Question Period: Long version

Happy Monday everybody!

A few days ago someone on Emipre Avenue posed a question and I responded to it - in as few words as possible. I hate taking up other people's virtual space and therefore minimized my thoughts as much as possible. But since this is my very own personal sandbox I do not have such qualms and will happily and verbosely rant away. 

The original question from Cliche Studio was:

What change would you most like to see in the game industry?

 

I responded:

 

I would like more originality and ingenuity in game design and less reliance on previously successful models. It would be particularly nice if the widening gap between indie developers and AAA studios could be closed in the process. And one more thing...that is better explained in this old blog post than here in 50 words or less.

I also referenced my blog a while back, entitled Game (Community) Development.

Cliche then posted two follow up questions/comments, which were:

What precisely do you mean when you mention this gap?

 and

so mainly less reliance on sure things and formulae and more taking chances and risks with new things/innovation?

I thought about it and constructed a response I considered appropriate. Then I realized that my appropriate response was overwhelmingly long. So I'm posting it here. It goes something like this:


Yes. Less reliance on formulae and more innovation are exactly what I am suggesting. Technology has changed, the word has changed, the composition of the gaming community has changed – but we’re still playing games using the same models. Part of that repetition can be seen in the perpetuation of sequels. Some sequels are great and the serial format can be useful in telling a larger story and adding layers to a universe. They allow fan to explore more aspects of the game world, and when done well developers take the opportunity to expand game play trying different game mechanics, puzzle types and expanded abilities. Most sequels offer less in the way of greatness – if you’re making a game in the same vein just to capitalize on previous financial success that’s a cop out. Often sequels end up feeling like expansion packs with a couple of extra maps and a new weapon or two.

I find that a lot of games fail to make use of new platform technology. Part of that is the fault of platform developers’ lack of innovation. Some examples of good implementation can be found in the Nintendo DS/Dsi/3ds system. If you’ve played Zelda for the DS then you know what I’m talking about. Being able to make travel notes on your map was awesome and useful and alleviated a lot of frustration. For one quest you were required to close the DS and reopen it (with the game still running) to reveal the text on the upper screen (the DS became the chest for that sequence).

In terms of the gap between AAA games and those of the indie variety, I am directly referring to the tradition of innovation in indie games versus the formulaic tendencies of many AAAs. AAA properties, as of late, have more often than not become rehashed versions of something that was innovative or interesting – a long time ago.

“Thatgamecompany” made a game a couple of years back called flower. It almost certainly won’t be of interest to everyone, and it was rather short, but it was engaging and unique, sold well and got positive reviews. Describing the concept would become a bit wordy I think so just go check out a few videos on youtube, and then you’ll understand why I like it and bring it up now. (The company’s follow up “Journey” is due to be released this year and looks equally interesting.) Minecraft is becoming exceedingly popular of late and is also a great example of what Indie games are doing well. Being able to build and manipulate your environment in meaningful ways is interesting, and appealing and just plain cool. I can’t think of any AAA games released in the not so distant past that allow you to do this. This is disappointing. Games like Star Wars Galaxies proved that people REALLY like to manipulate and personalize their environment and characters in ways that are meaningful to them. People played that game long after it stopped being a decent game because they liked the itemization and creative outlets they were allowed in game (they’re still playing it –until December anyway).

There are some interesting things coming out of the big studios. Notably in Lego Indiana Jones you can create your own maps and then play through them. I’ve never picked it up but I doubt that the feature is as integrated as I would like. There are also probably strict limits on what you can do. Maybe not. Epic Mickey is also something to look at when designing future games. The game reviews were mixed/positive but most of the concerns around the game were things like camera control and vocalizations but the concept itself was generally considered appealing and the story and game mechanics meshed well.


Does that clarify things? Because I am going to stop writing now.

Old Hats Love Christmas aka What to Do WIth Myself Until SW: tOR launches

Star Wars: The Old Republic finally has an official release date. On December 20, 2011 the game billed “the most heavily anticipated MMO to date” will launch.

(I pulled that line directly from EA/Bioware materials so it may not be the most objective statement, ‘most heavily anticipated’, but there does seem to be a lot of buzz around this game. And that’s not just the fangirl in me talking.)

Back in July, after only 5 days of pre-order access the game had sold 200,000 copies according to a statement released by the company. As of September 2, 2011 the American Pre Order Chart had listed SW: toR as selling approx. 30,000 games a week in America, with a little over 400,000 physical copies in total pre-ordered. Yeah, that’s right; there are approximately 30,000 physical copies of the game pre-ordered in America every week. These numbers ignore all pre-orders sold outside of America, as well as those sold to anyone in digital format.

With nigh on three months to go before the game is released anticipation can easily become frustration for some (myself included); so I’ve come up with some suggestions for folks who need their Old Republic fix sooner than later.

