Feature Analysis - Autosave

'Ohh this dungeon is creepy' *Clink* *SLAM* *SPLAT* - Dead.

'I can kill this boss... oh f*** he's tough' *Boom* - Dead

'Oh damn it, game froze, I'll have to crash it'

These situations are annoying enough without ending up half an hours worth of game time backwards purely because you forgot to save or because the game offers no decent auto-save feature. It's likely something every gamer has experienced at least once or twice and many gamers probably have this happen to them more times than they'd like to admit and it's a hell of a pain.

After playing a few different games recently I've noticed the multiple different methods games implement auto-save features. Some are a pain, some are brilliant and some don't even have it! so I'm going to have a look at those I prefer and why.

Firstly Bethesda's system in their RPG's. This system saves the game when entering a new area, it doesn't matter how far in the area you are it will just save at the start of it. While this is a nice method on an easy difficulty, when playing on a harder setting this can be a huge pain. You can spend a good half hour progressing through a cave/vault/barrow barely surviving and then something you aren't prepared for hops out and kills you,  effectively wiping the last 30 minutes of progress. Like I said on an easy setting this is great (because to be honest it's quite tricky to die on easy in both Fallout & Skyrim in my opinion), but when playing on Very hard/Master you need to get in the habit of quicksaving... like every couple of minutes. Fun eh?

Shepard's Game just crashed. He hasn't been quicksaving.

The second system that bugged the hell out of me was Mass Effect 1's auto-save system. To me the points where this would save seemed completely random. Sometimes it would save at certain defining points in the story and at others it wouldn't. Occasionally it would save when entering a new area, but again, other times it wouldn't. I probably lost around 2 hours on my first playthrough purely because I wasn't quicksaving as often as I could and didn't realise how far back the previous auto-save was. However in Mass effect 2 & 3 this issue was resolved with frequent autosaves which was a very pleasant surprise. 

Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning also includes a nice and frequent autosave system similar to the frequency in Mass Effect 2, however due to dying rarely in that game (I only played it on normal so far) it's hard to tell if the saves were frequent or I just didn't notice a bad disparity due to a lack of deaths.

One of these was always
a welcome sight in FFVII

Many older games don't even bother with auto-saves and even go as far as only having designated save points... that's right final fantasy, I'm looking at you. Now I'm not sure if this is still the cas in FFXIII and FFXIII-2, but in all the older titles, you are required to visit a save point to save. This isn't as annoying as you would think, purely because it is such an established mechanic in Final Fantasy, and your play eventually compensates for it, e.g. making sure you are stocked up on potions and your group is healed, taking breaks when you get to save points etc.

Many genres of games don't implement autosave whatsoever, RTS games such as Battle for Middle Earth rarely include such a feature in their single player campaigns however death isn't as sudden in these types of games and you can predict when saving is necessary, I guess it would also be hard to define when a good point to save would be in these types of games. Some RTS games do include it but to me it seems like an unnecessary feature in this genre.

In my opinion Autosaves should be included in Action RPG's and FPS games, and they should be frequent. they are only really needed in games where death can be sudden an unexpected, Turn based and many Japanese RPG's will usually put a save point before dangerous bosses anyway. It's good to get into the habit of quicksaving frequently or just saving but with many games I could go without the tedium.

Feature Analysis - Equipment in Games

So, in an effort to get up to speed with the Mass Effect franchise so I can get on to ME3 as soon as possible, I downloaded (legally! through steam) 1 and 2 on Friday and had a big ol' gaming session this weekend, completing ME1 (albeit I kinda rushed that) and making headway into 2.

However playing these titles made me think about something. Gearing up your characters and how different games do it. There are some systems I like and others that just become tedious to deal with. So I'm going to have a look at what makes a gear and equipment system good or bad.

Variety, in my opinion, always helps a gear system along, if multiple choices of armour or clothing are available you can customise your character well and that tends to help with immersion and connection to your character. Too little to choose from and you can occasionally be restricted to pick one generic choice, too much to chose from and it can become confusing and trivial. 

