The Geekiest Game Debate
by annaguirre on Oct.02, 2009, under Ann Aguirre and Ilona Andrews
I’m afraid I have to disagree with Ilona. She likes turn-based games? And stuff where you build empires? Boooooooooring. OMG. I bet she played Civ! No. Way.
I tried Arcanum, and I never finished it. I wanted to love it. I didn’t. I did finish Oblivion. It wasn’t one of my favorites, though. Again, not enough NPC interaction to make me happy. For that, I tend to game-crush on Bioware and Black Isle. I’m waiting to see if Obsidian can earn my love, but with the way they wanked on the ending for KotOR2, so far, they’re on shaky ground.
As you can tell, I’m all about the RPGS. (That stands for role-playing games.)
Let me give you an overview of what my favorite games have been over the years. My love affair with games started a long freakin’ time ago with Eye of the Beholder. Then there was Planescape, which damn near broke my heart. I also played Dark Sun. From there I proceeded to Baldur’s Gate and Throne of Bhaal. Since then, I’ve discovered Neverwinter Nights (both 1 and 2), Jade Empire, Fallout 1 & 2, and the KotOR series. More recently, I’ve fallen in love with Fallout 3 and Mass Effect– which pretty much brings you to date.
I don’t love shooters. I’ve tried to like them, but they just don’t have enough story to keep me interested. Also, I hate timed missions.
Fallout 3 was a really cool blend of action and story. The ghoul NPC was just totally bad-ass. And Dogmeat was awesome too. Mass Effect also combined enough RP with the shooting to make me happy. Loved that one. I’ve played it through countless times.
My most anticipated releases are Jade Empire 2 (is this more than a myth?), Star Wars: the Old Republic, and Dragon Age. Oh, and I can’t forget about Mass Effect 2. But that’s not until 2010, I think. Cannot. Wait.
The next game I buy will be Dragon Age, no question. Unless I have my dates scrambled, it’s coming out November 30 in console form and I am so there. I’ll take a week off and just play the heck out of that one.
How do you guys feel? Empire-building, shooters, or RPGS? Have any of you ever done pen and paper gaming? Come on, ‘fess up. Strut your inner geek.
ETA: Ok, that does it. Another prize is in order. I’m giving away either CHICKS IN CHAINMAIL or GHOST by John Ringo.
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October 2nd, 2009 on 10:57 am
Well I am crazier than you are. I like having a team of about six guys and I liked screaming at my mage, “Damn you to hell, can you cast one spell that doesn’t backfire? What is wrong with you??”
:stick nose in the air: And there is NOTHING wrong with ruling a Roman Empire.
I’m with you on Planescape Torment, NWN1 and 2, but I’d also add Temple of the Elemental Evil, despite the bugs, and Icewind Dale. Loved that game. Loved, loved. I bounced right off Jade Empire. But yes Dragon Age is my next biggie. There is also some kind of Spy game that Jill Myles was talking about and it’s supposed to be like Mass Effect, only with spies.
October 2nd, 2009 on 11:00 am
Oh, Ann, you and I are long-lost twins! OMG, I LOVE RPGs! I have a Dungeon Siege game waiting for me even now, all set up and ready to go when I finish my current deadlines. Can’t wait!!!!
Funny, I also started with Eye of the Beholder. I personally am not fond of the first-person games, and I definitely prefer the more fantasy/medieval type games to the science-fiction or apocalyptic RPGs, but yes, I just love them. Empire-building, shooters…bleh.
Gimme the RPG’s, baby! I’ll play for them for weeks straight, with no sleep (which is why I can’t let myself play except between deadlines!)
October 2nd, 2009 on 11:01 am
Hehe. IWD bored me. I tried to like that one, but not enough NPC interjections. It lacked the charm of BG. Remember Minsc and Boo?
October 2nd, 2009 on 11:03 am
OMG, Larissa, ME TOO!
I can’t play when I’m writing. I have NO ability to regulate at all. When I start a game, I lock into total OC mode & I can’t stop. (I’m like this in writing too, which is a good thing.) But I can’t be a casual gamer on weekends because I would find it too hard to put down my unfinished game on Monday and go back to work.
Fallout is really the only p-a game I’ve fallen in love with. Mostly I love the fantasy ones too. You don’t see many good SF RPGs, though Mass Effect was kickass.
Ilona, what’s the spy game called btw?
October 2nd, 2009 on 11:03 am
Heh, you can get a plugin for Oblivion where there is this crazy ranger-type shows up and keeps talking to his imaginary hamster. I died.
October 2nd, 2009 on 11:04 am
Wizardry wasn’t a bad SF RPG but it’s oooooold.