SW: toR has the benefit of being the long awaited successor to the very successful Knights of the Old Republic games: KotOR (Bioware/LucasArts) and KotOR 2: The Sith Lords (Obsidian/LucanArts). If you haven’t played them yet – go get them. They’re both playable on the 360 even though they were released for the original Xbox, and there are Mac and PC versions available as well. With over 60 hours of play time per game per play through, multiple classes, and different quest lines culminating in multiple endings based on your choices - you can easily kill a few weeks playing these games in your downtime. If you have played them already, play them again. Because they’re awesome, and despite taking place 300 years before SW: tOR, there are connections to be made between the franchises. It’s a good primer for those new to the Old Republic universe, and it’ll get you back into the swing of things if you’re an old hat.

 

For those who somehow don’t already know - canonically Revan is male and he follows the redemption storyline. Of course in both KotOR and KotOR II the player can choose to be either male or female and light side/dark side alignment are entirely based on player preference. But canonically Revan is a light side dude at the end of the KotOR storyline; which is only important if you want to have a seamless transition into KotOR III.

 

Ok, so there is no KotOR III and everyone knows that (right?). But it wasn’t a total all out in your face lie. KotOR III was going to be made. But then it wasn’t. The official line was something about LucasArts needing to make strategic cuts to achieve a more advantageous financial position. Blah, blah, blah – all that matters is that they cancelled it. But it was cancelled after a whole lot of art was created (including this concept art of Naresha, above) and some storyline for the project was written. If you’re interested to see what was created (and then unceremoniously set aside) for KotOR III you could always pick up a copy of the 2008 book, “Rogue Leaders: The Story of LucasArts” which according to Wookipedia is a history of LucasArts and includes, “more than 300 pieces of concept art, character development sketches, and storyboards” from published LucasArts games as well as from those that didn’t make it to retail – including KotOR III.

While I’m interested to see where developers were heading with KotOR III before they were sent to the chopping block, I have a better outlet for my impatient fervor. By the time I finish my umpteenth playthrough of KotOR and KotOR II mid November will be here. Yes, yes, there are a few non-Star Wars games that I want to play coming out at about that time, but more importantly, November 15, 2011 is the anticipated release date for Drew Karpyshyn’s new novel entitled, “Star Wars: The Old Republic: Revan” which finishes up the KotOR storyline, finally revealing the reasons behind Revan’s fall to the Dark Side and his abandonment of the Republic following his redemption at the Star Forge.

It’s not exactly KotOR III. Obviously. It’s not a videogame or even a ‘choose your own adventure’ book.  I can’t finish my Revan’s story exactly the way I wanted to do it. But I can see who or what the big bad is, what was so dangerous that Revan took on the Darth title. I can see what happens to the characters I came to love in the game series. I can get the sense of closure that I’ve been craving for more than half a decade now. And then I can let my imagination run wild. Or I can just head over to fanfiction.net sometime in late November and see what those folks came up with. They are a prolific bunch.

Add in some comic reading (both SW: tOR and KOTOR), a bit of forum surfing, guild preparation and some beta weekends (PLEASE Bioware. I NEED this!) and that should bring everyone nicely into December in a mostly stable state of mind. Some holiday prep, baking and shopping and wrapping and what not and there will be just enough time to rest up for the inevitable marathon of gaming granted by an early access pre-order code.   

For more information on Star Wars: The Old Republic: Revan, check out this interview with the author:

http://www.swtor.com/news/news-article/20110422   

Collector's Editions: I missed out on them all.

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I have a thing for dolls. Cooler people than I call them figurines or action figures but in the end….those are all just fancy smancy words for dolls. And I have a lot of them ranging from the Buffyverse to the Boondock Saints. I even have a nice selection of DDO miniatures. Heck, Bon Jovi sits on my mantle in his place of honor next to a Mickey Mouse Jedi and his utility droid. The one collectible I own that’s not a doll is the lightsaber replica – and that’s not really mine. It belongs to my partner, but I like to think we co-own most things. And it is also on my mantle.

Despite my love of all things collectible, I have purchased not one video game collector’s edition. Oh I’ve considered the purchase. The closest I came (until recently) was the serious contemplation of the Witcher 2 Collector’s Edition last year. And I was going to do it. I would have. Except that I couldn’t order it in Canada. Which is where I live. At times like these to my great dissatisfaction. So despite my yearning for the Geralt bust, art book, coins, paper craft and some other swag – I purchased the plain old regular edition. Which was good - just not what I wanted.

This is what I wanted.

All of that ends with the release of Mass Effect 3 - because I already have the Collector's Edition pre-ordered. Now, I can't help but wonder what I may have missed in waiting so long to jump on the CE bandwagon.

Apparently, I missed a lot. Let’s narrow it to five shall we? Five seems like a good number.

