Tag: Electronic Arts

Gaming Disappointments

Source: https://makeameme.org/meme/disappointment-disappointment

A YouTuber that I sometimes watch by the name of Mortisimal Gaming recently did a post describing the most disappointing game experience that he’s had as a gamer. I liked the video and it got me thinking about some of the gaming experiences that I’ve had that were disappointing in some way, so I put together this post just to (briefly) talk about some gaming disappointments that I’ve had as well. I generally don’t have as many disappointments these days because I now generally wait on reviews, and thanks to school and work and all of my many responsibilities, I now end up getting games generally around Christmas time even though they are released during the year. In other words, it has to be a special game for me to purchase it during the year–most of my gaming purchases are now within the last 3-4 months of the year, so I have a pretty good consensus of what the game is like, what the reviews for the game gave it, and whether it is in my “wheelhouse” as a game I would probably enjoy. Basically, I’m pretty much always “late to the party” on all but a few of the “top tier” releases that I would enjoy. This has helped to greatly cut down on gaming disappointments for me (looking at you Cyberpunk 2077).

Sword of Sodan (Sega Genesis; published by Electronic Arts (EA))

Source: https://archive.org/details/sg_Sword_of_Sodan_1990_Electronic_Arts_Innerprise_EU-US_en

My #1 gaming disappointment of all time is Sword of Sodan published by EA (then Electronic Arts before it shortened its name to be more “hip”). Sword of Sodan was a game that I bought for my birthday and it was such a disappointment because I was really into Golden Axe at the time (beat em ups were extremely popular) and based on the back cover artwork and copy, it looked like a bigger, more intense version of Golden Axe, which is what I was looking for at the time. However, the game was a simple side-scroller, and worse yet, it was a mess of half-implemented ideas and terrible controls. It was ridiculously difficult to play and getting off of the very first level was both difficult and tedious. Worse yet, it was a birthday game, meaning it was the game that I spent birthday money on and so wasted that money for that year. And when I was a child, money (for games especially) wasn’t something that could easily be obtained, so I had to make every dollar count. Spending money on this game was a bitter lesson in advertising vs reality. And the final insult? I had to wait until Christmas to get any new games after I got my “birthday game.” Since my birthday is early in the year, that meant months and months of waiting–with only this crappy and poorly designed game as my only new experience for all those months. I learned the value of video game magazines and reviews and made buying issues of magazines a priority after purchasing this game. I still have the cartridge–to remind myself that “all that glitters isn’t gold.”

YouTube Longplay of Sword of Sodan

Mass Effect Andromeda (Playstation 4; EA)

Source: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1238000/Mass_Effect_Andromeda_Deluxe_Edition/

This game is one of the few times that I let my “hype” get in the way of my good sense. I had so enjoyed the original Mass Effect trilogy (especially Mass Effect 2) that I was completely “sold” on the idea of going to another galaxy and having an “open world” Mass Effect style of game, but that’s not what we got. To be fair, the ideas were there, but it needed another 6 months to “bake” to get rid of the bugs and another 1 – 2 years to “bake” to iron issues with narrative and story. This game had the potential to be something special, but was handicapped by EA’s need to release “under-finished” products to satisfy their investors and upper management. They’ve released too many products like this for my tastes (as if getting burned by Sword of Sodan wasn’t enough), so while I do still buy EA products, they go onto an “automatic waitlist” now. I will NOT buy an EA game without reviews/significant discount in price.

Evolve (Playstation 4; 2K)

Source: https://www.pcinvasion.com/evolve-failed-because-4v1-didnt-work-pricing-and-more/

The final game for this post (don’t worry, there have been others that I could have talk about and I may revisit this topic again) is Evolve from 2K Games. Now, I could talk about 2K Games as its own separate post because none of the games from this publisher that I’ve purchased have been ones that I’ve enjoyed and the others in its catalog (Grand Theft Auto) are not ones that I care to play (despite their enormous popularity). Evolve was especially painful as the Playstation community never got the Left 4 Dead (L4D) games during the PS3/ Xbox 360 era, and I was especially looking forward to a sci-fi version of this (with aliens instead of zombies). However, their decision to make the “alien monster” a human player really robbed this game of any tension. Most of the time players chosen weren’t good monsters/enemies (myself included) and the few that were were “god-like.” This idea to have humans as monsters was great for the developer as they 1) didn’t have to come up with complex enemy AI and 2) 5 people had to buy the game instead of 4, but in terms of gameplay, this decision basically “knee-capped” the game and really robbed it of the chance to become as popular as their L4D games. I basically had written off this developer, but they’ve managed to redeem themselves with Back 4 Blood which I bought based on the strength of reviews and a demo. Without that, I probably would have passed the series up as I had been burned by the developer in the past. Still, Evolve could have been the series that brought them back, if they hadn’t chased “industry trends” and put the work and effort in to have developed an AI system for their sci-fi monsters. They ended up having to do it for Back 4 Blood, so imagine what a game like Evolve could have been if they’d been willing to do it sooner.

