well with Morrigan.

Alas, BioWare romances are here to stay and as the recent Mass Effect 3 news about gay romances for Shepard attests, are likely to remain a primary feature. As well they might; after all, it's not like the hero has more important stuff to be doing like, oh, saving Earth from the Reapers. :)

Game of Thrones: Loras Tyrell... really?

2011-05-18T19:40:00.001+01:00

No, not the fact HBO has decided to show Loras and Renly in an explicitly gay relationship. It was always obvious from the novels. Though, the over the top sucking and slurping could probably have been toned down some.

What struck me most during his scene with Renly is that Ser Loras is supposed to be one of the finest swordsmen in the Seven Kingdoms, training ruthlessly to reach his celebrated level of ability -- yet somewhat incongruously has the physique of a 12-year-old. I have trouble believing he could lift a sword, never mind block a swing from the Mountain. I think actor Finn Jones needs to hit the gym. At the moment, he definitely lacks the lean athletic build the role requires.


"I'd have thrown Sansa a whole bunch of roses, but I fear the effort would have snapped my arm."

Minor casting quibbles aside, so far Game of Thrones has impressed. Episode 5 was a great step up from the exposition-heavy Episode 4. Tyrion and Arya are the highlights. Jaime is also growing on me. And of course, Sean Bean is always money in the bank. Roll on July 12 and the Dance!

Red Dead Redemption; or, games can be the best art of all

2011-05-17T23:30:00.005+01:00

This might cast my neckbeard credentials into doubt, but I often like to step outside the comforting bubble of the RPG genre and sample the finest wares the rest of the gaming world has to offer. One such recent game that caught my attention was Rockstar's Red Dead Redemption. For whatever reason I was never able to really immerse myself in the GTA games, finding the open world gameplay and mission structure ultimately unsatisfying. However, RDR lured me in with its promises of an authentically recreated Old West, and the veritable host of awards it received. I'm very glad I took the plunge.


Luck won't save them tonight.

For me, Red Dead Redemption is the Game of the Generation; the Resident Evil 4 of this current crop of consoles. Everything about it shines with an almost obscene quality. Most impressive of all is the story, which probably ranks up alongside that of Planescape Torment, for entirely different reasons. It deals with several deep themes and handles them with a deftness that puts to shame the writing in most films. It would be fair to say the ending of Red Dead Redemption moved me more than any book, film or game in recent years. It couldn't have done that without fully engaging me in the trials and tribulations of John Marston, the protagonist, in the 25 hours I spent traversing the beautiful wilderness, hunting game, chasing down outlaws and interacting with the cast of extremely memorable characters. In this, RDR demonstrates the potential superiority (rarely, if ever realised) of the gaming medium versus that of, say, film, which can never give the viewer agency in the same way. In addition, films adhere to strict length and often structural conventions that games simply don't have to worry about.

Welcome to fucking Deadwood!

I'm watching HBO's excellent Deadwood at the moment, and that medium, too -- serialised drama -- benefits from a far greater allotment of time in which to develop plots, characters and motivations. However, it also suffers from other issues, primarily the uncertainty of any show's eventual lifespan naturally placing restrictions on what the writers do with certain characters and storylines in a given season. No such problem for RDR, which is wholly self-contained.

Having demonstrated what gaming is capable of, the question is raised as to why its potential is so rarely realised. The answer is complicated, but in a nutshell it might come down to so few writers in the industry possessing the level of craft their counterparts in other forms of creative art display. Those that do have the talent almost certainly don't have the autonomy. It's just the way the game industry works. Games originate as a concept, as opposed to screenplays or novels which are picked out of the slush pile precisely because they stand out. The vast majority of games seem to assign a programmer or designer to write the game's plot. Most of the time this is fine. Story simply isn't a crucial element in many games. It's those games in which it is that subpar writing causes the most egregious disparities in quality.

There are exceptions. Rockstar has a creative titan in Dan Houser who just happens to be a co-founder of the studio, and his masterful writing and creative authority probably finds its closest analogy in Chris Avellone at Obsidian. These are tremendously gifted people whose talents are central to the strengths of their companies. Non-coincidentally, they also penned RDR and PST. Some might seek to include BioWare's titles in that company; Mass Effect comes the closest, but every other title they've worked on is miles behind in terms of writing. I don't think there is a figure at BioWare that approaches Houser, Avellone or a select few others in the industry. Certainly, if they do, they don't have the influence. Also, it's an interesting question as to whether an open (as opposed to set) protagonist immediately disqualifies a game from reaching that kind of pinnacle in any case. I'd suggest it might, but I'd need to evaluate this further.

Dragon Age 2 demo

2011-02-24T14:53:00.010Z

Oh dear. Where to begin?

First, I should admit that I've been playing DA:O a lot recently. While I haven't changed my mind on the basic flaws of the game -- and there are a lot -- it's started to click with me. I'm just embarking on the infamous "Derp Roads" section so perhaps I'm speaking too soon, but since I finished the Urn of Sacred Ashes quest the game has been a lot more fun. The Circle Temple and the Fade were a big step up from the endless monotony of the Ruined Temple and the stupid elves versus werewolves plot in the Brecilian Forest. Orzammar has also been great so far, with *gasp* an original and interesting take on the hierarchical dwarven social system. I haven't felt this positive about the game since the human noble origin story.

Spurred on by my progress through DA:O, I decided to give the recently released demo of DA2 a whirl. Since it was only a demo, and a short one at that, I'm not going to dwell on the technical hiccups. I'm going to assume the pauses between combat and cutscene dialogue are a result of some kind of compression technique used for the demo and won't make it into the full game. Even putting that aside:

Music is bland and sounds too synthetic.
Male Hawke voice doesn't seem to fit the character.
Dialogue wheel responses are even less representative of what the character says than Shepard in Mass Effect.
Voice acting overall is pretty awful. I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw people praising it on the forums. It sounds like the actors have been handed a script and told to read lines with no direction. Bethany was just awful. I think BioWare need to pay Alan Miranda a lot of money to go back and take over again as Audio Producer because what he did with MoW on a shoestring budget blows this away.
Stilted, bland dialogue. Not all bad, but a few stinkers here and there. The line where the templar mentions his mission struck me as a massive clunker. The writers need to write with VO in mind. DA:O should have given them sufficient practice. Mass Effect is far superior in this regard.
I don't mind the fast pace of combat. I like God of War. What I do mind is giving "elite" enemies 20 times the normal hit points of a similar creature and expecting the player to tap the same button for nigh on three minutes. I don't imagine this to be a problem at higher levels due to additional tactics and abilities, but still... poor first impression.
I don't know if it's a problem with how the demo was edited or if this is how the full game plays out, but the transition in scenes upon arriving in Kirkwall was rushed and messy to say the least.
Isabela. Here's a classic example of the writing and voice-acting issues plaguing this franchise. She's a pirate, right? Why does she sound like, and use the syntax of, my plummy next door neighbour? Do the Dragon Age writers have any exposure to human speech beyond BBC reruns and their college-educated contemporaries?
The boobs. I hated it when Soul Calibur 4 ramped up the boobage, and I hate it here. I'm a normal heterosexual guy but this is just silly and makes me uncomfortable at the thought I seem to be playing a game targeted at spotty 14-year-old youths. Am I?

So is there anything positive to say? Well, I remain intrigued by the ten-year narrative framing device. The combat seems like it could eventually show some promise. But this franchise desperately needs a new editor and set of producers on the audio side. The graphics are what they are; for whatever reason, the engine was dated by the time DA:O debuted in 2009 and it's not looking a great deal better now. It's an RPG, so I'll live with it.

I'll very interested to see what the reviews say, because it could be that the demo is a poor representation of the full product. PC Gamer awarded it 94%, but then I suspect PC Gamer would award 94% to a sock packed full of dog turd if it came with huge month-long period of review exclusivity. Harsh? Cynical? I guess we'll see.

Mass Effect 2

2011-02-14T12:41:00.009Z

I've just finished Mass Effect 2. My game clocked in at 35 hours, which is slightly more than the 30 I spent on the prequel. I think my playstyle is fairly common; I'll finish all the sidequests I can find but I'm not averse to skim-reading through some of the more uneventful dialogue, and I'll draw the line at exercises in tedium like planet mining once I feel I've taken what pleasure I can from them.

My thoughts on Mass Effect 2 are largely positive. It's a better game than Mass Effect 1, with shooting and cover mechanics that do a passable job of emulating Gears of War. The graphics are better. The overall tone is grimmer and edgier -- everything screams "serious business," with goofy humour rare to non-existent and, gasp, even an occasional "fuck" here and there. Anti-heroes predominate; Jack is a darker character than any in BioWare games previous.

However, the story is weaker. The first game played like an entertaining space opera with lots of twists. This one presents a very straightforward scenario and plays out with few surprises. The critical path, that which progresses the main plot rather than companion stories, probably represents less than 25% of total content. In that sense, it's much more like Dragon Age. In fact, I'd go further and say it reminded me somewhat of Storm of Zehir. As one of the (apparent) few who appreciated the merits of that game, I'll explain why I enjoyed this approach.

After a fairly short introduction, the player is given the task of assembling a team of the galaxy's biggest bad asses for an assault on the Collectors, who are kidnapping humanity and turning them into genetic paste. The player is given a ship, a list of names, some credits, and is basically told to go and get the job done. The missions can be tackled in pretty much any order. The endgame goal is clear; you'll need the best the galaxy can offer to stand any chance of survival, and even then, it's unlikely all of you will make it out alive.

With this in mind, the whole game is structured towards resource-gathering, not only teammates but weapons, armor, upgrades and anything else that can boost your chances of survival. In addition to expanding the gameworld's lore, sidequests provide credits that can purchase new shields for your ship, additional rifle damage, a new helmet to grant a slight health boost -- in short, everything you do ties in to your eventual goal. BioWare made sure fans knew that Shepard could die in the final mission before the game was released, and this nagging concern lends a relevance to every minute the player spends building their team and resources.

And then you have the loyalty missions. Each companion has a backstory that resolves itself in one of several ways depending on how Shepard handles these quests. While the way these are presented is somewhat mechanical, they are generally interesting and the desire to keep each companion alive during the suicide mission forces the player to approach them carefully. Or not, depending on how much you like a particular companion.

What you have, then, is something of a sandbox that is nonetheless populated by an intriguing cast of characters and with an ever-present threat of failure spurring the exploration, gunplay and resource-gathering. To use a somewhat apt analogy, it's like going to back to one's childhood days and the urge to build a sandcastle so grand that it'll resist the eventual tide when it comes to wash it away.

As far as choice and consequence go, it doesn't get much better than this. Oh, you can argue that it all boils down to the same section of game playing out slightly differently depending on a bunch of variables. You'd be right. But given the impact of those choices and consequences -- companions that don't only fail to survive this game but the entire series, if you import your save to ME3 -- your decisions weigh heavily.

Of course, the praise above doesn't invalidate the very real criticisms about Mass Effect 2. Mining planets gets old fast. Most of the sidequests are threadbare. The variety of enemies and environments is not sufficient to support the game's length without monotony setting in. The game is too bloody easy by far, which makes a lot of the weapon and armour upgrades fairly worthless. I played a Soldier class, so maybe I got the easiest ride. I'm pretty good at popamole shooters.

Mass Effect 2 is probably a once in a generation RPG in the sense that this kind of structure is unlikely to be repeated to the same effect. Frankly, Mass Effect 1 laid the foundations for this, and even then Mass Effect 2 just about scrapes by without exceeding its welcome. I can't imagine Mass Effect 3 going a similar route. But it was fun and memorable. Also, the writing was mostly good. (Jacob and his quest were pretty flat, and I've ranted about Ashley elsewhere). Dragon Age fans, check out the script for an example of game dialogue that is written to be acted rather than read.

Did I mention I've returned to Dragon Age? It's only been 18 months or so. I'll finish it eventually. I'm kind of interested in the sequel for reasons I'll talk about later.

Excuse me, Ashley?

2011-01-10T21:59:00.007Z

I'm playing Mass Effect 2 at the moment. It's entertaining enough, but I've just experienced the worst scene in the game so far. Some background:

There's a character named Ashley Williams who's a potential romantic interest for male Shepard player characters in the first Mass Effect game. After spending two years in a coma -- or is that simply dead? -- Shepard awakens and joins pro-human group Cerberus, who task him with recruiting the best team in the galaxy to help thwart the dreaded Collectors. At one point, he has to travel to a colony which is under attack by the Collectors. Ashley Williams just happens to be stationed there.

Now, my Shepard and his merry companions succeeded in driving off the Collectors and saving the majority of the colony's inhabitants -- including a certain Ashley Williams. Great, I thought, a chance to rekindle our romance and add another worthy member to my burgeoning squad.

Except that the conversation doesn't quite go in that direction. No sooner are we reacquainted than she's absolutely busting my balls for not bothering to contact her for the last couple of years. Shepard quite reasonably argues that this is because he was, in fact, dead. However, he lets slip that he's now working for Cerberus. This only adds fuel to Ashley's fury. "How do I know Cerberus isn't working with the Collectors?" she asks, blatantly ignoring the fact you've just shown up, killed dozens of them and saved the colony.

Then she storms off.

All the while, my right hand is turning white from its death grip on the mouse as I'm forced to select one unbelievably lame response after another while I unwillingly guide this farcical conversation to its inevitable conclusion. Had I been able to unload my shotgun on the back of Ashley's head as she walked away, I probably would have done so.

The most ridiculous thing is that of all the characters from Mass Effect 1 who return in the sequel, Ashley Williams is the most likely character to support Shepard working with Cerberus. She's essentially a xenophobe who believes in human superiority. Damn it, she killed my trusty right-hand krogan companion in Mass Effect 1 by shooting him in the head. But now she's so disgusted that Shepard hasn't been sending her flowers from beyond the grave and has joined a proactive, pro-human group dedicated to doing something to save humanity from an obvious threat that she won't even give me the chance to explain?

This tops the abortion debate in Mass Effect 1 as the most risible conversation I can remember in a BioWare game. Which is a shame, because until now the writing has been rather good. Ashley's unbelievable and out-of-character reaction is a poorly constructed way of not having to deal with her in Mass Effect 2, for whatever reason (and there are several that come to mind). Understandable, but then leave her out completely or kill her off. This... this was just lame.

