“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).

Great Expectations and Even Greater Disappointments aka Not This Time Peter!

We expect a lot from the world and our rising expectations have become an astronomically problematic issue. And right now, I feel like using Peter Molyneux as a scapegoat for my frustrations in this arena – so I will.

Who is Peter Molyneux you ask? Well, for those of you who don’t know, he’s the Creative Director of Microsoft Game Studios: Europe as well as the founder of both Bullfrog Productions and Lionhead Studios - which makes him responsible for the creation, success and failures of the Fable Series. Yes, that’s right; I said creation, success and failure of the series.  

Fable was pretty awesome to be honest. It had its problems, but I found it before I found Bioware. So this was the first time I really LOVED a game because of the character development and morality choices. (And let’s face it, OP or not, magic is cool.)  I have no idea how many playthroughs I managed before I had to go back to having a real life, but there were many. My friends actually held an intervention (my first, KOTOR led to the second) to try and make me see that the number of hours I had spent on my newfound obsession was getting in the way of my life. So after I finished my evil play through, which took me a while (I have a hero complex so I never was very good at doing bad things in virtual world) I stopped playing for a while.

When Fable 2 was announced I thought I might pass out from sheer elation. One of my favorite games gets a sequel. Of course the fact that Fable sold 3 million copies should have given me some indication that this was in the works, because in the end game studios are little different than movie studios or music labels – the general consensus seems to be if it sells, milk it for all it’s worth. Many, many dead horses have been kicked in the game development world.

I could describe this all too brief period of pre-release ecstasy in detail but instead let’s just skip to the part where I say my bliss faded and my bubble burst upon actually receiving my copy of Fable 2. It took me all of 10 minutes in game to realize that while this may be the chronological sequel to Fable, it was by no means the spiritual successor. Disappointment reigned. Now, some people (3.5 million copies sold) somehow like this game. And I guess if they want to settle for second rate voice work/editing, incredibly lazy PLAYABLE CHARACTER models (my character is a woman - not a body builder, not a giant, not a man dressed as a woman or some combination therein!), and glitch after bug after glitch then that’s their choice and I’ll leave them to it. How they get past the NPCs is beyond me….could they get any more annoying? They can actually get in the way of playing the game – you literally can’t move sometimes because the swarm of adoring idiots descends…whoever decided that these developments were good ideas deserves to be strung up. Naked. In winter.

I did manage to finish the game once - mostly because the story was pretty good. But every subsequent attempt at replaying it ends poorly – in the sense that I don’t ever get past the tutorial . I have forgotten more about this game than I remember. I sometimes have nightmares that briefly threaten to bring back the details of the experience and they leave me feeling paranoid and hypervigilant for days afterward. A friend tells me these are signs of PTSD. I can’t count that possibility out.

In any case, I did not like Fable 2. Though I’m beginning to believe that my disconnect with those other 3.5 million buyers comes from my unrealistic expectations; expectations of the game that were so high there was never any real possibility of them being met. Technology has not yet caught up to my imagination and Fable had set the bar, in my opinion, very high. But I refuse to take all of the blame for my great expectations – it’s mostly Mr. Molyneux’s fault. I trusted him. If only he hadn’t gone on and on about how great his game was and hinted at all of the innovative interfaces and game play, the ability to choose your gender and change the world in concrete ways, maybe I would have been a bit less inflated with the heady fog of expectation….alas regrets count for very little.

The point I’m trying (perhaps poorly) to make is that the consequences of inflated expectations are all too often failure and disappointment. I had (with Molyneux’s assistance), built Fable 2 into a paragon of video game development. I expected an innovative, immersive, interactive, choice driven game and instead got thrust into a world full of people I didn’t care to save, playing a character I didn’t want to be, having to replay whole swaths of game because the engine didn’t want to work. Let’s just say my expectations for Fable 3 weren’t great (so much so that I just finally bought it used a few days ago even though it was released last October – that conversation is best left for another post though). Also I no longer put any stock in anything Peter Molyneux has to say.

Lower your expectations folks.

Video game suggestions amidst a whole lot of rambling

From celtic music we go to social networking and video games. Yay video games! Ok so here will go...