Well, that’s all I have time for today–have a great week!

Sidney

Please consider supporting these fine small press publishers where my work has appeared:

Currently Working On (January 2022):

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    2022 Revision; Out to Market.
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    2022 Revision: Completed; Out to Market.
  • The Independent (Science Fiction Story–4800 words)
    2021 Revision: ACCEPTED FOR PUBLICATION

Platinum Tales: Astro’s Playroom

White and black Playstation 5 controller with Astro (white, black and blue robot) and other robotic characters surrounding the robot on blue background.
Image Source: https://www.pushsquare.com/guides/astros-playroom-guide-tips-tricks-and-all-collectibles

I’m taking the title from a YouTuber’s series. She “platinums” more games than I do and so she has a whole series of videos with this title. Generally speaking, I only (realistically) platinum 1-3 games per year (and that’s only when I do manage to platinum games–there have been years when I’ve earned 0 platinums). For those not in the video game space (or the Playstation space), “platinuming” = earning a platinum trophy on a Playstation game for in-game “achievements.” The trophy system (bronze trophies, silver trophies, and gold trophies) are achievements that designers specify in their games. On Playstation systems, there is a “platinum” trophy for earning all the other trophies (achievements) and so it is a mark of “excellence” to “platinum” a game.

Astro’s Playroom

So far, I’ve earned 2 platinum trophies this year. The first was Assassin’s Creed Odyssey (at least I think I platinum it earlier in the spring). About 2 months ago, I also managed to platinum Astro’s Playroom. This is a game that is included with every Playstation 5 and serves to show off the advanced controller features of the console. Most of the achievements (challenges) were fairly easy, but the time trial segments, which are the ones that I put off until last, were surprisingly difficult in some areas. There were also a couple of “hidden” collectibles that I couldn’t find and had to resort to the console’s “hint” system to figure out where they were hidden, but overall, I thought the process of platinuming the game went fairly well.

A Love Letter to the Playstation “Brand”

I’m sure that this has been said in pretty much every review of the PS5 and the game, but I enjoyed platinuming the game largely because Astro’s Playroom is a love letter in every sense of the word to the world of Playstation. As a Playstation player since the original PS days (wasn’t known as the PS1/PSone as it is sometimes called now–it was just the Playstation), there are a LOT of “Easter eggs” hidden throughout the game that really brought the nostalgia back from all the good times of playing games with my family and with my late uncle in particular as he was also a “gamer” (at heart).

In fact, (digression here) one of my most favored memories were loading in the original Gran Turismo game and EA’s Triple Play 99 and being stunned by their introductions. In both cases, we both knew where the intro “should” have stopped based on limitations of earlier Nintendo/Sega cartridge based consoles, but they just KEPT GOING! I remember my uncle and myself being stunned into silence as we were conversing at the beginning and then we both became engrossed in the imagery and soundscape that filled the living room (where the PS was set-up at the time).

Astro’s Playroom brought back all of the nostalgia and all of the great times of playing PS consoles over the years. It also did a great job of showing consoles/peripherals that I knew about but didn’t get a chance to own (remember, I was a kid, so I had to wait for Christmas/my birthday for many of these items–at least for the earliest consoles–the PS2 was the first console I ever bought with my own money).

Ah, The Memories!

In closing, I just wanted to mention that if you are a Playstation fan of any level (original PS, PS2, PS3, PS4, or PS5), you owe it yourself to pick up this console at some point just to play Astro’s Playroom. Not only are the graphics cool and the controller tech super innovative, but the gameplay, while a bit on the simple side (it is after all definitely geared towards a family audience), still manages to capture the “magic” that makes Playstation what it is: a fun, varied experience that the whole family can enjoy and smile with as you bop to some terrific music.

And I challenge you to NOT get that “GPU” song stuck in your head after you hear it a couple of times. What am I talking about? Well, here you go! You’re welcome!

Captured directly from the game!

Sidney

Please consider supporting these fine small press publishers where my work has appeared:

Currently Working On (August 2021):

  • Unhallowed (Weird Western Story)
    2021 Revision: Completed; Out to Market.
  • Starlight, Starbright (Science Fiction Story)
    2021 Revision: Completed.
  • The Independent (Science Fiction Story)
    2021 Revision: Completed; Out to Market.
  • To Dance the Sea of Storms (Fantasy Story)
    Prewrite: Completed, Plan & Outline: Completed, Write a first draft: Completed, Revision: In Progress
  • Project Runner (Fantasy Story)
    Prewrite: Completed, Plan & Outline: Completed, Write a Rough draft: Completed, Write a First Draft: In Progress (1000 words), Hard Deadline: August 31st, 2021 (Special Issue)

BioWare is Apparently Redesigning Anthem–and it Couldn’t Come at a Better Time.

