http://www.thegamingstandard.com/forums/blog.php?170-NaomiL en Thu, 30 Apr 2026 13:27:18 GMT vBulletin 60 http://www.thegamingstandard.com/forums/images/BP-Black/misc/rss.jpg http://www.thegamingstandard.com/forums/blog.php?170-NaomiL http://www.thegamingstandard.com/forums/entry.php?52-Things-About-Digital-Game-Downloads-That-Annoy-Me Mon, 11 Mar 2013 23:20:59 GMT I’m old-fashioned. I’d much rather buy a video game on a disk. But then I’m also impatient so sometimes I’d rather just buy the digital copy of a... I’m old-fashioned. I’d much rather buy a video game on a disk. But then I’m also impatient so sometimes I’d rather just buy the digital copy of a game then wait for the disk to come by mail. Since downloading my first digital copy of a game (Left 4 Dead) I have had many struggles with various digital gaming platforms. I’ve had many a struggles with Steam attempting to get it to work or open or update. I get annoyed every time I have to create an account in order to be allowed to play something I’ve just spent forty dollars on. Which is why I’m about to vent over the parts of digital game downloads that annoy me the most.

Steam
Now that I’ve got a good internet connection Steam doesn’t annoy me half as much as it used to as it no longer takes fifteen minutes to open Steam itself…usually. There’s still the occasional time when it seems to get stuck on log in and then stops responding. I also still find it annoying to be told I have to download updates before I can play a game single player and I object when there’s a game that doesn’t offer offline mode, especially when it’s a game that doesn’t even have multiplayer to begin with so I don’t understand why I shouldn’t be able to play it whenever I want, with or without internet. That being said it is useful to have all my Steam games in one handy location, and Steam offers lot of handy little pluses, such as a screenshot gallery, and their weekly deals can be pretty fantastic sometimes.

Having To Log On To Some Place Else To Play
Having to join an online social group annoys me beyond anything. For example LA Noir I bought through Steam. So I have to open Steam up to start the game and then the game makes me log onto the game’s social community. Then there’s Games for Windows Live for PC, the first time I created an account (in order to play Fable III) I had to go through about five different steps to update absolutely everything so I could be finally allowed to play a game I didn’t want the Windows Live options for anyways. Or there’s Diablo III’s version that requires you to log on to an online server so you can play the game.

Amazon Digital Downloads
I don’t mind Amazon to much when all I have to do is download the game’s downloader, that’s fine. It’s when I feel like I’m being sent on a scavenger hunt I can get a bit annoyed. For instance when I download a folder from Amazon, open it and all I find within is a link to a page then I have to go to the page and am given the product code to go unlock the game on Origins. I find it all very pointless. If I had known that was going to be the final step I could have just bought the game on Origins to begin with and saved fifteen minutes.

Downloadable Content
Digital Game Downloads seems to have facilitated the whole DL content phase. I know a lot of people have different feelings about DL content then I do, but personally, I dislike it. I’m just not going pay for extra content. And honestly, I do believe that DL is almost always at the expense of players of the basic version of the game. Story resolution is removed from Dragonage Origins in an attempt to convince players to buy new stories. Mass Effect 3 had DL released on the day the game went on sale included a new teammate that introduced some interesting insight into an extinct race that had been repeatedly mentioned since the game’s release.

I know it’s probably just me, after all I’m the type of person that prefers a book to an ebook, but digital downloads cause so many problems for me that I find the whole process frustrating. ]]> NaomiL http://www.thegamingstandard.com/forums/entry.php?52-Things-About-Digital-Game-Downloads-That-Annoy-Me http://www.thegamingstandard.com/forums/entry.php?50-Basically-I-Love-Baldur-s-Gate-II-Shadows-of-Amn Fri, 01 Mar 2013 11:01:39 GMT My favorite video game of all time, hands down, the game I compare all other games too (well, at least all other RPGs to) has to be Baldur’s Gate II:... My favorite video game of all time, hands down, the game I compare all other games too (well, at least all other RPGs to) has to be Baldur’s Gate II: Shadows of Amn. There are only a limited number of games I’ve played through all the way through more than once. Baldur’s Gate II, I’ve done it more times then I can’t count, both co-op and single player.

Part of it, to be fair, is probably nostalgia. I played it when I was about ten for the first time and loved it. I role played it up a storm, and had an uncanny ability to turn it into a highly evolved version of house…it was easy to get berries and a jug of ale so you had food, all you had to do was kill an innocent home owner and move in.

But honestly, it’s not just the nostalgia that keeps me coming back. There is no other RPG I have ever played in which I found it easier to spend quite as many hours doing everything but the main quest since side quests seem to be continually popping up. Nor have I found characters anywhere else as interesting or as likeable, or in the case of a few (*cough* Anomen *cough*) as much fun to love to hate.

And then there’s the strong holds. Different classes get different strong holds, monks and fighters get a castle, there’s a Magical Keep for mages, a thieves guild, a druid circle and even a theater if you happen to play a bard. I always loved that last one.

I really do compare all RPG to it and have never found one that, in my opinion, beat it. Dragon Age: Origins? Fantastic game but no Baldur’s Gate…as close as any game has ever gotten in my opinion but lacking. Mass Effect? Nope, not even close.

In fact, I’ve replayed this game so many times; I’ve got most of the cut scene memorized…which is probably a bit odd…but awfully fun. ‘Ah. The Child of Bhaal has awoken. It is time for more…experiments….’

I’m incredibly excited about the new editions they’re releasing of the series. A few months ago they rereleased the first Baldur’s Gate game (both for PC and for the iPad which is pretty interesting) with new characters and content. I’m eager to see what they’ll add for the second game (assuming, hopefully they’ll do that one as well).

Hmm…in fact just writing about it is getting me in the mood to play it again ]]> NaomiL http://www.thegamingstandard.com/forums/entry.php?50-Basically-I-Love-Baldur-s-Gate-II-Shadows-of-Amn http://www.thegamingstandard.com/forums/entry.php?42-Co-op-Board-Games Mon, 13 Aug 2012 15:32:05 GMT Recently I’ve completely fallen in love with co-op board games. I think it’s an extension of my love of playing co-op video games; Left 4 Dead is... Recently I’ve completely fallen in love with co-op board games. I think it’s an extension of my love of playing co-op video games; Left 4 Dead is high up on my list of coolest games of all time, and while I’m not a huge fan of war video games I’ve always enjoyed the co-op multiplayer levels of Operation Flashpoint.

There’s something that feels so much more challenging about co-op board games then regular ones. I invariably lose normal player vs. player board games so I’m not sure why those don’t feel as challenging but there’s something about co-op that makes it feel much more by the skin of your teeth. Maybe it’s because they’re always designed to have one bad thing happen to the players each turn. Maybe when you’re desperately trying to save yourself and your teammates it feels like more responsibility. Or possible having comrades just makes it feel more interesting, whether you win or lose.

The Lord of the Rings board game has been around for a long time now, but I still find it incredibly challenging and in the new D and D board games there might have been a couple of times where we might have *cough* rerolled a dice or two.

Of course not all the games are completely co-op. Possibly one of the best board games out there at the moment is the Battlestar Galactica Board Game. You know at least one player will turn out to be a cylon stab your crew in the back, but you still all have to work together if you ever hope to reach earth.

There’s just something about working together on a board game that makes it easier to get into the story and feel like it really is very important that you kill that wraith. And it also feels much harder to go about doing it. ]]> NaomiL http://www.thegamingstandard.com/forums/entry.php?42-Co-op-Board-Games