I'm back!

Truth of the matter, is I've been mentally preoccupied with a potentially life changing event that may or may not be upcoming in the immediate future of my life. If that isn't vague enough for you, I'm not sure what is. Rest assured, when I know more, so will you. There's also the matter of not having any gaming news come my way that I feel any strong opinions about. So, I think I'll talk to you guys about things I don't have strong opinions about, but just want to express.

Let's talk about Asheron's Call 2. I played the beta version of the game, and my experience with it was horrible. Basically it blew. I spent about an hour lagging around in the choppy game with all the visual options cranked down, so everything was a wonderful shade of "murk" which covered every picturesque rolling hill in sight. When it got dark, I couldn't see anything at all, I had no idea what was going on, and the game itself had monopolized an insane portion of my hard drive. After 2 hours, I took the beta CD outside, and shot it. I eradicated every trace of it from my machine, and vowed never to touch the foul thing again.

So I bought it last week. I was wandering around the local computer megastore, casually looking for a copy of the DAoC expansion (Shadowed Isles). When I asked one of the salesboys (He was about 16) where I could find a copy, he explained that they were all out. Sad and dejected, I headed for the exit, but as I shuffled down the aisle, my eye caught on a lone AC2 box leaning drunkenly on a shelf. Immediately identifying with the sorrow within the box, I whipped it up and ran to the cash with my new friend.

Well, it's better than beta, but it's no Holy Grail. You know, for someone who plays so many games, who looks forward to so many, I'm honestly never satisfied with any of them. AC2 is extremely pretty, and makes good use of my new GeForce4. The water ripples and shimmers pristine reflections in the midday sun. Gulls and hawks wheel overhead as my character trots through the countryside under the canopy of a forest of giant mushrooms. Shield at my side, I fling my spear in a divine arc toward a lurking foe, who screams in agony and defeat. A triumphal chorus announces my ascent to the next level, and life is good. Unfortunately it's not great.

One of my biggest beefs with the game, has to do with the shallow character development. The extent of how your character is distinct from others is simply defined by what weapon you use, and which special attacks you choose. It seems lackluster to me. The "economy" is also extremely fragile, and in many cases doesn't work. Since there are no NPC's, people have to buy their equipment from other players, create it themselves, or strip it from the corpses of fallen enemies. The loot you pull of dead foes is never equivalent to the stuff you can make yourself, so people tend to take up crafting. At the very least to furnish themselves with the necessities of their chosen class. As a spear toting Tumerok, I craft my own spears and race-specific armor. Or I would, if I could.

Crafting in AC2, consists of finding a variety of "ingredients" and mixing them together in a "recipe" for whatever you want to make. It's a system that is familiar to many people, as it's widely used in MMOGs. Unfortunately, AC2 lacks ingredients. There have been widespread complaints about the spawn rate of ingredients for the crafting of simple items. As an example, I cannot make myself a new weapon. After hours upon hours spent looking for a simple component, I was unable to find one off the source type of monster. My armor rating is at approximately 30% of what's possible for my level. I can't make more, because it requires amounts of gold that are nearly impossible to get. All in all, very frustrating.

That aside, the game is entertaining, and will probably occupy my meandering attention for at least a month. It's a recommended buy, at least to tide you over until SWG..

That's it, I'm done. Talk at you later.

-Landslide