5 I remember back in late 2004 when the Halo 2: Collector’s Edition was released. Folks went crazy for this embossed metal box containing the game (for XBOX) and an extras DVD - including character outtakes and Dev commentaries. There was nothing in there that you couldn’t have found on YouTube a few months in, but the frenzy around this release was palpable nonetheless and it only cost $10 more than the regular game - so it makes number 5 on the list.

4 May as well keep with the shooters and move on to Call of Duty: World at War. This game went so far as to release a Limited Collector’s edition for PC and the X360 – wait, limited? Aren’t they all? The CoD: WaW CE came with early unlock of the FG-42 in game, one week of double multiplayer XP, a colored clan tag for X360 gamers and a stainless steel canteen with the COD emblem on it. Which is cool and convenient – you can keep the filled canteen nearby to assuage the inevitable thirst cropping up, as you try, unsuccessfully not to get sniped. Or maybe that’s just me - I die a lot in multiplayer shooters.

3 Batman: Arkham Asylum got great reviews for the most part. I am not a fan of the Batman franchise so I didn’t get very far into the game. But if you are a fan of the franchise the 48 page character encyclopedia, extras DVD, exclusive in game map and 14 inch batarang – that’s right, it came with an honest to goodness BATARANG! – would have made this one a keeper.

2The Ubisoft folks have consistently released some awesome Assassin’s Creed CEs. The first game’s Collector’s Edition, in particular was chock full of sparkly goodness, including a mini-strategy guide, AC themed short films, an Altair doll and a set of Penny Arcade comics all neatly packaged in the requisite tin box. The AC2 Black Edition UK exclusive came with the “Master Assassin” version of the Ezio doll, 3 in game bonus quests; the leather bound ‘Conspiracy Book’ and game soundtrack nestled inside of the autographed the collectible black packaging with unique holographic signature. Can’t wait to see what AC3: Revelations has in store for us. Maybe I’ll even pick this one up. If I’m allowed to do that in Canada. Come on Ubisoft! You know you want to! Please?

I know I said five was a good number but the best there seems to be a tie for first place on my very prestigious list between Diablo II and StarCraft 2: Wings of Liberty.

Such a great doll.

1A Diablo II, released for the PC came with your typical extras - DVD, a special editions manual with dev autographs on the back cover and a spiffy box. But the marketing team didn’t stop there. The box was much bigger than most video game packaging needs to be (around 9” by 15”) - all the better to contain the Diablo II RPG kit (AD&D 2) included with the game. The kit included the quest book, rule book, DM screen, character sheets, dice and cut out map tiles. I think I paid well over $100 to get a comparable base set for DnD 4e last year. Given the CE’s approx. $100CAD price tag at release – it was totally worth it. If you have any interest in pen and paper that is. And I do. So...

1B StarCraft II: Wing of Liberty also came in at around $100 from what I can tell. Although it seems some folks who pre-ordered got it for 30% less than that. So that means for $69 or so these lucky individuals got the 176 page art book, soundtrack, behind the scenes DVD, SC comic issue #0, and a StarCraft dog tag 2G USB thumb drive preloaded with both Star Craft and Brood Wars. For those SCII crazies who are uber obsessed with the showy, competitive aspects of SCII the set also contained DLC in the form of army icons, avatar portraits and an exclusive unit decals and a unique version of the Terran Thor unit. (Oh and they threw in a special pet for players of WarCraft and in the hopes of enticing noobs to the Warcraft money pit to jump on in.) Blizzard wanted to release an epic CE. I’m pretty sure they succeeded. The box looks kind of nifty too.

That’s the list then, narrowed down to 6 games. With a couple of notable mentions throughout. Feel free to send me a line if you feel I overlooked something. And be sure to check back in approximately 165 days for a look at my brand new ME3 CE and game reviews/commentaries. More SWTOR and some StarCraft commentaries up sooner than that. 

Game (Community) Development

I keep tossing these ideas back and forth through the cobwebbed recesses of my brain. That is, I had been tossing them back and forth, until recently when I reached an impasse with myself. To break the tie, I sent the questions out into the wider virtual world to ferment and grow and change until I could get a handle on them again. Roger R over at The InGame Asylum was kind enough to mould them back into a form I feel I can contend with and this is the very rant-y result of my latest round of mental pong.

The questions are simple. What do we, as gamers, as a community want in multiplayer games – in any games really? What kinds of things need to happen to take gaming to the next level? What does that even mean….the next level? What does that look like?  Unfortunately for my hyper obsessive brain simple answers usually have complex bloody answers.

Before we can really think about what we want, we have to take a good long look at where we’re at. Unfortunately with the exception of a handful of engaging properties, most games now rely on fancier graphics or bigger guns to capture the players’ attention.  Novelty is an important factor but it fades so quickly. It’s a great way to lure people in but what happens after that? Player loyalty and game depth go hand in hand but depth can be costly. Our expectations in terms of graphics have been exponentially increased over the years - impacting game file size, production costs and development time. And as much as I complain about load screens and the increasing cost of games I am not willing to give an inch when it comes to how my games look.  I’m probably not alone in that - but MUDs had zippo in terms of graphics and they were beloved. The novelty of interacting and competing with other human brains was a big part of that but I think it was the long term possibilities inherent in that process that kept people coming back.

