GW2 Beta Weekend – Overflow, Exploration, Combat and a second Look at Customization

Just when I had tweeted the above picture waiting on the GW2 beta on Friday evening, ANet’s servers suddenly went live – over one hour before official beta start. I am tempted to call this a smart move on their side, ~1mio people trying to log on during the same, small time window = not fun.

Anyway, I was an early starter and a rocky start it was! After so many hours of disconnecting and not finding your mates because of cryptic overflow mechanics (I CAN’T SEE YOU!), I went to bed hoping for some fixes. It’s certainly been a good stress test and ANet were fairly responsive in getting the worst issues sorted a.s.a.p. which cannot have been easy. I skipped most of Saturday due to lag issues but finally today, servers were stable and I’ve had ample time for more detailed impressions.

Overflow servers

I’ll start with my only, big annoyance and say that I am very unimpressed with the overflow server mechanics. It’s all beta state so I am not screaming in terror, but it was a big negative that for 95% of my playtime up to now, I was unable to group up with friends. Some of us were constantly sent to overflow servers (different ones too) while others were not – usually without any indication given. I am missing respective indicators on the map/zones and most of all: people who are grouped up should be able to join each other! This is a vital thing in a game that pushes cooperation as much as Guild Wars 2 does, so I hope next beta come they will have solved this.

I’ll also admit that I was surprised to see the overflow mechanic pop up for every zone in the game. I didn’t expect zones to be gated via loading screens and from an explorer’s point of view, it’s rather disruptive to one’s game-flow to be told “sorry, that zone is full”. I’m sad that a consistent world was not an option. Personally, I am capable of judging whether a zone is too full for questing myself. I would still like the choice to travel through though or meet a friend there quickly, and not be told to queue up or go to the overflow. I see the advantages in terms of lag or impatient players doing quests – however to me, it is more important to be able to travel a cohesive world without loading screens and queues. Queues will improve later no doubt, still a minus in my books.

Exploration and combat

I’ve spent substantial time off the beaten track, trying to get a sense for the scale of Tyria. As expected the graphics are beautiful, with elaborate weather and shading effects, banners flowing in the wind and dancing snowflakes. The starting areas are somewhat claustrophobic in space and I have yet to be overwhelmed by a great vista or endless plains; but then I have maybe seen 5 zones so far. The environment is not as accessible as for example in Rift (where you can climb pretty much any peak), but there’s a lot more going on under water than usual, inviting players to test their underwater combat skills. The waypoints are there in abundance for the lazy – having mostly soloed so far however, I was not pressured to use any. This early into a new game, you gotta be particularly goal-driven to already rely on teleports…

Explorers get plenty to do and zone loading screens encourage them: four indicators per map will keep track of your zone progress, points of interest discovered and events partaken in. Special challenges await you when attempting to earn extra skill points. However, a word of caution to the eager traveler: mob level in GW2 is to be taken seriously! As an elementalist I was hard pressed to kill foes 1-2 levels above me and I certainly didn’t manage to kill groups. I died quite often, also because I blundered into areas prematurely which happens easily. If you travel too far ahead, you will get feedback immediately!

GW2 zone tracker explained (click to expand)

The dynamic events (heart shapes) at lowbie level work as intended: assisting others is effortless, rezzing dead players (indicated on the world map) is fun and participation is always rewarded – in fact you gain most EXP by assisting and joining events, not farming or grinding mobs all by yourself. I second Keen in that the quests could be a bit more imaginative than gathering crops and throwing snowballs at children, but then we’ve seen very little. Sometimes these events will also lead to further steps and more demanding objectives. From what I’ve seen of my personal storyline so far, quests are more engaging and I look forward to see my path unfold.

I am enjoying the combat mechanics in GW2, as I knew I would. Auto-attack and circle strafing take some getting used to; due to the mobile combat style, you will easily reset mobs getting too far out of range. It’s a wonderful feeling to cast while running though, I love the elementalist’s mighty AoE effects and different attunements and weapon abilities to choose from.

