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Wednesday, July 10, 2013

Defying Stuff

Well, I finally ponied up for Defiance (on my PS3).  It was also $30, so that helped.

Anyone who has been following the game knows that it's got a bit of spotty reviewing.  Anyone who's followed the show...well, the show's awesome.  One of the better newer shows - certainly one of the better sci-fi shows.

After all, too much Star Gate and Star Trek (enough of the million and a half series already!) makes one go something something.

My impression of the game so far is pretty positive.  While I have run into the odd glitch here and there, I haven't gotten permanently stuck on any scenery, and I've only had one lag spike so far.

Now, why did I wait so long?  Two reasons.  The first is that once I found out that it was based on another medium, I almost instantly lost confidence.  We all know that there are very few games based on other media (books, movies, TV shows, songs, etc.) that are actually any good.  Other than the DnD games, I can probably count them on both hands and maybe a couple toes.

The other reason is because I'm not an early adopter; only someone with a special level of patience (or complete ignorance of MMO's and their foibles) jumps into an MMO within the first three months after release.  Sorry to all of you early adopters, but it's common knowledge that most MMO's come out the gates as a buggy mess, so you early adopters get to be the guinea pigs.  And I do have better things to do, like finish games I haven't beaten already.

I also seem to have finally gotten Mass Effect 3 to run with some stability on my 360.  I only had to install the game.  I don't really have an issue installing games, but if there are going to be problems, I want to see that recommendation to install the game somewhere.  Mind you, I didn't RTFM, but at least iD was courteous enough to actually post that right on Rage's startup.

BioWare, not so much, but I hear they were pretty discourteous as far as the handling of this game went anyway.

Also, in my travels, I found a neat little stationery shop (I know, paper, pens, printers, where's the relevance, oh you shall see!) in Penetanguishene, Ontario, called Buro.  Great paper prices.  Also, great legacy game prices.

I found Betrayal at Krondor there for $5 (which I didn't get, I thought I'd leave that for another classic hunter), and I picked up Starsiege (it's not exactly easy to find these days, especially  being that Dynamix no longer exists and GOG doesn't have it yet) for $5, and Total Overdose for the XBox for $5, too.  After a couple minutes with Starsiege, I can tell you absolutely wrecks the older Earthsiege games (the series, by the way, is called Metaltech).

Total Overdose is kind of neat, too.  It's like Grand Theft Auto artificially inseminated an egg from an arcade machine and Desperado was the surrogate.  While taking massive hits of acid.  Good times.

Back to Defiance briefly.  I have read a lot of user reviews, and they look pretty broad-spectrum'd, so I'll give it to you straight.  From a single-player perspective with very little time in it (may a couple hours), the game definitely requires investment.  The combat isn't terribly, the weapon mechanics are pretty good, and the networking isn't utter crap either  And while the graphics are sort of on the lower end, the world still looks beautiful, and is very easy to appreciate, which is great for exploring.

However, I would recommend at least a 20+ Mbps internet package with no one crutzing around on another device connected to your signal, and I would do some researching into port forwarding to reduce lag-outs.  Also, wired connections only for this kind of gaming.  Only use Wi-Fi if you're desperate and/or don't have enough A/C plugs and/or funds (the good ones are still over $50) for a powerline adapter.

Stay classy, and if you're playing Defiance on your PS3, look for me, Rabbi Voody.  I'm always willing to help in a pinch.


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