Image of four Powersuits (Javelins) hovering and flying over a futuristic forest world.
Image Source: https://www.extremetech.com/gaming/306094-bioware-announces-it-will-radically-redesign-fix-anthem

So, this blog post was originally going to be about the Oscars–and hopefully, that will still come (although not in any traditional form), but as I was brainstorming what I wanted to say about the Oscars this year that hasn’t already been remarked on, I happened across a small gaming news story that caught my eye. Anthem is set to be overhauled in the future.

Anthem–BioWare’s Black Eye

I’ve made no bones about the fact that I was wary from the very start about Anthem as a game. The reveal of it on Microsoft’s XBox One stage left a sour taste in my mouth from a once avowed “platform agnostic” game publisher (EA). After the game was released, I followed the following PR storm and resulting low review scores on YouTube and in the gaming press. I resolved that I would only pick up Anthem at the sub $10 mark as I feel EA simply no longer cares about its customers. Yes, the game had been in development for quite a while and thanks to a report by game’s journalist, Jason Schreier, we’ve been told that the development of the game was troubled. Yes, I understand that EA is a business and that they need to recupe their investment, but their business is games, not investors, and just like Hollywood, sometimes you have to sink more money into a floundering project unless you want to burn your customers’ goodwill for your future products.

Yes, I Bought Anthem–for a Song

So, yes, I bought Anthem. However, I didn’t lose money as I purchased it from Gamestop for $5. That’s right, Gamestop had bought so many copies and had such a surplus from people not buying the game in the quantities that GS had hoped, that they had to slash the price in order to clear inventory and recoup some investment on the game. I know how retail works, and GS likely purchased the game for approx. half of list price (in bulk quantities, hence the discount–or at least that’s the way it was for books back in the day when I worked at a bookstore). They likely didn’t eat the full $60 price tag, but even at half price, $30 is nothing to sneeze at. Usually stores will discount to around $10 or so to really clear inventory–so to have it at $5 likely means that GS bet big with Anthem (and lost).

Anthem Devs: Get Rid of the Tombs Mission

The reason why the report is timely is that I just stopped playing Anthem over the past weekend. There is a “roadblock” mission (known to the community as the Tombs’ Mission. Effectively, it is a roadblock to throttle player progress through the game since the game actually is much shorter than (apparently) it was designed to be and acts as an artificial barrier impeding progress. I knew the mission was there before I bought it, but I hit it this weekend and after looking at the requirements to complete it, I said, “No, I’m out.” I will NOT pick up the game again to play until that mission is gone (or heavily modified in some way so that it doesn’t throttle progression). I play games for FUN. If you can’t be bothered to design a game that is fun (for whatever the reason, I won’t play it; simple as that). If BioWare wants me to play their game, be invested in their world, and (what they really want) have a chance of selling me on content after I’ve purchased the game, then they have to come up with a compelling game that warrants my initial purchase (& any subsequent time and money that I choose to sink into the game).

Companies have to remember: the purchaser is NOT obligated to give you money for your product (or to continue funding that product) just on the publisher’s say so. Nor is the audience of the company its shareholders, but rather its customers.

No customers = no company. I don’t care how many shareholders you have or how much investment you have–if the customer doesn’t buy it, no one’s going to fund you. Right now, it seems like BioWare is headed in the right direction–time will tell, however, if I ever pick up Anthem again. (Psst, BioWare, if anyone is listening/reading, then a good first step would be to get rid of the Tombs’ Mission. Just sayin’.)

Sidney

Please consider supporting these fine small press publishers where my work has appeared:

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EA Access: A Whole Lot of Nope

EA Access Logo -- EA Logo in a circle with the word access on the black background.
Image Source: https://www.techradar.com/news/gaming/5-things-you-need-to-know-about-ea-access-1261582

So, there is a YouTube channel that I watch quite a few videos for and he is always “whining” about the Playstation 4 not having EA Access and how it is a “good value” for customers (it isn’t — it’s a good value for EA, but no one else). The reason that I’m writing about it is that the channel’s narrator/host can’t wait for EA Access to come to PS4 later this year after being available for Microsoft X-box and PC for a while now. While, I’m all for personal choice, I think that this is a wrong-headed — at least, to be pushing it on his channel as hard as he is as if there are no downsides to EA Access.

EA is a Corporation, Nothing More

EA Access (at the time of this writing) costs 4.99 a month. Let’s round that to $5.00 (US) and multiply that by 12 (# of months in a year) and it will cost you $60 dollars a year (or $30.00 if you sign up for the year–$29.99 at the time of writing). This is not an arbitrary number because it is “coincidentally” the amount that “new” games cost. So, the “nameless” YouTuber gets to claim that the cost of the subscription is more than equaled by the cost of 1 game (going month to month), so if you were going to buy one EA game “new” in that year, you would have offset yourself cost of the subscription fees. Play any other games on the service, he argues, and you come out ahead in the investment.

Except . . . that’s not how that works. EA is a corporation which (like all corporations) exists to make a profit. How can they sustain themselves if they are giving away their product? And that’s the catch that the YouTuber isn’t seeing–they’re not giving away anything–but getting two (2) things instead.

