Opinionated Game Review - The Reason I (Personally) Don't Like Dragon Age: Inquisition

**Before you read any of this, I would like to point out that this is far from a decent game review as it is very personal and very opinionated.**

I have always been a huge fan of the Dragon Age franchise. I loved Origins, I even really loved DA2. So when Dragon Age: Inquisition was  announced, you can bet that I was more than a little excited about it. Of course, I had to wait for Christmas to get it, but that was only about a month where I had to watch all of my friends commenting about how great it was on Facebook.

Then I got the game.

It could barely run on my laptop. I figured that would be the case. Oh well, just a few more days until I got home from visiting family to my desktop where it would run at least a little better. I was wrong. It ran even worse on my desktop. Granted, it's a pretty old computer, I was still pretty upset. I might have been able to handle it if the game had at least connected to the server, but it wouldn't. I had to log into three different computers before I was able to start a character with my save from the Dragon Age Keep.

Once I finally got my character-- with my world state, which was really important to me, you know-- I started playing. I fought through the slow gameplay, cutscenes, everything. Only to find that Dragon Age: Inquisition was not what I had expected. In fact, it wasn't what I wanted. I had wanted another Dragon Age game. This was not what a Dragon Age was to me.

Now, I'm not very far in at all, honestly, but I had my heart so set on something spectacular, that I haven't really enjoyed any of the game I've played.

I miss my auto attack. I don't like that I can't have my character attacking while I make decisions or use my special attacks. And with the duel-wielding rogue, which is what I've always played before, I have to move to the enemies. I move so freaking slow, too. I hate it. In fact, I have half a mind to just sit back and watch combat instead because I feel so inefficient and it's awful and cumbersome. Of course, for the first few combat sequences I kept jumping around like an idiot because I was trying to pause the game like I would in the first two games, but, for whatever reason, now I jump.

That's another thing I dislike: the jump. First of all, I can't jump in Dragon Age. It's a fact of like. Second, my jump animation is terrible looking. My character looks like a fool every time she jumps.

Now, I know jump was added because of the traversal of the terrain, but running around a giant world is not the reason I play Dragon Age. If I wanted to spend all my time travelling from place to place, I'd be playing an MMO. I don't want to have an open world. Personally, I hate open worlds in games. I get lost, confused, and eventually just stop playing because I can't find anything I'm looking for when I want it. But really, the whole forcing me to run from place to place just annoys me. I want my fast travel back-- not fast travel like in the game right now, no. I want the small, easy to navigate levels where I can fight without massive tree branches blocking my view; I want to go from area to area to complete quests without having to search for this, that, and the other.

I think, aside from the open world and travel, my absolute least favorite part is that I can't hold down tab to see the names of things. I see an enemy in the distance, I press tab to see what it's called. Now, I sort of select the enemy and things start happening. I don't want that. I want to go back to being able to hold tab and see the names of everything interactable. It allowed be to assess the situation, the enemies I was about to fight and focus on the ones I knew for sure I needed to take down first. Now I'm in the middle of a cluster-fuck of I-don't-know-what's-going-on-in-this-fight. So I just hold down the attack button and wave the mouse around in hopes of surviving. It also really doesn't help that the attack button is now left click instead of right click. I'm having trouble thinking of a game I can remember playing that wasn't a shooter where I attacked with left click.

I'm not sure I need to mention it, but I also really dislike the fact that I can't right-click on an object and move to it to interact with it. This goes for looting, opening doors, talking to people... the whole lot of actions I used to be able to do. I haven't tried it yet since I hardly ever used it in previous games, but I'm not sure I can even tell my characters to move with right click.

Now, this might be a bug or something, but I found that I was becoming very greatly annoyed with the people that just stood around and talked with one another. There were several times were I was walking and came across two people talking and could not walk between them. It was as if there was a wall there, just because there were talking. I actually got really angry and yelled at the NPC's to move. It didn't work, of course, but I tried.

