To Boldly Re-Go

Blog post times! I'm currently at home for a couple of days, after finishing my dissertation and such. I'm having a well earned break (hah) before going back to Canterbury for a month or two to revise like some kind of manic revision demon for my final final exams. I'm making the most of my time back home and playing a game that came out in 2007.

In my original blog post about Mass Effect, I complained about the combat being poor, and I stand by that statement. The combat isn't great. The enemy AI often runs around in a mad panic, confusing both themselves, your team-mates and me. However, I'm playing as an Infiltrator this time around, rather than a Vanguard, which means I have access to a bunch of tech-based powers, the use of all which result my enemies exploding. I had planned to use the sniper rifle as my primary weapon, but I am next to useless with the damn thing. Until I invest a few more points into sniper rifles, I'm having to rely on my pistol most of the time. It has poisonous bullets. I think my Shepard should nicknamed "The Viper" or something.

In a slight change to my original playthrough, I'm actually playing as a female Shepard (or FemShep, if you must). I can honestly say there's really not a vast amount of difference between playing with or without a Y chromosome. Conrad Verner's fandom takes a slightly weirder note, but apart from that, it's pretty much the same. I've never really like either of the voice actors for Shepard, so really, it's just a cosmetic change, with the plot rattling along as ever. Not that I'm really doing anything plot related. In fact, I'm making an effort to ignore it. I missed quite a few of the side quests in my first playthrough, so I'm not going to let that happen this time. Scanning planets and doing side quests has raised me to level 21 without going near Virmire, Feros, Noveria, or the other one.

And also, more Mako sections, because
fuck anyone who didn't like the Mako

Adventures in Funding

Unless you had your head under a rock for the past week, you might have noticed that Double Fine made a little stir in the gaming community by using Kickstarter to fund a brand new point and click adventure game. They needed $400,000. They raised it in about eight hours. They then hit a million dollars in under 24 hours, and broke Kickstarter records. Four days from when they started, and they are currently sitting at $1.6 million, four times the initial amount. By the time their Kickstarter page closes in a months time, I wouldn't be surprised if they hit $2 million. Basically, Double Fine did something amazing.

A lot of people were commenting about how this might affect the industry. Some suggested that it might be the end of publishers. Others came back stating that the Kickstarter approach only really works for studios with an established studio such as Double Fine, which is true. But I think what is important about what DF have done is more the idea behind it.