It’s a sad day for gaming

So I stumbled upon this post on my facebook page:

https://shadowrealms.com/blog/an-important-update-on-shadow-realms?sf36160145=1

I was really looking forward to this game. Granted, they were kinda vague what it was all about, but that also appealed to me. I think the the videos they produced and that it was set into a modern world. First thing it reminded me of was The Secret World by Funcom, but this seemed even darker. Just having a peak at their art work made me incredibly enthusiastic about this game.

To me this concept art is pretty stunning and creepy. It’s a shame when a game people are looking forward to is being cancelled. However, I did spy that Bioware is focusing more on Dragon Age: Inquisition (are we getting an xpac?) an new mass effect (ow please let it have a sexy Turian you can romance) and an unknown new IP….. So at least we can expect more from Bioware.

Did you ever anticipate the release of a game only to find out it was cancelled?

The Quitter

 

While I’m frantically refreshing my mailbox and hoping to finally see my invite to MoP pop up, I figured I might as well explain why I stopped playing Star Wars The Old Republic.

When I first started playing my Imperial Agent, I adored her. She was blue (you’ve got to love Chiss), sassy and I loved her sniper abilities. I didn’t get annoyed with her voice, which is a big plus. I played other chars in SWtor and really hated how they sounded, but my agent was perfect. Her story grabbed me and it wouldn’t let me go. I might hate certain planets and quests, but her story was so amazing that I didn’t care about that. The fact that I could choose certain dialogue options made the immersion so much better.

*SPOILERS AHEAD* I went through so many emotions on that character. I started to suspect everyone around me of trying to get me killed. It even made me ponder about certain chat options for minutes. If I would choose this answer… what consequences would that have? Stuff like that. There was a time when she flirted heavily, well she always did that, with a Chiss leader on Hoth and I was stunned when he grabbed her and kissed her. My agent felt like the female version of a womaniser and somehow that was so much fun to play. She had a sassy personality, but was always looking out for the best options for her Empire. Then she met Vector and as said before she like his awkwardness. It made playing my agent even more interesting, I was curious about what would happen with the relationship between my agent and Vector. I was delighted when they got married in the end. I also remember a point in the story when she gets ‘brainwashed’ and you can’t talk about what happens to you. You see the dialogue option ‘tell that you’re being brainwashed’, you click it, but instead you say that everything is just hunky-dory. It made me chuckle, but I was also outraged when I got betrayed and hurt by someone and I literally yelled in the house; ‘all bets are off, you’re dead next time I see you buddy!’

Then I reached level 50…my class story came to an end and so ended my enjoyment. I just felt disconnected with my character. Her story had ended, she felt like an empty husk  with no more story just for her. I tried playing other characters, but it just didn’t click like with my agent. I did like the bounty hunter, but her voice wasn’t how I wanted her to sound, how I wanted to sound. I just couldn’t immerse myself into the other characters.

Now came the second problem; even if I would have continued playing my bounty hunter or trooper (the two classes that seemed interesting when it came to story and playstyle) I still had to deal with the quests. I couldn’t do my quests on the same planets again. It just felt like a horrible grind to me. Sure, I could have pvp’ed my way up to 50 and just do my class quests, but it felt like so much work. In the end it annoyed me more to play and it felt like I was having a second job. Now comparing it to WoW, which I’ve played for over 7 years and still enjoy questing (just don’t mention outland or northrend to me) this is a pretty stark contrast.

In a way I really hate it that I’m not playing the game any more and that has more to do with my love for my agent, the love I feel for such a great company (I adore Bioware’s games and how they drag you into their stories) and the fact that again another game me and my husband would be able to play together. After he left WoW, Swtor was going to be the mmo that would be ours again, but it just didn’t work.

I’m not quite sure if I’ll return to the game. Perhaps if my story would continue, I would happily run around on my agent again. So I am keeping my fingers crossed. … I am also keeping my fingers crossed that Bioware will bring out a DLC ending where my Sheppard is having loads of babies with her Turian husband. Keep your fingers and toes crossed!

The Ranter

Following the post by Gazimoff and Pewter, I will also give my thoughts about The Annual Pass that I signed up to. I have to admit, I didn’t sign up immediately when they announced it at Blizzcon last year. I was tempted, because everyone knows I’m a sucker for stuff like that (free mounts woot!).  I knew that I was going to play Star Wars, but after talking it over with the husband, we agreed that I could afford playing two mmo’s for a while. When Swtor started though I wasn’t that interested in wow any longer and I felt a bit of buyers  remorse. Was I ever going to really get into WoW again?

Luckily for me, I stopped playing Swtor. Don’t get me wrong, I do love the game; the story is amazing and I love the immersion the game provides. Levelling though is horrible and I just can’t do it on any other alts. In other words: I returned to WoW and I’m actually quite happy running around, levelling new alts all to prepare for mists.

