Sardu (Page 63)
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I played a necro in EQ for a long time, and to this day still think there was a lot of genius behind the death mechanic in that game. What's now considered to be a hindrance to gameplay - or a slap on the wrist at best - actually *created* gameplay. Sure, recovering from something on the scale of a full raid wipe could be a very slow, painful process, but that was also a time when MMOGs had an actual risk vs. reward component for attempting that kind of content. Now it's more like you pay for item repairs, shrug it off, and go do something else because obviously your game sucks if everything isn't about instant gratification or moving a progress bar with every action.
I can spout out awful gaming journalism cliches all day!
OK, so the "kook" aid part should have been edited prior to publish, but I stand by everything else in the article.
I enjoyed the experience, and feel that the game simply plays better using the PS3 controller. Sure, MMOs use the mouse, but you have to admit that "action adventure", MOBA, and RTS gaming make mouse clicks far more of a focal point than any MMO ever has. Most MMO gamers would even go so far as to argue that if you're relying on the mouse for anything other than movement you're "doing it wrong". Oh but wait, that's another awful gaming journalism cliche!
The publisher end of things can certainly be a wildcard worth considering for just about any game.
So long as NCSoft allows Carbine to make awesome things happen they way it did with ArenaNet and GW2, it will be all good. So far signs point to that being the case, at least based on my experiences with the game and the involved parties on the development and publishing end.
I can say with certainty that I have been exposed to more horrific violence watching the evening news than in the entirety of my experiences with gaming combined.
Here is the thing though: even if the bill passes and a study is conducted, the government won't take action based on the results unless doing so won't have a negative impact on the economy. If anything, they need to evaluate the effectiveness of the ratings systems we use to inform consumers about the content found in film, games, television, and music.
For example, saying a game is rated M and thus cannot be purchased by minors does not really address the reason why that particular game should not be played by minors. All it means is you either have to be a little creative to acquire a copy, or have your parents buy it for you. The midnight launch of GTA IV is a perfect example: of the 100 people in line at my local game store, over half of them were parents buying a copy for their children.
The ESRB gave the game an M rating, so it's not their responsibility.
The publisher complied to the ESRB review board requirements, and clearly labeled the game with the assigned rating, so it's not their responsibility.
The GameStop employees technically sold the game to an adult, so it's not their responsibility.
As Karen suggests here, the responsibility is ours, and ours alone. If I buy a violent game for my nephew it is my responsibility, just like it would be if I knowingly served him rancid fish that made him sick.
You touched on what I consider to be two of the biggest challenges ZeniMax Online is going to have to overcome for TESO.
First, part of the franchise success rests on being a cross-platform series. They have their work cut out for them in terms of encouraging gamers to put down their gamepad and get back to their PC if they want to play the next major Elder Scrolls game.
The second hurdle is the modding community. I'm one of those ES players who likes the base games well enough, but won't cross that threshold of being truly hooked until I begin heavily modding certain aspects of the game. As a hardcore MMO gamer I'm personally not too concerned by how the lack of modding will impact my TESO experience, but again, it might be a harder sell for those deeply involved in the modding communities.
Otherwise, the bits of the Frankenstein's monster that I've seen so far have been stitched together quite well, so things look promising so far.