Thing One and Thing Two

The first thing they’re getting is a predictable revenue stream. EA’s output these past two – three years has been spotty at best (in terms of original games — their Sports titles continue on just fine). This past year, I bought nothing (“new”) from EA. More on that in just a moment. I’m still not planning on buying anything “new” this year either. However, if I was signed up for EA Access, EA would have received $120 dollars from me instead of $0. They are betting on me not cancelling every month in which I do not play one of their games, but rather on the fact that it is easier to just keep paying the fee, even on months when I don’t use their service. Also, if you don’t buy your EA games “new” (i.e., used or at a discount) then it takes you much longer to just your yearly fee. What if you only bought 3 EA games at 9.99 each in a year (just shy of $30), then you actually lose money by going with EA Access ($30 – $40 = -$10) for you and ($40 – $30 = +$10) for EA. And unless you cancel (and most won’t) that’s (+$10 * everyone who falls into that category yearly), so its not just a one time thing with one person. Believe me, that money adds up fast (& EA is fully aware of this).

The second, more insidious thing that EA Access is promoting is the idea that you are “accessing” their selection. Now, this point is going to be contentious as 1) EA does allow you to download the games and 2) unless you are mind-reader (and I am not), it is impossible to know this point for certain. Yet, looking at the moves that EA has made in the past (its alliance with X-Box One’s original “check-in” requirements — no, we haven’t forgotten that, or at least I haven’t– the original Titanfall came to PS4, right? Oh no, that’s right, it didn’t–they read the “tea leaves” wrong and left sales on the table which is why Titanfall 2 was released on the same day and date PS4/X-Box One). There is no guarantee that, should Access become a defacto standard, that they wouldn’t eliminate the download option altogether (actually, it is fairly likely since that’s the route YouTube took and put downloading videos behind their premium service). In fact, Stadia is essentially Access without the download option and Stadia is where Access could be headed in the future (yes, conjecture I know), but again, the YouTuber presents Access with no downsides, while EA doesn’t exactly fill me with “good vibes” & “warm fuzzies” when it comes to the whole customer vs shareholder divide.

Anyway, apologizes if this post seemed long/rambly, but I wanted to get out my thoughts on why EA Access isn’t necessarily the “good deal” that many, one YouTuber especially, seems to think it is and why I’m not excited that it is finally making its way on to the PlayStation platform.

Sidney

Please consider supporting these fine small press publishers where my work has appeared:

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It’s All About the Games, EA!

Image Source: https://www.dexerto.com/business/ea-shares-plummet-after-battlefield-v-delay-announcement-151830

Recently, Andrew Wilson, the current CEO of EA said some things in an investor call that illustrate why I no longer purchase EA games until they are severely discounted, if at all. His comments underscore a deeper problem with EA. It, as a company, is far too invested in what its investors want and not enough invested in what its customers want.

The Customer is Always Right

“The customer is always right” is the primary adage in the business world–that is, until you reach a certain size (Megacorporation size, is what I term it) where the customer no longer becomes the focus (or core) of your business. EA is a gaming company–it creates video games and sells them to people (customers) who enjoy playing them as a diversion or hobby. Like all entertainment media, there is a risk involved that the buying public will not like the product and you will lose money. It is in EA’s interests to minimize this as best they can in order to make a profit, stay in business, and grow as company.

The problem is that based on Andrew Wilson’s comments in the investor call, (and I’m paraphrasing here), he seems to think that most of the problem is a presentation one and that the old ways of marketing don’t work and the company needs to have a conversation with its fans.

Andrew, no. Just no.

I’ve been a “gamer” since 1984 and I saw the rise of EA (then Electronic Arts) from a small game publisher of unique titles (Starflight, Skyfox, The Bard’s Tale series) to their growth with sports titles, into the megacorporation they are now. In their early years, they were focused on compelling content and the selling of games.

Now they are too focused on the idea of services, gimmicks, and the latest gaming crazes put into their games to increase their revenue, whether or not it makes sense to their games (loot boxes anyone?) How does this serve consumer (and please don’t give me the laughable line about “added value”–which is corporate doublespeak for pay us now for the game and pay us later for additional stuff we created in the hopes you’ll give us more money for the same product so we don’t have to take a risk and develop a new product you, as consumers, might not buy from us because its not very good).

The Investor Wants a Quick and Maximum Return on Their Investment

While not wrong, investors don’t really care about games as “art” (good experiences for their company’s customers). They want to get a much money back from their original investment as possible in as short amount of time as possible. Their goals are almost antithetical to that of the company in which they invest (in most cases). They look for the quickest, easiest way of getting money, whether or not that makes sense for the business in question. Don’t believe me, well when EA’s prime competitor Activision, fell on hard times recently, an unnamed investor apparently wondered why Activision didn’t have a game like EA’s suddenly (& surprisingly) successful Apex Legends in its portfolio–or so the story goes–again paraphrasing from sources.

Say what? EA itself didn’t know it was going to be a hit, so how could Activision have known? And now that they do know, what is Activision supposed to do? Make an Apex Legend “clone?” But wait, we already have Apex Legend, why do we need another?