A second look at customization

Naturally, I also spent some time scrutinizing the Norn female character creation first-hand. It’s funny how impressions can vary once you get to be your own skipper. For one thing, there are not as many facial choices as I thought there would be; the individual sliders are also more or less effective, depending on your choice of face. But judge for yourself in this quick “before and after” picture:

Norn faces – before and after customization

There are a total of 15 Norn female faces currently in the beta, along with 21 hairstyles. For the human females, there are 18 faces and 23 hairstyles. However, the Norn choices have suited me better in every aspect: they have more diverse body options, nicer (especially many longer) hairstyles and colors available for hair and eyes. Make-up is a deplorable given, although degrees may vary. For those who asked about more mature or scarred faces, there’s in fact one older looking face to be found for the humans (if you expand the image you can spot some wrinkles) and one scarred face for the Norn (also the Norn get tattoos):

“old” Human face / scarred Norn face

One thing to take note during customization is that once you’ve made individual adjustments to one face, the changes will appear on all the presets when going back. This way, you are instantly presented with a whole “new set” of variety which might help you find that unique look for yourself.

Temporary bottom line

After a rocky start, the GW2 has been a lot fun; so much to see and explore and especially so much to learn! Guild Wars 2 IS its very own game and that is good to remark at this point! You will not be tempted to compare this MMO to other games you’ve likely played in the past.

ArenaNet will certainly need a few more months (so much has become clear) to take care of some balancing and technical issues now and there is missing polish where ingame functionality (for example on guild management level), menu options and indicators are concerned. Early overflow gripes aside, I have not come across any major disappointments or annoyances though. I think we can agree that GW2 is a safe bet for anyone looking to immerse himself in a fresh and original MMO world this year. I’m off to play some much anticipated WvW now – more on that another time!

So…where to head first in the GW2 beta?

Having arrived back home from a rather lackluster interview experience, my good old PC has finished all its work in the meantime – the GW2 beta hath installeth! My install auto-switched to German, no doubt thanks to blasted IP-detection (I don’t even live in Germany!), but then I sincerely hope ingame language can be changed after logging in.

To those of you who, like myself, did still not receive the official invite email, fret not: head here, follow “News and Announcements”, login and go for “Getting Started”. If you have registered via pre-purchase before, you can download the client and install the game no questions asked. Obviously, it will not let you do much from there as there is no beta game available until this Friday…..when the American sun has made its way to noon. Yeah, that means Friday evening for us EU people (*whine*).

The server lists for the beta are officially out. It comes as a bit of a surprise to me personally that permanent server switches are going to cost 1800 gems, but I guess it’s too big a profit to lose as future item shop service. Alas, beta players will be awarded 2000 gems currency in advance; you still want to plan ahead on what servers to meet up with your friends though!

That brings me to the inevitable question of how people are planning their beta weekend – if there are any plans at all. What will be your personal first stop and what’s your review focus for later?
Alternatively, what would other players like to see and read after this coming weekend?

I am definitely going to have my own thorough look at the character customization, to follow-up a previous post. It’s a shame that the Asura won’t be available especially, but then I understand and support the notion (see second last question) of not giving away everything before official launch. Another major focus of mine will be exploring the setting and WvW – yesh please! I hope playing elementalist will be as interesting and exciting as I imagine.

Oh, and in case you’re about to change your mind about this weekend, the pre-purchase is currently still available! If you’re joining any EU server by chance, drop a note in the comments, twitter or elsewhere and maybe some of us can make it to the same place. Let the weekend come!

