fifty frenchmen can't be wrong (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
some_stars) wrote2011-11-03 11:37 pm
some_stars) wrote2011-11-03 11:37 pm
starts as a whine, turns into a paean
(...and then a whine again, apparently.)
I have done a terribly unwise thing and started a new Dragon Age playthrough. (Origins, of course; I don't acknowledge DA2's existence, although I will probably change this policy now that the price has fallen to $20, which seems an acceptable amount to pay to have my heart broken.) This is a bad life choice for so many reasons--not least because, you know, I didn't have enough to do with my free time at the moment, I needed some way to waste more time.
It's also sort of ridiculous because, since I've started a lot more games than I've finished, the entire first third of the game is sort of painfully boring to me now. The origin stories are always awesome, and since I insist on actually roleplaying a distinct character, even if only in my own head, I always come across a few new things in the next couple stages...but very few, at this point. So I'm basically just grinding my way through, groaning as I click each sidequest marker, hitting Esc on everybody's dialogue, and waiting until I get good enough to go to Orzammar, which I've only played through maybe four times, unlike the rest of the treaties. I'm sure this can't possibly be a healthy way to approach one's hobby.
It's just such a dangerously good game, I can never escape from it. I want to play all the origins, and make every choice, and try every romance in all possible gender combinations, and maybe one day find it in myself to roleplay a character who doesn't adore Sten and become his best friend even when it's completely OOC for them. Although probably not, because Sten. Oh, Sten. I wish there were an entire (non-crappy) sequel about him, he's the best part of the whole game. I don't think another game will ever make me feel this way, which is sad but also sort of awesome. I mean, I can think of more things I wish DA:O had, but I can't imagine another RPG I'd love as much that didn't have any of the things it does have, and it's pretty magical that the first RPG I played despite my various anxieties* turned out to be The One.
Of course the playing field is slightly unfair since it was the first, and deep in my heart, I believe that all its ways are the right and true ways (including the keyboard shortcuts it uses and the way you move around with the mouse). But that's because they are. Almost nothing in it is original to any great extent, but almost everything in it is done well--carefully, and thoughtfully, and with respect for the player and the characters. I actually read the codex entries, all the pages and pages of worldbuilding with no mention of any of the party members or events of the game, because I care about this fictional world, as totally cliched as it is. And it's a world that invites roleplaying, because of its depth. My female city elf playthrough was one of the most compelling storytelling experiences I've ever had. (And of course, the fact that I could play as a lesbian was a big part of that depth.)
* Said anxieties were largely centered around "but you have to FIGHT and that is STRESSFUL," which is why DA2's reported turn away from tactics-based combat with constant pausing and planning, and towards "mash buttons as fast as you can! FASTER, also we're removing all the strategic non-adrenaline-based challenging parts that you actually had to figure out and then felt proud of mastering" is so much more of a dealbreaker for me than shitty lazy worldbuilding, adding a PC voice and a dialogue wheel, less interesting characters, etc. I thought I'd have to suffer through the combat for the story, and I ended up LOVING it, and then they took it away and that makes me angry.
This is a big problem for me with computer games--I'm actually stuck on the second to last level of Portal (which I started playing a few months ago, because I am late to everything) not because it got too hard, but because I HATE BEING SHOT AT, it's tense and I can't think to solve the puzzles and it's not fun, at all. Whereas I adore getting into a battle in Dragon Age where it turns out to be much harder than I thought, and I can't heal people fast enough and suddenly one of them is dead and I'm out of potions and it really looks like I might not win this one. Because I can pause and think. (You can pause in Portal, of course, but you can't take any actions or get a better view of the area and see where things might be jumping out at you from, or basically do anything except calm down and develop a growing dread of unpausing again. Or possibly that's just me. You know what, it might be the first person POV that's ruining Portal for me, which is just...tragic. WHY IS MY BRAIN THIS WAY.) (Actually you know what I think it is? It's that when a battle goes wrong in DA and I die, I can usually figure out why or at least part of why ("okay, clearly those guys hit way harder than I thought they did"), and then I can try to figure out how to fix that before trying again. When I die in Portal after getting shot by robots, it's because HOLY FUCK ROBOTS EVERYWHERE and then, death. It does not make me feel great about trying again.)
