Triple-V Review: Dragon Age II

So, dear friends, remember that article that I posted way back in January about resolving to be patient with new releases? I think it applies here. Not that Dragon Age II is a bad game, but there is certainly room for improvement. I'll start with the good stuff.

Of Scrolls and Dragons

So in the past week, two of the major western RPGs of the year released some sort of material. Bethesda graced us with the first look at actual gameplay for Skyrim, the fifth installment in the Elder Scrolls series. And not long after that, Bioware released the demo for Dragon Age II. Now, completely ignoring the fact that DA2 comes out in less than a week, it was still a pretty good couple of weeks for us RPGers. Even Nintendo came out of their shell of secrecy and showed the people of the Game Developer's Conference (and subsequently the rest of the internet) a little footage from Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword. 

Ship Porn: Isaac Hannaford's Concept Ships

Yay! More ship porn!
So my girlfriend and I, being geeks and gamers, are both pretty into Halo in general. And being the awful ship slut that I am, the space-going vessels of that universe get an inordinate amount of my attention.
*WHOOOSH*
"Ooh, look, it's a CCS-Class Covenant Battlecruiser!"
"VIOLET! I'M GETTING SHOT AT!
And that's pretty much how it goes.

Natural Laws of Fantasy Worlds

It's funny how often we assume that a world that is so unlike our own that it magic running rampant will follow the same laws. Sometimes it's done for the sake of clarity (an MMORPG set in a world where the calendar had more or less than 365 days would confuse and annoy us), or for accessibility (imagine if Wizards of the Coast had decided that their Eberron setting had 1/3rd Earth's gravity, or was a few hundred kilometers closer or further from their sun). But still, we often find that there are a few commonly accepted subversions of those laws, that occur in quite a few works. For example:

Ship Porn: USS Enterprise NX-01 (Refit)

Ship slut here with a confession. I enjoyed Star Trek Enterprise. Some episodes didn't quite get the Star Trek feel, but I still liked it more than some other Trekkies. There were a lot of complaints leveled at the design of the new Enterprise, saying that it looked too much like one of the ships from First Contact. And upon closer examination, I agreed. But that doesn't mean that I didn't like the design. But, I like this new one even better.

This fabulous redesign comes courtesy of Doug Drexler, who is pretty much the Hugh Hefner of ship porn in my opinion. He's one of the chief contributors to the pantheon of Star Trek ships, and maintains a fantastic blog displaying art from Star Trek and numerous other Sci-fi properties that Mr. Drexler has designed for or contributed to. This concept was done mostly for the 2011 Ships of the Line calendar, which for me is as good as a pinup. And apparently I'm not alone in my adoration.

The refit design has become so popular that an unofficial conversion kit for Enterpirse 1/1000-scale model kits for the people who want to bring Enterprise that much closer to the original Trek. Its availible at Starfleet Models, and has become so popular that it is currently backordered. If you've got the base kit, grab one. If you're like me and don't have it, just try to content yourself with gazing longingly into that beautiful deflector dish.

For more on this design, including a truly awesome video of it in action, please please please go visit Doug Drexler's blog. You will be amazed at some of the projects he's worked on, and some of the behind-the-scenes knowledge he imparts.

A Gamer's Resolution

I, Violet, being of sound if not entirely sane mind, resolve that I will be patient with the video game industry. If a release date is pushed back, I will not complain. I will understand that creating a truly great video game takes a significant amount of time, and no howling from fangirls/boys will change this. I take this resolution in hopes that others will follow my example.

So one of the things I've really been noticing recently is that when a video game is announced, it is often followed by the news that the aforementioned product will be in the hands of consumers in less than a year. My usual reaction is: "Surely not!". But, I have been repeatedly proved wrong. Trouble is, I wish I hadn't been.