To top it all off, it's possible to have Kaiden Alenko show up in place of Ashley if you import your save (one of the two characters dies in the first game). Guess what? The conversation is almost word for word the same. For shame, BioWare!

Serious business

2010-12-26T23:39:00.004Z

I hope everyone had a great Christmas!

Between the recent Steam sale and yesterday's bounty, I now have Mass Effect 2, Alpha Protocol and Fallout: New Vegas to add to my burgeoning backlog of titles to play. Luckily I'm off to Argentina with my wife for a few weeks to visit her family, so I'll have plenty of time to work my way through my newest acquisitions. Interestingly, the game I've played most of this year is Super Street Fighter 4 on my PS3. I'm not very good at it. I used to be pretty hot at fighting games back in my prime -- i.e., when I was about 12 -- but it seems my fingers can no longer keep up with my brain. Or perhaps it's the other way around.

This year's been pretty good all told. I've made some real progress on my Spanish which I intend to put to good use in the next few weeks. I joined the gym in July, and since then I've gone from a remarkably weak 10st 0 to a reasonably buff 11st 5lbs. I've tried my best to cultivate the image of general gym douche by yelling while pushing weights and referring frequently and loudly to my "guns," but I don't think people are yet taking me seriously. Once I start getting scowls instead of bemused shakes of the head I'll know the serious business has begun.

The Shadow Sun is shaping up well. I don't think the App store has seen anything like it. It'll be interesting to see how it's received. The new release date is Spring 2011. If it does well, I'll hopefully be able to add "made some money" to my other, decidedly meagre recent successes. I need to resume my novel as well. Of course it'll suck; first novel attempts always suck, and the quicker I'm done with that the sooner I can move on to writing a flawed-but-possibly-salvageable second effort.

I have this bad habit of measuring my achievements against other, vastly more ambitious, intelligent and talented folk and thinking things like, "Gosh, Christopher Paolini had a movie adaptation of his first book released at 23! What have I done?" or: "Jesus saved humanity at 33! I'd better get a move on!" While not quite in the same league (as the latter at least), a successful iPhone game, a completed novel and... *drumroll* this...

... would be a pretty cool triumvirate of achievements to end next year with. But what is this "Blood of the Reaver" of which I speak? Suffice to say that it relates to my recent post on NWN2. I'll have more to say in the New Year. And on that note...

Have a great New Year, all!

Why we should all love NWN2

2010-12-10T17:07:00.013Z

Just over two weeks to Christmas. Wow. This year has absolutely flown by. I'm noticing a definite snowball effect as I get older, with life gaining momentum as the years roll on.

Lately I've had this massive itch to do some NWN2 modding. The Shadow Sun is running a little behind schedule. While I'm waiting for parts of the project to catch up, I keep ruminating wistfully about what I could do with all the ideas I have stored up for a Realms campaign, as well the potential of the overland map which I never had the chance to tinker with in earnest for Ossian. Then I think about how much work a serious project would require and instantly rein in those dangerous thoughts. I recently downloaded Legacy of White Plume Mountain by Wyrin, and was aghast at how much time it must have taken!

But still. But still.

I think part of the reason I'm reluctant to put NWN2 behind me is that there's still so much damn potential left untapped. This is a toolset and platform with which you could literally create a sequel or spiritual successor to the great Infinity Engine games of the past. I can't be the only RPG grognard who looks forward to the next Mass Effect game and thinks, "well, it'll be great for what it is, but..."

The game I expected to become the de facto successor to NWN2, didn't. I've stated my thoughts on Dragon Age elsewhere. Whatever it's remembered for, it won't be a sparkling plethora of standalone community adventures and campaigns. The content was too limited, the toolset too complex and the rewards insufficient for the community to fully embrace it. BioWare's new EA-mandated game a year (or more) policy pretty much killed the long-term viability of a Dragon Age modding community. For what purpose would a company under a huge corporate umbrella plow resources into developing a toolset to create free content to compete with DLC?

A lot of RPG fans, when NWN2 is mentioned, immediately respond with "Derp, but the camera sucks!" or something to that effect. In fact, that issue has long since been resolved. NWN2, as it exists pre-SoZ, is a pretty polished title. Yes, the graphics aren't great, but Dragon Age's aren't much better and we're not going to see further advancement in the graphics of a party-based tactical RTwP RPG by virtue of the fact they're not being made. Another point in favour of NWN2 longevity: it's the last manifestation of 3.5 rules and the Realms pre-Spellplague. For many, the height of glory before the fall. It will remain so, I'd imagine, for a great many longtime D&D and FR fans.

So what am I ultimately saying? NWN2 ended up being a much better title than I initially judged it to be. There are some fantastic modules available, and new ones are still being released. But more than that, it could end up being the last bastion of the RPG modder-tinkerer: particularly those for whom a good party and combat system, and creative freedom, is as important as the opportunity to be taken like a tavern wench/farmboy by a hot brooding companion after a whirlwind three-hour romance. Want to see an Icewind Dale 3 or Planescape: Torment 2? Go make one. (Or volunteer to help out Rogue Dao.)

Now if only some forward-thinking souls at Atari, Hasbro and a talented RPG developer could put their heads together...

The Shadow Sun first screenshots

2010-10-15T10:30:00.005+01:00

In case you missed them last week, here are the first half-dozen screenshots from Ossian's upcoming iPhone & iPod Touch action RPG:

As you can see, we've eschewed the typical pseudo-Northern European setting for a more exotic environment. We'll have further screenshots and hopefully some videos soon. Also, you can check out a couple of interviews with Alan Miranda here and here. Both provide some juicy details on the game.

The Shadow Sun announced

2010-08-30T21:41:00.001+01:00

So it's finally out of the bag. The project Ossian has been working on for the last 6 months or so was officially announced today:

A New Dawn - The Shadow Sun
Monday, 30 August 2010 00:00

After working with Dungeons & Dragons and The Witcher over the past few years, Ossian Studios has turned its RPG talents to creating a new fantasy game and world of its own design. We are pleased to announce The Shadow Sun™: a dark heroic fantasy that brings together the high adventure of classic D&D, combat inspired by Fable, Zelda, and The Witcher, and the fear of otherworldly horrors of H.P. Lovecraft.

This is a world in which magic is wielded by only a few, where a cataclysm a millennium ago still fuels hostilities between the civilizations that remain, and where much of the lands beyond the fringes of human settlement remain a deadly unknown. It is also a world that has felt an alien touch upon its sun, shrouding it in ever-increasing shadow with consequences that are only now becoming horrifically apparent.

The Shadow Sun brings a full 3D, true Western-style RPG to the iPhone and iPod touch. Combining the excitement of dynamic, visceral combat with a gripping story, it will redefine role-playing on the platform. Stunning, finely detailed graphics and a captivating musical score couple to create an immersive experience to rival the best PC and console RPG titles.

Features:

* Enter a story full of complex characters, intrigue, danger, and shocking surprises.
* Explore the decadent imperial city of Shar and the exotic desert lands around it.
* Battle enemies using magical powers and dozens of weapons.
* Play as male or female with a character system that allows you to evolve your character’s abilities exactly how you want.
* Ally with one of several companions to adventure with and fight alongside.
* Make your role-playing choices wisely through dialogue or action, and become either a hero or a villain.

Coming Late 2010

The Maimed God's Saga released

2010-08-17T22:44:00.004+01:00

Ossian Studios writer Tiberius209 has just released his NWN2 opus magnum, The Maimed God's Saga, which has taken him the last couple of years to develop. I played a version of the campaign earlier this year. Frankly, it's a brilliantly written and designed piece of work. If you're a big RPG fan you'll have wasted money on full-price titles that aren't as good as this. That's not a joke.

Go and download it now for free. It's designed for 6th-level clerics and provides around 15 hours of gameplay. It took me 18, but age has dulled my wits and reflexes… amongst other things.

Mysteries of Westgate retrospective

2010-08-11T20:33:00.007+01:00

It's been another gaping stretch of time between posts. It's not been wasted, though; I've been busy working on something quite special that'll be announced in the next two or three weeks. Keep an eye on the Ossian Studios site for developments. Also, if you're a regular visitor to this blog, you'll notice that it's been given another facelift. I had a brief flirtation with Wordpress, but ultimately Blogger and its automated design functions are easier for my small brain to cope with. I'm happy with the current look.

It's been over a year since Mysteries of Westgate was released. I've had a chance to reflect, and now seems an appropriate time to share my thoughts on that project. And boy, there's a lot to say. As far as the production goes, it was pretty much a joy to work on. We turned around an expansion-sized campaign inside eight months with almost the entire team working part-time. It was the following twenty-month delay that caused the headaches.

Before delving into that, let's look at what the game did right and what it did wrong.

If I detach myself from the controversy and unfortunate circumstances surrounding the game's release, what I see when I look at MoW is a solidly designed campaign that has some great quests and characters but a somewhat patchy story and mixed production values. It's always tougher to present a constant narrative when designing a wide-open city adventure and I don't think we did a bad job of it, but there were things which could have been improved.

Firstly, the game started slow. It's quite possible to play an hour or more without a single combat scenario. Some players will love this, but in the main, it's not conducive to drawing a player into the game. Ideally, an opening action sequence should itself help advance the narrative -- the two are not mutually exclusive. Perhaps stepping off the docks and stumbling instantly into a gang war would have been better than just handing the player a license to roam.

Secondly, the handling of the game's cutscenes wasn't always top-notch. This was compounded by the lack of voiceover during certain scenes. I have to accept some responsibility for that, since I wrote the cutscenes to show things that the editor really wasn't capable of handling. A good example is the mask vision that follows the raid on the Lathander statue. Once you understand the story, the events being shown are obvious. However, for many players it was simply confusing on the first playthrough. A better cutscene system would have allowed us to direct this scene with more finesse and added clarity. As it was, it took a lot of work for dubious results.

There was a lot of intrigue and many layers to the story which were not satisfactorily introduced on a single playthrough. This added replay value, to be sure, but it's preferable to put the focus of additional playthroughs on discovering the consequences of different choices rather than comprehending the story. The problem stemmed from the fact that the initial story draft was not sufficiently deep and needed more of a rewrite than it received in the limited time frame we had. As it was, we stuck a lot of stuff in there at the end which somewhat unbalanced the flow of plot events.

On the positive side, the story rewarded multiple playthroughs. For a modern RPG it was also fairly reactive; rather than just funneling the player down the same path with different dialogue and motivations, there were significant sections of game that provided entirely different experiences. The game had two very distinct endings, for example, and you learned different things depending on which path you took. I suppose it's fair to say that the story in MoW rewarded those who invested more time in understanding it, but that doesn't excuse the odd pacing. In summary, the shaky execution of the story was the result of an decent but underdeveloped (in terms of character and emotional investment) initial draft hastily expanded without sufficient input from the writing team. The mask hook was also weak.

The story could have done with some more work, but I have few issues with the dialogue in Mysteries of Westgate. In general, I think it had a lot more verve and wit than most roleplaying games. The writers who worked on the game did an excellent job of giving each character a unique personality. The one area that needed greater attention was the consistency of the writing, and finding a more cohesive voice and tone for the campaign. It's obvious the dialogue was penned by several different writers. We had some quests in there like the Brotherhood of the Ferret which some reviewers hated, particularly the American press whose humour was evidently out of sync with the Pratchett-inspired silliness. In fairness, in a game about vampires and curses, it wasn't entirely appropriate. There's an argument that the sidequests could have linked more with the main storyline, but there's an equally valid counter-argument that a city adventure, unless heavily reliant on a unifying narrative, needs small pockets of adventure to give a real taste of the place in all its diversity. I have no qualms with the approach we took, though I'd probably have cut the Brotherhood of the Ferret quest for being a little too zany.

Visually and aurally, I don't think there's much to criticise with MoW. In my opinion, the voice acting was better than both the official campaign and Storm of Zehir. The soundtrack was also superior to the official campaign and was probably on a par with or slightly better than that of Mask of the Betrayer. The new models, particularly the paeliryon, were equal to or better than anything in the Obsidian games. Unfortunately, due to the delay, the standard content was looking very dated on release. Our city areas might be the best created in any NWN2 title or module, but without new assets to spruce them up they were accused of looking old. We were also accused of making areas look too dark, but I don't see the complaint. Perhaps there is a critical point at which the game goes from looking gloomy to dark if your contrast isn't set appropriately, and I guess expecting reviewers to adjust this themselves was too much to ask.

I might be biased, but I think MoW had a very solid design save for one major flaw: no variation in party makeup. Although I had some issues with Steven Carter's review for Gamebanshee, he made an excellent point regarding the need, in a roleplaying game, for the party to complement the player character. The issue we had was one of budget -- we couldn't afford the VO and time for an extra companion -- but also of naivety in that we decided because certain BioWare Premium Modules got away with no party makeup options, we could too. Of course, when it was decided the game was to be marketed as an Adventure Pack or even as an expansion, expectations got adjusted accordingly and we got zinged.

One thing I think we got right was the difficulty balance. Some reviews, notably the Gamespot piece, mentioned the inconsistently in encounter difficulty as a negative. Frankly, that was one of the things I loved the most about games like Baldur's Gate and its sequel. You go rooting around dark and dangerous places, and you accept responsibility for stepping into a proverbial lion's den. Oblivion and games like it with their encounter scaling have simply trained players to be lazy. The tools are there in any D&D game with available companion casters to buff prior to a potential encounter, and if the player doesn't take precautions, a total party wipe might follow. What one considers fun, another finds unfair. Generally, the feedback from the community (who bought into this approach far more than the more casual-minded reviewers) lauded the combat for being well-balanced and challenging, so I think we made the right call.