We have a basic human need to socialize – to interact with the world and be accepted. To be praised. We want to prove ourselves. MUDs let kids all over the world do that. (Well…a lot of the world anyway, but I digress.) As they played with and against one another they learned, adopted and shared new strategies and developed relationships that were meaningful to them – they developed communities.

Now, the thing about communities is that they can be such fragile things.

But if you have interests in common and enough common goals, and a little bit of commitment, they can also be really strong – powerful even. On the flip side, if they become rigid and too bogged down in tradition they often break. And that’s what I see happening here and now. We have too many rules about how things should be, a template that developers are loathe to stray too far from and a gaming community with too many divergent interests to be satisfied easily.

Video games, like comics and pen and paper RPGs, was once considered the exclusive domain of “nerds” - a group largely composed of teenage boys and young men who were social outcasts either by choice or by necessity – sometimes both I suppose.   They were, on the surface at least, a largely homogenous group and social scientists out there have probably written reams of papers on the reasons for this. (If they haven’t, they should.) But whatever the reasons, whatever the process involved in the development of these communities, because of this homogeneity they were easily satisfied as a group. I suppose the fact that the media was new and therefore interesting and lacking strict expectations was part of that.

Things have changed. These days when you log into an online game or a check out a nerdly forum you can make no reasonable assumptions about the real live person you are interacting with. The release of the feature film X-men in 2000 made it clear that the realm of geek was being invaded. The worldwide gross of the film according to one source was over 296 million. That’s…..a lot. Whole swathes of regular folks went to see that movie - and the movie wasn’t even that good. It’s not just comics being absorbed into popular culture, in the last decade it seems more movies are based on video games than not – Resident Evil, Lara Croft, Silent Hill, Hitman, Max Payne – they’re all video game properties.

And all blockbuster hits. 

Nerds are the new cool. Signs of the changing size and composition of gaming communities are everywhere. Bioware has recently announced a change in their marketing strategy for the soon to be released Mass Effect 3. After a rabid fan base made their desires clear, the company will include “FemShep” in the ME3 packaging and advertising scheme because all those female gamers out there want to feel included, they want to be engaged. Family gaming is a concept tossed around regularly. Families play video games together. Many of the folks I’ve met in PUGs are middle aged men and women but some are barely teenagers. As it turns out, anyone could be the brains behind that next mysterious avatar with whom you interact. We simply can’t assume anything anymore. So why, when our community demographic has changed so much, are games stagnating so badly? Why are we not making use of the wider audience to create more opportunities for increased input, brainstorming and collaboration? Why aren’t we making better games? Where’s the progress?

Oh there are hints of brilliance here and a smattering of innovation there. But the reality is that now that the gaming industry has gotten tangled up in the heady thrill of pop culture it’s no longer about the community. It’s no longer about a passion for games or art or story. It’s about profit, which is a common theme in a lot of facets of modern life. Games are largely made with the lowest common denominator in mind, appealing to the largest chunk of gamers so that the highest profits possible can be achieved. Grab an old game change some textures, add a new ‘advanced’ weapon, change the HUD and voila…we have a marketable $70 product.

Okay, it’s not exactly that simple, some companies genuinely try to create something new. They try to make something new and interesting. But they usually fail. And there are lots of excuses for that failure. We’ve all heard them. Maybe, as gamers, we need to reclaim our community. Maybe if we had a better handle on who we are as a group and what we collectively need we could somehow convey that to game developers. Maybe they would even listen. Hell we can develop our own games if it comes right down to it. This is the age of the internet. Everyone can learn anything with enough patience and a home computer. If a comparably small group of social outcasts playing text based games over the ARPAnet several decades ago could lead to the modern day paradigm of gaming who knows what we could accomplish as a broader, better connected, more informed community of gamers.

Just a thought.

Musical Inclinations

I used to dabble in music – this was a while back. I wrote the occasional album review, sat down with a couple of artists, had a radio show or three. I even sang in a number of bands when the mood struck me. It didn’t work out. Mostly because I saw too much and didn’t much like what I saw. But there were high points. Many fond memories were made.

 One of the bands I played in was based out of Winnipeg, Manitoba. We were calling ourselves Finding Emo that night – don’t ask. It’s not as interesting a story as you might think. The gig was not very remarkable. It was not a great show and our set, while crowd pleasing was not our best. What I remember about that night was the band that played directly before us. They wouldn’t have been particularly notable except for one small nuance – their entire set consisted of the theme song to Super Mario Bros (the original Nintendo score). This is by no means a rare occurrence. To the best of my knowledge there are many many covers of music from early Nintendo games – especially Super Mario Bros. Nonetheless it is a memory that to this day makes me smile.

