Final Fantasy VI Review: Episode I

Magical Predestined Ladies, Unite!

Then it all goes to hell.

It's been a while since I last ventured into a traditional JRPG. In fact, I'm not entirely sure what was the last one I played, given that Demon's Souls was not traditional. [Edit: My last JRPG was Persona 4 Golden. I'm an idiot.] It's also been super long since I played a Final Fantasy title, my last one being XIII. Of course, this isn't just any Final Fantasy. When people fight about which is the best, this one is often thrown in with much fervor.

My first one was Final Fantasy VII, which was also the first one to be rendered in 3D. While the graphics to that one were laughable by today's standards, it is also considered one of the greats and might still stand as my favorite. I don't know if nostalgia is a big part of that, but I just remember a supremely engaging title that was fun to play and fun to witness.

Ooh, intrigue!

My husband, whom I got into the series, played Final Fantasy VI well before me and insisted that I do the same. However, I have always had a problem with reaching back when it comes to media. If I get into a musician's second album, I often hesitate to check out the first. Classic movies of the 80's that I never saw may remain unseen for my entire lifetime. And looking back into the SNES era for games I haven't played, of which there are many, is daunting. There are so many games from what is now last generation that I haven't played that going truly old school (as opposed to playing a new game with old school graphics) almost feels foolhardy.

I didn't want to play his PS1 edition, so I waited until it was released digitally and on sale to buy it. So what I'm playing now is not the Final Fantasy VI of my contemporaries' childhoods but rather the 2011 digital re-release of a 1999 special upgrade of the 1994 original. The digital release didn't add anything, but the 1999 one for the Playstation added 3D-rendered cutscenes and some other graphic retooling. Note that this edition was released between Final Fantasy VIII and IX. I guess that's what the kids were clamoring for at the time.

Starting Final Fantasy VI leads to a brief explanation that the Empire is using Magitek armor and searching for espers, magical beings of the past. A thousand years prior, there was the War of the Magi, which ended with the abolition of magic entirely, turning society into something strictly agrarian or steampunk, depending where you reside. The player controls Terra, who wears a headband that prevents her from riling against her captors accompanying her on this mission to find an esper. Terra, of course, is mysteriously able to wield magic with no other tools to assist her, and thus becomes the center of much of the story. Her green hair is of little concern, though.

Small dose of cuteness.

After finding the esper, which kills off Terra's partners, Terra ends up unconscious and under the care of some locals. Meanwhile, the Empire is taking over cities left and right for no immediately clear reason. When Terra awakes, she and her new friends hop from city to city meeting more and more people invested in finding out what's going on with the Empire and their use of magic.

Thus far, the story hasn't really resonated with me, but it's not uncommon for a Final Fantasy game to take a while to get to its point. I hope I'm not wrong in assuming that there is more afoot than an Empire amassing magic and property. There better be something more sinister or complex going on. Still the narrative was initially engaging because certain events saw the team breaking apart and meeting new people more quickly than any other title I've played. I was about five hours in and had already controlled nine people in battle, which is larger than the cast of other Final Fantasy titles.

The divergent narrative was exciting and introduced a number of scenarios really quickly, including fighting enemies while floating down a river on a raft, battling a train while it chases you, and defending a mountain top with three teams in a maze. It's been a number of hours, though, since everyone has come together again, so I'm not sure if we'll break up once more, or if this is it. For the time being, Terra is out of commission, and I'm leading my party of four with Celes, a fallen general of the Empire who was fused with magic by her employers.

Sometimes conversation happens mid-battle.

Battles are typical Active Time Battle fare, though I do find it interesting that each character has unique skills I can utilize without using up magic points. Edgar uses Tools that you can purchase in shops, which have a variety of effects on enemies; Sabin, his twin brother, has Blitz attacks, which are basically fighting game inputs that do reasonable damage, and Cyan has sword skills he deploys based on how long the player waits for a timer to count.

Celes is inherently blessed with the ability to use magic, which is handy for curing your party if you're not an items fan. (I'm not.) Unlike all of other Final Fantasy games I've played, this is the first one where magic doesn't become available to everyone until a particular story point. In the others, either they could use magic from the start (after tutorials), or they were never allowed to use magic because of their class. Still, I appreciate magic being tied to the story. In this case, magic comes with the ability to summon espers, and one learns magic from the esper equipped.

It's not a terribly complicated system, though none of them are once in practice, but I'm finding that I have almost no reliance on magic yet. Celes is still the only one I use to heal, and the others chip in when appropriate. The summons themselves fall short of the grandiose animations I've become accustomed to starting with VII. They just appear, do something ambiguous, and disappear. Maybe espers acquired later on have more to offer.

That whole crazy thing.

Actually, battles are generally amusing to me since I never had to witness them play out like they do. When a party member attacks, he or she simply waves his/her weapon and damage is done to the selected enemy. Enemies attack by flashing, and occasionally there's an accompanying animation done to a party member. Only magic and skills have more pronounced animations that actually demonstrate the characters engaging with the enemies. Again, I'm not used to this, but I do know this was once how it was.

The only technological complaint I have is for the chocobo riding, which I've only done once as dictated by the narrative. It looks like Square tried to shoehorn 3D map travel into this 2D game by flipping the perspective so that chocobos actually run on top of the map. It looks just awful, though, because everything flattens, even buildings and mountains. It's like walking on a drawing. I'd have been perfectly content riding my chocobo on the same map in the same perspective as my party does. I do miss being able to rotate the map and see objects in the distance, though. But I get it.

In terms of progress, I've played over twelve hours, mostly due to grinding, and just passed the famous opera scene. I'd like to express that it was way overrated. As a game scenario, it works just fine and is in line with the rest of the game. That's not my problem. What bothered me is that the actual opera is merely fiction that doesn't enhance the main narrative.

Bosses get to look like people…kinda.

While the song is pretty, it is ultimately just a thing that happened, and I found it challenging to connect to it on any emotional level. Couple that with the fact that you can fail the actual opera scene itself, and I'm left a little confused about why its so impactful to some people. Some folks, who I'll refer to as Six-splainers, expressed that it was an impressive feat for the technology at the time. I guess I'm inclined to believe them, but I can't seriously be expected to be floored by what the SNES could or could not do in 1994 at this point. Either the scene contributes, or it doesn't, and in my opinion, it's the latter.

The scene also exemplifies a problem I have with Celes' character. She has no agency, and seems to be dragged around at the whim of all the other characters. She was a general! Unless that was a mistranslation, or I'm misunderstanding, this should an important facet of her character. Despite my efforts to make her important, putting her at the lead of my party, she thus far has been in command of nothing. And she only performs in the opera because someone else nominated her to do so. She even objects but does it anyway with no real argument.

