[Tarot's Scrapbook] The Stacked Deck

by **Tarot** on March 8th, 2011, 7:02 am

I'm in the middle of corporate training, which I have discovered is way more tiresome than regular work. I am still around and very thankful for having a tablet, but I'm not going back home until Friday night. Ugh.

by **Onyx** on March 8th, 2011, 7:06 am

Take it easy GP! I'll keep the place nice and tidy while you're busy with work...
:paranoid:

by **Panna Cotta** on March 8th, 2011, 7:12 am

By tiresome did you mean boring?

by **Vetala** on March 8th, 2011, 7:22 pm

I think so but yay for sneaking on and such

by **Mao** on March 13th, 2011, 7:02 am

My friend and I were talking about italians today, and she decided to look you up in my faisbook.

All she said was,

"GP? I only see his pussy."

..... |:)

by **Tarot** on March 18th, 2011, 11:43 pm

I think I owe the community an apology for pretty much disappearing over the past two weeks or so. The first week, I spent away from home on corporate training in the middle of nowhere. Then Dragon Age 2 came out, and I only just finished it (once). I don't pick up a lot of games, and I don't really play them for the game itself, but for the story and the storytelling. In fact, I have no interest whatsoever in games that lack a story element, like the Sims. The storytelling, though, offers opportunities you can't really see in any other medium, being both visual and interactive.

I don't really write game reviews, either, but please bear with me for this once. While the game is not perfect, I found the storytelling in DA2 to be very remarkable. It's like the folks at Bioware went on entirely opposite tracks with gameplay and storytelling. They really simplified (a critic would say 'dumbed down') many aspects of gameplay to the point that most of the time you're literally just following bright arrows to the destination. You always know what you have to do, where and when you need to do it. Bioware's attempt at bringing RPGs to the masses was a risky gamble. In the end, DA2 is about conversation-fights-conversation-decision cycles. Even in conversation, icons pretty much tell you what will happen if you pick a certain line. There are no puzzles to speak of. It's like they took Mass Effect 2 and made it into fantasy despite all the differences between the genres. As you can see, hardcore RPG fans may not like being taken by the hand like that. It had me quirking my brow too.

But then, you have this highly conservative system on the one hand and such innovative storytelling on the other. This is where Bioware really shines, and it's what makes DA2 great above its aforementioned flaws - that and the battle system, which is an immense improvement upon its predecessor. There is something to be said for sending your enemies flying like ragdolls! But still, I'm straying from the main topic. The storytelling.

Nothing about it is particularly groundbreaking on its own, mind you. Stories have been told in flashbacks from the Odyssey onwards, though DA2 oozes style into this when it uses its unreliable narrator to let you play out events that never actually happened. In the end, it follows a traditional Hollywood three-act structure. There are tons of NPCs, (most of whom you get to kill at some point) and especially your companions. However, rather than just tagging along for the ride, your colorful party members play a major role in the events of the story. In a few cases, they actually set the pivotal events in motion. They are funny and likeable, though I would have liked even more interaction, especially with the romance element people have come to expect of Bioware games: good as usual, though possibly a bit rushed near the end. Then again, I am a sucker for these romances and no amount would have satisfied me!

I liked that the game spans a decade of events in a single place, but that's not the novel aspect of DA2. No, there is a single thing that's pretty much a first for me.

There is no arch-villain.

I found that shocking. Such a bold risk when Bioware was so conservative on pretty much everything else. A master of evil is de rigueur in fantasy videogames. Someone you might not know at first, but who keeps turning the wheels and whose identity is eventually revealed. Not so in Dragon Age 2. It's a first for Bioware as far as I know - all their games always had this entity, be it called Irenicus, Arch-demon, Sovereign or Harbinger. In DA2, there are individuals with their goals. A chain of seemingly unrelated events - in Flemeth's own words 'Is it fate or chance? I can never decide.' - precipitates change, pitting secondary NPCs against each other as they take the spotlight for a while, only for Hawke, the protagonist, to deal with them and move on as the stakes get higher and higher.

And the funny thing is, these 'minor' villains serve their purpose beautifully and make for awesome boss fights too. The supervillain is not missed in the least. If anything, the lack of it gives the game a lack of closure that its non-ending is even more painful than the usual "temporary victory" feeling these games tend to give you. Painful, as in you just crave to know how the story really ends.

The DA world masterfully plays with uncertainty and moral ambiguity in a way that I found quite gripping. No-one is really right and no-one is really wrong. No-one has the answer.

A few precious lessons for a storyteller.

So yeah, this is where I've disappeared to for the past few days.

Sorry everyone!

by **Kamalia Timandre** on March 20th, 2011, 4:23 pm

Hello, GP!
I am also enjoying Dragon Age 2 way too much. A lot of people say that it's a step down from the original campaign, but maybe it's because many people are looking for something grand and something epic. I find Dragon Age 2 engaging and beautiful, with a complex plot line and believable characters. I really enjoy playing Bioware games because of their magnificent writing.

Now we know what took you away from us for a while! <3

Here's a screenshot of my Hawke!

Secret :

by **Satu** on May 1st, 2011, 1:51 am

Dear Tarot,

I thought it only fair to tell you... I just received this lore:

Lore of How Tarot Can Be Useful.

And I plan to use it.

Love, Satu

by **Tarot** on May 13th, 2011, 9:11 am

Google emailed me and said it misses my money and the sexy sound it makes when the wind blows it from my bank account to theirs. "Why did you stop buying ads for Mizahar", they asked in a hushed voice in between minigolf rounds in their offices. "Here, have some AdWords credits, the good stuff. We'll get you hooked back right away." And they pushed the free dose my way. It was more than we'd ever spent for ads on Miza. Quite a bit more.

Who was I to say no?

So... since we're running custom targeted ads (Google's default choices for our site put our ads on Barbie Flash game sites, just to name one), if you know of a related site with Google ads in it - those unmistakable boxes with titles and subtitles - please let me know in the Help Desk. Not here, never on the public boards.

Thanks!

by **Tarot** on May 21st, 2011, 11:14 am

Back from another week of training. Apologies for unanswered PMs and threads, I had to study even at the hotel in the evenings. Will try to catch up now.