KOTOR makes for a happy Jenny.

Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic was on sale yesterday for $2.49 as a part of Steam's five-day Thanksgiving special. I got up late, but Jenny was sick and wanted to sleep even later. So I came downstairs, let the dog out, started the obligatory Weekend Coffee, and sat down at my PC to check Steam, because I knew they were running specials every day for five days. I figured I'd find something for The Lovely before the sale ended, but KOTOR for $2.49 was beyond anything I expected. So I bought it via my Steam account on Jenny's rig and downloaded it for her. By the time I got her out of bed it was ready to play. Yeah, I'm thoughtful like that.

Anyway, she's diggin' it, as you can see. Having beaten in on XBox years ago, she insists that it's one of the best RPG's ever and that if I'm ever going to see eye-to-eye with her on this whole "RPG's are worth your time" thing that I have to play -- and beat -- this game. It's not a small request. I have a whole post on my experiences with RPG's, and if you've read it, you know how picky I am.

I started KOTOR while Jenny was at work yesterday. I downloaded it to my rig because I wanted to try it, and because I knew I could max it out in every way with my specs. It runs great, and I'm a few hours into it. It looks like the sort of action RPG I like, but it doesn't play like one. It's a story-driven tale with lots of talking and quest-hoarding, punctuated by semi-interactive fighting. So far, it's very JRPG-ish, which is not good. Being set in the Star Wars universe helps, so I'll keep playing. I have to admit that it's addictive.

Going back to that old post, I should point out that now that I have the specs to run it well, I do intend to try to get further into S.T.A.L.K.E.R. than I did before. I liked a lot about that game, but the fact that it was so goddamned ugly didn't exactly make me want to stick with it. It looks much better with my 4870, and I do want to try it again. I also have The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion now, which I haven't tried at all. It came bundled with BioShock, which is why I bought it: BioShock for me, Oblivion for Jenny.

She's still playing KOTOR, by the way. I'm looking to my left, and, yes, there's Jenny playing KOTOR. So at least she's enjoying her little gift. Now I just have to upgrade her entire computer so I can get her Spore for Christmas.

RPG attempt 4.0

I have a long and brief career with RPG video games. It's never been a genre I've been attracted to, it's just something I've dabbled in. So here's the rundown.


First there was Sword of Vermilion, a Genesis RPG I bought almost two decades ago for reasons I forgot almost one decade ago. I remember that the music was awesome, but at a certain point I hit a wall where I needed to level up way too many times to continue the story quests than I had the patience for. I'd already bought Sonic the Hedgehog 3, and my friend had Sonic & Knuckles, so fuck this RPG shit, it's ring-collectin' time.


I didn't play another RPG for nearly ten years, when Garrett left Panzer Dragoon Saga in my possession for a while. I loved that game, and actually played it through to completion at least three times. I didn't know at the time that it was one of the most rare and coveted US Saturn games in existence, but I understand why. It was a very linear game, but the atmosphere, exploration, and action (real-time combat) hooked me immediately. It helped that I owned (still own, actually) Panzer Dragoon 1 and 2.


Roughly eight years later, I picked up S.T.A.L.K.E.R. via Steam, a first-person RPG/shooter. I played it pretty regularly for a couple weeks, but the slow pace killed it for me. I'd spend half an hour walking around for two minutes of combat, then another hour of walking to buy an upgrade, which would let me walk for another hour to get somewhere I'd spend 20 minutes looking around for a specific item I could bring back to some lazy fuck two hours walk away, and that constitued a quest. I'm sorry, but that's not action/RPG, that's just time-killing, and I do that at work five days a week, nine hours a day already. Call me when you've got something interesting to do, OK, S.T.A.L.K.E.R. developers? Also, enough with the fucking acronyms. I played this game for weeks, and I still don't know that the title of the goddamn game even stands for.


Which brings us to today. For Valentine's, Jenny and I went out and shoveled down some Italian food, then went shopping. I bought her a nice blouse, some nice earrings, and The Sims 2: Apartment Life (which was nice). And I got Fable: The Lost Chapters. Which is not only nice, it's one of the most awesome and addictive games I've ever played. It runs great on my PC, has tons of depth and replay, looks fantastic, has an amazing score, and is accessible enough for me (still an RPG n00b) to understand everything and kick ass/take names, while still presenting enough of a challenge to keep me on my toes. If this keeps up, I may end up spending what's left of my tax refund (after bills) not on a PC upgrade, but on an XBox 360, just so I can play Fable 2. Then again, I may blow it all on booze and cheeseburgers. Either way, WIN.