Alan Miranda has already spoken about the discrepancy between the North American and European review scores. The former seemed to rate the game between 6.5-7.5, and the latter tended more towards 7.5-8.5 with a few 9s sprinkled in. There are the arguments that the North American press consider presentation more important than the Europeans, which is possibly true. The patchy VO didn't help our cause, and neither did the use of assets rendered old by the huge delay in release. As far as the community goes -- and these are precisely the folk the game was aimed at -- feedback was overwhelmingly positive and tended towards the 8.5-9 scores. The game was not designed as an expansion or as a startling new direction for the series. It was supposed to be released shortly before Mask of the Betrayer as something akin to the BioWare Premium Modules. As it was, it weathered two expansions (the first with the best story seen in a long time, the second with a new approach) and a whole lot of controversy to debut as something like a third expansion. We probably did pretty well in the circumstances. Sure, some of the reviews annoyed me -- those dismissive ones where the occasional RPG reviewer was going through the motions and assigned a low to mediocre score that held no relevance to those who formed the target audience. You just know the same reviewers were handing out scores in the 80s for the next piece of 1-hour long shovelware DLC released by the "right" publishers and developers. C'est la vie.

A word on the delay -- pathetic. I did say a word. Atari Chief Executive Jeff Lapin recently said of the company's affairs: "(they were) like an old onion that smells really bad and every time you peel away one problem, you find another." I hope those old onion peels are now rotting away somewhere dark and unpleasant and not still stinking up the place. During the time that Atari sat and did nothing with MoW, they could have put together a programme of Adventure Packs and released three or four successful products. The tools were there -- all they needed to do was harness the community. BioWare's efforts for NWN1 had even provided a blueprint of exactly how it should be done, yet Atari still failed to pick up the ball. You couldn't have contrived of a worse handling of the situation.

Book reviews roundup #2

2010-04-07T12:58:00.008+01:00

In the Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss

One of the most hyped fantasy novels of the last few years, In the Name of the Wind tells the story of the flame-haired protagonist and legendary hero, Kvothe. The novel uses a framing device where for much of the book Kvothe himself recounts his story as he remembers it. It’s an interesting technique, and despite occasionally threatening to stray into Mary Sue territory (Kvothe seems to have a natural aptitude for everything except girls and making money), he remains a compelling and sympathetic character.

Rothfuss’ prose is excellent, vivid yet efficient, and the short chapters and classic fantasy setting make it an easy read for young readers looking for their next post-Potter fix, or adult readers looking for an easy entry point into the genre. I found it enjoyable enough, though the modest scope of its world-building ambitions and the school of wizardry shtick didn’t exactly stoke my fires.

It’s definitely not the genre-defining work the publishers made it out be, but In the Name of the Wind is a pleasant, entertaining read that has something for just about everyone. It’s a great diving board for readers new to the genre, and for experienced fantasy readers, it’s an interesting character study -- even if Rothfuss ultimately has little new to say.

Rating: ****

The Briar King by Greg Keyes

Book 1 of The Kingdoms of Thorn and Bone, The Briar King is a solid but unremarkable fantasy offering. The occasional piece of clever plotting and deft horror scene can’t quite compensate for its muddy, dull prose, stilted dialogue and general lack of imagination, though the book is definitely readable. Reviews for the three other books in the series are mixed, with the fourth and final in particular taking a hammering from fans.

Rating: ***

Unseen Academicals by Terry Pratchett

The latest Discworld novel focuses on the noble game of football, or soccer if you swing that way. While I’m a huge fan of Pratchett, this premise worried me from the outset. Having read the book, my fears weren’t completely unfounded. Pratchett’s insights and observations aren’t quite as astute as they normally are, and the plotting in this novel doesn’t flow as well as we’ve come to expect from the great man. Also, the main character, Nutt, feels kind of like an amalgamation of other characters in previous books – the themes of the outsider finding acceptance, and what’s on the inside mattering more than what’s on the outside, are in danger of growing a little stale.

Unseen Academicals is still a good book and a fun read, punctuated by moments of wit and the occasional sprinkling of pathos, but it’s definitely not as fresh as Pratchett’s other recent work, and technically the writing sadly seems to be exhibiting signs of the author’s illness impacting his craft. Let’s hope Pratchett is back on top form for his next book.

Rating: *** 1/2

Fevre Dream by G R R Martin

Way back before A Song of Ice and Fire made him famous, Martin wrote this terrific vampire novel set on the Mississippi River during the height of the steamboat trade in mid-19th century America. The steamboat captain Abner Marsh is approached by a rich gentleman named Joshua York, and commissioned to build the steamboat of his dreams. However, it doesn’t take long for Marsh to realise there’s something rather odd about York and his strange friends.

Part fantasy, part horror, part pseudo-historical, Fevre Dream is a finely crafted vampire novel that demonstrates Martin’s mastery of pacing and characterisation even at this early stage in his career. The story flows along like the Mississippi, the brooding calm gliding towards rapids of torrid violence that pull no punches. The steamboats and the legends surrounding them feel authentic, and Martin does a fantastic job of bringing the era to life.

Fevre Dream is a wonderful book and well worth the effort of getting hold of, if you can find a copy.

Rating: **** 1/2

Book reviews roundup #1

2010-04-06T08:06:00.015+01:00

So following on from my post a few weeks ago, I've clocked in a further two hours of gameplay with Dragon Age. A sad effort, it must be said, though I did finish God of War 3 during that time.

Perhaps one of the reasons I found Dragon Age so underwhelming was the fact that I'd read so much great fantasy over the preceding months, and it suffered rather badly in comparison. Not surprising -- after all, PST aside, how often does videogame narrative equal the output of a halfway decent novelist? Athough, I wonder at what point games boasting budgets running in the tens of millions might be expected to pass muster against other forms of entertainment.

But I digress. As previously mentioned, 2009 was a bad year for me, and I had a lot of free time on my hands. Here's Part 1 of a brief run-down of the fantasy I read, in lieu of doing something more productive:

The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch

Lynch's debut effort is a fast-paced, hugely entertaining yarn following the exploits of the eponymous hero, Locke Lamora, and his small band of thieves and conmen. The setting is pseudo-Venice in a fantasy milieu of Lynch's own creation. While the world-building may be fairly unremarkable, it's in the razor-sharp dialogue and clever plotting where Lies really shines. The book alternates between two timelines: Locke as a child and Locke in the present. The two complement each other perfectly, doing away with the need for unlikely expository exchanges between characters to fill in background lore.

The present-day story cannons along and is interspersed with jaw-dropping scenes that rival Martin at his finest and most ruthless. The influences are obvious -- Martin, of course, but also the Godfather and various other crime capers, with a strong Tarantino vibe permeating throughout. It all comes together deliciously well, and Lies will deservedly go down as one of the best fantasy novels of the last decade.

Rating: **** 1/2

Red Seas under Red Skies by Scott Lynch

The sequel to The Lies of Locke Lamora, and the second book in the Gentleman Bastards sequence, Red Seas under Red Skies is another great effort from a young author with a burgeoning reputation in the genre. This time Locke takes to the high seas in a rollicking nautical adventure that mostly lives up the standard set by the first book. I say "mostly" because some of the decisions Lynch made in Lies -- those plot twists that put that book over the edge -- make things a little tricky for him here. The story is almost as clever but not quite as smooth, as Lynch attempts to juggle two rather different narrative branches. The dual-timeline technique is employed here but nowhere near as effectively as in Lies, and is eventually abandoned about a third of the way through.

It may possess some weaknesses the first book lacked, but Skies mostly makes up for them by being just as entertaining and well-written. Great characters, glowing dialogue and fine locales add up to a swashbuckling sequel, though I hold a sliver of doubt as to whether Lynch can keep this up for the full seven-book sequence. The third book, Republic of Thieves, is due out next year.

Rating: ****

The Chronicles of Amber by Roger Zelazny

Okay, so it's not recent fantasy, but it's underrated enough to justify mention here. Zelazny's epic Amber sequence is something of a masterpiece of its time. The world of Amber is the one true world, casting pale reflections of itself throughout the Multiverse. Amber is ruled by the eternally warring Princes of Amber who wield Superman-like powers on the shadow worlds they can visit at whim (including our own Earth).

A huge creative work with a canvass that can literally include anything -- historical, pseudo-historical, fantastical, science fiction -- the Amber chronicles are also notable for its protagonist, Corwin, who is a wonderfully complex individual. Indeed, one's interpretation of the story can change entirely depending on how much faith is placed in Corwin's recounting of events (he narrates all five books).

Zelazny is a lean, brilliantly imaginative writer whose ideas have influenced a great deal of modern fantasy. His prose -- at least in the Amber books -- can be sparse when compared with other in the genre, and the style might take a while to get used to. This review covers only the first five book sequence of Amber; there's another five book sequence which takes place after, and is generally regarded as being much weaker.

Rating: ****

Dust of Dreams by Steven Erikson

Steven Erikson. You either love him or hate him, except in this case, when I'm just increasingly ambivalent. Dust of Dreams is the ninth and penultimate book in the Malazan sequence, and, like the three or four books preceding it, had me alternately bored, confused, excited, and full of wonder.

It's another doorstopper of a book, packed with marines that possess the philosophical depth of Socrates and a penchant for navel-gazing that would make Drizzt blush; confusing scenes and character motivations that make you curse Erikson for being irritatingly obfuscate or just outright clueless; and wondrous outpourings of imagination that shame 90% of the writers operating in the genre today. When he's good, Erikson is a creative titan, a prophet of fantasy with an unrivalled creativity. When he's bad, well, he's a bit of a mess.

If that seems confusing then you're some way to understanding how I feel about the Malazan series at this point. Dust of Dreams is a better effort than the previous few books, but it's still a long way short of the brilliance of books two, three and five. It's building for a grand finale all right, but I'm damned if I know exactly what it is or who it will involve. Sad to say, but once I'm done with book 10, I'll probably never touch another Malazan book again. I prefer novels where the author isn't hell bent on subverting my every expectation in a somewhat arrogant manner, characters react according to character and not plot requirement, and things are actually explained on occasion. For me, the Malazan books have taken a slow descent from the heights occupied by the likes of A Song of Ice and Fire, ultimately becoming a curiosity, an experiment gone slightly awry. Your mileage will vary.

Rating: ***

Perdido Street Station by China Mieville

Tired of dark lords, elves and magical swords? China Mieville's first book set in the Bas-Lag world is a blissful escape from the tropes of the genre. The city of New Crozubon is like a nightmarish vision of London, a place where steampunk technology and magic combine to form a dystopian setting that is both terrifying and intoxicating. When Lovecraftian horrors take to the skies and threaten the city's entire populace, it is up to a small group of unlikely heroes to save the day.

Beautifully written albeit somewhat baroque at times, Perdido is a pioneering work of New Weird fiction. The first two-thirds of the novel are nothing short of a masterpiece. Unfortunately, the final third takes one of the biggest plunges from grace I can remember of an otherwise fine book, utilising one deus ex machina after another to resolve things in a rather unsatisfactory way. For all that, it's still a must-read for anyone who doesn't mind some steampunk and horror crossover in their fantasy.

Rating: ****

Dragon Age - my dark secret

2010-03-11T08:21:00.010Z

I have a confession. I didn't enjoy Dragon Age: Origins very much.

Before getting my hands on the game, I didn't think I could fail to love it. After all, it spent seven years in development; it was inspired by my all-time favourite RPG, Baldur's Gate 2, and one of my favourite fantasy authors, George R R Martin; all indications pointed to it being the antithesis of Oblivion, which I didn't rate much at all: a glorious return to old-school, party-based gameplay, benefiting from all the experience BioWare gained over the last decade. Damn it, it should've been BG2 on 'roids.

Yet I struggled to continue past the 30-hour mark. I went cold on the game in the Ruined Temple and haven't returned to it since. I'm currently of the opinion that it's BioWare's most underwhelming game yet (discounting Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood which I've not played). So what went wrong?

Well, nothing in particular. I mean, the game isn't bad in any sense except, perhaps, for its relentless insistence upon its own banality.

It's like someone locked the writers and designers in a room with copies of Baldur's Gate 2, The Witcher, and World of Warcraft, with the Lord of the Rings film trilogy on endless repeat in the corner and dog-eared copies of Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire stacked upon an otherwise barren bookshelf. They were told to create a masterpiece based upon those materials, but instead of coming up with the perfect gestalt, the end result feels like a lumpy jumble of parts held together by sticky tape.

Don't get me wrong: I love the books, games and movies mentioned above, but there has to be more than that. Dragon Age seems devoid of its own charm. The game feels like a compromise between the visions of too many disparate leads and project managers: certain aspects of the design are much too unpolished to be the result of careful iterative improvement. The writing is bland and flows in a stilted, unconvincing matter. Too many NPCs come across as empty ciphers for world-info exposition, sounding exactly like the college-educated Canadians who wrote them rather than real people. BioWare has always had a problem with lending believable voices to its creations, and here everyone and everything is so po-faced and earnest that it’s more noticeable than ever.

Very few characters speak with wit and verve. Thedas seems comprised of walking encyclopaedias and thesauruses rather than actual people. I've seen the dialogue compared favourably with Mass Effect and Jade Empire, and to me that beggars belief. Those games had much better dialogue. I didn't expect Dragon Age to have dialogue on par with Martin, Abercrombie, or Lynch, but it should at least compare with previous BioWare offerings. I think the dialogue – and this refers only to the dialogue, as I've not yet played enough to judge the story and character arcs as a whole – is worse than NWN2 or any of BioWare's previous games save BG1 (and possibly Sonic Chronicles). There's a tacit assumption that action games/hack and slash RPGs must have worse dialogue than a single-player narrative-driven RPG, but go back and play Icewind Dale or GTAIV, or many other actions games with triple-A budgets and a dedicated scriptwriter and you'll see what great dialogue is. And that's to say nothing of Planescape: Torment. Even the Witcher, butchered though the translation was, managed to present dialogue that felt more realistic and contained more depth and poetry than that in Dragon Age.

I wonder if some of my discontent with the game's script can be attributed to the usage of British voice actors. They say that familiarity breeds contempt, and it's certainly easier for me to distinguish poor acting from fellow Brits than it is from North American actors. I notice that the VA has mainly escaped criticism from the North American press. To me, many actors come across as wooden and emotionless, but perhaps the greater lyricism inherent in most British accents glosses over this shortcoming for most non-British players.