One of the cooler scenarios.

I will admit that I'm waiting for that a-ha moment when it all gels together. As explained above, I am assuming it's coming. I was halfway through Final Fantasy X before I cared about a single character, but by the end of the game, I was shedding a few tears for them. It just took that special something to come out of the woodwork, and right now, I believe Final Fantasy VI has that. For now, I'm just going through the motions, and it feels like I'm running on the tracks, fighting a giant hype train.

All images obtained from GameFaqs. Although I'm playing on the Playstation Vita, the Playstation emulator doesn't allow screenshots. :-(

Jade Empire Review

Like an Open Palm to the Head

When citizens complain about a lack of street lighting, they don't usually mean all in one place.

Despite the number of games I've played which have come from Asia, I have only played two whose stories take place in Asian settings: Okami and now Jade Empire. The latter is surprising considering BioWare is located in Canada. Also, considering the controversy BioWare ignited in 2012, it may come as a surprise to many gamers that they created an RPG once that was not Mass Effect or a Star Wars derivative. I once started Jade Empire a few years ago but ended up abandoning it for reasons I cannot recall, but it might have had something to do with the difficulty. Thus, it ended up in my backlog again, not to arouse my interest until almost eight years after its creation. Regardless, I have been digressing for an entire paragraph now.

Jade Empire's story takes place in a fictional ancient Chinese setting whose name you can guess by now. You are given the opportunity to choose from a variety of male or female player characters, but they are not customizable in appearance whatsoever, just character stats. No matter whom you choose, the story is the same, and only a handful of interactions with NPCs and your romance options are affected by the gender. The player character begins the tale at a martial arts school up in the mountains in the village, Two Rivers. Here, you are Master Li's very special student with an important destiny that is continually alluded to during the introductory act. Eventually, the village and the school are attacked, your fellow students save for one, the spirit medium Dawn Star, are slaughtered, and your master has been kidnapped, presumably by the Empire's minions. So begins your empire-trotting tale to learn your destiny and save your master. If I sound sarcastic about having a wunderkind player characters, it may be because I think it's cooler to find out you're special than to have everyone at the beginning of the game remind you ad nauseam.

If you thought cell phones were huge way back when, get a lot of this coffee maker.

Overall, the story is a mixed bag. The setting and the folklore behind it are the most impressive qualities with just enough magic to make it intriguing without delving too far into high fantasy. The result is a believable land with strong traces of ancient mysticism and gods. Along your journey, you will also meet plenty of unique characters, which add to the rich setting with personal tales of strife and triumph, some of whose outcomes to affect through side quests. A number of pre-designated characters also join you on your quest and assist you in battle. The main narrative, which drives the player along, is just OK, though. Nothing is thrown at you that you've never seen coming, though the laudable twist is handled gracefully. Where the story fell short is in the rather brief cluster of chapters that make up the conclusion to the game after the twist in the fourth act. It feels like the developers felt a need to pad the time until the ending, so they just threw in some repeated areas with almost none of the exploration or the side quests offered by the first three quarters of the game. To top it off, your time is extended needlessly with battles of escalating difficulty instead. The pay off for your troubles is an extremely brief cutscene with the final boss followed by text explaining what became of your companions. I now question whether or not BioWare ever really knew how to wrap up a storyline.

That said, Jade Empire is still enjoyable to play; I clocked in about thirty hours of gameplay between the main quest and all the side activities. Before the crux of the narrative even comes to pass, Two Rivers offers a number of optional missions to complete, which net you bonus experience and money to really start prepping yourself for the challenge ahead. These are but a taste of the deeper, more relatable side quests that you encounter during your travels around the Jade Empire. Unsurprisingly, the game features a binary choice system where good is called The Way of the Open Palm, and evil is called The Way of the Closed Fist. Although one character argues that neither path is inherently imbued with good or evil, the system's implementation is pretty rudimentary. Open Palm is colored blue, and Closed Fist is colored red. I need not explain further. However, the methods behind gaining favor with either path are varied. Depending on your character's stats, you are able to influence NPCs into doing what you ask of them using charm, intuition, or intimidation. The leanings are situation dependent, but even if you're not being intimidating, it can be obvious when you're trying to convince someone to do something that is ultimately not right, so don't be surprised when you get that red glow about you. Killing folks with abandon isn't the only evil action to take.

We're all done freaking out about this kind of natural phenomenon, right?

The experience you earn from completing quests and doing battle allow you to upgrade your three main stats: body, spirit, and mind. Increasing these influence the bars for your health, chi (magic), and focus (weapon dexterity), but the three unique combinations of each affect your level of charm, intuition, and intimidation for conversation. Battle is focused on using an impressive array of fighting styles – martial styles involve physical attacks with your limbs, weapon styles need no explanation, support styles inflict status effects but no damage, magic styles allow for a bit of ranged fighting and status effects, and transformation styles allow you to turn into a powerful but chi-draining spirit. Not every style works on every type of opponent, either, so it's necessary to stay on your toes when fighting varied groups. Each level you earn also nets you points to apply to improving each of these styles to become truly powerful. The variety of styles you earn or buy during the game outnumber the amount you can bring into battle (10 on PC, one for each hotkey), so you should have no trouble customizing battles to fit your own perception of your ultimate martial arts fighter. I really enjoyed this aspect of combat, and I only wished there was an option later on to reallocate skill points to newer skills you wish to replace older ones with. This is a minor complaint, though.

Battles actually take place in the same environments you traverse, so it's highly possible that saying the wrong word to someone in conversation could result in a fight right where you stand. The only time this becomes a problem is when the battlefield borders feel arbitrarily drawn, and learning that you can't evade because of an invisible wall can lead to doom. Problems aside, what I did like about this feature was that some battles were actually total surprises. Compared to Mass Effect where a giant room or corridor with a lot of waist-high walls meant inevitable cover-based combat was afoot, environments in Jade Empire are varied enough that you honestly can't tell when battle is coming (unless it's a respawn point) and may end up surprised. Overall, combat is satisfying and offers a lot of variety and engaging difficulty. Sometimes, the difficulty spikes when fighting larger groups of spirits in one of the earlier acts of the game (I cursed a lot), but I did find that exerting patience and defensive maneuvers (things I suck at) do lead to triumph.

Even the chickens are holy.

