Dragon Age: Origins

I initially beat this game a while ago on the PS3, but I wanted to play it on the PC and do a comparison, which took me until about two weeks ago to finally through it.

This game, simply put, is amazing. While naturally it's not perfect, it comes a lot closer than most games I know, so let's break it down.

Story. Without giving spoilers for anyone who hasn't played through this yet (then why are you reading this? Go. Play it. Now.), the story of this game is incredible. It creates a deep world filled with history and culture. The extensive background work they did is readily apparent. While not overloading the player with information, the culture reveals itself through the rules of the world, the culture apparent in how the NPCs behave, and how events unfold. Having this kind of basis to build on creates a world that's cohesive and credible, allowing the player to dive in and stay immersed. Additionally, while the player is inducted into an ancient and honorable order, you are not hailed as a hero. Quite the opposite. The bad guys are spreading rumors about your order, and even if the people of Ferelden don't believe the rumors, they largely wonder if your order is still relevant, or strong enough to make any kind of difference.

One of the greatest things about the story is that the player is presented with a number of choices that change and shape the story. However, while these choices strive to be interesting, they fall just a shade short. Looking at the 6 major choices in game (the 5 major quests of the second act of the story, and the Landsmeet in the third act), two come very close to being something that will engage the player, but then turn around offer a third "warm and fuzzy" option. While this may not end up available to the player in all playthroughs, it does kind of distract from things. Another choice comes down to "be a jerk for power, or not", so unless your character is a little wishy-washy in their morality, this will be an easy choice. This goes on for many of the choices. If you have a strong idea of your character's morality, this quickly turns into easy choices that have far less meaning than if they had balanced the pros and cons of the choices a bit better. I think only one of the choices really becomes interesting, and that's "The Broken Circle" quest line. Here, your character can feel good either way, but it comes down to the many versus the few in terms of who deserves what.

Character development is incredibly powerful in Origins. Every one of your companions has a unique back story, unique and developed personality, and interacts realistically with other members of your party. Who you have in your party will change not only the banter, but how the group seeks to influence you in your choices.

A wide array of side quests exists, both offered by the common folk, and most of your companions will have quests. This creates a rich and immersive world where you will really feel part of a living, breathing world.

As far as class balance, there is none. Mages are grossly overpowered, and including the player you can have up to three in your party. Rogues are useful and versatile with options to be melee, assassin or archery. Warriors, however, move very slowly. While they can deal damage, especially among widespread groups of base level enemies, your ranged party members can often dispatch the one you're going after before you get there.

Tactics can be set for each of your party members as well. This is useful ability to keep your party working in unison or to set "oh shit" options up if squishier party members get aggro. Use of abilities or potions at key moments if your attention is on characters is hugely helpful. But they can be difficult to set up properly for total reliance. I found myself pausing every few seconds and cycling through characters to manually set their inext action. This could make some battles last incredibly long but with half that time not actually in action.

But despite these issues, this game is beautifully designed, creating a world that is enjoyable, deep and vibrant. I'd definitely say it's worth the time and money to buy, especially now that it is a lot cheaper and comes bundled with a bunch of goodies.

Mists of Pandaria Beta: Pandaren Starter Zone

My beta tests will be limited. I am a big fan of seeing a game unfold all shiny and new on release versus playing it to death during beta.

My focuses will be the new starter zone, some of the high level stuff and new achievements.

First, the new character creator is great. You can see all the choices laid out at once, making it much better than trying to cycle through and find what you want.

The Pandaren starting zone is gorgeous. Once again the starting zone Blizzard designed is tightly themed, well-structured, and based off the few quests I was able to do, will be as entrancing as the other starting zones.

The beginning of the monk class was a lot of fun. It has a bit of a rogue feel. But still was unique. I'll write more when I check it out with a premade. 85.

At a start, this xpac is looking to be amazing. Some felt the Pandaren were too cartoony, but I love them. My little Pandaren girl is just adorable. And I love playing her. I am greatly looking forward to starting up a Pandaren monk when the xpac drops.

Hackers

After a year long hiatus, and despite a backlog of entries to catch up on, I decided to open up the new year with a post on hackers. Those vial scum that infect our devices for fun and/or profit.

One in particular, the Windows Security 2012 viruses, and its predecessors (2010 and 2011 versions) have given me quite the headache. Now, I'm tech and internet savvy enough that I don't get hit by most viruses (this is the only one I've had an issue with). I have a good antivirus software that I keep up to date and running at all times. I surf sites that I'm familiar with and "know" to be safe. I don't click links offering me huge prizes as I'm the 1 billionth visitor. I admit to one flaw (that I will be fixing soon), and that is a tendency to run with my firewall off due to making some gaming, and more particularly subversioning commits of programs run a great deal smoother.

