Cloud Characters

So, here’s a question: if EA is going to insist that I log into every game with a special account, why is the character I create not stored in the cloud with them? Why, for instance, can I still not import the choices from my Dragon Age: Origins game on PS3 into a Dragon Age 2 game on the Xbox?

Over the past few months, the balance of my gaming time has swung heavily from the PS3 to the Xbox. I’m not entirely sure why, aside from the feel of the controller in my hands, and that I started playing a couple of exclusive titles. Dragon Age is the first time I’ve seriously encountered this as a problem. (Mass Effect would have as well, if I hadn’t been so perfectly willing to dive back in for another playthrough….) On the PS3, I have a run that I was perfectly happy with. I even went through most of the DLC. It was a fun ride, but I’m not up for starting over on a new platform anytime soon.

Dragon Age 2 was slightly cheaper on the Xbox, so I’ve ended up switching sides. I haven’t run into any big incongruities so far, but I’m still on edge, waiting for some reference to a Warden who isn’t mine. So, once again, if developers like Bioware are going to build in continuity between their games, and publisher-specific accounts are going to be commonplace, why are we still tied down by platforms?

Skyrim — Review

I have explored the mountains, streams and tundra plains of Skyrim. I am the Archmage, Dragonborn, and almost singlehandedly decided the course of a civil war between the Definitely-Not-Roman Legion and the Stormcloaks. I am a promising member of the Thieves’ Guild, and have been of notable assistance to dozens of others.

In the months since Skyrim came out, I have enjoyed my time spent in the game. The quest lines have been pretty good, even if they’re held back by the barely animated appearance of the puppets delivering the lines. The landscape is often quite beautiful. But for all that, I feel that the world is actually quite bland. As far as the technology powering Bethesda’s games might have come, there are some serious problems emerging — and I’m not referring to the widely-reported bugs.

I have only rarely come across anything of note in the hours that the game has the player tramping across the world. No one ever really seems to want to talk to me in this world. I occasionally stumble across a fort. The inhabitants promptly start shooting arrows at me. I crest a hill, and a strange man in a full suit of dwarven armour charges at me with a sword. I have no idea why. Once or twice, small parties of drunks have stopped me to share a drink with them as they make a motion that I suppose is meant to look like dancing.

One of the game’s great accomplishments is the streamlined, minimal interface. Easy to navigate, clear and legible, the Skyrim interface is a major step forward from the previous Elder Scrolls games. Unfortunately, this minimalist streak also carried over into the dialogue options. Which are horrible. I never really formed a clear sense of identity for my character, I think in large part because there was no sense of consequence to anything that I said. The game gives you a couple of options, your pick one, and … then you pick the other, because, hey, why not. It’s not as though any of the options were particularly interesting in the first place.

The same issue plagues the quests offered by the game. My character describes an interesting arc through the game. I saved the world from dragons, and became the arch-mage. Noble. I played a moral, upstanding character who was a force for good in the world. Then I took a bit of time off. The hero of Skyrim vanished, for a time, I like to imagine. Finally, the hero returned, and in short order put down the Stormcloak rebellion. But now the hero has begun to fall from grace, descending into Riften’s sewers to join up with the Thieves’ Guild. Next up, a few quests for the Daedra, and perhaps the Dark Brotherhood. Because, well, again, why not? No one in the world really seems to notice, and no one really cares.

I will keep dipping back into Skyrim from time to time to poke around the edges of the world, and finish off a couple more quests — but I don’t really feel any attachment. I’ll keep using my character because there’s no real reason not to. She’s powerful enough to carry me through those quests quickly and without much fear of losing progress. And I’ll keep engaging with contradictory quest lines, because I might as well.

Bright

Creativity

Skyrim — The Death of Lydia

I played a little more Skyrim last night. The world still hasn’t opened up for me in the way I expect from a Bethesda game, but I’m still in it.

One of the main quest missions sends you into an area alone, with access to just whatever gear you have an NPC smuggle in for you. Lydia, the warrior assigned to me by the Jarl of Whiterun, had to stay behind.

I didn’t bother taking much stuff with me, anticipating that I would go for a stealthy, speech-based approach. It started out well, solving an initial hurdle through dialog. Then I got into the back area, and found myself stuck in an area I couldn’t sneak through successfully, and couldn’t fight my way through either. I turned the difficultly down, and the combat is now a breeze. Considering it hasn’t been the highlight of the game so far, it’s probably for the best.

So, I made it through, completed the objectives, and escaped through a trap door. Behind the trap door, I discovered that Lydia, my faithful servant, had apparently been waiting for me there. With a frost troll. So I guess that’s where Lydia’s story ends. She didn’t really have a lot to say even before the frost troll, so I don’t really know what I’ll be missing out on there.

I made my way back to meet up with the quest-giver to get my gear back, and then resumed what has turned into my favourite activity in Skyrim: smithing. The roleplaying centre in my mind fills in that my character must believe that perhaps if Lydia had been better armored, she might have lived, and vanquished that troll. And so she spends hours honing her craft, creating and refining better and better suits of armor. Banded-iron, steel — soon she will try her hand at Dwarven pieces. Her swords, war-hammers and axes are flooding the markets of Skyrim.

I’m starting to find the character now. Elissa, the warrior-smith who ventures out into the wilderness always searching for new materials to craft with, haunted by the knowledge that the armor will never been good enough.