Monday musings on phony media, SWTOR, birdchat and wishing it was Friday already

Last year’s media controversy regarding the mass murders in Norway, has resurfaced once more among bloggers. I commented on the ludicrous claims in July 2011 and how angry it makes me every time newspapers and TV channels pull the video gamer card when such exceptional human tragedies occur somewhere on the world. Redbeard, Tobold and Gordon have each voiced their concerns in the past week and I briefly wondered about the timing. Around here, the news have gone very quiet for some months now, as is the way of the world. We are shocked, we cry out wringing our hands, we pay our condolences – and then we move on with our lives. The court of Oslo has a task at its hands now nobody would envy. How do you punish such evil a deed?

I managed to install the free trial of SWTOR this weekend, thoroughly uninterested as I am in both TERA and Diablo III – and a jolly club we are. I’d rather not rant too much, but it turned out to be the longest download in the history of mankind, after lots of initial sign-up troubles (sorry we don’ like your email address, try yet again!). Anyway three hours of gameplay in, I feel SWTOR has done nothing to win me over and everything to confirm my bias. So I’ll stick to the good which is the shared quest scenarios, the audio conversations and choice options…..and of course the Chiss! What a great race, they definitely did something right there. In a way it’s a pity SWTOR came out this late – I would probably have enjoyed it more 7 years ago when it still would’ve been nice looking and innovative.

In other news, I finally succumbed to joining the birds club. I officially have a twitter account, ya rly. I had to open a work related twitter recently for a company I’m freelancing for and actually liked how easy it let’s you stay on top of updates and releases. I don’t expect to chat there much and I am still a cautious client, but I do see the advantages of link exchange – and of course being able to follow my favorite developers, writers and bloggers with more ease. So for now, I will have a look at this. The proof is in the pudding.

How I wish it wasn’t Monday! I have a job interview this afternoon and another on Wednesday, so I’m feeling somewhat nervous for no good reason. I deeply dislike the drill – which is ironical as my future job will include interviewing applicants. But then it’s a big difference what side of the table you are sat on. Seems a fitting analogy for our entire existence on this planet: it all comes down to what side you are on and what clothes you are wearing. If they ask me about my weakness again, I’m going to tell them that I’m a bad liar. Gotta love the room for interpretation.

This Guild Wars 2 beta weekend cannot come soon enough. All responsibilities have been canceled and the fridge will be stuffed with pizza and Coke Zero (the greatest gift since the electric toothbrush). Oh the glory of playing MMOs! Happy soon-to-be Friday, everybody!

[GW2] Asura: The most badass "MMO shorties" ever?

Gibberlings / Gnomes / Taru-Taru

Most traditional MMORPGs with a classic race palette feature them – just as much as they struggle with them, too: short folk. Put in to create racial and character diversity which is usually lacking in customization menus (you cannot create seriously short characters yourself), many MMOs still fall horribly short (!) with their portrayal of short races. In fact, heavy cliches will often overpower the whole purpose behind racial diversity, completely.

Let’s take Allods’ Gibberlings as a first example. One of the most original attempts ever made in an MMO, namely to make the player character appear as a group of three with individual customization and name for each, falls flat on its nose by serving every conceivable stereotype associated with short and therefore less intimidating people. Or as the Allods Wiki describes them:

The Gibberlings are creatures from a destroyed part of Sarnaut. Due to their curiosity, peacefulness and friendliness, they quickly adjusted to the new conditions. They are trusted, reliable friends for their allies and a dangerous foe for those that don’t take them seriously. However, unlike other races, they have no ambitions for this world. Their greatest desire is to return to the times of Isa, when the whole world was open to them for exploration. Will the Gibberlings find a way to be as happy as they were before, or will they think of something new?

The only bone thrown towards the Gibberlings’ prowess is that they’re “a dangerous foe for those that don’t take them seriously”. Oh, wicked! That aside, they are everything you can expect from a friendly, inherently good and physically weak civilization: they have no ambitions, are great pals and wanna explore the world in peace. Ahem…too bad you’re also supposed to pick them for your alter ego in a game mostly revolving around war and combat! Who feels like picking the Gibberlings for battle when they also happen to be all furry cuteness, big eyed with a goofy gait? Don’t get me wrong, I think they’re adorable but that’s about it.