In that particular investor’s mind (which I’m going to extend to cover to most megacorp investors), that thing “over there” is successful and “printing money,” so go do that thing and then we’ll be just as successful and printing money too. The problem is, that in most cases, especially entertainment, that’s not how success works. It has to be both very good and, at the very least, at least mildly original (but usually highly so, or at least original enough within a fairly established genre–which is what Apex Legends was, a “new” & “fresh” take on the Battle Royal genre). Derivatives rarely fare as well as the original, but try telling that to an investor–good luck with that!

Simply put, EA won’t get itself under control (and no other gaming company will either) until it remembers that investors are not its focus–its customers are. Stop trying to “monetize” customers with gimmicks and services and the like for your investors and return to creating compelling content that customers crave and cannot bear to be without and you’ll find that customers will buy your products and your quarters will be (mostly) safe.

In other words, you know those “games” that you think are “old fashioned?” They’re actually what we, your customers, are looking for. Please stop treating us a “resource” to be exploited, but as customers looking for a great product with great value at a reasonable price. If your investors don’t like it, then I humbly submit, that may very well be where your problem, as a megacorporation, actually lies.

Sidney

Please consider supporting these fine small press publishers where my work has appeared:

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Weekend Round Up, February 25, 2019

Image Source: https://oscar.go.com/news/winners/oscar-winners-2019-live-updates-to-come

So, here (in no particular order) are some of the things that I’ve done over the weekend.

Writing

  • Finished the “Opening Incident” section of my 2nd Draft of “Starlight, Starbright.” (2 of 5 sections). It looks like I’m not going to make my deadline of finishing by the Feb. 28th for the deadline of the anthology where I was hoping to send it. Still, it looks (& feels) far better than it did under the old story of “The Rocketman.” Even if it doesn’t “light up the world” (pardon the pun–starlight, starbright), it is still a fun story with a character that I understand.
  • Re-outlined my graphic novel which has been at a stand-still for about a month. I realized that, while the first issue, was supposed to be an adaptation of the short-story, I didn’t really have a clue of what I wanted to do or where I wanted to go after I finished with that section, so I finally sat down and wrote out a beginning, middle, and end for the story. Now I just need to do the breakdown again for each individual issue and then I’ll start working on it again.

Gaming

  • Didn’t really do a whole lot of gaming this week, but here are the highlights:
  • Cancelled my preorder for Anthem and moved the money over to Days Gone. I won’t reiterate my disdain for EA’s current “slash and burn” strategy towards its core audience, but I vote with my wallet, rather than just continually talking about it. I said it before and I’ll say it again: “fool me once (Mass Effect Andromeda), shame on you, fool me twice (Anthem), shame on me.”

School

  • This is where the majority of my time went this weekend:
  • We had an assignment (class/group) that was due at 11:30 pm last night. Trying to coordinate this while this was Oscar Sunday was very difficult. We got it done, but it was pretty stressful–I won’t lie.
  • I still have a Biography project due for class (in addition to the above assignment), so these next two days are going to be very “fun.” Yeah, not so much.

Oscars

  • So, since I’m taking a test in film this year, I felt obligated to watch the Oscars (which I have a love-hate relationship with) this past Sunday. I loved the Oscars during the George Burns (1970s/1980s era) and (Billy Crystal (1990s) era, but have disliked it recently due to its continued snubbing of popular films (I was shocked that Lord of the Rings: Return of the King won (& won big) and I guessed that would be the last popular film for a long while to win (and with the rise of “comic book movies,” it turns out that my fears were well founded). I watched last night pretty much out of deference to The Black Panther, but I knew it wouldn’t win (neither Chadwick Boseman nor Michael B. Jordan were nominated in their respective Actor/Supporting Actor Roles which is nearly always a bad sign of things to come for a picture’s Best Picture hopes). Still, I wanted to at least get a sense of the filmic landscape for this year just in case a question came up on the test.

Well, I think that’s all for today. Not sure if I’ll be able to blog tomorrow because of my assignment, but we’ll see and I’ll play it by ear.

Sidney

Please consider supporting these fine small press publishers where my work has appeared:

  • Current Work-in-Progress–February 2019: Starlight, Starbright (Sci-Fi Short-Story — 2nd Draft — “Opening Incident” (2/5 sections)
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  • Current Work-in-Progress: Ship of Shadows (Sci-Fi Graphic Novel – Script, Issue # 2, Currently on Script Page 32)

Anthem: Wait and See

Those of you who have followed my blog for a while know that I’m interested in all varieties of games, from racing to action to shooters. However, I have a soft spot for science fiction action games, no matter the genre (about the only exception to this is “puzzle” games, but even then, if the game maker can really sell me on the concept, I’ll at least take a look). However, after being burned by Mass Effect Andromeda two summers ago, I’ve taken a more “wait and see” approach towards games published by EA (Electronic Arts) as they seem content to release games that are not quite finished in order to 1) not disrupt their “pipeline” with future releases that that have in the works for later in the year and 2) satisfy their investors over their game-playing audience.

