Dragon Age

I was wrapped up in Dragon Age back when the first game came out.  I was later dazzled by the expansion and the release of the second game.  If you don't know, Dragon Age is an EA/BioWare release that came out around the same time as Mass Effect, and both games are similar in their game play.

The idea is that you're recruited by a member of the organization known as the Grey Wardens, the protectors of the land against the Darkspawn.  Once you're initiated you enter right into the ongoing war.  Between fending off the Darkspawn and saving your land from a devastating civil war, your character is kept busy with his duties as a Warden.

There are three base classes to choose from, Warrior, Rogue, and Mage.  All three have a great number of skills and abilities to choose from, and the array of characters that you get allows you to put together a dream team party and swap out when you need to.  I don't want to get too in-depth with the rest of the game, I'm more concerned with talking about the game play. 

The way the game plays is akin to the old PC game Baldur's Gate, or even Myth.  You take control of all four characters in your party at the same time and give them all unique orders to defeat your enemies.  It's a combination of real-time strategy and role-playing game play that really lets you think about your fights before you act.  It's a really addictive way to play an RPG.

Why am I bringing this up when none of these games are new or really that exciting right now?  Baldur's Gate is being released for the iPad.  I'm trying to patiently await the game, but I think that I'm going to need a refresher from the PC version before I get to that point.  Summer 2012 may seem like just a short leap from today, but if you're a fan of Baldur's Gate, I know you're itching just as much as me to get to this new helping of strategy, tactical-RPG fun.

Diablo III

Yeah, that's the stuff.

I'm not really a PC gamer anymore, I've moved pretty much entirely over to consoles, but when I was a more avid PC gamer one of my favorites was Diablo II.  Since that time I've been anticipating how well Diablo III would do when it finally comes out.  Obviously it's done really well, considering that it's the sequel to a game that people have been actively playing for over ten years; that's right Diablo II, released in 2001, has had active players for the last 11 years.  That's just insane, I can't think of any other game that's really had that much participation after such a long time.

So obviously, when I heard back in 2010 that Diablo III could be coming to consoles, I was ecstatic.  I'm a little disappointed that it hasn't yet panned out though.  I'm still hopeful that Blizzard will wisen up and put the game onto consoles, similar to the latest Dungeon Siege and Witcher games.  Both games ported really well, especially Witcher II with it's similarities to Skyrim, and many console gamers that I know would love to see Diablo II follow suit.  My best guess as to why this isn't confirmed yet is that Blizzard tried to make this same jump a few times with various games and even more various results:  Diablo on PS1 and Starcraft 64. 

If you don't already know what I think about Starcraft 64, take a look at what I said about it previously.  As for Diablo, the game was ported from the PC in 1998, two years after its release.  Die hard fans of the PC game were disappointed with the lackluster graphics, the awful experience with sluggish and high-capacity saves, and the lack of an online multi player experience; though the PS1 version boasted a two-player mode on a single console.  The controls, however, did translate over to the controller very well, and many were surprised at how much easier the game was to play on the PS1 version.  The main components of the game; the dungeon-delving, action RPG, and arcade style game play; were all there so it was still a good game for those that haven't experienced the PC version, but overall the PS1 game was unable to cut the cake when compared to it's forefather.

 I could see all of the same issues with porting Diablo III to consoles today that there were in 1998 with the original, but are those really good reasons to keep it from us Xbox and PS3 gamers?  The saves have gotten better, the controls will still be grand, and you can have your multi player experience and eat it too.   Expand your Diablo III audience, Blizzard, I guarantee that it's worth it.