Shades Of Twilight

Image via WikipediaOne of the more hotly anticipated games to arrive for the PC is probably Mass Effect. Just like Jade Empire, ME was released for the Xbox first before being ported across to the PC.

And they’re arriving in six days, 28 May 2008!

The makers are of course, Bioware. Recognised everywhere as one of the best RPG game companies, Bioware has prodouced many hit titles like Baldurs Gate series, Neverwinter Nights series, and Knights Of The Old Republic. Regardless of the setting, be it ancient mythological times, or far flung futures, Bioware’s RPGs usually set a standard where other game companies follow.

Mass Effect should be no different, since it garnered a few “Game Of The Year” awards for 2007 from various magazines and gaming websites.

Ok in a nutshell, Mass Effect is a sci-fi RPG like KOTOR. However, since it’s not a Star Wars universe, I think Bioware thus had the full freedom to be creative with the story and the characters. Anyway, to further whet your appetite for Mass Effect, here’s the official trailer for it I found on Youtube:

Story aside, Mass Effect also has its own story to tell – the one about software piracy. I have included 2 links below this article and I suggest you read them. While I do not wish to rattle on about piracy here, I did ramble about them on my main blog, a long time ago. I really hope they increase the install count from just 3 installs to maybe, 5 or so. You never know, I might just decide to reinstall ME 5 years from now and re-play it, just like I did with GRAW and GRAW2! Seriously though, putting all these crap protection systems on games just really gives us more reason to buy pirated versions – they come without these stupid steps I need to perform to play a game which I bought!

The other thing that’s probably famous about Mass Effect, is the much talked-about sex scene. Well hold on to your pants, because it isn’t “traditional” sex. It’s not even interracial sex. It’s inter-species sex… yup, an alien and a human going at it.

Now I’m not going to link the videos of that scene here but you can easily Google for them, or go to Youtube. I have seen it, and my opinion is – “meh”. It’s actually pretty tastefully done, just like how you’d see it on TV. So, if you can see it on TV, there’s not much “nudity” right?

BioWare picks up Perpetual tech for MMOG – PC News at GameSpot

Cool… Bioware makes some of the best RPGs I have ever played, and earlier news of them making an MMO is exciting. Now, they’re picking up a new platform to help them with the new MMO.

I don’t know about you but I’m really looking forward to their As-Yet-Unnamed MMO….

Ok… I just re-installed Icewind Dale, as stated in my earlier post. The only other time I had played Icewind Dale was back when I first got it. I had installed it, created a party of 6, and ran around the starting town, before I uninstalled it saying “I will definitely play this ‘when I have time’”.

Now that I do, I did reinstall it.

First thing that hit me – damn, what primitive graphics! But, graphics isn’t really a problem, although by modern standards, 640×480 (it seemed like, I had no way of knowing since there isn’t a way to set resolution in-game) or even 800×600 seem coarse. Also, since it uses the old Bioware Infinity engine, it’s 2D-only, not 3D. Characters on the screen look hardly more than just some stick figures.

Yet, we remember fondly about days past, where we played Baldurs Gate, Planescape etc.

The next “problem” – the old AD&D 2nd Ed rules.. can’t get used to it, not after you have played Neverwinter Nights, and Neverwinter Nights 2. Where’s the Ranger 2-Weapon Fighting skills? Where’s the Sorcerer class? Damn, I miss those.

I don’t know if I would persevere and try to complete the game, or give up halfway through frustration. As I said, graphics aren’t the major problem – it’s the gameplay. Right now I just can’t seem to get used to the old 2nd edition rules of D&D. If I really do give up on Icewind Dale, I don’t know if I should try Baldurs Gate 2, since that one’s using the same set of rules and the same Inifinity Engine too….