And that brings me to my point. Music and video games. Music in video games. We’ve come a long way from the digitized tonal scores of the 1980s – a very long way. Many game developers spend a hefty chunk of their budget on scoring their games and it shows. Game soundtracks are available for purchase apart from the games that spawn them – and more importantly, they sell. Video games are now a great source of new music – or at the very least an opportunity to experience different music.

Have you played Lost Odyssey? I did. Most of it anyway, just after I put the fourth (yes Fourth) disc into my xbox, the red lights of death caught up with me. Which shouldn’t have been all that surprising since the game seemed to cause my Xbox to freeze up every ten minutes or so. (That’s a lot in a game that requires upward of 70 hours of gameplay)….anyway the point is that despite the fact that I never finished the game due to technical issues and the inevitable frustration that ensued, Lost Odyssey’s soundtrack is phenomenal. Beautiful. Inspired. If you don’t believe me you should check out the title theme music. It’s a lovingly crafted instrumental piece from composer Nobuo Uematsu who wrote most of the Final Fantasy scores as well as music for games such as Blue Dragon and Chrono Trigger.

Bioshock also has a great musical score – as does its sequel.  In particular I found Eleanor’s Lullaby appealing. Bioshock and Bioshock 2 were both composed by Garry Schyman, who also created the music for the Dante’s Inferno game and (trivia tidbit here) worked on the A-Team (1983) soundtrack.

If you’re looking for something with vocals and a slightly less orchestral appeal then Dragon Age 2 delivers with a remix of Florence and the Machine’s “I’m Not Calling You a Liar”. Still on the folksy side, Florence Welch has a ridiculously emotive and shockingly powerful voice. And a great feel for modulation. I actually sat and read the credits at end game so I could hear the song in its entirety. “I’m Not Calling You a Liar (Dragon Age II: Varric’s Theme)”, produced by Inon Zur is, in my opinion better than the original arrangement – just throwing that out there.

And of course you can’t write about video game soundtracks without Portal coming to mind. “Still Alive”, written by Jonathan Coulton is brilliant in its snarky, creepy but playful narrative tendencies. Ellen McLain (the voice of GLaDOS in the Portal games) captures the psychotic subterfuge of the AI as well in song as she does in game. And if my opinion isn’t enough reason for you to go out and listen to the song (understandably so), you should know that Ryan Geddes, an editor at IGN, called “Still Alive” the best game ending song of all time. Felicia Day and Coulton played a live version at PAX 2008 to ecstatic fanboys and gals. And it was featured in Rock Band playlists alongside rock and roll heavy hitters like Metallica, Foo Fighters and David Bowie. Pretty impressive, non?

Finally the song that inspired this rant. The debut trailer for Assassin’s Creed Revelations is made that much more memorable by the background music, a song called “Iron” by Woodkid. Apparently Woodkid is the musical pseudonym for French filmmaker/music video director Yoann Lemoine who brought us the music videos “Back to December” by Taylor Swift, “Teenage Dream” by Katy Perry and “Mistake” by Moby. If you’re not into that kind of thing (pop culture isn’t for everyone) don’t hold it against him. “Iron is phenomenal…watch the E3 2011 AC: Revelations trailer below and see for yourself.

For Woodkid's video with the same song see this link: http://youtu.be/vSkb0kDacjs

Toodles.

 

The Old Republic: Speculation the First: Holocrons

I (like 1.5 million other folks apparently) signed up to beta Star Wars: The Old Republic about a year ago. But I am impatient. And obsessive. And in my obsessive impatience I may or may not have signed up four or five times since then just in case it didn’t work the first time, or in case they didn’t get my registration. Just in case they didn’t understand how much I wanted it….

My partner also signed up for beta and he got an invite to test all long weekend. So in obsessive behavior typical of me, I checked my email every thirty seconds for a few days willing my invite to materialize. It didn’t. The weekend has come and gone and my invitation never showed up. Apparently my love of Bioware is unreciprocated.  Or at least a little unbalanced.

In any case before I was informed of my partner’s great luck I had decided to do something SWTOR related to help alleviate the building tension caused by my impatience for the game release. And since someone somewhere had once mentioned the possibility that holocrons hidden around the worlds would contain mystical secrets (stat bonuses and the like) I decided to start there. Here then, is a speculative list of holocrons in SWTOR compiled by an obsessive Bioware fangirl who just happens to have a replica lightsaber on her fireplace mantle. Here goes:

Dark Side:

Most of the following Sith holocrons would have been on Korriban originally but following the Jedi Civil War many Sith Artifacts were sought out and destroyed. And remember that according to KOTOR 2, Jedi Master Atris collected several Sith holocrons and brought them to her Academy on Telos. So I guess there could be random holocrons scattered throughout a (hopefully) reconstructed Telos.