Beyond combat, Jade Empire offers open environments to explore in its second and third acts, which comprise the bulk of the seven act game, believe it or not. The Imperial City in particular, aside from being the largest explorable area in the game, features a slew of side quests and activities to undertake. I was really baffled by how much time I spent there ignoring the main quest, though the writers did throw in squeeze points where you have to proceed with the story for a mission or so to continue with ongoing side quests. One of the city's side quests requires the player to go round after round in a fighting arena. But unlike similar implementations in games like Borderlands, as you progress through the rounds, more side quests and stories spawn from the characters you fight and those who control the arena. It is practically a stand-alone game in itself!

Despite being almost eight years old, Jade Empire is a treat to look at even if it is readily apparent that technology has come so far since its release. There are a lot of organic and large environments with winding paths, and many areas feature details which provide unique character and charm. Despite its impressive size, the Imperial City could have used more variety and colors in the wall and ground textures to be as captivating as the characters seem to think it is. (It's not the Citadel.) Also, the HUD is a rather blocky and large and could afford to be implemented more gracefully. The soundtrack, composed by the amazing Jack Wall (total fanboy), is wonderful. It manages to evoke the Asian setting while layering more modern orchestral compositions over traditional instruments. Most of the voice acting, by contrast, felt a little stiff and forced especially when coupled with the rather silly conversation animations of the character models. Now is a good time to mention that the player character never speaks aloud, only through text options, something obvious that BioWare fixed for its next game.

A ship! This can only have a positive outcome!

Jade Empire was a fun game, and I am glad I picked it up again (ah, the power of a Steam sale) and tried my hand at it a second time. I really enjoyed the battle system and how powerful I felt by the end, and the side quests added a lot of needed depth to the overall story that the main narrative really lacked. Even though it's showing its age, it's definitely a solid RPG to try out if you've got thirty hours to kill.

All screenshots taken by me through Steam. The camera turns with the character, so no face for you!

Dishonored Review

A Watercolor Painting of Revenge

Behold! The beautiful, but troubled city of Dunwall.

Your name is Corvo Attano. You are returning from a trip back to your home of Dunwall, where you serve as the protector to the Empress, who dispatched you to find aid to cure a plague that has beleaguered her citizens. However, shortly after your return, magical assassins infiltrate the tower and murder the Empress before your eyes. Before you can recover from the shock, her daughter is kidnapped, as well. To make matters worse, you were (conveniently) alone when this happened, so as soon as the assassins disappear from existence, the guards are there to accuse you of murder. So begins Arkane Studios' new game, Dishonored. From there, you begin a tale of conspiracy and revenge as you try to find the Empress' daughter, Emily, and right what's been wronged.

The first noticeable feature of the game is the design and the amount of thought put into it. Although for the most part, objects are rendered realistically, there's a layer of cel-shading, creating a beautiful watercolor effect over the environment. Body forms are exaggerated to have overly broad shoulders and large hands on men and skinny legs and long necks on women. The effect enhances the fantasy but also creates an internal dilemma between the violent actions you're asked to perform and the actual impact that killing caricatures could possibly have. Still, the game is a marvel to look at, and all elements of the design serve each other well. After the opening moments, Dunwall becomes something of a military state, mostly defending the rich from the diseased poor who wander the streets like zombies. During the course of the 15 to 20 hours the game could take you to finish, you will see both plague and opulence juxtaposed in colorful glory next to the military machinations and decorations of the ruling party.

He's thinking, "I'm a knife, knifing around. Cut cut cut cut cut cut..."

As with any game featuring open environments, you will also see some technical errors - characters stuck in geometry, disappearing bodies, dancing corpses, the sudden inability to move forward, and the like - but none of these happen often enough to detract from the experience that much. The worst offender would be overused character models and spoken lines. Encountering two identical guards in combat in a world with such character is kind of a let down. Similarly, after playing the game twice, I'll be happy if I never hear one guard ask another guard if he thinks he'll get that promotion. Here's a hint: he won't.

Gameplay seems most akin to Deus Ex: Human Revolution in terms of the options set before you. You become an assassin like those who wronged you, so you're mostly expected to lurk in the shadows. However, compared to it's half-brother, Dishonored leaves you better prepared to handle enemies when they are alerted to your presence or, at the very least, prepared to disappear from their view and lay low. After completing an introductory level (Sneaking 101) and some exposition, the game gives you a magical ability, Blink. This is granted courtesy of The Outsider, a character who is much like Satan in the Book of Job in the way that he opts to meddle in human affairs from the sidelines. Blink allows you to teleport to a location in view and ultimately becomes the most useful traversal ability in your possession. As you progress, you can find runes to gain more abilities or upgrade existing ones, both active and passive, and there are bone charms to discover which provide buffs to combat and magic as you equip them. Like receiving a treasure map, The Outsider also gives Corvo a standalone beating heart which can point out where to find these collectibles. It is strange, to say the least, and the voice inside it is never clearly explained.

No, nothing seems right about this at all.

In terms of navigation, I'd say Corvo is the most capable first-person platformer since Faith from Mirror's Edge, only the feats you're expected to perform are much simpler to execute given the slower pace. The most noticeable convenience is the automatic climbing mechanic. While you can't run up walls like Assassin's Creed, pressing the jump button near a climbable object (read: nearly everything) results in a very quick but fully animated hop onto the top of it. If you encounter a ledge, holding jump makes Corvo surmount it. Thus, there is little jumping distance or height estimation involved. Automation takes the height while Blink takes the distance. Beyond this amazing but obvious leap in platforming, Corvo has capable running and sneaking modes when needed.

Stealth itself is handled gracefully, and I encountered no omniscient AI. For those who are interested, I was playing on Easy mode, so it is possible the NPCs are all-seeing gods on the harder difficulty settings. Although a first-person perspective makes it troublesome to know when you are out of view, the game makes it simple - if you can't see an enemy, he can't see you. This is made fallibly untrue when using the lean mechanic, though, which allows you to peer around objects without being seen even though your head would technically be sticking out. I won't deny its use, of course, and I can only assume it makes up for your ability to see around the protagonist in games played from a third-person perspective. Other abilities also help out stealth, such as Dark Vision, which lets you see people through walls along with their cones of vision, and Bend Time, which lets you slow down (or stop with an upgrade) time to navigate around obstacles quickly. Another rule set clear is that stealth mode mutes your footsteps while it reduces your speed and vision height. All of these things work to make first-person stealth very satisfying while maintaining the challenge of remaining unseen. Another compensatory gift Dishonored offers is an extended reaching distance, both for grabbing items and dispatching foes when sneaking up on them. The reduced guess work is a great bonus.

A beautiful shot from my favorite mission in the game.