Early Reviews

So, Anthem “partially” released to subscribers of EA’s early access “subscription” platform and the reviews have been, for the most part, mediocre. While most praise the graphics and the flying and the gorgeous world, many are also criticizing long load times and the multiplicity of loading screens, bugs/glitches, and a story that doesn’t necessarily delve as deeply as many fans of the developer’s (Bioware’s) stories. Early reviews are generally speaking a 7 out of 10–okay, but not great.

Yes, I know you have a whole slate of games planned for the fall–Jedi: Fallen Order is one that we know of, and rumors persist of a “new” Need for Speed game, but Anthem is an important game for EA, so why not give it the time it needs to finish “baking?”

Fool Me Once, Shame on You; Fool Me Twice, Shame on Me

So, I’m waiting on the game, even if EA isn’t willing to do this. EA would prefer that I buy it and wait for them to fix it over the year and make it a good game, so that they already have my money to add to their numbers for their investors. I’m looking for a good product for my purchase price. So, unlike Mass Effect Andromeda, I’m not going to pick up my preorder based on both my perception of the game (in its current state) and the early reviews of the game. While I think that the graphics are top-notch, I’m not as sold on the flying/combat as even the reviewers are based on their reviews, and I’m certainly not impressed by the frequent loading screens. To be honest, the game reminds me of Knights of Legend, an Origin game that really wanted owners to own a hard-drive, but came out on the Commodore 64 (C64) with a disk drive. I was always switching out disks based on whatever activities that I needed/wanted to do–the same seemed true with Anthem. Everything that I was doing seemed to need a load screen (and that’s with the 2nd demo–for me, the first demo was plagued with the “infinite loading screen bug” where I couldn’t even load into a game for most of the afternoon). After buying Mass Effect Andromeda brand new (which also had major issues due to lack of development time), I’m choosing to (at best) wait quite a while before purchasing the game.

Sidney

  • Current Work-in-Progress–February 2019: Project Dog  (Sci-Fi Short-Story – 1st Draft)
  • Current Work-in-Progress: Ship of Shadows (Sci-Fi Graphic Novel – Script, Issue # 2, Currently on Script Page 32)

Weekly Round-Up (February 3rd-9th)

potpourri

Writing

  • 2nd Draft–Starlight, Starbright: “Exposition” — I worked on the beginning of the story and reworked it to add in more characterization, more character backstory, and to revise the introduction of the story so that it matches the changes that I made in the middle of the story in the 1st draft (I didn’t go back and revise it as I figured I would get bogged down and not finish the 1st draft which is what I wanted to do.
  • The market that I’m aiming this for is a yearly one and it stops taking submissions on February 28th. I already missed a different market that stopped taking submissions on Jan. 31st (& will have to wait until June for their next period), so I don’t want to miss this one and have to wait an entire year (along with it having a different theme, to boot).

Gaming

  • So, I finished the campaign for Star Wars Battlefront II published by EA. I bought it on sale (9.99) and I bought a digital copy. I played the first one (only because it was Star Wars) “day one,” and while it was fun, I really did miss having a campaign (I rarely played the first game, so it was money wasted). I decided that this time I would wait until the game went on sale before purchasing it. I thought the campaign was good–although Iden goes through a character change quite quickly about a third of the way through–and while I liked it, I did find it abrupt. I didn’t even bother with the multiplayer which is this game’s bread and butter because I didn’t like the “loot box” controversy–just let us play games EA, stop looking at you gaming customers as stupid sheep to be fleeced for your shareholders. Not cool.
  • Speaking of multiplayer, this week saw the release of Apex Legends, a first person shooter which mixes the best of Battle Royale games (like Player Unknown Battlegrounds (PUBg), “character shooters” (Overwatch) and cartoony action/combat (Fortnite). This game was released on Tuesday or Wednesday and it has taken the gaming world by storm. 10 million players have played it in approx. 72 hours. Whether it has staying power remains to be seen. Oh, I also one my first match today. It is a three-person team, and my contribution was healing, revives, and calling enemies, but even though I wasn’t the “star” on the team, my help was both necessary and critical to the win! 🙂

Miscellaneous

  • So, not much going on outside of work–for school and for my second job.
  • Oh, I got new contact lenses, but I don’t think there going to work out. I’m extremely near-sighted so we added a “multifocus” lens so that I could do better at reading, but in doing so, the distance is now very blurry and limited and I’m not really “feeling” them. While I can’t go back to my old pair (too old), I may have to try to see if we can’t give up some “reading” clarity to get some clarity for my distant vision because of all the driving that I do.

Sidney

  • Current Work-in-Progress–February 2019: Project Dog  (Sci-Fi Short-Story – 1st Draft)
  • Current Work-in-Progress: Ship of Shadows (Sci-Fi Graphic Novel – Script, Issue # 2, Currently on Script Page 32)

Anthem: E3 and Me, 2018 Edition

anthem_engadget

Word Count (What I’m Writing); Updated Daily (mostly)

  • Project Independence Word Count: @4000 words (+203 words)
  • Project Ship of Shadows Graphic Novel Page Count: 12

Goal = 167 words (5000 words by July 1).
Actual = Rebounded after a day with no words and was able to hit Scrivener’s goal of 167 words, but fell a bit short of my own 250 word (personal) goal.   203 words written last night. 

