Mass Effect Creator Leaves Bioware..Thank you Casey

Well first off,  thank you Casey Hudson, for your part in bringing one of my two favorite trilogies to life. The hours I have spent playing Mass Effect are absolutely ridiculous.  As is the amount of time I spent co strutting my female Shep. .all total badasses.

16 years at Bioware and he's outta there.  Optimistically,  but he's still gone.  He thinks that future ME installments will still be game changers, but I don't know..i loved that consistent,  connecting feeling i got when playing the ME trilogy. Will it still be there? I know no one person makes a game,  but generally one or two create one. It's crazy to think of an ME without him.

In a letter to his  coworkers, he said that it was the most difficult decision. ...ya think? !?!?! The dude has given nothing but greatness..... come on..Star Wars Knights Old Republic....classic.

I was glad to see Bioware handle it with class....some companies don't do that.
I wish him well in his future endeavors..whatever he decides to do with himself after his well deserved break.

I will definitely feel a little sadder next time I'm zip up my N7 Hoodia or go kill geth.

Nintendo and the repair process. ...

So i gave my youngling  a special/limited edition 3ds for Christmas.

One day, it just wouldn't turn on.  Now he's pretty responsible and I plug it in and stuff so I knew it wasn't user error. I called Nintendo and explained to them the situation. .....their immediate response was water damage we don't cover. I didn't ask you that, nor did I say it was near water. I'm calling about a power issue. Guy starts a rant and rave about how their warranty is the best. Great..show me. Well we printed the label and shipped it out on the 22nd or so. They received it on the 24th. Mind you they are in the same state. Takes a week for them to even update it to received, but I had already checked the tracking by then. It sat until the 31st with no change in status. The 1st it shows that it's in repair.  Then they email me saying there's an urgent issue. This was what I was not looking forward to.  From  what I had read, Nintendo is infamous for cop outs on the warranty.  Well their issue wasn't that, it was what color system did he want because they couldn't repair his.  Of course he was devastated because he loved that blue. In fact they only actually had 2 colors to pick from which I found kind of sad. People spend the extra money on limited editions/ special editions and are kind of screwed if nintendo can't fix it. If it's your fault that the system messed up,  fine,  but if not,  you lose. They are at least sending a factory certified instead of refurbished so at least the parts are new and the warranty is reset. One guy who lost his special edition legend of Zelda 3ds due to a motherboard issue said that was the last time he purchased one.  When he brought it up to them they said he only paid for the game, basically said the case didn't matter. I'm not sure I totally agree with that. People have preferences for a reason. I'm not sure what they could do to fix that, but may be something they want to look into.  Overall I think they have one of the  better warranties,  but the execution leaves much to be desired. 

Abilities. ..we've got TONS

1. Mike Laidlaw says that your character and party will have over 200 abilities to choose from.  Top me that is awesome. Seeing  how party driven this game seems to be, it will be interesting to see what abilities compliment what. There will be the standard rouge, mage and warrior classes and  more specializations.  Laidlaw says they have focused more on specializations for this game and have  more of an effect on your chracter. I'm wondering how noticeable it will all be. I personally build spirit healers, will my focus be on that or can I throw in some extra and make her a bad ass arcane warrior who can also bring you back if you fall out somewhere? I can't wait to see. I also like playing as a rogue.  I'd be cool if  my rouge could do like the assassin in Dark Souls and flip over an enemy's back and slit their throat.  I'm also wondering how the Qunari will play in.  Their mages were......different.  will that be reflected? 

strictly straight, gay or bi

The characters in Dragon Age Inquisition won't bend to your will like in Da2. There's twice as many romance options and they've covered almost every base.  Some were upset about this but Bioware's David Gaiden said that these relationships will be much more fulfilling.  He was able to create much more of a back story unique to each characters sexual orientation and gender. With at least 8 options for relationships,  I don't feel its a loss that they aren't all bisexuals.  With a game of  this magnitude, that would be a waste. I mean in life everyone we encounter has a preference. With this amount of people,  the characters can be set up that way. Instead of fixing Bioware grief, congratulate them on trying to build on the rich character experience that we all know they are capable of  making.  At least now there will  be more than just Alistair to fawn over. Hush it guys you had options. I can't see myself pining away for Ohgren.

Deadlight

Never have I loved and hated a game so much at the same time.  I'm all alone. Searching for my family. Fighting shadows (zombies). This side scrolling survivor/ horror game was awesome.

You play as Randall Wayne in 80s Seattle. You were a park ranger before the zombie apocalypse. Gameplay was sluggish. Being able to only go left to right was ok.  You can't get lost or caught up like in an open  world game.

At the beginning you are separated from your friends. You meet up with various people as you go and there are tons of lootables. You really have to pay attention to to when you need to perform actions (jumping etc) and I can't say it enough..check your environment.  It's a good game. There is an alternate ending, which I liked better, that you get by playing in nightmare mode.

The biggest thing to re ember in this game is check your environment and go in every structure that you can. The mini games kind of suck but they are a great throwback. 

Rating 6/10

I really like it but some things need improvement. Its hard to get into the game without giving it away totally. . But the rat king alone is worth it.  It's 14.99 on Xbox, but occasionally offered free.  

2 new characters. .

So two more new characters to add to the Dragon Age World. First up:

Leliana....everyone's favorite. .or second favorite Rouge.  Bioware describes her for this game as:

 She has many names. Most know her as "Sister Nightingale” or “the Left Hand of the Divine.” To the rare friend, she is Leliana. They say she found faith amid darkness, and that her devotion to the Maker is matched only by her devotion to Divine Justinia V, a woman who is both mentor and savior. Those who have earned her loyalty know her as a steadfast ally. But enemies of the Divine know to fear her, for she is the shadow behind the Sunburst Throne—the one who watches and waits, who strikes when her mark is most vulnerable and least suspecting.

The sneak peek of her at the end of  DA 2 gave us an idea of what direction her life has gone.  It'll be great to have her around to fill in pieces.  She is going to be an advisor.


Next up we have Solas.

Every game has to have that apostate on the edge I guess. Morrigan, Cullen and now Solas. Bioware describes him as: Solas has spent his life as an apostate, living in the wilderness well away from the civilized world and those who would shackle him for what he is. He mastered his magic without the help of tutors, spending years exploring the spirit realm of the Fade and coming to an understanding of its denizens that few others could claim. He would be happiest left alone to sleep in ancient ruins, searching for memories and knowledge that has been lost for ages, but the Breach in the sky threatens all worlds.

At a time when other mages flee into hiding, Solas has put his freedom at risk by emerging from the shadows to assist those who would combat the chaos. He will not stand idly by when his knowledge of the arcane could mean the difference between salvation and utter destruction. 

They look interesting.  I can't wait to see what Leliana has to offer. 

Mass Effect 4 Pre Orders

At E3 it didn't seem like Mass Effect 4 was anywhere near being complete. As bioware put it,  they were maybe at the halfway point.  So I was surprised to see the preorder.

The preorder listing for Amazon UK originally had a release date of 12/16/2014, putting it way ahead of the schedule they laid out at E3. Maybe they just really want to focus on Dragon Age Inquisition and will announce ME 4 in November. That or amazon jumped the gun a bit.  Either way if you want to preorder for the Xbone click here. To preorder for the PS4 click here. And for all versions in the UK click here.

They haven't said much about it other than it won't be a Shepard continuation and we will be able to explore other worlds. They should have plenty of material, because we didn't get to explore every planet and with the quarians and geth rebuilding the quarians a home planet. . We could see that end result. Guess we can just wait and see.