The choice between being stealthy or blatant isn't the only one presented to you. Choice is the shining light of the game. First, many of the environments present multiple pathways to your objectives. Getting from point A to point B could mean navigating back alleys, carefully crawling along exposed ventilation shafts up high, or finding an unaccounted-for rat tunnel between two buildings. Next, completing your objectives typically involves a layer of player choice. Despite being an assassin by trade, you are able to lay the no-fail choke hold on NPCs to make them unconscious. The game even has achievements based on the number of people you kill or don't kill for those enthusiasts. [I'd like to note that there is a known bug regarding receiving the Ghost and Clean Hands achievements. I won't be specific because spoilers, but you can find out about it on internet forums out there. To the developer's credit, Harvey Smith, the co-director of the game, said they are presently looking into it. This does not affect gameplay or overall enjoyment of the game, only two specific achievements.]

Furthermore, if not suggested to you by a primary character, Corvo will typically come across additional side quests. Some of these have multiple tracked steps while others are a matter of being in the right place at the right time, for example, to stop an over-zealous guard from killing a civilian for a health elixir. The rewards for completing these tasks range from safe combinations to runes to newly revealed ways to reach and complete your objectives. I talked to every NPC I came across on one mission, and that resulted in finding a man willing take my target away instead of performing the kill. All of these are nice touches, which encourage exploration and reward completionists for their extra efforts while not penalizing those who opt for the quick and dirty. The game is essentially yours to shape. While not a negative, the amount of abilities you unlock along with the weapons you find will outnumber the amount of either that a typical player will use during a given play session. Mission structures are fluid enough that no one ability or weapon is required to move on. As a designer, I would be disappointed to create a neat ability only to see someone ignore it, but it also speaks volumes about these designers that they are willing to let players arm themselves as they see fit. I can't think of a single moment where I was funneled into doing something specific to finish what I was doing.

Speaking of shaping the game, your actions do have a binary set of consequences, though. Killing your targets alone will not have much of an effect, but going on killing sprees increases the chaos level of the game. This results in a larger level of armed guards and plagued citizens as Corvo reaches the final hours of his efforts. Reaching the last level of the game is vastly different depending on whether the overall chaos level is considered low or high, and your objectives will be satisfyingly altered to compensate. While I won't speak to the specific details, I would like to note that the ending to the game is clearly biased towards the low chaos approach, resulting in a more rewarding though equally brief cinematic at the end. In contrast to the slew of trailers and demos Arkane Studios provided demonstrating the multitude of fun and fulfilling ways to dispatch your enemies, the game ends up admonishing you for doing so. My personal suggestion is to try for a no or low kill playthrough first for the achievements, the challenge, and the "good" ending and then follow it up with as relieving a slaughter as you can muster. Dishonored does warrant multiple playthroughs if only to exercise more choice and change your overall approach.

While there is so much to enjoy about Dishonored, I wish the story was on par with the gameplay and the presentation. I do appreciate a game that puts more of itself in my hands, but many of the explanations for your environment and even your abilities come from books and notes you can find along the way to your objectives. Of course, many of those are in the optional areas, so someone just flying through the game is not presented with much depth to this fully-realized world the developers have created. The game then becomes a list of targets to remove from the world somehow with an exciting twist somewhere along the line. The biggest failing is that Corvo is a silent protagonist in a story that practically demands his input. He's the one who's been framed for murder, and he's the character who should be most motivated for revenge, especially given some later revealed facts (if one stops to read them). However, because of his silence, he becomes the least invested in his own actions. None of your mission objectives are choices made on your own; they are all assigned, and that's unfortunate for a game that boasts, "Revenge solves everything." It isn't revenge if you're assigned the people to exact the revenge on. Though I take little umbrage with the silent protagonist in games in general, it acts as a glaring omission in this narrative.

However, don't let this rather specific problem sway you from playing an immensely satisfying game. The amount of choice it affords you is better than other games that force the player into trial-and-error situations until he or she discovers the developer's intent. Here, every way you get there is the right way, and every action you perform is rewarding somehow. There's nothing like playing a game that is adept at both conflict and stealth and keeping them fun.

Go for the beautiful kill (or don't)!

Borderlands 2 Review: Episode II

That, My Friends, Was a Good Game

Lava! Environment effects! Purple!

It is probably about time that we address the elephant left in the room since the first part of my review. There may have been a particularly important feature of Borderlands 2 I completely neglected to mention. The game features cooperative play with up to four players at once. Oops. Now, we will talk about it, and you will learn more about me. The previous game also featured co-op, but getting it to work was often a mess. First, you had to sign up for and log into GameSpy. Then, you couldn't just join a friend's game, no. They had to invite you and vice-versa if you wanted a friend to tag along. Sometimes those invitations didn't work, even as recently as right before Borderlands 2 was released. (I was finishing up the DLC, so I could mentally move on.) It was cumbersome, especially for someone who would rather play games alone.

That's right. As I've discussed before, I like playing a lot of games solo, and I even play some games with fully-featured multiplayer modes solely in single-player mode. Borderlands 2 may be one of the most obvious games to play with your friends, but I'm happy to let all my solo-and-loving-it brethren that there is no loss of enjoyment playing this game by yourself. The entire experience still remains captivating, and while some parts feel a little too tough for a single person to tackle, I rarely pined for another human being to join my game. That said, I did test out the co-op, and it works so much better. I really could gush all day about how much better it is. You literally just have to launch the game, and all your friends are displayed right on the home screen. Not only that, your buddy list displays what levels they are, what story missions they are on, and whether the game thinks that you will make a good fit for each other based on the previous two criteria. To join the game, one must simply click on the person, verify that he or she wishes to join that game, and the home screen is reloaded showing all present players. I also thought it was cute that the person hosting the game gets a little crown on his or her username.

I know what you're thinking. Bandits can't spell.

When playing co-op, everyone is actually free to meander about in any given area, but the group has to travel together to get to new areas. The host controls what mission everyone is trying to complete, too. If everyone is around the same point in the story, completing these missions together means completing them in your own game, which is great because you don't have to backtrack. If your host friend is significantly ahead of you in story, the game will prompt you to skip a mission when you are faced with it later on. Coupled with a brand new but really obvious mini-map, it's also easier to find your friends if you join in the middle of whatever they're up to. Borderlands 2 also recognizes there are more players and appropriately increases the number of enemies in any given encounter. It can sometimes feel insane, but it's a great way to gain more experience if you're particularly good at beating up bad guys. Experience and items other than currency are not shared. When everyone is done fighting for who gets to grab a weapon or shield, if someone is charitable enough to give a weapon to a teammate, the game has a sharing menu to transfer items between each other. I found it a little wonky to use, but it is better than dropping the item on the ground for your friend to pick up. Other than being less cruel, the game also exaggerates item dropping, and a nice gesture could turn into a friend chasing after a flying shotgun.

