(no subject)
It is ze midnightz. You knowz where childuns arr?
Yeah, sorry about that. Odd, random mood.
So Fallout 3 is happily nomming at my soul. To say that the game is a work of art would be barely doing it justice. The post-apocalyptic wasteland that Bethesda managed to create is simply stunning. Sandbox RPGs have always been about exploration, about motivating you to do shit. In the past, this has usually been quest-driven, much like MMOs. Morrowind had its various guilds and noble houses. Oblivion, following in Morrowind's footsteps, was also guild-driven for the most part, but managed to break from that somewhat by making the player more mobile using mounts and a fast-travel feature (amazing how much more willing one is to explore that tomb in the ass end of nowhere when one doesn't have to manually lug loot HALFWAY ACROSS THE WORLD). Fallout 3 shatters the quest-driven model of yesteryear. Sure, there are a plethora of quests available to the player. Hell, there are so many quests that they often just walk up to you and ask you to remove the bomb strapped to their chest. Sometimes, they even walk away moments before the bomb strapped to their chest explode, leaving you slack-jawed and bewildered, your lips twisting around the beginnings of a 'WTF?' But the amazing thing is that I want to go out and explore even without the quest motivating me. Hell, I want to go out and explore simply because I happen to walk by a place that becomes marked on my map. The world is simply THAT DAMN WELL MADE. It's amazing, terrifying, and awe-inspiring, and I could sit here all night talking about it.
Fable 2 is similarly addictive, but in a different way. Some of you might recall my excitement at the prospect of such a light-hearted game. Though I've put it down for Fallout 3, and have no plans to return to it until I finish my first run-through of Fallout 3, I'm still thrilled at having such a casual game. With so much of the gaming industry having been focused on the "hardcore gamer" for the past few years, the emergence of such a satisfying casual game has really taken many by surprise. Well, perhaps I am wrong. Mayhap I simply find it more noticeable because I'm now not just a college-aged gaming enthusaist but, instead, a true gamer-with-job and significantly less time to play. But it is nice to have a game that does not involve much actual challenge and encourages simply fucking around (sometimes literally). It is a great breath of fresh air.
Back to the real world, work has been going well. I've had a really stressful couple of weeks (as I may have told some of you), but that seems to be behind me for the moment. Unfortunately, it also has pointed out to me that I may have a problem. 1) I have a fear fo failure and 2) I am much more prone to anxiety that I had previously thought. In college, if I fucked up then it was just my ass on the line. In the real world, however, if I fuck up I fuck up a ton of other people. I'm... still getting used to that. Well, that and the fact that if I fuck up, it's not the end of the world. It's amazing how easily I can freak myself out about something only to have my supervisor laugh and say "yeah, that's okay, we should just do XYZ and push beta to thursday and that should work." The real world is a strange place...
Well, I'm out for now. Time for some midnight wanderings through the Capital Wastes. Join me for a Nuka-Cola? Sorry, no Nuka-Cola Quantums. I'm saving those to make grenades :D
P.S. Jason, did you ever get yourself a 360? What games? Gears of War 2 by any chance? Trying to resist the purchase but looking for every temptation to do so that I can...
Yeah, sorry about that. Odd, random mood.
So Fallout 3 is happily nomming at my soul. To say that the game is a work of art would be barely doing it justice. The post-apocalyptic wasteland that Bethesda managed to create is simply stunning. Sandbox RPGs have always been about exploration, about motivating you to do shit. In the past, this has usually been quest-driven, much like MMOs. Morrowind had its various guilds and noble houses. Oblivion, following in Morrowind's footsteps, was also guild-driven for the most part, but managed to break from that somewhat by making the player more mobile using mounts and a fast-travel feature (amazing how much more willing one is to explore that tomb in the ass end of nowhere when one doesn't have to manually lug loot HALFWAY ACROSS THE WORLD). Fallout 3 shatters the quest-driven model of yesteryear. Sure, there are a plethora of quests available to the player. Hell, there are so many quests that they often just walk up to you and ask you to remove the bomb strapped to their chest. Sometimes, they even walk away moments before the bomb strapped to their chest explode, leaving you slack-jawed and bewildered, your lips twisting around the beginnings of a 'WTF?' But the amazing thing is that I want to go out and explore even without the quest motivating me. Hell, I want to go out and explore simply because I happen to walk by a place that becomes marked on my map. The world is simply THAT DAMN WELL MADE. It's amazing, terrifying, and awe-inspiring, and I could sit here all night talking about it.
Fable 2 is similarly addictive, but in a different way. Some of you might recall my excitement at the prospect of such a light-hearted game. Though I've put it down for Fallout 3, and have no plans to return to it until I finish my first run-through of Fallout 3, I'm still thrilled at having such a casual game. With so much of the gaming industry having been focused on the "hardcore gamer" for the past few years, the emergence of such a satisfying casual game has really taken many by surprise. Well, perhaps I am wrong. Mayhap I simply find it more noticeable because I'm now not just a college-aged gaming enthusaist but, instead, a true gamer-with-job and significantly less time to play. But it is nice to have a game that does not involve much actual challenge and encourages simply fucking around (sometimes literally). It is a great breath of fresh air.
Back to the real world, work has been going well. I've had a really stressful couple of weeks (as I may have told some of you), but that seems to be behind me for the moment. Unfortunately, it also has pointed out to me that I may have a problem. 1) I have a fear fo failure and 2) I am much more prone to anxiety that I had previously thought. In college, if I fucked up then it was just my ass on the line. In the real world, however, if I fuck up I fuck up a ton of other people. I'm... still getting used to that. Well, that and the fact that if I fuck up, it's not the end of the world. It's amazing how easily I can freak myself out about something only to have my supervisor laugh and say "yeah, that's okay, we should just do XYZ and push beta to thursday and that should work." The real world is a strange place...
Well, I'm out for now. Time for some midnight wanderings through the Capital Wastes. Join me for a Nuka-Cola? Sorry, no Nuka-Cola Quantums. I'm saving those to make grenades :D
P.S. Jason, did you ever get yourself a 360? What games? Gears of War 2 by any chance? Trying to resist the purchase but looking for every temptation to do so that I can...