I was just watching a trailer for one of the characters you can pick up in Dragon Age: Awakening, “Anders,” and I have to say that I am not at all interested in the expansion. Heck, I even got burnt out on Dragon Age. At one time there were whispers that it may have something to do with my distaste of RPGs, but that is not at all true (anymore).

Really, the game just felt kind of rigid to me. Ok, maybe thats not a wholly accurate declaration. Maybe what struck me harder was the storyline wasn’t nearly as epic as a quip about the game may imply. Darkspawn, Grey Wardens… Stock fantasy? When King, Syndic and I watched the trailers for the game, featuring hardcore fell-swoop action, I was pumped for a genre-bender of sorts, ala Mass Effect. Instead, it was really Baldur’s Gate. Which is ok, but not what I expected. I mean, kind of just… more of the same?

What really got me though was the DLC. It made the game feel cheap. Like I paid to get equipment… Wait, I did. Penny Arcade did a comic about this when it was still more or less relevant. But more timely is the fact that I can’t justify buying the expansion when I feel like I was already in some way ripped-off. Ripped-off how? Well, you essentially get a set of Warden commander armor for a measly fight or two, and then the blood dragon armor helmet dropped into your inventory. Which, I might add, looked pretty dumb. Suffice to say, the DLC wave is not something I’m fond of. I want the game to be immersing standalone, sans NPCs who reference made up currencies and twenty minute bonus quests that get you a golem. Will Awakening be just more of the same?

Sorry for the two month void in posts guys. Pixel Well took a back seat to finals and then the last couple weeks I’ve just been settling… Or something. Suffice to say, I’m back and hoping to crank the engines up around here. I’ll start tonight with a little discourse about Bad Company 2.

I got into the beta for Bad Company 2 when I preordered it. Now I know, Mass Effect 2 came out at like the same time. I just felt like Bad Company 2 jived with my aesthetic needs at the moment more. Of course I’ll get Mass Effect 2, but I’m loving Bad Company 2 thus far.

The problem is that I’m already at that, “How the hell did I die right there?” phase. I guess that usually doesn’t set in for awhile, but already there are ninjas flying around with the prototype whatever gunning me down more effectively than any sniper. Learn 2 play, right. But its not that. Which brings me to the prime gripe I have with BBC2 right now: the lag. Or the lack of synchronization. I fire a rocket and it takes two, maybe three seconds to jump out of the barrel. This is with graphics on low, when I get pretty good frames on high everything. If this was in a forum I’d have BETA spammed for twenty posts after my own, but hey, that’s what I’m feeling right now. If that was fixed/tuned/whatever needs to be done, I don’t know if I could put the game down. I mean, I already barely can.

On the flip side, Syndic and Abyssus are both going to town on Mass Effect 2, saying its great. I’ve read that the RPG elements have been stripped a bit, so I’m a little concerned. We’ll see though. I’m still really interested in getting it. In the next couple of days I’ll be talking about some things that I’ve been thinking about with video games lately and some information about recent media. And maybe a post or two about my opinions on things from Dragon Age Origins to downloadable content. Stay tuned guys.