Personally, I think a strong gear system is in place in Fallout, there are multiple clothing and armour choices to pick from and you can easily discern what is best for your character; stealthy assasin: light armour such as leather or recon armour and for close combat or front line kind of action: Combat armour, power armour or something similar. Fallout's system is good as you can pick and change what you need for different tasks and the bonus' are easy to understand. The weapon system is easy enough too, find weapons you like? keep 'em in good condition in your inventory. Others you can store in your players home.

Dragon scale Armour in Skyrim is the most damage resistant
 of light armours available

Skyrim (also from Bethesda) has quite a nice gear system too, you can enchant your gear for different tasks and purposes and use different sets for different styles of play, a little more variety would have been nice though. 

A system where variety got a bit too much for me though was Mass Effect 1. Whilst on the surface it doesn't look too complex, being an avid RPG player I tend to explore each possible way and gather all I can, so I was constantly picking up new stuff. Armour had three different stats and slot(s) for mod(s) all of which became a lot to take in. Damage reductions against certain types of damage, health regen, shield boost, shield regen... it all got so much that I just picked armour to wear that had the highest damage resistance and just whacked on a health regen mod on most squad members. Weapons were also a pain to deal with with the obscene amount of mods, whilst picking a weapon was easier than picking armour, modding it wasn't. So overall dealing with your teams equipment became a chore rather than fun, I'd often find myself spending a good 15 minutes on sorting out three members and then another 5 just turning unwanted stuff into omni-gel.

However Mass Effect 2 effectively headed off this issue with a simple and elegent system, a little more choices in what you can dress your squad up in would be nice but Sheperds choices and customisation was aesthetically pleasing. You can choose the colours, patterns and armour types of Shepherd as pictured on the left.

Availability also plays a big part in the gear systems, now I don't know about you guys, but for me earning or unlocking a decent weapon feels a hell of a lot better than buying it. Being able to get the best gear available through a shop fairly easily seems a bit anti-climactic. For example, in the Final Fantasy series - looking back at the older titles such as VII and IX here - killing a boss usually meant you would get something decent, a good example would be Cloud's ultima weapon in FFVII obtained by killing, well, the Ultima Weapon, which can prove to be a rather tricky fight.

Now this is one pricey sword, 

However, buying weapons isn't always too easy, and sometimes saving up enough gold or whatever currency the game requires can feel like quite the achievement, such as buying The Solus Greatsword (pictured on the right) in Fable, which takes a whole lot of questing and work to be able to afford, and it's damage is, on the most part, better than any of the other weapons available throughout the game.

Another nice way to acquire gear is unlocking it through achievements and progress in a game, such as call of duty, where as you progress through the multiplayer ranks, more weapons and customisation options are made available to you. 

Some games also Include crafting to create your arsenal or armoury, Kingdoms of Amalur having one such system that I really approved of - one that stops you making the best stuff too early. Many crafting systems in many RPG's and other games can be considered broken. In Skyrim for instance, by creating a few hundred Iron Daggers (the easiest thing to make) you can find yourself in the best armour available in next to no time. In comparison, KoA: Reckoning limits the player well, as a pre-requisite to creating armour is salvaging parts and materials from pieces already gathered - and what you acquire from enemies is very dependent on your level. Imposing these sort of barriers is a good idea in my opinion as you are more appreciative of new weapons or armour when you get them.

Don't you just hate it when someone shows up at the battle
wearing the same thing as you...

Having different options on how to acquire gear is always nice, though. Most modern RPG's and MMO RPG's give you all of the explained options to acquire gear; killing Enemies, Buying or Crafting and in large, well funded games such as World of Warcraft and Skyrim, each one brings their own flair to each method.

So in conclusion, what I think the Ideal gear system should Include? Well Ideally I'd love to see the below:

- Top stat armours with multiple different appearances. e.g: Multiple aesthetically different armours with the same stats as Daedric Armour in Skyrim

- Simple to understand stats, enchantments etc.. e.g. don't overcomplicate items saying they will protect you from x and not from y

- Artificial barriers preventing the player from acquiring amazing gear too early e.g.: implement stat, level or crafting restrictions

- Include the different methods for acquiring gear, however I think the best stuff should be won in monumental battles, through quest completions or through boss kills.

Game Spotlight - Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning

Happy Tuesday all, I want to talk to you today about a relatively new game that I have been playing through recently - Kingdoms of Amalur : Reckoning.