Related to the writing is the tone, which feels like a poor attempt at being dark and edgy. It's like the middle-aged professor assuming he's cool enough to hang with the kids because he's listening to Vanilla Ice on his Walkman and asking if anyone has some wacky baccy to share. It just feels wrong. The abundance of blood is comical if not mildly disturbing, and the made-up curses sound pathetic. The blandness of the writing and familiarity of the standard BioWare character templates give the game an edge roughly as sharp as an inflated condom. Why didn't they keep the blood to realistic levels and replace all references to the Maker with a simple "Fuck?" If you're going to be mature and gritty, be mature and gritty. Dragon Age feels like a typical sterilised T-rated fantasy with blood sprayed over everything in sight. Someone needs to send the BioWare writers copies of The First Law Trilogy and China Mieville's Bas-Lag books. That's some real New Shit.

The environments and attempted ambience – when they're not ruined by twinkling objects pulled straight out of World of Warcraft – feel like a bad facsimile of those in the Witcher. In fact, the effect brings to mind a piece I recall reading about the palace in Disneyland Paris: the Imagineers, when the time came to construct the palace, realised that it needed to look a lot more authentic to please Europeans who had actual palaces on their own doorsteps. If the Witcher is the monument constructed by a group of Poles in the shadow of Wilanow Palace, Dragon Age is an Edmontonian modeller's interpretation based upon a Disney World brochure.

I'll take a quick pause from the negativity here and point out that Dragon Age's combat is pretty good in some respects. The tactical camera is excellent, and whoever designed the control scheme deserves extra brownie points. In general, the combat is a solid attempt at bringing a MMO-like system to a RTwP RPG that seeks to appease the console crowd. Fighters have more options than the Infinity Engine games though mages have fewer, and the under-the-hood complexity seems impressive even if the complete lack of transparency raises very interesting questions about BioWare's confidence in the system design. And on that note...

From vigorous perusal of the forums and my own limited testing, it would appear that mages are massively overpowered and other class builds are weak as kittens. I had to use the respec mod because my own fighter build was hapless. My fault for not reading the manual, some will argue, but when a game fails to provide hard facts on the mechanics at work… well, it's a bit of a crapshoot. How is anyone supposed to know that the shapechanging spec is worthless, and that cone of cold is perhaps the most overpowered spell in the game?

As with many other things in Dragon Age, class design is an unconvincing medley of ideas from other sources. It’s like the designers sat down and spent a few hours throwing together some build outlines and chucked in abilities from various inspirations without a real care for the craft involved. I don’t see how many of the abilities in the various talent trees follow on logically from those preceding them. In short, the classes don’t feel very polished or conceptually inspired.

Most troubling for me is BioWare's failure to impress in its own back yard. While Jade Empire and Mass Effect had flawed combat mechanics they were at least pioneering; attempting a union of action and roleplaying gameplay styles, as well as being brave departures from the standard fantasy milieu. With so much experience and so many influences to draw from, I can't help but feel BioWare fumbled the ball a little with Dragon Age. It's just not the game it should be. Better than most, yes, but less than the developer's experience, time and budget should have produced.

If I'm honest, I think the game suffers from a repeat of the NWN development disaster: far too much time was spent on infrastructure and far too little spent on actual content development due to massive design revisions halfway through. I wouldn't be surprised if the game design was radically altered very late in the day because it wasn't considered good enough, and what remains is actually the result of a pretty intense crunch over a relatively short period. Looking at the game's credits, it seems there were two Project Directors and three Lead Designers. I'm not sure that's ever a good sign.

I'm going to draw some heat for this comment, but I believe that if Dragon Age doesn't bear the BioWare logo on its box, the average review scores fall by 5 -10%. And that's the thing that irks me most: the scores (at least for the PC version) this game has received do a disservice to both gamers and BioWare themselves. You can guarantee the folks at Edmonton will have a laundry list of improvements twenty pages long for the sequel, and knowing BioWare, they'll probably do a damned good job of implementing these changes. If that's the case, I look forward to the 102% review scores Dragon Age 2 will pick up.

All of the griping aside – and there's a lot – Dragon Age is still not a bad game. It's just – so far – average and uninspired, but average and uninspired in an impressively big and polished way.

I'm going to pick up where I left off and finish the game before the expansion lands. Hopefully the story, so far unremarkable in most aspects not heavily derivative of Martin, will begin to pick up its own momentum. I had begun to warm a little to a couple of the companions, and my first recent encounter with a dragon was fairly exciting. Still, for once, the prospect of another 30 hours of BioWare RPG left to go feels like a chore rather than an adventure.

Misery Stone module review

2010-03-09T10:32:00.002Z

Misery Stone is, without question, the most visually breathtaking module ever released for NWN2, surpassing even the official expansions. In terms of consistency of mood and tone, the module brings to life the Demiplane of Dread in a way no game or module has before it. I never thought a NWN2 module could make me uneasy while playing, but Misery Stone achieved exactly that, thanks to its relentlessly brilliant area design, use of colour palette, superb cutscene direction and awe-inspiring new creature and placeable models from the incomparable Jonny Ree. Every pore of the land of Firglore drips with malevolence.

And for the first hour or two, the story and design match the ambiance perfectly, creating arguably my favourite slice of NWN2 gaming so far. Unfortunately, once the overland map opens up the module takes a gentle slope downhill. The story, while always intriguing and conceptually terrific, doesn't quite live up to its promise and feels a little underdeveloped. The companions, too, feel like they could have used more dialogue to build upon their superb introductions. The writing itself is a strangely mixed bag, with beautiful prose and dialogue exchanges juxtaposed with stock (or missing) item and character descriptions. Also, the occasional dialogue exchange feels clunky and doesn’t quite match up with the rest of the writing in tone or quality.

In a way, Misery Stone is more an adventure game with combat than a roleplayaying game, and that’s fine. It’s a constant pleasure to explore the wonderfully creepy locales dotting the land of Firglore. The overland map is well implemented and looks gorgeous, though a few random encounters would have complemented the brooding sense of danger that permeates the game. If you disliked Storm of Zehir’s random overland encounters but enjoyed the exploration aspect, this will be right up your alley.

Aside from the feeling that the game is a little unfinished, the main issue I had with Misery Stone was the lack of challenge and variety in the frequent combat encounters. When the main elements are exploration and combat rather than roleplaying, it’s important to get the difficulty right to ensure that character and loot progression is fun and satisfying. I didn’t need to bother identifying or equipping the endless stream of loot I picked up, since I was never in any danger of losing a fight and couldn’t sell it for peanuts. Eventually this undermined the sense of danger the incredible area design provided, which is a shame. Better encounter design would have given Misery Stone a significant boost. The odd puzzle did mix things up a little, but they were fairly perfunctory in design. Also, what was the deal with the good and evil points? It seemed like a concept that was dropped shortly after the first area.

That’s a fair amount of criticism for a module that remains a must-play, but there it is. With a few months of additional work, Misery Stone would stand at the very summit of NWN2 modding. As it is, it’s an amazing experience that combines incredible artistic vision with mixed design; though the sheer atmosphere and sense of place ensures it retains its allure even during its more monotonous sequences of rinse-repeat combat, and the occasional rough edge. Thanks, Bouncyrock!

I awarded Misery Stone a 9.00.

Trinity module review

2010-03-04T21:37:00.004Z

Trinity is a very classical roleplaying module enriched in Forgotten Realms lore and characterised by an attention to detail that is a delight to behold. Every aspect of the production is polished, from the great looking areas (particularly the handful of exteriors) to the fine soundtrack utilising music by the prodigiously talented Edgen.

The story and companions are solid and well-realised without being extraordinary – yet even so, few modules attempt to provide such a large and well-rounded cast of party members and tie them into a story with so many major roleplaying opportunities. I was very impressed by the level of choice and consequence in the module. There's a great balance between interesting narrative development and agency for the player to explore and make important decisions.

There really isn't a great deal to nitpick with Trinity. The version I played had a few minor bugs and typos which I am sure have since been fixed. Perhaps the only real negative was the easiness of most of the combat encounters, with the exception of the final battle which, for me, was perfectly balanced. Granted, I played a strong build (wood elf ranger) and set the difficulty to Normal, which meant a lot less micromanagement was required for the mage companion. Still, final battle aside, I was rarely in any real danger.

Trinity is one of two user modules (Misery Stone being the other) that I've played recently which, frankly, with some added VO and another small layer of polish, could have been released as an official Adventure Pack. It's very strong all around; perhaps the writing isn't quite commercial level, but everything else, particularly the ruthless attention to detail, is top class. You owe it to yourself to play this. Thanks, E.C. Patterson and GPS!

I awarded Trinity a 9.50.

Back... for now

2010-03-04T13:20:00.004Z

My clumsy fingers somewhat spoiled my grand return by accidentally publishing an incomplete post a few days ago, which I immediately deleted, so apologies if you ended up here from a link elsewhere and wondered what manner of devilry was at work.

Where have I been and what have I been doing? Nowhere much and not much, sadly. The latter half of 2009 was a bit of a disaster and covered me in a shroud of ennui which I've only recently shrugged off. Luckily, things are looking up and I'm now filled with mild optimism if not quite piss and vinegar.

I've decided to move onwards and upwards from blogging and have a stab at putting together a more general purpose fantasy, science fiction and horror website. It's still in the planning stages and like all great procrastinators, I'm spending lots of time fretting over fairly inconsequential details like what I'm going to name it. (Okay, perhaps it's not that inconsequential). Mostly, I'm torn between the functional and descriptive or something snappy and memorable. I've created a poll to the top right with a few names I've been tossing around, so please cast your vote!

As for AL4, Ossian, etc, I'll have some updates soon. Stay tuned.

MoW activation limit removed

2009-06-16T22:59:00.003+01:00

Thank goodness for that. It should never have shipped with the activation limit in the first place, of course, but credit to Atari for taking note of the fan response and remedying the situation. Here's the official Ossian post from Alan Miranda:

Ossian Studios is pleased to announce that there is no longer a 3-activation limit on NWN2: Mysteries of Westgate. The activation limit has been removed by Atari after Ossian highlighted to them how many fans were not happy with it. You can now install MoW as many times as you like on your computer. Here are some quick facts about this change:

Q: Do I still need to activate MoW to play?
A: Yes. The DRM activation limit has been removed but you still need to activate MoW online for each new installation on your computer. After the one-time activation for each installation, you don’t need an Internet connection to play. Activation is necessary to prevent serial numbers from being posted to the web where hundreds or thousands of people can access it.

Q: So, I don’t have to worry about changing my hardware and not being able to re-activate MoW?
A: No. You can change the hardware configuration or operating system on your computer as often as you like and can re-activate MoW as many times as you like.

Q: Is it okay if I install the game on more than one of my computers?
A: Yes, that’s fine.

Q: Are the MoW resources still encrypted?
A: Yes, the MoW resource files are still encrypted. However, we have provided most of this content for free from the Mysteries of Westgate page on the NWVault:
http://nwvault.ign.com/View.php?view=NWN2ModulesEnglish.Detail&id=362

New poll

2009-05-15T22:56:00.004+01:00

Check out the new poll on the right. It's repeated on the Ossian Studios website. I'd urge you to vote on either or both. Please only vote once.

Thanks to everyone who participated in the DRM discussion below, except that one guy who said he would have bought MoW if not for the DRM and then proceeded to link to a torrent site instead. I removed his comment. As far as I'm concerned, if you bought MoW to support Ossian, I thank you; if you resisted because of the DRM, I salute you; but don't try to take the moral high ground on DRM and then pirate because you, my friend, are the problem.

MoW and DRM

2009-05-08T23:20:00.001+01:00

The MoW journey truly has been remarkable. At times, it's felt like being dragged three miles along a road lined with broken glass by a van driving very, very slowly. At other times, the sensation has been more akin to amputating a major extremity using only a cheese grater and an open fire. On the odd occasion when glimmers of light have promised sweet salvation, they inevitably flickered and died as they drew closer, like mischievous wisps luring unsuspecting prey ever further into the metaphorical Bog of Despair.

And I'm only being slightly facetious.

The recent announcement of MoW's DRM details was almost reassuring in the way it so swiftly and mercilessly crushed the high spirits a firm release date had deigned to provide -- just what Mysteries of Westgate needed after 18 months of cold storage and a history so sordid that the most desperate brothel would turn away its custom with a hard stare.

I don't like DRM much. I like limited activation DRM even less. When it comes to limited activation DRM used on a game I designed and am counting on to sell enough so that I and a lot of other talented folk actually get a chance to make another, I am positively frosty. I know the arguments for and against it; I know which way my allegiances lie. That, though, is not what I'm going to expatiate about. Instead, I'm going to talk about why MoW needs to be supported. Not on the BioWare forums, because that way lies madness and a swift thread-locking and probably some mild discomfort that the Lead Designer on the project caused such a furore. No, here will have to do.

I've been following the reaction to the details of MoW's DRM on the net, you see. A worryingly large number of users have posted claiming they won't be purchasing the game based upon its DRM. Truly, I don't blame them. They're taking a principled stand and, you know, it seems to be working. Publishers are beginning to back down. Point proved. The problem is, and you knew this was coming but it's worth saying anyway, the only ones that will be harmed in MoW's case will be Ossian Studios and the community.

Ultimately, low sales of MoW will mean no more adventure packs or expansions for NWN2. Atari will not interpret low sales of MoW as the DRM killing sales -- no, it'll be perceived as a lack of interest in the product and a belief that there's no longer a market there worth investing in. That will certainly mean no more official content for NWN2. Given how far the game has progressed these last couple of years, and with the uber-patch 1.23 looming, this would be something of a tragedy. My personal opinion is that NWN2 has now matured as a platform, one I can see supporting new content and campaign for years to come. This is only going to happen if the community supports MoW.

As for Ossian, poor sales of our first game won't exactly place us in a position of strength. Publishers tend to look at the bottom line. And this is where the whole moral dilemma comes in, because while you can vote with your wallet against Atari's DRM, the only real measurable impact will be in harming a young and talented company dedicated to making the kind of games you like to play. Take a look at the list of PC RPGs coming out in the next few years -- there's not exactly a plethora of them lined up.