1.       The Dark Holocron was recovered from Naga Sadow’s fleet after his defeat at the Battle of Koros Major while retreating to Yavin 4. Many accounts suggest that it is the first Sith holocron to be captured by the Jedi – so, you know, canonically relevant. It was kept in the Holocron Chamber of the Jedi Temple on Coruscant.

2.       Adas’s Holocron was created by a King of Korriban during the reign of the Sith (species). Adas was a master of Sith magic and united several warring nations into an empire under his rule. King Adas was aided in the creation of his holocron by Rakata from the Infinite Empire (c. 27,700 BBY) before killing them for plotting against his people. His holocron was lost during the Great Hyperspace War on Ashas Ree where Freedon Nadd found it and used its knowledge to conquer Onderon. Following the defeat of the Onderon Naddists the Jedi stored the holocron on the planet Kodai.

3.       The Telos IV Holocron was crafted by the Sith sometime before the Golden Age and was traditionally held by Sith Lords. Each owner generally added their knowledge to the Holocron and as a result, several notable Star Wars universe characters including Ajunta Pall, Naga Sadow, Darth Bane, Darth Revan and Darth Sidious have made contributions. Not only notable because of its prominence in Lore, several quest related characters from KOTOR/KOTOR II had a hand in this holocron’s maintenance and it would make sense to include it in SWTOR.

4.       Revan’s Holocron was constructed during the Jedi Civil War in order to pass on what he believed to be information vital to fully developing Dark Side talents. Following Revan’s redemption after the Jedi Civil War, the holocron was left hidden in the Temple of the Ancients on Rakata Prime. Again, no idea if, where or how you would find it in game.

5.       Darth Nihilus’s Holocron has little history attached to it and there is nothing particularly notable about this holocron except that it was created by one of the villains of KOTOR II. No idea where it might be though.

6.       Darth Andeddu’s Holocron was found by Freedon Nadd on Korriban shortly after he fell to the dark side. His tomb was originally on Onderon but Arca Jeth moved it to a nearby moon, Dxun to prevent the dark energies from effecting the population of Onderon. Exar Kun and Revan both breeched the tomb on Dxun so the holocrons could be anywhere now.

7.       Dathka Graush's Holocron was created by a Sith Lord of the same name who was skilled in the use of Sith Alchemy and ruled most of Korriban approximately 7000 BBY. He was entombed there and his holocron, sword and amulet remain at his side.

8.       Freedon Nadd's Holocron was created by Freedon Nadd, Dark Lord of the Sith and first king of Onderon sometime after he conquered the Onderonians, this holocron was in Nadd’s tomb for some time but it may have found its way off of Dxun after Exar Kun and Revan breached the tomb’s defenses. According to canon however, it stayed in a locked room inside the tomb until Darth Bane removed it in 1000 BBY.  

9.       Tulak Hord's Holocron was a Sith holocron that Dark Lord Tulak Hord created to pass on his technique of lightsaber combat. In KOTOR there is a quest line that involves seeking out the holocron in order to advance Revan’s infiltration of the Sith Academy.  Whether this quest is completed or not shouldn’t change the fact that this holocron would end up in the hands of the Academy’s headmaster and kept somewhere prominent in the Sith Academy on Korriban.

10.    XoXaan's Holocron was created by the Sith Lord XoXaan. XoXaan was one of the Dark Jedi exiled from the Republic after their defeat in the Hundred-Year Darkness. Her holocron was lost in the Tombs of Korriban.

Light Side:

There seemed to be significantly less Light Side Holocrons of note. This doesn’t concern me as many of the Sith holocrons would have been taken by the Jedi during the Sith Artifact purge or possibly created by redeemed Sith turned Jedi – so they would be accessible to Republic players. Many if not most Jedi holocrons were housed in the Temple on Coruscant. Prior to the sacking of Coruscant the local temple had a ‘Holocron Chamber’ in one of the towers – specifically the Tower of First Knowledge - where ancient holocrons protecting coveted secrets were housed and studied. There are also many possibilities for unknown/previously unheard of holocrons on Tython, the original, ancient seat of the council. Some known holocrons would have been abandoned on Tython when the first Jedi Council left the planet.

1.       Arca Jeth’s Holocron was created by Ood Bnar and passed down Jedi to Jedi until it came into the possession of Arca Jeth. This holocron was lost on Arkania and not recovered until the New Republic era. The web comics released in anticipation of the release of SWTOR involve Jeth and his apprentices so it wouldn’t be a huge surprise to find this holocron included - somewhere.

2.       Sar Agorn’s Holocron is one of the older holocrons in the galaxy. Sar Agorn was an early sentient non-humanoid Jedi Master whose personality was preserved in his holocron so that his knowledge and understanding of Jedi traditions and history could be passed on.  One of the only surviving artifacts of this era, Sar Agorn’s holocron contained much information about the earliest Jedi on Tython, which is the starting planet in SWTOR if you play a Jedi.