Aside from my problem with object edges mentioned in the last part, I had a few game-breaking issues, which are worth mentioning. At one point, I was climbing up a long ladder and hit the reload key, and I was no longer able to move on or leave the ladder. I couldn't bring up any in-game menus except the one to escape. A friend was actually playing with me, and I had to leave him in the dust while I backed out. That was annoying because we already cleared out the gauntlets of enemies, and I was trying to finish this one mission before going to bed. I was faced with returning and running through throngs of baddies just so I could sleep soon. At another time, I went to an area as dictated by a story mission, but I picked up four additional side missions while I was there. I like to finish all the side missions in an area before I leave to turn them in, and this became my downfall. The game froze on three separate occasions. Given that there is no manual or quick save feature, I would force the game to quit and return only to find myself with all my side missions incomplete (and unique loot lost). I don't know what was special about the place, but I ended up quitting after finishing each mission just to ensure the game was saved appropriately. Finally, I was tackling a round in Fink's Slaughterhouse when I killed the last enemy shown on the minimap only to have absolutely nothing happen. I had to quit the game to make the entire multi-wave mission reset. I could've melted metal with my anger on that one.

This was my prettiest gun, and the game makes it easy for me to show you my weapon.

Moving on, I did finish the game last night, and it was much better than the first one by far. In general, more happens in one story mission than happened in the entire first game, or at least, that's how it comes off. The game goes to more lengths to show you things happening and have you interact rather than just letting you hear about it in your earpiece. There are some exciting sequences with the characters from the last game joining you on your adventure. Much of it happens during player-controlled gameplay, though, so be sure to actually watch what they're doing, or you'll just hear nonsense in your ear about something happening out of sight. Overall, though, I witnessed a lot of bombastic action on my screen in beautiful color. There is even a brief visit to good ol' Fyrestone from the first game, which reflects how things have changed in the years past. The endgame was really satisfying, but this is mostly because of all the story content from before. I completed every darn side mission I could find on the way to the end (with the exception of the survival rounds in Ore Chasm), and on top of doing so much, I learned a lot about what is and was going on in the world of Pandora. Borderlands 2 also did not set me up for an underwhelming ending like the the first game. I didn't beat the boss this time and think, "That's it?!" I also felt the final boss experience was appropriate. The whole scenario was not an absurdly tough encounter, though I did die as a result of my own stupidity once. After imbibing so much of the craziness, it was nice to have a simple encounter that just looked really big but was over quickly. I just wanted to go home, and the game let me do so without issue.

In total, I spent 77 hours playing Borderlands 2, and now there is DLC out for it. There are also a lot of Badass challenges I didn't complete, such as finding out more about the four new vault hunters. I'll get to all that once I catch up with all my other games that have been vying for my attention. Meanwhile, if you haven't bought this game, go do so. It's pretty. It's funny. It's fun even for people who suck at shooters. There are few reasons not to play it.

Borderlands 2 Review: Episode I

Making heads explode in stylish fashion

If you played the first game, you'd understand what a graphical step up this is.

The original Borderlands is one of those games that I resisted for a while. Touted as a "first-person role-playing shooter," my hesitation laid in the "shooter" part of the genre description. It was never my strongest category – I can't aim to save my life –, but the cel-shaded style made me impeccably curious. Finally, the shining light, a Steam sale, came around and convinced me to purchase, and I'm happy I did. Sure, I enjoyed the game, but I'm mostly thankful that it prepared me for Borderlands 2 to knock my socks off.

In almost every way, Borderlands 2 is a complete improvement over its predecessor. I'm only about halfway through the game, but I've been enjoying every minute of it. If you are new to the game and are wondering how the game exists as a FPRPS, let me explain. Like any first-person shooter, you are constantly staring down gun sights and have an array of weapons available to you to destroy your enemies, of which there are many. However, all weapons and protection are randomized. Every weapon you pick up is unlike every other weapon available in your game or other players' games, and they all have a set of statistics, which you can use to compare them against what is already in your inventory. Weapons can even have elemental characteristics, and some emulate other weapon classes, such as an awesome assault rifle I had which shot bullets like rockets. Building upon this, the RPG elements go much further. Your character gains experience points as he/she defeats enemies, increasing your level. You gain skill points to dump into speccing the character to your taste. Battles come across as typical firefights, but the fact is math and the roll of the die is still at work here. Shooting an enemy reveals the amount of damage caused, which is based on a number of behind-the-scenes factors, so shooting someone in the head does not automatically kill him like it does in typical military shooters – it definitely is highly possible if you're using a sniper rifle, but if the enemy is levels above you or has a strong shield, don't say I didn't warn you.

The original four protagonists play a big vocal part this time around.

More or less, the game is the ideal setting for someone that depends on the numbers game, and it's hard not to enjoy because it is continually giving you loot. You can barely walk a foot in Pandora, the planet on which it takes place, without encountering some kind of container to open. These range from small boxes with stacks of cash to huge chests with elaborate opening mechanisms containing rare weapons and ammo. In fact, there are so many, it is almost arduous to seek out every container in a small area, but the game rewards you with some precious finds sometimes. Borderlands 2 threw in extra rewards for killing, using different weapons, exploration, and even opening containers via its Badass Ranking system. Performing all varieties of challenges that are entirely based on playing the game, you are frequently rewarded with Badass tokens which boost different characteristics as you redeem them. It is literally impossible to play without earning them, which is what makes playing the game continually rewarding on top of the leveling and skill point system. These Badass boosts also apply to all characters you create for the game, so starting over with a different class can still come with a little help (if you don't turn the feature off).

Moving around Pandora and shooting your foes is all fairly simple to control. I am currently playing on a PC, and the keyboard and mouse layout is similar to other shooter titles. It is also completely customizable if it doesn't meet your specific needs. Personally, I remapped the melee button, V, to my middle mouse button to keep the majority of attacking on the mouse like it should be. Each character has a remarkably high and floaty jump, which is useful for navigating the terrain and finding additional secrets on far off ledges. It definitely does not resemble a realistic jump that a human could perform, but the majority of the game is exaggerated in its style. This sequel also improved the running speed from the first game, so now one can breeze through a pile of dead bodies on the way to an area's exit with ease. The only problem is that the land has occasional tiny hidden walls preventing the player from moving forward if he/she doesn't jump over them. Seriously, you could be running along a road and get stuck on the edge of a small flat rock that is exactly the same as one you simply ran over earlier. When trying to run and strafe around enemies, it can be very frustrating to stop in your tracks because of a pebble the game decided is abnormally tall. (Note: I personally call this frustration, Geometry Wars.)