I have heard great things about the story over and over again, but the gameplay is nothing I ever wanted. In fact, gameplay may be the reason I don't finish this game because there is simply too much time where I'm not interacting with other characters now.

These are my thoughts on my I'm disappointed in this game after playing only for a few hours. I'm hoping I'll be able to suck it up and keep going because I want to love this game the way I loved the first two. I just wish this game was more like them.

GDC Game Narrative Review

This analysis was written as a student at DigiPen Institute of Technology for the 2014 GDC Game Narrative Review Competition. Information on the competition can be found here.

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Game Title: One and One Story
Platform: PC browser
Genre: puzzle platformer
Release Date: 2011
Developer: Mattia Traverso
Publisher: Mattia Traverso (distributed by Armor Games)
Game Writer/Creative Director/Narrative Designer: Mattia Traverso

Overview 

One and One Story follows a young couple as they fall in love, out of love, and in love again. The
player primarily takes on the role of the male character, but also takes on the role of the female
character when the narrative dictates. The story begins with the characters not actually knowing each
other, but the male thinks about the female. As the relationship grows, the two of them fall in love,
though it is just beginning. They experience rough patches, as many couples do, with opposing views
and disagreements. The female runs away, leaving the male, breaking his heart, and leaving him to feel
awful without her. She returns, in the end, promising not to hurt the male anymore. Once again, they
have fallen in love. One and One Story is an elegantly simple telling of this beautiful narrative.

Characters 

• Boy – This is the main player character. A male silhouette outlined in blue, Boy is easy to
identify. Throughout the game, the player experiences Boy’s thoughts about Girl. Based on the
textual, on-screen thoughts from Boy that the player is able to see, Boy is a very feeling-based
thinker. His world almost seems to revolve around his emotions. The love that Boy feels drives
him forward within the story of the game, always reaching out to Girl, the cause of the strong
emotions Boy is experiencing. At this point in his life, Girl, and the love he feels for her, are the
only things that matter to Boy—they are the sole focus of his attention.

• Girl – Girl plays several different roles within the game. She is one of the player characters, she
is the goal, and she is the antagonist. Her biggest role, however, is as Boy’s psychological
Shadow. A female silhouette outlined in pink, she is just as easy to identify as Boy is. She is
unsure of her emotions as she is the one to run away. Not only does she run away from the emotions she is afraid and unsure of, but she also runs away from Boy, leaving him. Her
decisions are based on gut reaction and instinct. In the end, she realizes how she really feels,
having fallen in love with Boy, and she stops running away.

Breakdown 

One and One Story’s narrative is outstanding because of its elegance and simplicity. There are
three pieces of the game in particular that really stand out as being perfect examples of the game’s
simple elegance. The first piece is the interstitial text between chapters, or sections, of gameplay. The
second piece is the use of mechanics as metaphor that exists throughout the entire game. The third
piece is the way the game was cut into chapters. Each of these pieces helps to create a whole that is
narratively excellent and well-communicated to the player.

One of the best ways to communicate an idea in a game is through text. One and One Story uses
the interstitial text between chapters to communicate the story of the game. The first text outside of
gameplay is simple: “Once we were shadows.” During this section, the player can control either Boy or
Girl. Prior to this section, in the tutorial section, the player is told that he can switch to the other
character, but it is in such a way that says that Boy is thinking about her, “I used Z or C to think of her.”
This simple sentence provides a fair amount of information to the player— that Boy and Girl are not yet
necessarily together at this point in the story. This is again hinted at with the interstitial text through the
use of the word “shadows.” Girl, as Boy’s psychological Shadow, represents something unknown within
him. Girl’s thoughts, her reasons for action, and her emotions are all unknown to Boy, and therefore the
player. Shadows are intangible, and Boy, being a physical being, cannot simply reach out and touch the
Shadow. He needs to become one with his Shadow in order to understand it and what really hides in its
darkness. Neither Boy nor Girl is fully aware that they are in love with the other. As they are unaware of
their true emotions, they are living in darkness of their True Selves. By using these simple and elegant
words, the player is given both the conscious and unconscious stories of the two characters. The
interstitial text moves the story forward in a way that makes it easy for the player to understand.
Another example of the text that helps to explain the course of the story near the middle of the game,
is, “And she was running away.” This denotes a major change in the course of the story. At this point,
Girl has possibly fallen out of love and is running away from Boy, hurting him in the process. Without the
text, the story is not communicated quite as clearly as it needs to be as there is no audio outside sound
effects and music. The game is simple, almost too simple for the story to be explained without the use of
words.