3.       The Tedryn Holocron is also known as Vodo-Siosk Baas’s Holocron or the Jedi Holocron. Little is known about this object other than the fact that it was created over 4000 years before the Battle of Yevin by the Jedi Master Tedryn. It is known that the histories of Freedon Nadd, Exar Kun, Ulic-Qel Droma and Naga Sadow are included on the holocron as well as information about the Great Hyperspace War. Vodo-Siosk Baas held the holocron around 3997 BBY and he spent most of his time between Ossus and Dantooine, which as far as I know aren’t playable environments in SWTOR as things stand – but you never know.

4.       The Great Holocron contains one of the most extensive collections of Force related instruction in the known universe.  Amidst this incredible amount of information are lessons from numerous Masters throughout Galactic history including Sar Argorn, Arca Jeth, Obi Wan Kenobi and Yoda as well as Vima Sunrider’s tale of Ulic-Qel Droma’s redemption and Deesra Luur Jada’s observations of Revan.

So that’s it. Like I said, far more Dark Side holocrons of note for the time period. And this list could be all sound and fury. I write this with no actual, confirmed or in any way official information from the devs. I don’t know if these specific holocrons are going to be included.  I don’t even know if stat boosting holocrons are in the final version of the game. This is all speculation folks.But at a minimum it was a nice foray into the long and convoluted history of the Star Wars Universe. Hopefully it will be the first of several SWTOR posts between now and launch.

“We live in an era of revolution, the revolution of rising expectations”.*

Having had some time to consider how my expectations may have affected my Fable 2 experience (look at me being all self-aware and introspective) I decided to give Fable 3 a try. (It helped that I had absolutely reached rock bottom in terms of games I was interested in playing, the lack of interesting releases in the last year is astounding.) So, in the name of second chances I made my way through the Xbox marketplace, found the demo and began downloading.

Skip forward a few hours to the next day and now I’m getting ready, TV’s on, Xbox is signing me in to my Live account….I’m ready for this. I have an open mind and agile fingers. Let the button mashing begin!

Except it doesn’t. Because the demo stopped about 15% into the download. Turns out I had completely filled my hard drive with arcade games, DLC, and yes, with more saves than would be considered rational by most people. In order to continue I had to head to the system settings menu of my Xbox where I deleted 1.5 G of (mostly) saves so I could continue the download.

Having played through the demo I felt like it was a game worth playing through. After a couple of misfires, I managed to find and buy a copy. When I popped it in I was pleasantly surprised to find that the Fable 3 demo creates a save upon completion that allows you to continue the game from that point forward while getting any and all achievements and items that you earned in demo play; a small bonus but convenient and it almost makes up for the fact that you can only play the demo once per gamertag.

Now, having played through Fable 3 in its entirety (I’m actually about 1/3 of the way through a second playthrough on the hunt for more achievements) I can comfortably say that I liked it.

 For starters, my female character is NOT entirely unattractive and in no way mannish. It is obvious that she is not an afterthought in the game design. And while her vocals are still very much full of Fable’s typical satirical drawl, the acting isn’t horribly bad.

I consider it an added bonus that I am not immediately annoyed by any of the NPCs though in typical Fable fashion the NPCs are all incredibly unattractive (excluding some of the unique ones with whom you can’t have unscripted interactions anyway - with one exception). They look like a bunch of caricatures of stodgy dolls that walk and talk like real people. I know that they have a branded image to maintain but do ALL of the NPCs have to be unappealing? Do all of their clothes have to be fashion nightmares…not to mention the hair? 50 years of game time has passed since Fable 2, surely that’s enough time to allow for a graceful phasing out of the heretofore icky but popular fashions. And you’re supposed to love/want to protect these people, potentially marry them? Fortunately, the random villager/worker NPCs are also not all that annoying and generally stay out of your way unless you actively choose to interact with them.

 On the upside, unique NPCs like Jasper, Elliot/Elise and Walter are quickly introduced, and to my surprise they are passable, even amusing at times. (Which is good because if you continue playing through the game you’ll be seeing them a lot.)

 Combat, while incredibly overpowered – particularly magic - is enjoyable and look incredibly cool. The quests are engaging. The graphics are well executed for the most part, and the overarching story is interesting and well paced (with the exception for that end bit which felt contrived and rushed).

Having said all of that there are some petty issues that I feel NEED to be mentioned.

1.    The interaction mechanic is as annoying as ever, time consuming and bugged. For instance hand holding either forces you to slow down in your travels or to drag your companion behind you. Assuming you don’t just lose them when they get stuck behind a tree or another person or a rock or a gust of wind forcing you to back track to find out where you lost them and then button mash the interaction buttons in the hopes of making them follow you again. The “follow’ mechanic of previous games worked better and they shouldn’t have changed it.