I know this looks like a normal tea party, but it isn't. It really isn't.

Probably the greatest glory of Borderlands 2 is its presentation. The completely cel-shaded graphics make it stand apart from every other shooter and most other RPGs. The environments and enemies are all really bright and colorful, and there are many animated elements abound, especially if you play on the PC with its added particle effects. Characters are also more animated this time around with exciting features like moving lips and limbs that the first game didn't find as important for some baffling reason. None of them are too over the top, but at the very least, they move around the environment instead of acting like mission boards stuck in place. The game also went bigger with explosions, both bombs and bodies, which makes the battlefield more exciting to navigate and watch during intense firefights. The AI of the enemies has also been upped a little. Notably, humanoid characters will actually dodge and move around as you shoot, and the variety in the packs you face means dodging Psychos coming right at you while avoiding gun fire from enemies afar. There are also some fun areas where the enemy types are varied, involving two or more species, who may or may not fight each other in between attacks against you. It is very frenetic, and often it can be challenging to deal with if you're like me and lack a real tactical approach to shooters. (My approach: "Please don't hit me. Please stay in place while I line up this sniper rifle crosshair. Thank you for participating in your death. Have a nice day.") Every now and again, this new AI initiative to move around a bit more can break the immersion when an enemy spends his entire time dodging or hopping between platforms while you just watch in curious awe.

The music is also way improved. Although the soundtrack features a similar combination of Jesper Kyd, Raison Varner, and the Sonic Mayhem duo (absent: Tim Larkin of Myst: Uru and Myst V fame), the background tracks are more present and demand more attention. Aside from the intensity of music during battle, the ambient and undulating tracks in the Caustic Caverns or the Wildlife Exploitation Preserve bring a lot of delight while you meander through their maze-like environments. There is also a special place in my heart for the song that plays during the gauntlet in Fink's Slaughterhouse. There are still some songs in more desolate areas, which go mostly unnoticed, but the overall execution is more attractive.

I went looking for a hotel room, and then I remember that you don't sleep in video games. I'm gonna go.

The final evidence of the ante being upped is the story. Let's be honest. The first Borderlands didn't have much of a story. You landed on Pandora and went looking for a fabled vault, and that was kind of all it gave you. The ending was also sudden and on the side of WTF. Borderlands 2 fixes that by providing more explanation not only for your current actions but for the events of the first game, too. The four protagonists are all back and play a heavy role in leading you along your bread crumb trail towards the ending. Taken out of the player's hands this time, they are given the opportunity to interact with each other more and be the sources of much of the game's humor  Although there is a linear set of story missions to pursue, the game also features a ridiculous amount of side quests. However, compared to the first game, even the fetch quests manage to engage the player with the insane characters more, sometimes via their constant comments on whatever you're doing or via ECHO recording you find littered about. (I particularly enjoyed the awkward recordings of Lillith and Roland you find on one side quest.) Even better, many of the side quests are now multi-part affairs which sometimes take you to multiple locations you wouldn't have explored otherwise. Written mostly by Anthony Burch, known for his video web series with his sister, "Hey Ash Whatcha Playin'?", the plot is a thousand times more intriguing, funny, and complex. There are some sad moments, too, which I was not prepared for at all. It all goes a long way towards immersing the player in the game.

I'm still playing the game and will probably remember more to comment on when I write the second half of this review. For now, all I can tell you is the Borderlands 2 is an engaging and rewarding experience that goes a long, LONG way towards improving upon its predecessor, which is now unmistakably barren compared to this iteration. Oh yeah, it also doesn't take place almost exclusively in the desert. You're welcome.

Part II

All images taken via Steam's screenshot feature.

Bastion Review

Piecing Together a Good Game

I like pretty games. I can't help but want to play a game simply because it's pretty. This becomes a problem when the pretty game is just not the type I would play or excel in playing. Bastion, developed by Supergiant Games, manages to exist on the periphery of games I would normally enjoy. It is an action RPG, whose gameplay straddles a fence between old school 3/4 perspective shooting games and grind-and-loot fests like Diablo or Torchlight, neither genre of which I'm a huge fan. Thankfully, Bastion manages to be pretty and fun to play with enough character to stand apart from games it resembles.

One of the immediately unusual elements of the game is its twist on the trope of the silent protagonist. Indeed, the Kid never utters a word, and the only sounds to escape his mouth are grunts typical of (adult) Link in the 3D Zelda games. Rather, the events that unfold are described by an ever-present narrator as you proceed through the game. Amusingly enough, the narrator does not just droll on and on in the background; he only describes what's happening on the screen whether it is a scripted encounter, switching your weapons, or following an alley off the beaten path. At one point, when I noticed that the weapon I had could destroy walls and barriers, I spent a while smashing everything around me, and the narrator said, "The Kid just rages for a while." Touches like this, where the story is partly dictated by player action, add a level of interactivity that encourages the player to do as much as possible if only to hear what the narrator has to say.

The next unique characteristic is the way the world puts itself together as you play. The Kid wakes up on an island floating in the middle of nowhere after an event known as The Calamity happens, and as he proceeds through the levels to discover what happens and how to fix it, the pathways build themselves as he approaches. Certainly, it's not the first time I've seen a path build itself, but this is the first time I've seen an entire game built around the concept. Much like the narrative, the world builds itself only in areas you come across. Though mostly linear, each level features short branching paths to find health, currency, and power-ups, which only appear if you bother to seek out those extra corners of the map. It's a fascinating play on the idea of secret areas, suggesting that they don't even exist if you don't seek them out purposely.

The Kid vs. Scumbag

Once you get past the novelties, the gameplay becomes pretty standard. You find a large variety of both melee and ranged weapons during your progress, and there are combat and secret skills, which act as super moves, to discover. The Bastion itself acts as a hub for upgrading the player and weapons and selecting the next level to traipse. The map also reveals areas where you can test your skills with each of the weapons to find. These proving grounds provide bonus upgrade materials for weapons and additional combat skills doled out in three tiers depending on the player's performance. The drive to complete all of these comes from the fact that they each contain an upgrade material for another weapon, so chances are if you want to customize your old standards to be awesome, you'll be practicing with the other weapons the game offers. It's a smart way for the developer to say, "C'mon. Just give it a go." As you complete levels, you are given the opportunity to upgrade the Bastion by building structures that allow you to change your loadout, upgrade your weapons, and even purchase items. If the game isn't challenging enough for you, one of the buildings in the Bastion allows you to invoke gods who buff the enemies in a variety of ways, but this extra challenge comes with extra rewards, typically more experience or currency. For those seeking even more challenge and backstory, I recommend traveling to Who Knows Where, which is Bastion's version of survival mode where you must survive 20 rounds of enemies coming at you. On top of an easy way to gain some currency, the narrator provides history for three main characters in between each round, which increases the player's ability to empathize with them. (Note: You enter these arenas via objects in the Bastion, which are easy to investigate by accident…which I did…twice. Proceed with caution.)