Next up, World of Warcraft’s gnomes. While directly ripped off the awesome gnomish races of engineers established in classic D&D storytelling, I’ve never been a fan of the presentation of gnomes in WoW – despite the odd crazed and power hungry NPC persona among them. Gnomes are no doubt cunning and smart a people, but they’re also awfully cute; freaky hairstyles and colors aside, they come with the classic baby-face effect, a-sexual bodies and childish voices. They appear as infantilized humans when they should be an original race in their own right.

To complete a trio, let’s consider the Taru-Taru of Final Fantasy XI online. A race of powerful magic users, Tarus live in a peaceful and lush Forrest town, deeply devoted to their studies. Unlike other races, they are unable to age physically, they look and move like children, come with a cute button nose and have been referred to posses “chipmunk-like” attributes.

…I think we are getting the picture. No need to continue with Hobbits or other races from the classic fantasy genre. Obviously we are dealing with a stereotype that could be called positive racism – at least as far as the magical or intellectual capabilities of all these races go. And while we do get a degree of stereotyping for most races in classic MMOs, I still need to ask why in fictional, magical worlds especially, small statures must equal a cute, friendly and nerdy personality?

Enter Guild Wars 2: Asura

To follow up my question, I am not opposed to cute or peace-loving characters in MMOs (paradox as it may seem in places…), or even entire races/cultures. What I do object to however, is that the great majority of these characters are also short folk. Surely in a world of powerful magic, body size is not exactly a limiting factor? And how come that traits like being nice and cute are automatically associated with being little? If you follow that train of thought, you’ll end up at the underlying suggestion that having a tall, athletic physique leads to aggressive or evil behavior, whereas a lack thereof takes that choice away and somehow forces short people to be friendly people.

Can the MMO genre not outgrow the idea of small folk as human children already? Add to this that in most games, the short race is always on the good/alliance side if such exists (in WoW too goblins were a neutral faction a long time before getting added to the horde). Why should short races not be inherently evil? Badass, scary and intimidating? Aggressive and combative even? Well, a first and second look at Guild Wars’ Asura has me filled with hope in this department. Already briefly featured in GW1, many players like myself currently waiting for GW2 will not have encountered this unique race before. By no means innovative on every account, a few aspects stood out to me when checking beta reviews and footage. The Asura do come with the same associated knack for technology and study as gnomes in WoW, but that’s where the similarities end.

For one thing, the Asura are not your standard aww-inspiring staple shorties; there is something very uncanny, almost creepy about their facial physiognomy. Indeed, the Asura are about as cute to me as the tooth fairies in the Hellboy movie. It is remarkable character design that evokes such feelings despite the small stature, big eyes and floppy ears. The pointy teeth undoubtedly play a part and then there’s many arrogant looking or grumpy stares to be found in their character creation. I don’t know about you, but I don’t feel like pinching an Asura’s cheek!

Spot the cute Asura!

Naturally, there will still be some cute asuran faces, especially for the females (shocker) which is why I included one in the above picture. However, these appear to be a minority. It gets very obvious that cuddliness is not the standard overall theme for this race. Many Asura look angry, superior or plain ugly – and unlike some players have commented on GW2 Guru, I happen to love it!

I also welcomed the information in an article on Talk Tyria (which beat me to this topic!) that introduces Asura as a very competitive culture, haughty and dismissive towards everyone else to the point of plain racist. There exist dark ambitions within special factions among them (called Inquest), displaying amoral and cruel behavior. The entire article is a very interesting read, especially if you happen to love your lore and roleplay. I also quite enjoyed reading ANet’s developer commentary where Heron Prior talks about the challenge of creating a less boring and fresh look for their shortest race – and how difficult a task this was considering the overall more realistic character design of GW2.

