cyan's Journal: High Fantasy

I finished book twelve of The Wheel of Time, the first book written after Robert Jordan's death. It's written by Brandon Sanderson, a young, up-and-coming fantasy author. The million dollar question that everyone is asking is, "was the book any good without Mr. Jordan writing the book"?

The answer is yes. Book twelve is in contention as perhaps one of the best in the series. But, with that being said, there is one glaring, very annoying flaw:

The characters speak plainly. That is to say, they tell each other exactly what's going on. Robert Jordan was famous for taking the opposite tack: forcing the reader (and the characters themselves) to read between the lines of what was being said. There is also the occasional slip, a modern phrase or two inserted here or there, or a mis-spelling. I'm not sure if this is because of a hasty edit, or because of Sanderson's youthful age, but it's very glaring to someone familiar with the series.

However, the storytelling is absolutely fantastic. The plot lines move along swiftly, and there were a couple hours of lost sleep here or there. Sanderson makes it very clear at the beginning of the book that he doesn't intend to emulate Robert Jordan. That he considers the book as a movie that is essentially the "same story, but different director"

Robert Jordan was taken from this world far, far too soon. His writing style, his wit, his ability to tell a story, and his knowledge of human nature will be sorely, sorely missed.

Speaking of great writing, I've had a chance to play Dragon Age over the past month or so. It was very timely, coming out just after I finished Fallout 3, which was one of the best RPG's I've played in the past ten years.

The storyline in Dragon Age is surprisingly adult. It's also very, very detailed. I don't know how one person can swim through all of the information that Dragon Age throws at you. There are these books that you can pick up in-game, and each of them explain a little more about the world's history. After a while, I had to just ignore them, otherwise I'd be spending a year or longer reading the entirety.

The gameplay, however, grated on my nerves a little. I tried really, really hard to enjoy myself, but it just wasn't coming together. It could be because I was playing the Playstation 3 version, and the game really is a PC game at the core, so the controls were a little clunky. But Fallout 3 didn't have this problem despite being a PC game as well.

The framerate on the PS3 was also disappointingly low, with stuttering throughout. Why they didn't choose to lower the graphics quality in the name of a smoother refresh rate is beyond me. At least offer an option to lower the resolution. No doubt this added to my displeasure.

But the biggest issue I had was with the gameplay. I think it has to do with the AI-controlled characters. Your party is generally four people strong, and you only control one character (usually the main character) in battles. There's no way to control each character in turn manually, because the battles are in realtime and not turn-based. Given my history of hatred for AI-controlled characters (think Final Fantasy Tactics on this one), it's not a surprise that it gave me grief while playing Dragon Age. I'm a micro-manager when it comes to RPG's, and Dragon Age just doesn't give you that much control.

A big part of RPG's for me is statistics management. But it's hard to be engrossed in the statistics when battle consists of how fast one can hit the 'cast damaging spell X' button between heals. As is typical with Western RPG's, the rewards were very sparse. I'd slaughter a house full of vagrants and be rewarded very thinly for it.

But it *is* a good RPG. I swear it is. The story is amazing - of Lord of the Rings proportions, even. I tried my best to enjoy it, and I might even go back after a while and give it a second go. But the gameplay just frustrated me despite my best efforts to enjoy the game.

Compare this against Fallout 3, where I'd gladly play it over again if I wasn't up to my neck in unplayed RPG's.

One of them is Demon's Souls, an action RPG from Atlus. Unlike Dragon Age, Demon's Souls' frame rate is seamlessly smooth. The action is fluid. But the game feels 'cheap' somehow, the story disjointed. It feels more like a 'Gauntlet' game than anything else, and there's a quality to that kind of thing. It just failed to catch my attention after a few hours of play.

Has Fallout 3 really spoiled me this badly?

The sequel to Eschalon Book I, which I played a year or so ago, should be out very soon. This is an independent Western RPG done in the classic Might & Magic / Ultima style. Book I completely engrossed me for about a month. Now *here's* a Western RPG done right. Turn-based battles, deep strategy, statistics management, fascinating story, colorfully bright graphics, and mood-setting music. I can't wait for Book II.

Meanwhile, Introversion Software, makers of Uplink, Darwinia, and Defcon, seem to be tanking. They seem to be stuck in this rut where the only thing they can put out are versions of Darwinia. This is a shame, because they were one of the most respected independent game studios out there. It seems that a contract with Microsoft has locked them into putting out the same thing over and over again. What a shame. I hope that their latest endeavour, Subversion, is a success. Otherwise, that'll be the end of Introversion.

Chris Delay was at PAX 2009. Damn! Had I known he was there, I would've made a point to go at least shake his hand and thank him for making Uplink. Chris, next time, post on your blog *before* you go, and not after, mkay?