Other interpersonal interactions (which actually give you XP in this installment of the series) take up far too much time and frankly the 500^th time I’ve danced with a random villager is the 499^th time I’ve considered throwing the controller through the television screen. Especially since each such interaction is generally only worth ONE seal….one unit of XP! ONE! End game each unlockable ability is between 40 and 100 seals.  I spent 2 hours hunting down villagers to dance with so I could get the XP I needed to open the final chest. That is REDICULOUS! Compounding this torture is the fact that for the most part you can’t skip cut scenes or animations in the game. So you have to sit though the entire interaction animation, and then exit out of interaction mode each and every time you want to get ONE XP seal. (This also makes multiple playthroughs a bit of a pain, I simply don’t want to re-watch cut scenes today when I just saw them 2 days ago. If game developers make only one change to improve their games, they should make the bloody cut scenes skippable.)

2.     Has anyone ever heard of a HUD? Or a mini-map? You know those interfaces that let you know where you are in the game/battle/quest? I don’t so much mind the phasing out of Player Character Health bars in favor of the screen darkening mechanic. I understand the desire to keep your screen as clean and uncluttered as possible. I don’t even mind the fact that the pause menu has been removed from the game (now when you press the start button you are teleported to your hero hideout – the Sanctuary - where you can change your appearance and weapons, view trophies, interact with other Fable 3 gamers, pick up presents left for you, manage your real estate and teleport to other locations). None of this particularly bothers me.

But it makes me completely crazy that I never have any idea where the hell I am in an area and that I have no convenient way of figuring it out. There is NO useable mini-map. If I want to view a map I have to press ‘start’, be transported to the ‘Sanctuary’, walk ahead a few feet, interact with the map table, select the general location, zoom and make a best guess as to where I am, then exit the sanctuary and hope I remember some useful detail from the incredibly undetailed map. But in the end I may as well try to divine my location by the stars – because NO WHERE does the map indicate where I am actually standing within the area! There is no ‘me’ icon on my map. This probably makes perfect sense since I am no longer technically in that area at any time when I can view said device, I am in the bloody Sanctuary. How a game which relies this heavily on exploration ever got released without a useable mini-map I will never comprehend. It is apparently one of the great mysteries of our age.

In terms of health bars, for as much as uncluttered screens are aesthetically pleasing, it is incredibly helpful - for boss fights in particular- that you know how much damage you’ve done and how much more you need to do. It helps with potion and item management and general strategic planning of fights. Of course, Lionhead decided to challenge us by removing functional enemy health bars in favor of aesthetics. Now we have no idea how much longer a fight will last and no reasonable way to determine when using resources (like potions) is necessary and when it is a waste. I can deal with that though, if you give me back my bloody mini-map. I want a mini-map update.

3.    In internet communities everywhere gamers complained en masse about the fact that their families would disappear. Money would still be paid for upkeep and you were still technically married with kids but you could never actually find their avatars. So your family would get more and more depressed and eventually your spouse would ask for a divorce (if you didn’t already do that). But divorce costs you  half of your money and your children - whom you will never see again. I think it also costs you morality points but don’t quote me on that.

In Fable 3 this problem is mostly fixed (unless you settle your family in Bowerstone Old Quarter. I believe there are some issues in that case). However there is a bug that pops up from time to time that prevents you from interacting with your children – who become understandably upset. I managed to wait it out and it reset itself though others haven’t been so lucky if forums are to be believed. The bigger issue for me came when I settled my family in Millfields, the most exclusive neighborhood in the game (barring the palace). It turns out that it is also the most dangerous neighborhood. On returning home to my husband, Eliot the unique NPC, one sunny afternoon, a message popped onto my beautifully uncluttered screen. My husband had been murdered and my children were taken to the orphanage because apparently Princess Hero that I am, I am also an unfit mother. Revolted by this chain of events I tried to load an earlier save – but there is only one. Every new save DELETES previous saves. Also stupid. And annoying. My current save game was post spousal death, so I had no recourse other than vengeance. After dispatching bandits who dared attack my family (under the not so watchful eye of the guards who were both plentiful and in the immediate area) off I went to the orphanage to reclaim my children. But since there was no obvious way of hiring the nanny I had heard so much about, I returned to the sanctuary to check my game history. When I returned my children had disappeared. Let’s just say that I did a lot of random killing in game for a few hours after that  to relieve the stress and Albion’s underworld suffered greatly.

In the end Fable 3 is not a game I feel deserves rave reviews, there are too many elements of the game (largely the ‘innovations’) that feel choppy, incomplete or that are otherwise inconvenient or annoying. But it is a game entirely worth renting or picking up on the cheap somewhere for a play through or two. I feel much more satisfied with this game than with the second installment and my expectations for the series are rising again.

I wonder how that will affect my view of the upcoming Fable incarnation.

*The title quote is not mine but it well suits my purposes so I stole it (from a guy named Adlai Stevenson).