Dragon Age II

January 31, 2023 Filed in: Video Games

As I mentioned yesterday, I have been playing a computer role-playing game this month. That unmentioned game was Dragon Age II, which I just finished last night. I previously played ragon Age: Origins">Dragon Age: Origins, ragon Age: Awakening">Dragon Age: Awakening, and various ragon Age: DLC Campaigns">Dragon Age DLC about a year and a half ago. In Origins, my character was Daylen, a Grey Warden mage. Because I had Daylen sacrifice himself at the end of Origins, I needed a new character. In Awakening, I played as Orlesian Grey Warden Gerod, a human rogue. Dragon Age II allowed importing a previous saved game. I used the last save from Awakening, which preserved a good deal of where my story left off.

Dragon Age II provided an opportunity to create yet another new character. Because I had already played a mage and a rogue, I decided to choose a warrior. Therefore, my protagonist was a human warrior named Garrett Hawke. The story begins shortly after the Battle of Ostragar from Origins. The Hawke family makes its way to Kirkwall, where Garrett eventually becomes the Champion of Kirkwall. The game is played out over three acts and is told as a frame narrative in which dwarven rogue Varric relates the tale to Seeker Cassandra. Varric joins Hawke along the way and he was my favorite companion by far. Other companions included Hawke's mage sister Bethany, warrior and later guard captain Avaline, former Grey Warden mage Anders, Dalish elven mage Merrill, pirate captain Isabella, and Chantry member Sebastian, a formidable archer and rogue.

I owned all the DLC for Dragon Age II so that provided a bunch of extra material, including equipment, characters, and locations. Most notably, there were two extra adventures—Legacy and Mark of the Assassin. I undertook those adventures as part of act three. Legacy delved into Hawke's past and revealed information about his father and the Grey Wardens. Mark of the Assassin was the longer and more ambitious of the two. It revolved around a new companion, an elf with Qunari beliefs named Tallis. There were quite a few quests in Mark of the Assassin as the story progressed from a dinner party at Chateau Haine to a wyvern hunt to intrigue involving the duke and the Qunari. BioWare tried to throw a lot into this one—humor, stealth, boss battles, etc.—and mostly succeeded.

I wasn't sure that Dragon Age II could live up to its predecessor(s). After playing it for many hours, I have to say it came pretty close. In some aspects, it even surpassed the original. Regarding the main characters, I grew to really like Hawke and Varric, in particular. I consider both Dragon Age games as personal all-time favorites. It is only the first month of 2023 but I suspect Dragon Age II may emerge as my favorite game played this year.

DA2_Garrett_Hawke_Level_24_Warrior

Garrett Hawke, Level 24 Warrior

BIT.TRIP RUNNER

January 30, 2023 Filed in: Video Games

For most of January, I've I been playing a computer role-playing game. I've almost finished it and will write about it soon. I forgot about another game I dabbled with earlier in the month, however. That game was BIT.TRIP RUNNER (henceforth referred to as BTR for brevity). BTR is a 2D "runner" style game in which your character is constantly in motion on the screen from left to right. There is a lot of jumping as well and some sliding and kicking to avoid obstacles. Music with a driving beat serves as a backdrop to the action. It was addictive but a bit frustrating as well. Almost completing a level only to die and start over wasn't too bad at first. Unfortunately, dying became so commonplace that I eventually gave up on BTR before finishing all of the levels.

Favorite Computer Games of 2022

January 08, 2023 Filed in: Video Games

Last year, most of the computer games I played were ten to twelve years old. My backlog of unplayed games is so large that I can't play them fast enough. Here is a list of my favorites that I played in 2022.

Mass Effect Legendary Edition - This was my undisputed favorite of 2022. It is actually a compilation of three games: Mass Effect, Mass Effect 2, and Mass Effect 3. The games were remastered with numerous updates and released in this 2021 edition. It's a bit of a cheat selecting a trilogy as my favorite title but I did play them straight through as one continuous story.
Sid Meier’s Civilization V - I've previously enjoyed Civ III and Civ IV. Civilization V was another winner. The gameplay is familiar but each new version brings some changes to keep things fresh.
Avadon: The Black Fortress - This was the first game in a trilogy from the creator of the Avadon and Geneforge series. They are all computer RPGs with a retro feel. Heck, Avadon had a retro feel even back in 2011 when it first came out. Nevertheless, I have always enjoyed my time spent with games from Spiderweb Software.
Out of the Park Baseball 23 - I play OOTP Baseball every summer and it is always a gaming highlight of the year. In the 2022 NALB season, I led my Brooklyn Knights to the league's best record and a return to the playoffs after a two year absence. Unfortunately, the Knights lost the League Championship Series. Based on the amount of fun I had with OOTP 23, I probably should rank it #3 or even #2 on my list. However, the game doesn't change that much from year to year, so I'll leave it at #4.
Bejeweled 3 - It's no surprise that this PopCap game was extremely addicting. They have a knack for creating such titles. For a while, I couldn't put it down. There was always one more challenge, one more objective, one more score to beat…
Star Trek: Bridge Commander - I heard good things about this game many years ago (release date 2002) but never played it. Twenty years later, I finally got around to it. Dated? Sure. However, it was still a blast to be in command of a starship in this space combat simulation game.
Master of Magic - MoM came out a year after Master of Orion (1993), which I played some time ago. Once I learned the game mechanics and interface, I really enjoyed it. It was similar to Master of Orion or maybe a fantasy themed Civilization or many other 4X (Explore, Expand, Exploit, Exterminate) games.
Supreme Commander 2 - Supreme Commander was called a spiritual successor to Total Annihilation, which was a true classic. I never played SC but decided to try SC2 anyway. It was supposedly not as good as its predecessor but I still liked it. At least SC2 provided me one solid real-time strategy game to play in 2022.
Shatter - This was a really fun arcade game with gameplay similar to Arkenoid. Your goal is to destroy blocks with a ball and a paddle. Shatter adds a physics-based twist by including "blow" and "suck" controls to alter the path of the ball.
NightSky - This was a simple but still challenging puzzle platform game. For me, the length and difficulty of NightSky was just right.

Honorable mention: Swords & Soldiers HD - I tried to stick to a top ten list. However, Swords and Sorcery HD deserves a mention as well. It looks and plays like a mobile game but I found it way more enjoyable than expected. It is a side-scrolling real-time strategy game with three factions at war. I completed the single player campaign without ever getting bored or wanting to quit.