The simplicity of the game, and the gameplay, comes from the use of mechanics as metaphor.
With each new section, denoted and described by a piece of interstitial text, there is a slight change in
the mechanics. At the beginning, the player can switch between Boy and Girl. When the player is not
playing as one of them, the character’s silhouette appears slightly transparent, as a shadow, just as the
first interstitial text states. The first time the mechanics change, the interstitial text states, “When she
saw me, she ran to me.” Right off the bat, the player can imagine what this means for the mechanics.
The mechanics are used in such a way that the player understands the part of the story through
gameplay. While they can be told the story through text, by forcing them to be part of the story through
gameplay, the player becomes more invested in the story. By getting immersed in the story, the player
then feels the emotions the story is intended to evoke. The use of mechanics as metaphor within One
and One Story is possibly the strongest element of the narrative the game has to offer. The narrative is
enhanced through the use and authenticity of the mechanics, as well as the evoking of the appropriate
emotions throughout. By having the mechanics change as the story changes, it feels more like the story
is actually progressing rather than a story being told over an unchanging game.

The story feels like it changes and actually progresses because the game does so. The game does
this through chapters. By calling each section a chapter, it helps the player to get into the necessary
mindset to experience a story. Chapters is a word typically associate with books, and therefore, stories,
which is why it helps the player to understand that a story is being told. By cutting the game into
chapters, the player experiences each section slightly differently. The game is split into eight chapters,
each with a different mechanic that helps to tell the story of that section. Each section allows the game
to be delivered in small chunks that make the story much more manageable to take in. The chapters
help to make the game feel simple by forcing it to fit into these blocks that highly simplify the game in
general. As each chapter progresses, the player can easily see the same progression within the game’s
story.

Through the use of interstitial text, mechanics as metaphor, and chapters, One and One Story
presents a narrative that is both simple and elegant. Players can relate to the story and the characters
that feel almost like empty shells that the player is meant to project himself into.

Strongest Element 

The strongest element of the narrative was the changing mechanics throughout the game. Every
time the story changed, so did the mechanics. By changing the mechanics, the player feels the story that
much more strongly. The changing mechanics, like moving from a section where Girl moves with Boy to a section where Girl is always moving to the right, assist the narrative by making it truly interactive.
While some games present their narratives in ways that simply tell the player the story, One and One
Story captures the player and allows him to become invested in the story. By playing through the story,
the player experiences the story almost as if it were actually happening to him. The changing mechanics
immerse the player in the story by supporting the idea that they are part of the story, not just watching
it.

Unsuccessful Element 

 The least successful part of the game was the ending. This small section is the only part where
the interstitial text that comes before it does not adequately describe the mechanics of the section.
Because the text does not describe what it actually going on, it feels like a much weaker piece of the
game. While the section is important in completing the metaphor of becoming one with the
psychological Shadow, it lacks the presentation required to make it both strong and meaningful to the
player. There is an element of trust in the section that certainly makes it stand out from other sections;
however, it still does not quite meet the expectations set up by the rest of the game.

