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Showing posts from March, 2011

DA: 2

What's this? I'm playing a game only recently released!? Quick, run outside because it's probably raining candy as well. So actually this was just a case of good timing. Around this time last year, I gave up video games for Lent so I had to stop playing Dragon Age Origins. Then I got consumed by other things happening in my life that prevented me from coming back to the game until a week or two ago. I finished DA:O finally and DA:2 had come out only a week or so prior. To be honest I wasn't all that aware of this sequel nor of what it would be like. I wrote it off as a disinterest until seeing a video review on it. So I knew of the disappointments beforehand. And therefore set my bar pretty low. Right before buying, I check the DA wiki for information about the stuff I cared about...the romance options. This is always a selling factor for me in a game. And lo! What did I find? A. CHASTE. ROMANCE. OPTION. <---------- <:O WAHHHH? Despite it costing

Interactive Storytelling

Narrative has become a packaged deal with video games. The need for well-written games is becoming a selling point and a norm. And this is a good thing. Narratives have had a good long history in video games and where it is heading is an interesting journey. Text Adventures/Point and Click Adventures When games appeared on computers they took the form of text adventures. Programmatic inputs were necessary to interact with the world. And for the most part, players had a very strong connection with the narrative and story. Even to the point where they cried. However, once these types of games became graphical like the Sierra Adventure games, a level of connection was severed slightly. While the input was the same, the output wasn't fuel for the players imagination. What could have been an epic was reduced to cartoon or comic style graphics. It's similar to the experience of watching Lord of the Rings animated and reading the novels. The iconic almost comical style of the ani