When I first got this virus in early 2010, I was still relatively noobish enough that I didn't want want to go digging around in my registry on my own. So I shelled out a couple hundred bucks to let techboys dive in and deal with it. At this time, the virus was pretty nasty already, writing itself into your system restore checkpoints, and shutting down all programs and internet access except to its own site.

The idea behind this virus is simple enough: put together a rogue program that looks believably to be a legitimate Windows issue, then  charge unwary users to "register" it, and at the same time steal credit card information. I will give them props for at least trying to get something out of the deal. The only thing worse than a hacker-for-profit is a hacker-for-shits-and-giggles.

I went the next couple few years with no trouble from this nasty little shit. However, the creators seem to be out for blood as I've been hit with it 3 times in just the last couple of months now. I think I've finally nailed down the site I was getting it from (actually a long-time favorite of mine. I do not think its the creators of the site installed the worm, but that the creators were simply able to worm it into their system).

And the little shits have been doing their homework. The first time I got it, I ran into a couple small snags uninstalling it myself, but was able to dig into the registry and get rid of it. The second time, however, they had the virus shutting down access to the registry editor, the system restore feature (the "nice" one that rolls back your system a few days and saves all your files, regardless of when they were created rather than wiping your hard drive to factory oblivion), and the command prompt.

This latest incarnation, however, shows further ingenuity. They killed system admin rights, disabled the task manager, removed visibility to external drives, hid the system protection feature so system restore couldn't be turned on at all, and after entering in a fake registration code from one of the many removal guides available shut down my network drivers regardless of what level of Safe Mode I booted up in.

After three hours of rage and tears, I was finally able to make some headway against this beast. I really, really, really do not want to wipe my computer. It wouldn't be the end of the world, with my files backed up. The only files I'd lose I care at all about are my Skyrim saves. My bigger problem is that I would then have to reinstall a lot of programs. Besides taking up time, some (like my Windows Office) I'm out of installs on. Others I have difficulty locating the disks for, and all in all, would take me a good couple of days to get everything back up and running, patched and ready to roll.

So this boils down to a great deal of rage on my part. People like this are scum, and should focus on getting out of their parents' basements and getting real jobs.While I'm sure they rake in a fair amount of money, its at the cost of other people in the worst way. Besides the money and identity theft, which can seriously fuck a person over anyways, it also kills what, to many people, is the most important device in their lives. Family pictures and videos lost, access to internet to manage the household, hours of games, important documents, etc. All possibly lost. Or, if it can all be saved, it is at the cost of several hours of work. Hours that often need to be put to use elsewhere, working, sleeping, cleaning, relaxing from a long day, etc.

How many of us really have the time for this kind of shit? All so some asshole can get rich off of the portion of the populace that doesn't know how to recognize this kind of scumbaggery. While the tech savvy like myself just hang our heads in shame for getting a virus and can dig in and beat it, there's a large number of people with no clue how to recognize this kind of thing.

Its easy to brush it off as "their own damn fault" for not learning the proper ways to protect themselves, but who teaches them? Most computers are up and running out of the box in minutes, with no alerts to this kind of thing. Ask a tech at a store, and they'll simply offer a good anti-virus (which Windows Security can get past).

I will give the creators of the Windows Security virus that they're smart. Every new iteration of the virus ruthlessly cuts around the various ways to counteract it and kill it. And thanks to them, I've learned how to rip the very heart out of my computer, beat into submission, and and shove it back in.

But it's cost me so much in terms of time. And ironclad security (if there is such a thing) quickly starts to interfere with legitimate applications and usages.

And with the rise in the use of smartphones and similar devices, those are quickly becoming vulnerable to hacking as well.

It's despicable, its disgusting, and it's costing victims time, money, and possibly leading to serious, life-changing problems.

And sadly, there's no way to stop it. As long as there's a profit to be made, and the internet and constant connectivity is such an increasingly critical part of our lives, we will never be free from this kind of threat. People will do terrible things to each other for fun and profit, just as we've done for millennia.

The common response to rants like this from many people is "Lol, then buy a Mac". But as more and more people buy Macs, they'll start getting hacked just as much as their Windows counterparts. Yes, Windows has problems that are undeniable. But Macs are not superior or immune. To be perfectly honest, the main reason Macs aren't hacked as often is that most of their users are artists, hipsters, and college students. Few of whom have anything worth stealing. PCs are targeted because the virus will hit the widest base, and are also far more likely to hit more novice users who will fall victim to the scams. As one person put it, if Fort Knox and the cookie jar had the same level of security, which would you be more likely to steal from?

So there it stands. Hackers are complete scum in my view. Even so-called "political hackers" like Anonymous, who claim to be fighting for truth, justice and the American way when they're just bullying anyone who disagrees with them.

But the vast bulk of my hatred lies with the creators of the Windows Security virus. As I pass 4 hours of working on getting rid of your worm, for not the first time, I want to find you. The things I want to do to you make Guantanamo Bay look like a five star day spa.

I will find you. And when I do, I'm going Liam Neeson on your ass.