He also mentions that the Asura were given a clumsier movement style to counter their arrogance with an overall “more endearing” feel. I can understand how this choice is unpopular with some GW1 players. From their point of view, the original Asura have been softened down or goofed up to appeal to a wider audience in GW2. Having not played GW1 myself however, they are still one of the most refreshing races in the game, the most badass short race I’ve personally come across and at the very least, the most well-balanced one compared to other games!

For the very first time ever in an MMO am I actually considering playing a shorty; they’re a very close second to my already announced Norn crush. I will definitely spend some time on creating an Asura alt when GW2 finally launches, they are pure win!

Is ArenaNet suffering from Blizzard angst?

It’s an old tale that MMO developers will constantly eye their competition with worry where release dates are concerned and that they withhold or adjust new launches depending on who else is in the race the same year. Frequently, it’s been Blizzard that’s been accused of stalling the entire industry; the reason why Age of Conan did so badly, the reason why Rift was delayed, the reason why SWTOR took so long…..et cetera. You can find a forum discussion for them all. No matter what, somehow there’s a WoW expansion or other Blizzard culprit behind it.

…Or isn’t there?

I generally eye such claims with much skepticism. However, the whole argument was revived for me when reading this insistent comment by Doone the other day:

“I’m holding out hope for Arenanet, but they’re even more vulnerable than ever: their lack of reliable release date lies in their fear of Blizzard making plans to absolutely crush them by releasing something from their stock simultaneously. I’ve also written recently on this point too: Blizzard is releasing every game IP they own THIS YEAR. You think that’s coincidence? Arenet is being held by the neck because of this. They want to be sure they can drop their game when it’s not competing with a Blizzard title, and this is even more true because their game doesn’t profit from subscriptions. It only has a chance in hell of making money if players are playing (item shop). The stakes are too high for them”

Now, I don’t doubt that game companies would engage in market analysis and politics when potential multi-million profits are involved; but just how realistic is it to “blame” Diablo III or MoP for ArenaNet’s current release date hesitation? Is it really wise to attribute that much power to a single factor or aren’t we entering the realm of conspiratorial speculation at this point? For what its worth, here’s ArenaNet’s more recent, official statement on the matter:

“No, we won’t. It’s not like we have a secret release date and we’re not telling you. We meant what we said: we’ll release the game when it’s ready. And beta testing is where we find out if it’s ready.”

That’s pretty much the reply we’ve heard for a year now. It’s ready when it’s ready – an applaudable approach too. One we can still believe though?

I’m not an MMO developer or publisher, so I cannot make judgements on why/if ArenaNet would be under severe Blizzard angst right now, any more than the other way around. What we probably can say is that GW2 looks very ready and its launch seems imminent. Nobody is under the illusion that the pre-purchase betas are going to serve much testing purposes. It’s safe to say too, that it might prove tricky to find a perfect “launch gap” when trying to dodge major releases this year. But aren’t there many more factors at play and stake when it comes to finalizing MMO release dates? You know, on the development (final polish) or administrative side (servers, retails, community management etc.) of such a great undertaking? And how much power does truly lie in such launch timing, anyway? Maybe ArenaNet are simply looking to push the hype on for a few more weeks? This too would seem plausible to me.

I’d really like to hear more opinions on the matter. When do you think GW2 will be released and is there any close connection to Diablo III (due May 15th) or Mists of Pandaria which coincidentally is still missing a release date too? Personally, I still believe we are looking at late June to July for Guild Wars 2, fingers crossed.

Could we please NOT have targeting highlights!

I hated them in every MMO I’ve ever played. Still hate them bigtime whenever I’m playing Rift.
I mean, just look at this!

Can you see me NAO?

What is it with the white frame all around my target? I have eyes and a target window popping up – I can already see what I got targeted! It doesn’t matter if they are white, green or any other shade; full-body target highlights are obtrusive, ugly and unnecessary!