I signed up for an account with Empire Avenue. For those of you who aren't familiar with the site, it is self desribed as 'the social stock market', which is to say that it is facebook with strangers becoming 'friends' for rep points and fake money. And while I am skeptical of the value added to my life by the program - I'm kind of addicted. Even though my profile isn't very well run and I'm not exactly a hot commodity I log on every day - compulsively. I buy shares in people I don't know based on 'trending', or because I am returning the favour or because I have money and need to spend it. I seek out new investment opportunities in the noobs so I can take advantage of their inevitable early surge in value. I wonder if this virtual stock market will lead to poor circulatory and mental health? I sense an interesting social experiment in there somewhere. I just have to figure out what it looks like...

Off track already! Let's try this again. I was on Empire Avenue, in one of the community forums - Video games specifically - and someone had left a post that they've gotten a new xbox and were looking for game suggestions. Woo Hoo! Their life is about to change and not necessarily for the better. Bioshock came with the console and apparently our poster believes the game and/or the system (I wasn't sure which was being referred to) is a great way to unwind after a stressful day. Hallelujah! Might we have a dedicated up and coming gamer.

To be honest, I never finished Bioshock. I know, there goes some of my nerdy cred straight sown the drain never to be recovered - but there's something to be said for honesty, or so I hear. Despite the interesting story, moody atmosphere and well defined game mechanics, I never managed to get more than half way through in any of the 5 or 6 times I started the game. It was just so flipping hard! And Big Daddy's are terrifying killing machines. Which, of course, you need to kill to get better as a character. Problem is, even in virtual worlds I could never be characterized as brave. I'm no coward either - more pragmatic with a strong interest in bet hedging and self-preservation. So maybe they did too good a job developing the atmosphere. Maybe if it was less creepy and dangerous down there, there would be less sweaty palms and controller fumbling, maybe my breathing would remain regular and the panic would never have a chance to set in; which might actually allow me to finish the game. Or maybe not.

The point is - despite my unusal (and perhaps a little hyper-exagerated) reaction to Bioshock, it is nonetheless a good solid first game for a newly acquired system. A great game in fact, for anyone less nervous than me - which is to say most people.

As for the anonymous poster's question - because there was a question asked, and I hope I actually remembered to mention it somewhere up there in my rambling ("What are some awesome games that are coming out now?"), here's my best answer:

It really depends on what kind of game you're looking for, what you like and what you're likely to do. What kind of gamer are you? (For instance Bioshock seemed like it hit all the right buttons for me, but I just can't finish it! Maybe someday....maybe.) There are a tonne of different genres offering a variety of options for game play including action based games (which include the various first and third person shooters, fighting games and hack and slash button smashers), action adventure games which are a hybrid of action and puzzles/interactive fiction, RPG style games, where the emphasis is on character development, as well as your simulation (SIMs) and strategy based games. There are a few others but they are largely niche markets. Keep in mind that while it is a good idea to consider the type of game you want to play when planning purchases, you never know what you might enjoy so don't exclude games you might like because they are in a genre you don't have experience in. They are just games after all and you can always get games on the cheap second hand or by buying 'platinum hits' which are severely price reduced.

Another factor in creating a gaming collection is who you like to pllay with. Do you intend to fly solo (mainly offline) or do you want some kind of multiplayer experience (primarily online). Most xbox 360 games are single player. There are a rare few that allow offline multiplayer action but they are very rare, and frankly most of the offline multiplayer games I have played in the last couple of years are not very well thought out or implemented. However, if you get an xbox Live Gold account many more options for multiplayer become available. Some Gold experiences are mission based 'quests' and others allow you and your friends to play through the whole game together cooperatively. There are also competitions, time trials and other random experiences and scenarios to experience via a Gold account (which for those of you who don't know - costs money in the form of a monthly subscription). The options available depend entirely on the game itself so if, for example, you are primarily interested in cooperative play with your friends, you should research the online options for a game before you buy it to see if it's online experience will provide that for you.  Personally I don't love shooters unless I'm playing multiplayer and I therefore tend to go for story development - RPGs are my thing. But I do dabble in other genres regularly.

Having said all of that, here are some game suggestions:

The Mass Effect trilogy is an action adventure RPG series and I love it. The series will be coming to a close in Q1 2012 so you might want to pick up the first two and playthrough so you can import saves when 3 comes out.

Bioware also just put out Dragon Age 2, which has had mixed reviews so far. if you're looking for character development and the moral choices Bioware has become so popular for it's worth buying.

38 Studios is making a game with RA Salvatore of Neverwinter Nights fame, Todd McFarlane and Ken Rolston lead designer of some of the Elder Scroll's games - it looks pretty sweet, has some interesting innovations and did I mention Todd McFarlane as art director? It's called Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning and is due out in February. 

