The Perfect Game (Or not)

So I was just playing Kingdoms Of Amalur: Reckoning and I couldn't help but notice the bits and pieces of Fable 2, Dragon Age: Origins and The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion  in there. They even ripped the dialogue wheel right out of Mass Effect, which is the first thing I noticed.

The control scheme in Reckoning is simple enough, and I can't complain about the user interface. There is some interesting lore behind the land as well. Yes, it seems they have finally created the perfect mix of all my favorite games.

The only problem I have is with the way they played off the story. The game throws you right in to the fray, and I was accidentally completing quests all over the place. It needs to explain itself better for it to turn out good.

And then there's that confusing maze-world they plop you down in. Every area is like a maze, and if it wasn't for those generic circular quest markers, I might have to wander for 5 times as long as I ended up having to anyway to accomplish anything.

The game has everything it needs to be good, it's just sloppy. I hope they refine things before release.

Cyclone Party

I had a very strange dream, where some kids I knew and my Grade 5 teacher went on a class trip to 2 facilities where some bad things happened. In the second, they were cloning people to test acid on them. Nothing really happened there so we all left an somehow fit in to a convertible. We left, but we started seeing weird stuff, like every cloud was suddenly a small cyclone and there were tornados and falling rocks everywhere. So this convertible got stuck under one of those falling rocks, and it formed a convenient cave over us. Some boulders started falling around but an opening formed itself after about 2 minutes. Then my teacher started to go crazy saying that "Our lives are a story, and this rock IS the story! We can't leave until it's over!". So I left with some people to go look for survivors, but everything was apparently fine outside the rock and the sky was back to normal. Apocalypse averted. I started to look for work because I needed a way to complete the journey home, and I was offered a job at "Jesus loves jars".
About 1 year later (according to a magic timecard) I went back in to the rock to tell my friends we could leave, but they didn't want to because the rock was the story. So one of them showed me a game he had been making called "This rock is" and then I woke up. Like what the hell.

I think I know what this means. The clones they had been launching through acid jets were like curled up jar babies, and the jesus loves jar place had babies on the sign poster. All the day before I had been animating babies in jars for a project.

Moral: I need to play Mass Effect more and get all its achievements.

Quitting Tribal Wars

I've had an account on this Real-time-strategy browser game called Tribal Wars for a number of years, and I've been on World 59 since October 11th, 2011 (the day it opened). So far I've gotten 5 villages and numerous medals (including accidental self-conquest), but I think I'm going to quit. It's just not a game I can get in to. I also didn't get nearly enough villages nearly fast enough. I'm not in any situation where quitting is the only option (although I am surrounded by enemies), but I'm going to start working on a flash game or something, and I don't want to be worrying about which train I should be sniping, or faking at the right times.
It's also a little irritating playing with people in different time zones, we're always awake at different times or something. it's also helpful for just that reason, but communication is definitely an issue.
So yeah, I think I'll be quitting that world. I also won't be joining World 61 when it opens in 2 days.

Edit (Feb 6 2012): I did join World 61, and these are my final stats from 59

Rank 630, 36653 points, 8 villages, 27 awards
26002 ODA + 119653 ODD = 145655 OD, 1145 ODAS
1 Self-Conquer