Highlight 

While much of the game has great narrative moments, the highlight of One and One Story is the
section in which Girl is running away. This entire section has the strongest use of mechanics as
metaphor within the entire game. Girl is constantly running away, moving from her typical starting
position on the left side of the screen to the right. There are moments where the player must move
quickly to push a block to save Girl from walking into spikes or so she can still assist the player in
successfully completing the level. However, the most important part of this section is the urgency that it
evokes. When the player sees Girl moving constantly, running away, he feels like he needs to get
through the level as quickly as possible so he can try to catch her. This moment particularly stands out
because of how much emotion it actually evokes from the player as they play through this section.

Critical Reception 

 One and One Story was a finalist in the Student Competition of IGF (Independent Games
Festival). However, even being a finalist, it has not been reviewed by many reputable sources to any
great ends. However, there are a couple short reviews of the game which mention aspects of the game’s
narrative. On the website Indie Game Reviewer, there is a short review of the game. The writer states,
“What is particularly impressive about The One and One Story is how well its creator has married gameplay with narrative. Granted, the narrative maybe a minimalist love story but each beat in the plot
is directly connected to the way in which the two characters interact in the game play. This is a rare
achievement and it should be commended.” Kit Goodliffe, the writer of the article, gave the game a
score of four out of five stars. In another review, on a blog entitled Sit Sam, the author writes that, “The
game’s story is the second unique aspect that sets it apart...The romance of the boy and girl is told on
the text between levels in such a way that the player connects with the breadth of the experience.”

Lessons 

• Minimal text can create a compelling story – One and One Story is possibly one of the greatest
examples of this. This is one of the strongest lessons that can be learned from this game. The
only text in the game is used to teach the player how to play the game while simultaneously
putting the story into words for the player. The interstitial text throughout the game is a great
example of this.

• Simple mechanics can be used to create an emotional response in players – While the lesson
learned from this game’s design is mainly about using minimal text, we can also learn that
simple mechanics have their merits. While many people want to experience games with
complex mechanics that make an engaging experience, simple mechanics can be used to deliver
a specific emotional experience. For instance, when the game states that Girl is running away,
the mechanics match the story. With Girl constantly moving, the player feels the urgency and
fleeting hope that the game is meant to create.

Summation 

One and One Story is a narratively beautiful game. The story, while it is a common one, is
delivered in such a way that it almost feels new. The elegance of the game’s simplicity alone makes it
worth analyzing. There is so much narrative designers can learn from something so simple when so
many games are moving towards making stories that are complicated and difficult to explain without an
exceptional amount of text.

Game Review: Mass Effect 3

This is a brief review of Mass Effect 3 written for a class Game Name: Mass Effect 3 Developer: Bioware Platform Used to Play: PC Description (from official website): "Earth is burning. Striking from beyond known space, a race of terrifying machines have begun their destruction of the human race. As Commander Shepard, an Alliance Marine, your only hope for saving mankind is to rally the civilizations of the galaxy and launch one final mission to take back the Earth."

--Bioware

What did this game do that was different from its predecessors?

This was the first Mass Effect game to explore dream sequences. It also gave companions several different lines to say when not in conversations so as to give them the appearance of more depth of character. The game also utilized a new equipment system and changed the way you spend upgrade points when you level up. Mass Effect 3 also did not explore companion missions nor did it really do into the same depth as the previous games for mission descriptions.

This was also the first Mass Effect 3 game to have male homosexual relationships whereas in the first two, it was only possible for female characters to have homosexual relationships.

There was also an option, if you started a new game with no import, to choose which kind of game experience you wanted rather than a difficulty setting. This allowed a player to choose from 3 options: action based, normal, or narrative based.

Once of the biggest differences between this game and its predecessors was the ending. This was the first game in the series that required the player to extrapolate from incomplete information provided by the ending. This may be related to the fact that this was the end of the series, but it remains an important difference that has caused many players to complain.