I am extremely bugged by this type of visual aid in MMOs. I already have a UI with floating symbols, bars and buttons overlaying my illusion; do I really need the immersion destroyed further by bright highlights all over targets, myself included? Am I dealing with people, NPCs and mobs or RTS style units?

There are a few games that handle this more delicately, with a faint shadow or ring on the ground, maybe a brighter name-tag. It’s obviously a big deal for PvP especially, although one could argue that players should just learn to tell opponents or aggressive mobs apart themselves without a visual crutch. Brave adventurers that we all are, we can’t seem to go anywhere without our GPS, quest markers and target highlights…..

Why am I bringing this up now? Because I really do hope Guild Wars 2 will let you switch it off! There’s not just a target ring on the ground and a floating arrow above, but apparently also full scale highlights in different colors for targeting/mouse-hover:

Yikes! A target window is all I need. Add a shadow if you have to – but enough with the highlight disco already! I guess this is the perfect time to name my top 5 UI gripes in MMOs:

  • Bright and colorful target highlights
  • Sparkling quest objects or areas
  • Quest/event markers and paths on the map
  • White/yellow/green/red NPC state indicators
  • Chat bubbles (eugh)

…and pretty much every flavor of not so subtle hints and themepark rails. I know, this ain’t the real thing, I know I’m not really a fire mage but please – please let me delude myself as far as choosing my own path and knowing my own targets will go, thanks!

Weekend challenge: Guess the MMO UI!

Is it just me or has the blogosphere been rather full on strife and negativity of late? Damn all item shops, ME3 ending drama, the EVE Online controversy….and pretty much every flavor of “what devs do wrong and why they all suck”-type of posts. I’ve raised so many eyebrows lately, my eyes start feeling a little sore. I suspect some are burned out from playing old games or bored waiting for new ones. That’s usually the phase when MMO players are a particularly edgy bunch. I remember waiting for the next expansion in WoW – not a good time for raidguilds either.

Well, whatever it is – I think it’s perfect timing for a QUIZ! In my first weekend challenge, I asked people to find the name of five MMO developers in a rebus. It was immensely entertaining to create and despite being pretty difficult in places, some readers did an impressive job at being creative and figuring out the correct answers. In case you’ve missed that first challenge and love quizzing and wordplay, here’s the link (don’t read comments if you still want to take the quiz).

High time for the new game! This time around, I present you all with a mixed pictures challenge and the topic is, you guessed right, MMO user interfaces. MMO players can spend years on end looking at the same UI – windows, bars, icons and maps. Every UI comes in slightly different colors and shapes, but in terms of functionality most games will copy what’s worked for years. So…just how well do you think you can tell them apart?

How-To: The following SWTOR screenshot contains a total of 12 common UI elements from many different MMOs, old and young. I’ve mixed them up and worked them into a new, completely fictional interface. Your job is to guess them all correctly and be specific about what item belongs to which game. Like last time, I won’t acknowledge any correct or wrong answers in the comments until someone has succeeded to name everything correctly. As usual, eternal fame & glory goes to the winner!

Happy guessing and apologies to the UI-modders!

(click to enlarge)

Wanted UI elements:
1. Main game menu (bottom left)
2. Chat window
3. Stat window
4. Character & target frame
5. Buff bar
6. Mini-map
7. Quest tracker
8. Side bar
9. Bag
10. EXP bar
11. Action bar
12. Cast bar

GW2 pre-purchase ponderings

So there it is at last, lying on my desk. Things are getting more tangible. A white sober DVD case – nothing fancy. Very under-statement. It’s shockingly empty inside, just a card with a serial key telling me to go online and register. Not sure why it comes with the standard case at all, staring at me with a naked eye but there you go. Beta weekends, three days headstart is all I need to know. First time I ever paid for an MMO that doesn’t even have an official release date yet. How odd! But then, I didn’t know either how great the LotR movies were gonna be when I bought out two complete theater rows for the EU premieres several weeks in advance (every year!). I knew my friends were going to be there though; that tends to have a reliably positive effect on one’s enjoyment. There’s also an oddly lackluster trailer full of old footage. For once the goons on youtube got it right. Not that anyone cared.