There is a good amount of enemy variety in each level, and the game tosses things up now and again. Although most of the Kid's trials take place walking down the yet-to-be-beaten path, there are some boss fights, times when you need to travel by floating raft while under attack, and even areas where the bushes and trees obscure your ability to view what is happening. Strategy is definitely required to proceed here as the combinations of enemies on the screen keep you on your toes in later stages. Initially, smaller encounters allow the player to button mash to some extent, but eventually, it becomes a huge risk to attack everything head on, and both your shield and evasive roll become vital to survival. It feels overwhelming at times, but the game is good about dropping health or skill tonics at the right time to recover before the next onslaught. I played the game on the Normal difficulty setting, but the easier setting does not adjust the challenge of the enemies. Instead, it allows the player to recover in place an unlimited amount of times instead of being required to restart the area. Thankfully, for someone who's not amazing at confrontation, I only had to restart a few areas and never to the point where it became annoying or dismaying. I appreciate games where failure can usually be attributed to the player's lack of strategy, and Bastion mostly fits this description. The only annoyance arises out of the fact that all the levels are basically giant islands in the sky, and trying to avoid evasively rolling off a ledge or mistaking a gap for a platform can sometimes grow wearisome. The cost is health, but admittedly, this cost can be tempered by tonics applied in the Bastion. There is definitely nothing mindless about the combat in this game, which prevents it from ever becoming boring.

This game reaches Uncharted 2 levels of beautiful junk to stare at.

All these layers of weapons, upgrades, gauntlets, and challenges are presented to you via absolutely gorgeous visuals. The levels and objects are made up of wonderfully illustrated sprites mapped onto 3D objects, while the characters and enemies are crisp and cel-shaded. The amount of detail that went into the graphics is astounding and noteworthy. The game is just so pretty, and it's worth taking a restful moment to just stare at it sometimes. Although sound effects do not stand out, the soundtrack is also quite fantastic. The background music is an eclectic blend of moody guitars and electronica, which stands out as atypical for the action RPG genre. There are also some breathtaking moments when the ambient music cuts out and is replaced by haunting vocal tracks, which anchor the gameplay to the story lest the player forget there is purpose to the Kid's actions. It is also worth mentioning the gravelly voice of the narrator, whose calm and tempered delivery is continually entertaining without wearing thin or becoming too dramatic. My only complaint would be that there is sometimes too much going on to pay attention to him, so it's disappointing to think you missed an interesting tidbit.

Bastion is not just a pretty game. Although that is initially what tempted me to play it, there is enough good and deep game here to please any gamer. It only offers a few new mechanics, but the effect of the presentation combined with the gameplay ends up being greater than the sum of its parts with a narrative that remains important and relevant till the last minute. This game is definitely easy to recommend.

He looks crazy and is crazy to fight.

All images obtained from the Bastion website, linked above.

Mass Effect 3: Leviathan DLC Review

Oh, that's why.

I told you the weak spot is between the legs. Look!

BioWare released their first story DLC for Mass Effect 3, titled, "Leviathan." Well, this isn't the first story content per se, but it's a new original mission as opposed to an expansion on the controversial ending. The goal behind it was to offer up more information on the origins of the Reapers, and that's exactly what it does. In terms of pacing, "Leviathan" is remarkably formulaic. It starts with a trip to a new area on the Citadel, and from there you will be dispatched to another system and return to the Citadel two more times before completing the DLC in another system. Compared to "Overlord" for Mass Effect 2, which was huge and took place on a singular world, or "Lair of the Shadow Broker," which took the player to many locations with a lot of variety thrown in, this back-and-forth travel felt like a lost opportunity to build upon the quality BioWare established in the last round.

Still, this trip is undeniably more of the gameplay we love from Mass Effect 3, and formula aside, it does throw in some new mechanics including searching for clues in a laboratory and piloting a mech underwater. Though enjoyable, these novelties do not act as major draws, just as means to an end. In keeping with the triad of enemy types available in the main game, you only have one set of enemies during the two and a half hours it takes to complete "Leviathan" – Reaper forces. Given the backstory, this isn't surprising, but the developers didn't even throw in a boss fight for good measure. You only combat scripted sequences of gauntlets of Reaper forces until your next objective. One of the boons of "Leviathan" is a significant amount of discoverables including XP and money boosting supply reserves and new expansions for your weapons. The most notable expansion is a melee enhancement for assault rifles, but I did not test out its efficacy.

Underwater shenanigans.

The main attraction, the story, brings a lot to the table, however. It begins with a war-changing discovery, which leads to the DLC's main pursuit of yet another possible weapon against the Reapers. Without exaggerating, the lessons the player learns via "Leviathan" are a necessity for both players who have finished the game already and players who still have yet to finish. On top of achieving a much-needed backstory for all three games in the series, it also solves one of the greater paradoxes of the ending, extended cut included. For me, it really completed the mythos and put my mind at ease about how the writers chose to wrap up the series' events. I am dead serious about this.

At $10 (800 BioWare or MS points), the question of whether or not this is a worthwhile purchase is debatable. I would argue that this is a must play because of what the ending reveals to you. It makes the ending to the game as a whole much better. The problem is that the overall flow of the events that bring you to the end are not as thrilling, so it really depends on how much you want the excellent origin story offered here. I do not regret my purchase in the slightest, but for anyone less interested in absorbing the details of the Mass Effect universe, this would be a hard sell. But if you just want to know more or resolve some bitter feelings you've been harboring against the writers since March, buy it right now. Trust me.

Those aren't crows.

Although Origin does not feature a screenshot feature, I ran it through Steam, creating a software platform Voltron, whereby I could take screenshots.

Upcoming: Okami HD

Prepare to saturate yourself in Japanese lore.

It is nigh impossible for me to contain my excitement about Okami, a PS2 classic, coming to Playstation Network this Fall in the US. Although I am largely ambivalent about HD remakes of games, my joy is derived from the chance of experiencing the game easily on my 55" TV without hooking up the PS2 through the AV inputs.