Favorite Part about the Game (and why)

One of the best parts of Mass Effect 3 is the decisions. Not the small, easy ones, but the big ones, the ones you really need to think about before finally settling on a single choice. Even if the choices do not have a huge impact on later gameplay, or even the immediate gameplay, the choice still feels fairly significant. There are a few exceptions, but they are few and far between. Many of the choices really give the feeling of a moral choice, a choice no one would ever want to make in real life, such as choosing which race to kill off entirely. This provides excitement in a way that doesn’t require a fight sequence. It makes the player stop and think. Yes, it does occasionally break the immersion when the player chooses to make the decision on a meta level, but it doesn’t do it in a way that ruins the moment or the gameplay.

Least Favorite Part about the Game (and why)

The thing I liked the least in Mass Effect 3 was the way romance options were handled for a female Shepard. It felt as though all of the possible romance options were throwing themselves at me, most specifically, Kaiden, a human male returning from Mass Effect 1. Without ever having my character say something that could be even remotely construed as “flirty,” he still pushed forward, asking me for a romantic relationship that I was uninterested in pursuing. The same happened with several of the female characters throwing themselves at me, none of whom I was interested in pursuing a romance with. I was told that as a male Shepard, the romances are less forward, with no one trying to force an unwanted romance on you. This should be the same for females, and it made the romance part of the game feel weak and not wholly fleshed out to me.

How would you change the game to make it better?

If I were able to make changes to the game to make it better, I would change the way the Effective Military Strength was presented. It is a number that has no real meaning to the player, yet it determines how the player’s choice at the end of the game affects the rest of the universe/life/what-have-you. Depending upon how high the score is, the player may actually fail or succeed at saving earth but it also changes whether or not the player is given a third option called “Synthesis” rather than destroying all synthetic life or controlling it. Also, if the Effective Military Strength is at approx. 5000 or higher, the player may receive the “secret” ending where Shepard can be seen waking up, alive, whereas Shepard always dies in any other case. I would like to better present the meaning of Effective Military Strength so players are aware that it actually does something in the game since it really does nothing before the very end when the final mission begins. If the player is aware that the number is actually relevant at some point in the game, he or she may actually, even if he/she is not an explorer gamer type, go out searching the different galaxies to find more war assets to improve the number.

Game Review: Home

This is a brief review of Home written for a class & does contain spoilers Game Name: Home Developer: Benjamin Rivers Platform Used to Play: PC Description (from Steam store): "Home is a unique horror adventure set in a beautifully-realized pixel world. It’s a murder mystery with a twist—because you decide what ultimately happens. Awakened by an oncoming storm, you open your eyes to discover yourself in a strange, dark room—tucked away in a house that’s not yours."

-- Home, Steam Description

What did this game do that was different from its predecessors?

This game took the player and gave him/her choices that, at the time, seemed to be almost irrelevant. Should I let this mouse out of the trap or not? Do I pick up this old photograph of the dead man upstairs and his wife or not? All of the options were simple yes or no questions, nothing like Bioware’s games that give the player (at times) several options. The choices the player makes shape the story in an imperceptible way, so much so that the player may not even realize that picking up the old kitchen knife would turn their character into a murderer.

Favorite Part about the Game (and why)

In my opinion, the best part of this game was unfolding the story. The game kept the player in suspense, never really explaining anything. This kept the player moving through the story but also kept the player on the edge of his/her seat. I had to play through the same section of game multiple times in order to get through one play through, and every time, it was a little different because I would change a decision or forget to make one altogether.

Least Favorite Part about the Game (and why)

The absolute worst part of this game was that you could not save in any way, shape or form. If you needed to step away for some time, you’d have to leave the game open. If the computer decided to restart in the middle of the game, you’d have to start the whole game over from the very beginning. If the computer fell asleep, the game wouldn’t respond when the computer woke up, so you’d have to restart all over again, from the very beginning. It was a pain to say the least.

How would you change the game to make it better?

