So I'm watching the New Orleans vs. Minnesota game; one that I'm kind of torn on. On the one hand, I'm a Brett fan, but on the other hand, I wouldn't mind seeing Brees and the Saints in the Big Game (TM). (And yes, I can call him by his first name since I lived in Madison for two years.) Anyway, football isn't what I'm here to talk about, not directly anyway, so feel free to breathe a sigh of relief.
Mass Effect 2 is one of the few games that I've ever really looked forward to (the other one: Supreme Commander). How much? Well, I just got through the game for a fourth time this weekend in preparation to transfer a high level character over. I started on Thursday. I'll probably play through again delaying my ME2 extravaganza in order to hit 60 because apparently you get more awesomeness if you transfer a 60. Since then, I've been watching football and Mass Effect trailers/videos most of the day.
ANYWAY
In the middle of the game there was a Mass Effect 2 commercial. "Wow", I'm thinking. "Is gaming finally mainstream enough that we can advertise during football?" Heavy. I mean, football is usually dominated by unmemorable beer and truck commercials. Imagine my surprise then to hear "the Mass Effect 2 first half stats" as announced by Troy Aikman (maybe Joe Buck?) indicating that EA's marketing campaign is spending big $$$s. That's cool, and not just because I'm excited about the game.
Ya know what? I hate EA. I hate them a LOT, and not just for what they did/are doing to one of my former employers. Even given that, I don't think I can deny that what they're doing helps bring legitimacy to the industry. That, in many ways, is cool.
2010/01/24
2010/01/04
2009 in Review
I'm not really one for "end of the year" type stuffs despite what the record on this blog might attest to, but I figured I'd do a year in review nonetheless. This may or may not have to do with a new machine on the way and my Champions sub ending yesterday. So without further ado, this is my 2009 in review.
New Digs
Probably the biggest change was a change of venue at the very beginning of the year. In fact, exactly one year and two days ago. This came with a 400 mile displacement to the northeast, fewer responsibilities (read: hours), and a hefty increase in pay. These are good things. What's not so good is that MA is terribly expensive and while I like the city of Boston, I'm pretty sure there's a special place in Hell being reserved for the area's drivers. If history is any indication, I'm good here for another year.
Modding
To set the scene: I'm in a new and unfamiliar town poor and tired for the moving experience. Is there a more perfect time to catch up on gaming? I think not! Dungeon Siege 2 + expansion were OK--I was happy enough to finish them anyway. Then a new co-worker recommended a tiny indie game involving swinging swords from horsebacks onto unsuspecting peasants. Well, sign me up! Mount & Blade is an excellent game which can usually be had for a steal. It's got some interesting mechanics, but...well parts of it just don't seem right. The good news is that it can be modded!
Taleworlds built the game with a fairly powerful scripting language and have in fact built most of the game logic in it. To anyone with some time, an interest in fixing/extending the game's features, and a bent to programming, just about anything is possible. I sunk a good three months into it and was fairly pleased with the results. Now retired, I'm hoping that their upcoming multiplayer expansion is cool enough to catch my interest again.
Diet
This is a controversial one, mostly because the conventional "wisdom" has been drummed into us for so long. I've been doing the paleo diet which is mostly the same as Atkins but also shuns the hyper-processed badness which pervades our ubiquitous mega-marts. If you want to know more about it, I'm sure you can find it if your google-fu is righteous.
Atkins worked for me; it worked really well but ultimately I'd get stuck in a crunch or get stressed out about something and that'd be the end of it. There was also the horrible crashes I'd get during the first couple weeks which I couldn't stand. With this diet, whether it be placebo effect or not, I have had none of these issues and the results have been dramatic.
All told, minus (plus?) the holiday inspired overeating that transpired the last couple weeks, I'm still about 45 pounds lighter than I was in April when I started. That's about 215 right now which is lighter than I've been since undergrad. To make it all the more astounding, most of the weight was lost within the first month and I did it specifically without exercising. The lack of exercise had nothing to do with being lazy (nothing at all).