Currently Reading (What I’m Reading); Updated Daily (mostly)

  • For Fun:
    Oathbringer by Brandon Sanderson (Fantasy Novel, Stormlight Archive Book 3) (somewhere in 850s in terms of page count–more than ¾th of the way through.  Will post a non-spoiler mini-review when I finish.
  • For School:
    Ancient Rhetorics, Digital Networks: A book that combines New Media (digital rhetorics) and combines them with ideas and theories of the Ancient Rhetorics.
    Lingua Fractal: A Rhetoric book that details the convergence of Rhetoric and Technology and how they interact in today’s world.
  • For Research/Personal Development:
    Great Aircraft of WWII by Alfred Price and Mike Spick (for Project Skye)

Reading two or three chapters in Oathbringer every day.  I really shouldn’t be, but it is so good, that I generally read it while eating dinner (and then I go back out to the library to do reading for school).   Great Aircraft of WWII is a book that I’ve had in my collection for sometime–I’ve glanced at it periodically, but never read it cover-to-cover.  Now, with Project Skye, I intend to do just that.

Game Mode On (What I’m Playing); Updated Weekly (Mondays)

  • Moving Game Mode On to its own (Mostly) Weekly Post

“Iron Man”: The Game

Anthem was first revealed last year, but got an extended look this year at a truncated game play demo at EA Press Conference.   Attendees to their event got to play the entire demo.  While I enjoyed last year’s demo, this one seemed strangely muted for me.  Perhaps, it was the way EA chose to demo the game with the developers giving a “deep dive” into the game which was really just a way to show concept art and not have to show the entire demo of the game.  While I do appreciate the Q&A format, in this case, it would have been better to have shown us the game and saved the Q&A for after the show.  Also, because the demo was obviously cut, it lost the emotional impact that it could have had.  Its like watching a two hour movie in half an hour by fast forwarding through bits/skipping “chapters”–you can do it, but it loses its ability to create tension.  Still, I’m sort of looking forward to it because players emphasize that it feels a lot like controlling “Iron Man” from the Marvel movies.  You decide when you want to fly, when to land, and the flight component is supposed to add a layer of strategy to the game as you can decide where and when you want to take the battle to your opponent.

Fool Me Once, Shame on You, Fool Me Twice, Shame on Me

So, normally, based on what I’ve seen of the gameplay, I would be super excited to play Anthem, but I have to say, I’m in a wait and see mode for this game.  Mass Effect Andromeda made too many of the same promises, but could not deliver in the end as EA did not want to allow ME:A the additional time it needed to come together.  While this game might make its February 22, 2019 release date, I wouldn’t be surprised if it got pushed back until Mar-early June.  That is as far as I could see EA giving it so that its marketing doesn’t interfere with the marketing of the new Star Wars game that was teased for holiday 2019 as well.  However, I’m waiting on reviews before I go anywhere near Anthem.  ME:A was such a disappointment (for which I paid full price) because I couldn’t believe that EA would be willing to ruin one of its core franchises.  Well, they were–to EA, the ME brand is an also ran, now they want what their competitor Activision has in Destiny and their willing to sacrifice the quality of their games to get it, so no buy for me until reviews hit.

Single Player Story/Multiplayer Open World

The design of Anthem is intriguing.  Apparently, when you’re in “The Hub” (where you get your missions and interact with NPCs), you get traditional storytelling elements, but when you’re out in the open world, you play with your friends in multiplayer.  I’m not sure if I’m going to like that aspect of it, but the devs. did say that one could play the entire game in single player if one wanted to, but it would make the game slightly harder.  While I did have a “crew” that I gamed with on Destiny, I’m not sure how many will move over to Anthem, so that is also something to thing about.  Anyway, those are my thoughts/impressions of the game.

Overall Excitement Level: C

I just don’t trust EA/Bioware to deliver the goods on this one after their poor performance with Mass Effect Andromeda.  While I’m skeptical that they can pull off something magical with this game, perhaps the additional time that they gave to Anthem and not Mass Effect Andromeda will pay dividends to the gamers this time, and not EA’s shareholders.

Sidney

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E3 2018 Conferences Review

E3

Word Count (What I’m Writing); Updated Daily (mostly)

  • Project Paradise Word Count: 357
  • Project Skye Word Count: 1617
  • Project Independence Word Count: 3365 (+324)
  • Project Ship of Shadows Graphic Novel Page Count: 12

Changed the way I write.  I moved back to Scrivener in order to utilize the word count tracking feature in the program.  I tried to find a web version (& I did), but it seemed silly to try to wrangle three different websites when I have an all-in-one solution in Scrivener.  Once I did, I was able to to get writing done.  I also reconfigured my workspace so let’s see if that helps.