Here's the deal. Ossian Studios gave what was to be its first commercial game to the community for free. Individually, the folk who make up Ossian have contributed over 50 award-winning modules for both NWN games in addition to countless scripts, utilities, models and other artwork, music, and even a PW or two -- all of it free. By supporting a $10 game that will provide you with 20 or so hours of enjoyment -- almost as much as the $30 expansions -- you're helping reward us for that hard work and ensuring that we get a fair crack of the whip in future. Hopefully, we'll thank you in turn with new games that surpass anything we did with MoW.

We need to be given the chance, though. It's not about coming over all maudlin or trying to inflict a guilt trip on anyone. Those are the facts as stated above -- you can make up your own mind about how your principles relate to them. It's certainly not for me or anyone else to say; principles are principles.

Just know that we'd really appreciate your support.

How is it for you?

2009-04-30T21:07:00.006+01:00

So it's been out for over a day now. Three new reviews hit yesterday -- two were very positive, the third not so much.

RPG Watch awarded the game four out of five stars, and had the following to say:

In terms of writing, you will find something interesting at every turn. The main plot is interesting and full of twists and turns, some of which are fairly predictable and others are surprising. The characters you encounter are fully drawn and provide both insight and color into the world around you. There are sixteen side quests aside from all of the quests associated with completing the main story. Some of these quests are pretty straightforward, but others will stay with you for much of the game, at times making you wonder if they will tie into the main quest. There is a great mix of humor and pathos, of witty party banter and more serious over-arching exposition.

Sorcerer's Place dished out an 8/10 rating, with the comments as follows:

The plot itself is derivative of several well established cinematic genres. This reflects a deliberate effort to steer away from truly high fantasy, and instead achieve a remarkably successful realism in the setting. You won’t find any Mary Sues and Marty Stus in Westgate. Indeed, more than one criminal faction is vying for power, while agents of good-aligned deities have an apparent interest in containing the chaos, or even benefiting from it. Everybody in this town is looking out for number one, even the ones who are ostensibly on the side of law and good. The degrees and specifics by which everyone’s self-interest finds expression is what sets them apart from each other. In a sense, this pervasive sense on literally being on your own against a hard-bitten world made me compare some of the story arcs to classic crime dramas like Heat, the French Connection, and The Corruptor.

Alas, GameBanshee weren't so hot on MoW and awarded the game a score of 6.8. Here's a snippet:

The campaign structure in Mysteries of Westgate is disappointingly similar to the campaign structure of Storm of Zehir. That is, there isn’t much going on with the main storyline (you don’t really learn anything about the cursed mask until the very end of the game); you just need to complete a bunch of side quests on your way to the parade of final boss battles. The side quests are fun enough, and they involve vampires, pirates, spiders, and of course hamsters, but they’re all short, and they only rarely have anything to do with the main storyline or your companions. They just felt like random filler to me, which is sort of sad coming from a developer who likes to mention Baldur’s Gate, which linked together characters, quests and plot as well as any game ever.

You can't please everyone. My impression is that the reviewer, Steven Carter, simply prefers an RPG with more -- perhaps an exclusive -- focus on story, a paradigm more akin to MotB than SoZ. As it happens, I think MoW more or less sits between both games; an observation made by Michael J. Anderson in his review for RPG Watch. Alas, limited companions are a restriction imposed by a budget tiny in comparison to either expansion and infinitesimal compared with a full release. That VO budget only goes so far. As for unconnected sidequests, well, that was pretty much a requisite for the kind of city-based adventure Ossian wanted to create. You can have a city-based game with an overarching plot -- say, war, famine or plague -- providing a unifying thematic resonance, but our goal was for players to explore the story of Westgate as much as the story in Westgate. The comments about the game's gloominess I found strange and haven't seen repeated anywhere else.

There's a few points I agreed with, though, and the rule of any creative work is that someone won't like it. As long as the negative -- or in this case, neutral -- opinion is the exception rather than the rule, all's well.

MoW released - at bloody last

2009-04-29T23:50:00.006+01:00

Yes, it's finally out, along with an improved Ossian website .

Initial player feedback has been promising, and I'm looking forward to seeing more in-depth feedback over the next few days. More tomorrow.

Two more days...

2009-04-27T19:09:00.004+01:00

... until Mysteries of Westgate is released. At least, that's the plan. I've heard nothing to suggest otherwise, so I think this time it's for real.

Initial reviews have been promising. The game scored 8.6/10 from the Neverwinter Vault, 5/5 stars from the Thieves' Guild, and 85% in Croatian magazine Gameplay. PC Gamer veteran Desslock also spoke it about it favourably, and Games for Windows said it was as worthy of attention as Mask of the Betrayer. That's not a bad assortment of praise. All factors considered -- budget, delay, status as Ossian's first commercially-released game -- I think we've done well.

Fingers crossed for Wednesday.

Space - the Final Frontier, except when it's a franchise

2009-04-26T16:21:00.009+01:00

Two games I've played through recently are Dead Space and Mass Effect. I picked up the former based upon its sterling reviews and interesting premise of Resident Evil 4 in space, which is reasonably accurate. The latter I owned on the XBOX 360 for well over a year; I never really got into it and sold it along with my console a while back. As fate would have it, I shortly after found it in Zavvi on PC DVD for the princely sum of £5 (around $7.50). Yes, new. Who could resist?

Dead Space I suffered through almost as much as enjoyed. I failed to read the reviews for the PC version and was therefore unprepared for the slow responsiveness of the mouse controls; it felt like the cursor was being dragged through syrup. Disabling V-sync helped a little at the cost of major screen-tear; an aesthetic drawback I didn't feel was worth the sacrifice. Poor controls aside, I found the game initially entertaining but ultimately repetitive. The endless steel corridors grated after a while, and the constant fed ex quests made BioShock's mission design look revolutionary in comparison. Fortunately, the atmosphere and basic mechanics were fun enough to keep me playing until the end. The story was kind of blah -- it was decent enough but incredibly similar to that of the movie adaptation of Doom, which I saw a scant week previous.

All in all, despite the shoddy controls, the game felt solid. It's most definitely heavily derivative of about a dozen other games, principally Resident Evil 4 but also Half-Life 2 amongst others, but it does a good job of meshing those borrowed ideas into a fun game. I'd give it a high 7 out of 10, with the console versions weighing in at a solid 8 thanks to their superior control schemes.

Mass Effect, as mentioned, was a game I struggled to get into on the 360. I think the bad UI was partly to blame; that and the slow start. Luckily, the UI was one of the areas of the game improved for the PC version. Also, while not as well-optimised as Dead Space (clunky controls aside), it ran well enough on my 1530 XPS.

In many ways, I found Mass Effect to be typically BioWare -- and that's not a bad thing. The structure was very similar to previous BioWare games, with an action-packed prelude funnelling out into a less linear first act with plenty of sidequests. You then have the branching "do any of these in the order of your preference" technique before things funnel back in for the finale. I've read a lot of critics knocking BioWare for not mixing things up, but honestly, there are two very good reasons why they don't: million-plus sales and average scores of around 90% for every major game they put out. Put simply, theirs is the BioWare CRPG, and it's no more trite than any other of the numerous CRPG sub-genres.

So to get back to Mass Effect, I found it to be a good game. It's BioWare's best-written after Jade Empire, and their most fun post-BG2, from a mechanics point-of-view. They're still no Blizzard when it comes to actually designing game systems, but I'm sure the EA merger will help them significantly in that regard. The graphics and sound are excellent, particularly the soundtrack (gosh, Jack Wall is talented). Only the blandness of certain areas lets the visuals down. And on that note...

The planet sidequests. Who didn't dislike these? Some are moderately entertaining; some are okay; the majority are, well, not fun at all. Instead of bemoaning the bland overland maps and copy-pasted interior areas, though, I'm going to instead take a slightly different tack and admit that I'm not sure these weren't a somewhat necessary evil. How else to give the impression of a large galaxy to explore? Perhaps less worlds with more content would have been the key. I'm guessing art assets, in particular areas, for a game of Mass Effect's visual fidelity do not come cheap -- the blatant reuse of areas points to that. It will be interesting to see how ME2 handles space exploration.

One thing production costs can't excuse is the item and inventory systems. I just found these poorly designed. Item collection becomes a chore and lacks any of the excitement usually associated with this important aspect of a CRPG. The weapons and armour in ME represent nothing more than a collection of statistics to be compared and contrasted with other items; the actual names and lore mean nothing and are exceptionally dull. The game economy is also seriously imbalanced -- at some point, roughly around the 60% mark, I had all the worldly and spacely credits I could possibly need.

Luckily, despite the dull planet exploration and poor item and economy design, the core story and, importantly, the lore are extremely good. The characters too are worthy of mention. While I couldn't stand Tali's voice-acting -- the actress seemed to be trying too hard, much like Neeshka's from the NWN2 OC -- Williams was fantastic in her mild subversion of what you normally expect from a female romanceable companion. She's a racist, or more accurately a xenophobe, and a certain scene with Wrex (the typically amoral "heavy" companion) had my jaw briefly hanging open. Liara seemed like a bit of a plot device to explain away some of the story, if I'm honest. Kaiden I liked well enough but dropped in favour of Garrus, whose skills were more immediately useful. Of the non-joinable NPCs, Joker was a brilliant character. I also liked Benezia and Saren. Some, like Anderson, seemed too stereotyped. There were points where the writers seemed to be phoning it in, and a couple that simply went down like a lead balloon -- the encounter where Shepard -- an unknown stranger -- gets to decide the outcome after butting into an abortion debate was just risible. To be fair, I think the writer of this scene has owned up and admitted as much.

As a whole, though, the writing was really good. I was very impressed by the work that went into creating the back story. For such a complex and detailed tale the reliance on McGuffins was kept to a minimum, and the Reapers were more terrifying than expected. Well, okay, not terrifying, but you know what I mean. The end of the story was legitimately epic and left me excited about ME2. Something to note about BioWare -- they rarely make sequels, but when they do... well, Baldur's Gate 2 is still the best PC RPG ever (sorry, Fallout/PST fans). I'm expecting something really special. I just wonder how they'll handle the issues of space exploration, the borked inventory system, and the player's choices in the first game. The first two are probably less of an obstacle than the third. If BioWare does actually implement massive plot branches to take those choices into account, they'll bring a lot of the disillusioned critics back into the fold.

Red Seas Under Red Skies

2009-04-25T19:32:00.004+01:00

On a completely different subject from the MoW DRM discussion, I just finished reading "Red Seas Under Red Skies," the second book in the Gentlemen Bastards sequence by Scott Lynch. The first in the series, "The Lies of Locke Lymora," was a terrific yarn and one of the most promising authorial debuts in the fantasy genre for years. Unfortunately, I didn't quite rate "Seas" as highly, despite the writing and dialogue remaining as sharp as ever. It seemed that Lynch had two rather disparate stories he wanted to weave together into the one book, and the result is that it is overly complex -- not in the sense that I had difficulty following it but rather that the whole flow of the book suffers from Lynch's efforts to intertwine the two major plots. In addition, the temporal displacement technique carried over from the first book is less effective here and not half as clever, although it is eventually abandoned.

What may have done the most damage to the book, however, is the terrible burden of writing part of an ongoing franchise. The first book more or less said "screw it" and carried itself well as a standalone novel, but you can tell certain choices Lynch made to give "Lies" the edge posed major issues for him to overcome in "Seas" and subsequent novels; The Bondsmagi, while they are interesting villains, seem overwhelmingly powerful in relation to everyone around them, and I wonder if a part of Lynch kind of regrets trimming the Bastards' numbers down so ruthlessly in the first book.

The weight of having to seed certain plot elements and evaluate every consequence from a franchise perspective must be a tough one for an author to bear.

I only really mention the book here because the apparent (at least in my eyes) difficulties Lynch faced in "Seas" remind me of my own ongoing issues with AL4. I'll speak about that in more depth some other time.

Mysteries of Westgate release date - 29th April, 2009

2009-04-18T15:08:00.002+01:00

At long last, Mysteries of Westgate has an official release date. Here's the Atari press release:

'NEVERWINTER NIGHTS™ 2: MYSTERIES OF WESTGATE™’ Adventure Pack confirmed for WORLDWIDE RELEASE ON 29 APRIL 2009

- First Neverwinter Nights™ 2 Adventure Pack Available Exclusively via Digital Download -

Atari today announced that the first Neverwinter Nights™ 2 Adventure Pack entitled Neverwinter Nights 2: Mysteries of Westgate will be available exclusively via digital download for the Windows platform on 29 April 2009 at a suggested retail price of €9.99 / £9.99 /$9.99. Neverwinter Nights 2: Mysteries of Westgate will be available for digital download at the Atari store by visiting www.atari-store.eu in Europe or www.atari.com/us in the US.

Neverwinter Nights 2: Mysteries of Westgate provides over 15 hours of additional entertainment with all-new engrossing storylines, professional voice acting, enchanting musical scores, new in-game content, and much more. Neverwinter Nights 2 is set in the DUNGEONS & DRAGONS® Forgotten Realms® universe created by Wizards of the Coast, a subsidiary of Hasbro, Inc. (NYSE: HAS). DUNGEONS & DRAGONS is under license from Hasbro.

More information about Neverwinter Nights 2 can be found at www.nwn2.com, which includes user forums, project news, development updates and more.

"The Third Sign" now available

2009-03-27T22:21:00.004Z

Ossian writer and module-builder extraordinaire Alex "Hugie" Hugon has just released his latest work, a novel-to-module conversion of the upcoming novel The Third Sign by Gregory A. Wilson. The feature list is rather impressive:

- Professional-quality writing (both overall story and dialogue)
- Polished area design
- A pre-generated character
- New music composed expressly for The Third Sign
- Voice acting for major characters
- Substantial skill-use
- Anywhere from 1-2 hours of gameplay
- Sidequests with multiple resolutions
- Innovative scripting and visual-effect work

The screenshots certainly look beautiful, and if it holds true to Hugie's habit of getting better with every module, should provide a wonderfully enjoyable light evening's entertainment. You can get hold of it here.

Still around

2009-03-14T23:55:00.005Z

It's been four months since my last update. If you'd asked me then whether we'd still be waiting for Mysteries of Westgate, I'd have said surely not. Human optimism truly is a wonderful thing. We're now at almost the 18 month mark. I will say no more, but rest assured it's a bloody effort.

