Redwolf's Journal (continued)

A fantasy world of "no history." Well, actually some, but not well remembered. A mage a great renown and power slowly slips into megalomania and perhaps possession as he delves into deeper mysteries. He finds a world in his planar travels and convinces a nation-state of impending disaster, taking them to this other world magically. In the process, memories are scrambled and people die, making the whole ordeal fuzzy in the collective memory of civilizations. The people build upon the ruins of a massive city and start to learn about their new home with vague stories of how someone magically saved them as a people by bringing them there, but without any solid details. Meanwhile, the mage becomes increasingly unhinged, running experiments and such - perhaps even maintaining a heroic face as savior on the side...

I don't usually take off days like Friday between a holiday and the weekend, but after how dead the night after Thanksgiving was at work, I suggested it and so had a four day weekend. And it was glorious. Seriously - I think I was genuinely the happiest I've been in quite a while, for no particular reason. Maybe getting to sleep in counts? Seeing familiar faces in WoW was nice, though I wouldn't expect it to be that much of a booster. Whatever the case, it was a nice, quiet holiday.

So, putting aside the issues of time travel and alternate worlds I already addressed , there's still a fair bit to say about Warlords of Draenor. Mechanically, just about everything is good. There are a few things I have mixed feelings on. I still miss my wing effect in Protection spec, but that's sentiment over function. I want to be able to fly over this expanse of Draenor, and the removal of flight seems particularly ironic when it was Outland that introduced it. I see the tonal benefits - it really does make the world feel larger and helps guide flow of exploration and questing, but I miss the freedom. And as much as I love the new bank tab for reagents, I'm stunned at how quickly it's been filling up with stuff, including different "sizes" of each type of fish and the ridiculously large stacks of ore that need to go into making items. Also, the use of some almost-jumping-puzzles points out how WoW's physics and movement system does not offer the s

I've talked before about my difficulties in dealing with multiverses conceptually . I always keep coming back to "well, how does any of this actually matter when there are worlds out there in which things are already the way I want?" Why struggle to beat Sauron, Thanos, or Lord Evildude when you can go to a world in which it's already done? This is still a hangup for me in Gossamer and Shadows. I ended up making a character who's smart enough to look at the big picture, which might have been a mistake. While argues you should make a character who views their own world as "prime," I have trouble holding to that view as long as character can conceptualize that worlds might actually be equal. For better or worse, I also ended up with a character who has lost pretty much anyone she knew in her home world. That's liberating in a way, but it also leaves a lingering specter of not exactly wanting to go back, and facing the tempation to find an alternate

Okay, fine. If Blizzard wants to offer me a free ten day trial of Warlords of Draenor, I suppose I can give it a whirl over the next week and a half to see how it feels. Edit: Ah, but they hold you up just 1 XP shy of level 91, which is easy to fit in a few hours. Heh. I see what they did there...

So, getting Warlords of Draenor as an early Christmas gift was a measured risk. It gave him something to play that he enjoys for a month, and is probably a good value in dollars-to-hours-of-entertainment. On the other hand, it drops temptation to resubscribe at the end of that month, which he's not really in a financial position to be doing. Plus it means he will try to get me interested in playing again. ;) Hearing that some of the guild is active is nice, but it looks like about a 5-man group amount of people, not even close to a 10-man raid group. Some familiar faces are active, but some decidedly aren't. And without knowing Kyn's future with the game, I'm reluctant to "commit" to buying the expansion still. I'm somewhat daunted by the thought of learning how to play all over again for the something-th time only to hop on the same advancement treadmill. I haven't heard much about the lore/story that interests me as yet. Maybe we'll see ho

According to Steam, I've put more time in on Far Cry 4 than I did with 3. It doesn't feel that way to me. 4 felt... sort of short somehow. Maybe I didn't get into the optional missions as much, though I still cleared towers and outposts and fortresses. The story is also not quite as compelling. As Zero Punctuation's Yahtzee pointed out, there's really no main character arc in 4 like there was in 3. You just sort of show up, get pulled into a civil war, and start a murder (well, largely self-defense perhaps) spree. The only real twist/development to be found is in uncovering what happened with the main character's parents. And while that is a bit twisted, I didn't find it particularly satisfying or suitable justification to their son getting embroiled in the conflict. The game offers some illusion of choice by letting you back one of two rebel faction leaders who could probably make a decent place if they could work together. Since they can't, however,

In an era when story-based single-player games tend to run around 10 hours, it feels odd to have just finished a nearly 80-hour play through of a game. DA:I is very good. There's a lot to do. It's held back from perfection by having a number of elements that are not used to their potential, I would say. Mounts, for example, are neat to have, but totally overlookable. The war map missions are a nice way to interact with the world on a strategic level, but the different approaches your advisors offer seem to have minimal impact. Customization options for the keep are almost entirely cosmetic. In fact, consequence to choice in general feels a little bit lacking - I sided with mages over Templars, and should see how the other side plays out, but I don't get the feeling that much actually changes. All of these are things that add depth and variety to the game, but they would be better with more sense of repercussion. That said, the story is pretty solid. The characters are