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| Dungeon Siege, Morrowind, IWD2 First Impressions by Bill Dungsroman 08/05/2003, 12:45pm PDT | ||||
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| Among the games I purchased in my new system spending spree were DS, IWD2, and MW.
I crack open Icewind Dale 2 first. Quite literally: I crack the fucking CD trying to get it out of the double-sided jewelry case that allows for no convenient way to remove the CDs. I take it back to Fry's, and the fag at the return counter tries to catch me. "Did you crack it pulling it out?" HELL NO BRAD IT CAME THAT WAY, as if I'd admit to culpability which no doubt utterly negates Fry's bullshit return policy. I return home and take all my CDs from all the games out and put them into writable CD cases, the ones that are easy to get a CD out of. Anyway, I play. Decently-narrated opening movie, check. Obsessing over making a decent party, check. Utter confusion due to complete ignorance at the Third Edition Rules, check. Nah, I cruised some forums and got my bearings, so I got my Barbarian/Fighter, my Sorcs, my Cleric with only one level in Paladin so she can wield the Holy Avenger. The game's okay, I guess, but it's really much of the same ol' same ol', coupled with some bad design choices that make it seem more like IWD 0.5. After the billionth fight (and the billionth time resting or mooching free healing) and the billionth reload because my healing spells do about 4 points EVERY FUCKING TIME and I'm getting hit far too often than my AC would infer, I give up playing it hardcore, even though I want to write a review for it. I try Dungeon Siege next. It starts out fun as fucking hell. I read a FAQ that says you can have 8 party members, or any combo of party members with pack mules. Sounds like fun. Acutally, though, the beginning, where it's just your main character, is fun. When you start adding extra assholes, it gets chaotic. I cried at the beginning, with all the loot I couldn't carry. Still, it's pretty fun, but I kind of get bored with it after the 7000th Krug/Mosquito/Dog (or whatever they are) killing. Jesus, this game puts the Action in Action RPG. Morrowind is last, and it's last for the reasons I'd feared. I'm rather addicted to it. I imagine in time I'll get bored of it, because I'm old and everything gets boring after awhile, even jerking off. The citizens of Seyda Neen drive me crazy in a hurry, since you can't walk near one without them yelling sko greeting at you. Although, for some reason, the dude in the tavern who says "Seen any Elves? HAHAHA!" makes me laugh. So my self-imposed side quest is to run around town and not go near anyone unless I want to talk to them. It's great when they congregate on the bridge, and you run up to them and they all holler at you YES WHAT DO NEED KEEP MOVING KEEP MOVING. I recall when I first played Daggerfall, when I walked up to some broad and she said BY THE GODS IT'S YOU, and I thought WOW SHE KNOWS ME and then 5 trillion other broads in 5 trillion other towns that looked just like her said the same thing. Getting used to the interface takes awhile, with right-clicking to get to open up windows with the map, stats, and inventory screens. Switching from melee combat to magic is tricky but doable. It lags a lot, too. What, do I need to upgrade to 1 Gig RAM already? Oh well, it's pretty, and it sounds great. I tromp about Seyda Neen, righting wrongs (find the dead tax collector! Strip his body clean and then get a reward! I love RPG logic) and with Monty's Yoink! taped to my Space Bar, I take everything that isn't nailed down and sell it (the TETINDASI Principle, I call it). I made my own custom character, a sneaky gaywad who dabbles in simple magic and swordcraft as the mood suits him. Actually, though, I'm a barely restrained Kleptomaniac, eyeballing all the neat little cups and dishes in everyone's house and shop with a dull greedy glint in my eye. Killing a guy (righteously, I might add) and then looting his body and his house bare is so satisfying I can't stand it. And shopkeepers buy anything and everything (almost: the guy in Seyda Neen hollers GET OUTTA HERE WITH THAT SKOOMA like I have any fucking clue what he's babbling about), most of it is worth dick and completely esoteric (do I need these eggs, this plant, paper?), but WHO CARES. I wander outside town limits for awhile, honing my sword and mage skills defeating crabs and worms. As usual, I get hit a lot, and I'm fucking awful at combat with humanoids. A mage hidden in a cave owns me until I buy some scrolls to lay on him. A haunted tomb kills me in two seconds. I get lost as the automap mysteriously changes and blacks out Seyda Neen for awhile. The sun sets and the red moon fucking stuns me with its clarity and majesty (or something). I get the shit scared of me with something, and I laugh off the tension I got from being utterly lost in the dark. I run everywhere and my Athletics skill increases. Fuck it, every goddamn thing is rendered, little plant fronds and ceiling crossbeams and hammock nets (I kill a dude and catnap in his hammock next to his stripped corpse. I'm a cold one). It's fun, for now. BDR |
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