Currently Reading (What I’m Reading); Updated Daily (mostly)

  • For Fun:
    Oathbringer by Brandon Sanderson (Fantasy Novel, Stormlight Archive Book 3) (somewhere in 700s in terms of page count–more than half way finished.)
  • For School:
    Rhetoric in the European Tradition by Thomas Conley (A Book on the History of Rhetoric)
    Ancient Rhetorics, Digital Networks: A book that combines New Media (digital rhetorics) and combines them with ideas and theories of the Ancient Rhetorics.
  • For Research/Personal Development:
    Great Aircraft of WWII by Alfred Price and Mike Spick (for Project Skye)

I wanted to read Oathbringer over the summer break before classes started again, but BS said that it might be helpful to read a Novella entitled, Edgedancer, before starting on Oathbringer.  I finally found a copy at MTSU’slibrary and I’m reading it now.   Great Aircraft of WWII is a book that I’ve had in my collection for sometime–I’ve glanced at it periodically, but never read it cover-to-cover.  Now, with Project Skye, I intend to do just that.

Game Mode On (What I’m Playing); Updated Weekly (Mondays)

  • Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon Wildlands (Ubisoft Multi-platform): Open World, Third Person Tactical Shooter–About ¾th of the way through.  Special Ops/Military combat in a fictional Bolivia taken over by a Mexican drug cartel.

    Still working my way through–I’m trying to clear out a province a week, but because I’m catching up from E3 so I only got to clear about ½ of the province I’m currently working on.  I was planning on finishing that province today, but I have far too much to do today, so I’m not going to get to play it next week.
  • Until Dawn (Sony PS4 Exclusive): Third Person, Horror– branching storyline game that features a variety of choices that affect the outcome of the story using a system call the “Butterfly Effect.”I got further along, but now I have a decision to make: do I let the “creepy” best friend die, or do I let the character’s potential girlfriend die.  I decided to stop right there.

Bethesda

Fairly disappointed in Bethesda’s conference as the games that I really want to play are Starfield and the next Elder Scrolls game, Elder Scrolls VI.  Both were teased with basically an environment and a logo, but did not show anything even remotely like a cinematic or gameplay.  They are also at least another year, probably two years away.  Their main game this year was Fallout 76, an online game in the Fallout universe.  That means that there have been (or will be when F76 comes out) two games in the Fallout universe this generation and none in the Elder Scrolls universe.  While I don’t begrudge other players their Fallout high, I’m not really a Fallout player.  I’m intrigued by Starfield as it is a new IP in what seems to be a Sci-Fi (spacefaring) setting, but as it is an unknown quantity, it is hard to get too excited for it.

C

6/19/18 Edit: I forgot that Bethesda also released a trailer and gameplay for the game Rage 2.  Having played the first Rage, I found it fairly interesting so I’m looking forward to this game, so I’m raising the score from its original C- to C.

Square Enix

So, the new Tomb Raider game, Shadow of the Tomb Raider looks pretty good as did the trailer for a new IP called The Quiet Man.  I’m also interested in the new Dragon Quest game as I’ve not yet played a game in that series.  Still, it was a short conference (half and hour) and its main claim to fame, Kingdom Hearts III, already had a trailer to drop before E3 started, so it was a bit of a let down.

C

Ubisoft

I though Ubisoft had a particularly good showing.  Their conference was fun and had a lot of energy and they had a mix of games that I’m interested in playing among the ones that I’m not all that interested in.  The Division 2, The Crew 2, and Assassin’s Creed Odyssey are all games that I’m looking forward to playing, although I’m one Assassin’s Creed game behind and I need to catch up.

B+

Sony

So, Sony showed the best games and gave the most detailed look at their upcoming portfolio for their various studios/projects, but they only went into detail about four games: The Last of Us, Part 2, Death Stranding, Ghost of Tsushumia, and Spider-Man.  Each of these projects got an extended look and they all look fantastic.  The problem is that Sony only showed these four major games (in addition to several lesser trailers with Control being the highlight of these trailers).  None of these games are listed as coming later than 2019 (although a couple had no date whatsoever, but I have a feeling they will also be 2019 games).

I’m guessing (and ONLY guessing) that Sony’s strange conference is due to the fact they will probably be “reloading” in 2020 with “next generation” games (perhaps even hardware–aka the “PS5”–as the system will be six years old in 2019 and seven years old in 2020).  My best guess is that 2019 will be the last major “swan song” for major releases for the PS4.  Bold prediction, perhaps, but that is the only thing that makes sense given both the age of the console and the paucity of gaming announcements at Sony’s conference.

B- (A- for the in-depth look at the games, but C for the overall showcase in general).

Winner

Ubisoft–while I didn’t like all the games Ubisoft debuted, they had the most eclectic mix, the strongest conference, and provided the most fun out of all the E3 Press Conferences that I watched.  Hopefully, Sony will get there act together next year (hopefully, with next generation games/hardware)

Sidney

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