I could go on about how much better I feel or how my health markers have improved across the board, but I'll leave you with the following thoughts:
- I eat 1.2 steaks per week (on average)
- I can eat bacon any time I want
Cruisin'
I was not a fan of Maryland. In fact, I'm on record proclaiming such things as "I couldn't get out of that goddamn state fast enough." While I'm not a huge fan of Massachusetts either, I will say that the area I live in (right around Gilette Stadium) has some great driving roads. Now that I can drive it without the threat of stalling at every light, it's a heck of a lot more fun.
Gaming
I mentioned the gaming briefly but I'll rate some of the highlights. Some of these are a couple years old but I hadn't gotten around to them yet. These are listed more or less in the order I played them.
Dungeon Siege 2: ***
The Good: the same basic gameplay as Dungeon Siege 1. Simple levels, well-written stories, and linear dungeons.
The Bad: kind of repetitive, just like Dungeon Siege 1. For those wondering, I did like DS1, but apparently I've become less patient in my older age.
Dungeon Siege 2 Broken World: **
The Good: some interesting new gear, some interesting new stories
The Bad: kinda threw out the old stories from DS2 which I thought were pretty good. Seems like it was done by a completely different set of people who didn't honor the original material. This was made all the more striking for me by playing one right after the other.
Mount & Blade: ***, **** with modding
The Good: awesome sandbox gameplay and unmatched mounted combat simulation. The melee simulation is OK, but not substantial. Huge array of mods.
The Bad: no real "win" condition; shallow roleplaying depth.
Notes: because the game is so flexible, most of the shortcomings can be modded away.
Mass Effect: ****
The Good: well-realized universe with believable characters. Even the ones you're not supposed to like are awesome (Wrex4tw!)
The Bad: maddening difficulty curve
Notes: ME2 is probably the game I'm most looking forward to this year and it's out in a couple weeks (woot!)
Champions Online: ****
The Good: some of the best combat mechanics in any MMO I've played. Extremely customizable costumes--look awesome from level 1!
The Bad: questionable design direction, facepalm level bugs, extremely hostile community
Notes: If there weren't a great game poking out of the badness, I'd probably be less bitter about Champions. The fact remains that they had a great product and almost completely botched it. It's like a Hail Mary that hits the receiver in the hands but lands on the turf. Maybe in a year it'll be better, but I have very little faith left for Cryptic.
Dragon Age Origins: *****
The Good: probably the most polished game I've ever played. It's exactly what I expected out of the leading RPG house with the hype machine of EA behind it.
The Bad: maddening difficulty curve. No good endings. Gratuitous DLC pandering.
Notes: if you like RPGs and haven't played this one, it's well worth it. I'm not kidding about the "no good endings" bit, either. It's super easy to get attached to the characters in the game and even easier to feel bad when bad things (invariably) happen to them.
New Digs
Probably the biggest change was a change of venue at the very beginning of the year. In fact, exactly one year and two days ago. This came with a 400 mile displacement to the northeast, fewer responsibilities (read: hours), and a hefty increase in pay. These are good things. What's not so good is that MA is terribly expensive and while I like the city of Boston, I'm pretty sure there's a special place in Hell being reserved for the area's drivers. If history is any indication, I'm good here for another year.
Modding
To set the scene: I'm in a new and unfamiliar town poor and tired for the moving experience. Is there a more perfect time to catch up on gaming? I think not! Dungeon Siege 2 + expansion were OK--I was happy enough to finish them anyway. Then a new co-worker recommended a tiny indie game involving swinging swords from horsebacks onto unsuspecting peasants. Well, sign me up! Mount & Blade is an excellent game which can usually be had for a steal. It's got some interesting mechanics, but...well parts of it just don't seem right. The good news is that it can be modded!