Thinking about it, I do think I would sign up for the pass again. I might still take some little breaks now and again when something new comes out (Guildwars 2, Mass Effect 3, etc) but I somehow always seem to return to WoW. The pro’s about the pass for me are as following:

I love getting into beta’s. It will give me a chance to check out the class changes in the game and see if I’d still like to play my class or if I want to switch it up. I am very curious what the monk class will be like and if it will be worth it to make it my main.

I love it that I can play Diablo 3 when it comes out and I don’t have to go to a shop… I guess that feeds my laziness  and I do like Tyreal’s charcer, even if it has short legs and remind me more of a pony.

Now for the con’s: I am never a fan of long contracts, except perhaps for my marriage. I’m a very fickle person and a game I could love for a few months, could loose it’s shine in a few more. I especially notice this with mmo’s and signing up for a year to WoW was somehow a big step for me. In the end it’s working out alright. I am still enjoying WoW so far.

I’m alright with paying for the things I’m getting; mount, beta, free game, then I see the new features for the Scroll of resurrection….and I’m not quite sure how I feel about this. It’s great that people get a reward that pretty amazing for returning to wow and I am also happy that the person who sends out the scroll gets (yet another) mounts.

Call me selfish and greedy, but where is my reward of being a mostly loyal customer for 7 and a half years now? Ow that was the annual pass? That I had to pay for? Yeah…thanks. Ow wait, you also gave me a free copy of wow, tbc and wrath. That’s great! Ow… I would also have to pay for the subscription for that second account? Never mind then. I am a little bit bitter about it. I’m sure Blizzard could look at all the accounts of long time subscribers, see how many months through all the years they paid for WoW and give them a reward depending on how many months they have paid already. I’d like a spectral tiger please… with a pretty bow around it’s neck. Thank you, Blizzard. (ps. If you team up with your nemesis Bioware and make me a Garrus mount, I will love you forever.)

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The returner and the lover

See that previous post? The one from last year? I know I’ve stated that we’ve moved, but perhaps I should phrase it a bit better; everything that has to do with my podcast has moved to www.girlsgonewow.net and I will post most of my wow-related blogs over there too.

However, I feel the need to put down all this rambling inside of my head and I don’t feel it would be a good place to do that on the girlsgonewow-website.

So yes, I am back here and I shall be posting more gaming/geeky related things. I need to build up my blogroll again it seems and I’m always open for new blogs to follow!

Bioware, I LOVE YOU!

Now to start of this new blog I’m going to talk about a secret I have. It’s dark and horrible. I am cheating on my husband. No hold your pitchforks! I’m not cheating on him with a real guy… he’s pixalated. Or when I say ‘he’ I actually mean ‘they’.

Bioware has this horrible way of making me fall for some of their romanceable characters in any game that I am playing. It started with Dragon Age Origins. I loved my little human mage, being all bad-ass and then I met Alistair. I made it my goal to woo that sweet guy with the awkward humour.

Then there was Dragon Age 2, this time I tried going for a warrior and my Hawke was not interested in the Anders-character in the least. Then she met Fenris and my heart was beating a bit faster. I know, I know, he was a bit too emo at times, but give the guy a break! It’s not as if he had an easy life. I did my best to get on his good side, but that was pretty difficult with me not wanting to piss of all the mages around me.

Now I didn’t finish either of the Dragon Age games. I blame my ADD when it comes to gaming. However, then there was Star Wars the Old Republic. I was simply adoring my Chiss Sniper Agent. She was so cool and I could picture her flying around the galaxy with Kaliyo as her bad-ass sister in crime. Then I met him; Vector. Sure, in the beginning I wasn’t quite sure. The eyes… the hair… the constant referring to himself in the third person. I stayed friendly though and when he became a part of my crew I decided that I might as well give him another skin. Ow boy, I found the perfect skin for him, dare I say he even looked a bit like my husband with the hairstyle and colour (mind you my husband will deny this, claims he looks nothing like that. Of course he’s wrong.) Me and Vector started talking more and more and soon I was wrapped around his alien finger. I squeed in delight when he kissed my blue girl and it almost felt like my own second marriage when he proposed to her. After that, I actually thought that nothing more would happen, but behold, he was sending me love letters (something I might need to mention yet again to my husband.)

Now that I’ve stopped playing SWtor (something I will talk about in a later post), I missed having the romance options in a game. I spotted my husband playing Mass Effect 2 and decided to give it a go. Now here I am playing Mass Effect 1 and I’m loving the story so far. I do have a bit of an issue with my female Shepard being so …. manly. I can get over that though. Now here is me being… well typical me I guess and I do not fancy the romance options at all in the first Mass Effect. I find the humans boring and the Asari does nothing for me, no guess who I found the most interesting.  The Turian, Garrus Vakarian. He’s cool, makes funny jokes and has the most amazing face paint. When I’m going to start with Mass Effect 1 I’ll be romancing him…. and probably also in ME3.

On a more serious note, I am really impressed with the way that Bioware makes their romance options so amazing in their games. I’ve never felt more connected with my own character as well as my crew/team members in any other game I’ve played. I wish there were more games out there that would do that.