Hello there. If you were keeping tabs on my blog, you may have noticed a distinct lack of new content. My schedule has been quite busy and I've had little time to write at length about what I think of the current state of the gaming culture. Luckily, I'm still an active participant and I'm in a pretty happy state of mind, which doesn't help with my usual ranting.
First, The game I worked on this past year, straight out of the gate after Dragon Commander, Divinity: Original Sin has been doing very well indeed. Second, it's been a pretty good year for games so far. Though, I should amend that: it's been a pretty good year for PC games. I feel the new consoles have yet to make an impact.
Besides Divinity: Original Sin, the games that have been on the forefront for me this last year have been: Wildstar, War Thunder (yes, still), Fire Emblem: Awakening, Guild Wars 2, Wolfenstein: The New Order, Dark Souls 1&2, Bioshock Infinite, Legend Of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds, Diablo 3, The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, Crysis 3, Dragon Age 2, Battlefield 4 and a little bit of Assassin's Creed 2.
This is a short list by my standards. Some of these games only have had a handful of hours, some are about to be uninstalled. That's what I get for putting too many MMO's on that list. But I have already made the solemn vow to never grind in a game again. The frustration I had with Star Wars: The Old Republic is very much alive. Instead I'd like to sample a more varied spectrum of games, and still have some time for blogging (and updating the design) or other more artistically beneficial activities. People also keep mentioning TV has become interesting again. For instance: I have been mostly ignorant about Game of Thrones. I am being assured that it's a lot like some fantasy games with permadeath. If the shock of not controlling the onscreen characters wasn't bad enough, there's an alternative: to watch Breaking Bad and see Walter White haplessly take all the Renegade conversation options and get the bad ending.
But who has the time anymore with all these games coming out. To name but a few: Dragon Age: Inquisition, Pillars Of Eternity, Wasteland 2, Destiny (sadly not yet coming to PC), The Witcher 3, Ultra Street Fighter 4, Elite: Dangerous, Star Citizen, Assassin's Creed Unity, Gigantic. I'd also like to try (F2P) games like DOTA 2 and Smite, because I get the feeling I'm missing out on some great gameplay.
However, there is one blogging related item I have had the time for: I have been writing about my views on the RPG genre. Between working on Divinity: Original Sin and playing the likes of Mass Effect, Guild Wars 2, Skyrim, Dragon Age 2 and Diablo, my focus has strongly been on this genre. The text has ballooned to the size of half a book, and I'm having some issues carving the whole thing into digestible parts. However, since there's no time like the present, I'll continue to do so tomorrow. Probably.