I will hopefully have some positive news to report in a week or so, but for now, meh. Just meh.

Fate of a City module review

2008-11-06T16:27:00.011Z

As promised, here's my review for Fate of a City. All in all, this is a fantastic piece of work that seems to have taken a knock in the scoring due to a buggy initial release. With the kind of complexity it has going on, it's no surprise that it's taken a while to iron out the flaws. I'd heartily recommend that you give it some deserved attention.

This is a very impressive module indeed. I'd go so far as to say it's the best I have managed to actually finish to date. The amount of rolelaying, dialogue and attention to detail is extraordinary. Such is the nature of the module's heavy focus on choice and consequence that some players won't appreciate the amount of work that has gone into it versus more linear modules; I did, however, and I definitely understand the author's evident (although polite) frustration at some of the scoring. This module deserves to be ranked much higher relative to the modules around it.

The module has a professional feel, with superb writing and grammar. The design is excellent throughout, although just occasionally suffers from the overly repetitive nature of some of the quests. I don't necessarily agree that there are too many fed ex quests per se – it's more the tactic of constantly extending quest lines with additional, unexpected tasks that can cause consternation. Some of the quests are wonderful – the Shadow Beast quest, in particular, is a wonderfully creepy high point of the game.

Game balance is terrific, as is loot allocation. I thought that perhaps there too many swords on the offing, but given that I played a rogue, I can hardly complain. Gold and purchasing restrictions on the merchants are realistic but can prove slightly inconvenient to the player.

The two companions are terrific and three-dimensional. I never got the big payoff with the nomad girl—is there one?—but building a relationship with her was pleasant nonetheless. The priest of Bane (sorry, I'm terrible with names) had pleasant depth, and I thought the author did a great job of having him espouse the tenets of his god without becoming a one-colour villain. Nice work.

Area design is probably the weakest aspect of the module, being serviceable rather than impressive. There's a general sparseness and lack of artistic flair to the game's areas, but that's hardly a real negative when weighed against everything the module does right. I enjoyed some of the music tracks—particularly impressive if they were original compositions—although a couple were a little repetitive and/or "synthy" for my tastes.

All in all, this module evidently had a massive amount of work and planning go into it, and can be considered a consummate city adventure with no real flaws save area design that is "merely" solid and an apparently buggy—no doubt due to its complexity—initial release. The professionalism in design, writing and scripting rivals a commercial game. I am sure the average score will rise as the module's polish increases, and that it will eventually find its way to a deserved place in the Hall of Fame. My thanks to the author for all his hard work – this must have been a momentous undertaking!

I awarded the module my highest score so far - a 9. Actually, I also dropped a vote of 9 on Lute Hero, which is super duper wondrous fun but not, by any stretch of the imagination, an adventure module. No review, therefore, but you must play it nonetheless!

Stormchaser module review

2008-09-25T13:55:00.010+01:00

This is my third blog post this month. I'm getting back into the swing of thangs, baby!

Next up on my list of Hall of Fame NWN2 modules I really should have played by now is Stormchaser by FalloutBoy. I was pleasantly surprised by this one--I wasn't expecting any great shakes judging solely by the module's age and current average score, but it turned out to be better than expected. Here are my comments from the Vault:

I'm surprised this module isn't rated a little higher than it is. While the plot certainly won't win any prizes for originality, the writing is solid, the storytelling engrossing, and the design as a whole rather impressive. Areas are nicely put together, the difficulty balance (with one notable exception) is spot on, and in contrast to some other voters I actually found the companions a real pleasure; they might be somewhat classical (okay, clichéd) but they're also extremely well-realised. The pacing of the story is great throughout; few modules have drawn me in with the strength of their narrative quite so well. In addition to great writing, this module is a technical treat, especially for such an early module. While the ships and fishing don't really add much, they're still fun and different.

The module's weaknesses are its slightly unpolished feeling in spots, and more importantly, its lengthiest action section, which is plagued by enemies that respawn on top of the party. I didn't enjoy the fire cave at all; at the very least, the player should be able to take a shortcut back to the exit rather than wading through enemies they've killed once already. It's just a chore, and nobody enjoys having their time wasted.

Overall, I was pleasantly surprised by this module – I think it's better than its current score suggests, my reserved scoring practices aside – and I would love to see a sequel if the author ever decides to create one.

I awarded it an impressive score of 8.25.

Grimm Brigade module review

2008-09-17T12:54:00.013+01:00

I've finally returned to playing NWN1/2 modules after stalling on Asphyxia and getting sucked into World of Warcraft. It's only a small step back into the light, admittedly, but I did manage to finish Grimm Brigade, by Jason S. Roy, which won the first Obsidian mod contest. I thought it it was a fun module with some pretty area design. Here are my comments from the Vault page:

Grimm Brigade is a short (one-hour), hack-and-slash module that provides an amusing take on four Brothers Grimm tales. While the gameplay is fairly shallow and the module is shamelessly linear in design, the excellent area design and clever adaptation of the stories into an action-heavy romp make it worth the time to download and play. The one major criticism I have is that the enemies seem overpowered—I played a half-orc barbarian, a class perfectly suited to the module's style, yet struggled to survive in many fights without using copious amounts of healing potions. Unless you adjust the difficulty or play a straight melee class, I could see this module being overwhelmingly tough. Still, it's well worth a play as long as you bear this in mind.

I gave it a respectable score of 7.

Ramblings

2008-09-06T23:00:00.015+01:00

I sit here as the rain patters down outside, listening to the gurgling of the drain that is rather inconveniently located about four feet to my right, on the other side of the wall next to where I sleep. It's been gurgling a lot this summer, as it did the last. Woodlice, spiders and other insects--indeed, arachnids--have infested my humble abode recently, seeking shelter from the unseasonal--or is that seasonal?--weather. My eyes track a lone woodlouse as it makes its hesitant way across my carpet. It is in no rush, perhaps sensing my apathy; indeed, my right hand rests lethargically on a glass of wine as my left prods away at the keyboard, and it is obvious that the threat of being scooped up and flushed to a watery grave to join its brethren is this night minimal.

Which makes me want to dislodge myself from my position of comfort and flush it down the crapper anyway, if only to prove a point. Alas, I won't, and said woodlouse can saviour this small victory as I reflect on my benevolence and the warm glow it radiates through my being. I've always believed that if I were a millionaire blessed with the lifespan of an elf, I'd take up philanthropy.

But enough of that. It's September 6th and Mysteries of Westgate still hasn't been released. I'm pretty sure it's close now, and I mean real close if not really close. It's now being tested for patch 1.14 compliance, as far as I'm aware. Will it be released this month? Perhaps, but my best guess would be next month. It's coming along, which is the important thing.

Has anyone got their hands on the new Forgotten Realms campaign setting? That's a rhetorical question. Of course you have. What are your thoughts on it? My own... well, the Realms' vast depth of history and lore was what made it great. Yes, it was a massive Frakenstein of cultures and borrowed ideas cobbled together, but that was its greatest strength: whatever story you wanted to tell, whatever theme or setting you needed, it could be found in one corner or another of the Realms. I guess I don't see the sense in sacrificing a lot of loyal fans by destroying that richness for the potential gains of bringing new fans in.

You know, perhaps the reason the Realms was so successful was because 25 years ago, it had a lot less competition. It could get away with being largely generic high fantasy and grew from the efforts of hundreds of designers and writers until it became something truly worthwhile. Will this new, slimmed-down Realms thrive in the same way, with Azeroth filling a similar niche but in a far more convenient and accessible medium and with hordes of lesser pretenders battling for some of the market share? I guess we'll see.

AL4 for NWN1 after all!

2008-07-30T21:32:00.007+01:00

I had a good vacation. The sun shone, the alcohol flowed--albeit not quite as fast as the pages of Toll the Hounds--and I picked up yet another interesting pattern of burns on my poor under-protected flesh. Mental note for next year: sitting in the same position for three hours with minimal sunscreen is not a great idea on the first day of vacation.

I love the Greek isles. I could quite happily divide my time between them and Argentina. With a couple of weeks of rainy old Blighty tucked in somewhere, I suppose; likely April, when Argentina--more specifically Buenos Aires--starts getting colder and Greece is only just beginning to warm up. Anyway, enough about the weather. I wouldn't want to reinforce the old stereotype about the English and their favourite obsession.

So. I have made a decision, and that decision is to release AL4 for NWN1 as originally intended. I will do a solo project for NWN2 at some point, but a 30-hour epic isn't really the best place for it. I've agonized and procrastinated about this project for too long, so now I need to shut up and finish it. You'll hear no more declarations of self-doubt until it's up on the Vault. Promise.

I should note that 1.69 and all its inherent goodness played a big factor in this decision. What can you say about BioWare? They're just a fantastic company with fantastic people. Not all of them, I'm sure--when has it ever been the case?--but as a whole, BioWare are a constant pleasure to deal with and their dedication to the community is astonishing. And the funny thing is, you hear similar positive things even from other folk involved in the NWN1 Premium Module fiasco--e.g. Stefan Gagne--which shows, I think, the class with which they handled that and conduct themselves as a company.

I'll be updating AL1-3 to 1.69 compatibility (Final FINAL patches!) over the next couple of weeks.

In other news, I'm sinking more time into World of Warcraft--I have a 23rd level blood elf Warlock--and currently playing Asphyxia for NWN2. Wow, impressive module. I've put Subtlety of Thay on hold until Dirtywick releases the second part; makes sense to do them both together.

Oh yeah, and Civ 4 waits, gathering dust. Soon, my precious. Soon.

Mysteries of Wheregate

2008-07-07T21:46:00.005+01:00

I hope I haven't just started something there.

So the introduction movie for Mysteries of Westgate has been posted on the Vault and it's receiving mixed feedback. It's difficult for me to see what some of the criticisms are--the encrusted diamonds on my 30" platinum-coated monitor tend to reflect an obscuring light on to the screen--but it seems that it's low-budget compared to the legacy game's opening movie, and not reflective of the backing and hype the adventure pack has received. Now think about both of those points for a second and apply some logic and you'll realize why I'm glad to be heading off for a week-long vacation tomorrow.

Yeah, it's been frustrating alright. I recall a conversation this time last year where the game was almost finished and we were hoping for a nicely appropriate Halloween release. I don't need to complete the second part of that thought, I expect.

In other news, I haven't yet decided on the fate of the Blades of Netheril. I am, however, very happy with the evident enthusiasm the community still has for the project. Thank you all for your feedback, words of encouragement, and occasional chastisement. The response was greater than I expected, and there was even a thread dedicated to my dilemma. Burning effigies of my devilishly handsome self were heart-warmingly absent.

Now then. Off to the Greek isles for a week or sun, surf, and Steven Erikson. Yep, Toll the Hounds. Has anyone else considered just how well the Malazan world would translate to a CRPG or, in fact, an MMO? Honestly; it's perfect. Tell me I'm lying, and I'll call you a Sicilian.

Laterz.

Contemplating The Blades of Netheril

2008-06-01T15:55:00.012+01:00

For the last couple of weeks, I've been ruminating on something that probably won't please a number of this blog's regular readers. In short, I'm heavily considering switching the development of The Blades of Netheril from NWN1 to NWN2.

Why ponder such a major change? Several reasons. Firstly, the migration of the community to the sequel seems to be gathering pace. The majority of community members I've known for several years have now made the shift. There's still a significant number of builders enthusiastic about NWN1, but in the main, the more experienced modders are working with NWN2. I feel I'm getting left behind, especially since I can't talk about Ossian-related stuff with other builders.

The obstacles that made AL4 impossible for NWN2 a year ago--no epic levels, not enough content--have been removed. I'm confident the story and design can be ported across with minimal compromise. Had this been the case when I started the project, I might have elected to create the module for NWN2 from the start.

Another important consideration is the fact Ossian Studios are developing for NWN2. This provides some considerable benefits, which I can't really discuss, but suffice to say that I believe NWN2 still has a bright future; something which, if I'm honest, I wasn't so certain of 18 months ago. Like I said, I think the experienced building community is now mostly with NWN2, and while NWN1 remains a great game, I feel it'll probably be kept alive mainly by the PW folk. There'll still be new mods, of course, but the single-player base will only decrease in size.

If I had released AL4 last year, none of this would be an issue. But it's still deep in development, and as mentioned, I'm re-thinking a few things. Now might be the right time to change the nature of the project to something I'll probably see greater benefits from going forward.

I'd like to hear thoughts and opinions on this, from both sides of the fence.

Edit: I've added a poll so you can quickly register your opinion. Please vote!

Iron Tower Studios roundtable

2008-05-28T17:53:00.005+01:00

There's a--for want of a better word--epic roundtable discussion over on the Iron Tower Studios (developers of Age of Decadence) forums, involving such luminaries as Chris Avellone, Dave Gaider, and the Ossian gang, including me. We discuss our thoughts on setting, story and characters in a CRPG.

I can only imagine how difficult it would be for anyone to get a word in edgewise if we were ever brought together over a real as opposed to virtual table, but it's pure gold nonetheless for aspiring game writers/designers. Check it out.

Mysteries of Westgate Spotlight #10: A Call to Arms

2008-05-28T17:44:00.005+01:00

In anyone's still interested, the last spotlight was recently posted, providing some entertaining lore on the church of Lathander's activities in Westgate. Spotlight #11 isn't really a spotlight, more of a report, but makes for interesting reading nonetheless. Sounds like everyone had a whale of a time and greatly enjoyed what they saw of the game.

Mysteries of Westgate Spotlights #8 & 9

2008-05-06T08:39:00.009+01:00

Two more spotlights have been posted recently: Rinara's Travel Guide and The Rise of the Ebon Claws. The tenth spotlight is due soon and it'll be the last: we've pretty much run out of material, and the game will hopefully, fingers crossed, be released very soon. There's a MoW press conference in LA in the next couple of days, and I expect things to ramp up then in preparation for release. Hopefully we'll see a few reviews from the major gaming sites over the next couple of weeks.