For those who have not played the original, you have much to look forward to. Okami brings a lot to the table, starting with gorgeous visuals. Every second of this game plays out with unique cel-shaded animation, emulating sumi-e drawings on rice paper. The core of the gameplay is a lot like Legend of Zelda in nearly every way. As Amaterasu, the white wolf, you explore a land the opens itself up to you further each time you finish a dungeon and receive a new ability of item. Sound familiar? I failed to mention that when you receive special items, musical fanfare plays while the object floats and rotates above your head. Beyond this, however, is a game that manages to stand strongly on its own despite the comparisons.

Even the white wolf needs a moment to take in the beautiful surroundings.

The draw (pun-intended) of the gameplay is the ability to use Celestial Brush techniques, which Amaterasu uses to command nature. While holding down a trigger button, the screen will flatten out like a piece of drawing paper, and the player can paint magical symbols to perform these godly acts. It is rare that a game will justify its beautiful visuals and style by incorporating it into the gameplay as Okami does. That is not all the magic to be witnessed, however. The story is an intricately woven interpretation of Japanese mythology, and all the characters you meet during and outside of the main quest are culled directly from this rich folklore. The end result is a magical tale full of endearing people and creatures, who will charm you straight through to the end of the game.

There is candy inside.

There is much more to be said about the game, but I will reserve that for an official review once the game is released on PSN. Along with the updated HD visuals, the game will feature trophy support for the completionists out there. I do not yet know of any other additional features, but the game itself is its own reward. For a proposed price of $19.99, it is hard to imagine that any buyer could go wrong. We will see. Right now, take my word on the original game until I can vouch for what is to come. For all I know, Capcom replaced the Celestial Brush with a walkie-talkie.

Okami images taken from GameInformer.com.

Mass Effect 3 DLC: Extended Cut Review

A glimpse at what could have been softens the original blow.

When I originally finished Mass Effect 3, it was about a week after the rage started about the ending. I had no idea what to expect, but I managed to make it to the end without any spoilers. I will also grant you, the reading audience, the same courtesy. There will be a spoiler break where you can cut off and go back to your spoiler-free realm and drink spoiler-free beverages.

I initially thought the ending was good, but I could see where people had problems with it. As time went by – maybe a day – I realized the ending was disappointing. That said, I was not on the ending revision bandwagon. While I do think the creators of a product owe quality to their consumers, and the ending definitely was not consistent in quality with the rest of the story, I could not summon the ill will towards BioWare that many people were feeling. The fact is, Mass Effect, as a whole, is an amazing series of games. They are a lot of fun, and you meet so many wonderful and memorable characters along your adventure that you will genuinely care about almost all of them. The ending sequence and following cutscenes were subpar, but whether you have played the game or are thinking about it, I can assure you that the entirety of Mass Effect 3 is the ending to the series. You get so much closure on almost every open topic brought up within the Mass Effect universe that the disappointing last 15 minutes should not be permitted to taint what is such a quality experience. Naysayers may contend that there were also some gameplay features which did not meet the quality of the first two games, but I honestly think they were nitpicking. There is so much rewarding content in the final entry in the series that I did not feel anything lacking.

I could have handled a sad ending; I could have handled a major character dying if it was executed well. However, whether all of Earth lives or dies, the ending  BioWare offered was not executed well. The biggest problem is a giant rabbit as big as the universe being pulled out of a hat, and in turn, it makes almost everyone act out of character. Then, it's over. There are so many huge questions left to ask about what you just witnessed, and  BioWare responded to their fans claiming that they had no idea we would want something more.

What?!

Regardless of the fact that the game serves as the ending itself, it is not such an ambitious leap of thought to think that the people who spent upwards of $180 to play all three games, excluding DLC, would want

1. A long, satisfying ending sequence that sufficiently wraps up storylines without creating new ones.
2. For the ending not to offer events in which characters act contrary to their personalities or where the rules of the universe you created are disbanded for the sake of wrapping up.
3. Some kind of acknowledgement for being a paragon or a renegade throughout your play experience.
4. A big party.

Lo, the fans did not receive any of these things. Well, some received what they wanted. People who enjoyed what the original ending had to offer are more than entitled to think so. With expectations set so high, it is understandable that not everyone will be pleased. However, I do not think it is hard to imagine where people started having problems with what they were being fed.

Moving on, BioWare responded with a compromise: they were going to offer up more closure and fill in plot holes, but in acknowledgement of their great effort being offered completely free, the core of how the game ends would not be changed. Before playing, I knew I could accept this. They went above and beyond to please more fans, in my opinion, and they were entitled to not have to undo everything they worked hard on. It did mean keeping the giant rabbit, but all of his little furry friends were put back in their cages one way or another.

Back to the point of this unintentional word dump, does the Extended Cut makes things better? I can say, "Yes," without hesitation. Despite what I would argue is the silliest of concepts to maintain, the extras offered in this ending serve to soften the blow of what used to be an utter disappointment. There are still going to be people who played the original ending and are left disillusioned. To some, the arrow hit their hearts already, and BioWare is only dressing the wound. You will either acknowledge the effort they put into the Extended Cut, or you won't, and I obviously will not sway you either way. Still, if you have not yet finished the game, I am happy to let you know that what you will experience will not be perfect, but you will not feel the rage. You can continue (or start) playing, and I feel you will enjoy what they've given you.

As far as what they have provided, there are a number of additions. For the most confusing parts of the original ending, especially those regarding the rabbit (I promise it is not a real rabbit), they added a ton of new dialogue that makes it easier to understand and/or swallow. And if you do not want to take it as it is, they have even given you a new option to utterly reject it. I did not experiment with this option, but I know it made some people feel better. Along with the dialogue, the ending features extremely important new engine and pre-rendered sequences, which offer plausible explanations for the character and universe-defying events of the original.  What is still disappointing is that they did all this work, but they opted to throw in motion comic-style animations for the first time in the entire series. I am not sure how the decision was made, but it does not take much away from the overall better quality of the Extended Cut DLC.

While I am happy BioWare decided to respond to the outcry over the original ending to Mass Effect 3, I am cautious about the precedent this may have created. If enough people don't like something about a future game, will it just take the rallying cries of a disheartened populous to make a developer spend a lot of extra time and money to please them? Sure, this was the ending to a revered series of games with a rich lore spanning comics and novels, too, but what will stop the villagers from lighting their torches over something arguably petty? So kudos to BioWare for placating a section of their fan base, but I think they should stop there.

No images provided because there aren't any!

Spoiler City Limits
There are spoilers living beyond this line.