October 2nd, 2009 on 11:06 am
“Heh, you can get a plugin for Oblivion where there is this crazy ranger-type shows up and keeps talking to his imaginary hamster. I died.”
Epic want. That would be SO AWESOME. How much do I love that? It’s wrong, that’s what it is. That’s how much.
October 2nd, 2009 on 11:13 am
I have nothing to contribute here. I know like NOTHING about games other than some Castlevania, Katamari Damacy and Wii sports. I *used* to MUD, but that was eons ago. All these game names here make me go: QUE?
October 2nd, 2009 on 11:14 am
Wouldn’t Castlevania make an awesome RPG?
October 2nd, 2009 on 11:19 am
Yeah, it totally would.
Janice, my husband used to MUD too. That’s one thing I never did!
October 2nd, 2009 on 11:38 am
One of my all time faves is still Leather Goddesses of Phobos (shows my age, I know–Infocom text adventures FTW!)
Even after oh, lots more than a decade, I still remember fondly Full Throttle. In fact, I may have to go hunt that down again.
I’ve had to put a moratorium on Dragon Age trailers and teasers. Bioware had a huge booth at GenCon and I would probably have abandoned my kids to wander the floor unsupervised if I’d gotten any closer. Unfortunately, one of my close friends is a mangaka who keeps posting truly drool-worthy sketches from everything *she’s* hoovering up about it. I have to stick my fingers in my ears and yodel to keep from getting sucked in.
Now don’t diss all the empire-building games. If you haven’t taken a crack at it yet, you should try out Evil Genius–if only for the awesome soundtrack and load-screens (synchronized scuba-divers=WIN).
And since I’ve mentioned GenCon in my post, you’ll know that I am Proudly Nerd (in fact, I can honestly say that in one of our old houses, our RPG books actually exacerbated structural damage when placed against non load-bearing walls). My dicebag weighs as much as my laptop and I have RPG characters who are old enough to vote.
October 2nd, 2009 on 11:42 am
In college we took a trip to GenCon, when it was still in WI. We lived in IN at the time.
Was the craziest and most amazing experience in my life. I did some competitive gaming there and WON. They all said it was because I’m a girl. *g*
Also, that year they instituted the rule about regular showers and requiring people to wear undergarments beneath the chainmail bikinis. But not because of us.
October 2nd, 2009 on 11:51 am
:eyebrow raise: Why do tell, Ann, did you wear a chainmail bikini?
October 2nd, 2009 on 11:55 am
Nooooo. I am far too shy to dress up at such events. I just gawk (and admire) others.
This lady in question clearly did not believe in “landscaping” and it looked super-painful, as I said on Twitter. She also had nipples poking through the top. I was like, OMG, really??
After that year, they insisted people wear undergarments of some kind. (She was a scary old thing too.)
October 2nd, 2009 on 12:01 pm
You know, undergarments with chain mail just make sense. I mean, I’d think it would be obvious, along the lines of don’t sit bare-assed on a hedgehog.
October 2nd, 2009 on 12:05 pm
I know, right?! I mean, sure, there’s that book Chicks in Chainmail, I think it’s called, but y’know, just because you saw it depicted on a cover, it doesn’t mean you follow the picture to the letter!
“Honey, I think you should maybe put a bra and panties on…”
“NO! It totally ruins the line… and the girl on the cover of Chicks in Chainmail doesn’t have any on!”
October 2nd, 2009 on 12:16 pm
Just because Luis Royo thinks it’s okay, doesn’t make it so:
http://www.aumania.it/fa/royo/240.jpg
I’m running into battle, fear my boobies!
http://www.aumania.it/fa/royo/311.jpg
October 2nd, 2009 on 12:19 pm
Obviously, they will never have us on this blog ever again….
October 2nd, 2009 on 12:30 pm
No way. Our milkshake brings all the readers to the yard. So they can go, WTF! Nuh UH.
I think we may be having an OH JOHN RINGO NO discussion, in fact. But I like it.
October 2nd, 2009 on 12:33 pm
*Snicker* That’s it I have to start going to more cons
October 2nd, 2009 on 12:39 pm
Cons are awesome!
Ok, that does it. Another prize is in order. I’m giving away either CHICKS IN CHAINMAIL or GHOST by John Ringo.
Because that’s the kind of chat we’re having here today. Read this review if you don’t know about OH JOHN RINGO NO.
October 2nd, 2009 on 12:43 pm
I’m highly disturbed by this story of the chainmail bikini. My innocence.. it is gone!!! :O
Anyway, yeah, my husband would love it if I got sucked back into RPGs (Castlevania WOULD make an awesome RPG!!) and whatnot but I KNOW I would be obsessed so I stay away. Reading is bad enough.
