Random Shots: The Topic Of The Day

• Congratulations to Hunter for avoiding the word "microtransactions" in his post title.

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© 2012 Marty Runyon. All rights reserved.

Played Lately: Psychonauts

• I suppose it's about time. The game came out in 2005 during the previous console cycle. It has felt like a huge hole in my gaming knowledge. So last night, instead of saving the galaxy, I loaded up Psychonauts for the first time.


• Like any older game, it feels out of time even with the improvements Double Fine made to the PC version. The fact that it reads my controller on the PC is amazing, even if the button prompts still reflect the keyboard keys. The graphics are decidedly Xbox quality, but the style helps overcome the deficit.


• My favorite thing about the game so far is the explorable hub world. I like that they give you this open space and set you free to do what you want. I'm sure that I could exhaust the possibilities if I focus on it too much. But so far I've found several hard-to-reach or hidden areas that keep me looking for more. And I love that there seem to be multiple ways to approach different problems in the open world.


• I've only tried the introductory level so far. It seemed a little long and the frightfully linear. But the art design was great to explore and it told an interesting story.


• Only an hour and a half in, I'm on the fence about Psychonauts. That first level didn't win me over like the open world has. I'm hoping that further levels draw me in more.

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© 2012 Marty Runyon. All rights reserved.

Random Shots: Thumbing My Nose At Bioware

• Despite the fact that I really need to be sleeping, I've been staying up to play Mass Effect 3 for several nights now. I put in a couple hours a night, scanning planets, running around the Citadel, and shooting dudes. Oh yeah, and I'm never going to play the multiplayer. So there.


• I've had a couple offers (and several insistent ones from my brother) to try out the multiplayer with them. By all accounts, it's supposed to be a lot of fun. In any other circumstance, I would probably try it at least once.


• But here is the thing. We all know the Bioware collects statistics about how we play their games. And when they look at the percentage of players who try the multiplayer, I want to show up in the "no" column.


• It might be petty. I might be avoiding something I might like just to prove a point. But this is the line that I'm not willing to cross. I want to show them that I think this was a mistake.

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© 2012 Marty Runyon. All rights reserved.

Random Shots: Who Will You Be? GW2 Edition

• Syp has a post up on Bio Break discussing his character plans for Guild Wars 2. There are a great number of options since there are no race/class restrictions. I have at least a vague idea of which I want to try. So in order of likelihood from least to greatest, here are the professions:


• Necromancer - Ew. I had one character of every profession in Guild Wars. Even the lame expansion classes. But I never, ever played a necromancer. They just look gross. Blech.


• Engineer - While I understand that the history of Tyria has moved on, I can't get my head around a technology based profession. Sure, WoW, WAR, and other games have gun focused classes, but it has always rubbed me the wrong way.


• Warrior - This is a long standing bias, but I never really enjoy straight up fighter types in MMOs. Maybe GW2 will make them more compelling, but they are not high on my list.


• Guardian - Here we get into the noncommittal part of the list. I don't know enough about guardians to know whether I want to play one or not. Maybe I'll get jealous of all the cool things they do after playing for a while and I'll want a guardian alt. Just not at launch.


• Thief - Ditto, except the character art for the female thieves is really... interesting to me. As long as they don't develop assassin-like spikes, I'd be willing to give them a look.


• Elementalist - Now we get to the excited part of the list. I have always liked elementalists. My one great character deletion regret was deleting my gray-haired level twenty "ellie" before Factions released so that I had an open character slot for the preview weekend. I hope there are a lot of lightning based abilities because I plan on shocking the heck out of very many dudes.


• Mesmer - More than any other profession, the mesmer proved that Guild Wars was not your usual RPG. I loved playing my mesmer and I can't wait to see what they do in GW2.


• Ranger - My first love has always been the ranger. I don't play this kind of class in any other game, but I can't wait to try them again in GW2.


• And for the races. Two definite no's, two maybes, and one already decided:


• Asura - I have never liked little races in games. The asura seem like the worst example. No. Just no.


• Charr - Although I learned to like the charr a little after reading the Guild Wars novels, I still can't see myself playing one. I can't forgive them for what they did to Ascalon.


• Sylvari - I am super curious about the sylvari. We know so little about them that it will be a joy to explore their story. Yes, they are dressed up elves, but with enough differences to make them stand out.


• Norn - Ever since Eye of the North launched, I've wanted to play one of the Norn. What is there about giant warrior women who turn into bears that is not to love?


• Human - When it comes down to it, though, my first character will be human. I want to see what has become of the descendants of my GW characters and where they will go. That is very important to me and I wonder if any other long time Guild Wars fans feel the same.


• When broken down, my first choice is obvious: a human ranger, just like my main character in Guild Wars. But from there do I roll a norn mesmer and sylvari elementalist? Actually, that sounds pretty cool. I'm glad I did this.


• How about you? What characters are you looking forward to playing?

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© 2012 Marty Runyon. All rights reserved.

Random Shots: SSX Is Wack, Yo

• First off, many apologies for the title of this post. I've been reading too much Yo, Is This Racist? and it rubs off after a while.


• Second, I'm not saying that the game is wack. SSX is actually better than I expected. What I'm talking about is the title, or at least what they did to the title.


• If you don't want to be spoiled, stop reading now. But it might be worth your while to keep reading anyway.


• According to the new game, the name stands for surfing, snowboarding, and motocross. That's right, it is completely stupid. They even brought DJ Atomica back long enough to spit this idiocy at you.


• In an otherwise great game, this seems like the regrettable tendency for people to update something that is perfectly fine to begin with. Bah!

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© 2012 Marty Runyon. All rights reserved.