Mass Effect

 The numerous reviews began to pour in all saying roughly the same thing. Mass Effect is Very Cherry. I really didn’t feel the hype machine on this one as much as for Assassin’s Creed which according to almost everyone really disappoints after an hour of the repetitive gameplay. You might think it rather odd that my post on a purported MMO blog would be about two console games but as like many others MMOs are not my only game of choice I truly love the consoles for their ease of gameplay and in most cases the lightness of the game and the fact that playing them not being a major investment of time at one sitting. I have always also liked EA’s sport offerings which you just can’t get on the PC. Mass Effect is one I will have to acquire, Assassin’s Creed will be a pass I’m afraid. I still have my hands full with the Complete Saga LEGO Star Wars which is just plain addictive.  Have to say if someone has never played this one it is a great deal and very fun.

On to the real meat - little background here, I tend to only play one MMO at a time. There really are several reasons; the subscription fees only play a limited role here. It really isn’t about not being able afford more than one at a time but when you pay for the monthly access you want to get some time out of the investment.  

I currently play Lord of the Rings Online and frankly I am quite surprised that there are less people commenting on this one. I have heard the usual WoW knockoff comments and the like but really not much else. I only played WoW for a month and quit solely on the fact that it was too cartoony for my tastes. I like LOTRO it does have the intangible fun factor that many games just never get. One nagging item is the skill system; I would really prefer if it was more in-depth.  I was a long time Guild Wars player and really loved its skills system with being able to have basically different “flavored” characters in every class. It does get tiresome running through the same skill sequence during every encounter.  It also tends to make every player per class roughly the same. It’s not bad I just wish it was better.

I want to try to keep these fairly short in length but post more frequently.

On the Road as Our Journey Begins

Finding something worth saying seems to be the most important point of it all and I hope I am able to regularly accomplish that. Even if I end up being the only one that reads these. Lets get some of my background out of the way; I have had a fair amount of both console and pc gaming experience and know that my posts might range across the entire spectrum of computer gaming. Being in my mid thirties I have grown up with the evolution of computer  and console gaming. As they have developed I have become more drawn to games that immerse you into a story. Single player roleplaying games were the first to embrace the concept but they are seemed to fall short because even the best AI couldn’t react as well a real person. Then along comes the first Multiplayer Online game that really attempted to do this. The venerable Ultima Online, to my shame I only dabbled in it. I also didnt get involved with the true mother to modern MMO design, Everquest. I played only for a few months and quit mostly because of the age of my pc which at the time was not what it needed to be. So many bloggers out there seem to be from the early days  of MMOs or they at least imply that they were. I wanted to give a more middle of the road perspective and as I have gained experience in more MMOs I have started to wonder really how the shape of the future MMO market will look. Our median age of MMO players is rising, coupled with the fact that real life becomes more demanding as you get older until retirement I dont see how the “raid” content that is the current favorite end game model will survive. I know I can never dedicate the time required to get deeply involved in that type gameplay and while the fun is there for me and many others the effort involved is not worth the payoff. WoW had its sucess not from its raid content but from the engrossing and casual leveling. Guild Wars had no grid worth commenting of yet it held many players with their PvP. We might as well also get our terms out of the way here at the start. If a game has no single player and you log into a central server(s) to join up to play with or against a large group of other players it is a MMO. Guild Wars -MMO, Battlefield - Not MMO. Every time I have seen a game be questioned whether it is or not an MMO I have found it is in my opinion. Well nothing really of note here but as a first post not bad, hope to get it the swing of things as this becomes more comfortable for me.

Luck to you in your gaming,

Marcus