Since Bioshock was mentioned, the sequels are not a bad idea if you're trying to expand your collection. Bioshock 2 got decent reviews although I haven't played it so I can't give it a personal thumbs up. It is on my list of games to play, I just figure I should suck it up and playthrough the first game before I pick it up.

Speaking of series wherein I failed to finish the first game...Assassin's Creed is a great series with a new game coming in November according to the developers. Assassin's Creed itself had a lot of promise but by the end of the game I felt it was all pretty repetative and too linear with not enough stuff to do outside of the main storyline. But Assassin's Creed 2 and Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood are brilliant. Storyline, graphics, shear number of options in game, game mechanics...all great. Even the voice acting is pretty phenomenal - which is a small issue I know - but one that matters to me. Most reviewers agree that these are the games that Assassin's Creed should have been. (Side note: I am a big fan of the online play with this series.)

LA Noire is a sandbox mystery/detective game doing well right now. Rockstar really outdid themselves with this one.

A third Saint's Row is being released in November, I'll be getting that when it comes out. I think the Saint's Row series is better than GTA (go ahead gamers, tell me I'm wrong). The first game is good but Saint's Row 2 is awesome (hood surfing is where it's at)..and I would suggest getting it.

Oh and Batman: Arkham Asylum is well done for a superhero based game (superheros kind of bore me now - consider my bias outed), so feel free to pick that up if you are a fan of the Dark Knight. It's sequel, Batman: Arkham City will be released in October.

There you have my long-winded novella type, hopefully comprehensible answer to a relatively simple question. Hope it helps.

Celtic Music

What is Celtic Music?

Despite the mainstream fascination with Celtic music in the early to mid-nineties in North America, people are still largely unsure of what exactly Celtic music is. It is often though of as "easy-listening 'mood' music with dreamy, non-specific but irish/Scots flavour", that is "marketed as 'relaxing', 'evocative', etc."[1]  While this would certainly describe some Celtic music, it is by no means representative of all  the discipline has to offer.

 There are many theories as to what constitutes Celtic music but there is no easily accessible, cohesive definition to reach for and no definitive structure or purpose in detailing its creation.  It is not necessarily best described as a consistent musical style. And there is good reason for this ambiguity. It is something very specifically cultural.

Perhaps one recognizable landmark of Celtic culture, is the ceilidh.  In, Exploring the World of Music,  Robin Morton describes a ceilidh as ‘a gathering of neighbors in one of their houses, usually in the evening.  Often the purpose is simply to exchange social gossip. However, it might easily, and often does, develop into a session of singing, dancing and storytelling’.” [2] The author continues on, “it is a situation of fellowship, trust and intimacy, reaffirming bonds between daily associates, allowing connections of the heart as well as those of the mundane world.”[3]  So then extrapolating from this interpretation of a ceilidh, perhaps we can simply identify ‘Celtic Music’ by saying that it is a long narrative reaching back through time and across distance documenting the creation, growth, and collective memory of a people;  specifically those of Celtic origin, their descendents and those others with whom they shared their lives.  Celtic music is an integral component of a larger Celtic culture - it is, in some ways,  the ongoing soundtrack of Celtic History.

 These songs are songs to dance to, to work to, to teach with and songs to celebrate important social occassions. They are songs of resistance; songs of memory, meant to transmit culture; songs of love and death and life and joy. Celtic music is a sometimes rigorous, often rhthymic, enduring oral tradition that began with the Celtic peoples of Eurrope and lives on through a global culture.  It is as varied as the Celtic peoples themselves, and  you can rest assured, there is something there for everyone.

---

[1] http://www.standingstones.com/celtmusic.html

[2] Cowdery, james R., Hast, Dorothea E. and Stan Scott. Exploring World Music. Kendall/Hunt Publishing. Dubuque, Iowa. 1999. P.24

[3] ibid

Suggested Listening:

Lunasa by Lunasa, for the instrumental brilliance.

Blazin' Fiddles Live by Blazin' Fiddles for a multi-regional taste of Scotland's best.

Anything at all from Spirit of the West or Great Big Sea would be a good fusion introduction.

 

Beginnings

I opened this account a while ago for something else. For someone else. And with every intention of filling it up with stories and trivia, art and expplanations - for them. But since I haven't - I don't think they ever learned of its existance - I am going to use it now. I am going to write for me. And for you if you happen to be out there. I don't know what I'm going to write about but I love an adventure. We'll see how it goes.