October 2nd, 2009 on 12:45 pm
You read my books by choice, therefore I highly doubt you had any innocence.
October 2nd, 2009 on 12:55 pm
Touche.
October 2nd, 2009 on 1:36 pm
Can Guitar Hero be considered gaming?
October 2nd, 2009 on 1:41 pm
Must. Stop. Laughing. OMG–See, a friendly little chat about games gets turned into something much different once you bring up convention experiences! LOL Never did GenCon, but they instituted the shower rule at PhilCon (if memory serves) at one point–also something like no sleeping under the tables in the main hall, too.
I love the cons (but I’m a people watcher). For me there wasn’t gaming (my father’s horrendous luck made games unplayable in our household–even Scrabble)but there were Ren Faires. And even they had to institute rules about costuming (the year the guy showed up in nothing but blue paint springs to mind). *snort*
We hosted a LARP up here once on a nearby 100 acre plot–insane!
DH’s youth was much different than mine–they did D&D and well, whatever they could find. I learned D&D late in high school and could never roll well enough to have any fun with it.
My son (age 5) loves the video Age of Empires (and Age of Mythology). Walking into his Kindergarten Open House I was holding his hand and he’s striding along and I said, “What are you doing? Can you walk normally, please?” His answer: “I’m Ajax and my shield is heavy.”
So I’m expecting parent-teacher conference requests…;-)He also thought the group Secondhand Serenade was actually Secondhand Grenade (because that was his point of reference). Wish me luck!
October 2nd, 2009 on 1:45 pm
Guitar Hero absolutely qualifies! *Hands you the gamer badge*
LMAO, Shan!! I am dying here. “I’m Ajax and my shield is heavy.” Your kid sounds so cool.
I never did any LARPing or Ren Faires. Was always curious. Is it fun?
October 2nd, 2009 on 1:57 pm
The LARPing thing was interesting to watch and hear stories about later…
Luckily that year I had the boy on my hip so I stayed indoors and watched everyone suffer in the weather.
Ren Faires were a blast for me. Researched a character (Irish pirate, thank you very much
learned rapier and dagger from full contact jousters and got to mess around with the professional actors (kidnappings, weddings, blue ribbon jokes with Scotsmen…;-). You got to totally escape the regular world, revel in Shakespearean language and sing bawdy ballads–all things that served me well later in life. 
Best con I’ve been to? DragonCon. AWESOME. Must return.
MegaCon was cool, too, but I was behind a table too much there.
Best con you attended?
October 2nd, 2009 on 3:21 pm
Wooh hoo! *shines and polishes the gamer badge*
I do have the Sims 3 and I was previously trying to get my Sim to lure the hunky policeman away from his snazzy blonde girlfriend. To no avail though. *sigh*
I stopped playing since it was too time consuming.
October 2nd, 2009 on 3:24 pm
My husband does the LARPing thing. He’s a happy little geek when he gets to put on a tunic and bash the other guys with swords.
When it comes to video games, I’m a pretty die-hard RPG chick. I like to chat with my fictional pixel buddies and I’m a hardcore BioWare fangirl. They know where it’s at when it comes to putting together something solid and satisfying.
October 2nd, 2009 on 4:20 pm
Shan, I’m posting about cons on Monday. Not talking here.
Lou, my husband loves the Sims.
Ocelott, you’re a woman after my own heart.
October 2nd, 2009 on 4:47 pm
I agree that Obsidian completely dropped the ball with KOTOR 2, but I am still not giving up hope that Bioware will make KOTOR 3. Definitely looking forward to the Old Republic MMO. I also used to MUD, but my true guilty pleasure was the LucasArts Archives: I loved point and click games like Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis and Day of the Tentacle, and Sam and Max was classic.
Also, there is a new P-A RPG coming out soon called Bordelands. It is supposed to be a lot like Fallout but with cartoon-style graphics. I LOVE Fallout 3, but I can’t bring myself to finish it because then what will I have left? Lol, I just keep running around doing little side quest and disentegrating things with my Alien Blaster.
I wasn’t a big fan of shooters either, but BioShock is GREAT. It has the best story for a shooter, RPG quality plot with huge surprises and an incredible ending.
October 2nd, 2009 on 5:24 pm
Oh Shannon, I so wanted Dragon Con this year. It just wasn’t in the cards, and I’m still smarting over it.
Ann, Larping can be fun–as long as you’ve got a fun and creative group of people who don’t mind chuckling a little at themselves doing it. Best thing ever to do is running a secret LARP in the middle of another LARP.
October 5th, 2009 on 12:01 pm
Just to be clear, I’ll be announcing the winner of this one on Friday too.
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