On the beta weekends

Some players stay away from the beta for spoiler reasons but I’m way past that stage. Not sure what I could possibly spoil at this point; the game is as overdue as a Swedish bus and I just want to FINALLY see something for myself. The only thing the WoW beta did for me was confirming what I already suspected, along with exclamations of “omg I want moar of this!”. I can’t wait for end of April now. I’ve watched too many videos by other people. As for bugs – bugs don’t bug me. There’s something strangely nostalgic about them.

On playing GW1

I’ve wondered briefly whether to follow other players in giving the first title a go. There’s the wait time until release and it might not be the worst idea to have a quick look at GW1. Not sure what it can truly teach me though – aren’t the dissimilarities going to be a lot bigger than anything? I’m still undecided whether I should really expose my eyes to this ancient predecessor. Feels more like spoiling for no good reason to me. The real deal is still out there and in desperate need of an ETA.

Time to part

As I worry about my dated PC specifications a little (will I be able to play in PvP battles of 300 people with a “WoW machine?”), it’s definitely time to pull the plug on an old love. Disc space is running low and it feels strangely well timed: good-bye WoW, time to uninstall. It was fun for a very long time, thanks! I’ll keep the screenshots folder. May GW2 be worthy of your passing. May it bring us new stories and epic memories.

We are waiting. (And definitely prepared!)

P.S. Priest T5 and Anathema forever in our hearts!

Tunes of Magic IV – Indie Edition

This is the fourth chapter of an ongoing series on amazing video-game soundtrack and tunes. 
Previous posts featured on MMO Gypsy:

Delving deeper into the world of indie games over the past couple of months, it struck me how much love and creative spirit can go into games that may never reach a wider audience. Granted, many indie games are worth forgetting (just like games in general) – but those we like to remember are rare and precious gems sticking out of the grey mass of average shelf-huggers and annual top titles from big labels.

In many ways, playing indie games reminds me of my early console days; sessions were as immersive as they were short. What games lacked in technical polish or scope, they made up for with heart, care for detail and memorable stories and characters. And then, the tunes….who could ever forget the tunes?

The multi-platform era, with digital stores and community portals such as Steam, presents video-gamers with an unprecedented opportunity to discover smaller projects doomed to lurk in the shadows before. Several have left a notable mark in my recent memory, boldly reaching across genre frontiers or celebrating the past in brilliant colors. They’ve also made it into my personal soundtrack lists, adding elaborate and amazing tunes to a unique experience. I highly encourage anyone to give such titles a shot sometime and to not miss out on their music of which you can find my six personal picks for today below.

Dear Esther – Twenty One
Fans of Journey might enjoy Dear Esther for its similar narrative focus while wandering a map with no sense of direction. After playing it multiple times I’d call it a visualized ghost story, as aerial as its brilliant soundtrack and dream vistas, but also eerie and oppressive while the player tries puzzling together snippets of memories told by mysterious narrators. This title is “more book than game” and will attract fans of unorthodox design concepts.
Bastion – Faith of Jevel
The entire soundtrack of Bastion reflects the diversity of this highly artistic action RPG, with its unforgettable narrator’s voice. The tracks go from more pensive and epic tunes to electric guitars and western/country inspired pieces. A definite must-have for all collectors!
Braid – Downstream
Whether you call it colorful 2D-platform game or puzzle adventure similar to Limbo, Braid’s soundtrack adds much to an in places confusing journey. The tracks are mostly on the quiet and dreamy side, with a folk guitar or violin/cello tuning in ever so often.
Trine 2 – Forlorn Wilderness
Both Trine titles feature the genuine, oldschool RPG music experience – from light fairy flutes to dark caves and spooky forest tunes. Lovers of the classic fantasy genre cannot go wrong here. Having only recently stumbled on Trine 2, I was blown away by its beautiful 2D/3D graphics style and backgrounds. Whether you like jumpy action and puzzles or not, I highly recommend playing the demo!
Super Meat Boy – The Battle of ‘Lil Slugger
Although not personally into excruciatingly difficult platformers and dark humor  with chainsaws, Super Meat Boy features one of the most accomplished, up-tempo soundtracks out there. A thrilling firework of industrial music meets classic meets retro, there are tracks aplenty to shake or headbang along.
To the Moon – Main Theme
A game of limited gameplay and visual attraction, To the Moon is all about profound storytelling, the minds and hearts of its characters and the struggle of life. The entire soundtrack is a stunning, achieved work of beauty while merry and up-lifting tracks are few and far between. However, anyone with a soft spot for slow piano tunes should absolutely love this soundtrack!