I have done a terribly unwise thing and started a new Dragon Age playthrough. (Origins, of course; I don't acknowledge DA2's existence, although I will probably change this policy now that the price has fallen to $20, which seems an acceptable amount to pay to have my heart broken.) This is a bad life choice for so many reasons--not least because, you know, I didn't have enough to do with my free time at the moment, I needed some way to waste more time.
It's also sort of ridiculous because, since I've started a lot more games than I've finished, the entire first third of the game is sort of painfully boring to me now. The origin stories are always awesome, and since I insist on actually roleplaying a distinct character, even if only in my own head, I always come across a few new things in the next couple stages...but very few, at this point. So I'm basically just grinding my way through, groaning as I click each sidequest marker, hitting Esc on everybody's dialogue, and waiting until I get good enough to go to Orzammar, which I've only played through maybe four times, unlike the rest of the treaties. I'm sure this can't possibly be a healthy way to approach one's hobby.
It's just such a dangerously good game, I can never escape from it. I want to play all the origins, and make every choice, and try every romance in all possible gender combinations, and maybe one day find it in myself to roleplay a character who doesn't adore Sten and become his best friend even when it's completely OOC for them. Although probably not, because Sten. Oh, Sten. I wish there were an entire (non-crappy) sequel about him, he's the best part of the whole game. I don't think another game will ever make me feel this way, which is sad but also sort of awesome. I mean, I can think of more things I wish DA:O had, but I can't imagine another RPG I'd love as much that didn't have any of the things it does have, and it's pretty magical that the first RPG I played despite my various anxieties* turned out to be The One.
Of course the playing field is slightly unfair since it was the first, and deep in my heart, I believe that all its ways are the right and true ways (including the keyboard shortcuts it uses and the way you move around with the mouse). But that's because they are. Almost nothing in it is original to any great extent, but almost everything in it is done well--carefully, and thoughtfully, and with respect for the player and the characters. I actually read the codex entries, all the pages and pages of worldbuilding with no mention of any of the party members or events of the game, because I care about this fictional world, as totally cliched as it is. And it's a world that invites roleplaying, because of its depth. My female city elf playthrough was one of the most compelling storytelling experiences I've ever had. (And of course, the fact that I could play as a lesbian was a big part of that depth.)
* Said anxieties were largely centered around "but you have to FIGHT and that is STRESSFUL," which is why DA2's reported turn away from tactics-based combat with constant pausing and planning, and towards "mash buttons as fast as you can! FASTER, also we're removing all the strategic non-adrenaline-based challenging parts that you actually had to figure out and then felt proud of mastering" is so much more of a dealbreaker for me than shitty lazy worldbuilding, adding a PC voice and a dialogue wheel, less interesting characters, etc. I thought I'd have to suffer through the combat for the story, and I ended up LOVING it, and then they took it away and that makes me angry.
This is a big problem for me with computer games--I'm actually stuck on the second to last level of Portal (which I started playing a few months ago, because I am late to everything) not because it got too hard, but because I HATE BEING SHOT AT, it's tense and I can't think to solve the puzzles and it's not fun, at all. Whereas I adore getting into a battle in Dragon Age where it turns out to be much harder than I thought, and I can't heal people fast enough and suddenly one of them is dead and I'm out of potions and it really looks like I might not win this one. Because I can pause and think. (You can pause in Portal, of course, but you can't take any actions or get a better view of the area and see where things might be jumping out at you from, or basically do anything except calm down and develop a growing dread of unpausing again. Or possibly that's just me. You know what, it might be the first person POV that's ruining Portal for me, which is just...tragic. WHY IS MY BRAIN THIS WAY.) (Actually you know what I think it is? It's that when a battle goes wrong in DA and I die, I can usually figure out why or at least part of why ("okay, clearly those guys hit way harder than I thought they did"), and then I can try to figure out how to fix that before trying again. When I die in Portal after getting shot by robots, it's because HOLY FUCK ROBOTS EVERYWHERE and then, death. It does not make me feel great about trying again.)