Mysteries of Westgate Spotlight #7: The Quivering Thumb

2008-04-21T22:37:00.006+01:00

The seventh Mysteries of Westgate spotlight has been posted. This one was written by me and concerns the Quivering Thumb arena. It was the one of the most enjoyable sections of the game to design. There are also some amusing easter eggs and references buried deep in there, which NWN1 veterans may or may not recognize!

The Blades of Netheril update #2

2008-04-16T19:08:00.004+01:00

Fear not, she's still alive and kicking.

I've been extremely busy recently--yes, who hasn't?--and I haven't had much time to update my blog, let alone work on AL4. Which is okay, since I'm still waiting on 1.69 to go final. Ideas are being refined constantly even if the toolset goes untouched; once I see some light ahead of me, I'll delve back in and make some real headway.

One thing that'll definitely get done over the next few weeks (1.69 release permitting) is an update of AL1-3. I'm not talking about massive sweeping changes: I plan to eliminate the last few niggling bugs, clean up the typos I am sure still remain, and take care of anything broken by 1.69. Then I can slam the book on them once and for all, safe in the knowledge that even if AL1 will still suck by today's standards, at least it'll be a polished turd.

For the record, I'm not a big fan of constantly revising and adding to work. While I am sure there is still the occasional player who downloads AL1 and concludes that, "Hey, this Alazander guy sucks, what the heck is the fuss about and why's he Ossian Lead Designer?," I also believe that there's nothing wrong with an author's/ designer's /musician's early and, indeed, amateur work being displayed in the public domain, in all its original g(l)ory. We all need start to somewhere.

Mysteries of Westgate Spotlight #6: The Lore of Westgate

2008-04-16T19:01:00.004+01:00

The sixth Mysteries of Westgate spotlight has now been posted! This one is fairly lengthy and provides some interesting lore on the city.

Keep your eyes peeled for the next spotlight, which is due soon and was written by yours truly. Much as I enjoy these spotlights, I really hope they don't end up reaching double digits...

Mysteries of Westgate Spotlights #4 & 5

2008-04-10T13:24:00.010+01:00

The fourth and fifth Mysteries of Westgate spotlights have been posted, dealing with the dreaded Night Masks and the history of Westgate. Both articles make for interesting reading and provide some great lore on the city, so check them out!

Mysteries of Westgate featured in May PC Gamer

2008-04-02T21:06:00.004+01:00

Desslock writes in the latest issue of PC Gamer:

"THE ADVENTURE RESUMES- There's a welcome new slate of D&D Modules -

I've preached like a Cleric towering over a lectern about the need for Dungeons & Dragons to return to its roots by toning down its rule-crunchiness and just releasing great adventures. The pantheon of RPG deities has responded favorably and delivered a bounty of modules.

Most notably, Ossian Studios has developed Mysteries of Westgate, an official adventure pack for Neverwinter Nights 2. Ossian released one of the most popular premium modules for Neverwinter Ngihts, Darkness over Daggerford. Studio founder, Alan Miranda, was the producer of the outstanding Baldur's Gate II: Throne of Bhaal (which was simply the best RPG expansion pack ever released) and an associate producer for Neverwinter Nights. Westgate is another great adventure.

The city of Westgate is an urban oasis in the largely wild and contested Dragon Coast area of the Forgotten Realms world of Faerun. It's rare and refreshing for a D&D module to consist almost entirely of adventures in a single sprawling city, which you arrive in seeking to rid yourself of a cursed mask. The city is home to a hodgepodge of humanoids, thieves, gladiators, assassins, pirates, and more malevolent groups. The enigmatic underground guild, the Night Masks, has traditionally pulled the strings of power in the city, but now, they have competition from some newcomers calling themselves the Ebon Claws. The storyline doesn't overlap with other NWN2 adventures, so you're best off starting a new character who will immediately be promoted to level 8.

It's a singleplayer only module and it doesn't introduce any new classes or races, but you can choose from any of the dozens of options introduced in NWN2:Mask of the Betrayer. Enemies seem to act less scatterbrained, courtesy of more effective customized AI scripts. The three new companions are all complex and somewhat broken or malleable individuals, such as Mantides the fallen Paladin whose lust for violent retribution caused him to lose his faith. There are only a handful of new monsters, but they're all memorable, and there's nary a bland or tedious encounter. Ossian tags the campaign at 15 hours long, but it took me around 20, and its competing factions and the conflicting choices you'll have to wrestle with make it worthy of at least one additional playthrough."

Mysteries of Westgate Spotlight #3: Merchants of Westgate

2008-03-22T00:07:00.005Z

The third Mysteries of Westgate spotlight has been posted, this time focusing on the merchants of Westgate, the true lifeblood of the city.

Unfortunately we're now waiting on patch 1.13, which can't be too far away. After all, this was announced recently...

Mysteries of Westgate: "As worthy as Mask of the Betrayer."

2008-03-19T22:24:00.012Z

The latest issue of Games for Windows magazine has just been released, and it includes a short (scoreless) review of Mysteries of Westgate. The overall opinion seems to be that it's an excellent product--indeed, it places the adventure pack on the same level as the Mask of the Betrayer expansion pack released last year. Not bad.

I'm not sure about the dork part, but I'll let that pass. One thing I do agree with: $10 for this game is a steal. The article mentions 10-15 hours of gameplay, but trust me when I say that the more "completist" players will be nearer the 20-hour mark. And that's just in a single playthrough. You'll want to play through this game at least two or three times.

Keep your eyes peeled for other, scored reviews in the near future...

Dark Waters released

2008-03-18T21:12:00.008Z

So it's been a few days since my last update. My computer encountered a serious issue on the weekend that took me until Monday afternoon to fix. Have you ever noticed that technical gremlins seem to raise their ugly little heads at the most inconvenient of times? Grr.

Computer woes aside, I was delighted to see that Adam Miller's Dark Waters 2 has been released after a lengthy development cycle. It currently has an average score of 9.68 after 18 votes, which is either a worrying sign of early NWN2 vote inflation or an indication that the module is just that damn good. I'll admit that I gave up on an early release of the first part after only a couple of hours, due to hitting a number of bugs--it didn't feel ready for prime time. I'll definitely be putting aside some time in the next few weeks to play through both parts. First, though, The Subtlety of Thay awaits.

Mysteries of Westgate Spotlight #2: Cosmopolitan Westgate

2008-03-14T18:59:00.003Z

The second Mysteries of Westgate spotlight has been posted! Thanks to Ossian writer Alex Hugon for answering the questions.

Mysteries of Westgate intro movie released!

2008-03-12T11:47:00.006Z

The introduction movie to Mysteries of Westgate has been released on IGN. While I'm probably biased, I have to say that I'm delighted with the production quality of this movie. In my opinion, it beats out any of the introductions from past NWN1/2 expansion products--not bad going for an Adventure Pack!

If you haven't viewed it yet, what are you waiting for?

Of Time and Death's Feast module review

2008-03-12T00:55:00.014Z

Well... This one was something of a disappointment. I'm going to preface my short review by admitting that I only played about three hours of the eight estimated, but I did open the toolset and read through the journal entries and conversations. I think it's important that players vote for things they didn't necessarily enjoy--as long as they're giving the module a fair shake--since the already-wonky system fails completely otherwise.

Of Times and Death's Feast by Tyndrel is a starting-level adventure for a warrior class that promises a grand story it may eventually deliver. However, this chapter--or at least the first half--involves little more than the exploration of rural maps and the killing of generic low-level beasties such as wolves, goblins and orcs. You'd never have guessed this from the module's colorful description or quirky, attention-grabbing name--or indeed its currently lofty ranking-- but it feels like a first-time effort with the toolset in many ways.

While the premise involving the hunt for a legendary white tiger is interesting, the gameplay soon becomes unengaging due to the large expanses of wilderness and few points of interest. CEP2 is used, but aside from a few monsters and placeables, I saw no need to require such a large download. The author may as well have gone the extra mile and utilized custom tilesets and music to at least give us something pretty to look at and listen to. As it is, I was doing this kind of thing--killing low-low level humanoids whilst climbing oddly angular ramps and listening to Rural Day--back in 2002.

Blandness aside, the area design is decent but occasionally frustrating. You can often see a patch of higher ground with no obvious ramp in sight, which is annoying when orcs and goblins are raining arrows down on your head. Again, it's another low-level module with suspect combat balance. I encountered an ettin--yes, an ettin--while I was third level. The one saving grace here is that the respawn system doesn't place you too far away, but still... dying constantly is not fun. I'm not saying I'm the greatest player in the world, but after playing ~300 modules and creating a few of my own that were fairly well-received, I wouldn't say I'm that bad, either.

But the combat balance is only a small quibble. The real issue is that the game is unengaging and formulaic, and although the story does have decent payoff in the end, it's not eight hours' worth of payoff. Only 10,000 words of dialogue--in an eight-hour module--demonstrates how greatly the game is stacked in favor of action rather than roleplaying. Hey, I like action, but give me something I haven't killed before literally a hundred times.

Despite the somewhat prevailing negativity, I would like to give the author kudos for his excellent support on the forums and the willingness he has shown to take player feedback into account. There's promise here: the makings of a good story are obviously there. Additionally, the dialogue, while plagued by too many typos and comma splices, is frequently entertaining and expressive. I can see a lot of potential for the next part in the series.

Overall I awarded a score of 8.oo on my relativist NWN1 scale, which is a lot lower than the current average. If this was a NWN2 module it'd probably weigh in at about a 6.50.

NWN networking

2008-03-10T22:16:00.005Z

Do you run a website or blog dedicated to either NWN game, and would like to see your site linked here? If so, just comment here to let me know and I'll add a link to your page--providing you return the favor!

The Zelbross Affair module review

2008-03-09T23:03:00.007Z

The first NWN2 module by community veteran Seryn, The Zelbross Affair is a fairly short (4-hour), entertaining romp that delivers solid low-level action with impressive area visuals and a decent, albeit conventional plot. Stylistically the game is very reminiscent of Icewind Dale, with its emphasis on hack-and-slash and rag doll henchmen rather than developed companions. Nonetheless, the writing is solid and there are a few limited opportunities for roleplaying. As is typical with level 1 modules, it can get tough for weaker classes at points--my wizard died a few times--but in truth, it's better balanced than most.

Overall this is a solid first attempt at an FR-based NWN2 module that doesn't throw up any surprises but will serve as a nice introductory module to get your character up to level 4 for other, more ambitious campaigns. On a personal level, I enjoyed once again noting some of the author's trademark design tricks, such as providing shortcuts back to important areas rather than forcing the player to slog it out. That led me to recall my fond memories of the Spine of the World series for NWN1, which I can also recommend if you like the aforementioned Icewind Dale design paradigm. Sentimentality aside, The Zelbross Affair gets a respectable 7.25 from me!

Mysteries of Westgate Spotlight #1: The Legend of the Quelzarn

2008-03-07T18:10:00.004Z

The first in a series of spotlight articles on Mysteries of Westgate has been posted over on the BioWare forums! In this episode, Ossian writer Russ Davis (aka Tiberius209) tells you all you need to know about the quelzarn, the dreaded Serpent of the Harbor!

Stay tuned for an update on our next spotlight.

4th Mysteries of Westgate Developer Diary

2008-03-06T13:36:00.008Z

There's another dev diary over on the RPG Vault, and this one is probably my favorite. In it, I talk about the story and structure of the adventure pack, and also give some thoughts on my design philosophy. Check it out.

Competition time

2008-03-05T21:58:00.007Z

Obsidian has announced its latest contest, this time to decide who can submit the best-looking area. It's not a bad idea--hopefully this may result in some great new prefabs for the community to play with. However, what I'd really like to see is another contest involving short module creation. The last one, based on the Grimm Brothers theme, provided over a dozen new high-quality single player modules, and for me, new single player modules, and single player module builders, are what the community really need.

****

The Neverwinter Nights 1/2 Module of the Year competition is now live. Even if you've played only a small selection of modules for either of the two games, I'd strongly recommend placing your vote. The more votes, the more accurate the results, especially with certain dubious practices being employed in at least one of the polls already so far. I'm looking at you, Towers of Dregar.

****

On my playlist for the next few days: The Zelbross Affair followed by the Subtlety of Thay for NWN2. I'll also be checking out Of Time and Death's Feast for NWN1. I should eat up most of the NWN2 Hall of Fame and top-rated modules over the next couple of months: it's time I got back into the swing of seeing what's hot in the community. I'm a firm believer in great game designers being avid game players, great writers being avid readers, and so on. Very little creative art benefits from being done in a vacuum.

RIP Gary Gygax (1938 - 2008)

2008-03-04T22:00:00.002Z

The creator of Dungeons & Dragons has passed away aged 69.

The Blades of Netheril Companion Spotlight: Maganus

2008-03-01T19:42:00.008Z

This darkly-dressed man exudes power and authority, despite the noticeable limp he carries. His one good eye speaks of a mind that is as sharp as a knife, yet lurking just beneath is madness and a rage that is barely held in check: this mage walks the edges of insanity like a tightrope.

Tall and well-muscled, Maganus looks more like a nobleman than an archmage, at least from a distance. As one draws closer, however, the myriad scars covering his face become clear, the legacy of his decades of bitter conflict with the Zhentarim. He walks with a noticeable limp, the result of an arrow that almost took his leg. His left eye, it is rumored, was plucked out by a crow after he was captured by Zhentarim mages and hung over the walls of Zhentil Keep to die. Maganus lost an eye, but the crow lost its life—as did every single one of the mages who tried and failed to make an example of the one they call the Outlaw.

Personality: A grim, driven man, Maganus has had to become to become as hard and merciless as a steel blade in order to combat the Zhentarim. His own moral inclination appears to be neutral, but his methods and many of his allies can certainly be considered evil. He’s a man who always seems to exercise masterful self-control, yet that lone eye, the window into his soul, unveils the fire that rages within. When it’s unleashed, those nearby would be well-advised to take shelter in a safer place—such as the cave of a red dragon or a private council between Thay’s ruling Zulkirs!