Released on the 10th of February, I was expecting a lot from KoA:R; it had some great names working behind it including Ken Rolston, The lead designer of Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion (a game I thoroughly enjoyed), and it had promised a lot of hours of gameplay in conjunction with a very highly spoken of combat system.

After a little deliberation with some gamer pals, I hopped on Steam and downloaded it the day after release and had the weekend to get stuck into to it.

First Impressions
I was a little underwhelmed at first, whilst there was the reasonably cool opening cinematic and scenes of action before you play, I immediately felt a little disconnected with the game. While the lore wasn't that hard to follow it seemed like the opening cinematic was more of a history lesson rather than something that gets excited and raring to go. But I shrugged that off and continued on to create my character.

Character creation
I always enjoy this part, it gives you an immediate connection to your character and helps you get immersed in the game. While the system in Reckoning isn't as detailed as something you'd find in one of Bethesda's RPG's, it still offers a nice level of customisation. You have four races to choose from and some basic face presets to begin your creation.

Not my actual character, Just an example.

Into the fray
Right, so the game begins. First off, if you are playing this game on the PC with a mouse and Keyboard and not a controller - the mouse sensitivity is outrageous, before I did anything  I had to turn it all the way down. Secondly I advise selecting press instead of hold to sprint for Left-Ctrl, believe me, your little finger on your left hand will thank me after playing for a couple of hours.

Now that's out of the way you can start to play. The tutorial is easy to follow and the combat begins, I found that really fun. The beginning tutorial also gives you a glimpse of each play style be it Warrior-type, Rogue-type or Wizard-type and you get to have a play around with a selection of weapons although not all. I felt the tutorial was done very well and helped you figure out what you will want to play.


The real game begins...
To avoid spoilering the rest of the game for you, I'm not going to describe the rest of the game in much detail, but I will give my feelings and an overview of many of the aspects.

First off - questing. Questing is standard practice in any RPG and the availability of side quests is very welcome in many to keep the game open and non-linear, which I feel is key to producing a successful RPG, however Reckoning, I think, has slightly overdone it. Aside from the main storyline there are multiple quest chains and factions available, so much so that the objectives of which seem to blur together and become very repetitive, you know, kill x amount of y, clear x area of y, go to place and activate or kill x. As other reviewers have noticed, the quest system seems more like something you'd expect from an MMORPG rather than a single player game and isn't really as engaging as I could have hoped.

Another thing I noticed is that I got a distinct feeling that the turmoil and danger in the world isn't very prevalent at all, at least in the first Three main areas - Dalentarth, Plains of Erathell and Deltyre. Sure there are nasty creatures to slay in each and people to help, but it really doesn't seem that you are making any world changing difference.

The main storyline, whilst having a couple of nice and new ideas felt very generic and wasn't something that reaches out and pulls the player in to a world of immersion, and again, especially during the earlier stages of the quest line, I felt I was doing a lot of unimportant busywork.

My Character mid-way through the game - Warrior build

Combat feels good in the game, with the option to change your speciality throughout by visiting an NPC. Playing one spec can become a bit stale after a while but with the option to change and with multiple weapons available keeping the action fresh is easily doable. Each spec has their own talent tree and their own spells to use so picking a combat style that suits you is easy - My personal favourite would be a Greatsword wielding warrior.

An example of one of the warriors' available spells 

The game does involve other features that help create the finished package, one of the most prominent would be the crafting which is quite well done in comparison to other systems I have encountered in the past, you craft gems, potions and Armour/weapons - each with a unique system. Admittedly they took me a little time getting used to, but once I had done a bit of each I had fun making potions and crafting armour.

To sum up, whilst being a game with a lot of content and good character customisation, Reckoning failed to deliver on one key point for me - I didn't feel immersed in Amalur at all. The side quests text felt so unimportant I even found myself skipping the descriptions and heading straight for the objectives - much like how I'd treat a daily or levelling quest in an MMO. However, Reckoning does provide on another front - its an easy game to get into and have fun with; the combat system was very well done and the fact that (I felt) the lore doesn't suck you in too much means I can go back and play an hour here and there.

Overall rating from me - 7/10