Taleworlds built the game with a fairly powerful scripting language and have in fact built most of the game logic in it. To anyone with some time, an interest in fixing/extending the game's features, and a bent to programming, just about anything is possible. I sunk a good three months into it and was fairly pleased with the results. Now retired, I'm hoping that their upcoming multiplayer expansion is cool enough to catch my interest again.
Diet
This is a controversial one, mostly because the conventional "wisdom" has been drummed into us for so long. I've been doing the paleo diet which is mostly the same as Atkins but also shuns the hyper-processed badness which pervades our ubiquitous mega-marts. If you want to know more about it, I'm sure you can find it if your google-fu is righteous.
Atkins worked for me; it worked really well but ultimately I'd get stuck in a crunch or get stressed out about something and that'd be the end of it. There was also the horrible crashes I'd get during the first couple weeks which I couldn't stand. With this diet, whether it be placebo effect or not, I have had none of these issues and the results have been dramatic.
All told, minus (plus?) the holiday inspired overeating that transpired the last couple weeks, I'm still about 45 pounds lighter than I was in April when I started. That's about 215 right now which is lighter than I've been since undergrad. To make it all the more astounding, most of the weight was lost within the first month and I did it specifically without exercising. The lack of exercise had nothing to do with being lazy (nothing at all).
I could go on about how much better I feel or how my health markers have improved across the board, but I'll leave you with the following thoughts:
- I eat 1.2 steaks per week (on average)
- I can eat bacon any time I want
Cruisin'
I was not a fan of Maryland. In fact, I'm on record proclaiming such things as "I couldn't get out of that goddamn state fast enough." While I'm not a huge fan of Massachusetts either, I will say that the area I live in (right around Gilette Stadium) has some great driving roads. Now that I can drive it without the threat of stalling at every light, it's a heck of a lot more fun.
Gaming
I mentioned the gaming briefly but I'll rate some of the highlights. Some of these are a couple years old but I hadn't gotten around to them yet. These are listed more or less in the order I played them.
Dungeon Siege 2: ***
The Good: the same basic gameplay as Dungeon Siege 1. Simple levels, well-written stories, and linear dungeons.
The Bad: kind of repetitive, just like Dungeon Siege 1. For those wondering, I did like DS1, but apparently I've become less patient in my older age.
Dungeon Siege 2 Broken World: **
The Good: some interesting new gear, some interesting new stories
The Bad: kinda threw out the old stories from DS2 which I thought were pretty good. Seems like it was done by a completely different set of people who didn't honor the original material. This was made all the more striking for me by playing one right after the other.
Mount & Blade: ***, **** with modding
The Good: awesome sandbox gameplay and unmatched mounted combat simulation. The melee simulation is OK, but not substantial. Huge array of mods.
The Bad: no real "win" condition; shallow roleplaying depth.
Notes: because the game is so flexible, most of the shortcomings can be modded away.
Mass Effect: ****
The Good: well-realized universe with believable characters. Even the ones you're not supposed to like are awesome (Wrex4tw!)
The Bad: maddening difficulty curve
Notes: ME2 is probably the game I'm most looking forward to this year and it's out in a couple weeks (woot!)
Champions Online: ****
The Good: some of the best combat mechanics in any MMO I've played. Extremely customizable costumes--look awesome from level 1!
The Bad: questionable design direction, facepalm level bugs, extremely hostile community
Notes: If there weren't a great game poking out of the badness, I'd probably be less bitter about Champions. The fact remains that they had a great product and almost completely botched it. It's like a Hail Mary that hits the receiver in the hands but lands on the turf. Maybe in a year it'll be better, but I have very little faith left for Cryptic.
Dragon Age Origins: *****
The Good: probably the most polished game I've ever played. It's exactly what I expected out of the leading RPG house with the hype machine of EA behind it.
The Bad: maddening difficulty curve. No good endings. Gratuitous DLC pandering.
Notes: if you like RPGs and haven't played this one, it's well worth it. I'm not kidding about the "no good endings" bit, either. It's super easy to get attached to the characters in the game and even easier to feel bad when bad things (invariably) happen to them.
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