Last night I finsihed Darksiders III and instead of whooping and feeling excited across the playthrough, as I did with its predecessors, I could only ask myself: What the hell happened? Continue reading Darksiders III – WTF Happened?
Tag: Opinion
Unrewarding Experience – Things I disliked about Pillars of Eternity
Have you ever had games that you played up to a point, left behind for other titles and never really returned to? Over the past few weeks and aware that I’ve done that with several great and enjoyable games, I’ve gone back and played them to completion, or at least to a point where I can say it’s enough and don’t want to touch them ever again.
The latest of those titles I’ve cleared off my backlog is Pillars of Eternity, an RPG with clear roots in D&D but one that doesn’t directly translate the tabletop RPG systems but has its own ruleset. Continue reading Unrewarding Experience – Things I disliked about Pillars of Eternity
Latest Gaming Obsession – Battle Chasers: Nightwar
For the past couple of weeks, I’ve been playing Battle Chasers: Nightwar, a title based on Joe Madureira’s unfinished comic book and from his latest video game development company, Airship Syndicate.
I’d heard of the Battle Chasers comic in the past, just didn’t know about it being unfinished, still I jumped right into Nightwar hoping my lack of knowledge of the comic wouldn’t leave me confused with the characters and plot. Continue reading Latest Gaming Obsession – Battle Chasers: Nightwar
EGX 2016 and Beyond!
EGX, formerly the Euro Gamer Expo, started yesterday. Last year I was there for the duration of the event, but this year due to professional responsibilities—and the fact that I like getting paid for my work—I can’t make it to the first two. But tomorrow and Sunday, you can bet I’ll be there. There are a few games already in my sights, most of them in the Rezzed section. Continue reading EGX 2016 and Beyond!
Warcraft: The Beginning…and maybe also the end?
I love the world of Warcraft, the universe. I love the stories, the characters and its rich history—that is not without its retcons and mess-ups. Up until the moment I started country hopping, moving to a new place with frightening frequency (a little adventure I hope has ended), I collected and read every novel written in the universe. I enjoyed reading about the War of the Ancients by Richard A. Knaak, the man responsible for the entire Dragon lore in the Warcraft universe and many more stories. I loved reading Christie Golden’s stories on the Rise of the Horde and The Lich King. Jeff Grubb took me to Karazhan to meet Medivh and his increasingly erratic behaviour and possession by Sargeras. Continue reading Warcraft: The Beginning…and maybe also the end?
Writing a Novel – The Voice
This will be an odd one in the writing guides because it’s not just for novel writing, but also for articles and blogging. It’s about Voice. In articles and non-fiction this is the author’s voice, the quirks, slang and turns of phrase that make readers quickly identify who the writer is without even looking for a name. For example, if you were to read articles by game critics Jim Sterling or Ben Croshaw you would quickly realise they’re the authors as each man has his own way of describing things, of using (and sometimes abusing) the language to explain their points.
On my end, I can only hope that you get some of my humour in my writing, perhaps a bit of my bitterness or awe at certain topics and ideas. But for the most part, the complaining and moaning should be enough to say, “This is Kevin’s work.” It’s either that, the repeated use of “funnily enough” or the overall lack of passive voice in sentences, because I don’t like it. Continue reading Writing a Novel – The Voice
Day One reviews…still worth it?
A couple of weeks ago I wrote about the role of the reviewer but since writing that piece I’ve been wondering about game reviews themselves, particularly given the current state of the industry where games make it onto the market without proper quality assurance and so bug-riddled that it takes multiple iterations of re-development to clear them and even fix inherent design flaws. Continue reading Day One reviews…still worth it?
The Proper Way – Language in Journalism
Over the past few weeks I’ve been thinking a lot about the work I do in The Mental Attic and other outlets, be it a geeky piece on GeekOut South-West, a preview on KickstartVentures or any of the other sites I write for on occasion.
One thing that I’ve thought of repeatedly is language, as in what kind of language is appropriate for articles? Is it right to use profanity or rude language in an article or does that diminish your arguments? Are abbreviations or common “text-speech” allowed? Can we use pure numbers or do we have to word the amounts out (30 or Thirty)? For today, I’ll focus on profanity. Continue reading The Proper Way – Language in Journalism
The Blogging Perspective
Without having a reason to blog, many of us will simply sit around, always thinking that we can do better than those who write for a living. Well, if this isn’t motivation enough to begin blogging, then it’s time for you to consider all the other reasons why you should start up your own blog. The only way to drive this message home is by explaining my own reasons for beginning my ventures into the realm of writing. Continue reading The Blogging Perspective
The Levelling Perspective
It used to be that you could measure game time in an RPG with just how much you levelled up. To say in Final Fantasy VI that you reached level 60 before the end of the game, without much grinding involved, meant the game was at least a few dozen hours long. The random battle element combined with the linear nature of their stories and progress meant that that you would reach higher character levels naturally and without breaking off the story progression with unnecessary encounters. Continue reading The Levelling Perspective