I hope you enjoy these picks and it’s definitely worth browsing on from there! As usual, further recommendations are much appreciated!

50 Reasons to be excited about GW2

So I had to run my big mouth last week and mention the “50 or so features” I’m excited about for GW2. And having such an attentive (and cunning) readership, someone had to take me up on this via email – of course!

“Fifty things you look forward to in Guild Wars 2, Syl? Well, let’s hear’em!”

Fine. In fact, I did not just use a random number to exaggerate a point. Fifty is a pretty adequate size for a list of things I personally can’t wait to see. I don’t know if you will like them, but I dare say there’s lots of freshness and exciting potential! And so, challenge accepted. I’ll share my personal list with you so that the uncertain may be convinced and the unhappy may see the light! Let me convert you to try GW2!

For sanity’s sake though, I am not gonna give a link or source for any of the items mentioned. That would be way too time-consuming and if you are really interested to hear more about one, there are GW2 Guru, Youtube and Google. However, in the light of all the first-hand info out there by now and having read major part of it, I am not making anything up (I hope).

50 Reasons to be excited about GW2 (in no particular order):

  1. The side-kicking feature
  2. Flat leveling curve
  3. Lots of dyes!
  4. Personal character story and personality
  5. Extensive character customization
  6. No holy trinity
  7. No potions
  8. Small UI / minimal actionbar
  9. The downed state
  10. Dynamic/scaling events and quests
  11. Massive WvWvW battles
  12. PvP from level 1
  13. Gear equalization for group PvP
  14. The home instance / player housing
  15. Linked home cities
  16. Mini-games (bar brawls! snow balls!)
  17. Audio dialogue
  18. Flat highlvl gear progression
  19. Cosmetic items
  20. The Mesmer, the Engineer and pretty much all classes
  21. Large scale maps
  22. No flying mounts
  23. Original soundtrack by Jeremy Soule
  24. Beautiful 2D background artworks
  25. The Norn, Asura and Charr
  26. Underwater combat
  27. The weapon/-skill system
  28. Cross-profession combos
  29. Small HP bar
  30. More area spells and effects
  31. Dedicated self-utility / self-healing
  32. 5man content all the way
  33. No raids
  34. Individual trait lines
  35. Inclusive crafting system
  36. Multi-guild system
  37. Adventure modes for dungeons
  38. Outdoor bosses
  39. Easy server switching
  40. Transmutation stone for gear
  41. No abilities directly target allies
  42. Active combat; dodge, block
  43. Interactive environment
  44. Mostly universal attributes system
  45. Most abilities and skills usable while moving
  46. No language/coop barrier between factions
  47. Over-flow server while in queue
  48. Public FFA events and quests with scaling loot
  49. More frequent day/night-cycle (non-realtime)
  50. Guild halls announced for later

So….what’s not to love? I could have come up with more to tell you the truth!

What are you personally looking forward to the most? Or are you still convinced GW2 is not for you?