I would allow the player to save a play-through. Even if it’s only one save slot per game, at least then there would be no issue with the computer shutting down or falling asleep or even if you just need to stop playing for a moment because you need to go to class. It would also be an interesting way to keep track of the different ending you have encountered since it’s unlikely that most people will remember them all.

I would also consider making the choices at the end less obvious that they shape the story. I would have preferred if they had been the same or at least similar to the choices at the beginning—not obviously shaping the story.

Game Review: Braid

This is a brief review of Braid written for a class & does contain spoilers
Game Name: Braid
Developer: Jonathan Blow
Platform Used to Play: PC
Description (from Steam store): "Braid is a puzzle-platformer, drawn in a painterly style, where you can manipulate the flow of time in strange and unusual ways. From a house in the city, journey to a series of worlds and solve puzzles to rescue an abducted princess. In each world, you have a different power to affect the way time behaves, and it is time's strangeness that creates the puzzles."

-- Braid, Steam Description

What did this game do that was different from its predecessors?

In the past, puzzle platform games have been very straightforward with very little in the way of hidden meaning. Braid, however, does not confine itself to that stereotype. Instead, Braid offers players a hidden meaning that is there, but only really noticeable if you look for it and want it. Braid also looks to break the conventions of jumping on enemies to simply kill them and saving princesses from castles.

In addition, Braid uses an incredible set of mechanics all based around time. This provides unique and exciting gameplay as well as intriguing puzzles. With this mechanic, the game breaks away from many platformer conventions. One such convention is always moving to the right. Braid breaks this convention many, many times, requiring the player to move back and forth across levels.

Favorite Part about the Game (and why)

My favorite moment of Braid was using the puzzle pieces in World 1 to solve one of the puzzles. It was an amazing moment when that puzzle was solved. Honestly, I would have liked to see the puzzles for the other worlds used in similar ways.

While that was my favorite moment, my favorite part of the game as a whole was how each world used a unique modifier to the basic mechanic of controlling time. I loved having the ability to manipulate time in so many different ways. Not to mention, the modifications provided a lot of interesting gameplay by allowing the creation of so many different kinds of puzzles.

Least Favorite Part about the Game (and why)

While Braid is an amazing piece of art with a fabulous mechanic, the puzzles were insane. I often got too frustrated with the puzzles once I thought I had figured it out and realized I hadn’t and needed to start the whole area over again. Some of the puzzles felt impossible. It wasn’t until I found help, either online or from a friend, that I was able to get through some of the puzzles. That made the game less enjoyable, knowing that I was incapable of figuring out the puzzles on my own within a decent amount of time. I can’t count the number of times I needed to put the game down because a single puzzle had frustrated me so completely.

Another thing I am not a fan of is the use of hidden stars in the game. The stars are nearly impossible to find for anyone just playing the game. Actually, they seem to be almost impossible to find even for the players who are looking for them. A player needs to be essentially obsessed with Braid in order to find them (or use a guide online). Once they are found, they change the ending, just slightly, but enough. If a player was able to collect all eight of the stars, at the end, the player will be able to catch the princess. Once the player character touches the princess, though, she glows and explodes, the sound of a bomb going off can be heard.

How would you change the game to make it better?

One of the things I would consider changing is the difficulty curve. The game is, at the beginning, fairly easy, and very fun. Once the mechanics modifications get added into the mix, though, it felt like the level of difficulty stayed the same throughout the other four worlds with small hiccups of the insanely difficult here and there. I would have liked to see a steadier curve rather than a steep slope and a plateau.

In addition, I am unsure as to how I feel about the hidden story that Braid provides to its players. The allegory for the creation of the atomic bomb feels almost pretentious in the way it’s worked into the plot. I would have liked to see the story a little more obvious, but without being overt. It was, at times, confusing, while at other times it almost seemed like it was way too obvious. If the allegory had been integrated more evenly, I think it would have been beyond amazing. I did enjoy it, but I think it could have been done in a much better manner.