It's my party and I'll Far Cry if I want to.

I've been playing Far Cry 3 lately and enjoying it for the most part, but the more I play it the more it worries me.

Far Cry 3 is the epitome of the science of modern game design.  It's also the next logical step in open-world sandbox-style games after Skyrim, and it certainly bears a lot of the marks of its influence.  Everything about this game is designed to keep you playing a little bit longer: XP based character progression, tons of collectables, hunting for crafting materials, tiny bits of treasure scattered everywhere that trickle slowly into your wallet, guns that slowly unlock availability as time goes on (or can be bought) and are further customizable, Assassin's Creed-style slowly-unlock-the-map-and-side-missions-as-you-go gameplay, Skyrim-style laughable sidequests where everyone needs something that's conveniently in walking distance.  Layered on top of a save-your-friends story where you go from OHMYGODIHAVEN'TSHOTAGUNBEFOREICAN'TKILLAMAN to fuck-yeah-jungle-survivalist-badass in the span of about 20 minutes and you're literally egged on by an alluring woman who promises you approval and (I'm not kidding) full-on graphic sex if you give her everything she wants.

And yet everything manages to simultaneously be an instant gratification roller-coaster ride.  The game is filled with cutscenes and character actions where control is taken away from you to do something actiony while your vision is locked in all its headbobby glory to a camera lodged in your character's eye sockets.  Your character is established as being a well-off white kid from California who hasn't touched a gun in his life and couldn't imagine shooting even his kidnappers, fortunately your older brother (whom you're held captive with) is an ex-marine so he's able to show you the ropes before being conveniently killed--but it's no problem because you're instantly adopted by the warrior tribe culture that's fighting against the pirates who kidnapped you and your friends who have this mysterious power that turns you into a master-stealth-ninja-survivalist by merely placing a small tattoo on your left arm.  Everyone on the island instantly knows your name and how much of a badass you are, there's zero character development at all--you're instantly the only possible person in the world who can solve this island's troubles.

Putting myself in my character's shoes is very difficult.  I feel like it robs me of what could have been an amazing character development experience when my character is suddenly a master marksman with what should be years of jungle special forces training literally the second I step out of Dennis' shack.  There's no tension, no proper sense of the stakes whether it be in a small situation like taking over an outpost to the overarching story (your character constantly whining about the imminent danger of his friends doesn't do it, and is frankly meaningless to us when we the player don't KNOW Jason's friends personally).  And the extent of the actual in-game character development I've seen thus far is the friends you rescue being shocked that you're no longer a benign white boy who panics at the first sign of danger like they do.

I feel like the setting is a mask for what is basically an empty game experience that only exists to eat up my time and money.  It's the sodapop of video games--empty calories that tastes sweet but has no substance.

Holy dicks look at that fucking passive skill tree. Seriously, look at it.

I originally wrote this 2/5/2013.

(http://www.pathofexile.com/passive-skill-tree)

I've been playing a lot of Path of Exile the last several days and I like it quite a lot not only as a solid game but for what it represents in the state of game development nowadays.

Diablo 2 was a groundbreaking game for which there are now three big games vying to take it's place as a modern interpretation.  In my opinion, Path of Exile is the real spiritual successor to Diablo 2, where Diablo 3 is a nominal successor (and nothing but) and Torchlight 2 is...well it's kind of a goofy, awkward attempt at reskinning the classic.  There was a MOBA comparison that I keep wanting to draw that doesn't quite fit, where PoE is Dota 2 to D2's WC3 DotA, D3 = LoL, TL2 = HoN etc.  Anyways, we can forget about Torchlight 2 for now (and it's rather damnable how easy it is to), because the most relevant contrast is between Blizzard's Diablo 3 and Grinding Gear Games' Path of Exile.

It's no secret that Blizzard has fallen from grace.  They had a number of groundbreaking franchises which peaked at the release of World of Warcraft and ever since they've floundered trying to recapture the magic.  The latest showings of their big 3 have all really defined what it is to miss the mark; Starcraft 2, recent WoW expansions, and now Diablo 3 joined the cast.  At a time when Blizzard is part of Activision's video game marketing machine, Diablo 3 was a classic modern "Triple A" release, with all of that marketing monster behind it.  But the results were mediocre at best.

Meanwhile, Path of Exile was developed by a very small team from New Zealand that recaptures the thematic style and gameplay openness that made Diablo 2 such a lasting game all while sliding into a smooth, fairly bug-free-but-not-flawless open beta.

Anyways, it's a great sign that when video games continue to grow into the marketing behemoths they've become, where a game isn't considered a hit unless it has a big stupid action setpiece themepark ride, super srs TV commercials, retarded Pope Doridew™ product placement tie-ins, and can afford to buy great reviews and viral marketers, that there will always be small, dedicated developers ready to step in and fulfill the demand for games that recapture the old spirit of gaming in a modern light.

But fuck "indie" devs, they're arrogant, lazy, and greedy fucks who just want to cash in on hipster chic gamers who have massive hardons for retro graphics.

Also, I haven't finished deepthroating Dark Souls yet.  Holy shit that game is amazing.  We seriously need more games like it.  My dream game is a modern recreation of Vagrant Story with all of Dark Souls' game mechanics (call it Vagrant Souls?).  Sadly, it seems likely that its quality was a happy accident as the developer seems ready to abandon a lot of what made the originals great for its sequel in hopes of attracting a wider audience.  "Attracting a wider audience" is usually the death knell for any established decent franchise.

A Less-Than-Super Duper Update

Alright, so I took some time off before I was going to write the last part of the last round of big updates, but in that time I managed to lose interest in Guild Wars 2.  I've been wandering the vidya-scape as per usual between big game time investments.  I wanted to update A) to copy a big post I made on Facebook about PoE over here since I just remembered I have a video game blog and B) to write another one on the things that have been on my mind while playing Far Cry 3.  The first I'm going to post shortly, the second I plan on working on later, perhaps tonight.