Background: Maganus was born in 1324 DR in the city of Zhentil Keep, in the region known as the Moonsea. His father, a powerful mage named Lasamon, was a high-ranking member of the Zhentarim. Unknown to the dark organization, Lasamon was a Harper informant—if not an actual member—who used his influence and power to help curb the worst of the Zhentarim’s activities. Eventually an ambitious young mage by the name of Zalazar learned of Lasamon’s activities and led a large force to the household of the wizard to make a messy example of the “traitor” and his family. They didn’t find Lasamon unprepared, however.

In a terrific battle which destroyed a large section of one of Zhentil Keep’s most affluent streets, Lasamon was slain after killing most of his assailants. The young Zhentarim mage Zalazar personally dealt the death blow, using improved invisibility to creep up behind Lasamon and splattering his brains against the marble with a well-placed lightning bolt. The surviving soldiers, mostly orcs, raped Lasamon’s wife after Zalazar had had his fun. The rest of Lasamon’s family and all its household staff were then put to the sword. Only one was left alive.

The eight-year-old Maganus was hidden throughout the attack, covered by a well-placed illusion spell cast by his father. In his bloodlust, Zalazar failed to check for the presence of such a spell and thus never discovered Lasamon’s son. Maganus saw everything, however, and as his eyes slid off his mother’s cooling corpse to settle on the headless body of his father, he swore that the Zhentarim would pay—he would see every single one of them dead, no matter the cost.

Over the next decade or so, Maganus lived rough on the streets of Zhentil Keep, doing what he needed to survive. He studied the books and scrolls he took with him from his ruined family home, using what money he could get to pay for tuition from traveling wizards. By sheer happenstance, one such mage was the Sage of Shadowdale, Elminster, who was visiting the city in disguise on Harper business. The Old Mage saw the vast potential in the youth, and Maganus was invited back to Shadowdale to serve as the archmage’s apprentice.

Despite his amazing aptitude for magic, Elminster was troubled by his young prodigy. Something was missing deep in Maganus’s soul, and in its place lurked a wild, terrible fury that reminded Elminster of the worst aspects of the Simbul, the Witch Queen of Aglarond who would later become his paramour. As the years passed, Maganus’s personality grew darker and his appetite for destructive power began overshadowing his other studies. Elminster confronted his apprentice, but instead of heeding his words, Maganus flew into a fury. Following a dire argument that almost erupted into an all-out spell battle, Elminster withdrew his tutelage and banished Maganus from both and his tower and Shadowdale.

Now more than a match for most wizards, and driven by the desire to start fulfilling the vow he made when he was a boy, Maganus traveled back to the Moonsea and started his one-man crusade against the Zhentarim. Over the next twenty years he slew over a hundred members of the organization, including a score of high-ranking members and at least three archmages. He came close to death countless times, but always his iron will and refusal to accept defeat saw him through. Currently he seeks the malaugrym Eremuth, in order to reclaim an item which he believes can truly bring about the destruction of the Black Network.

Swordflight Chapter One module review

2008-03-01T18:22:00.017Z

I took a break from hard work today to play a newly-released NWN1 module; something I haven't done for a very long time. There's something vaguely exciting about being the first to download and play a module that appears to hold a lot of promise: you suspect it's going to be good, but you're not quite sure.

This time around the module in question was Swordflight Chapter One by rogueknight333, a Forgotten Realms (Calimshan, although in practice only loosely)-based module for starting level characters. I was very impressed with the author's abilities but somewhat disappointed in the content of the module which felt a little too generic. I admit that I'm probably more jaded than most. For me, a little custom content goes a long way. Here's my review from the module board. Criticisms aside, I gave it a solid 8.50.

I'm probably just a little over halfway through this module, and unfortunately I'm going to have to bail due to the difficulties I'm encountering with combat balance. Normally I wouldn’t vote on a module I haven’t finished, but these are lean times for NWN1 module authors and I think I’ve seen enough to justify registering the first score on the board.

I really wanted to rate Swordflight Chapter One higher than I have. At one point, having rather amusingly just got hit in the back by a crossbow bolt fired by my erstwhile companion, I was leaning towards a 9.25/9.50. The writing is uniformly excellent; the area layouts are tight and make sense (although some custom content would have been welcome); the general design is very solid; and it’s amazingly polished for a first release. I didn’t spot even a single typo. It’s very professional all around.

It’s a little disappointing, then, to see such a talented author play it so safe and opt to turn a module that initially held great promise into a series of solid but extremely tired dungeon romps. There are the bandits, which I was okay with because it moved the story forward a little, and then there are the giant spiders, and then the undead… it’s very polished and yet so generic that it’s hard to get enthusiastic about this kind of thing in 2008. There’s even a "rat in the cellar quest" near the start of the module, albeit one with a decent twist. Even so, I would have played it through to the end were it not for the suspect combat balance.

For a module that positively encourages a rogue character type with its impressive alignment and pickpocket systems, the fights all seem tailored around a fighter-type player character. Often you’re thrown into combat against two or three Moderate enemies that can easily kill you inside a round. Lots of low-level combat with rogue player characters can be frustrating at the best of times: throw in a respawn system that allows a limited number of respawns which you’ll use up in the first quarter of the game, and things get aggravating fast.

And that’s a real shame, because as mentioned already, the writing is stellar and it’s as polished as anything you’ll find on the Vault. The author also seems to know his Forgotten Realms lore very well; I find it strange that he didn’t utilize it, along with the ton of custom content available for NWN1, to make something the jaded veterans who still play the game can get really excited about.

I’m sure the balance problems will be addressed--combat that’s too tough seems to be a major complaint about roughly half the starting-level modules released for the both NWN games, during their immediate post-release days. Once the frustration factor is removed, I would definitely recommend this to players who still have a thirst for low-level adventures and don’t mind killing more bandits and skeletons. That said, I expect it will pale in comparison to the author’s future projects, since he evidently has the writing, design and technical skills to turn out a Hall of Fame candidate.

Snickersnack! module review

2008-02-29T23:53:00.007Z

I took an hour out of my busy schedule this evening to play a delightful little NWN1 module entitled Snickersnack!, created by Nereng. It was originally created for the BioWare World Design Contest and seems to be have been the only such module to make it into the Top 15 list and, indeed, the NWN1 Module of the Year nominations. Despite lasting just under an hour, it was funny, entertaining and technically very accomplished, with some great scripting on display. I awarded it a score of 9.25 (using NWN1 voting standards).

New Mysteries of Westgate article at RPG Vault

2008-02-28T21:09:00.007Z

There's a new Mysteries of Westgate dev diary over at the RPG Vault. This time it's Ossian CEO and Producer Alan Miranda, and Ossian Lead Technical Designer Kevin Smith giving their thoughts on the new art, audio and tooleset tools. Check out those beautiful screenshots!

Single-class adventure packs

2008-02-27T20:44:00.006Z

Earlier today I saw an interesting post on the Mysteries of Westgate forum extolling the benefits of possible adventure packs based around a single character class, such as an assassin or druid. It's true that certain classes don't seem to get a lot of love in either user modules or commercial products. Personally, I would love to play through a story designed specifically around, say, a Red Wizard of Thay or a Blackguard.

Knowing the player character enables a designer to make gameplay and narrative assumptions that they couldn't otherwise make for the classic "open" character. Certain module authors did this to brilliant effect for NWN1: Alex "Hugie" Hugon with his Tale of a Mage series, Gary Whicker with Kale's Rangers, and, of course, Rick Burton's paladin-based masterpieces Twilight and Midnight.

Unfortunately, commercially, class-based products wouldn't really float. For any one class there's only going to be a minority that favors it above the rest, thus adding value to the product for them: for everyone else, it's at best a huge strike against the product for grossly limiting customization... and at worst a complete deal-breaker. I can't see the necessary parties greenlighting something like this, and to be honest, I don't blame them.

That doesn't stop the "amateurs" (note emphasis on the quotation marks with a knowing glance from the NWN1 OC to the modules listed above!) from taking up the mantle. I'd love to see some class-based modules for NWN2. Indeed, it's fair to say that such an endeavor could be much easier to tackle as a first project than one catering for all possible classes: trying to include relevant options for all classes can sometimes be mind-boggling, and for a new modder, a class-based adventure can provide a ready set of ideas and hooks to explore while keeping everything nicely focused.

Neverwinter Nights Module of the Year 2007 Awards

2008-02-26T12:54:00.011Z

The candidates for the Neverwinter Nights Module of the Year have been finalized over on the Vault. This year sees the inaugural awards for NWN2, as well as the fifth set of awards for NWN1. It’s interesting to note that there are only 27 qualifying modules for NWN2 and 16 for NWN1, despite the past requirement of Hall of Fame entry being removed. The slowdown of modules for NWN1 is to be expected--after all, the game is 5 1/2 years old--but it's pretty surprising to see that only 27 NWN2 modules achieved a score of 8 or higher in the game’s first full year. I remember the heady days of 2003 when literally five or six new Hall of Fame candidates were being released every week.

Still, there’s some great stuff in the works for NWN2. Check out the blog links to the right of this post! Of course, there’s also the possible prospect of more adventure and expansion packs in the future....

Here are my predictions for the 2007 Modules of the Year awards:

Neverwinter Nights 1

Overall Award: Tortured Hearts II

The Aielund Saga Act IV – The Fall of Aielund Pt 3

Silver Award: Sanctum of the Archmage 2: The Miracle Worker

Bronze Award: Aribeth’s Redemption Chapter 2

Neverwinter Nights 2

Overall Award: Harp and Chrysanthemum

Gold Award: Dark Waters 1 – Highcastle

Silver Award: Night Howls in Nestlehaven

Bronze Award: Tragedy in Tragidor

Note that the above doesn’t necessarily represent the modules I think deserve to win based on quality (I haven’t played most of them), but rather those I think are likely to pick up an award based on downloads, scores, and general vibe in the community. It wouldn’t surprise me at all if Moonshadows, The Subtlety of Thay, or Pool of Radiance were winners in the Neverwinter Nights 2 poll. Good luck to everyone, although I won't be voting this time around!

Dark Avenger Chapter 1 module review

2008-02-25T22:00:00.010Z

A couple of months ago I had the pleasure of playing through Wyrin D'jrnago's Dark Avenger Chapter 1. I've played far less NWN2 modules than I should have--something I hope to remedy soon--but this was arguably the best of those I have played. I awarded it a score of 8.75. Here are my comments from the module board (edited slightly):

This is a fine module. I agree with comment to the effect that it should be ranked higher than it is. The design, writing and story are head and shoulders above most of the other top-rated modules I've played. The design reminded me of Baldur's Gate 2, with a host of great companions facilitating good, tactical combat, and a very intriguing, entertaining story. The final showdown with the bandit leader was just fantastic. It’s unusual and refreshing to find such three-dimensional, believable characters in a module.

The only real downsides were a.) the eventually repetitive combat with the bandits and b.) the occasionally bland area design. The Wilderness area in particular was a chore to explore; I found only one point of interest here for all my wandering, the barrows, and the dire bear near the north of the map really needs toning down.

Everything else is roughly great. The unique “define your past” approach is inspired and allows for a really immersive roleplaying experience. The plot is intricate, masterfully crafted and leaves things perfectly poised for a sequel. Great stuff!

The Blades of Netheril update

2008-02-24T18:46:00.010Z

This is the one many of you will be curious about. Apologies if you sent me an e-mail request for a status update and never received a reply--the truth is, I wasn't sure myself, and I didn't want to create false hope and make empty promises.

AL4: The Blades of Netheril isn't being fitted for a burial. Far from it. The areas are mostly there, half the conversations are written, and the first part of the module is already tightly scripted. That said, I haven't made much progress during the past few months. I've been much too busy with Ossian Studios. Also, I wanted to hold off doing any more work until 1.69 is final. I had a tough time coordinating all the custom content for AL4 and I know that the final patch is likely to mean more headaches. It just makes sense to wait until the game has settled down.

But don't get too discouraged. It's delayed, not abandoned. I'm going to use the opportunity to redesign a few things I was unhappy with and ensure that when I resume work after 1.69 is released, time permitting, it'll be everything players hoped for and more. Why support an old game? Creative satisfaction and the determination to avoid being another statistic. That's not easy when you're designing games on a professional level and the project in question is around 20 hours in length, but I'll do my best. As for an ETA? I don't have one. It depends on too many factors. But it'll get done. At worst you'll be playing this module sometime in 2009. At best... we'll see.

Thanks for your patience.

New interviews for Mysteries of Westgate

2008-02-24T09:02:00.012Z

Two new interviews have just been released for Mysteries of Westgate.

The first is a dev diary written by me and posted on IGN. The article includes five exclusive screenshots which, I must say, look rather nice. Mantides (who I wrote) looks almost as dashing as I do in real life. I wish I had a sword that big.

The second is a NWN Podcast interview with Ossian CEO and Producer Alan Miranda, and Luke Scull, Ossian Lead Designer. Yup, me again. I haven't listened to this yet, but the interview was fun to do. Head over there now and check it out.

Alazander's Blog relaunched

2008-02-24T07:59:00.009Z

If you are or were a frequent visitor to this blog, you'll have noted that it appeared to be dying a slow death since December last year. I've seen some speculation in the community as to what this means for my involvement with NWN, particularly my final NWN1 module project, AL4: The Blades of Netheril.

The truth--or at least most of it--is that I've been exceptionally busy these last few months. With no time to work on amateur solo projects, and with Mysteries of Westgate out of the bag and waiting, somewhat interminably, on release, I simply lacked things to blog about that I felt would be of value to readers. Did a certain amount of post-announcement fatigue play a part? Yes, it probably did. The wait since the announcement has been frustrating for everyone, none more so than for the members of the development team.

Now, though, I'm very confident that the first NWN2 adventure pack will be released over the next 3-5 weeks. There's been a lot of speculation going on about the reasons for the delay, including many fingers being falsely pointed. The good news--and there is good news, a lot of it--is that those delays are being caused for reasons that will ultimately result in great benefit to the community. There are definitely exciting times ahead for NWN2.

And I'm back blogging. Expect news, reviews and project updates on a frequent and regular basis. It doesn't stop at the NWN series, although that's still the primary focus on this blog. I'll also be blogging about other CRPGs such as the Witcher, as well as movies I've seen, books I've read, and various other things that interest me and, I hope, you, too.

Welcome back; or just welcome!